Wytches Be Like...

Pledged is Pledged...

And that's a wrap on the first chapter of Wytches from Scott Synder and Jock, a tale of a family trying to survive and escape a dark curse of sorts. And after 6 issues of cliff hangers and jaw dropping moments after another, I've got to say Wytches #6 really does a hell of a job wrapping it all up and at the same time leaving you ready for more, the story will continue and I can't wait to see where it will go next. From the first issue, Wytches was able to create a sense of horror and mystery, the stories main characters were also good people you wanted to see get out of all of this alive. in Charlie, you see the struggle of a father who is trying to do best for his daughters and you see Sailor, a kid trying to make sense of everything that is going on. But you get the feeling of family, you see how together they are able to overcome any challenge in the past. But unfortunately for the Rook family, this challenge has tons of sharp teeth and is hungry. And once you are pledged, you are marked until they get you. So what can you do to escape an inescapable fate? We see that here in this issue and plenty more, so let's get to it, we are looking at Wytches #6 from Image comics.

So in the final chapter of this first arc, I felt that we do get some answer to a lot of the questions from the previous issues and a few unanswered ones as well, which is good though, we need reasons to come back for issue 7. There was a very cool book end effect with one of the first scenes from issue #1, that was actually really well done because I had no idea that the scene was going to important, I thought it was showing the viciousness of the wytches. Well it did do that as well, a two for one if you will. This is just an example of all the things done right in Wytches, every issue has been solid in writing and in the art department, being able to take a unique story and bring it to life like this should be the goal of all comic book creators. Synder creates a scenario that is horrifying and scary but doesn't feel over the top or ridiculous. The fear is real enough like a good urban legend, the kind of stories that really mess with your head, are there really creatures waiting to eat me in the woods? Maybe or maybe it's all in your head. And with Jock, his art is able to convey the same feelings of fear and the unknown. Some pages look like a drawn out nightmare and they look incredible, Jock has an undeniable style that his own and it works perfectly for this story. These two have made an incredible run so far and I hope they continue on until the story is finished. 

This is a highly recommended title for all horror comic book fans and even those who are just looking for something new to read. What I love most about Wytches in general is that it has a very Silent Hill feel to it, a psychological horror if you will. And I don't know about you guys, but that is probably my favourite kind of horror. So I highly suggest everyone gives this book and series a read as soon as you can, I have heard they are going to make a TV series based on Wytches, which I hope is on the ball and as good as the book. Unless you are a little kid or don't like scary things at all, I see no reason why you shouldn't be reading Wytches.

But I ask, have you guys read Wytches? And if so, what did you think? Let me know in the comments below or send me a message over on Twitter (@ChileanStorm) and let's talk some Wytches. I had a pretty bad start of my week, I think I got food poisoning or a flu or both, not to mention my whole body felt like dry broken bones, so I am trying to change things up in my life, cutting back on the junk food and going to bed early to get 8 hours of sleep. Also got to get more active and moving more and what not. And you should as well. Take it from me, I am 28 and just some days ago I felt like I was 45, I was sore and hurt all over. So please take care of yourselves. You are important. But that's all the time I have for now, plenty more comic books to catch up with and share with all of you lovely little storm clouds. Until then, keep chasing the storm! 

Why you should be NYCC Jelly...

There aren't a whole lot of shows or conventions that I would now in days go out of my way and try to go as a fan. Being behind the table and doing all these conventions, man, it's hard to go back there and wait in lines and stuff. Sure that sounds like a jerk face thing to say, especially considering the obvious that most of the readers here are more fans then artist, I am not sure, but I am guessing here. But man, New York Comic Con. Damn I really want to be there! As a comic book fan, I would have to say, it is probably the best show out there for comics. Strictly comics I mean. And hell has it been a while since we have had an honest to heart all about comics kind of show. I've been to anime shows, video games shows and hell even home hardware shows, but I yet to go to one that is religious to the following of comic book geeks. That might be TCAF come to think of it, but that things is too big in a building too small, but I will blog that one later. With that being said, I just saw a lot of really awesome show exclusives that will be on hand at NYCC this year, these ones from Midtown Comics. So my fellow American Storm Clouds, I highly urge you to go and soak this show up, and I highly recommend you pick up these exclusives at the show...

The Death of Wolverine 1-4, J.Scott Campbell Variant Covers: 

These are really awesome show variants and they all connect as well to make a bigger image, and while all of them are really really good, I have to gush on the third cover of this series. And you know, it probably stems from my personal love of these two characters together, but Wolverine and Mariko, holy cheese this cover looks incredible! It says it all in one image, when I think about Wolverine, that is what I think of, the lone ronin warrior who is loved by one. And man does it look great, Logan has got the samurai look down so well, it's a shame he doesn't rock the look that often. 

But if you like Jean, Silver-fox and that other girl as well, then be sure to get all four. 

Thor #1, Paul Renaud Variant Cover:

So much to see in this series, and plenty to get excited about overall. I love that we get to see the entire costume up front and in all it's Asgardian glory! So for fans of Thor and everything under the nine...I guess ten realms now, I highly suggest you guys get your hands on it as soon as you can.

Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #1, Mike Mayhew Variant Cover:

The card concept for this variant is so cool, even the ad on the back connects to make the whole book look like a poker card. That is just an awesome attention to detail, kudos to Midtown Comics! But the front has both Enchantress (meh) and Scarlet Witch (yeah) looking as great as they do! So if you are looking forward to the next big Marvel event, if you definitely want to get this cover. 

Wytches #1, Sean Gordon Murphy Variant Cover:

The cover alone looks incredible, but if you don't know, this is a new title that is being written by Scott Synder and drawn by Jock. Cha-ching! Take my money now! Seriously this is a power trip as far as comic book creators go, I can't wait to see this book and now you can get the exclusive variant as well. 

So yeah, jealous. This guy.

I am sure a lot of you guys will be going to NYCC, and if you are then let me know what are you looking forward to the most? Who are you going to meet? And more importantly, what books are you going to be picking up at the show? Let me know in the comment section below, or give me a tweet (@ChileanStorm) or send me an email. I love to hear back from y'all. But that's all I got for today, gotta go eat and rest up for another day of work tomorrow. Much love y'all and keep chasing the storm!

Wicked + Wicked

First off, a big thank you to my boy Toby for finding this book and getting it for me, you rock man! Give him a follow and check out his stuff over on his Tumblr page! 

That being said, I finally got my smelly sweaty Latino fingers on this issue (it gets pretty hot here in the Toronto summer)! And if you know what the big buzz in the comic book world has been then you could probably guess, that I am talking about the latest project from Kieron Gillen and Jaime McKelvie, from Image comics, The Wicked + The Divine! I will admit, that when I just heard about this book and the concept, I got hyped. I was a really big fan of the latest run of Young Avengers by this incredible creative team, while it wasn't without a few rough edges, I really liked what they did with the new characters introduced into the team, like Miss America and Kid Loki. So naturally I couldn't wait to see what they would do here, in a world with young Gods who walk the Earth but only live for two years after they adapt their power. Live young, die fast. A very interesting topic, especially when dealing with teenage characters.

After giving it a read, I got to say, I am impressed. It feels that with these brand new characters and world, Kieron and McKelvie are able to be more free and creative with many of the elements and themes presented in the story. The first issue presents us this incredible concept in this world, but left me very curious and wondering about many of the elements and possible rules to all this, which is a good thing, I really can't wait to see what goes down in issue two. I don't want to give too much away as far as story goes, but I can tell you that it is worth picking up, believe the hype my friends! A more mature concept allows for some awesome page turning moments of "holy crap" and "that's fantastic". The flow of the entire book felt like it would be perfect to watch as a movie or an ongoing HBO kind of show, and here is hoping we do get to see that. And while I feel that a much older audience won't really understand this book and it's theme, the new generation of comic book fans who enjoyed Runways, Ultimate Spider-man and of course, Young Avengers, will no doubt love everything about this book. So if that is you and you haven't picked it up, go out and get it! Although a lot of the first run copies may be sold out, check out one of the second run that should be in stores soon. For those in the GTA still looking, try Gotham Central comics and Stadium Comics as well, I know Gotham will have copies of the Eh!Variant, done by the talented art warrior, Mike Rooth! 

That's all the time I have for now, off to another day of work! Got a lot to do this week and this weekend, we got World Pride celebrations here in the city, I will be doing Jace Wars on Saturday, the World Cup is going into the next rounds, and I will also be kicking off July Well Spent over at Silver Snail! We don't stop, cause we can't stop. So I got to get out of here, but I will be back, be sure to plug and comment away on this and all my blogs, I will see you guys and gals later! Keep chasing the storm! 

A ChileanStorm Update

Okay so I know it's been a few days without a post and I feel like I needed to update everyone on what's been going here specifically in Toronto. Now I didn't think it was that bad, but little did I know how strong this storm was. Yeah, the ChileanStorm was drowned by the actual storm, the irony, you got to love it. Needless to say I got out of work pretty late, not to mention that it took me, no jokes, over 5 hours to get home. Keep in mind on a good day, when I can catch all the right trains on time, it will take me about 30 minutes. And in this time, non stop rain. And I didn't have it as bad as others all over the GTA, some commuters had to literally swim out of the trains, while others abandon their vehicles on the highway. When I got back home I realized all of Etobicoke was covered in darkness, like absolute and pure darkness. I have never seen anything like it, I got to say one of the most surreal things I have ever seen. So needless to say, my day was wasted. The power being out also made getting to and back from work a lot longer, so basically that's two days that were wasted. Now granted, I feel like it was on me a little bit here. I think I should have done at least a little something, but as one of my favourite sayings go, you can catch up with yourself if you run. 

So what do I have in store for all of you awesomely amazing readers, well for starters if you haven't read it yet, I just posted a blog on the second volume of the amazingly good Saga, when you get a chance click here to read it. It's a long read, so I hope you enjoy it. In the next few days, I am going to take a look at a couple different books that I have been reading, this including many brand new series like Deadpool Kills Deadpool, Daredevil: Dark Nights, New Avengers, B.P.R.D Vampire, Sheltered, and The Emerald City of Oz. So if you are curious on any of these books or series, stay tuned for plenty of ChileanStorm coverage! And also let me know about any awesome books that you think that I should be reading. I always love a good book suggestion! 

I also got a few episodes up for the Storm VLOG series that I am doing, and you can see all past episodes right here. But I did upload an episode today over at Silver Snail Comics, so you can see that right here and right now! Please be sure to give a like, a comment and subscribe to the channel, I want to bust out as much content as I possible can everyday, so stay tuned. Another way for you to stay in touch with this comic loving Chilean artist.

And now that we are on the topics of events a big thanks to Gauntlet Comics out in Orangeville for being amazing hosts as always, and to everyone who came out and spent some time with all the Spent Pencils artist. We love being invited to do these events, and we can't wait to come back and bring the noise. And a big thanks to everyone who participated in the Paper Road event this past weekend, I hope everyone enjoy the films and being able to help make some amazing art. Rain and all we stayed until the end, I hope we inspired many to keep on drawing. So what do we have in store for the future days, well we still got the July Well Spent days going on all of this month at Silver Snail Comics. Don't forget every Wednesdays and Saturdays, three different artist from Spent Pencils will be on hand to draw any and all unique art, a lot of sketch covers were taken care of already, so don't miss out on this amazingly cool opportunity. And also this Saturday I will out and about in Port Colborne, Ontario to help out in the fundraising event, Jace Wars. This event will be raising money for Ronald McDonald House Hamilton ad brain tumor research. Me and some my fellow pencilnecks will be drawing and taking donations to raise some funds, so come on out and help out this great cause. We hope to see everyone come on out and take part!

Well that's what I got, I hope it makes up for those two lost days, I will be back tomorrow for sure, this is a storm you can count on. And remember to be sure to subscribe to the page and leave a comment, don't be a stranger.  Follow my Twitter and Instagram as well for up to the minute updates, thanks for taking the time to read this crazy little blog, lots of love and keep chasing the storm. 

The Saga Continues

A few months back, if you've been following, I reviewed a graphic novel comic book by the name of Saga. If you haven't read said blog yet, go read it here first (insert link here) and then check out the first volume of Saga before you read more. I would like to call this a review, but I mean who are we kidding, Saga is fantastic. And I will say this much, these next issues keep the pace going and gives the story more twist, background and character development. This is the kind of book that shows are made out of. So it goes without saying if you got the first volume, get the second one for sure, the series doesn't skip a beat. So for the rest of this blog I wanted to go through some of my favourite moments in the book. So please come back once you've read the books, don't want to be the guy to spoil the story for you.

Warming spoilers up ahead.

•The Will: let's get this one out of the way, I love The Will! He is by far my favourite character of the series so far and you get to see more and learn more about him in this book.

After the first volume, he is a mess after finding out his former flame and fellow Contractor, The Stalk was murdered by Prince Robot IV. So you see him early on in the book very depressed and look through old memories of him and his ex. We then see a perfect dream of his, together again with The Stalk and freeing the young captive girl on Sextillion, and not mention killing everyone in the way. Upon waking up though he is introduced to one of the clients who hired him to kill Marko and Alana in the first place, Gwendolyn. That is Marko's ex-fiancé, Gwendolyn.

Needing The Will to finish the job he was paid to do in the first place, Gwen is there to see what's been the delay. She informs him that Prince Robot IV is also on the hunt for the infamous new family, and that finding them will also allow him to lay retribution for The Stalk. The Will agrees to get back to work but only if she can help him free the slave girl, which with some political push she manages to do. The Will sees that the great interest in him finishing the job must mean there's a history between Gwen and Marko.

By the end of the book though we have another family traveling the galaxy hunting for the bounty. This I loved, cause this family may be even more dysfunctional than our story's main heroes. The little girl is able to sense and hear the artifacts the Gwendolyn and Marko carry, so they use her to follow them through out space. And Gwen is not exactly The Will favourites ship mate, but they must work together now to finish the job.  And how could I not mention Lying Cat, everyone loves Lying Cat. How can you not?

•Marko & Alana: the family that changed the rules. At the end of the first volume they just got off the planet and were headed into the great unknown of space, when suddenly they are stopped by unknown intruders in their rocket ship, these intruders are actually Marko's parents.

The story starts with Marko and his mom heading to the nearby planet to rescue the ghostly babysitter, leaving Alana with the baby and her estranged father in law. We get to know the parents and how they feel about the relationship and how they feel about their granddaughter. The mother is very upset with Marko, especially for leaving Gwendolyn. The dad however wants to get to know his granddaughter and his son's wife, seeing how he has very little time left to live. That was a really good twist to the story, it was a bittersweet moment of connection.

We also get to see flashbacks to when Alana and Marko first met. We see that Alana's world is changed after reading a romance novel, the romance between two different creatures. She is inspired by the book and wants to share this book with as many people as possible. I loved that the first meeting between them ended with Alana knocking out Marko's teeth to the floor. We see them spending more and more time together as prisoner and guard keeper, Alana is able to share the story with him. It's in a desperate moment that Alana decides to free Marko and run away with him. That's how their story together begins. I love the idea that from a simple love story these two have made a connection and formed a love that has the potential of changing everything in the universe. And all this from a small little love story.

•Prince Robot IV: probably the most unlikeable character in the story so far. After killing The Stalk and stealing her ship, he has decided to go find the author of the love novel that Alana had read. When we see him for first time, it appears he is dying on the battlefield, when he is saved by a field medic. Unfortunately for said little field medic, she blows up after inhaling toxic gases. We then see it was a dream or perhaps a memory, still not sure actually. There is something about this scene that I will touch on later, if you've been following comic news I am sure you know what I am talking about. He is then reminded on finish the job to take out Alana and Marko, but remains calm and lands on the planet to find the author.

Once he find the author, he begins to question him on the book and if he knows that what he wrote could be the spark to a revolution. After a back and forth, Prince Robot IV shoots the author and decides to stay and wait for the family, as he assumes that they will be coming to the same planet to find the author. And little does he know that there hiding up stairs. And that is where the volume ends.

Okay so apparently there was some controversy over issue 12, at the beginning of the book we see a wounded Prince Robot IV on the battlefield, on his screen face though there are images of man giving oral sex to many other men. According to a lot of websites on all iOS products this book has been banned. What I am curious is about why ban it? Saga is an extremely mature book and up to this point there have been many and many graphic images. So why now? It doesn't make sense, just have an age warning and let it be, it seems a little strange in my opinion, but maybe in time we will learn. Actually if anyone knows why this happened, by all means please let me know.

It's incredible how consistently amazing this book has been thus far after two volumes, I am happily surprised by all the fantastic elements of this story, from the art work to the concepts and all the characters, Saga is going to be the book of 2013. I can't recommend this book enough to everyone, so spread the word and let the world know, Saga is a must read.

That's all the time I got right now, thanks for reading and remember to subscribe to this blog to follow all kinds of comics news and reviews and inside look at the world of comic books. Also be sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram, by following @ChileanStorm. I am also on YouTube, doing Time Well Spent on the Maddsketch channel and also doing my own Storm VLOG videos, so please subscribe to our channel, give a like and leave a comment. And be sure to like the Spent Pencils page on Facebook, one like goes a long way. I am ChileanStorm, and remember to embrace the storm and keep running forward.

DIE or DIY

So I have been preparing a small side project last week and I am almost ready to get it out of the way and share it with the world. I wanted to give everyone here a sneak peak and a little inside scoop on what's it's going to be all about. The project name is Drawing Ideas Yeah, a strange name yes but there is a method to my madness. If you notice the acronym for the title is DIY, which is more commonly known to stand for Do It Yourself. See what I did there? The whole concept for this particular weekly comic is that it is to be done with the most basic of elements out there and available for you, paper and pens, the idea of simply getting down and drawing up a comic. And this will also be following my real life struggles in trying to bust out my first self published project and also some of my unreal adventures with the strange cats and characters in Toronto and in everyday life, so basically be ready for anything, or just about anything. Also, this does mean that you may appear in a few panels. Yes, you. Amazing isn't but just don't ask how soon is now, just wait for the surprise of it all, like life, you never know when it's going to happen. 

Okay that's enough talking, let's get to this preview, which is what everyone wants to see in the first place. And here we are...

But what's going on here? Well that's where you need to wait. But here it is, me in the ink, working away on my art, and yes, I do make a lot of faces, I call it being an animated person. But I hope that it can help and inspiring others while they work away on projects of there own, or even make you laugh a little at the silly little things we do, the way the world sees us and how we see the world in return. Granted this is through my little eyes and I am doing a lot more learning then any kind of teaching, but I still want to entertain and connect with everyone through arts and comics, so this is what I do. 

Anyways also I want to let everyone in the GTA know that me and the Spent Pencils crew will be at Image Comics on June 1st at the Streetsville Bread & Honey Festival this Saturday, drawing and sketching all day and of course plenty of shenanigans to be had all day. So come on out and get some original art and sketches, also free sketches with purchases over $20 at Image Comics. I will be posting the link down below for more information and directions, so be there this Saturday and get spent! 

Anyways that's all the day I got tonight, got to be back up early tomorrow morning but I will be back sometime in the week, remember to leave a comment below and to follow me and the SPC on our Facebook page by giving us a like on the page. And be sure to follow me here for more art and comic related news. Thanks again for your time, good night world! 

Link:

• Bread & Honey Festival 2013