WITH WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO NOW OVER WITH AND FACED WITH THIS WEEK’S CHOICES SPREAD OUT IN FRONT OF ME, I CAN’T HELP BUT NOTICE A SMALL PILE OF BOOKS THAT WERE GIVEN TO ME DURING THE SHOW. BOOKS THAT ARE NOT AVAILABLE IN ANY COMIC RETAILER BUT THEIR CREATORS ARE HOPING. I HAVE REVIEWED MANY OF THESE ON-LINE ON FACEBOOK, ETC. OVER THE YEARS. FOR MORE DETAILS ON THESE BOOKS CHECK OUT MY REVIEWS ON FACEBOOK AT DOC SCHAEFER. HERE ARE A FEW FROM THIS YEAR …
MONOAMINE #1
Take 1 part Adult Swim after hours anime, add in a touch of Attack on Titan, and use it to look at the very serious subject of Mental Illness! This short 8 page book manages to address (in a fantasy type manner) this complex subject in just the right way. It does not linger on any one aspect nor does it over analyze. This is a story that gives people suffering from mental illness a brief moment of hope as the main character discovers he can fight back. And all it took was eight pages! That’s some good story pacing. (And for those curious about the title, Monoamine is a compound that acts as a neurotransmitter.) I give it a 8 out of 10.
VISITATIONS #3
Nothing will get a book into my hands faster than hearing that the creator had a hard time with the subject matter. Creator Scott Larson is an absolute whiz at spinning spooky tales based in factual Chicago but this time, the monsters and demons take a backseat to the human horrors of the area known as the Levee. And while our hero battles with the supernatural, it is the characters in the backround that are truly facing terror. Blackmail, brothels, women lost who become trapped in a nightmarish life with little or no hope of escape. The worst being the female brothel owner whose backstory is tragic enough but believes she is doing her best to protect these lost girls even as they are subjected to a different form of evil. In talking to Larson, he explained that after doing all the research and finished the story, he had to put in a public service announcement at the end of the book including several organizations contact information that combat human trafficking. After reading this issue, I can see why he felt he needed to do that. I give it a 9 out of 10.
THE THEORY FLIP BOOK
A spinoff series from the European Twisted Dark comic is how the intro reads. What it should have said is that creator Neil Gibson’s tale of future imprisonment was going to thoroughly tick me off. But in a good way, the first part of this story ends on a classic Twilight Zone twist ending which I honestly didn’t see coming. And to make I worse, the twist is so heartless and mean that it really did upset me when the hero loses (sort of). Any book that leaves me this annoyed after reading it, has definitely done its job. Then throw in a flip book preview of Stan Lee’s Lucky Man comic based on the TV series and you’ve got a full boat and left me trying to figure out what channel Lucky Man is on. I give it an 8 out of 10.