Tag Archives: magic
Crowdfunded comics that deserve more attention: The Arcane Cocktail Enthusiast
Today we’re talking about a Kickstarter comic called The Arcane Cocktail Enthusiast.
The comic is written and created by Jeff Rider and drawn by Dave Puppo.
The story is about a bar owner named Lark Leraar.
She owns an establishment called The Archanist, which she also uses as a base and secret lair to practice magic.
The comic is seeking funding for its first issue and at the time of writing has raised $1,883 out of $3,500 with fifteen days left to donate.
Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cloudwrangler/the-arcane-cocktail-enthusiast-print-edition-comic?ref=av0qnc
Why I like it
I don’t drink very much.
Sure I’ll indulge a bit in social settings, but when it comes to the consumption of alcohol I am a complete lightweight and too poor and too busy to explore the subtle differences between types of scotch.
But while the idea of a magical bartender serving magical drinks doesn’t excite me personally, I do find it incredibly interesting from a historical point of view, and and if you ask anyone who knows me in the slightest they will tell you that I do loooove me some history.
Let me explain. Since the beginning of human history we have spent a lot of time trying to figure out new and exciting ways to get drunk.
The Egyptians invented one of the earliest recipes for beer and even paid laborers with booze.
The Babylonians took their beer so seriously that if they caught a brewer tampering with his or her product, they killed him by drowning the offender in it.
And during the Middle Ages most of the brewing, distribution, and sale of booze was done by women. You could always tell who was a brewer with their trademark pointed cap, a broom like whisk for filtering out lumps of material from their cauldron brew, and a cat to help keep away rats and mice from the grain.
If the above image looks like a stereotypical witch you’re not wrong. There are some who would say that our modern interpretation of witchcraft was a widespread propaganda campaign to get women out of brewing beer.
The point is that the creation of alcohol has had an important, almost magical, place in human history. Makes sense really, booze made you feel good and anyone who could get you drunk better than anyone else must have seemed like a wizard.
The Arcane Cocktail Enthusiast takes this idea and gives it a modern update and I think that is really cool.
Not only does it put a modern twist on this idea, it uses it to tell a story about an awesome lady who goes out and fights a manticore with nothing but her magically enhanced hands.
That’s pretty awesome.
Why you should donate
Of course, these days we’re not big fans of magic and coffee has become the dominant brain altering drink of choice.
But while we may be men and women of science and rational thought, we still have our own brand of sorcery that we use to turn certain people who make our food into insanely rich gods.
I am, of course, talking about celebrity chefs.
Sure, these guys aren’t witches or warlocks, but you have to admit that there’s something magical about watching food being prepared.
Hell, we love this so much that we have entire channel on the television where we just watch people cook and eat food.
But if we have dedicated all this time and effort into praising the accomplishments of the people that make our food, what about the people who prepare our drinks?
Where are our celebrity brewers and bartenders?
As I stated in the previous section, our ancestors practically worshiped the creation and consumption of alcohol. Today? Not so much.
Don’t get me wrong, we still hold a place of reverence for things like microbreweries and bartenders who can but a bit of flair into their job,
but I think it’s safe to say that the bartender and brewer has been greatly overshadowed by the chef in today’s culture.
Don’t you think it’s time that bartenders got the same respect and attention that we give celebrity chefs? Don’t you think it’s time that we elevated the people who serve us alcohol to the place of respect that they once held? Don’t you think it’s time to put the magic back into a beverage that has been so important to human history?
I sure as heck think so.
Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cloudwrangler/the-arcane-cocktail-enthusiast-print-edition-comic?ref=av0qnc
The Secret Lives of Villains #304
Crowdfunded Comics that deserve more attention: Prison Witch
Today we are going to talk about a comic book project seeking funding on Kickstarter called Prison Witch.
The project is a seventy page graphic novel about a woman who works to control her latent magical abilities in prison with the help of a secret coven of witches.
At the time of writing the project as already hit its funding goal with $8,651 out of $8,500 raised and has 14 days left in the campaign.
Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/248241887/prison-witch-a-graphic-novel-about-magic-love-and?ref=category&ref=discovery
Why I like it
For starters the artwork is fantastic.
The comic is created by husband and wife team Pat and Amy Shand, with Erica D’Urso providing the artwork. Her ability to convey tiny little moments of great emotion is awe inspiring and you can tell the book is going to be an emotional roller coaster without any words.
But what really intrigues me about this book is the possibility of combining the subject matter with the setting.
I like to dabble in storytelling from time to time and for me, magic is a way to build a character without having to rely on boring exposition.
A wizard who controls fire will probably have a different personality than a wizard who can raise the dead. Magic is an extension of its user and can be used as a sort of visual shorthand for their personality and beliefs.
Prisons are supposed to be a place where people who have done something wrong go to reflect on their deeds and work towards reforming themselves.
In some countries the intention is to turn criminals into functioning members of society, in others it’s a place where dissidents and critics of the status quo are sent to…change their mind. Here in America it clearly isn’t the case because if it was, we would be the most introspective and thoughtful nations on the planet.
Yes, the land of the free does put way to many people in prison.
So what happens when you have a collection of people who have their personalities displayed through spells and witch craft stuck in a place that is designed to change and mold a person into something different?
I have no idea, but I can’t wait to find out.
Why you should donate
I don’t know if anybody reading this post knows this, but during the 1970’s there was a very specific and popular genre of films specifically about women in prison.
With a poster like that it’s quite apparent that these movies were somber, thoughtful affairs that talked about the harsh realities of prison life and gave a voice to some of the most vulnerable people in modern society and…
nope. The movies were porn with a bit more attention on the plot and slightly higher production values.
Now to be fair, it wasn’t like all the films were total trash. Johnathen Demme, the man who made Silence of the Lambs,
got his big break after directing a Roger Corman prison film called Caged Heat.
The film was actually pretty well reviewed and it did delve into some actual social commentary, but it was still a bunch of pretty women with no hope, no way out, and almost no clothing.
Rather thankfully, times and tastes change and I say it’s time for the women in prison genre to get a modern update that treats its characters like actual human beings and uses its subject matter to talk about important and socially relevant issues.
Okay, so there’s that but I bet there isn’t a comic that does…
dammit.
Okay, so revising the women in prison genre for modern tastes is well trodden ground, but Prison Witch takes the genre and does something different with it.
By combining the wonder and mystery of magic with the drama and emotional pain of prison life, Prison Witch is set to create a story filled with wonder, mystery, introspection, and one hell of an emotional gut punch.
Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/248241887/prison-witch-a-graphic-novel-about-magic-love-and?ref=category&ref=discovery
Crowdfunded comics that deserve more attention: The Death Defying
I think it’s time we revived this blog series…again…probably for a few weeks before I get overwhelmed with other stuff or can’t find anything interesting to write about.
Anyway, since it’s close to Halloween here’s a write up of a comic with horror over tones called The Death Defying.
The comic is a fictionalized account of real life friends turned enemies Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. According the the description:
“The Death Defying becomes a battle of wills, words, faith, science, fisticuffs, handguns and magic that stretches from the windswept menace of Stull, Kansas to the small apocalypse of Tungaska, Russia. Beliefs will be tested, lives will be threatened and the scariest specter of all is whether or not any of this is real.”
So it looks like we’re in for a twisted mystery thriller with two of the greatest figures of the early 20th century battling it out for the soul of mankind.
The campaign is seeking $8,000 to cover art and printing costs. At the time of writing it is sitting at $1,580 with eighteen days left to donate.
Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/xtop/the-death-defying-1?ref=category_newest
Why I like it
I’m a sucker for historical stories, especially if it’s a story about two people as famous and as awesome as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini. I’m pleased to say that the people behind the comic did their research well. Houdini and Doyle were actually good friends in real life,
and wound up drifting apart due to their disagreements over spiritualism and the existence of the supernatural.
For anyone who doesn’t know, after the First World War most of Europe and the United States became fascinated with the idea that magic was real and that people could communicate with spirits and the undead.
This led to the explosion of seances and mystics who claimed they could summon spirits to appear as apparitions in photographs,
or most famously knock on walls and levitate tables.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was one of the most famous supporters of this idea, even going as far as claiming that fairies existed based on photographic evidence.
Houdini was the exact opposite and devoted a good portion of his life to disproving spiritualism and exposing many of the so called mystics who used parlor tricks to swindle people out of their money.
Personally I’d have to side with Houdini on this one. Sure people are allowed to believe what they want, but this was just after the First World War and the Spanish Flu killed millions of people and I think many of these mediums and spiritualists were scam artists who were able to cheat a large amount of desperate grieving people out of their money.
Anyway, that’s the time the comic sets its story in. It’s a fascinating time period in human history and the story promises to deal with weighty themes such as science vs. belief and chaos vs. order.
It should be good.
Why you should donate
The creative team behind this story is top notch and professional. Every one of the people involved in the comic has at least one professional credit to their name and they appear to be passionate about this story, so you know that they will deliver a quality product in a timely manner.
Speaking of quality, the art is fantastic and manages to balance the dark shadows of the occult with the practical and direct lighting of the provable very well. 
What I really like about this page in particular is how it manages to balance the two opposing points of view. In the world of this story either man could be right in his beliefs and it’s well known that the best and most realistic kind of conflict is the kind where both sides believe they are right.
The first six pages of the comic are on the Kickstarter page for you to check out along with the rewards and bonus artwork.
The Death Defying is a historical occult drama that deals with weighty themes and stars some of the early 20th century’s greatest human beings in an adventure for the ages and a battle for the soul and future of humanity and is definitely worth your time and money.
Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/xtop/the-death-defying-1?ref=category_newest
Golden Age Showcase: Stardust the Super Wizard.
You know what I really like about comics? The scope and scale of the medium.
Sure, in any artistic medium you can tell big stories, but in comics? Comics are the new mythology, giving us larger than life characters that serve as brightly colored allegories for the larger world.
The Golden Age of Comics had their myths and legends but let’s be honest with ourselves…they were somewhat limited.
It makes sense I guess. After all, a lot of people were pressuring creators to churn out new superheroes as quickly as possible and there are only so many ways you can copy heroes like Superman or Batman. Plus, our country was faced with an actual larger than life event known as World War 2 so those heroes were tasked with winning the war, but surely there had to be some way to inject a little grandiosity into the comic book scene.
Where’s the magic? Where’s the ridiculousness? Where’s the cosmic scale of it all?
Oh, this’ll be interesting.
Origin and Career
Stardust the Super Wizard, a giant space magician with super strength and a tiny head,
was first published in Fantastic Comics #1 in December of 1939.
The title was published by Fox Features Syndicate, who published the first Blue Beetle, and created by writer and artist Fletcher Hanks.
Hanks is also responsible for creating one of the first female characters in comics, a woman named Fantomah.
Hanks was something of an elder statesman for a comic book industry that was dominated by teenagers. He specialized in creating supernatural characters who had no qualms about wrecking terrible revenge against their antagonists and Stardust was no exception.
His origins are simple. He’s a mysterious super being who descends from the stars to wreck terrible retribution on criminals everywhere. Everyone knows this this due to a strange radio broadcast that tells them everything.
What’s his backstory? Where does he come from? Nobody knows.
What we do know is that his powers are seemingly limitless, and he demonstrates his power against two thugs who are just about to assassinate the President.
It’s pretty clear that our hero is a giant and has more powers than Superman did at his height.
It’s worth mentioning that Stardust also partakes in one of the hallmarks of the Golden Age of comics: the hero murdering hoards of criminals and evil doers in brutal fashion.
The first story sets the tone for most of the Stardust stories as the hero defeats a series of increasingly over the top and surprisingly well equipped enemies with unimaginable violence. While he would only last for 16 issues, each one of them is pretty epic and worth checking out.
It’s worth mentioning that Stardust didn’t just police Earth, he dedicated his life to busting crime all across the solar system from his private star base.
He had enemies with creative names like Kaos of Venus, the Brain Men of Mars, and Yew Bee.
My personal favorite is the story where our hero faces the evil machinations of an arch criminal named De Structo, who plans to use an oxygen destroying ray to suffocate the political leadership of the United States.
No I’m not making any of that up.
Stardust captures De Structo and punishes him by removing the villain’s head, keeping it alive, and throwing it to an alien beast known as a “giant headhunter”.
Funny how the headhunter alien looks suspiciously human. Also, that is not a good way to go.
So what happened?
As I stated above, Stardust only lasted for 16 issues. I have no idea why he didn’t last longer and can only assume that people were allergic to fun and epicness.
Thankfully, all was not lost and it turned out that Fletcher Hanks had developed something of a cult following. All of his Golden Age stories were collected into anthologies and are currently published by Fantagraphics Books.
Also, it turns out that Stardust is a superhero that has greatly benefited from being in the public domain since he has actually appeared in a lot of other independent projects.
Some of his more notable appearances have been in Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,
He also had a cameo in Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon #141.
He’s also been used in a genre that we don’t talk a lot about on this blog: table top games. His name was used as an example of how power corrupts in The Super Villain Handbook by Fainting Goat Games.
Stardust the Super Wizard may have had a short career in the Golden Age, but it was a career filled with memorable events and villains. He’s remembered fondly today and his reputation is well deserved.
Golden Age Showcase: Hippolyta
So this little movie is coming out in a couple of weeks.
I’m excited.
The funny thing about this movie is that it promises to be huge but strangely enough, DC and Warner Brothers aren’t doing a whole lot to market and promote the film.
Granted, there is a precedent for this lack of marketing push, but I like to think that part of the reason why the film isn’t getting a lot of love is because the producers and film makers are banking on the hoards of angry nerds who are so desperate to see a female superhero succeed that they are willing to give this film a bunch of free advertising.
Thankfully, I am incredibly desperate and angry and I intend to do my part and contribute to the madness. For the next couple of weeks leading up to the release of Wonder Woman I intend to devote this blog to Wonder Woman and her supporting cast.
And since yesterday was Mother’s Day, I thought it might be fun to talk about Wonder Woman’s mother: the Greek Amazon Hippolyta.
Origin and Career
Unlike almost all the superheroes of the Golden Age, who can trace their origins to the popular culture of the day, Hippolyta has one of the most accomplished and famous pedigrees in comic book lore.
In fact, probably the only modern day superhero who has changed less than DC Comics’ Hippolyta is Hercules himself, and that’s only because Hercules is an integral part of Hippolyta’s story.
Hippolyta was the queen of the Amazons, a group of savage warrior women who claimed to be descended from Ares, the god of war.
As part of his twelve labors, Hercules was tasked with stealing an item called the Golden Girdle, a belt that gave Hippolyta incredible strength. Hercules was successful in seducing Hippolyta into giving him the belt,
but sadly perished when he goddess Hera convinced her battle sisters that Hercules was kidnapping her.
This story must have struck a chord with a man named William Moulton Marston,
because he used this exact myth to inform the creation of Hippolyta in All Star Comics #8 in October of 1941.
We’ll save the specifics for later but for now all you need to know is that the story of Hipppolyta remained relatively unchanged from its classical roots. Hippolyta was the queen of her people and the mother of the book’s main character so she was tasked with talking to the ancient gods, looking after the welfare of the Amazons, and trying to control her daughter without much success.
So what happened?
What do you mean “what happened”? She went on to have an illustrious career as the mother of one of the most successful superheroes on the face of the planet!
Granted, there have been some changes to her story. Various versions of the character have her as a blonde badass,
and at one point she actually took up the mantle of Wonder Woman,
(yes that is actually Hippolyta and not Diana with a different hair do)
Her origin story with Hercules was changed up a bit in 1987 by writer George Perez. It was a bit more…uncomfortable than the original with the new version of Hercules forcing himself on Hippolyta after he drugged her and her Amazons.
It’s worth mentioning that he did this after she beat him in fair combat and attempted to reason with him.
Hippolyta has played an integral part in the DC universe, both in the comics and in other forms of media as well. She has made regular appearances in a whole bunch of cartoons and animated movies,
and is often treated with the respect and reverence that a queen and leader of her stature deserves.
In the upcoming movie the director decided to go the blonde route and have her played by the actress Connie Nielsen.
To list every achievement and important event that Hippolyta has been part of would take forever and I highly encourage you to do more research on your own. All that I really have to say is that while Wonder Woman is considered to be one of the greatest superheroes in existence, she would be nobody without the strength and wisdom of her mother behind her.
Happy Mother’s Day everyone.
The Secret Lives of Villains #159
The Secret Lives of Villains #156
The Secret Lives of Villains #154
Cambrian Comics 