Nick Davis's Blog, page 132

NBC Wonder Woman has an outfit change…

Not sure if this happened because of fan pressure, (I really had no problem with the old one), but Wonder Woman has now undergone an outfit change. Well, pants and boots anyway. Still think she needs the short jacket of the new DC incarnation of Wonder Woman (think of the children!), and Adrianne Palicki really needs to work on her running facial expressions.

Sigmartyr Vol 2 – A post apocalypse Stikfas Action Webcomic

Sigmartyr the Stikfas Action Web Comic has been updated, and the epic story continues here - click here to view

Review – The Pistoleers TPB Murder, Vengeance & Family Ties by Dan Nokes

The Pistoleers – Murder, Vengeance & Family Ties by Dan Nokes

The Pistoleers started life as a three part comic book western by indie creator Dan Nokes, which is now collected into one volume for your digestion. This story is a change of pace from Dan's earlier work and the entire story has much more serious undertones and themes than the more Tolkenesqe epic of the Paranormals.

We are introduced to the story and characters through a third party narrator, almost straight away I found myself reading the narrative bits with my little big man voice. The story is solid through all three issues and carries with it a very dark undercurrent about the effects of revenge and retribution on the soul. This darkness is huge change of direction for Dan, and his normal irrelevant humor is not present at all, although there are a couple moments of dark humor.

This is a true western tale anchored firmly in reality and pulls no punches, make no mistake this is a gritty piece of writing by Mr Nokes.

The artwork is Dan's usual unique stark scratchy inks and he allowed himself a larger panels to show more action. A sign of growing confidence he in his work. My only compliant is the guns throughout seemed awkwardly placed and distorted, but it didn't distract from the story.

The story in itself is dark, this is a western saga more on the lines of Unforgiven, than Wild Wild West. The reality of the story really hits home in the last few panels of the last book and Dan to his credit pulls no punches.

However I also have one compliant about the story. The Pistoleers had a couple of McGuffin characters that seemed to only appear at convenient (then disappear) just to push the story along. This happened twice and did irk me a little bit because it did feel clumsy, as if Dan was struggling to get his protagonists to the next plot point.

The Pistoleers story is told over 3 packed issues, and is now packed into one non-stop action TPB, again Dan provides us a huge bang for our buck story. This time I feel Dan could of easily split this story into two volumes. One thing you can count on from Dan Nokes and 21st Century Sandshark Studios, they never short change you on story, and Dan is one of the best value for money indie creators out there.

Dan has created another epic story with The Pistoleers, it is a change of pace and more reality bound than his previous work and he largely pulls this off. This is recommended read if you come across Dan at a convention pick up The Pistoleers, or order it direct from his website.

3.5 Thumbs up out of 5

To learn more about The Pistoleers go here http://21sandshark.com/

The Archer, the Horse and the Princess now the 3rd most Downloaded Fairy Tale on the Nook!!!

Thats right! The Wonder Tales Issue #1 The Archer, the Horse and the Princess is now the 3rd most downloaded Fairy Tale on the Nook as of today (listings change daily). Thank you to everyone that has downloaded and read this simple Fairy Tale about a quest for impossible things. Click here to download a sample for yourself. Also please take a moment and check out the rest of The Wonder Tales as well

Review – Paranormals Volume Two by Dan Nokes – An Epic Indie Graphic Novel!!!

Paranormals Volume 2 by Dan Nokes, of 21st Century Sandshark Studios

You may of caught my review of the first volume of Paranormals a couple of weeks ago, if not go back and find it, read it and then come back to this. This review is all about The Paranormals Volume Two that collects together the remaining issues of The Paranormals into one packed Pocket Sized Trade Paperback.

Volume Two picks up with the motley crew of Paranormals being transported into Lost Lands, and little narration by Tabitha informs us they have been there for sometime. Spending their time learning, healing and planning what on earth can they do next?

Just like the Volume One this is a black and white comic, with gritty line work and the unique style of Owner/Creator Dan Nokes. Again he brings us an epic story with some neat twists, clever villains and managed to make it all about the characters, not letting the sheer scale of the story over take there development.

One of my particular favorites of this story is Dan's dark twist on Peter Pan, the roles switch between Peter and Captain Hook made complete sense, and Pan came across as completely creepy, good work.

The story takes us on a ride, the uniting of the Elven tribes, the origins of Fang, the possible end of the world, a nutty little psychotic clown and we met God (with a very Douglas Adams way of introducing him).

Again my only real compliant is the frame sizes sometimes distract from the story telling, and exposition is fine, but a clearer image of what is going on does indeed tell a thousand words. Also Dan's artwork style may not be for everyone, and throughout this Volume you see his ink's grow with confidence, although you feel in a couple of pages he rushed where he could of dallied a little longer.

Dan has created an epic story with both The Paranormals Volumes, it is packed, full of action, twists and humor. This is highly recommended read if you come across Dan at a convention pick up these Volumes.

4 Thumbs up out of 5

To learn more about The Paranormals go here http://21sandshark.com/

Review – The Paranormals Volume One by Dan 'Da Hat' Nokes – An Action Packed Read!

The Paranormals is a creator owned comic by Dan Nokes, of 21st Century Sandshark Studios

The artwork, layout, story, publishing all powered by the constantly active Dan 'Da Hat' Nokes, a local comic creator from the wilds of Lusby, Maryland.

Dan has been plying his comic at conventions and comic shop openings for some time now and I have to say. It is an impressive piece of work.

I received my review copy of The Paranormals via mail at the start of this week after talking to Dan at the Baltimore Comic Con. Every convention I see him at I kept meaning to check out the book, and now I've had my chance.

The basic story is a girl names Tabitha Marche is orphaned and confined in a boarding school deep in the wilds Maryland, where she finds out its a coven for a cult of dark witches. She is rescued by a odd crew of magical folk including Angus; an uptight Dwarf, Fang a chain smoking Vampire Hemovegan, Dingo an Australian Dingo Werewolf and Garth a child minded Robot. This first volume follows her interactions in this supernatural world as she discovers she is key to reshaping reality itself.

The Paranormals Volume One collects together the first 150 pages, and I think first six chapters of this comic. The volume is presented in pocket book format and is packed full of story! Dan could of easily paced this story out to twice the amount of issues, and pages and you would still get a huge story bang for you buck.

The artwork is heavily stylized, with gritty inks and is printed in black white. Some of the paneling is confusing at first, but as the story progresses the flow from frame to frame is better. Although I did like the darker inks at the beginning over the lighter inks at the end of this first volume.

Character interactions work well and the narrative paces well throughout. This is 150 pages of jammed packed plot and I found I couldn't put it down, because I wanted to know what would happen next.

The only downer is due to some of the frame sizes when action happens it can be confusing and your not too sure what is going on. The narrative takes up some of that slack, but a picture does indeed tell a thousand words.

To sum up, The Paranormals Volume One is one of those hidden gems in the independent comic book world and a recommended read. Check it out today.

4 Thumbs up out of 5

To learn more about The Paranormals go here http://21sandshark.com/

The Wonder Tales#5 The Girl and the Troll out now!!! On the #Kindle #Nook @Kobo & @Smashwords

The Girl & The Troll

by Nick Davis - The Wonder Tale #5

This is a story of brain verses brawn. A Troll wakes up from his 100 year nap and chases the Old Farmers sons from his wood, and claims it for himself. The Farmers young daughter challenges the Troll to three tasks, the winner takes all…

Here is what people have been saying about The Girl and the Troll

"A New Delight Reminiscent of the Classic Fairy Tales… written in the style of the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson and Mother Goose. A short story, the author is able to weave a story of bravery and guile that will delight children… if you are a lover of classic fairy tales and fables, then you will love 'The Girl and the Troll' – a new fairy tale story to be 'read' as a bedtime story…" Suzanne F. Parrott of Unruly Guides

"This is one amazing kid-friendly fable…" Amy Rodgers-Middleton 

"Yay for smart girls saving the day!"Holly Nicole Hoxter

The Girl & Troll available for $0.99 in eBook format in the Apple iBookstore, Kindle, Nook, Kobo and Smashwords Multi eReader Formats.

Radio Interview News & Welcome to #SampleSunday check out The Wonder Tales and The Tether Saga

I have some awesome news to share with you all. I've got a Radio interview a coming for The Tether Saga. more details as I get them, but in less than 10 days I am launched into the air waves… Byoh Yah!

It is also Sample Sunday, a great time to check out samples of works from the best Indie Authors out there right now. Just go to Twitter and search out the Trending Tag of #SampleSunday and start clicking links to sample the Author stories.

My contribution to #SampleSunday is the first 17 pages of The Tether and Accept One, Books One &  Two of the Tether Saga. You can download and read these samples here – http://www.thetethersaga.com

Plus I have a Super Sized The Wonder Tales Sample you can download and get a taste of my Fables & Fairy Tales for All Ages by clicking here – http://www.thewondertales.com

Okay, enjoy the rest of Sunday, some how we escaped the snow, but its been bloomin' cold here today.

 

Review – Marvel Initiative Captain America 615.1

Marvel Captain America 615.1 is written by Ed Brubaker, illustrated by Mitch Breitweiser and the evocative cover art is by Daniel Acuna. Issue 615.1 is part of the Marvel Initiative of one shot stories from major titles that are act as jumping on points for new readers.

Out of all the .1 issues I've read so far Captain America does the best job as a jumping on issue. In this book, we find Commander Steve Rogers in contemplative mood; as a new Captain America is thrust onto the scene to take the place of Bucky who is having a few legal woes at the moment.

The story does a great job of covering who Cap is, and what he stands for. You can almost hear the wheels turning in Steve's head as the new Cap spells it out to him, that he is Cap, not Bucky, and the country needs him more than ever. You also see the intensity of Steve as he rescues the new Cap from being turned into a Modok by AIM. If anything this illustrates the soldier that Steve is.

More after the jump.

The only problem I have with this story is we have yet another Super Soldier at almost the same power level as Steve, running around. Making the original Cap a little less unique. Because you know, for a project that cannot be replicated there is sure a lot of Super Soldiers out there.

I wont spoil the ending, because I think it will have repercussions into main Cap series. This is a nice stand alone story another gem from Ed Brubaker and wonderful art from Mitch Breitweiser. Find out what makes Cap tick and pick this issue up today.

4 thumbs up out of 5

Review – IDW Transformers Vol.2 TPB International Incident… Huh?

IDW Transformers Volume Two – International Incident is written by Mike Costa with art by Don Figueroa, Guido Guidi and Javier Salteres. This trade collects together Issues 7-12 of the rebooted IDW Transformers series.

Lets see about two weeks ago I reviewed the trade of For All Mankind and frankly I wasn't that impressed. Did things change with this trade? Well, it did a little bit, mainly because it concentrated more on side characters, and stepped away from Emo Prime.

First up Bumblebee has been made the leader of the Autobots, and is seriously stepping up to the role. There is a nice bit where the Bot's are asked who their leader is and instead of saying Prime they all point to Bumblebee. And if it wasn't for BB all the Bots would of got their collective heads handed to them by the three remaining Combaticon's. Read more thoughts after the Jump.

Now I made a prediction in my review For All Mankind that the closer Skywatch, the elite Human anti-bot task force got to the Autobots, the less elite they become and I was right. They frankly become comical in their incompetence. Gone are the Elite Troops who can take down a Transformer in and out of their crash suits in seconds. The special force that the bot's all lived in fear of; now lean on the Autobots to help clean up the Decepticon mess (cause they didn't do it more efficiently themselves for the last two years). And how did Major Witwicky gain any command? He went from cool headed to implusive and emotional.

International Incident takes the premise that three Combaticons hire themselves out to North Korea to do their bidding, and help the North invade the South. Okay, I can buy that some of the 'cons were mercenaries in the first place, so that would happen if they found themselves leaderless. I didn't get Dear Leader bossing about Onslaught, but the Combaticons are fairly dumb so its plausible.

At first the Autobots, who cannot transform in public because they are now consider WMDs and any appearance will invoke an extreme response, and Skywatch can't do anything to stop them (remember Autobot combat incompetence rubs off). It isn't until Bumblebee recruits Thunderscracker does anything go right at all. Then for no reason, just as the Autobots start winning the Predacons turn up!

In all not a bad story, that had main characters trying to wreck it with a lot of inconsistent behavior. It was saved by the side characters. Bumblebee, Brawn and Thundercracker who all have a nice arc and their characters really developed in this story. Truthfully am actually really digging Thundercracker and it was his arc alone that made me pick up International Incident. Even Cosmos appears and is really amusing as he deals with some space side stuff for BB.

The artwork is wonderful and has a nice sense of scale. I am hoping the story does pick up and the last of the bumps are now ironed out. I am a fan of Transformers, but much of this series has done them a disservice so far.

3 thumbs up out of 5