AVATAR_E-ZINE__________________________release_12.28.99
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* you can place orders for the comics mentioned
here at: http://www.avatarpress.com/store.htm
* you can check out the latest release info and
graphics at:
http://www.avatarpress.com/feb00.htm
http://www.avatarpress.com/mar00.htm
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This issue at a glance:
NEWS___________________________________________________
* THREE YEARS LATER…
* FEBRUARY RELEASES
* MARCH RELEASES
EDITORIAL______________________________________________
* Quinn Sharpens His Blades – a short note from the
writer of Faust
* EDITORIAL by Mike Wolfer – what gets the creator of
Widow & Ragdoll, and the artist of Strange Kiss hot?
* FAN REVIEWS by M. Terry Jackson
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THREE YEARS LATER…
Amazing but true – as ’99 comes to a close, Avatar
completes its third year of active publication. We’ve
come a long way since Pandora #1 was released at the
end of ’96, and that success is due entirely to two
factors – the dedication of our outstanding group of
creators, and even more importantly the support of
YOU, the readers.
Avatar Year Four is shaping up to be another
outstanding year. Check out the solicitation info
below for several excellent examples of why 2000 is
going to be the best year yet for comics from Avatar.
To the creators and readers who are making it
possible, thank you very much for your dedication
and support.
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FEBRUARY RELEASES
February is another outstanding month from Avatar.
Here’s the short version of what you need to know:
**Faust: Singha’s Talons #1 – FULL COLOR! Hot on the
heels of the explosive Book of M series comes
Singha’s Talons, an all-new, standard comic format
(Book of M was in ‘illustrated story’ format) mini-
series from Quinn and Vigil.
**Threshold #25 – Featuring the debut of Dark Blue by
WARREN ELLIS! Ellis teams with up and coming Avatar
artist Jacen Burrows for this six part tale that
starts right here! Also featuring Pandora by Avatar
newcomer Phil (Frank Frazetta Illustrated) Xavier,
and Fauna (the hot new character who debuted in
the Cavewoman Color Special) by Sean Shaw.
**Razor: The Furies #1 – The Angel in Black returns!
Artwork by fan-favorite Bill Maus.
**Widow X #10 – Find out why the net is buzzing about
Mike Wolfer! The latest sex, violence, rock and
roll wrapped up in a drama worthy of one of comics’
most controversial creators.
**Exposed: Erotic Art of Al Rio Variant Cover – Miss
this red-hot release the first time around? Even if
you didn’t, here’s an all-new, first-print variant.
**Also available this month – Razor: The Ravening Royal
Blue edition, Cavewoman Color Special Prism Foil
variant, and Raw Media #2 Solace Nude cover (Maus!).
**You can get the complete scoop on all these comics,
including variants, prices, and cover graphics at:
http://www.avatarpress.com/feb00.htm
**You can order these comics direct from Avatar at:
http://www.avatarpress.com/aofeb00.htm
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MARCH RELEASES
Another great month’s worth of comics in March.
Here’s the short version of what you need to know:
**From The Desk Of Warren Ellis Volume One – Peer into
the twisted brain of the madman by seeing what
arrived From the Desk of Warren Ellis! Cover by
TIM VIGIL!
**Faust: Singha’s Talons #2 – Quinn and Vigil in FULL
COLOR continues as the Singha’s saga heats up.
**Threshold #26 – Including Dark Blue by Warren Ellis,
Lookers by Bill Maus, and Pandora by Rick Lyon (hot
off the smash hit Avengelyne/Pandora one-shot).
**Raw Media #6 – More Mayhem from Mike (Strange Kiss)
Wolfer! Wolfer’s Ragdoll saga is joined by the
return of Bill Maus’ Jack S#!t, and the debut of
Maid of Steel by Sean Shaw.
**Widow X #11 – Sex in Area 51! Mike (Strange Kiss)
Wolfer’s erotic masterpiece continues!
**Razor: The Furies Original Art Edition – A unique
opportunity to get one of the original art pages
from this comic by Manga Master Bill Maus!
**Also available this month – Cavewoman Color Special
#1 Wraparound Cover and Cuda #0 Royal Blue Edition.
**You can get the complete scoop on all these comics,
including variants, prices, and cover graphics at:
http://www.avatarpress.com/mar00.htm
**You can order these comics direct from Avatar at:
http://www.avatarpress.com/aomar00.htm
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QUINN SHARPENS HIS BLADES FOR SINGHA’S
Through comics across all genres, and my first
produced film scripting in the last couple of years,
I’ve been trying to maximize my storytelling
instincts–and learn whatever those instincts don’t
cover. The plot for the Singha’s Talons brings
the latest distinctions to bear. We’ve always
been notorious–now I am also searching for a
way to be powerful to a larger audience.
David Quinn
** Check out more from Quinn, get the latest on the
cast & filming of Faust, and see why places like Ain’t
It Cool News are mentioning the David Quinn Forum at:
http://www.avatarpress.com/quinnforum/
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EDITORIAL by Mike Wolfer
Funny places, Internet message boards are.
Where else can you and I express our opinions for
the world to read, with our words wedged between the
views of Pulitzer Prize winning authors and demented,
inbred sociopaths? Where else can our well though-out
essays become immediately skewered by any 12 year-old
kid on the block? Where else can those who lack
communication skills outside of cyberspace derive the
pleasure of an audience by repeatedly screaming,
“Listen to me,” with a few keystrokes? With nothing
more to go on other than their shadowy screen names,
I often wonder just who some of these people are that
post on “the boards” and what is their true agenda.
STRANGE KISS #1 has shipped to stores and the
viewpoints are blooming on Internet message boards
like ragweed in my backyard.
What, dear Avatar readers, is the most common
complaint about STRANGE KISS from posters who enjoyed
Warren Ellis’ shocking fantasy comic for grown-ups?
Why, it’s the ads for Avatar’s adult material and
nude cover editions found in the back pages of
STRANGE KISS!
Many posters seem to feel that anything that makes
them tingle below the waistline is unnatural and some
have such sanctimonious attitudes that it leaves me
shaking my head in disbelief. In the script for
STRANGE KISS #1, writer Warren Ellis describes the
sodomizing of a Serbian general by the character
Bull, followed by the words, “…You shot him in
the brains immediately after coming in his arse.”
Certainly startling; clearly evocative and meant to
stimulate the comic book reader in a way that he or
she may not have been stimulated before. Yet, how
does this clever, pseudo-sexual prodding by Warren
differ from a print ad with a beautiful, nude woman
pleasuring herself in the back of the very
same book?
I’ve seen it posted over and over again, comments
like, “The ads in the back of the book for that
erotic shit made me feel dirty.” To each his/her
own. You feel dirty? Maybe the intent of some adult
material is precisely that: You’re supposed to feel
dirty. As an intelligent, reasoning human being,
there are some things that make me feel dirty, too,
but that doesn’t mean that I don’t derive pleasure
from doing those things from time to time in the
privacy of my own home. Everyone has their own
personal sins, compulsions and desires that they
would never reveal to others. It’s the posters who
spontaneously and publicly announce that they are
not stimulated by this or that who make me wonder,
“What kind of perverted little fantasies are buried
within their psyches that they are trying so hard
to suppress?”
Since my own WIDOW X and RAGDOLL are a part of
the ads causing the ruckus, it concerns me that my
work is being judged by some who have placed
themselves upon pedestals, if only to be self-
served by being upon pedestals.
Some posters proclaim that STRANGE KISS is “sick
and perverted- I loved it,” but there are those who
are quick to rebut and are presumably incredibly
gratified by looking down from Mount Olympus to
proclaim that it’s all evil.
To myself, many of those posters opinions are
invalid, since they are based upon print ads of
Avatar’s other past and present publishing
ventures in the pages of PREVIEWS and not upon
the actual work itself.
Most annoying to me is the attitude that
“erotic” equals “crap.” With the standards set by
some message board posters, WIDOW X is adult
material, therefore WIDOW X is erotic and, ipso
facto, WIDOW X is crap. But have they ever read
an issue or are they making their assessment by
the invalid, “erotic equals crap” equation alone?
If someone reads an issue, then proclaims “WIDOW
X was poorly written and drawn,” I can accept
that as their own personal opinion; as the
creator of the series, that means something to
me. All other school yard, reactionary comments
are as constructive to me as my 5 year-old
saying, “You’re a stupid head.”
As an Avatar reader, do you buy WIDOW X,
RAW MEDIA, FAUST or 777: THE WRATH? Do you buy
adult cover versions of any of Avatar’s comics?
If you do, you do it for your own personal
reasons and you are divinely entitled to make
those decisions for yourself. Be aware, however,
that there are those lurking on the Internet
message boards proclaiming you a vile,
dysfunctional member of the comic book community
because of your purchasing decisions. If
empowered, those very same lurkers would
cheerfully deny you the right of access to
Avatar adult comics or nude cover variants
because they think that it’s “dirty.”
And “they” are always right, right?
The next time you encounter discussions like
I’ve mentioned on the message boards, think
about what is being said and consider what the
comic book field would be like without the
diversity that we are afforded today.
Now, I’m going to masturbate to the mental
image of my wife giving a nude lap dance to
both Brendan Fraser and the construction worker
from the Village People while nearby, the
skeletal Lara Flynn Boyle eats a banana
cream pie.
Just don’t tell anyone on the message
boards that I get off on that; someone may
think that it’s just plain wrong.
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REVIEWS Small Press/Indy Reviews
by MTJ, tblmagazine@xoommail.com
This issue, we feature reviews from MTJ, a regular
contributor to the David Quinn Forum, self professed
Independent Comics fan, and editor-in-chief of his
own e-zine, TBL-The Thin Blue Line, the magazine that
reviews, supports, and promotes independent comics!
You can check out his quarterly on-line magazine at:
http://go.to/tblmagazine.
Also check out some of his recent reviews at:
http://www.collecting-comics.com
And take part in a ‘best release of 1999’ Avatar
poll he started at:
http://www.comicpoll.com/ballot/g/494.html
Title: Pandora: The Devil’s Advocate
Issue #1
Publisher: Avatar Press
Writer: William Christensen & Mark Seifert
Artists: Rick Lyon (interior); David Finch (cover)
Review: The new series from Avatar featuring the girl
of myth, Pandora! Spinning out of Threshold #11-13,
this series entails Pandora’s trials to return to the
land of the Infinite Ones, to rescue her friend,
Gatekeeper. But her foes Anathema, Rhapsody and
Ransom, all have conspired to use sorcery to get
Pandora to move to their will, to secretly set into
motion their own plans.
This issue shows how much evolution has
occurred between the characters and the creators.
Writers Christensen & Seifert deliver a script that
is at once naturally flowing, and clips along at
smooth, even pace. Everything from Ransom’s
descriptive narrative as to what has transpired
before, to the dialogue between Pandora and
Rhapsody, flows with a naturalness that only comes
with comfortability.
Lyon’s pencils are some of his strongest to date,
and every panel is rendered to stand out in the
reader’s mind as a testimony to show off how much his
work has grown…No wasted panels, as Lyon shows the
reason why he’s Pandora’s top artist of choice,
combining some of the choicest good girl art I’ve
seen in a while with excellent choreography in
character interplay! If you haven’t tried Pandora
yet, and are looking for an issue to jump on, I
would highly recommend this book.
Rating ( 4 out of 5)
Title: Strange Kiss
Issue: #1
Publisher: Avatar Press
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artists: Mike Wolfer and Dan Parsons
Review: I was warned that Warren Ellis could be a
harsh writer, but having never read anything but his
Hellstorm a few years back, I didn’t quite know how
much to believe it.
Then I got wind of the hype that he was preparing
to do a new series for Avatar Press, with no less
than Mike (Widow X) Wolfer and Dan (Harpy) Parsons…
and that it would be quite harsh indeed.
Well, I can tell you that new series, Strange Kiss,
has arrived, and yes, it is quite harsh indeed.
This isn’t your watered down 70’s Marvel Comics
Horror…This isn’t even Vertigo style artsy-fartsy
horror. This is grab you by the lapels and kick you
in the balls horror, that when you’re on the ground
wincing in pain, someone pours gasoline on you and
lights a match…
The premise: A high speed chase through a crowded
city intersection leads to the driver of one
car (the pursued) being mortally wounded, but
alive… that is, until the second driver (the
pursuer) gets out of the car, and executes him with
one shot to the head, before horribly disfiguring
herself in such a way that leads to her own death.
And if this bizarre murder-suicide isn’t enough,
a magician with a penchant for buggery gets his
comeuppance from his last lover… and in a scene
that has to be seen to be believed, ends up giving
birth through his rotted male member… to alien
lizards. Lots of them!
The artwork by Wolfer and Parsons is par excellence
for the pair…they’ve been dazzling together as a
team in Raw Media on ‘Ragdoll’..this makes a natural
extension for both gentleman, playing up to their
strengths as urban horror artists, and taking it to
the next notch. All three gentlemen seem to be
working in a strange shared mind…the visuals and
the script go hand in hand. And the wraparound
cover…I had to slow down to take it all in, and
then go through it all over again….excellent!
Not going too much into further detail, I must
say if you haven’t heard the word about this book,
get it! It is by far one of the most innovative
horror tales that caters right to the fear center
of the brain, that caters right to taking you to
the edge…Just when you thought it was safe to read
horror comics, along comes Strange Kiss. Get this
one and read it with the lights on…if you dare!
(Rating: 4.5 out of 5)
Secrets of the Ravening
Writers: William Christensen and Mark Seifert
Artists: Jacen Burrows, Rick Lyon, Matt Martin,
Patrick Meadows, Alberto Holaso, Tim Vigil,
Karl Waller, Steve Scott
Review: Much the same in the tradition of Pandora’s
Chest, Secrets is an amalgam of Who’s Who
Encyclopedia pages with teaser art on upcoming
plotlines and previous art already published
featuring characters from the Ravening, a group of
vampires who seek to take control over the planet
Earth by resurrecting their vampire lord, the
dark god Despair.
This series has featured artwork by some of the
best independent comics creators in its short
existence, and has the potential to become a
breakout series for Avatar Press. If you’re
looking to try something new, and you like
vampires, then give this issue
a try. (Rating: 3.5 out of 5)
Exposed: The Erotic Art of Al Rio
Writer: N/A
Artist: Al Rio
Review: A look at many pieces of Al Rio’s glorious
pin-up artwork, from his Playboy stylings, to his
recent work on Image’s Exposure, to the upcoming
Avatar Press series, Ana the Jungle Girl. Forty
pages of what Al Rio does best, showcasing why he
is one of comicdom’s fastest rising stars.
Rio’s specialty is gorgeous women, and it shows
by the pageful here…Each pin-up is better than
the last, and his work has a slight Loomis feel to
it…I highly anticipate as Rio’s star continues to
rise, the demand for this book will also. For fans
of good girl art, pin-ups, and (mild) erotica.
Also available in a Nude Cover edition.
( Rating: 4 out of 5)
Title: Snowman TPB
Issue: nn
Publisher: Avatar Press
Writer: Matt Martin
Artist: Matt Martin
Review: Collecting the Avatar Press series
Snowman Dead and Dying #1-3, Snowman Squared #1
and 2, and the Snowman Horror Show one shot, all
in one convenient package.
Having not paid attention to Matt Martin’s early
series over at Hall of Heroes, nor his later Snowman
series at Entity, this trade paperback was a welcome
purchase for me. I had originally purchased it as it
was one of the first in Avatar’s trade collections,
(the other being the collected Donna Mia), and
because of Snowman’s appearances in Avatar’s
anthology Threshold. A unique and innovative
approach to a twist on the old revenge story, an
Indian warrior in colonial times, whose life has
been blessed and cursed by fate, is given the chance
for redemption on the outlaws that slaughter
his family.
His spirit is transferred into two jewels, that
enable his spirit to have control over water. He uses
this power to animate himself as a huge snowman, and
it is in this that form he’s virtually
indestructible, an animated instrument of revenge.
He continues to exact revenge on the white men
whom he believes are responsible for the death of his
tribe, until he runs afoul of Jack and Gwynn, a
couple who manages to use the fact that Gwynn
resembles the deceased Indian’s wife, to their
advantage.
Creator Matt Martin has done his homework here, the
background and research depicted here shows through
every page. Martin’s artwork is nicely detailed,
with a pseudo manga influence ala Bill Maus. In fact,
Maus’s titular heroine, Nira X, makes an appearance
here. This issue is also rounded out with several
pin-ups of various covers to the series, including
Rick Lyon, who turns in a unique piece. Highly
Recommended. (Rated 4 out of 5)
Title: Pandora/Razor (Regular & Expanded Editions)
Issue: One Shot
Publisher: Avatar Press
Writer: William Christensen & Mark Seifert
Artists: Rick Lyon (interior); Matt Haley,
Matt Clark (cover)
Review: Finally arriving on store shelves, it’s the
book Everette Hartsoe, Razor’s creator, didn’t want
you to see…Why you ask? Because it might actually
show that somebody actually gets his character better
than he does, and that they might produce a
better version.
Pandora/Razor brings the Angel in Black back to a
better place: a well produced comics, with great
artwork and story.
On the trail of the mercenary for hire known as
Onyx, whom she believes to have been involved in the
kidnapping of a wealthy heiress, Razor instead runs
afoul of the demon Requiem, who inhabits the body of
the heiress. She becomes Requiem’s unwitting pawn in
a trap to destroy Pandora.
This issue had me in awe over the pages turned in
by former London Night artist and current Avatar
superstar Rick Lyon, who did an excellent portrayal
of Razor, reminding us of what Razor could be: A
good looking hell on wheels vigilante, who’s
literally drop dead gorgeous!
I was definitely surprised by this issue, and
the team of Seifert and Christensen moved the
story along at a fast pace, that doesn’t feel as
if it rushes its 22 pages. The Expanded edition,
which chronicles in an extra eight pages the
first meeting between Onyx and Razor, had only
one flaw: It should’ve been placed at the
beginning of the book! This way, it would’ve
fit continuity better, instead of interrupting the
third act of the book, as Razor squared off against
Pandora! All in all, I highly recommend both books,
but if you can afford only one, get the expanded
edition, and remember to read the eight pages first,
then read the rest of the story. If you’re like me,
and you’ve patiently waited for a good Razor story,
now’s your chance. Recommended.
(Both editions 4 out of 5)
MTJ regularly reviews and writes articles for
TBL-The Thin Blue Line Magazine, which covers
independent comics. You can find his reviews
at http://go.to/tblmagazine.
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