We are still on the topic of fanzines. So without further ado let´s get to the next one. Rantifuso ( a combination of rant and difuso ) while being much more professional in size and printing than USTED is not on the same level contentwise. All of the stories of USTED 3 could be published in an anthology magazine like NEGATIVE BURN or DARK HORSE PRESENTS.
But while Rantifuso 4 is a 52 page comic in full color for 3 EUROs it is still on the fanzine level. The stories are all interesting but they lack the last kick. It´s hard to put into words but there is one thing missing - the original ending. Something surprising that differianciates the stories from anything you have read before. All the stories begin really interesting but they all loose their momentum towards the end. Maybe in one or two years time they are ready to play in the big leagues.
A LA GALLEGA is a story about two guys going fishing and crossing paths with a sea monster. It´s not what you expect but the ending does not have much of a punch.
DESEANDO AMAR is one of the typical " slice of life " autobiographical stories that are already done to death. Without a captivating art style or a story that makes you interested in the main charakter this story of erotic obsession remains well below it´s possibilities.
GETAFE SECTOR 3 is a story done in a mangastyle that for me sums up what I hate about most short stories involving time travel : the cliche about the time loop. Whenever comic writers run out of ideas for an ending when they write a time travel story they always resort to the old time loop ending. The ending leads into the beginning which in turn has the effect that the story looses all direction, all meaning and you as the reader just wasted all the time it took you to read the story.
DISSUELTA EN LUVIA is a story somewhere between prose and fantasy story that deals with homecoming and is pretty weird.
LA ULTIMA FOTO is a story that reminds me a little of the TWILIGHT ZONE series but for the five pages the storytelling is too decompressed. You get the impression that the story ends before the interesting part begins.
EL VIGILANTE KIKO, a story about a security guard going on a killing spree, is another example of a failed story because after writing himself into a corner the writer resorts to the old " it´s all been a strange dream " ending. Which is also on my list of endings I just hate. Right after the time loop thing.
EL DIABLO ESPERA is the only story that really works. Which is a shame because with it´s two pages it is one of the shortest in this comic. The tale that takes place in the wild west has the only surprising ending that shows when to forgive....and when not to forgive.
NINFEMENIAS is the only part I did not read being a two page collage with a lot of words....anyway, besides of the pages of KABUKI where this is an integral part of the comic I don´t read comic versions of sudokus.The last three pages contain some sketches and alternate versions of the cover. All in all a good package but like I said, the stories could have benefitted from a little more work.
I´ve included two links. The first one is the link to their webpage so you can look at more samples of the other issues. And because the issue number one sold out you can download it in pdf - format for free !
The second one is for the rantifuso blog
Another fanzine I bought is XD fanzine. Now I didn´t find any pictures about this one only the cover I posted here. They had three or four issues, one about NARUTO and one about DEATHNOTE. On the first day I bought the DEATHNOTE issue but when I returned on the last day the NARUTO issue was sold out and I bought the SANDMAN Special instead. XD fanzine is also 52 pages but in black and white and more poket book size and it costs only 2 EUROs. Unlike Rantifuso and USTED, the XD fanzine issues are always theme issues which collect shortstories, parodies or prose about a certain theme. The SANDMAN Special contains several stories ranging from funny to nightmarish. A few are very strange and some of them are not for the squeamish and should not be read at night.
The DEATHNOTE issue is a flipbook with one side dedicated to DEATHNOTE ( which was the main reason for me to buy the book ) and the other to urban legends. The latter one being the weak part of the comic. All the stories present the usual urban legends published in books like THE BIG BOOK OF URBAN LEGENDS from PARODOX PRESS. If they had chaged the endings to something more unusual or told some urban legends that originate in Spain I would have liked it better.
What I really liked is the DEATHNOTE part that presents some really interesting alternate endings for the story. Since I still have to read the ending of DEATHNOTE I don´t know how close the stories are to the actual ending. But at this point I see them as some interesting glimpses into parallel dimensions that present possible endings.
As a resume I have to say that I enjoyed the XD fanzine issues more than the rantifuso number 4. That´s all for today. In the next post I can hopefully wrap up the first day.
Before coming to the clips of today I want to mention one of my pet pevees : comic artists that are not doing much comic work anymore. It seems that there are artists that are considered to much " old school " to get comic book work. Nowadays you have to have a flashy artstyle or be a " hot " artist instead of being a master storyteller or knowing stuff like perspective or anatomy. Sometimes I get the feeling that comic veterans like George Perez or Dave Gibbons are only inches away from sharing this fate.
The reason why I´m mentioning it is that while surfing the metal bikini website I stumbled upon a picture done by Bob McLeod of Princess Leia. I remember when I was starting to discover american comics Bob McLeod was a very prolific artist doing the art on the first issues of NEW MUTANTS. Aside from having inked all artists at Marvel at one time he also did the inks on SUPERMAN and later on took over penciling it too somewhere around the TIME AFTER TIME storyline. To tell the truth if you were reading comics in the 80s you knew the name Bob McLeod.
Judging from the pics I included here he can still draw circles abround most artists. But because it seems more important to have some new manga influenced style or such than to have the ability to bring out a monthly book I can´t remember when I saw the last comic by Mr. McLeod. Come on, Marvel guys. With all the series that are coming out there are at least five books that have worse art. Same thing at DC. I´ve included the link to his website you can check out his art for yourself. If that guy doesn´t know how to draw I don´t know who does. That´s all I want to say.
Since one of the topics of my spanish vacation is Jack Kirby and his creations this time I´m finally posting something comic related. Here is a clip from the Justice League cartoon which has not been shown in Germany with Darkseid. Best villain ever.
Now what I want to know is how the produces of this show can triumph were many writers of the comic book League fail : showing what´s cool and unique about even the unknown c - list heroes like Bwana Beast or Vigilante ( the cowboy ). This is my favorite Flash moment. I swear I get goose bumps every time I see it. This is just a " FUCK YEAH " Flash moment.
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Kame hame haaaa !!!
1 comment:
Hi!
Im Samu, from Rantifuso, co-writer and artist of Getafe Sector 3.
Thank you for your words, we could learn so much reading your critic, but i think that you don´t really understand the story as a humor tale; Getafe S3 is not a scifi comic, its only a joke about all the things that you said in your comment...
We hope we could see each other in the next Convention in Barcelona...
Thank u for all!
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