Hercules: The Thracian Wars

Title: Hercules - The Thracian Wars

Genre: Fantasy/Mythology

Story: Steve Moore

Art: Chris Bolsin

Publisher: Radical Comics

Year: 2008

Issues: 01-05 of 05

Rate: 70/100

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PROMO: Nearly 3,200 years ago, a tormented soul walked the Earth as neither man nor god: Hercules, powerful son of the god-king Zeus, and for this he received nothing but suffering. After 12 arduous labors and the loss of his family, this dark, world-weary soul turned his back on the gods, finding solace only in bloody battle. Over the years, he warmed to the company of six similar souls, bonded by their love of fighting and the presence of death never questioning where they go or who they fight, just how much they will be paid. Now the King of Thrace has hired these mercenaries to turn his men into the greatest army of all time, which means training them to be as bloodthirsty and ruthless as their own reputation. It is time for this band of lost souls to finally have their eyes opened to how far they have fallen and the narrow, perilous path to their own redemption.

City of Dust

Title: City of Dust

Genre: Sci-Fi

Story: Steve Niles

Art: Zid

Publisher: Radical Comics

Issues: 01-05 of 05

Year: 2008-2009

Rate: 80/100

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PRMO: From the dark mind of legendary horror writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) comes a story set in the aftermath of our world's collapse. Records show the Earth once known was consumed by religious wars, spurred by the suppression of free thought and where creative expression is now viewed as the rot and infestation of the mind. This chilling vision of the future unveils a world where the police now patrol for crimes of the imagination, or Mind Crimes as their called. This beliefs, along with any tales of false heroes, idols or gods, are illegal. Special detective Philip Khrome doesn't enforce Imagination, instead he works in homicide; thats where the action is, and he has seen it all before. But criminals evolve and the world is forever changing. When a killing spree hits his department, Khrome finds himself face-to-face with a perpetrator who has merged reality with superstition, something is not what it seems. This enemy of folklore will require old-fashioned detective techniques to bring to justice, but the only problem is it will take one's imagination to find the source of this new evil.

Shrapnel - Aristeia Rising

Title: Shrapnel - Aristeia Rising

Genre: Sci-Fi

Created by: Nick Sagan & Mark Long

Script: M. Zachary Sherman

Art: Bagus Hutomo

Publisher: Radical Comics

Issues: 1-5 of 5

Year: 2009

Rate: 83/100

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PROMO: Venus, 2250. After five years of war, the last free colony in the Solar System is about to fall. Unknown to the attacking Marines - or even the colonists themselves - the most infamous heroine of the war has gone into hiding in exile on their planet. Now she must organize a revolt against the very Marines she once fought alongside and lead the colonists to freedom.


REVIEW: Dobar, full-on ratni sci-fi je retkost u svetu devete umetnosti, čak bih rekao da ako izuzmemo razne franšize koje svoje poreklo vuku iz drugi medija, a u stripu su doživele samo svoje proširenje (ili, češće, samo daj-da-odradimo verzije). 
Srapnel: Aristeia Rising nam, pak, donosi svoj, originalni univerzum u kojem se čovečanstvo raširilo diljem sunčevog sistema, praktično naseljavajući svaku stenu, usput se cepajući u dve frakcije - na genetski modifikovane, "superiorne" splicere i tradicionaliste helote. Solar Alliance drži kontrolu nad vežinom sistema - osiguravajući mir i ujedinjenost ljudskog roda, što mirnim pretnjama silom, što efikasnom upotrebom iste u praksi, kad ustreba. U Savezu heloti su diskriminisani, najniži red građana, osuđeni na najprimitivnije poslove i trpljenje splajserskog vređenja, čak i iživljavanja. Venera je poslednja slobodna planeta i na njoj su dve grane čovečanstva jednake... ili makar jednakije. Tu utočište nalaze kako heloti, tako i ljudi koji jendostavno veruju u drugačije društvo, slobodno i pravednije, ali razni begunci iz Saveza. Među potonjim je i naša heroina - nekadašnji oficir marinaca koja je nakon užasnog masakra počinjenog od strane njenog nadređenog, a nad nedužnim civilima, odlučila da zauvek raskrsti sa trulom splajserskom tvorevinom - Savezom.
Ali, svemirski policajci stižu i na Veneru - da donesu mir i blagostanje, da je ujedine sa ostalim čovečanstvom, da obezbede njene stanovnike stotinama svojih marinaca. Na našoj heroini i hrabrim, ali u ratovanju neveštim venerijancima je da to spreče.

Veoma plastična metafora, rekao bih, na danađnje stanje u svetu, gde je Savez zapravo SAD, a pobunjena, slobodna Venera, zapravo, bilo koja od nacija koju danas ameri oslobađaju i kojima donose svoj mir i demokratiju...
Sve to uz spektakularne boje, efekte, scene masovnih bitki, tone mekova, razvaljenih oklopa i prosutih creva.

Legends: The Enchanted

Title: Legends - The Enchanted

Genre: Fantasy/Horror/Steam-punk

Story&Art: Nick Percival

Publisher: Radical Comics

Issues/Pages: 103

Year: 2010

Rate: 78/100

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PROMO: Named Best Graphic Novel of 2010 by Horror News.

Violently ripped from the pages of folklore, the Enchanted emerge.  This band of supernatural immortals inhabits a twisted steam-punk realm infested by nightmarish creatures.  A place where nature, technology and foul magic are in constant conflict.  When the mutilated remains of the half-wooden, half-mechanical warrior Pinocchio are discovered, wolf-hunter Red Hood and giant-killer Jack realize that their protective spell of immortality has been broken.  Jack and Red, with the help of the mercenary, Goldilocks, and psychic exterminators Hansel and Gretel, team up on an adventure to stop whatever, or whoever, is eliminating their powers and destroying their kind.


REVIEW: Priču sasvim dobro sumira ovaj pasus iz promo materijala, pa meni ostaje da kažem da suštinski nije u pitanju nekakav spaktakl i da je, kada pričamo o adaptiranju i modernizaciji bajki, strip svet video i nešto ubedjivije priče, ali, Legends: The Enchanted je i više nego pristojan komad i to može da zahvali pre svega vanrednom izgledu - verujte mi, da mi neko ponudi da biram između bilo koje strane ovog stripa i rasne, prirodne, u predelu grudnog koša obdarene crnke, izabrao bih šareno parče stripa i s njim vodio ljubav celu noć!

F.V.Z.A.

Title: F.V.Z.A.

Genre: Horror

Story: David Hine

Art: Roy Allan Martinez

Publisher: Radical Comics

Issues/Pages: 1-3 of 3

Year: 2009-2010

Rate: 82/100

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PRMO: Landra always knew that Vampires and Zombies were real. Trained to fight since childhood by her grandfather, legendary Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency (F.V.Z.A.) operative Hugo Pecos, when the Vamps and the Zombies came back out of hiding, she would be ready. Even though both viruses were assumed to be eradicated and the F.V.Z.A. officially disbanded, Landra knew they would be back. Little did she realize that when the Vampires did come out of hiding they would use a deadly new weapon to target the humans: an incurable strain of the zombie virus. Now Picos and Landra (along with her brother Vidal) have been tasked to re-instate the agency and train a new batch of operatives to target the most dangerous Vampire they've ever known - Landra and Vidal's own grandmother!

REVIEW: Radical Comics je sasvim mlad američki izdavač - osnovan 2008. godine, ali je već kroz godinu-dve izgradio ime i našao svoje mesto pod, inače, malim strip publishing suncem. karakterističan pre svega po nedostatku superhero stripova u svom katalogu i koncentraciji na ostalim žanrovskim izdanjima - horror i sci-fi, ali i sopstvenim vizijama nekih legendranih, bajkovitih ličnosti poput Herkula ili Aladina, uz izuzetan vizuelni stil koji je gotovo pod obaveznim za sve njihove knjige - nije ni čudo da su u tome uspeli. Ovo jeste njihovo prvo izdanje koje se pojavljuje na blogu, ali nikako poslednje. 

FVZA je odličan zombi/vampire strip - odličan u granicama žanra i odličan za svakog fana horrora i tih stvorenja, nepretenciozan u smislu donošenja ne znam ni ja kakvih poruka i pouka, već "samo" pruža solidnu priču. 

Amerika pamti nevolje sa undead stvorenjima, koja su bila deo njihove istorije od samih početaka - od naseljavanja kontinenta, kroz građanski rat, pa sve do kenedijeve vlasti kada je i poslednji vampir ubijen, a zombi pitanje rešeno još ranije - pronalaskom vakcine. 

Pamti, ali ih se ne plaši.

Pobeda se slavi svake godine za Noć Veštica, spomenici dignuti u čast ljudima koji su u tim sukobima izginuli su posrani i išarani grafitima smrtne, gotik klinčadije koja "živi životom vampira"...

Ipak, neko ne spava mirno. Neko je sav svoj život posvetio borbi protiv vampira i zombija, a onda kada je penzionisan i svoju starost je njoj posvetio - Hugo Pecos nekadašnji glavnokomandujući Federalnom Vampir-Zombi Agencijom živi izolovano, usred pustinje, pripremajući svoje unuke - Vidala i Landru - za neumitno - za povratak vampira...

Dodajte mladog, drčnog vampira koji razotkriva činjenicu da njegov soj nije istrebljen, da je živ i brojan i dobro čuvan na starom kontinentu, da vođe vampira shvataju da im sada predstoji rat sa amerikancima, rat do istrebljenja, da otpočinju plan za širenje novog zombi virusa, da se FVZA vrlo brzo ponovo otvara... i dobićete odličnu postavku za jednu bitku koja će rešiti sudbinu sveta.

Priča sa početkom i krajem, tačno smeštena u tri broja, iako su svojom dužinom bliži evrposkoj, nego li američkoj tradicija stripa, sama sebi dovoljna - preporuka, svakako.