kittyg's review
4.0
This is issue #3 of Island, the comic creator anthology magazine I recently discovered and have been enjoying. It's always a mixed bag as you never know exactly who you will be seeing within the pages and it's collected together by Emma Rios and Brandon Graham, but this issue has little of their own stuff. I actually found myself really enjoying this issues because we had a lot of vibrance and colour throughout the whole issue and there were a ton of new creators I had never heard of seen before. Some of the stories are just the first part and will be continued in later issues, others are complete stories.
The first story we see is on the opening few pages and is mostly an image-based design with bright rainforest, highly stylised artwork. The artist is José Domingo and the colour palette is bold, solid colours. It's a fairly interesting short look at what happens when someone comes to a new location and builds there, destroying the culture and nature that used to reside there. 2*s it was okay, nice to look at but not a lot of plot.
Next we have a story from Malachi Ward and Matt Sheen and I was intrigued straight away because it seemed futuristic in set up and the main characters all seemed to be able to access a sort of 'service' through their brains (eg. a virtual wireless network hooked into your thoughts). The ideas and story were compelling and interesting and I have to say it has potential. I didn't love the art style for the people (although the landscapes were nice) and I am interested to see where it will go to next. 3.5*s
Then we have a story from Dilraj Mann which is full of bold colour schemes, some pages with such reduced palettes that there are just two colours on the page. The people within this comic strip were highly stylised and definitely not to my personal tast, although the colours were. I thought that all the expressions and body shapes were just a bit too cartoon-y and peculiar for me to truly connect and the story was contemporary and not ovely exciting to me. It's the story of two girls who meet at a club. 2*s
Then we have Amy Clare's story which I honestly couldn't tell you what it was about. The artwork is very stylised again, but in a more 'old newspaper comic' way and it certainly is reminiscent of this old style comic formatting. The colours are bright and fuzzy on some pages giving the reader a hard time with reading and looking at the artwork because it's intentionally confusing to the eye. I did like the more out of focus panels as they were bright, colourful and exciting, but I didn't 'get' the story much so this is only a 2.5*s overall.
Next up was Tessa Black's very short story called Sea Witch and I actually really liked this (although it's odd). The style is very linear with a limited colour palette of blue, white and black and it really worked for the story. We see a young lady transforming into a sea witch and her transformation if both hideous and beautiful at the same time. There are no words, 4*s.
Kate Craig's story is next and this is the one I most enjoyed in the collection, it's also one of the longer ones meaning that both of the longer ones (first and last) I liked. I would say that the art style for this one is the most appealing to me personally, it's nicely shaded, very deep rich tones (but not overly bright or gaudy) and it's the story of a man and his wife? friend? lover? They have been travelling in the wilderness and they have somehow managed to get to a point where the man is injured gravely and the lady is caring for him and hoping to get help. It's emotional, touching, beautiful and definitely a great start to the story. I hope that there's more or that we see more of Craig's work in the future! 4.5*s
Finally we have a short article from Katie Lane about how to get into comics and publishing. Not really something that hugely interested me, but it's something informative for the end of the magazine at least.
Overall this was a mix but I definitely liked the majority of this collection and so I will be excited to continue on with the Island Magazines and hopefully continue to be surprised and excited by all that is within the pages. A 4* rating overall for this one :)
The first story we see is on the opening few pages and is mostly an image-based design with bright rainforest, highly stylised artwork. The artist is José Domingo and the colour palette is bold, solid colours. It's a fairly interesting short look at what happens when someone comes to a new location and builds there, destroying the culture and nature that used to reside there. 2*s it was okay, nice to look at but not a lot of plot.
Next we have a story from Malachi Ward and Matt Sheen and I was intrigued straight away because it seemed futuristic in set up and the main characters all seemed to be able to access a sort of 'service' through their brains (eg. a virtual wireless network hooked into your thoughts). The ideas and story were compelling and interesting and I have to say it has potential. I didn't love the art style for the people (although the landscapes were nice) and I am interested to see where it will go to next. 3.5*s
Then we have a story from Dilraj Mann which is full of bold colour schemes, some pages with such reduced palettes that there are just two colours on the page. The people within this comic strip were highly stylised and definitely not to my personal tast, although the colours were. I thought that all the expressions and body shapes were just a bit too cartoon-y and peculiar for me to truly connect and the story was contemporary and not ovely exciting to me. It's the story of two girls who meet at a club. 2*s
Then we have Amy Clare's story which I honestly couldn't tell you what it was about. The artwork is very stylised again, but in a more 'old newspaper comic' way and it certainly is reminiscent of this old style comic formatting. The colours are bright and fuzzy on some pages giving the reader a hard time with reading and looking at the artwork because it's intentionally confusing to the eye. I did like the more out of focus panels as they were bright, colourful and exciting, but I didn't 'get' the story much so this is only a 2.5*s overall.
Next up was Tessa Black's very short story called Sea Witch and I actually really liked this (although it's odd). The style is very linear with a limited colour palette of blue, white and black and it really worked for the story. We see a young lady transforming into a sea witch and her transformation if both hideous and beautiful at the same time. There are no words, 4*s.
Kate Craig's story is next and this is the one I most enjoyed in the collection, it's also one of the longer ones meaning that both of the longer ones (first and last) I liked. I would say that the art style for this one is the most appealing to me personally, it's nicely shaded, very deep rich tones (but not overly bright or gaudy) and it's the story of a man and his wife? friend? lover? They have been travelling in the wilderness and they have somehow managed to get to a point where the man is injured gravely and the lady is caring for him and hoping to get help. It's emotional, touching, beautiful and definitely a great start to the story. I hope that there's more or that we see more of Craig's work in the future! 4.5*s
Finally we have a short article from Katie Lane about how to get into comics and publishing. Not really something that hugely interested me, but it's something informative for the end of the magazine at least.
Overall this was a mix but I definitely liked the majority of this collection and so I will be excited to continue on with the Island Magazines and hopefully continue to be surprised and excited by all that is within the pages. A 4* rating overall for this one :)
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