Three distinct stories. Three different art teams. One writer. Johnny Lowe offers up a new anthology in Fictions.
Don:
Johnny Lowe loves the medium of comics. I know, because he's always hard at work, creating new stories in various self-published and small-press anthologies. He's been busy, if his latest effort is any indication. He handles the writing chores on all three stories in this latest anthology.
Randy:
Don and I have previously reviewed Lowe's work in Brass Ring efforts like Anomaly, and now he's back with another black and white comic, Fictions, an anthology written by Lowe with artwork by three different artists.
Fictions #1
published by Brass Ring Comics
written by Johnny Lowe
illustrated by Seaward Tuthill, Richard Garcia & Tony Brescini
Don:
In "Occupational Hazards," when aliens visit a ravaged planet -- third from the sun -- they find an unusual threat lurking in the shadows of a seemingly deserted city. In "A Blot of Mustard, a Crumb of Cheese," a slacker in search of some cheap chow finds himself in the midst of a battle of pop-culture icons. And in "When Father's Day Comes," a small-town family is terrorized by a trio of armed robbers on the run, and the hostages' savior comes in an unusual form.
The weakest story is the second one. "A Blot of Mustard" is a commentary on the comics industry and the genres that dominate it... sort of. Lowe takes a look at the industry from 10 years ago, really, and how saccharine-sweet anime characters like Sailor Moon came in and grabbed people's attention. Gun-toting mutants and big-breasted bad girls are clearly portrayed as a threat, leading me to believe that Lowe penned this parody story several years ago. It's lost its impact somewhat as a result.
Randy:
I have to agree with you on this. There are some fun moments, such as the fairly unprecedented notion of one of the characters tweaking the nipples of a character with a spray-painted costume (reminded me of something Gail Simone would write, actually), but it suffers from being a bit out of touch. The bad girls, grim and gritty heroes and super-hero anime girls are trends from a few years ago, and while they may not be entirely gone, they're close enough that the humor loses its edge. It also doesn't help that the story seems to run longer than a joke premise would allow.
Don:
The strongest contribution is the Outer Limits-like "When Father's Day Comes." Good characters and good dialogue make for a nice read, and the premise is a nice one. The pacing of the story is a bit odd, though, as the key to the story's resolution seems to come from out of nowhere. In other words, this short piece lacks the setup it needs to really pack a punch.
Randy:
Actually, though "When Father's Day Comes" is a strong story, I had a little bit of a negative reaction to it. The reason is that Lowe does too good of a job in setting up the criminals and the people they're terrorizing, and it hit a little too close to home. The danger that the family was in seemed all too real, and it got to me and disturbed me. That's a tribute to Lowe's accomplishments as a writer, but it did mean that I didn't enjoy the story as much.
Don:
And as for "Hazards," I'm honestly not sure if Lowe is playing it up for laughs or trying to establish an eerie, ironic tone. Both tones are to be found here, and it left me scratching my head, unsure of how to react. Still, I enjoyed the premise a great deal despite the thematic limitations of the story.
Randy:
I actually found "Hazards" to be a lot of fun. It's a take on the alien invasion story that I haven't seen before, and I actually didn't really find there to be a lot of humor in the tone. It seemed pretty clear to me that Lowe was aiming for a creepy, horror feel. In fact, given that tone, it is "A Blot of Mustard" that doesn't fit in Fictions, which could have been a stronger horror anthology if there had been a third story more along those lines.
Don:
Brecini's work -- on "Father's Day" -- reminds me of a cross between the styles of Jerry (Planetary/JLA) Ordway and Phil (Howard the Duck) Winslade. The art is a little brighter than the tone of the script calls for, but the storytelling is clear and well choreographed. My only real qualm with the visuals on this piece is the censorship of violence. It's a safe bet that grown-ups are the audience for this book, and flinching away from the nastier details in a nasty story struck me as unnecessary.
Tuthill's offers up some solid work on the oddest story of the bunch, "Occupational Hazards." He captures the alien quality of the characters nicely, and his vision of a post-apocalyptic landscape is detailed and convincing. Garcia's work on the comic-book satire certainly boasts an appropriate tone of irreverence, but his panel layout is crowded and the action doesn't flow as smoothly as it could.
Randy:
There are solid art performances all around in this book, although each artist could use some more polish as well. The opening panel of "Father's Day" is a thing of beauty, but that detail is sporadic throughout the rest of the story, and you're right in that Garcia could certainly serve to open up his storytelling a bit. Tuthill stands out as the strongest artist on the book, and I found his work on this silent story to be very effective, and his designs for the aliens to be imaginative and creepy.
Fictions is a solid offering from someone who has impressed us before. It would have been strengthened had it been united by a theme, instead of simply being united by virture of having a single writer, but it's a look at some talent who could make a splash in the industry in the near future.
For more information about Fictions, you can email
