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The Saturday Comics: Introducing Red Hot!

28 Sep

September 28, 2015

cropped-sat-com-logo.jpg

red hot 1 2

ISSUE 1
Mike Luoma
Rhys ap Gwyn

ISSUE 2
Mike Luoma
Juan Carlos Quattordio
Bettina Fertitta

How do you prove you’re a hero?

That’s the question the new Red Hot is out to answer in Introducing Red Hot. He’s a third generation hero, just starting out, and eager to prove he’s worthy of his legacy. As you might imagine, things do not go smoothly, and a simple bank robbery has far-reaching, and deadly, consequences.

The story is fast-paced and in this age of stories that take five issues to tell what should be wrapped up in five pages, that’s refreshing. The fast pace does not sacrifice either plot or character development. I’m going to keep this review spoiler free, but you will be introduced to not only Red Hot, but the super-group The Team and various members, including Leader One, Mister Velocity, and Mind Man. In a field dominated by The Avengers and the Justice League, it would be easy to simply write a Superman analog, a Batman-type, and a Captain America stand-in to round out the cast, but each character has a distinct personality, and none are designed to look like obvious knock-offs. Effort has gone into making these characters distinct.

Mike Luoma writes the book and his dialogue shows an ear for realism. The art favors dynamic layouts and bold colors, and that just adds to the fun. The artists change from the first to second issue, and while the art is clearly different, both have a similar style, keeping Red Hot consistent from issue to issue.

The bottom line is that these are fun comics. They are serious and dramatic, but handled in such a way that you know you are in a comic book universe. So many other, hugely-selling comics strive for “realism” and lose the magic of the comic book medium. This one embraces it.

I’m ready for issue three.

Mike Luoma has written more than just Introducing Red Hot. If you like this, check out his other works. You can get Introducing Red Hot in digital or print, plus Tales of The Team, Vatican Assassin, and lots of others at Indy Planet just by clicking here: http://www.indyplanet.com/front/brand/Glow-in-the-DarkRadioComics/

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Rebel Base Brooklyn

8 Sep

September 8, 2015

Brooklyn New York is known for many things. In fact, if it were a city of its own and not a borough of New York, it would be America’s fourth largest city by population. It would be the third largest if you went by sheer density of hipsters.

Famous icon: The Brooklyn Bridge.
Famous residents: Isaac Asimov, Mel Brooks, Mr. Blog.
Famous food: The Hot Dog was born in Coney Island at Nathan’s in the 1870’s. (So was the panhandler, but that wasn’t until the 1970’s.)

But there’s one thing Brooklyn has that hasn’t been widely publicized. During the rebellion against the empire, Brooklyn was home to a secret rebel base.

I’m not talking about the Revolutionary War, I’m talking about the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire. I’m talking Star Wars.

rebel restaurant

This restaurant is in my neighborhood, a few blocks from the secret base of Mr. Blog’s Tepid Ride.

This restaurant’s symbol is very, very close to the symbol used by the rebels in Star Wars.

logo infringement

Is it a coincidence? Probably. While the restaurant has been there for years, and the symbol was always used on the long white sign, the big symbol below the awning is fairly new.

It looks so much like the symbol the rebels used in Star Wars that, if the rebels had a maritime division on the oceans, the one on the left could be their symbol. It looks very much like the rebel logo with some waves added.

And while I won’t go so far as to call this place it a “wretched hive of scum and villainy,” there was a drunk laying face down in the street in front of it last week. Right in the middle of the day at 4:30. Thanks Mayor Di Blassio, That’s a first for this neighborhood!

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