Publisher: Abalone Press Story & Art: Matthew Kelleigh Cover Price: $2.00 Frequency: bi-monthly
Regardless, Morrim has certain powers, and Rowan is traveling with him to learn from him. What Rowan doesn't know is that Morrim is allowing him to tag along because of a prophecy, and because Rowan has a fate in store for him - a fate in which Morrim plays no small part himself.
When they end up sheltering from the forces of darkness with a mystic, nomadic race of women called the "Pogues", from whom Morrim gained his powers, the real adventure begins. Such a shame that Morrim can't help him in certain areas...
Matt sent along a copy of the first five completed issues of Circle Weave for our review; they were fully scripted, penciled, and inked, and he was finishing issue 6 at last report, so one can be reasonably assured that at least the first year's worth of issues will be coming out on a regular schedule (more on the scheduling in the Solicitation section on the next page).
I mentioned that only to explain that I've read the first five issues, and can say that his scripting improves notably between issues 1 and 3, and stays solid from there on.
The basic setup and a few of the scenes owe a debt to Star Wars, but it seems more a friendly nod and a borrowing of a character than it does a "Xerox". Morrim comes across as an Obi-Wan Kenobi to Rowan's Luke Skywalker, acting as a benevolent, strangely-empowered mentor to a young man with a Destiny. I kept expecting him to zoom up to a guard on their "sandsail" (not unlike an aircar, eh?) and say "You don't need to see his pass... move along." *heh*
Matt also handles teenage romance well, that awkward, stumbling attraction of the young, and it comes to the fore in issue 3 (available in August!). By the end of issue five, we have a full-fledged Adventure going on, and the plot keeps you grabbing for that next book.
His figure work varies as well - occasionally, people are rendered quite well, other times, less well. Some poses look natural, others, forced. The hero has an unfortunately bland face, which occasionally devolves into blockishness. Morrim is done well throughout, as are Forx and other characters, but faces on a few still apparently give him some trouble.
Matt does do a good job on backgrounds, filling them with some amount of detail rather than leaving them blank, and his shading is quite well-done, varying from cross-hatching to stipples and solids. He favors cross-hatching mostly, which provides a healthy, textured look to most of his grays.
Matt has set the cover price at $2.00 for at least the first couple of issues to encourage "sampler" sales, and it's probably a good move.
His eventual choice was to plunge ahead with a comic-sized version of Circle Weave, so he issued solicitations for issue 1, to be published in April 95. Unfortunately, since he had previously published a book called "Circle Weave" issue 1, Cap and Diamond considered this a "Relisting": Diamond listed it as "still available" and Capital didn't list it at all. Issue 2 suffered a similar fate. Matt wryly notes that he learned too late he should have called it "volume 2" or something, in order to indicate it's a new book.
So ordering from Cold Cut may be your only chance at ordering issues 1 and 2, depending on your distributor. Issue 3 should have been in your June order forms (although it may have fallen under "Indigo Bean Publishing", Matt's former publishing company).
Meanwhile, Matt had production problems with the first issue, so it's now two months late. But issue two is on-time - so both number 1 and 2 are coming out this month! Take a look at the story & art represented here, and give the book a shot - we think it'll work!
Publisher: Aria Press Story & Art: Colleen Doran Cover Price: $2.50 (only $1.75 for #1-8) Frequency: Occasional - about 3-4 issues a year.
![[ panels from A Distant Soil ]](images/ads.gif)
Liana and her siblings all have remarkable powers, but now the alien government has traced the renegade's path and tracked down the family. The alien fleet's mission is to destroy the renegade and his line, for their psychic powers are of types too dangerous to allow. The various alien factions, however, all have different agendas. And Liana and her family just want to stay alive. Alive, and together.
Unfortunately, Liana and one of her brothers have been discovered by the US government and are being "studied" by an institution. During their attempted escape, Liana ends up finding unlikely friends (or at least allies) in a street tough, a hard cop, and a young teenage knight from another world who ends up catapulted into our world.
What happens next? Read it and find out!
Publisher: Ursus Studios Story & Art: Tommy Yune Cover Price: $2.50 on most issues, $2.95 on #4 and 6. Frequency: Occasional (2-3 times a year). Issue 6 is due in July.
Good thing he's on our side!
In fact, that's one of the high points of the series for me - the footnotes. Every issue has five or six footnotes detailing background or further explanation of something in the book. In one, he explains what gas turbines are; in another, he describes an "eye flutter" test and why it's used. It's all in fun, but still full of info.
Then, in addition, in the back of each book he has a couple of pages of mechanical design specs for the aircraft and other devices featured in his book. This man does his homework! Maybe he just does this design stuff in his spare time for fun; I don't care - it's great fun to read!
Buster's occasional issuance does cause people to sigh plaintively between issues, but Tommy's outside work on a number of popular CD-ROM games leaves him little time for doing Buster on a regular basis; we have to be happy with what gems he can put out.
Note that the book has a much higher production value than practically every other independent book out there, with UV-coated, glossy cardstock covers, and really nice-quality, thick and white paper for the interiors, which make the book really stand out. How he can do it with a cover price of only $2.50 for 32 pages on most issues is beyond me ($2.95 for 40 pages on #4), but more power to him!
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