EXTRA: SAVANT REXES REVIEW ONI PRESS COLOR SPECIAL 2001

Oni Press Color Special 2001
Loads of Talented People
Oni Press
48 pages
$5.95
APR012299

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ALEC:

One day, a couple months ago, I found myself wishing for a meta-fictional comic. Someone must've been listening, because, boy, did the people at Oni ever deliver. Two of the stories in this year's Oni Color Special are meta-fictional comedies, and they're both fucking hilarious.

The Powers story, "Who Killed Madman?" is the first of the two meta-fiction stories; a massive crossover investigation, as the Powers detective team interrogate characters from Oni, Image, and even *ahem* Marvel in the search for Madman's murderer. The story follows the form of a typical investigation, but the dialogue is written with the characters having extensive knowledge of the comics industry and its workings. It's filled with in-jokes and parodies of the business practices and styles of various creators, including Bendis himself, which combine to form a maddeningly funny eight pages for those familiar with the references. Even if you don't catch all the jokes, there should be enough to keep you rolling on the floor.

Chynna Clugston-Major's Blue Monday story doesn't go as far with the industry jokes, instead building on the editor-gags featuring Jamie S. Rich which have popped up now and again in the margins of The Kids are Alright and Absolute Beginners. Chynna and all the members of Oni's staff are characters in the piece, which involves a publisher-mandated super-deformed/chibi-style story which goes nowhere, as it's derailed by the (truly deranged) introduction of Oni's mascot to the Blue Monday cast. If Blue Monday wasn't already my favorite comic, this would catapult it up there.

There are seven other pieces in the 2001 Color Special: I'd list the ones of note, except all of them are. J. Torres and J. Bone's Alison Dare story is as funny as ever, briefly crossing over with a member of the cast of Jay Stevens' Jetcat Clubhouse. The second extended Hopeless Savages story by Jen Van Meter and Christine Norrie available to the public (the first one illustrated by Christine is on Oni's website at http://www.onipress.com/hsonline-1.shtml) is both touching and a hoot. And then there's Gail Simone and Lea Hernandez's Killer Princesses: always good for a busted rib or two from giggle fits.

Which takes care of the explicitly humorous pieces. Adventure #206, by Tom Fowler, is a colorful, wordless story in which all the dialogue balloons are filled with colors; while it's capably handled and the storytelling is fairly clear, I'm still not entirely sure what to make of it. Arthur De La Cruz's Kissing Chaos struck me the same way; the art is beautiful, but the story (or lack thereof) left me a bit confused. Phil Hester and Mike Huddleston's Coffin story is a both a nicely handled introduction to the character and a solid character and voice piece. But the standout story among those which didn't make me want to laugh out loud was Greg Rucka and Stan Sakai's Queen and Country short. Six pages of terse, ably handled action in the continuity of the first Queen and Country story arc, it displays both Greg's talents as a writer and Stan's command of more modern and human figures than his work on Usagi Yojimbo allows.

This year's Oni Color Special is a collection of some of the best art, best writing, and funniest stories in the industry. If you love comics, you're doing yourself a great disservice if you miss it.

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DAVE

Probably my favorite part of going to the movies is seeing the trailers. Shit, with the quality of movies these days, often times the trailers are better than the film they are attached too. In rare instances, I'll even go to a movie just to see the trailer that is attached (I saw Big Daddy to see the Star Wars trailer, Thirteen Days to see the Lord of the Rings trailer, and I'll see Final Fantasy next week to see the first Spider-man trailer).

And that's what I think of with Oni Press' Color Special 2001: I'm paying money for some good trailers. And if I like the trailer enough, I'll find something new to read that I might not have seen otherwise. Oni helps out to make it worth my while by leading off the issue with a brand spanking new Powers story from Bendis and Oeming. Which is unusual since Powers is an Image book, not Oni. But that's OK, no one seems to mind. In fact, Oni and non-Oni creators apparently lined up to volunteer their characters as suspects in the murder of Madman.

Who's also not an Oni character, but let's not quibble with details. Let's just pause to appreciate that it took Marvel/DC ten years to put together JLA/Avengers, whilst it took Oni less than a year to put together a crossover with characters from multiple companies, most of them not even theirs.

The Powers story is such a treat for fans of the series and long time comic readers in general that it practically covers the price of admission for the rest of the book (and I'm being realistic, since the book is a hefty $5.95, but its very much worth it).

The standout preview for me in this special was the Kissing Chaos "trailer" in full color from writer/artist Arthur Dela Cruz. It truly is a trailer, introducing us to the characters, style and tone of his story in a few pages and selling me completely. Kissing Chaos will be debuting later this year, and I am signing up to preorder mine now, because it looks like a dark, moody and damn fun ride. Cruz may be the breakout talent of 2002, if this is as good as the trailer makes it look.

Alison Dare also jumped out at me. I'd never read an issue before, but again, this "trailer" gave me a total feel for tone and style, which looks like an immensely amusing journey through the imagination of a young girl. Its really as simple as that, but its much better than I'm making it sound. Know that I'm buying the issues next time I go to the store, and I honestly think it looks like a great comic to give to kids.

The Killer Princesses strip is also noteworthy, but sadly, it only got a page, and I don't think that gave Gail Simone and Lea Hernandez to fully strut their stuff and give us a full-on taste of the series. I got and enjoyed the strip knowing the premise going in, but I have to say I'm unsure that someone seeing these characters for the first time would get it without knowing the premise. But then again, sometimes that's what a "teaser" trailer is for-- to drum up buzz amongst your target audience.

You also get trailers for the well reviewed Queen and Country, Blue Monday (which Alec already went on and on about), Hopeless Savages, and The Coffin. The Coffin, I'd like to note, was very well done, but just didn't seem like my personal cup of tea. Your mileage may vary.

The most enigmatic presentation was for a new idea called Adventure #206 from Tom Fowler. I'm honestly not sure what it was about, but the production values were so good I am still curious. I can't say thumbs up or down on that one, just that I'm curious.

All in all, Oni's color special is probably the best $5.95 I've spent in a long time. And I will almost guarantee that it would be for you as well. Because, despite the opinion of the coroner examining Madman's corpse, indy comics DO NOT suck ;-)

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