INTERVIEW: Arcana Studio Readies "Ant" Sophomore Issue

[Interview for Toon Zone News:03-25-2004

]Arcana Studios will release Ant, a new flagship title, early in May [2004], Arcana's editor-in-chief Sean Patrick tells Toon Zone.

"Ant is the story of a little girl and how she copes with the ‘big adult’ world in which she lives," Patrick explains. "Hanna is a precious youngster who seems to understand far more about the real world than any eight-year old should. Her father is a good man and a loving father and has always tried to raise his daughter the best that he can. Hanna’s estranged mother, Betty, is a bit of a mess and only seems to enter Hanna’s life when she need something from Danny. Hanna’s schoolmates, led by Carrie Wolfe, ostracize her and pick on her relentlessly. With the exception of her neighbor, Steven, they all treat Hanna like their personal punching bag.

"To deal with the stress, Hanna has taken to writing in her journal and drawing fantastic stories. The contents of her journal are what many comic scholars have dubbed a ‘juvenile power fantasy.’
She has created a fictitious world where she can act out her noble aspirations as her adult superhero ego."

Patrick is excited about the title and its creative force, Mario Gully. “We are continuing with the sold-out success of Ant #1, and I promise you that Mario has done an even better job with this one. From plot and character development all the way to art, this one is amazing!"


In addition, Ant 2 will feature an incentive cover, with 1 out of every 10 covers being a penciled J. Scott Campbell cover. Campbell has worked on a variety of top titles including Spider-Man, Battle Of The Planets, Wildcat and G.I Joe.

INTERVIEW: Kade returns for issue 2

[article for Toon Zone News:03-18-2004]

As Arcana Studio's Kade continues into it's second issue, editor-in-chief Sean Patrick tells Toon Zone how happy he is with the title.

"Kade’s debut was an enormous success that we didn’t really expect but are very thankful for," explains Patrick. "We have been working very hard producing these titles and the response we’ve received has been incredibly rewarding."

Patrick, one of the driving forces behind Arcana Studio, is also creator of Kade, a warrior who feels no pain and who is driven on a quest for revenge. Sean hints at what readers can expect from the second issue.

"Now that the introduction is over, the story really begins to delve into the characters and plot," he says. "Kade #2 continues right from where Kade and Kamric were surrounded by the demon hoards of Apollyon. The story then delves into Apollyon’s history and motives, including back-up story ‘War of the Vampyres’ by Fer Galicia.

Many new characters are introduced and we get a much better look at Apollyon’s right hand man -- Cadoc! He is the ‘Starscream’ of the Kade title -- second in command, always looking to be leader, and he is slick. He’s not the sword-wielding flexing type. He’s much more sinister and always uses less-than-noble means. Cadoc truly is the type of bad guy that you love to hate, and with his wicked words and actions in this issue, we promise you that’s how you will view him.

"The art is once again exceptional with the talented Paco Medina and Francisco Herrera doing the covers for Kade #2. Eduardo Garcia continues to pencil the story by Sean O’Reilly and Nancy Parrazales inks are blended beautifully with Grupo EsComic colors."

Kade #2 was released in May 2004.

INTERVIEW: "Kade"-Creator Sean O'Reilly Talks About New Fantasy

[article for Toon Zone News:01-26-2004]
Fans of swords and sorcery are about to be introduced to a new hero, as Arcana Studios launches Kade. Toon Zone spoke with creator and editor Sean O’Reilly.

Toon Zone: Kade is the new title from Arcana Studios. Ccould you give us a little background to the project and your involvement?

Sean O’Reilly: Kade is a young warrior who doesn’t feel pain, but always hurts. The waves of agony he has endured from the slaughter of his people are ebbing. Now, he is drowning in rage and thoughts of vengeance. Kade is in pursuit of the demon known as Apollyon and his own prophesized destiny.

From steel separating flesh to a warm embrace, Kade is unable to feel any physical touch. A reluctant hero, Kade does not want to accept his prophesized title as Lord of the Order of the Black Sun. But when Apollyon destroys the only family he has ever known, Kade is forced to battle Apollyon, the demon who controls the Order with an iron fist.

Apollyon does not want any individual challenging his position, especially a prophesized Lord. Apollyon will not let his people believe this 'pretender', so the demon set out to kill and humiliate Kade, making sure that he would not create a martyr. He attacked Kade's monastery and village, destroying everything, leaving Kade to die...but this young gothic warrior survived. Kade now seeks Apollyon and revenge.

I created Kade about five years ago, but it wasn’t until I met Ramses Melendez and Eduardo Garcia in San Diego that he started to live. Eduardo Garcia breathes the life into Kade with his glorious pencils, and Nancy M. Parrazales enhances it with her amazing inks. Finally Grupo EsComic! completes the lush digital colors.

TZ: Do you intend to stick with the same creative team so far as visuals are concerned or can we expect several guest artists?

O’Reilly: Right now we are on an amazing ride that is going faster and faster, and we hope that we can keep the same creative team on this project for as long as we can. Eduardo’s style is fun, but definitely has an edge to it, which is in line with our genre. But at the same time we have guest artists in every book! Our online contest winners can be seen in the back of the book, and we also feature a backup story featuring various artists and different creative teams. The first backup story featured Ramses and Favian Palacios working on "Abduction." Our second backup story (in Kade #2 – on sale in the beginning of May) is by Ferffice Galicialace and colored by Grupo EsComc! We are continuing the concept of a backup story in every issue!

TZ: What do you see as being the main appeal of Kade as a character and the universe he inhabits?

O’Reilly: I believe the essence of altruism. Kade is the story about a boy who needs to take on the responsibilities of a man by owning up to his potential and doing the right thing. He cannot feel anything and this proves to be quite the asset in battle, but the story shows how this creates complications in daily actions that we take for granted. We’ve also been told that Kade is very original and has a great gothic look. We like it...


TZ: What are the benefits of being both editor and creator of Kade?

O’Reilly: The process. I have to admit I am having a great time as I am the first and last person to touch the issues. I write the script and the team does an amazing job breathing life into this project. Then I do the layout as well and put on the final touches to ready it for press. It’s very rewarding.

Freedom is another thing. I’ve talked with quite a few people and they’ve mentioned how handcuffed they are with restrictions and procedures. We pretty much get full reign on what we want to do. A great example is Ant #2 (in stores May), which will have an extremely limited J .Scott Campbell pencil cover that will only be sold to retailers who order x amount. That might be quite the idea to get processed through a larger company, but with us… it happens in one step.

TZ: Arcana Studios and the Kade project utilize the internet extensively for both communication and readership interaction. How successful has the net been in developing Arcana and Kade, and do you think the net has yet more potential in bringing comics to the people?

O’Reilly: The internet has been absolutely integral in our vision of promoting Kade and Arcana. Truthfully, it's been our biggest ally and we have no intentions of letting our online profile slide. As a matter of fact, we are continuing to put our resources into the digital world with the addition of up-to-the-minute updates, movies, games and interactive websites that will allow for a much more satisfying experience of our world. Our forums have allowed us to see potential artists (which we have since hired) and have allowed us to communicate with our audience. We believe it is this strong communication between publisher and reader that sets us apart from other companies.

TZ: Fantasy has always been a firm favourite in both written and visual media. What is it about the genre which excites you?

O’Reilly: It's been a favorite of mine, too. I love the epic feel of good vs. evil. The axiom "You live and die by the sword" is another great reason. Sometimes in our world we watch others succeed through political scheming, nepotism and/or luck, but back then characters succeed based on their own abilities and attributes.

TZ: Finally, can you tell us a bit about the animated Kade?

O’Reilly: Here are some quick links to our projects:

www.kade.ca/Trailor/Kade_Trailer1.mov
www.arcanastudio.com/animation.html

The Kade cartoon is produced by Ramses Melendez, and we will be releasing clips and describing the development process on our website. We are still very early on in development, but we have finished the script, storyboard and have done some initial animation/3D rendering tests. We already been sought out by some big, BIG studios (and they came to us--we have yet to solicit anything) but nothing is signed yet. Other studios, we will be coming so why not cut to the chase and email us...

Kade #1 is scheduled for release in early May.

Related Articles: Kade Embarks on Noble But Flawed Journey

REVIEW: JLU - Ancient History

[Review written for World's Finest: Sping 2006

Cartoons invariably have a shorter shelf life than live action. Often they are aimed at a younger audience, which means animation is taxed by mandatory "action requirements", restrictions on mature themes (such as death, violence and certain other adult scenarios), the need to promote ideological straight forward plotlines devoid of serious complications and of course, the real humdinger of mediocrity, the need to sell toys and garner oodles of advertising revenue.

With such a tight band of restrictions, even the most ambitious kid's cartoon series can start to show wear after a couple of seasons.

As season three comes nearer to a close, "Ancient History" is an example of how a good show fights from becoming formula.

The first half is, quite honestly, JLU by the numbers. The chase, the fight, you've seen it all before. It's not badly executed, far from it. There is that touch of humor, that good bit of action, but one feels the urge to get past the battles. Five seasons of meta-battles and maybe it's all becoming a little au fey. Still, always nice to see Brit actor Robin Atkin Downes get work and he does a good job voicing The Gentleman Ghost.

The set up reintroduces Carter Hall who debuted earlier this season in the excellent episode, "Shadow Of The Hawk". Naturally, with Carter Hall - Hawkman to his friends - being obsessed with Shayera and John pretending not to be obsessed by Shayera, there is some friction established. Of course, antagonism between two set heroes is something we've seen throughout JLU many times before. Being a kid's show, you know it will be resolved, it's just whether the numbers it goes by will be interesting.

Next up is Vixen and Shayera in one of those slightly tongue in cheek "off duty" scenes that JLU excels at. John's concern for Shayera, Shayera's clear interest in John and Vixen's attempt to downplay her concerns are all well played out. Unfortunately the "will they?/Won't they?" tension between Shayera and John Stewart is rapidly translating into a wealth of "I-don't-care-anymore". This character arc has been wobbling on for two whole seasons and aside from the nice twist in "Once And Future Past" it's not really felt as if it's gone anywhere.

After some more mandatory brawling, Green Lantern is captured by the Shadow Thief, a character you may also remember from "Shadow Of The Hawk". By the commercial break there is a half hearted temptation to leave the room. It's not bad JLU, it's probably great for the demographic it's aimed at, but if you are looking for that extra kick that the show normally pulls from under it's cape, it's not really there yet.. or maybe as I said initially, maybe we've just got too used to the show.

However part two really makes up for the lackluster part one as the show does something a little different and a little more adult. Anyone who'd made the mistake of wandering off to chase sweet wrappers in the break may regret leaving.

The second part, with Vixen, Carter, Shayera and Green Lantern at the mercy of Shadow Thief is far more interesting. We are treated to a beautifully rendered flashback to ancient Eygpt with some great visuals and some very nice direction. The story takes us deeper into flashback seen in "Shadow Of The Hawk" (and one wonders whether this episode had made bigger impact if it had sat side by side in the schedule) and explains in detail the tale of Shayera's incarnation as a Thanagarian ruler of Egypt, married to a previous incarnation of Carter Hall. Considering the fairly short length of this segment, it manages to develop these characters backgrounds and motivations with seeming too contrived.

There is a surprise player in this flashback is an earlier incarnation of John Stewart, who in this incarnate is the King's most trusted friend. The current love triangle is echoed in this tale, creates a very adult scenario swamped in jealousy, murder and suicide. The scenes are all handled with attention and care along side some excellent storyboarding. The scene when the king finds his wife and friend dead together is beautifully paced and rather poignant. You don't have to care about John and Shayera's over played out love affair to enjoy this sequence. What's best about the whole flashback is it's devoid of fight sequences so we get to see JLU do some really nice straight forward character based storytelling.

The episodes final revelation that the Shadow Thief is the darker nature of Carter Hall made manifest, is certainly a compliment to the voice acting of James Remar who plays both characters without revealing this key deception.

The final battle is a little more interesting than the standard affair thanks to the horrific break of a forearm, courtesy of a yelping Green Lantern. Beyond this upteenth battle in the space of half an hour, Hall and Stewart shake hands by the end of this episode as Hall rather rapidly realizes the truth behind Shadow Thief and his actions.

How does this resolve? For a kid's show, not as one totally expected. While Carter's story is completed with a little too much haste, the relationship between Green Lantern, Vixen and Shayera isn't really fixed. John tells Shayera about Warhawk - their potential future son - but explains he has no interest in creating that future as a pawn to destiny. Unless the relationship changes naturally, he'll be staying with Vixen.

Of course, as an audience we know that they get together since Warhawk appears in Batman Beyond, "The Call". This makes the unresolved outcome of "Ancient History" more palatable. It's very much in character for John Stewart to fight any form of manipulation - even if it means fighting the universe himself. He wants a relationship on HIS terms, not destiny's. One could argue by fighting destiny he's just simply denying what will be for longer, that maybe it would be logical to just accept a fate that you want (it's quite clear he's not adverse to the idea of having a son and Shayera) and maybe he should stop being so bloody minded... but that's people for you, and an example of how the characters remain well written throughout. The only downside to this epilogue is that the two seasons of tension between John and Shayera feels utterly unresolved. For its patience, the audience may feel a little cheated.

With a nice coda between Shayera and a non speaking Batman, this episode wraps on a far more dignified level than it began. Whether its audience overexposure or simply we are near the end of JLU's longevity span, I do feel this is the best time to wrap JLU. This episode fought against formula and succeeded in creating something special. There were certainly some definitive and successful attempts to break the mold here.

Nevertheless, this is an episode which feels it's main story should have been resolved a long time back and there are certainly a great deal of elements which feel over familiar. All in all a mixed bag of success and occasional predictability that shows JLU still has some punch, but it's having to pull out the stops to drive them home.

REVIEW: Doctor Who: Audio Play: Death Comes To Time

[Review written for Gallifrey One: 2005]

Death Comes To Time is an unusual affair. For one of the BBC’s first in-house online dramas, it’s neither mainstream nor fan friendly. Too confusing for the casual listener and far too radical for most fans to enjoy. There is quite likely a group - be it a small group - of both camps who sit apart from this animosity, for them, this is quite a superb little drama. I must confess I sit in this camp.

DCTT is unrecognised landmark in Doctor Who history. It’s interesting how in 2001, the show was seen in such a different light to how it would be just three years later. The show, an aborted production given a second lease of light, really feels like the swansong of Doctor Who. Despite rumours of it being a potential pilot, the story feels like anything but. Regardless of what it intended to be, DCTT feels like an official end to a show and in that context, it does a remarkably good job.

DCTT is a tale about Time Lords. It is a different perspective on the traditional myths. The premise is that Time Lords are not casual masters of Time, they are more like gods constrained by the power potential they have. A Time Lord is far more than he appears because he himself knows the power he has is beyond the constraints of his actions. Simply put, the use of such power could bring the end and even the most power mad Time Lord would not even think of breaking such a cardinal rule.

It’s a usual perspective and for me, not as jarring as it is for most fans. Some fans feel this is a rewrite as what Time Lords are, something I can’t agree with simply as Time Lords were never utterly defined. In fact, due to the nature of the show, nothing really was in the first place. In this respect, as Cartmel found in season 25, anything is game.

The idea that Time Lords could be so utterly powerful, to the extent they could kill with a single word doesn’t see so at odds. This is about a power they cannot wield rather than about defining one they can. So quite the nature of such a power doesn’t affect canon in the slightest since it’s never been used. As the narrative of the show quite rightly puts it, we’re talking about beings that walk in a dimension we don’t understand and can never understand. The idea of godlike power does raise questions about the nature of the Doctor and Time Lords, but it’s not one that can be dismissed as invalid since we’re dealing with beings that touch dimensions and concepts beyond the human mind. DCTT tells us they are bound by rules and to me; this doesn’t seem out of place with what we see of the Doctor or his people. His intelligence seems limitless, his pockets never empty and his ability to master situations with no bounds. He is a character beyond human definition, but does that mean that his race can’t be defined by something larger?

What I enjoy about DCTT is the willingness to look at Doctor Who from another perspective. This isn’t a rewrite, as people have complained previously, this is another angle. This has the same concept, same characters, and the same battles just all taken from a different position. After all, depending on how you look at an object affects how you define it. Whether a man is a terrorist or a freedom fighter, whether a god controls you or protects you, whether an alien is just a whimsical man in a blue box, or part of a godlike race whose dominion over Time is beyond our understanding.

So yes, DCTT is very much about ideology. Not just in it’s concept, but in it’s narrative and in it’s dialogue. The script is brimming with proverbs, theology, philosophy and smugness. It’s unashamed in its task and it does its task well; it answers the very nature of Doctor Who. In other words, it gives it an ending.

This is arguably the full stop that Survival wasn’t. We see the Time Lords training Ace into being the next generation of Time Lords, we see Earth successfully protect itself from invasion (for once) and finally we see the Time Lords of Gallifrey, through the lonely Doctor, give up their existence.

The acting is exceptional. McCoy gives his best radio performance I’ve heard, sounding utterly comfortable with the script. Aldred does a fine job as Ace and again I would say it’s possibly her best radio performance I’ve encountered. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be any of the cast who don’t sound at home in this production. Stephen Fry is as charming and eloquent in his delivery as always and John Sessions is superbly evil as Tannis.

That’s not to say it’s a prefect production. Naturally there are issues that the plot doesn’t really resolve. The story seems to run on the pretext that there are no evil Time Lords aside from Tannis. We’ve seen several dubious ones and thereby the question of this ultimate power that “Colin Meek” describes seems questionable. Would not the Master have tried to manipulate it somehow? Or is it so engrained into the nature of the Time Lord even he would never try and control it? It could simply be another issue that is complicated beyond the nature of human understanding and as the story often likes to remind us, those are many. However, some clarification on this would have been nice.

Furthermore, despite the wonderful presentation of the project, there are scenes that lack clarity upon listening. Of course, one could argue this was illustrated, but a good radio/web drama should work on audio alone without the necessity to rely on another medium to convey the story. Sometimes DCTT can seem a little confusing. Its story rarely indulges its listener with exposition so it cannot afford any moments of muddle.

With a great cast, some lovely dialogue and a great score (if one ignores the theme redux) this is an enjoyable listen. We now know Doctor Who is far from over, but if you hate the new series, hate the novels, hate the Big Finish audio plays, hate McGann and hate Survival as a finale to a series, then this is for you. A solid ending to Doctor Who that doesn’t betray the ethos of the show: no, not continuity my dear WHO fans, but evolution and change.

The crew should be proud, it would almost be worth being a “2005 WHO” hater just to be able to accept this an interesting an unexpected finale to the original show.