Advance Comic Review: FTL #3
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FTL #3 is a 34 page, full colour anthology comic, brought to you by Orang Utan Comics. The anthology is edited and designed by Oran Utan co-founder Ian Sharman, and features a beautiful cover by Velerio Giangiordano.
As this is an anthology title, I have done a small review of each story in the book, followed by an overall summary of what I though of the title. Please use the links below to skip to a certain section of the review:
- Valhalla: Hall of Heroes
- Broken Wings & Into the Light
- The Secret Cross, Part Two
- Lithan, A Sorgon Storyv
- The Omniscient Narrator
- Summary
Valhalla: Hall of Heroes
Written by Peter Rogers
Art by Simon Wyatt
Lettered by Ian Sharman
7 pages
Valhalla: Hall of Heroes is, as its name implies, a Viking tale. Viking stories are very popular at the moment, with such well regarded titles as Nothlanders and Viking flying off the shelves in all good comic stores. Valhalla: Hall of Heroes is quite different from those titles though, and is much more of a tongue-in-cheek humour.
The story opens on a viking longship that is traveling across the seas to launch a raid. A group of men are standing around on deck discussing the fate of a young boy on board the ship. Two of the men are concerned that the boy is a liability, but Olaf, who is the leader of this war band reminds the other men that the boy is the son of their fallen friend Mogr, a fierce warrior to whom they all owe a great debt. Olaf decides to go over and talk to the boy, named Karl, who is standing alone and looking out morosely over the water. Olaf tries to discover what is wrong with Karl, thinking perhaps that he is scared about the battle to come; Karl tells him however, that he is just bored and wants to go home, and he sees no point of dying a warrior’s death, because in the end you are still dead. Olaf suddenly realizes that no one has told Karl about Valhalla, and goes on to tell him of all the pleasures he will know in the Hall of Heroes if he falls in battle. Karl listens intently, and his spirits quickly pick up, as he realises that there is reward beyond this pitiful existence. The problem is though that Karl takes Olaf’s suggestion of dying a warrior’s death a little too literally… and much hilarity ensues!
This is a really funny story from Orang Utan co-founder Peter Rogers, and really takes a refreshing, more lighthearted look at vikings and norse mythology. According to Rogers this story has actually been seven years in the making, so he is not jumping on the Norse bandwagon. The artwork by Simon Wyatt is really nice, but I was a bit confused as to why the artwork changes from a grey/blue palette to full colour on page three.
According to Peter Rogers there is a miniseries planned to follow on from this short story, and I would be very pleased to see that happen!
Broken Wings & Into the Light
Written by Ian Sharman
Photography by Ashley Soltis
Lettered by Ian Sharman
2 pages & 1 page
Broken Wings, and it’s sister piece, Into the Light, are probably two of the riskier entries into this anthology. I say this because both of these tales are actually prose stories. Can a prose story work in the middle of a comic anthology? Let’s find out…
Both of these tales are love stories, which seems rather fitting because Sharman and Soltis are long distance lovers, who are engaged to be married. It should also be noted that both of the stories have appeared previously on the prose fiction website elephantwords.co.uk and are reprinted here accompanied by new photos by Ashley Soltis.
The First story, Broken Wings is the tale of a broken man who lost something important from his life many years ago, and is now trying to find it in the bottom of a bottle. One day he finds a piece of his heart on the floor, and follows a trail of the shards of his broken heart to finally find the thing that he has been missing for so long.
The second story, Into The Light, is a short tale about the forbidden love between an angel and a demon who meet one day when Jerusalem is changing hands during one of the crusades. They can’t be together, despite their love, and, indeed, the very touch of the angel burns the demon’s skin.
Both pieces are incredibly strong and the photos that Ashley Soltis has provided to accompany the stories are rather breath-taking. I have been into amateur photography for many years and I have to say that I am pretty jealous of Ashley’s wonderful eye for a great shot!
Do prose tales fit in the middle of an anthology title? Of course they do. Judge Dredd Megazine has interviews, article, reviews and god knows what else in it, and it doesn’t make that any less of a comics anthology, does it. I commend Sharman for taking the chance to put these prose stories in FTL #3, it was a big risk, but I think it pays off really well!
The Secret Cross: Humanity in the Execution, Part Two
Written by Steven G. Saunders & Stephen Lindsey
Art by Dominic Vivona
Coloured by Jeff Balke
Lettered by Ian Sharman
6 pages
The Secret Cross is actually a story that is set to see final publication with Chimera Comics’ Nightmera imprint, but to give readers a sneak peak, Nightmera have been kind enough to allow Orang Utan Comics to serialise the first issue of the comic in FTL #2 and FTL #3. To see my review of part one of The Secret Cross please click here!
Part one of The Secret Cross ended with the remnants of a German squadron smashing through the allied forces and making it into their enemies trenches. Their relief after finally making it across the battlefield does not last long, because a scene of brutal carnage awaits them, as hulking, half-decayed werewolf descends upon them!
Part two opens with the beast roaring something at the troopers in French. No-one understands what it said, but they don’t really care either, as all they are focused on is killing the hideous beast. Queue the lengthy action sequence… which ends with the troopers subduing the beast with their bayonet spikes, before a trooper with a portable flamethrower comes in and obliterates the creature off the face of the earth!
The soldiers of squadron 669 are relieved to defeat the beast, and much revelry ensues. Everybody joins in with the celebration, and the soldiers enjoy a good smoke, except that is for a quiet young man named Adolf Hilter….
OK, I have to admit that I out and out LOVE this story. Lindsey & Saunders have created a concept that is just packed full of potential, and Vivona and Balke are just kicking ass on the art front. I can’t wait to see some full issues of this comic to get released! Chimera/Nightmera really need to get this title on the shelves, and if they don’t then some other company should come along and release it. It really is a fantastic book, and would be really at home on the shelf next to tiles like Hellboy and B.P.R.D.
To find out more about The Secret Cross visit secretcross.com
Lithan, A Sorgon Story
Written by Steven G. Saunders
Art by Rolf Lejdegard
Lettered by Ian Sharman
11 pages
Lithan, A Sorgon Story is Steven G. Saunders’ first solo comic writing credit. In the interest of fairness, I should mention that Steve is a very good friend of mine, and therefore I most likely have a bit of a bias towards giving this a good review. I shall try to remain as honest as I can be though, given the circumstances.
Sorgon is a fictional story based upon the mythology of Roland, who was a popular legendary figure in medieval Europe. Think of him as something of a King Arthur character, who may or may not have actually existed, and all stories of him exist only in folklore and the tales of bards. There exists only one historical mention of a French Roland, found in the section of Vita Karoli Magni on Roncevaux Pass, written by Charlemagne’s courtier and biographer Einhard. Over the next several centuries, Roland became a “pop icon” in medieval minstrel culture. According to many legends, he was a nephew of Charlemagne (whether or not this was true we do not know), turned his life into an epic tale of the noble Christian killed by Islamic forces, which forms part of the medieval Matter of France.
Steve is, to put it mildly, a history geek! The only problem with this story is that Steve does not have the opportunity to relay any of this historical information to the reader, due to the reduced page count. However, you don’t really need to know all this bulky historical detail to enjoy the story.
The tale takes place in Brittany, Frankland in 771 A.D. and opens with Roland traveling across the countryside when he happens upon a group of Bretons. The Bretons refuse to let Roland pass, and even though Roland does not wish violence he knows that he cannot remain passive in this situation, and makes short work of his attackers. With this annoying detour over, Roland goes about his real business and completes his journey, which takes him to a small thatched cottage. Inside the cottage he finds and old man named Childeric, who he has come to meet, but he also finds a surprise: Childeric has Roland’s sister held captive, and has cut out her tongue. It seems that Roland has come here to give Childeric the legendary sword of Durendal, to barter for his sister’s freedom. However, with Childeric’s treachery revealed, Roland has very different plan….
Saunders has created a very strong tale here which takes full advantage of his incredible knowledge of European history. The story works well, but I think it would work a bit better if the reader was given some knowledge of the history of this fabled character. Steve has plans to turn this into a miniseries, so maybe we’ll get a bit more Roland’s back story there. The artwork by Rolf Lejdegard is really gorgeous, and I love the way that he has done the whole thing in greyscale, except for the splashes of blood, which are in a nice vibrant red. Sadly, Rolf has had to go on to another project, so if you would like to work with Steve on creating more Sorgon tales you should drop him a line!
The Omniscient Narrator
Written by Ian Sharman
Art by David Wynne
Lettered by Ian Sharman
5 pages
The Omniscient Narrator is a rather lighthearted and silly tale, and therefore the perfect way to finish-up this anthology of vikings, broken hearts, forbidden love, werewolves, and mythological warriors. The story follows a boy who suddenly becomes aware of the voice of the omniscient narrator of his life. According to the narrator he knows the story of the boy’s birth, life, and death, which he tells him happens in a couple of pages time! I can’t say much more about the story without ruining the punchline, but it is very funny.
Sharman is joined by David Wynne on art chores, who does a great job of illustrating this hilarious story.
Summary
FTL #3 is the best entry into this series yet, and is probably the strongest release by Orang Utan Comics to date. FTL is fast becoming one of the UK’s best anthology titles, which is really saying something, because we Brits can really make a great anthology comic! While FTL has a way to go to reach the level of Accent UK’s anthologies, or 2000 AD & Judge Dredd Megazine they are well on their way. However, Orang Utan and are beginning to create something quite unique and different from the aforementioned titles, which is important because if they just published a comice filled with a few second rate ‘Future Shocks’, this title would be nowhere near as strong!
FTL #3 will soon be available to view for free at Myebook, followed by a POD release at Indyplanet, and a .PDF release at Drivethru comics.
To find out more about the FTL series, head over to http://www.orangutancomics.co.uk/, and check out these reviews I did of the previous entries into the series:
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