Comic Review: Orang Utan Studios’ FTL #4

FTL #4 is a 35-page, full colour anthology comic (pdf only), brought to you by UK based independent publisher, Orang Utan Comics. The anthology is edited and designed by Oran Utan co-founder Ian Sharman, and features a gorgeous fully-painted cover by the amazing Tanzanian artist Azim Akberali.

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.

Salvus: “…imitates Life”
Story by Josh Wagner and Steve Saunders
Pencils by Josh Mathis
Colors & Letters by Ian Sharman

Though it isn’t stated in the comic, “…Imitates Life” is actually the first of a series of stories involving the titular character, Salvus; who despite being mentioned by name, doesn’t actually appear in this short.

Set in Northern Italy in 1377, the story revolves around two characters who are overseeing an artist, who has been commissioned by Salvus to create a painting of a cottage. The artist is suffering from artistic block, and so the overseers decide to retire to the local tavern, in order to give him some space in which to create his masterpiece. Once in the Tavern, the two overseers, start chatting, and get onto the subject of death. At this point the story essentially becomes a philosophical discussion about death, and why man is so afraid of this final frontier. Following their discussion, the two return to see the artist, and we get a bit of a shock ending, which connects to the pair’s earlier discussion.

As mentioned, this short is mostly a ‘talking-head’ piece, which enables Wagner and Saunders to engage the reader in a intriguing discussion on mankind’s fragile mortality. The discussion plays out quite well, and the ending contains a interesting comment on creativity and the concept of the Magnum Opus. My one problem with the writing though is that some of the language in the story is rather anachronistic. I realise the story is set in Italy, and the dialogue is ‘translated’ to English, but words like “buddy” and phrases like “down to the wire” were not in use in the 14th century. The artwork on the story was decent, but could have done with a bit more flair, and the characters could do with having more facial expressions, as everyone seems to be frowning throughout the whole story.

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Boadicca: Queen of the Icemi
Written and Illustrated by M. Hudson

This story a retelling of the legend of the Celtic warrior queen Boadicca, sometimes spelled Boadicea. The story is firmly routed in the known history of the legendary warrior queen, and details the times following the death of King Prasutagus, in 59 or 60 CE, who was king by consent and cooperation of the occupying Roman forces. In the Celtic tradition, Prasutagus left the regency to Boadicea; however, the Romans had other ideas about the estate and ceased all the lands, humiliated and viciously flogged Boadicea in her own home, and brutally raped her daughters.

These actions lead to a great rebellion, with Boadicca rousing a huge army of Icemi warriors to ride on Camulodunum (modern Colchester). Then, following a victory at Camulodunum, Boadicca lead her forces in an attack against the Roman stronghold of Londinium. Her final fate is unknown.

This story is a wonderful retelling of the legend, with some absolutely stunning artwork and design. Hudson delivers a fascinating and romanticized version of this historical fact based story, and reminds us that sometimes real life can be more engaging than even the greatest of fantasies!

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The 5^th Outlaw
Written by Peter Rogers
Pencils & Inks by J.C. Grande
Colors by Megan E. Cittadino
Letters by Ian Sharman

This story seems to be the first part of a larger series, and as such, it is mostly an introductory piece, which establishes the main characters and the premise. We are introduced to FBI Special Agent Nathan Campbell, who is given an important assignment by a superior officer. Campbell is assigned to head to Mexico and rout out a vigilante group know as ‘the Outlaws’, who went into hiding after one of their members, Jesus San Vitores, was captured and executed in a violent shoot-out. Now the FBI wants the rest of the gang, and they have an ace up their sleeve.

This is an interesting prologue to a larger story, with good dialogue, and an intriguing premise. The artwork on the piece is decent, and seems to fit the tone of the story quite well. My one criticism of the tale is that it doesn’t tell you anywhere that this is ‘part one’, so the first time I read it, I got to the end, which wasn’t really an end, and was rather confused. I don’t know if the story is to be continued in a future volume of FTL, or whether this is going to be released as a separate series. I’m quite interested in reading more though.

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Witchfinder: Curse of the Poppet
Created by Michael Secal
Developed and Written by Michael Secal & Greg Novak
Pencils and Inks by Leeahnd Goldberg & Chris Morrill
Coloured by Venessa Beckman
Lettered by Ian Sharman

This is a tale of witchcraft, or more specifically, followers of the Wiccan religion, and is set in modern day Salem, Massachusetts. Salem is of course infamous for being the setting of the horrific witch trials of the 17th century. The story proposes that followers of have started to move to Salem, as it is a sort of Mecca for witchcraft, and the local citizens are not too impressed with this phenomenon. The Mayor of the City has been leading a campaign that will see all of the trappings of witchcraft tourism removed from the city, which has been seen as a “racist” gesture by followers of Wiccan. When the story opens, the Mayor has been kidnapped, and the town is in an uproar. Meanwhile, a young girl enters a doll store run by a follower of Wicca, and finds a small doll that looks suspiciously like the Mayor.

This story had a good set up and an interesting premise, but I have to say that I found the ending to be a bit of a disappointment, and rather unfulfilling. The artwork is pretty good, but a little rough around the edges at points, for example the use of too many lines on character’s faces, which makes them look much older than they should.

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Summary

FTL #4 is another solid entry into the FTL series, with some really interesting stories and nice artwork. The strongest tale in here was probably Boadicca: Queen of the Icemi, which was just head and shoulders above everything else, in terms of both story and artwork. Both Salvus and The 5th Outlaw were interesting tasters of larger stories, but I feel that done-in-one stories work a lot better in anthologies like this. Serialized stories work well in weekly or monthly anthologies, but with the quarterly frequency of FTL, the gap between issues is perhaps too long to keep readers’ interest. Overall though, everything is up to the usual high standard that makes FTL and Orang Utan Studios really stand out from the competition in the small press comics scene.

Overall Rating:

FTL #4 is available as a .PDF release at Drivethru comics, costing $.099

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:

FTL #3 Review
FTL #2 Review
FTL #1 Review