Category Archives: romance webcomic
El Santo vs. The Vampire Women: Abandon: First Vampire
We begin our story with Laila McCarthy and her trusty pal Kimmy on the run from a crack squadron of the world’s most metrosexual vampires. When they finally corner the two girls, it turns out that they have a fairly reasonable request for Professor Laila: translate two tablets of hieroglyphics, or the girl gets it. Laila, instead, goes for Option C. Short of telling the guys that the tablets belong in a museum and not being a big fan of fellas with frosted tips, she hacks her attackers down with a big ol’ samurai sword. Hey, what’s the use of carrying a sword around if you’re never gonna use it?
The battle won, Laila turns her attention to the tablets. The writing turns out to be a love story between two ancient Sumerian demons. Their forbidden love, we later find out, is predicted to bring about the end of time. After some gratuitous girl-on-girl action (which is, tastefully, left mostly to the imagination), Laila becomes pensive.
For, you see, she may be mild mannered professor Laila McCarthy to her friends and colleagues, but in real life she is none other … *gasp* … Lamashtu, the first vampire!
Abandon: First Vampire is written Greg Carter and illustrated by Elliot Dombo. If the first name sounds familiar, it’s because Greg is a frequent visitor on this site. Not only has Greg been very illuminating on the subject of creating vampire fiction, he was also very gracious to include a link to this blog on his site’s Links page. While I’m tempted to go easy, there’s a reason this feature is called “El Santo Vs. The Vampire Women” and not “El Santo Takes The Vampire Women Out to the Chocolatiers for Fun Times.”
El Santo vs. The Vampire Women: Juliette: Worst Vampire Ever
So if the last few entries of “El Santo vs. The Vampire Women” have had you feeling like a pedophile, I offer you a deep apology. It really is not that easy finding comics about vampire women where the main character doesn’t look like a preteen. That’s pretty much the case, at least, with any webcomic where the styles bear overtly Japanese influences. To find stories with more mature looking vampire ladies, we have to turn our attention overseas.
OK, so technically the protagonist of Juliette: Worst Vampire Ever is still in high school. You wouldn’t know it by looking at her, though. She looks like she’s being played by someone over 25.
Zuda Comics seems to be committed to becoming DC Comics’ reigning horror division. So it should be no surprise that a lot of the Zuda contestants take the horror route as well. Juliette is but one of many examples residing in the vast grave yard that is the Zuda former competitors archives. The comic didn’t fare well in the Zuda competition, finishing tenth place in its group. It hasn’t surfaced anywhere else online since its loss, so the continuation of this particular webcomic series may be in doubt. It was created by Cedric Poulat, a French artist who specialized in really nice cheesecake illustrations of popular superheroines. Oh, Zatanna… you can shuffle my deck anytime.
One Punch Reviews #25: Dreamless
There are many ways a webcomic can catch my attention. In some cases, a webcomic will hook me in with its concept. A ninja who is also a doctor? Awesome! In other cases, a webcomic will grab me with the art. And in very few cases, a webcomic will attract me due to the creators behind it. This was the case with Dreamless, which features an unlikely team-up: writer Bobby Crosby of Marry Me (reviewed here) and artist Sarah Ellerton of The Phoenix Requiem (reviewed here at ComixTalk).
The Webcomic Overlook #69: Sam & Lilah
I wasn’t going to do another review this week, but, what the heck, Valentine’s Day is this weekend. Go on and rail how we’re being pawns of the Greeting Card industry or how it’s totally unfair to single people. The Webcomic Overlook enjoys all the holidays, real or manufactured. Behind the menacing luchadore facade, El Santo is a big old softie who gets calorie busting treats for his lady on the Holy Holiday celebrating a brutally murdered saint.
So, to celebrate, let’s take a trip back to our friends at Act-I-Vate and take a looksee at a cute little comic called Sam & Lilah, written by Jim Dougan and illustrated by Hyeondo Park.
I mean, look at the picture below. Doesn’t that have Valentine’s written all over it? Seriously, these guys should look into doing limited edition Valentine’s Day cards.
The Webcomic Overlook #67: SPQR Blues
It seems like every so often, someone gets the brilliant idea that the Ancient Rome is going to be the biggest thing in genre fiction. Sometimes, they’re right. Gladiator was a hit in theaters and ended up grabbing a bucket load of awards at Oscar time (even though I remember commercials that were aired during WWE television that heavily promoted Gladiator as a boffo action movie that fans of The Rock would enjoy). HBO’s Rome was highly acclaimed, winning 7 Emmys in all.
To me, though, these two are rather isolated cases. I don’t think the entertainment industry ever fully succeeded in turning America into Rome-osexuals. Compare Wikipedia entries for “Fiction set in Ancient Rome” (which spans at least a millennium if we don’t count the Byzantine Empire) vs. “King Arthur in various media,” and you come to the realization that potentially fictional English kings outclass the civilization that gave us the origins of modern language, a Senate, and the aqueduct.
Incidentally, the most surprising find of this quick look? There are at least 11 entries for Roman detective fiction. To me, that’s a fairly curious concept. I personally imagine Humphrey Bogart, in a flowing toga and beaten fedora covering the steel in his eyes, turning the corner of the Temple of Venus and lighting his cigarette in the moonlight while tailing a perp who just murdered one of the temple virgins (by stabbing her in the back with a dagger, naturally). It’s like oil and water, two concepts that shouldn’t go together. Yet 11 different authors thought that this was a good idea?
While our review today is more of a soap opera drama set in Roman times, it does contain elements of crime fiction. Its protagonist, after all, is a bodyguard with a mysterious past who’s hired to protect a pretty dame from some folks who want to do her wrong. The name of the comic is SPQR Blues. It’s written and drawn by Carol Burrell, a dame people call “Klio.” If knowledge about ancient history could kill, she’s got a Pompeii gladius aimed right at your heart.
The Webcomic Overlook #56: Ménage à 3
Welcome back to the show that never ends! The Webcomic Overlook is back from its month-long, wedding-driven hiatus to bring you the what-for in webcomics opinionating. Now that I’m back from getting married, honeymooning, and all that jazz, what should we talk about? She we cover a political webcomic in honor of our new president-elect? Should I cover yet another video game webcomic? Or perhaps a video game webcomic that dabbles in politics? I’ll cover those eventually. But today, I’ll cover a subject that’s first and foremost in the hearts of every American man. Yes, I’m talking about sex.
(Hint to parents: you might want to push your kids toward some sanitized fare for this one.)
Ah yes, sex. Some have claimed that there are studies that show men think about sex every fifteen minutes. To which I say, hogwash! How does one even conduct a study like that, anyway? Do they lock up a guy in a room and ask him, every fifteen minutes, if he was thinking about sex? And if that’s how the study was done, wouldn’t the man have no choice but to think about sex, especially if the question was delivered by a nurse in a peek-a-bo outfit? Look, if I’m reading an article out of “The Economist,” you can bet I’m not thinking about whoopie every fifteen minutes. I’m more likely to be thinking about the ramifications of the Chauncey Billups-Allen Iverson trade. Thus, I suspect that this particular nugget of knowledge is entirely bogus and was created by the fine people behind “Redbook” or “Mademoiselle” to sell extra copies.
Anyway, it’s impossible to read the subject of today’s Webcomic Overlook without thinking about sex every fifteen seconds. The comic stars a geeky, down-on-his-luck loser who shares his apartment with a sassy brunette and a giggly blonde. The comic version of “Three’s Company”? Close. Today, the Webcomic Overlook reviews Ménage à 3. (But really, the “Three’s Company” analogy is not too far off. There’s even a grumpy landlady.)
I feel it’s due diligence to reveal that the comic does, in fact, feature several scenes with frontal nudity, a scene or two of R-rated non-political congress, and a heaping spoonful of dirty sex talk. Thus, like the creators, I must warn you that Ménage à 3 is for readers 16-years-old.
According to the Keenspot blurb, the comic — created by Gisèle Lagacé and Dave Zero1 (which I suspect is not his real name) — “follows the lives of comic book geek Gary and his way-sexier-than-he-is roommates in their Montreal tight-as-a-sandwich apartment where the walls are so thin there are virtually no barriers between their rooms.” Oh la la! Sounds like quite an opportunity for a little je ne sais quoi, non? Also nekkidness. Copious amounts of nekkidness that somehow involve sandwiches.
