By Thom Zahler
24 pages, color
Published by Maerkle Press
Some characters in comics are for all intents and purposes archetypes, the basic ideas and concepts that people look to. As such, it’s not uncommon to see analogues of these characters show up in other comics, especially ones like Superman and Wonder Woman. Reading Thom Zahler’s Love and Capes, however, reminded me that just because you’re using an archetype doesn’t preclude you from having a really good comic.
By Ivan Velez Jr.
104 pages, black and white
Published by Planet Bronx Productions
Over a decade ago, the Milestone Media title Blood Syndicate debuted. I was familiar with one of the two writers of that first issue, Dwayne McDuffie, but who was this Ivan Velez Jr. guy? After doing a little research (thanks in no small part to both McDuffie and Velez being on the now-defunct GEnie computer network) I found out that he’d also written and drawn a book called Tales of the Closet. I remember receiving the first four issues in the mail soon afterwards, and as silly as it sounds, if one could read a comic until the ink wore out that’s exactly what would’ve happened. Now Velez is collecting the entire series into three trade paperbacks, and I for one am delighted that a whole new audience will be able to find this series.
