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Click here to enter my new store. Original art, limited prints, books, shirts and more are available. Please order by the 5th of December for Christmas gifts. Stay tuned to my social media channels for updates on a Black Friday sale and a Cyber Monday sale.
Now here’s a sexy Christmas present for the Bearmageddon or Axe Cop lover in your life. Check out my post about the new series of wood prints I’ll be selling this month at Nick Offerman’s event in Los Angeles. People who can’t make it still may be able to get their hands on these things if they are Patreon members. There is also a limited edition poster print available.
Hey everyone in Bear country, Duran’s here again to bring you another fantastical webcomic review! This week’s selection is the amazeballs webcomic simply called NHOJ by the stupendously talented creator simply referring to himself as John Cullen. It’s a quirky daily comic that makes me think of the fantastically weird and hilarious The Far Side comics by Gary Larson.
It’s amazing that he’s been doing this comic DAILY for almost 3 years! His dailies (incorporating everything from journal comics to absurdist humor, to riffs on pop culture), since January 2014. That takes serious dedication! One has to admire the time and the effort he put into this labor of love. It’s an amazing accomplishment that should be applauded. Each comic has the same high-quality visuals, lettering, and sardonic humor. I must say, I want whatever high-energy protein bars he’s been taking!
His most recent daily was released October, 27th, and after reading it, I say with full confidence, that I have a new favorite word, and it’s “jaysus!”
I’m going to take a wild guess and say that he’s an Irish creator working out of Ireland! I made this deduction by his use of “humour” and words such as that which means he’s from at least across the pond. He speaks about living in Ireland, I’m not a detective here, but maybe that might be the case! Whatever the case is, these are some of the most fantastic dailies you can find anywhere!
None of the dailies he released are connected in any way whatsoever. Each comic has its own unique idea or joke. It makes me nostalgically harken back to my early Sunday mornings skimming to the back pages where all the comic strips were. Most of them had no continuous story, just funny anecdotes, and punchlines. They were mostly just cute, amusing, rarely drop off your chair bust a gut laughing kinda jokes. But what they DID do consistently was put a smile on my face, and made me feel better about my morning, even if it was for that short few minutes. That was the magic of those comic strips. This comic definitely captures that kind of magic. There’s an innocence to it that accomplishes what I’d imagine the creator set out to do, which is to at the very least put a smirk on your face! Check out his comics, I’m sure you’ll find it to be as much a treat as I thought it was!
Follow him on Tumblr at:
http://nellucnhoj.com/
If you can, please support him on Patreon at:
https://www.patreon.com/nhoj
He can also be found on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/nellucnhoj
Here’s his Twitter account:
https://twitter.com/nellucnhoj
You can also check his Instagram as well (Jeez, this guy’s everywhere!)
www.instagram.com/nellucnhoj/
Hey guys! The webcomic that I’m going to be reviewing this week is visually stupendous in every way. It’s called Impossible Jack by the legendary CreatureBox team! CreatureBox consists of two self-described monster wrangling artists who go by the name of Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin. They’ve been doing this for a while now, having worked with Insomniac games since 2000 helping craft the now classic Ratchet and Clank games. Things have not slowed down for them in the least with current projects.
Impossible Jack is a webcomic that has been stalled for some time now (July 27th, 2014), but the sheer majesty of its limited run gives me reason enough to want to share this sequential spectacle. The story follows the exploits of Impossible Jack as he ventures to save some school children who find themselves being attacked by monstrous mushroom creatures one of the children refer to as “Shroomies”.
The rescue mission seems to be going as planned for our intergalactic hero until a sudden turn of events elevates the danger-dial up a couple hundred notches. In the beginning of the story we see our heroes in the middle of this tentative entanglement, before they flashback to how they got into the mess to begin with.
The character design is out of this world (pardon the pun), with so many characters having their own rhythm and feel. It’s not always the case that the inking and the coloring match the stunning optically-orgasmic illustrations, but this is it! One can’t help but stop at a page just fawning over the energy and detail put into this comic. The lettering is fabulous as well. There’s literally no let up in quality for this webcomic. It sets a bar for webcomics that we’re seeing more and more of today.
It’s unfortunate that there have not been any more pages for the Impossible Jack comic strips. I sometimes wonder what they had planned for the story. I would have loved to have known where were they going with it. Hopefully, they can explore this world again one day and treat us to the fantastical universe of monsters and aliens once more!
You can check out Creaturebox and all their ingenious work at:
You can also follow them on these social sites:
https://twitter.com/creaturebox
https://www.instagram.com/creaturebox/
https://www.facebook.com/CreatureBoxArt/
Rising Sand is a webcomic series by Ty Dunitz and Jenn Lee. With luminescent artwork and multi-layered storytelling. This looks to become a solid classic and obligatory reading material if it isn’t already.
The story centers around two well-intentioned hustlers who live in the outskirts of Ras Huran which is a port city in a world named Erj. The youngest is a witty and resourceful 13-year-old female Sylph named Dal. Dal ran away from her family to survive out on her own in the hustle and bustle life of the shanty and crowded port city. She survives by thieving and hustling through the local markets. Her friend and protector, Qebrus is the muscle of the two. He believes if he collects enough wealth (gold and glass being of value), he can make it to a heavenly afterlife and become one with the Luminous Body cult.
The story is still relatively new and jumps between the symbiotic journey of Dal and Qebrus and Dal’s troubled older sister Ro. Ro is a 25-year-old young woman who’s a member of the Astral Templar. A small group of zealots who defend the moral and religious core of her Sylph race. Anyone who is a non-believer or seeks to disgrace the culture gets torn to shreds. She delights too much in the violence. So much so that her fellow Templars find it problematic. The Templar Mission Council seem to also be taking notice of her blood-thirst. Will she find herself having to answer for her behavior? Maybe, maybe not. I look forward to finding out how this plays out.
The world is fleshed out in such a manner that one gets the sense of an almost hopelessness for the people within this realm. It feels like they live in a post-POST apocalyptic world, where there are no forests, there are no birds, no sense of life that flourishes anywhere. Even the rich are managing in some way to stay above the fray. Week by week the world is expanding methodically before us, but consistent is this sense of vast yet claustrophobic tension I get when reading it. 
Another thing that jumps out is the collision course that is being masterfully established between Dal’s ultra-violent older sister and Dal and Qebrus. The tension between the two sisters was established in a flashback. We still don’t know the specifics of what exactly caused Dal to run away but we can imagine that it has much to do with her sister as her frustration with her people’s religious obsessions. Ro is impatient with anything and everyone, so I can almost see where this is possibly going. The story already has sunk it’s teeth into me, so I have to find out what’s going to end up happening. A great job is being done to set the stage for something dramatic and ultra brutal. The reason why I feel this extremely graphic incident is almost inevitable is because it’s been already illustrated to us that this is capable of happening in this world. One particular scene that introduces her sister Ro shows us that without hesitation. It’s just one scene, but the extremely efficient and sufficient enough to let us know that this story will not hold back on showing us the finality to its characters. What I love about the use of violence in this web-series is that they use it deliberately and purposefully. It’s not done loosely, but as an element vital to the story structure, so when we see it, it’s mandated. So far there’s only been one scene like that and it’s had a lasting effect.
I’m enjoying this webcomic so far. Tu Dunitz (writer) is really doing an excellent job establishing the setting, the character, and their trajectory. Its characters are already people I care about and worry about. The tragic character of Ro is someone I’m already interested in delving deeper into. I’m worried for our main characters when they inevitably run into this psychopath. The comic has a dream-like lamination about it due to the blissful design, coloring and inks done by Ty Dunitz and the psychedelic nature of the design, pencils and inks done by Jenn Lee . The characters seem to twist in the wind and in our mind as we canvas the panels. I feel like I had a dream about this other world with its unbearably dry heat and alien-like food and architecture only to wake up feeling like I returned transformed by my travel there.
I can’t recommend this comic book enough. It’s comic and dialogue structure perpetually feeds into it’s expanding world. I’m confident in saying that reading through this webcomic will transport you to a place that seems familiar and alien at once. The basic elements and troubles of these people and their polarized living conditions make it something any reader can recognize. They’ve done an excellent job setting us up for some kind of a crash at some point. That’s why I’m going to continue reading this. I can’t wait to see it finally happen. I’m sure when it does, it will leave an indelible mark. This is why we love webcomics!
You can check out Rising-Sand at: http://risingsand.glass/
Follow the webcomic on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/therisingsand
Also check out Tu Dunitz at: https://twitter.com/glitchritual
And Jenn Lee at: https://twitter.com/y2jenn
Support their amazing creative efforts on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/risingsand
Duran Rivera
As an Illustrator, Writer, and Entrepreneur, I’ve had the boundless pleasure to work with various talents and creative organizations. Add me on Instagram @ Drnriv or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DuranimusPrime
