Volume Three, Number Two

I'm going to dispense with my usual introductory preamble this time out and jump right into continuing my examination of some Caruso Comics titles I received in the mail.

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OLGA: 20 black and white interior pages with black and white cover. No cover price. Written by Dino Caruso with art by Simon Fernandes. CROSSROADS: 20 black and white interior pages with full colour cover comics digest. $4.00 cover price. Written by Dino Caruso with art by Paul Quinn. Both titles published by Caruso Comics.

CROSSROADS and OLGA are both what I would refer to as slice of life comics. As I've stated many times in the past the slice of life genre is not, shall we say, my cup of tea and neither of these two comics do anything for me that would result in me changing my mind. The best I can say about OLGA is that Dino Caruso's dialogue is well done and Simon Fernandes' artwork suits the story. Outside of that the comic left me flat and was so boring that by the time I had finished reading it I had forgotten what had happened in the first few pages. To refer to OLGA as a snooze fest is an understatement.

As for CROSSROADS, it doesn't even have story compatible artwork going for it. As was the case with A CAUTIONARY TALE-which I reviewed last time out -Paul Quinn's artwork is inconsistent at best and his renditions of individual characters in the comic is done so poorly and his story flow so erratic that the result is that it is almost impossible to follow an already dull tale. Dino's dialogue is good but not good enough to hold my attention and definitely not good enough to warrant the $4 cover price. To be honest I found both these comics to be a total waste of time and I wouldn't even recommend them to fans of slice of life comics. If that's your cup of tea there are a lot better comics of that nature out there.

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COURAGE: spring 2008.Written by Dino Caruso and art by Paul D. Houston. Review copy supplied by Caruso Comics.

I really had high hopes for this comic. I really did. But alas, I am sad to say, that by the time I finished reading the 20 pages it took to tell this tale I was left, as I was with OLGA and CROSSROADS, with the sense that I had wasted my time. Basically this is a super-hero story about the title character being branded a traitor and a back stabber by the general public and his attempts to try to clear his name. What it really was though is a slice of life comic featuring people in costumes. And not a very well done slice of life comic at that.

While the dialogue was good-notice the theme here?-the story is thing (this tale could easily fit into an 8-page backup slot instead of being stretched into the 20 boring pages that it was) and the whole premise of his being branded as a traitor and a back stabber is unrealistic.

As for the artwork, Paul D. Houston's style is such that it makes Paul Quinn's work look good by comparison. His figure renditions are terrible and his use of panel pacing can best be summed up as distracting. And I could almost swear that I've seen some of the panels in this tale elsewhere though with different characters in them with some panels being more obvious than others. I wish I could have been more positive about this comic but I can't. Don't buy it.

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If though you decided to buy COURAGE or other Caruso Comics you can find out how by visiting www.carusocomics.com.

That's it for this installment of E-Dispatches. See you next time out.

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Jonathan A. Gilbert is a newspaper columnist, feature writer and freelance comic book writer and editor who lives in Port Stanley Ontario, Canada. His work can be found all over the place including at http://cepublishing.wetpaint.com . If you wish to contact him feel free to email his at either edispatches@hotmail.com or JonAllanGilbert@yahoo.ca .

Volume Three, Number One

We're back and in our own spiffy new blog, to boot!

To commemorate this column's move I've decided to start off at its new location with a new number one. Also too once I get settled into some sort of routine I plan to write the occasional commentary about comics-related subjects and from time to time even have a guest writer/reviewer contributing something to this space.

As for the frequency of new installments of E-Dispatches, that depends on my health (for those of you who aren't aware I suffer from a condition known as peripheral neuropathy. If you would like to know more about it feel free to check out www.neuropathy.org )and how many comics I am sent to review by publishers, creators and you readers. With no access to comics (outside of Archie digests) or a comics shop here in the lovely fishing community of Port Stanley Ontario (Canada) the only way I can have material to review is if someone sends it to me.

So what exactly do I review? Basically any comics or comics-related product with the exception of sex comics. I also don't review comics that are sent to me online or web comics. So if you have something you'd like me to review you can mail it to me at...

Jonathan A. Gilbert/2-225 Colborne St./Box 10/Port Stanley, Ontario/N5L 1C2/Canada. If you are mailing me something from outside of Canada be sure to attach a custom declaration sticker and mark it "gift".

Now that I've gotten all the preliminary stuff out of the way it's time for this installment's review. A couple of months back a gentleman named Dino Caruso from Hamilton Ontario Canada sent me a few comics to review. Published under the name of "Caruso Comics" Dino's work covers a wide scope and over the next couple of installments I'll be devoting this space to his comics. This time out I'll be talking about...

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A CAUTIONARY TALE published by Caruso Comics. 24-page black and white comic with full colour covers. Cover price $4. Written by Dino Caruso with art and letters by Paul Quinn.

Published in 2006 and still available through the Caruso Comics website ( www.carusocomics.com ) this one-shot, at its most basic, is a story about the obsession of writing. But it is much more than that. In A CAUTIONARY TALE Dino Caruso takes the reader down a path of emotional darkness that can result from writing with it becoming one's sole purpose of being. While most writers are able to avoid this journey some aren't and A CAUTIONARY TALE deals with the consequences. I'm usually not a fan of stories such as this but this one touched me as I have seen this type of obsession so often over the years in the comics industry. As for the artwork in this 24-pager Paul Quinn's work is passable but extremely uneven not only sequentially but in his figure designs. And while his style does work in combination with Dino's story I found it still none the less to be somewhat distracting.

However, despite my problems with the artwork I none the less enjoyed A CAUTIONARY TALE and give it a strong recommendation. If you'd like to order it be sure to visit www.carusocomics.com .

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And with that this installment of E-Dispatches come to a close. Next time out more Caruso Comics reviews. See you then.

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Jonathan A. Gilbert is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, fanzines, online and in comics. Currently some of his previously published comics material is being released by CE Publishing Group and is available through ComixPress. For more information of his CE Publishing Group material feel free to visit http://cepublishing.wetpaint.com . Jonathan A. Gilbert can be emailed at either edispatches@hotmail.com or JonAllanGilbert@yahoo.ca .