Broken Frontier

Urban vigilante ninjas, vampires, black ops, and Olympic ice skaters, oh my! The independent anthology continues with a second issue that far outshines its first.

Workshed Studios – a group consisting of three, introductory talents from Milwaukee, Wisconsin – published their first issue of Sawdust in July, and while the title showed some noteworthy levels of promise, overall it did seem a somewhat premature venture. As with any anthology, the stories were blisteringly brief, yet poorly chosen and executed for needing to be such piecemeal-told tales; most of the inaugural chapters were bare-boned beginnings, hardly enough story or character development given to lure a reader fully in. The showcased scripting and artwork equally skirted the line between being unburdened, raw flair and a too-soon debut of untilled talent (which perhaps should have remained fallow for a few seasons more). That said, there was nevertheless an obvious, distinctive passion to the works involved, and this passion resolutely blossoms in full – offering a true garden of delights – inside the second installment of the Sawdust serial.

The first of the four stories found inside, "Homecoming, Part 2" with story and art by Radamés Malavé, Jr., is the most profoundly evolved of the bunch. In issue one, I found the idea of an urban vigilante ninja an intriguing one, but found the story itself rather bland, too adamantly straight-forward and aggravatingly simple in structure, especially due to its unique blend of subject matter, a blend akin to TMNT only without the sci-fi element added. In chapter one, the ninja – Hikagé – had come home to the city after a long period of training (a la Bruce Wayne), and decided to prowl the streets at night in search of bad guys. He blunders upon a relatively small gang killing and the villains and the hero square off – To Be Continued.... While such a plot as given in #1 was not, in and of itself, terribly thrilling, Radamés pulls out some marvelous hidden-up-his-sleeves aces for this follow-up segment, and deftly moves Hikagé’s story into morally ambiguous, complex ground. Radamés’ art also seems more dynamic here, and simultaneously more solid in execution, bringing about a "Part 2" that more than made up for the pallid pilot episode.

Sawdust’s second continuing arc, "For Want of a Name," starring the ambitiously unique character, Fade, was the weakest volley this time out, nearly a misfire. The art by Joel Cotejar was just as beauteously dark and intricate as it was in issue one, but the story by Justin Riley falls victim to the acute opposite symptom that it suffered from the last time around. The Fade segments both then and now are consistently the shortest in the book – only four pages long each – and while the first issue’s contribution was scant of event and dialogue (and left me wanting a much denser read), Part 2 gave me what I thought I wished for and is horrifically hampered by an overwhelming amount of exposition and explanation, burying the reader in information they haven’t had nearly enough time to put into any sort of proper dramatic context. Still, Fade holds the greatest potential overall of the many Sawdust concepts, and would perhaps be the best choice to support an ongoing, solo series. For this alone, it’s worth sticking with until the end, to see where this first storyarc ultimately leads.

Following fast after Fade, is the Worldwide Solutions, Inc. serial, "Sinister Addictions, Part 2." WSI is a black ops organization that specializes in hunting the supernatural, and so naturally this first multi-part epic concerns that most ever-present of preternatural monsters – vampires! Alan Evans, whose art I was priggishly ambivalent to in the first Sawdust issue, comes through like gangbusters here, bringing out gorgeously rendered, gothic backgrounds, fluid figures, thrilling action, and faces as expressive as can be. Even the script by Fade’s aforementioned Justin Riley is head over heels exciting, brilliantly paced, and elaborately plotted. It left me eagerly awaiting the next and final installment to find out just what the hell is going on and how it’s all going to end! I’d also like to mention that Riley states in his bio that his favorite writer is Italo Calvino, a prose auteur whose amaranthine creativity is legendary, so after this revelation and the potential shown here in his handling of WSI, I’m gonna have to raise the expectation-bar and anticipate some true masterpieces from the lad!

Bringing up the rear is a stand-alone tale by guest-writer Dan Head (of paperbackreader.com fame) and guest-artist John Ruiz (artist of Ronin Studios’ The Wannabes). These two bring about the origin of the sole female member of Worldwide Solutions, Inc. with a minimalist but highly effective short. The narrative is poignant and chronicles the lady’s thoughts as if she were briefly, semi-nostalgically, and semi-unrepentantly remembering her past. The art is congruently sparse, though not at all poor; Ruiz’s lines are long and languorous, yet also sharp and perfectly presentational when necessary. A sweet little short, and masterfully done.

All around, Sawdust: The Workshed Anthology is shaping up to be a more than worthwhile read, with stories that, each and every one, will grab any reader’s attention and (at least after this second issue) leave them begging for more. Comparing issue number one to issue number two, I can only imagine how much improvement may be seen between this and the third issue, and God forbid I may have a heart attack and faint after reading the fourth (from sheer enjoyment, mind you). The Workshed boys may be young(ish), and they may be new, and they may be unknown, but after reading two consecutive issues of Sawdust, I predict that they will definitely become familiar faces on the comic book scene from hereon out. Sawdust is a great read, and an even greater value with 32 pages of story and art for only three bucks!

This time around I can sincerely say: click on the websites below and order your copy today!

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For more information on Sawdust, visit www.workshedstudio.com

To order copies of Sawdust and other Repercussion Comics, visit www.repercussioncomics.com