Velvet Artichoke Theatre #1

Posted: Wednesday, October 18, 2000
By: Darren Schroeder

Creator: Various
Publisher: Velvet Artichoke Press (Self Published)
Address: PO Box 2001, Hanford, CA 93232-2001, USA.

This black and white anthology has an interesting batch of contributions which are all well drawn and imaginatively written.

Che Gilson's attractive artwork graces two short stories about a) a self referential look at how to construct a Magic Girl comic character. All the cliches get a punch in the nose from this one. B) a lovely and whimsical tale regarding a girl and a centipede going shopping. The art deco style of Che's art is always a pleasure to behold.

Jason Clarke provides a silly little tale of money problems and alien shoppers drawn in a slightly Manga fashion. He also does Ninja Maze, a brilliant idea well executed. The idea involves a maze made up on a grid of comic panels. Each panel tells part of a story regarding a Ninja's progress on a mission. According to the route you take in the maze the story changes, with only the exit resulting in the Ninja safely completing his mission.

Abigail Houston does some one page cartoons and finally Mike Cook wraps the issue up with a scary story about a hit woman over-dosing on heron.

In a word: Varied

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