My Allegiance Comics Came: Review
So my comic books from the Allegiance INDIEGOGO came the other day, and I read them and they were so mediocre I almost forget to make a blog post about them.
The whole Allegiance business model, and those who run it, is so clandestine and confusing it is hard not to look at it and feel you're being scammed in some indiscernible way.
Of course that perception may just be psychological on my part because I do know that Mitch Breitweiser is involved and his campaign for Red Rooster is the only crowd funded book that I have backed so far where I've felt I've been ripped off.
I really only have myself to blame for backing it because I did so out of emotion and for the wrong reasons. As best as I can now remember, Mitch accidentally liked some negative Cyberfrog review, and that one liked post sent Ethan Van Sciver on an emotional rant against him. I have always been prone to start paying attention to people EVS hates so I backed Red Rooster on a whim against my better judgement.
Red Rooster began to see delay after delay for many a curious reason after another, but at some point, Mitch and his wife struck some deal to get their books in Walmart. So, through all of this, Allegiance comics was somehow born and arrived on IndieGoGo.
Again, on a whim (I will never learn I guess), I decided to back the Allegiance books as well. This time the whim was that I loved the Butch Guice cover for the Futurists. Ok, let's see what 35$ got me this time...
Let's start off with the feature book THE FUTURISTS. This is the book that sold me on the whole deal just because I loved the Butch Guice cover, and man it is a beauty. The art inside is just as good but the story sadly wasn't worth the time and money.
The pacing was off and not a lot happened in the 24 pages and the book left you wanting more, in the bad way. It felt like eating a small candy bar that had no nutritional value, was over in just a few seconds, and you had no idea how long it would be until dinner and you could eat again.
Everything about the story was forgettable. The characters, the setting and the plot. Also it didn't help that you had to wait forever for this book to arrive, then read it in 10 minutes, and then have no idea when you could read issue #2. It is possible that this book and its story could have benefited from a being 50-80 page stand alone one-shot but we will never know now.
The next book up is Norah's Saga and this turned out the be the biggest surprise, and the biggest disappointment of the lot. It was the biggest surprise because it was the best overall book of the group and the biggest disappointment because such a great tale is held back by the outdated business model pushing these books and this IndieGoGo.
Norah's Saga was a pleasure to read all around. It set up some great character development and the art worked very well with the story and the setting. The book was written by Blake Northcott and was drew by Kelsey Shannon.
And like the Futurists, this book felt over too quickly, but unlike the Futurists it left you wanting for more in the good way.
It is such a shame to see such a promising book left out in the cold to die in this outdated business model the Breitweisers (and whoever else is involved with Allegiance comics) is pushing on us with these books. A book like Norah's Saga could have really benefited from going the now "traditional" route of the whole tale, being finished and shipped at once, to backers in a nice hardcover format. Instead I am left with a short, unfinished story that left me wanting more and left me fearing I will probably never be able to go and find the rest of the issues in some brick and motor store hidden on some small display and left hanging on some back aisle leaving the comic series to die unappreciated and go unnoticed.
Now last, and definitely least we have Bass Reeves. The book is not really bad or offensive in any way, but I found it filler and uninspired. Once again it was a story that took 6-7 minutes to read and was over before you could even get into it. It was based on a real historical character, and while the character was somewhat interesting, the whole book felt more like a quick movie or TV show pitch than it did as a comic book series. I read it, didn't hate anything about it, and have no interest in seeing anything about it ever again. The book was written by Kevin Grevioux and had art by David Williams.
I would also like to point out that all three of these books were printed and shipped perfectly. The quality of the binding and the pages were excellent and "near mint" and gives the owner that old school feel of a collectible floppy comic. I am glad I got them via IndieGoGo instead of them lounging bent and broken in some crappy display hanging on the end of some Walmart aisle in the boonies.
And let's face the facts- that is the most likely fate of all these books when they arrive in Walmarts in May. It might have been a great thing 15-20 years ago to get comic books out on main stream stores shelves so children could see them and enjoy them instead of them being hidden by only selling them to dying demographic groups of older fans in local comic book stores via the direct market, but let's also be real as well, if we really wanted to save comic books in that fashion we would have been better off doing it with characters that would have appealed to kids and the general public.
Do you really think a large percentage of kids are going to run down to their local Walmart and pick up the latest issue of Bass Reeves? As awesome as Norah's Saga is do you really believe that a bunch of 8 year olds running behind their mommas in Walmart while high on sweets are going to notice the book sitting in a display and beg their parents to buy it for them based on just the cover alone? Obviously not. For such a marketing gimmick as Allegiance Comics to work it would have needed Main Stream Super Heroes to attract an audience and would have probably needed a major marketing campaign to help as well.
Allegiance Comics is a more than questionable business venture and sure to disappoint any investors it may have. I suppose the best any of us can hope for is the inevitable Kickstarter or IndieGoGo in the far future where the creators get the rights to print their ips themselves and we can buy the whole collected series whole and at once. The Allegiance Comics business model seems to mean well but it is clearly locked in the past and is destined to fail because it didn't adapt to reality. As always, time will tell.
*update happy correction 3/4/2020: "
Again, on a whim (I will never learn I guess), I decided to back the Allegiance books as well. This time the whim was that I loved the Butch Guice cover for the Futurists. Ok, let's see what 35$ got me this time...
Let's start off with the feature book THE FUTURISTS. This is the book that sold me on the whole deal just because I loved the Butch Guice cover, and man it is a beauty. The art inside is just as good but the story sadly wasn't worth the time and money.
The pacing was off and not a lot happened in the 24 pages and the book left you wanting more, in the bad way. It felt like eating a small candy bar that had no nutritional value, was over in just a few seconds, and you had no idea how long it would be until dinner and you could eat again.
Everything about the story was forgettable. The characters, the setting and the plot. Also it didn't help that you had to wait forever for this book to arrive, then read it in 10 minutes, and then have no idea when you could read issue #2. It is possible that this book and its story could have benefited from a being 50-80 page stand alone one-shot but we will never know now.
The next book up is Norah's Saga and this turned out the be the biggest surprise, and the biggest disappointment of the lot. It was the biggest surprise because it was the best overall book of the group and the biggest disappointment because such a great tale is held back by the outdated business model pushing these books and this IndieGoGo.
Norah's Saga was a pleasure to read all around. It set up some great character development and the art worked very well with the story and the setting. The book was written by Blake Northcott and was drew by Kelsey Shannon.
And like the Futurists, this book felt over too quickly, but unlike the Futurists it left you wanting for more in the good way.
It is such a shame to see such a promising book left out in the cold to die in this outdated business model the Breitweisers (and whoever else is involved with Allegiance comics) is pushing on us with these books. A book like Norah's Saga could have really benefited from going the now "traditional" route of the whole tale, being finished and shipped at once, to backers in a nice hardcover format. Instead I am left with a short, unfinished story that left me wanting more and left me fearing I will probably never be able to go and find the rest of the issues in some brick and motor store hidden on some small display and left hanging on some back aisle leaving the comic series to die unappreciated and go unnoticed.
Now last, and definitely least we have Bass Reeves. The book is not really bad or offensive in any way, but I found it filler and uninspired. Once again it was a story that took 6-7 minutes to read and was over before you could even get into it. It was based on a real historical character, and while the character was somewhat interesting, the whole book felt more like a quick movie or TV show pitch than it did as a comic book series. I read it, didn't hate anything about it, and have no interest in seeing anything about it ever again. The book was written by Kevin Grevioux and had art by David Williams.
I would also like to point out that all three of these books were printed and shipped perfectly. The quality of the binding and the pages were excellent and "near mint" and gives the owner that old school feel of a collectible floppy comic. I am glad I got them via IndieGoGo instead of them lounging bent and broken in some crappy display hanging on the end of some Walmart aisle in the boonies.
And let's face the facts- that is the most likely fate of all these books when they arrive in Walmarts in May. It might have been a great thing 15-20 years ago to get comic books out on main stream stores shelves so children could see them and enjoy them instead of them being hidden by only selling them to dying demographic groups of older fans in local comic book stores via the direct market, but let's also be real as well, if we really wanted to save comic books in that fashion we would have been better off doing it with characters that would have appealed to kids and the general public.
Do you really think a large percentage of kids are going to run down to their local Walmart and pick up the latest issue of Bass Reeves? As awesome as Norah's Saga is do you really believe that a bunch of 8 year olds running behind their mommas in Walmart while high on sweets are going to notice the book sitting in a display and beg their parents to buy it for them based on just the cover alone? Obviously not. For such a marketing gimmick as Allegiance Comics to work it would have needed Main Stream Super Heroes to attract an audience and would have probably needed a major marketing campaign to help as well.
Allegiance Comics is a more than questionable business venture and sure to disappoint any investors it may have. I suppose the best any of us can hope for is the inevitable Kickstarter or IndieGoGo in the far future where the creators get the rights to print their ips themselves and we can buy the whole collected series whole and at once. The Allegiance Comics business model seems to mean well but it is clearly locked in the past and is destined to fail because it didn't adapt to reality. As always, time will tell.
*update happy correction 3/4/2020: "
It was Mark Pellegrini, the writer for Red Rooster, that liked the EVS Disapproved tweet, not Mitch." I thank Vikki via Twitter! end update*
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