Earth Dream Anthology Review
7 Robots
Reviewed by: Ross Rivers
Review: Well, Earth Day is near enough here! It’s April 22nd! No, I didn’t know either... Do we buy the Earth a cake, or something? Did YOU get it a card? Do you want me to pick one up...? To be honest, I think we just need to use the day to raise awareness of global warming and stuff. Turn off some plugs or something.
I jest, of course; the Earth is very important. It’s like, where I live and stuff. Perhaps I’m not very good at the “green” thing. To be honest, when people talk about going green, all I can think of is the Swamp Thing cartoon theme song.
But, I switch off the electrics I don’t use (When I remember) and I recycle. What more can one man do, I ask?!? Well, Earth Dream aims to raise awareness of these issues by using science fiction and fantasy to draw you in. Problem is, this could come off as incredibly preachy. It’s way too easy to just ignore a good cause simply because the way the issues are raised is infuriatingly annoying.
Earth Dream presents us with a handful of stories from creators all over the world. All of them are science fiction and fantasy and all of them are about the end of the world due to mankind’s inability to take care of the earth.
They vary in quality, as you’d expect from an anthology. One of the best, however, is the first story written by Suzy Dias, with art by Miguel Guerra. These two actually publish the book, by the way.
The story is called “Seventh Generation” and kicks off with a man dressed in metal armour, crossing a desert carrying a package. Waiting for him is two Native Americans; one man named Wehali and a woman named Maka. Then the metal man takes off his helmet and dies. Men of metal cannot survive in clean air, or something! But the package he delivered is supposed to help save the world from man’s past mistakes.
Maka sends Wehali and the package off to a spirit world. This world is where the story really shines; it’s full of Native American imagery, including a spirit named Brother Crow and some elementals. While the story itself is pretty simple, Guerra’s art is fantastic. It’s bright, vibrant and full of details that show off his talents as an artist.
This beautiful looking chapter is followed up by a much darker, noir story following a guy as he travels through a ruined city searching for life.
The Hole, Written by Ireneusz Mazurek, with art by Marek Rudowski, it’s one of the simplest stories in the book. A guy searching for life finds something, his lighter runs out of fluid. All very nightmarish. But, as with Seventh Generation, it’s the art that stands out; it’s quite different from the colourful work of Guerra. Rudowski’s art is dark and miserable, which is a nice contrast.
As I mentioned, the stories vary in quality. The third story, Effect, isn’t anything to write home about; written and drawn by Jerome Walford, it’s a silent story about butterflies or something. And a tree. But Walford does use colours pretty well; His use of yellow and orange, followed by black and grey is pretty effective.
And then zombies. ZOMBIES. COME ON! Didn’t I recently talk about how we have too many zombies? And here we have more zombies. Why not?!? It’s presented as a found footage zombie movie, too. Because the world needs more found footage horror, right? A. M Fraser’s ENDangered isn’t the worst one of the bunch, but it’s pretty darn boring... It doesn’t look bad, though. It’s very similar to every other indie zombie book in the world.
This is where things go downhill a bit. Click, by Ray Mono Grafico is a story about a girl having to choose whether to shut down all machines or get rid of human life. It’s a terribly forced metaphor without a good story to back it up. Also, I’ve never criticised lettering (as far as I know) but it’s pretty bad here. It’s very amateurish and kind of looks like it was done in a hurry in Microsoft Paint.
Paradise Found, by JTW, is the one I enjoyed the least. The story’s fine (fighting robots is always good) but the art looks like a cross between Richard Corben and Howard Chaykin; two artists whose work I despise with a passion. So, I’m pretty biased there.
Whale, by Elaine Haygood shares some of the fantastic imagery from Seventh Generation. It’s not bad, but the art’s a bit rough in places. It does, however, mark the change in quality back towards the standards set by the first two stories. It opens the way for Shangri-La by Johnny Tay and Kelvin Lim.
Shangri-La follows Harold as he builds a bomb in the name of religion. The story here is actually pretty unimportant. It’s not bad by any means, but it’s not the star of the show. Tay’s use of language is what separates him from the rest of the writers on show in this book.
He has quite the vocabulary, which he puts on display quite well, here. He uses alliteration effectively here, helping to create a sense of poetry. All of this helps create a very religious atmosphere.
Lim’s art is also pretty darn fantastic. Each page is a splash page. It’s dark and gritty, for the most part, but brightens up as the story goes on. Coupled with Tay’s writing, it really creates a sense of mythology.
We slip briefly back into mediocrity with Anibal Arroyo’s The Nature of Time. It’s a conversation between two Gods with art that doesn’t really stand out at all. It’s fine. Not good, not bad. Just... Fine.
The Guardians, by Recondita Rick is similar in style to Shangri-La- In terms of art, anyway. The writing is nowhere near as interesting but the art is nearly as gorgeous. This one’s a bit heavy on the hippie, however. It kind of just waffles on a bit. But the art’s fantastic, all the same. It’s really just something nice to look at.
And that’s it. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, with some pretty fantastic art. The writing is exactly what you’d expect form an anthology aiming to raise awareness about the environment and Earth Day, though. I did find myself rolling my eyes in places, when the writing got a little heavy on the metaphors. At times it can feel like a pushy hippie friend that you really hate visiting because you know he’s going to try and get you naked and do a rain dance or something. Most of the time, however, there are signs of real creativity. And, to be fair to the creators I’ve criticised, it is hard to show off real talent in an anthology. There’s not really enough room for that.
So, check it out, folks; it’s worth a look.
Editor's Note: To see about your own copy, head here!
7 Robots
Reviewed by: Ross Rivers
Review: Well, Earth Day is near enough here! It’s April 22nd! No, I didn’t know either... Do we buy the Earth a cake, or something? Did YOU get it a card? Do you want me to pick one up...? To be honest, I think we just need to use the day to raise awareness of global warming and stuff. Turn off some plugs or something.
I jest, of course; the Earth is very important. It’s like, where I live and stuff. Perhaps I’m not very good at the “green” thing. To be honest, when people talk about going green, all I can think of is the Swamp Thing cartoon theme song.
But, I switch off the electrics I don’t use (When I remember) and I recycle. What more can one man do, I ask?!? Well, Earth Dream aims to raise awareness of these issues by using science fiction and fantasy to draw you in. Problem is, this could come off as incredibly preachy. It’s way too easy to just ignore a good cause simply because the way the issues are raised is infuriatingly annoying.
Earth Dream presents us with a handful of stories from creators all over the world. All of them are science fiction and fantasy and all of them are about the end of the world due to mankind’s inability to take care of the earth.
They vary in quality, as you’d expect from an anthology. One of the best, however, is the first story written by Suzy Dias, with art by Miguel Guerra. These two actually publish the book, by the way.
The story is called “Seventh Generation” and kicks off with a man dressed in metal armour, crossing a desert carrying a package. Waiting for him is two Native Americans; one man named Wehali and a woman named Maka. Then the metal man takes off his helmet and dies. Men of metal cannot survive in clean air, or something! But the package he delivered is supposed to help save the world from man’s past mistakes.
Maka sends Wehali and the package off to a spirit world. This world is where the story really shines; it’s full of Native American imagery, including a spirit named Brother Crow and some elementals. While the story itself is pretty simple, Guerra’s art is fantastic. It’s bright, vibrant and full of details that show off his talents as an artist.
This beautiful looking chapter is followed up by a much darker, noir story following a guy as he travels through a ruined city searching for life.
The Hole, Written by Ireneusz Mazurek, with art by Marek Rudowski, it’s one of the simplest stories in the book. A guy searching for life finds something, his lighter runs out of fluid. All very nightmarish. But, as with Seventh Generation, it’s the art that stands out; it’s quite different from the colourful work of Guerra. Rudowski’s art is dark and miserable, which is a nice contrast.
As I mentioned, the stories vary in quality. The third story, Effect, isn’t anything to write home about; written and drawn by Jerome Walford, it’s a silent story about butterflies or something. And a tree. But Walford does use colours pretty well; His use of yellow and orange, followed by black and grey is pretty effective.
And then zombies. ZOMBIES. COME ON! Didn’t I recently talk about how we have too many zombies? And here we have more zombies. Why not?!? It’s presented as a found footage zombie movie, too. Because the world needs more found footage horror, right? A. M Fraser’s ENDangered isn’t the worst one of the bunch, but it’s pretty darn boring... It doesn’t look bad, though. It’s very similar to every other indie zombie book in the world.
This is where things go downhill a bit. Click, by Ray Mono Grafico is a story about a girl having to choose whether to shut down all machines or get rid of human life. It’s a terribly forced metaphor without a good story to back it up. Also, I’ve never criticised lettering (as far as I know) but it’s pretty bad here. It’s very amateurish and kind of looks like it was done in a hurry in Microsoft Paint.
Paradise Found, by JTW, is the one I enjoyed the least. The story’s fine (fighting robots is always good) but the art looks like a cross between Richard Corben and Howard Chaykin; two artists whose work I despise with a passion. So, I’m pretty biased there.
Whale, by Elaine Haygood shares some of the fantastic imagery from Seventh Generation. It’s not bad, but the art’s a bit rough in places. It does, however, mark the change in quality back towards the standards set by the first two stories. It opens the way for Shangri-La by Johnny Tay and Kelvin Lim.
Shangri-La follows Harold as he builds a bomb in the name of religion. The story here is actually pretty unimportant. It’s not bad by any means, but it’s not the star of the show. Tay’s use of language is what separates him from the rest of the writers on show in this book.
He has quite the vocabulary, which he puts on display quite well, here. He uses alliteration effectively here, helping to create a sense of poetry. All of this helps create a very religious atmosphere.
Lim’s art is also pretty darn fantastic. Each page is a splash page. It’s dark and gritty, for the most part, but brightens up as the story goes on. Coupled with Tay’s writing, it really creates a sense of mythology.
We slip briefly back into mediocrity with Anibal Arroyo’s The Nature of Time. It’s a conversation between two Gods with art that doesn’t really stand out at all. It’s fine. Not good, not bad. Just... Fine.
The Guardians, by Recondita Rick is similar in style to Shangri-La- In terms of art, anyway. The writing is nowhere near as interesting but the art is nearly as gorgeous. This one’s a bit heavy on the hippie, however. It kind of just waffles on a bit. But the art’s fantastic, all the same. It’s really just something nice to look at.
And that’s it. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, with some pretty fantastic art. The writing is exactly what you’d expect form an anthology aiming to raise awareness about the environment and Earth Day, though. I did find myself rolling my eyes in places, when the writing got a little heavy on the metaphors. At times it can feel like a pushy hippie friend that you really hate visiting because you know he’s going to try and get you naked and do a rain dance or something. Most of the time, however, there are signs of real creativity. And, to be fair to the creators I’ve criticised, it is hard to show off real talent in an anthology. There’s not really enough room for that.
So, check it out, folks; it’s worth a look.
Editor's Note: To see about your own copy, head here!