Heroic Publishing 2015
Sparkplug
Written by Lou Mougin
Penciled by Henry Martinez
Inked by Jeff Brennan
Coloured by Albert Deschesne
The conclusion to the Sparkplug story is here and if you haven’t been reading this don’t worry even though it’s the last chapter it’s completely enjoyable and understandable on it’s own accord. Willy and Olga, Sparkplug, are up against a huge threat Tomas in this lab that is pretty remarkable with the images we see there.
Underneath the streets hidden in this lab after deciding to run away from Tomas, whose more powerful than they bargained for, Willy finds tubes filled with Ubermench experiments. So long as there are people out there who have no morals and that innate desire to rule the world there will be experiments like this and what we see is almost unconscionable. Still it’s so highly relevant of seventies/eighties comics in both subject matter and visuals you can’t help but feel some excitement about it.
Speaking of the interior artwork Henry, Jeff and Albert do a magnificent job here. with such great attention to detail in the characters, backgrounds and even highlights on the outfits and hair this is so classic comic book stuff it’s just a real pleasure to see.
Even better is that Tomas and Olga are brother and sister and this inner conflict on why they have to fight each other adds a little something extra to the drama of it all. Lou’s writing here is wonderful and it gives me hope and joy that we can have dramatic comics without the whole it’s got to be dark and angsty. Plus the characterization is incredible and the final fight scene has everything you want and then some. I like that even though Herr Wendt claims that the last of the Ubermench formula was given to Olga, which she destroyed, and they couldn’t find any notes doesn’t mean this particular branch of the story is over. Legitimate Governments want these soldiers as well instead of leaving it up to solo heroes like Sparkplug.
Plus there’s the question of Tomas and will he come back from this coma more enraged or a new man? This my friends is far from over and that’s the way it’s meant to be.
G-Girl Adventure
Written by Dennis Mallonee
Illustrated by Henry Martinez
Coloured & Lettered by Dick O’Malley
This story took me by surprise a bit since i’m new to G-Girl. Beej apparently used to be Will, her brother who along with her mother are supposedly on a secret assignment they aren’t supposed to talk about. Beej and her friends have a favorite hangout, a new diner that’s a real throwback and it’s waitress Pammy is always their server.
There really is something incredible about this little story. A boy becomes a girl who becomes a Superhero and had to come up with this whole new background for the sister who suddenly shows up. The waitress Pammy is the younger version of a former teacher who seems to know Beej’s secret and her two best friends, Will’s too, are kind of clueless.
Or the Diner is a front for these two and Pammy is responsible for a the Golem who recently escaped from jail, and her uncle a nice Jewish inventor and quite possibly work for the CIA in some capacity and on their own towards their own ends which if I’m reading this correctly is slightly embarrassing and cute.
There’s a lot of characterization and character development here and without any super-heroics and it is definitely refreshing and chance for someone like me unfamiliar with the character to get a chance to know all about her. This genderswap and the ramifications along with it, thinking like a boy acting like a girl and unsure about the whole budding sexuality thing, though that G-Girl costume looks like a boys dream version to me which explains a lot, has so much potential that we’ve seen in comics before. Wow gender identity in comics have never been like this it’s as complicated here as in real life!
Heroic Publishing is one of those small press companies that have been around seemingly forever and often go overlooked and it’s time we helped them find the spotlight because these stories and characters fill the gap of what we miss from our super-heroes of the past mixed with everything happening in the here and now.