Action Double Feature: Romance Special Edition — Valentine’s Day may have been a couple of weeks ago, but I didn’t have a chance to read this new addition to the double feature lineup until this afternoon.  Although modern comics has relegated romance comics to the indie stacks, they used to be a successful genre of the business, pioneered by comics giants Jack Kirby and Joe Simon.  Although DoubleFeature is marketing this as a special, I honestly hope that Four Star Studios decides to expand their lineup to include something like this, if only to help expand the population of comics readers.  After all, not all comics should be about superheroes.

1. In Other Words — Written by J. , Art by Doc Shaner.  I am a huge fan of Doc Shaner, who is second only to Darwyn Cooke when it comes to period drawing.  Set in 1967, we have a black man and a white woman talking and drinking at a wedding reception.  She’s a bridesmaid and he claims to be the bartender.  They flirt a little, touching on but never acknowledging the race issue.  It’s a good story and there’s a neat little twist at the end. It’s probably my favorite of the two stories included in this issue, but then again I’m a sucker for nostalgia.
2. Two Wheels, Two Feet — Written by Jamie S. Rich, Art by Megan Levens.  This story is something like the opposite of “In Other Words;” it’s about the breakup of a relationship, it’s set in the modern day, and there’s relatively little character interaction.  Most of the story takes place in the protagonist’s head, as he reminisces about a failing relationship.  There’s an interesting story hook with graffiti on a sidewalk explaining the situation, but it’s relatively difficult to describe so read it yourself.
   
   To be brutally honest, I didn’t like this story the first time through.  For one thing, shifting around in time made clarity a little difficult.  For another, the graffiti hook seemed a little implausible.  However, on a second read, I liked it a little more — especially after reading in the commentary that the graffiti actually existed on a bridge and that’s where the creative genesis for the story came from.  Oddly enough, I was willing to give the story more credibility once I saw that.

As always, Double Feature provides an enjoyable read for an extremely affordable price ($0.99).  Also, the commentaries and special features remain one of the best selling points of the app.  Definitely pick this up if you haven’t already.  If you don’t have an iPad, then you can still pick up the .pdf version for the same low $0.99 price.

Action Double Feature #3 — I haven’t done one of these reviews of a Double Feature issue before, but I had to for the most recent issue that I just read.  I’ve explained the concept here, so check that out first before reading any further in the review.  This issue of Action had something of a pulp hero theme with two strong female leads.  Here are the two stories in this issue:

1. Athena Voltaire & The Wings of Death — This wonderful little gem, started its life as a webcomic.  This story is completely original for Double Feature app and does include a few retcons.  However it’s still a rather fun time.  The basic premise is that Athena Voltaire (and sidekick Agent Forsyth) are captured by the villainous pirate-turned-witch-doctor Khir bin Khalid.  The commentary by creator Steve Bryant is pretty hilarious as he explains his creative process.
2. Amelia Earhart: Jungle Princess — Using the real life Amelia Earhart as a starting point, James Asmus has created a throwback to the 30s “Jungle Girl” serials and pulp stories.  What makes this so much better is the fact that Amelia Earhart was pretty badass in her own right, and we do see that here in spades.  It’s probably my favorite story of the two, both in terms of art and writing.  I’m really looking forward to any sequel to the story.

I’ve talked about DoubleFeature before, but I wanted to talk about the new issue that just showed up.  Today I picked up the Fantasy DoubleFeature #1 (a .pdf copy is available here), and again I’m surprised at how much quality you can jam into two 8-page stories.  There are two great stories this month:

Edrik the Lazy
The story of a lazy viking boy who is given a quest and then…doesn’t go through with it because he can’t be bothered. It’s rather hilarious.  Special note should go to the commentary by co-writer Lee Bretschedier and co-writer/artist Justin Peterson who have given us the funniest one yet (and given how good Horror #1 Monsterology’s commentary was that’s some big props from me).

The Cursed Blade
This story…Man, this one is for the ages.  It’s not Judgment Day, but damn is the quality/page quotient high. In this story, which appears to be a one shot, we have two boys play fighting in a field.  They stumble upon the eponymous cursed blade and a stream of genuinely tragic things happen to the boys.  I have to say the stellar knock out performance here is not only the great story, but Matt Cossin’s art.  It’s amazing how the story starts with these vibrant warm colors and then ends so coldly.  I have to say this story is worthy of the old House of Mystery anthology.

I think one of the best parts about the DoubleFeature project is that all the issues are diverse in content, execution, and tone. You can have these properties together in a single issue and it works.  You can have that great experimental art from KayRoss from the Sci-Fi anthology last month.