The Power of Love (and Elvira in an Easter Basket)
Today, I want to talk about not one, but two local comic artists who have been working in the business for years, Ronn Sutton and Janet Hetherington. The two comic creators (writing and visual art) are not only partners in creation, but partners in life as I understand it. (Their website is: http://www.best-destiny.com/)
I have heard of Janet's work for at least eight years and discovered Ronn at Ottawa Comiccon (2013 edition.) At the time I bought one of their joint comic efforts (a book by the name of Kolchak /Honey West, pictured below.) and I thought it was a good read. Opportunity to truly see more of their stuff in passing was limited in the years following until I managed to make some time at Ottawa Comiccon.
I walked away with favourable impressions of the two. Ronn was quiet and, quite obviously proud of the work he has done, while Janet was more bubbly and quick to laughter. Janet also writes movie screenplays, such as for the movies Jesse James: Lawman starring Kevin Sorbo and Peter Fonda (directed by local filmmaker and improv star Brett Kelly) and the movie The House on Arch Lane. Janet was also featured in a book called The Great Women Cartoonists by Trina Robbins (to be in the same company as Cathy Guisewite marks success, indeed.)
Ronn has another website dedicated to the work he does: http://ronnsutton.com/. He has done regular pencils (46 issues in total) for the title Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, (which Janet has written for, which includes the issue I will review below). Above is a sample of his pencil work which I found on his webpage. He also was nominated for an Auror award for work he did on a book called Fear Agent. (For those not in the know, the Aurora Awards are given out to the best science-fiction/fantasy literary and artwork output in any given year. Janet won one in 1999 for her curator work on a Superman exhibit.) His career began at DC in 1973 with work on \Sword on Sorcery, and followed with work at various other publishers, including Dark Horse, Caliber Comics and Claypool Comics.
More extensive biographies and lists of works can be found at the websites. I find it absolutely mindbogglingly that Ottawa has such prolific artists in the area, and I think thy deserve more recognition.
So on to some reviews. I have chosen Elvira, Mistress of the Dark 149 (September 2005) as an example of both their work (her writing, he the penciller) and Issue 1 of Eternal Romance, where Janet did both the writing and the art.
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark 149 contains two stories, but only the lead story has work done by our subjects so that is where I will concentrate the review on. (Although I ill admit that this cover makes the price of the comic book worth it on its own.)
Story 1 - "Blown Away by the W.I.N.D.Y. Agents!" Written by Janet Hetherington, Pencils by Ronn Sutton, Inks by Al Vey, Lettering: Thom Zahler Edited by: Richard Howell
All I could say while reading it was wow! There were more jokes and puns than in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In a nutshell, a villaness named Brass Girda has managed to make the world hallucinate that each individual is a monster. Elvira is joined by the W.I.N.D.Y (Worldwide Investigative Neuro Defense Yeomen) Agents - Gizmo, Scooter, Sno-man and Blowhard. Naturally, Elvira is immune to Brass Gerda's powers and the team eventually defeat her by having Elvira impersonate Gerda on TV (She is a star, after all) The story is whimsical and amusing. But the art...the art...Elvira is pictured so well. It is obvious, accentuated by Vey's inks, that Sutton has a very detailed and polished form (especially drawing Elvira herself, as Joey Lawrence would say "Whoa!" The flying robots look realistic, the dinosaur eyes made me want to stare into them...Anyway, I think I want to acquire more from this series. I give it a 4.75 out of 5 (as I never give a perfect score...) and I really recommend it as an interesting piece of any comic collection.
Eternal Romance #1 (February 1997) - "Love! Heartache! Vampires!" the cover reads; it does not lie. Inside Janet (who did everything for the book as she seems to be sole credit for all three stories inside) brings back harbingers of the strange stories told in the infamous EC days, with a little romance thrown in for good measure. In anthology format, the first story features a man who's wife has a secret (guess what it is) and she uses her secret to his (and their) benefit. Story the second has a classic "we can't be together because we're from different worlds" motif and the third invokes memories of the very short stories that House of Mystery was known for in the 1970s. Overall, an enjoyable little book (and I have also acquired the second issue) and worth the investment of a few dollars her way. (This series is available on her website, listed above.) Her art is very flowing and distinctive, I think I will be able to recognize her style in future. I give this book a 3.5 out of 5 overall for enjoyablility, and makes me look forward to the next one.
And so for this entry, I will bid adieu for now, but Ronn and Janet are around the Ottawa area a lot at shows of various sizes, so if you see either of them, say hi, talk comic books, and more importantly, help support local talent. I know you won't be disappointed.
Ottawa News and Notes - Next entry I will have a list of the various summer shows in the area surrounding Ottawa so that if a fan, you might be able to plan to hit if all your time isn't taken up by barbecuing, swimming and outdoorsy stuff (yeah, like any of us ever leave our basements...) Have a good one until next time.
I have heard of Janet's work for at least eight years and discovered Ronn at Ottawa Comiccon (2013 edition.) At the time I bought one of their joint comic efforts (a book by the name of Kolchak /Honey West, pictured below.) and I thought it was a good read. Opportunity to truly see more of their stuff in passing was limited in the years following until I managed to make some time at Ottawa Comiccon.
I walked away with favourable impressions of the two. Ronn was quiet and, quite obviously proud of the work he has done, while Janet was more bubbly and quick to laughter. Janet also writes movie screenplays, such as for the movies Jesse James: Lawman starring Kevin Sorbo and Peter Fonda (directed by local filmmaker and improv star Brett Kelly) and the movie The House on Arch Lane. Janet was also featured in a book called The Great Women Cartoonists by Trina Robbins (to be in the same company as Cathy Guisewite marks success, indeed.)
Ronn has another website dedicated to the work he does: http://ronnsutton.com/. He has done regular pencils (46 issues in total) for the title Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, (which Janet has written for, which includes the issue I will review below). Above is a sample of his pencil work which I found on his webpage. He also was nominated for an Auror award for work he did on a book called Fear Agent. (For those not in the know, the Aurora Awards are given out to the best science-fiction/fantasy literary and artwork output in any given year. Janet won one in 1999 for her curator work on a Superman exhibit.) His career began at DC in 1973 with work on \Sword on Sorcery, and followed with work at various other publishers, including Dark Horse, Caliber Comics and Claypool Comics.
More extensive biographies and lists of works can be found at the websites. I find it absolutely mindbogglingly that Ottawa has such prolific artists in the area, and I think thy deserve more recognition.
So on to some reviews. I have chosen Elvira, Mistress of the Dark 149 (September 2005) as an example of both their work (her writing, he the penciller) and Issue 1 of Eternal Romance, where Janet did both the writing and the art.
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark 149 contains two stories, but only the lead story has work done by our subjects so that is where I will concentrate the review on. (Although I ill admit that this cover makes the price of the comic book worth it on its own.)
Story 1 - "Blown Away by the W.I.N.D.Y. Agents!" Written by Janet Hetherington, Pencils by Ronn Sutton, Inks by Al Vey, Lettering: Thom Zahler Edited by: Richard Howell
All I could say while reading it was wow! There were more jokes and puns than in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In a nutshell, a villaness named Brass Girda has managed to make the world hallucinate that each individual is a monster. Elvira is joined by the W.I.N.D.Y (Worldwide Investigative Neuro Defense Yeomen) Agents - Gizmo, Scooter, Sno-man and Blowhard. Naturally, Elvira is immune to Brass Gerda's powers and the team eventually defeat her by having Elvira impersonate Gerda on TV (She is a star, after all) The story is whimsical and amusing. But the art...the art...Elvira is pictured so well. It is obvious, accentuated by Vey's inks, that Sutton has a very detailed and polished form (especially drawing Elvira herself, as Joey Lawrence would say "Whoa!" The flying robots look realistic, the dinosaur eyes made me want to stare into them...Anyway, I think I want to acquire more from this series. I give it a 4.75 out of 5 (as I never give a perfect score...) and I really recommend it as an interesting piece of any comic collection.
Eternal Romance #1 (February 1997) - "Love! Heartache! Vampires!" the cover reads; it does not lie. Inside Janet (who did everything for the book as she seems to be sole credit for all three stories inside) brings back harbingers of the strange stories told in the infamous EC days, with a little romance thrown in for good measure. In anthology format, the first story features a man who's wife has a secret (guess what it is) and she uses her secret to his (and their) benefit. Story the second has a classic "we can't be together because we're from different worlds" motif and the third invokes memories of the very short stories that House of Mystery was known for in the 1970s. Overall, an enjoyable little book (and I have also acquired the second issue) and worth the investment of a few dollars her way. (This series is available on her website, listed above.) Her art is very flowing and distinctive, I think I will be able to recognize her style in future. I give this book a 3.5 out of 5 overall for enjoyablility, and makes me look forward to the next one.
And so for this entry, I will bid adieu for now, but Ronn and Janet are around the Ottawa area a lot at shows of various sizes, so if you see either of them, say hi, talk comic books, and more importantly, help support local talent. I know you won't be disappointed.
Ottawa News and Notes - Next entry I will have a list of the various summer shows in the area surrounding Ottawa so that if a fan, you might be able to plan to hit if all your time isn't taken up by barbecuing, swimming and outdoorsy stuff (yeah, like any of us ever leave our basements...) Have a good one until next time.
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