Umbrella Studios: DJ Reviews
The following is my personal review of the books I purchased from Umbrella Studios. This DJ circle is an independent self publishing western DJ organization that produces yearly comics and debuted FOUR new books that this year's Yaoi Con. This is my review of two of them!
Umbrella Studios 2005 Book Review: Boys Under Glass & Pro and Cons
First off! I got my books no less than 2 days after the Yaoi convention. I was really pleasantly surprised that the orders were shipped from the con itself express mail. (Minkland books go out a week post con due to logistics) So first of all, points for the entire ordering, paying and shipping system. I was very well informed by onsite order info services, follow up e-mails with personal notes to my particular questions (aka no blanket form letters to my inquiries) and all in a timely manner.
"Pro and Cons"
The first book I read (and privately was looking forward to the most) was Pluto's "Pros and Cons" about a very well designed character stumbling into an unexpected situation which leads to a brand new meaning to Cops vs Robbers. And, by good design I mean, Pluto takes a very long time to create her characters in regards to physical attributes and even mannerisms. Her characters are always consistent in look and hotness, and I am EXTREMELY enjoying the new body types she has been obviously been enjoying herself. This main character "Tomas" is no waif with wings and earrings. He is all man baby! A soft almost unassuming sweet man, but his guns are shudder worthy. (guns=pumped biceps) Boots! Cop Uniforms! Guns! Sub/Dom roles Abound!
A side note considering how dark the story could have been considering the potential subject matter, Pluto's writing leaves it on an surprisingly fun and dare I say, cute, note. For those of you that decide to enjoy this book, the last panel maybe just my favorite for Tomas' expression alone. Ha! I should mention here that Pluto's absolute Mastery of human facial expression and how it translates into comic effect was once again in full force here. Love her sense of humor.
The book itself is a great price ($6.00) for almost 40 pages, including a very nicely illustrated fiction about Tomas's other dirty activities which I didn't know would be included. It is a perfectly bound with color cover, with sexy handcuffed Cop-Tomas on the front cover. My only complaint about this comic?
We want more! ;)
"Boys Under Glass"
The second book I read was Boys Under Glass, the second of a series the ladies of Umbrella Studios have produced in the last 2 years. This is I think one of their largest and maybe considered the crown jewel of projects they work on these days. I was already feelin the love from the suggestive, but sweetly sentimental, cover drawn by Emilytarot. I may be mistaken but I think this was Emilytarot's first piece for a photo shopped rendition of her art for an Umbrella Studios cover but you'd never know it. Very nicely done.
This book is multi storied so I'll go over them one by one.
"A Robe of Ermine"
The very first story was by Foxy Squid about a King who has wronged an animal spirit. I have always been under the impression that looking at Foxy's inked artwork is as if she'd intricately craved each panel from a wooden stamp and then pressed it to paper. Her style is so elegant and delicate that I honestly just looked at the story twice before I even read it through. That aside, her ability to draw animals which fully retain understandably human expression but remain an animal is amazing. (and freakin' adorable.)
The story itself is very fable like, and even a little darker (or darkly sweet/hopeful if that makes sense) than her usual comic work I have seen personally. However, I am glad she did a darker twist to her story telling because not only does she do it well, she also maintains a fragile sweetness to it at the same time. A very fine line she can walk well.
And I know I'm a dork, but her Freetalk made me laugh out loud and say AWWWWW at the same time. Talking sheepish Ermines!! All and all this comic was a fabulous and thoughtful beginning to the book.
"In the Queen's Service"
The second story and the longest of the DJ was by Emilytarot. As the cover art of this story suggested, it was a very sweet and romantic tale. My first impression after reading it was "Wow! Emily really took time with the storyline!" This was no brief scene we wandered into, or a PWP, or anything like it. We had back story, gossiping guards, murder and betrayal. And under it all Emilytarot plays with a few servants of the Queen to have an all out "I love to Hate You" subplot of their own. Let's get to the art! Most notably the backgrounds, clothing and everywhere else, her inked details had been given the same amount of careful attention as she had in her writing.
A fun ride. Very cute inter-dialogue between the quarreling young men that end up for better or for worse, unable to resist each other. Very cute character design too. Hooray for boys with shaved heads and leathery arm bands!
"A Prison of Ink"
The last comic of the anthology by Tammylee was a lyrical story about a cursed Demon and his loyal servant determined to save him. This comic was beautifully illustrated and very fantastical. My feeling during reading it and the presentation of the dialogue was very reminiscent of old style Japanese theater. We are narrated a story while presented majestic and horrible facial masks, tortured visages and the brandish of swords. Lovers commit horrible crimes for their passion. True love is betrayed and your greatest sacrifice which saves you also dooms you. All within the fine clean inked lines, juxtaposed with elaborate detail inside them which Tammylee is well known for.
The mechanics of the curse were the most enjoyable for me, as the title suggests, the Demon was trapped in a form of an inked tattoo in the body and souls of its "prison". Tammylee will never give you anything you've ever seen before and this was a pleasure on your eyes and intriguing to the imagination.
The end of the "Boys Under Glass" book included some really fun pin up art of the characters from all three stories by different members of the studio. While it seemed to be in the spirit of fun to see how different artists interpret and reproduce other's work, I was particularly blown away with how closely Neko M replicated Tammylee's style. Wow! And speaking of Pluto's facial expression superpowers, if the looks on Serz's and Alain's face don't make you crack a smile, there's something wrong with you. ;)
Also were some fun and insightful interviews with Umbrella's Studios latest member, Black Rose and veteran member, Tammylee. I love artist/author commentaries so I was glad to see they had fit them in. Also worthy of note was an adorable small comic Foxy Squid included about a crow and a comic that made me laugh out loud. :D (Did I mention she does animals cuter than anybody?)
All in all, 94 pages, glossy colored cover and a price that seems like half of what it should be. A great addition to any collection.
Want a copy of any of these for yourself?
Check them out!
The last book I read was the Umbrella Studios infamous "pr0n" book which is filled with, you guessed it, PR0N.
That review will come next & soon!
Umbrella Studios 2005 Book Review: Boys Under Glass & Pro and Cons
First off! I got my books no less than 2 days after the Yaoi convention. I was really pleasantly surprised that the orders were shipped from the con itself express mail. (Minkland books go out a week post con due to logistics) So first of all, points for the entire ordering, paying and shipping system. I was very well informed by onsite order info services, follow up e-mails with personal notes to my particular questions (aka no blanket form letters to my inquiries) and all in a timely manner.
"Pro and Cons"
The first book I read (and privately was looking forward to the most) was Pluto's "Pros and Cons" about a very well designed character stumbling into an unexpected situation which leads to a brand new meaning to Cops vs Robbers. And, by good design I mean, Pluto takes a very long time to create her characters in regards to physical attributes and even mannerisms. Her characters are always consistent in look and hotness, and I am EXTREMELY enjoying the new body types she has been obviously been enjoying herself. This main character "Tomas" is no waif with wings and earrings. He is all man baby! A soft almost unassuming sweet man, but his guns are shudder worthy. (guns=pumped biceps) Boots! Cop Uniforms! Guns! Sub/Dom roles Abound!
A side note considering how dark the story could have been considering the potential subject matter, Pluto's writing leaves it on an surprisingly fun and dare I say, cute, note. For those of you that decide to enjoy this book, the last panel maybe just my favorite for Tomas' expression alone. Ha! I should mention here that Pluto's absolute Mastery of human facial expression and how it translates into comic effect was once again in full force here. Love her sense of humor.
The book itself is a great price ($6.00) for almost 40 pages, including a very nicely illustrated fiction about Tomas's other dirty activities which I didn't know would be included. It is a perfectly bound with color cover, with sexy handcuffed Cop-Tomas on the front cover. My only complaint about this comic?
We want more! ;)
"Boys Under Glass"
The second book I read was Boys Under Glass, the second of a series the ladies of Umbrella Studios have produced in the last 2 years. This is I think one of their largest and maybe considered the crown jewel of projects they work on these days. I was already feelin the love from the suggestive, but sweetly sentimental, cover drawn by Emilytarot. I may be mistaken but I think this was Emilytarot's first piece for a photo shopped rendition of her art for an Umbrella Studios cover but you'd never know it. Very nicely done.
This book is multi storied so I'll go over them one by one.
"A Robe of Ermine"
The very first story was by Foxy Squid about a King who has wronged an animal spirit. I have always been under the impression that looking at Foxy's inked artwork is as if she'd intricately craved each panel from a wooden stamp and then pressed it to paper. Her style is so elegant and delicate that I honestly just looked at the story twice before I even read it through. That aside, her ability to draw animals which fully retain understandably human expression but remain an animal is amazing. (and freakin' adorable.)
The story itself is very fable like, and even a little darker (or darkly sweet/hopeful if that makes sense) than her usual comic work I have seen personally. However, I am glad she did a darker twist to her story telling because not only does she do it well, she also maintains a fragile sweetness to it at the same time. A very fine line she can walk well.
And I know I'm a dork, but her Freetalk made me laugh out loud and say AWWWWW at the same time. Talking sheepish Ermines!! All and all this comic was a fabulous and thoughtful beginning to the book.
"In the Queen's Service"
The second story and the longest of the DJ was by Emilytarot. As the cover art of this story suggested, it was a very sweet and romantic tale. My first impression after reading it was "Wow! Emily really took time with the storyline!" This was no brief scene we wandered into, or a PWP, or anything like it. We had back story, gossiping guards, murder and betrayal. And under it all Emilytarot plays with a few servants of the Queen to have an all out "I love to Hate You" subplot of their own. Let's get to the art! Most notably the backgrounds, clothing and everywhere else, her inked details had been given the same amount of careful attention as she had in her writing.
A fun ride. Very cute inter-dialogue between the quarreling young men that end up for better or for worse, unable to resist each other. Very cute character design too. Hooray for boys with shaved heads and leathery arm bands!
"A Prison of Ink"
The last comic of the anthology by Tammylee was a lyrical story about a cursed Demon and his loyal servant determined to save him. This comic was beautifully illustrated and very fantastical. My feeling during reading it and the presentation of the dialogue was very reminiscent of old style Japanese theater. We are narrated a story while presented majestic and horrible facial masks, tortured visages and the brandish of swords. Lovers commit horrible crimes for their passion. True love is betrayed and your greatest sacrifice which saves you also dooms you. All within the fine clean inked lines, juxtaposed with elaborate detail inside them which Tammylee is well known for.
The mechanics of the curse were the most enjoyable for me, as the title suggests, the Demon was trapped in a form of an inked tattoo in the body and souls of its "prison". Tammylee will never give you anything you've ever seen before and this was a pleasure on your eyes and intriguing to the imagination.
The end of the "Boys Under Glass" book included some really fun pin up art of the characters from all three stories by different members of the studio. While it seemed to be in the spirit of fun to see how different artists interpret and reproduce other's work, I was particularly blown away with how closely Neko M replicated Tammylee's style. Wow! And speaking of Pluto's facial expression superpowers, if the looks on Serz's and Alain's face don't make you crack a smile, there's something wrong with you. ;)
Also were some fun and insightful interviews with Umbrella's Studios latest member, Black Rose and veteran member, Tammylee. I love artist/author commentaries so I was glad to see they had fit them in. Also worthy of note was an adorable small comic Foxy Squid included about a crow and a comic that made me laugh out loud. :D (Did I mention she does animals cuter than anybody?)
All in all, 94 pages, glossy colored cover and a price that seems like half of what it should be. A great addition to any collection.
Want a copy of any of these for yourself?
Check them out!
The last book I read was the Umbrella Studios infamous "pr0n" book which is filled with, you guessed it, PR0N.
That review will come next & soon!