First Look: ‘Lone Justice: Crash’
Robert Tinnell has spent the last half decade racking up credits as a graphic novelist with The Black Forest, The Wicked West, and Sight Unseen splashing blood across the comic book pages. Now, Mark Wheatley and Robert Tinnell, the creative team behind last year’s Harvey-nominated webcomic/graphic novel EZ Street, follow up with Lone Justice: Crash. LJ:C, like EZ Street, will run for free right here at ComicMix beginning Jnuary 12, but that’s not where the similaritites end.
In EZ Street, central characters Scott and Danny Fletcher set to work on a comic book project featuring their character, Lone Justice. Lone Justice: Crash is in fact Wheatley and Tinnell’s take on what that book would be. Featuring the art of Wheatley (Frankenstein Mobster, Mars) and co-scripted by Tinnell (Feast of the Seven Fishes), Lone Justice: Crash takes place during the Depression, but given this era’s economic troubles will most certainly resonate with the modern reader.
Lone Justice: Crash follows the exploits of the titular character, who was first introduced as the creation of Scott and Danny Fletcher, themselves characters in Tinnell and Wheatley’s EZ Street. Occupied for years successfully battling crime as Lone Justice, millionaire Octavius Brown has let his own finances slip to the point of ruin. Now destitute, unable to even effectively re-arm his weaponry, Brown must live amongst the masses of homeless in the city. It is there that he learns the true face of evil, and from nothing is reborn as a true defender of the innocent. Combining the thrills of two-fisted pulp action with a storyline that parallels much of our nation’s current socio-economic struggles, Lone Justice: Crash represents a sincere effort to deliver what comics can do at their best: an entertaining message.
Our friends over at FearNet posted this trailer:
Robert Tinnell also co-wrote "Demons of Sherwood" with Bo Hampton. "Demons of Sherwood" is amazing and right here on ComicMix, one of ComicMix's BEST! The story is clever, the dialog rings true, the action jumps off the page and the art is superb. If we're listing Robert Tinnell's other graphic novel credits, "Demons of Sherwood" should be near the top of the list.I've seen previews of some preview pages from Lone Justice. It looks really good. It has that pulse pounding, retro-fun feel of Dave Steven's "Rocketeer." Maybe a bit darker and grittier than that, but still with a movie serial, cliffhanger vibe. Anyway, the action scene I saw was pure gold.
Wow – compared to the ROCKETEER! But yes, LONE JUSTICE: CRASH! is quite a bit grittier and darker than any ROCKETEER adventure – or even COMMANDO CODY! I was actually aiming for the tone of a SPIDER pulp story – but once Bob got his hands on the scripting it became much more "real" and emotionally true. And that's why I enjoy working with the guy!
And if anyone wants to read – or re-read EZ STREET as a warm-up to LONE JUSTICE: CRASH! – here is the link to the story:http://www.comicmix.com/title/ez-street/
I actually re-read the entire EZ Street run last weekend on my big Dell monitor in the basement.I fired up issue one in the reader in two-page mode and just kept hitting the space bar to advance. I clicked to close the little info/credits box (and ad) which appear with each issue and read the whole thing in two sessions, both times with a baby girl asleep in my arms.There was one blurry page that I alerted Glenn to replace if he can and one spelling mistake that might or might not have been intentional ("Galactacus" instead of "Galactus").What a great story and amazing artwork. So much better reading it all at once than reading five or six pages at a time.
That's great Brian. So EZ STREET puts infants to sleep!Blurry? Did you try blinking? Anyway – I can own up to the spelling mistake! I'll get that repaired.Meanwhile – any questions about EZ or LJ will have a great opportunity to be answered in January on the Mr. Media broadcast – where people can call in and ask questions directly. Give a call – give a listen. More details soon.