Comic World News

April 22, 2008:
CWN and the Grand Finale! -

February 4, 2008:
In Conclusion - David ends his CWN run with Tezuka's MW from Vertical

February 2, 2008:
Acting Like You Have Nothing to Prove -

February 2, 2008:
The Shoegazer Returns - A New Year Begins, And Our Narrator Makes A Pledge

January 30, 2008:
Tim's Reviews -

September 13, 2007:
Wizard World Chicago Loot, Part One - Stykman, Empty Chamber, the Ztarian Saga, and yes, Little Bunny Foo Foo

February 15, 2007:
I Come Not to Bury Nick Cage... - But to mourn the death of my punchline

November 20, 2006:
The End - Rich's last Chicks & Romance

November 8, 2006:
Joann Sfar's Klezmer - And a Front Racks Hiatus

October 4, 2006:
This Month's Guest: Dave Gibbons - From the pages of Elephantmen!

September 18, 2006:
Back in Berlin - or How I spent my summer

July 29, 2006:
KICKING UP A STORM - An interview with David Lloyd

June 19, 2006:
You Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me. - Graeme looks at Spidey's "genies"

December 18, 2005:
Disappointed - Sad news for fans of Busiek's CONAN, Stephen King, and others

December 13, 2004:
JUSTICE UNPLUGGED 2 at last !!! - By Fabrice Sapolsky & Xavier Fournier

December 2, 2004:
THE TWELFTH AND FINAL STEP - Say it ain't so, Dan.

November 23, 2004:
The importance of editing -

September 29, 2004:
Mystery and Conundrum indeed! - Where in the world is Jason Pomerantz?

September 13, 2004:
Hello and Goodbye and Hello Again - Change is in the air at CWN and it smells sweet.

August 12, 2004:
The Rise of the Web Toon - New Business Model or Dumb Luck?

July 30, 2004:
The Name Says it All... - Spin Doctors revamp Boomerang.

July 27, 2004:
Bigger Isn't Always Better -

June 8, 2004:
Pre-emptive Strike: MoCCA Arts Festival - Looking forward to the con, rather than looking back at it

The Layer Method
Our top Secret time-saving technique for creating and merging balloons and tails in Illustrator.

Friday, September 3, 2010

El Gato Negro: Nocturnal Warrior #1

Review by Christopher T. Peel

Written by Michael Moore
Illustrated by Efren Molina
Co-written, inked, created by Richard Dominguez
Azteca Productions; $3.00

Well my friends, it's time for another foray into the world of 6.625" x 10.25" and 32 glorious pages. It's been a while since I've made a contribution and I'm sure my fans are chomping at the bit. (Is this thing on?) Sunday I received an advanced copy of the highly anticipated El Gato Negro: Nocturnal Warrior #1 from none other than the Negro himself Michael Moore. I guess that makes Richard Dominguez El Gato.

The first thing that was disappointing to me was the fact that Richard Dominguez didn't do the pencil work. I've seen Richards work, as a matter of fact he did a sketch of one of my characters; he's a great talent. Not having his pencils in there for the comeback of El Gato Negro was a bit of a let down. Don't get me wrong Efren Molina's work is fine; it's just his style is a little rougher than Richards, not quite as inspired.

Now on to the story. It opens up with two south Texas mob bosses discussing El Graduado, an unknown, wannabe crime lord who is buying his way into the Annulus, a ring of some of the most powerful crime lords in the United States. While they're talking, one of the bosses, Javier Murrietta, receives a phone call. The call is from none other than El Graduado himself warning Murrietta to take his offer and showing him the consequences of turning him down. While they're talking El Graduado guns down the other boss, Manolo Ruiz. The Ruiz crime family refused the offer presented by El Graduado and for their lack of vision every man, woman and child is meeting a similar fate as the Ruiz patriarch. Now that is just stone cold cool. I like the grittiness of the story. I've always been attracted to the seedy underworld of organized crime.

Next we're transported to South Texas during a chase between Texas rangers and some men in a van who just robbed a store, killing the storekeeper in the process. It looks like they're going to make a clean get away until EGN shows up to thwart their plan. He beats up the guys in the van until all that's left is the driver, who he guilts into going back and turning himself in to the rangers (EGN must be Catholic seeing as how he wields guilt like King Arthur wields Excalibur). As the rangers are going over the story from the van driver, ranger Miguel Bustamonte reveals his distaste for this recent incarnation of EGN. His father used to tell stories of an EGN who fought crime bosses back in the sixties. Miguel's brother, a deceased border patrolman, dreamed of being like EGN and he won't let a copygato sully his brother's dream.

Now enter Francisco Guerrero, social worker at the Hidalgo County Center for Troubled Youths and close friend to Miguel Bustamonte. Francisco is currently working with a former gangbanger named Reynaldo, who up until recently has not been hanging out with his former gang.

"Emilio and Tomas stopped by to rap and stuff." There are certain words that when I read them hit me like a freight train and saying they stopped by to rap is like a sixteen pound sledge to the face. It just seems so unnatural for someone who is not in their fifties to say. Do people still use that word in that context anymore? Anycrap, I'm nitpicking, so moving on. Reynaldo gives Francisco the note, which is an invitation to a gang meeting. Informing him that the meeting would be a violation of his parole, Francisco tells Reynaldo not to go.

Just as Reynaldo skips out of the office, we're introduced to another character, Narci Montoya, the woman whom Francisco admires from afar. As they sit in a restaurant having lunch we realize, although not a surprise to the reader, that Francisco is El Gato Negro. As he looks at his reflection in the window he sees EGN looking back at him. I love that bit, very Spider-Man. I hope to see the half-Francisco/half-EGN thing next. (Not a slam, I really do.) Just as it seems that Francisco is going to ask her out, she lays it on him that she's seeing someone. I hate that crap, man!

Then we find ourselves in a warehouse at a gang meeting. They're trying to decide whether or not to take El Graduado's offer and during the round table Reynaldo shows up to discourage his former friends from taking the deal. In the middle of rebuking Reynaldo, the lights go out and its curtains for the gang and unfortunately for Reynaldo. Wrong place wrong time. EGN tries to get there, but he's too late and they have all been cut to pieces courtesy of El Observandor, a hitman hired by El Graduado. The two then engage in a fight to the death.

As you all know, I am no fan of superhero comics, but I'm not entirely closed-minded when it comes to men in tights. (I don't think that came out right.) The story by Michael Moore flowed well, although at times was a little corny. But hey corn is good and besides you don't eat corn you just borrow it. Molina's art is ok, but I really hope to see Dominguez's pencils soon. Being an advanced copy, there was no cover, so I look forward to seeing that when it comes out and yes, I'll be buying a copy when it hits the stands. Not just to support indie press, not just because I know these guys, but because it's a good, fun read and I recommend you do the same.

Will El Observandor cut down El Gato Negro or will EGN land on his feet? Will Miguel ever accept EGN as a legitimate hero? Will someone tell me what El Graduado and El Observandor means? Find out in the next issue of El Gato Negro: Nocturnal Warrior #2 "Legacy: A Line in the Sand." I know I will.

El Gato Negro: Nocturnal Warrior #1 is available to purchase online at www.milehighcomics.com.