By Jason Webb
Whenever you discover a writer/creator that you really enjoy, you find yourself following everything they do with great passion and enthusiasm. People feel like that about the big superstar creators; Scott Snyder, Grant Morrison and Alan Moore to name a few. When you feel this way about an independent writer/creator you begin to feel more connected to the writer. I discovered this when I got chatting to Joe Martino. After a drunken New Year’s Eve chat, I ended up digitally buying all Joe’s work on Comixology. When I went into comic shops around that time, no one seemed to have even heard of Ripperman, or Shadowflame, so I began spreading the word as much as I could myself. This is where my passion for independent comics began, and it has grown stronger with every indie comic I read. When I saw that Joe had brought his next project to Kick-Starter it really was a must have for me, I may have to scrimp and save every penny I have, but I have to be a part of this project somehow.
After I read issue #1 of “The Mighty Titan” you begin to see the emotion, time and effort Joe puts into his comics, and Titan #2 is no different! It tells the story of a super powered hero, indestructible to his enemies, who contracts a very human, very intimate illness that no one would ever expect. Titan and his human alter‐ego Mark are diagnosed with stage 3 brain cancer, something that many people have to live through every minute of every day, including the creator of this book. Joe has always been very open about this book being the most personal thing he has worked on, extracting aspects of his own life, and translating them into Titan’s story.
The art in this book by Luca Cicchitti, has a very classic feel to it. The panels look as if they are from an awesome old-school comic; Luca has such a traditional style to his pencil work it’s very cool to look at. This book also features another amazing artist on pencils, drawing the flashback scenes of issue #2 is Cory Smith. Cory brings a very different style of art to the opening pages. These two styles fits together seamlessly, depicting the difference between the flashback scenes and the main section of the story. The two styles complement each other so well.
Inking credit once again goes to Joe’s long-time collaborator Jeff Austin. Jeff shows just how versatile he can be, working with both Luca and Cory. I know Inkers quite often have specific ways of working, or with specific artists but Jeff seems to effortlessly switch between the varied styles of both artists, and elevates their work to even greater levels.
The colours by Keith J Betancourt are captivating, bringing a bold, bright feeling to the big action scenes, but dark undertones when required. Keith works brilliantly with the varied art styles, and also emphasizes the feelings portrayed on the page and in the script.
Letterers never seem to be given due credit and are only really noticed if their work is seen to be poor. Adam O’Pruett does a fantastic job as the letterer, rounding off an amazing second issue collaboration on a comic making big moves in the comic book community. At the time of writing this post issue #3 is 304% funded with 28 hours still remaining!
The Mighty Titan was set to be Joe Martino’s final comic, his swan song if you like. I’m happy in the knowledge that this has now changed, and he will be bringing us more great work next year.
Joe clearly poured his heart and soul into the script and creation of Titan, and it absolutely jumps from every single panel of this book, he has clearly picked his collaborators very wisely. I hope this post helps people to seek out the work of Joe Martino. I have chosen not to give away any of the story in this article, I want everyone to go check out this book, and all the previous books, and share them with everyone they know who reads comics.
The one spoiler I am happy to disclose is that my letter appears in the letters section! As you can guess from the way I talk about this book and Joe in general, I’m very happy about this.
Please all go check out Joe Martino (@jgmcomics) and tell him you want to read his books.
Please let me know your thoughts, comments and even if you just want to chat to me @jaybwebb on twitter
Posted on November 29th, 2013
Category: REVIEWS, WEBB OF SHADOWS
Tags: Adam O’Pruett, comics, Jason Webb, Jeff Austin, Joe Martino, Keith J Betancourt, Kickstarter comics, Luca Cicchitti, Mighty Titan Review
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