Burn one today- with Cynder!!!

~It's 4/20 again, y'all!!! 

 

-So, there's something you can listen to as we take a quick look at Immortelle Studios' Cynder, Volume 2, #1:

...and he died!

-I've talked a little about this sort of thing before on my blog here, and whether or not something like this has ever really happened or if it was just an urban legend.
I've since come across two more instances, mentioned online, of a child dying while pretending to be Superman... They were both posted within the past decade, but while these sites were "quoting" legit news articles- I could not find the actual news articles anywhere. 

Anyways; Bill Maus' Nira X cameos and needs Cynder's help capturing an evil alien...

If you don't know how to embiggen these pages by now... you must be high.

Spider-Moon? 

SPIDER-MOON?!?

I really hate when they do this kind of thing in comics: Being afraid to mention a brand, band, magazine, show name, or character owned by another company... Just fucking say Spider-Man! If you're seriously that worried about some kind of legal repercussion- then write it as 'Spiderman', or say it like: "I was watching a Saturday-morning cartoon about some kind of spider man." -You're safe. It's okay... 
Spider-Moon? *groans*
"Ohhh- I think I know who you mean!" -DERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...

¡Obligatory ass-shot!

¡Obligatory ass-shot!

Another thing I hate that they do in comics, cartoons, or movies- is when they say something like: "This kind of thing only happens in comics/cartoons/movies!"  It's so hackneyed...

-But this is FOR REALS!!!

You know what else is weird? Nira-X meets Cynder in this and another comic, within the same year, but they each act like it's their first-ever-meeting in both. Is a little continuity too much to ask???
It wouldn't have effected either story if they would have just been like- "Hey, great to see you again!" or something. An editor was asleep on the job... I'm just going to assume it was over at Entity Comics because Nira-X has had annoying little continuity problems of its own.

I think Michael Hernandez is a pretty solid artist... he reminds me a little of Jimmy Palmiotti... but this is a drastic difference from the earlier issues where his brother (and writer/creator of Cynder) David Hernandez inked it- instead of Michael inking his own pencils... plus there was no early-90's digital-coloring.

It's crazy what a difference something like that makes: 

-From Cynder Vol.1, #1

Linda K. Hernandez- who usually paints the awesome covers- is an AMAZING artist:

Cynder even had an action-figure! I mean; it sucks. 

 -But she had one!: 

I even remember seeing it, back in the day, when it was new... and now that I own ALL of the Cynder comics (thanks to mycomicshop.com) I kind of want the toy... for no real reason.

The entire series lasted five issues, in two volumes, plus one Annual and then two crossover specials from 1995 to 1996. The very last Cynder comic to come out was a crossover with Hellina that finished up the storyline from the 2nd Cynder series...
David Hernandez always kept readers informed about the status of the book in the back pages, and they were always very appreciative of their fans. It seemed to me that they were constantly just barely hanging on. Self-publishing is hard. He would talk about that, distribution problems, and how the industry was hurting- and even give tips for other aspiring self-publishers from experiences he had...
After the 90's comic boom, when the bubble popped; the market really was crashing. And you could tell from their continued updates that they were trying to stay positive in spite of their troubles... but it was clear they just weren't getting the amount of sales to make it all worthwhile. They tried crossovers, big name artists doing covers/centerfolds (Adam Hughes, Rob Liefeld, Jimmy Palmiotti, Bill Tucci), and then full color books to try and get themselves noticed; push the numbers up... but in the end, like a lot of self-published comics, they couldn't afford to keep it going.
The storyline of Cynder itself isn't anything groundbreaking- especially by today's standards... But even during the independent comics boom, and the bad-girl craze of the time, it never felt like a cheap cash-in attempt... it was a couple guys (and a lady) who saw an opportunity to do something that they love- professionally.
So they took it.
And, so what that it didn't blow up like they might have hoped- at least they tried. All you can do is try.
I respect them for it. And I enjoyed the series for what it was- then and now.

One more thing- at the very end of that final issue; they showed a preview for Lovalle Davis' Wardragon, featuring Cynder, that was supposed to come out in 1997: But never did.
I found his DeviantArt page recently, though- and it looks like he owns the rights to Cynder now, and Wardragon is called Stormdragon- but besides some sexy pin-ups, very cool redesigns, and random panels on his page- no actual comic has been published as of  this date. Which is sad because it looks really good!:

Now-

PACK YOUR BOWLS; LET'S GET STONED!