3 out of 5

So I bought this by accident thinking the Turtles were in it.  WHOOPS.  But now I must review.  Such is the price of being me.

So I REALLY dig the concept and presentation of Digital Webbing, giving unknowns a shot with professional printing and coloring.  Although it confuses me where / why the big names pop up in the issues – such as Nobles Causes creator Jay Faerber here, who delivers the cover-shown piece, ‘Firebirds.’  Perhaps, as I mused with issue #24 and the Turtles appearance, it’s either a favor or a way to keep people picking up the series and discovering something new, or perhaps it’s a creator-owned thing and a way to pitch an idea that a major has either turned down or you’re not sure of yet.  Who knows?  Either way, there’s something still very healthy and legit about this series that I don’t get from other anthology books so much.  I feel like indie anthologies and stuff like DHP – while obviously important and having contributed some great stuff to the world – don’t so much promote the ‘new’ angle as trying to boast that the stories are awesome.  DWP just seems to stand by the work as good, some kind of crowd-based system voting it into the book, and instead pushes the coolness of getting this stuff out there.

Still, unknowns are unknowns and it takes a while to find your footing in any medium, comics included.  Thus most issues probably follow the beats of ish 25, a little uneven, cool ideas, competent art but nothing, necessarily, to become your new favorite.  It’s more the kinda stuff to keep an eye on.  Faerber’s ‘Firebirds’ is as plain jane as I found Noble Causes, about a mother and daughter hero team.  It has a natural flow, like NC, and slots into the ‘everyday hero’ genre.  Good framing by Anders Ponce though.  Ian Ascher’s ‘The Last Paladin’ is pretty cool, some kind of ancient heroes /villains transported to modern day tale.  The pacing is a bit off, and the backgrounds are lacking, but a lot of story is effectively communicated in only a few pages.  Lastly, another ‘Mask of the Gargoyle’ entry, filling in some backstory via a conversation between a cop and a priest.  Like issue 24, it’s a little over-zealous with its pulpiness, but I wonder what Dario Carrasco is doing now, ’cause his/her art shows a lot of promise in terms of composition and detail and yet having a stylistic flair of its own.  Finally, a one-pager by Liz Plourde, fairly creative advice column gag, but pretty typical female comedy, sorry to say.

Thick paper stock, bright colors.  I gotta see if this series is still poking around.  It’s a fun peek into a more ‘common man’ world of comics, and you feel like you’re in a little reading circle with people to whom you can relate.