Ethan Van Sciver was driven from mainstream
comics through slander and
bullying.
Through perseverance, self-belief and god-given
talent he's a bigger
player in the industry today than ever before.
Ethan Van Sciver has been in the comic book
industry his entire adult life.
He
published his creator owned character Cyberfrog
at age 20 in 1994.
Van Sciver
rose from unknown indie artist to one of the
finest visual stylist in comic book
history.
He's best known for his collaborations with
Geoff Johns at DC Comics.
Together they created Flash Rebirth, Green
Lantern Rebirth, Sinestro Corps Wars
and many other hit books for DC Comics.
His art and creative inputs on the Green
Lantern mythos generated tons of revenue for
DC Comics.
He is the definitive
Green Lantern artist.
No other artist has done it better.
No other artist is as
synonymous with the character.
Period.
Van Sciver is an open supporter of Donald
Trump's campaign and presidency.
After Trump's victory in 2016 he was the victim
of comic industry reprisal on
social media.
Alleged art thief Tim Doyle, famous E-beggar
Keiran Shiach, comic
industry never was Darryl Ayo and others targeted
EVS and his employer DC
Comics.
They call him nazi, alt-right, bigot and every
other buzzword the radical
left use to defame people these days.
Around the same time Ethan began his own
YouTube channel and connecting with readers
more than ever before.
During
these attacks DC Comics never publicly supported
Van Sciver.
Ethan gave the vast
majority of his adult life to the company
and their characters.
They stood silent
while a hate mob, who never contributed one
thing to the company or industry
tried to tear him apart.
I can't imagine how it feels to give your
entire adult life to
an industry and art form you love.
Just to have them all turn their backs and
try to
feed you to the wolves.
It's truly an ultimate betrayal.
Eventually he asked for an early release from
his contract with DC Comics.
He
concentrated on growing his YouTube channel.
He also began defending himself
against slanderous allegations on social media.
He became a champion and leader
of sorts in Comicsgate.
A consumer movement aimed at removing ideological
propaganda from comics, preserving hero legacies
and demanding decent
behavior from professionals in the comic book
industry.
In mid-2018 he revived his dormant Cyberfrog
character and launched a record-
breaking crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.
Initially he raised over $500
hundred dollars for his campaign.
He launched two subsequent variant cover
campaigns and gave new fans a chance to support
the project.
In total Cyberfrog:
Blood Honey has over 14 thousand backers and
over $800 raised in support of the
project.
It was originally scheduled to ship in November
2018.
He's a bit late on
delivery.
That led to many of his detractors calling
his backers suckers, claiming
EVS ripped them off and was running off with
their money.
Time for some assholes to eat a whole lot
of crow.
Ethan messaged backers with
the first 19 pages comprising the chapter
one of Cyberfrog: Blood Honey.
Fully
colored and lettered.
They aren't hi-res or full sized images.
But I'm going to
preview the book nonetheless.
This is as excited as I've been about a comic
book
in some time.
I'm not likely to receive a digital copy of
the complete graphic
novel.
I'm also overseas so my physical copy will
arrive months after the book has
been spoiled and reviewed to death.
This may be my only chance to review
Cyberfrog.
So let's get to business
EVS is one of the finest comic artists in
history, Blood Honey has a seemingly
impossible bar to clear.
Somehow he manages to exceed expectations
for his record-breaking Cyberfrog
graphic novel.
Ethan is known for his exceptional eye for
details.
He's taken it to
another level in Blood Honey.
This image of Cyberfrog being born is absolutely
stunning.
The perspective of a simple frog being assimilated
by alien technology is
one of the craziest images I've seen in a
graphic novel.
And I would be remiss not
to mention the amazing work of color artist
Kyle Ritter.
His work is exceptionally
vibrant and oozes a cool factor most other
comics don't.
The extreme detail of
Van Sciver's work can be very challenging.
Kyle helps make Blood Honey a
premium visual experience.
Ritter sent a package of his work to Van Sciver
years
ago.
Now he's the other half of the team behind
the biggest crowd funded
graphic novel in history!
The first chapter is mostly an origin story.
When Van Sciver and Ritter finally put
Cyberfrog in action it's amazing.
The scenes are very dynamic and the action
poses of Cyberfrog are fantastic.
I do think the chair in the bottom panel is
far too
large in comparison to Heather Swain's body.
That's my one criticism of the art in
chapter one.
The last image of Chapter One shows Cyberfrog
and Salamandroid's mother ship
stuck in the honey comb of the invaders they
were sent to protect Earth from.
There are very few artist in the industry
that can make anything of this quality.
It's
a seemingly innocuous page.
EVS put his heart and soul into this book.
He didn't
need to add detail of this level to this page.
But he did, he wants his backers to
receive the most impressive graphic novel
he's capable of.
I've heard some people
say Ethan is an overrated artist.
Anyone that's read his stories knows these
people
are motivated by hateful ideology, jealousy
or plain ignorance.
I've seen fully
rendered images not included in this preview.
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
I
rate the art in Cyberfrog: Blood Honey Chapter
One 5 out of 5.
I backed Cyberfrog knowing Ethan's visuals
would be phenomenal.
His ability to
write characterization, dialogue and plot
are another story.
One of the big issues I've had with Richard
C. Myers Jawbreakers: Lost Souls, Jon
Malin's Graveyard Shift and other crowd funded
books I've backed is story
compression.
Creators compact five to six single issues
of material that would
normally be 100 to 130 pages in 50 pages or
less.
Ethan Van Sciver's Cyberfrog:
Blood Honey doesn't appear to suffer this
issue.
The first nineteen pages tell a
well-constructed origin story that has room
to breath.
It's not the frenetic pace
other books are.
It's very refreshing.
The Pyrdani became aware the Vyzpzz are coming
for Earth.
They dispatch a living
ship with the ability to create new life,
teach and nurture new offspring.
The ship
races to Earth to intervene on its behalf.
Landing in New Jersey in 1996.
The ship arrives with twins ready to be delivered
but needs to assimilate them
with a terrestrial life form.
The Pyrdani are expecting to find human hosts
but
none are available.
The twins are born and select a frog and salamander
as host
forms.
Cyberfrog is born.
His mother ship, appoints him protector of
Earth.
The
ship teaches Cyberfrog the local dialect.
She tells him he must obey her and she
will prepare him for battle.
As long as Cyberfrog and his mother are connected
she will adjust and enhance
his body for battle.
His appendages can turn into massive machine
guns.
Mother
explains the Vyzpzz are a conquering swarm.
They see humans as livestock.
Blood
is the nectar that becomes honey to sustain
them.
Mother tells him to help
humans and be prepared to die for them.
Cyberfrog then meets his brother Salamandroid.
He appears to be four to five
time larger than his amphibian sibling.
This is no accident.
He's created to clear a
path for the titular hero.
Mother appoints Salamandroid the protector
of
Cyberfrog.
Mother heads beneath the surface of a small
pond to monitor her twin
sons.
Cyberfrog changes as she watches over him.
He starts his mission with optimism,
sympathy and compassion for humans.
She never prepares Cyberfrog for the fact
they have none for him.
No matter how many lives he saves, he does
not look like
one of their own.
He's rejected and worn down by the very people
he saves.
Cyberfrog is committed to his mission but
caries no love for humans.
Until he meets Heather Swain.
Beaten down by life herself she chooses a
dangerous path.
She's attacked by a human infected by the
swarm in a cemetery.
Cyberfrog rescues her and promises to always
look out for her.
She sees
Cyberfrog as the true hero he is.
Cyberfrog finally has a real friend and connection
to the people he was created to save.
She names him and his brother Cyberfrog
and Salamandroid.
The final shot is of their mother stuck in
the blood fueled
honeycomb, claiming all hope is lost.
I really enjoyed Ethan Van Sciver's Cyberfrog
origin story.
Our three main heroes all have well established
origins and
motivations.
The threat is identified and the story is
well paced.
I rate the writing
in Cyberfrog: Blood Honey Chapter One 4 out
of 5.
The first chapter of Cyberfrog: Blood Honey
is an exciting start.
I believe the story
jumps ahead 20 years after the arrival of
the Vyzpzz.
From the preview art the
story is going to be action-packed and gory
at times moving forward.
The opening
19 pages are beautifully illustrated, as expected.
I rate Cyberfrog: Blood Honey
Chapter One 4.5 out of 5.
I truly hope this book distributes to the
direct market.
The work of Van Sciver is very impressive
and merits the opportunity to compete
on the open market.
He recently started a new campaign selling
his own
Cyberfrog variant covers of Dynamite Entertainment's
Vampirella.
Who knows, he
has a business relationship with them of some
type.
Perhaps the next rabbit out
of Van Sciver's hat is his All Caps comics
competing on the direct market due to a
publishing agreement with Dynamite Entertainment.
One thing is for sure.
There is plenty of crow for his haters to
eat.
Cyberfrog:
Blood Honey is complete.
It's going to print very soon.
People all over social
media will soon be posting pics of a book
detractors said would never happen.
The book is real.
The scam is like everything else said by Ethan's
accusers.
Complete and utter bullshit and outright lies.
He's likely to launch his long
awaited Rainbow Brute campaign soon.
Ethan Van Sciver was driven from
mainstream comics through slander and bullying.
Through perseverance, self-
belief and god-given talent he's a bigger
player in the industry today than ever
before.
All hail Caesar.
