Liquid City Vol.2 book launch

Today marked the first of 2 events to launch the second volume of Liquid City - the comics anthology by Image Comics featuring comics creators from Southeast Asia. Two years after the launch of the first volume, Liquid City is back again bringing more tales centred around the fluid, ever-changing nature of cities and their citizens.

Featuring both established as well as new creators, Liquid City is a visual treat presenting a variety of styles and genres. If you manage to peel yourself from returning cover artist Shelly Wan's painted cover and flip the pages to a buffet offering of good to great comic strips ranging from Miel's "Signs" to Dave Chua and Koh Hong Teng's "Paper City" to Lefty's "The Way Back" to Troy Chin's "Delays". Malaysian legend Lat contributes a new strip about football game in Malaysia. Co-editor Sonny Liew himself contributes a very Singaporean "The Hunt for Mas Selamat" (with a bogus, in-his-dreams football scoreline).

The spotlight wasn't merely on Liquid City Vol.2, with appearances by local artists Ye Zhen and Otto Fong who spoke about their recent comics work.

Don't worry if you missed the book launch at Kinokuniya earlier today, there will be another book launch event next week (6 November 2010, 2pm) at {prologue}, Ion Orchard.















Be sure to check out Dave Chua and Koh Hong Teng's "Gone Case: The Graphic Novel" slated to launch later this year at STGCC 2010


Otto Fong signing my copy of Sir Fong's Adventures in Science Book 3: Cells!


Otto Fong together with guest artist Koh Hong Teng who drew backgrounds for a page in the book


Koh Hong Teng obliges with his autograph




Troy Chin ... always delightful to have a chat with


JC Wong with Ye Zhen looking on









Autograph production line




Liquid City Vol. 1 & 2


Managed to add Hong Teng's autograph to my Vol.1




Vol.2 autographs



Otto's and Hong Teng's autographs on Otto's latest book



Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man #50 signed by Sonny Liew



Marvel's adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice signed by Sonny Liew

Fractured Fables

I first encountered Fractured Fables with a preview in Previews (the monthly order catalog by comic distributors Diamond Comics). This was followed by a Free Comic Book Day freebie comic earlier this year containing selected stories from the final release hardcover anthology in the months leading up to its release.

Fractured Fables features twisted versions or parodies of well-known fables or fairy tales by some of the top talent working in comics today - Michael & Laura Allred, Peter David, Terry Moore, Bryan Talbot, Jill Thompson, Whilce Portacio, Shannon Wheeler and Jim Valentino just to name a few. It was published under the Image Comics banner by Jim Valentino's Shadowline Comics. Needless to say, I had been looking forward to the hardcover release just to run my eyes over comics by some of my favourite creators. I was able to score my copy from Kinokuniya during their members' sale and rushed home to read it. That was when a glance through the contents page revealed another familiar name in addition to some of the comics creators mentioned earlier - Nikki Dy-Liacco.

I had met Nikki through my work when we were organising a seminar at my workplace last year. I was not aware she was a published writer and seeing her name in a comic book was a nice surprise. We met again last week for another seminar we organised and Nikki gamely autographed my copy of Fractured Fables.

Nikki related how she had first collaborated with May Ann Licudine, the artist who illustrated her story "The Fox and the Cat" in Fractured Fables. She had won a story-writing contest with "The Yellow Paperclip With Bright Purple Spots", which was the story for an illustration contest that May Ann Licudine won. The resultant illustrated story was published and released as a children's book only in their native Philippines. Nikki was kind enough to present me with an autographed complimentary copy the following day. Thank you, Nikki!

Do pick up Fractured Fables and drop a note to Nikki to tell her how much you enjoyed it. Tell her Peow sent you. ;)


Fractured Fables (Michael Allred cover art)


Two page spread from "The Fox and the Cat" by Nikki Dy-Liacco and May Add Licudine




Nikki signing my Fractured Fables



Nikki's autograph in Fractured Fables


FCBD edition of Fractured Fables

Lego 4482 - AT-TE

The All-Terrain Tactical Enforcer (AT-TE) made its first appearance in Star Wars Ep. II: Attack of the Clones. It is a multi-purpose assault vehicle capable of transporting battalions of troops or full-scale assault. The design reminds me of a fearsome rhinoceros beetle.

This is the first release of the AT-TE by Lego from 2003, consisting of 646 pieces. I had won this from eBay and received it in the mail last week. I spent the weekend building it just to ensure that there were no missing pieces as it was in used condition even though it came with the original box. Fortunately, all necessary pieces were accounted for and the seller exceeded my expectations by even including the spare pieces that came with the set.

Plus points:
- Huge structure, suitable for display
- 4 Ep.2 clone trooper mini-figures
- Great design for mass driver cannon which pivots
- Inclusion of speeder bike is a nice touch
- Nice cockpit with green windows
- Easy removal of top allows access to the internal bits
- Relatively expensive now on the secondary market

Minus points:
- Decals, although thankfully not too many
- Legs are stable only in the standard standing position, not much leeway for movement
- Could do with a lot more clone troopers
- Other guns lack stability and could be better designed
- Overly large gaps in the armoured body




Box (front)


Box (rear) reveals alternate mecha design








Cockpit opens up and driver seat slides forward for easy access


Mass driver cannon rotates 360 degrees


Roof is easily lifted up to reveal vehicle interior




Rear hatch lifts up to reveal storage for speeder bike


Standing room only


4 Ep. II clone troopers


Instruction manual


Spare bricks


6 stickers to be applied