Double Barrel #2

Title: Double Barrel
Issue: #2
Release: July 2012
Writers: Kevin Cannon and Zander Cannon
Artists: Kevin Cannon and Zander Cannon

Image via Top Shelf Productions

The Cannons have launched the second issue of their online comic, available through a wide variety of media for $1.99.  The first issue is now reduced to a mere $0.99.  I got mine at comiXology.  As some readers may already know, I went to college with the Cannons and am therefore biased.  My review of issue #1 can be found here. 

The main attractions in this issue are two new chapters each for both Zander's Heck and Kevin's Crater XV.   Kevin also introduces a new story, Penny from the Front, described by the creator himself on the Double Barrel blog as "the story of a young girl reporting from the Canadian front lines at the beginning of World War One."  It's really just a quick taste - only four pages.  More is promised for issue #3.

Image via Double Barrel

Also among the extras is Zander's How to on lettering.  Both of the Cannons do their own lettering by hand.  Zander's discussion gets pretty technical but there's enough for the newbie to get the general idea.  I am always grateful for insights into the creative process.

Despite my bias, I wouldn't steer you folks wrong.  This is high quality stuff.  Go check it out.  I'll wait...

Are you all caught up now?  I don't have to worry about spoilers?  Cool.

I really like the twist on the James Bond Q idea in Crater XV (p.44-49).  There's also an interesting discussion in the FAQ section about calling the output of this medium comic books versus graphic novels (p. 8).  In my own exploration, I've considered anything that was originally serialized to be a comic book whereas anything published whole is a graphic novel.  I realize this is an imperfect distinction as many of what we think of as classic novels in Western literature were originally serialized.  Personally, I like the generic term comic for encapsulating both.  Obviously, the word has connotations which are problematic but, my goodness, so does just about every other word in the English language.