REVIEW: Araknis #1of 4

Creators:  Michael & Mario Ortiz

Story/Pencils:  Michael Ortiz

Story/Inks:  Mario Ortiz

Digital Colors & Graphics:  Gorilla Graphix

Letters:  Robin Spehar

Review:  Art Bee

Once again I am bringing you a floppy book from my dusty box of yesteryear. This time I am sharing Araknis #1. Until it was pulled out of my comic box, its memory was lost to me. Once I started rereading it, my brain began pulling the recessed memories out of my dusty forgotten box of yester-memories. I recall not liking this comic, which is why I never bought the other three issues. 

This story is about a man named Jonathan Blackwell who is possessed by an entity called Araknis, which is some kind of guardian. Part of the story is centered on a villain named Cryptus wanting to capture the Gate of Ages to gain immortality from a demon lord named Asteroth. 

The reason I didn’t like this comic book back then is valid. My issue with it was it's a carbon copy of Todd McFarlane’s Spawn. Heaven versus Hell. News reports. Antihero with demonic powers who had lost his wife. Those are just some of the obvious parallels. The “creators” probably needed to identify themselves as just story writers here. Being a creator is something more than a writer. They have plagiarized too many aspects of Spawn in my opinion, and Morning Star Productions, Inc. and editor, Mike Renegar, should have recognized this. Maybe they had no idea and it was just a coincidence. If that is true, these comic book writers needed to read more comics in the genre they are entering.

The artwork is really good. Its best quality is the backgrounds, which are amazingly detailed. There are only two issues I have with the artwork. The first is the eyes of a woman on page 13. They are really screwed up. The second is the coloring firm, Gorilla Graphix. If they are going to put the work into drawing this comic, find another artist to color it. A “coloring” firm seems like a cheap thing to do.

My current reading reveals this to be a good story, but the similarities to Spawn are too numerous to ignore. I may look into completing the mini-series in the future but will not pay much for them. Part of me feels guilty for just owning it.