I'm sure you've heard of Ain't it Cool News, right? The Harry Knowles website that gives brutally honest reviews of the latest movies and has a knack for unearthing the most closely guarded studio secrets? Of course you have. Well, unless you visit the AiCN website regularly, what you may not have realised is that they also review other things, like DVDs and comics. And more recently, it seems, even webcomics. Webcomics like ... Shades!

Yes, Shades now has a review by Ain't it Cool News and - deep breath - it's a pretty positive review, too!

Here are a couple of extracts:

"[…] so far, the story is pretty damn good. […] Writer Burner nails some great character driven moments as an aged tailor and his grandson go on a quest to inform a team of superheroes from the past about an impending danger. Burner asks the question: what makes a hero? A colorful costume or a person’s deeds?"

Yeah, okay - so he spelt my name wrong, but it's still pretty cool! And there's more ...

"The art is pretty damn fine too […] with dynamic poses and effective action sequences. The artist also knows how to capture the more quiet scenes […] Many artists don’t really give it their all in the scenes in between the big battles. Chattoraj isn’t one of those artists. He seems to give it his all in every panel."

You can read the whole review here and, if you're not already familiar with Shades, you can see check out the comic itself here!

Shades - it's the end!
Well, to be more accurate, it's the half-way point. Today we reach a huge milestone in Shades - the last page of what will eventually be Volume 1 of a print version!

Sadly, if you've been following our news reports, you'll know that the latest instalment is also the last page we'll be posting online for a while. Harsho has unfortunately had to leave the project and so Shades will be on hiatus for a few months until the new art team can get things up and running again. On the plus side - this last page by Harsho is a real zinger!

The Spires - looking before leaping!
Meanwhile, I'm sure those of you who know your way around the BVC website have already discovered that we posted an update to our fantasy title The Spires on Monday without telling you. (Sometimes we're sneaky like that!)

We're out on the rooftops again for this latest instalment and Kolm is about to make a huge leap of faith. Quite literally!

You may have noticed, we've not been using this blog to advertise our updates as often as we used to. We've still been updating, but we're relying more on our shiny new RSS feed to let you know what we've been up to. If you haven't subscribed to it yet, just click that big orange button at the bottom there!

Anyway ... if you didn't visit the Broken Voice Comics website this week, this is what you've been missing:

Shades - mind the teeth!
As a certain pointy-eared super hero once said: "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!" Or, more to the point as far as Shades is concerned, a seven-in-one giant serpent-demon-spirit monster!

Yes, in the latest instalment, there's more snake on naked bald guy action as the Shaman tries escape with his prize intact!

Thy Will Be Done - the doctor will see you now ...!
It may not be quite as bad as going to the dentist but, let's be honest, none of us likes going to see the doctor. And, in E.C. Nickel's and Alexandre Lobao's SciFi comic Thy Will Be Done, people have more reason than most!

But we should think ourselves lucky. As you can see in today's instalment, if you also happen to work for these guys, there's no escape!

Shades - what made Boo the woman she is?
You probably know by now that, as well as appearing at BVC, Shades is also serialised at a couple of other sites on the web. At one of those we've been running a series of "character studies" explaining the thinking behind the character designs.

Now, since we've had some positive feedback to those, we've decided to run them at BVC, too. The first, a character study of Boo, can be seen in a special section of the Shades forum now. Take a look - there's some interesting stuff in there!

The bad news is the Broken Voice Comics website crashed for a couple of weeks just recently so, if you've been trying to visit us, you'll have found us, well ... not there! The good news is, we not only got ourselves up and running again this week, but we've also finally added a new RSS feed so, in future, you can be alerted every time we update. Hooray!



Apart from that, what updates might you have missed during this, our first week back? Well, I'll tell you!

Shades - "I hate snakes!"
Our first update since the Big Shutdown saw us visiting Shades where we'd previously left a group of naked men standing around a pit muttering something about serpents ...

Odd really. You'd think the last thing a naked man would want to see would be a long wriggly thing with big pointy fangs at one end! Oh, well - check in on the latest instalment and see if they found any!

Thy Will Be Done - war, eh? What is it good for?
Then, on Good Friday, we celebrated with a very appropriate visit to E.C. Nickel's and Alexandre Lobao's Thy Will Be Done where poor old Daniel is being shipped off, possibly to make the ultimate sacrifice?

Yup - in the latest instalment he seems to be closing in on those pesky insects and you know what? I don't think a can of bug-repellent is going to be enough!

Okay, so - if you didn't find time to visit the Broken Voice Comics website last week, this is what you've been missing:

Thy Will Be Done - unreality!
Poor old Daniel's had some mean tricks played on him by those sneaky scientist types in E.C. Nickel's and Alexandre Lobao's Thy Will Be Done. I doubt he has any idea of what's real and what's not any more.

Which, of course, puts him in much the same boat as the rest of us. Take a peek at the latest instalment and see if you can work it out!

Shades - (near-)death and a maiden!
The last time we lookd in on Shades, we left Craig lying injured in bed with two very inquisitive visitors - a rather attractive redhead in leather and a naked man with tattoos. Quite worrying really!

Still, he's alive and - if the latest instalment is anything to go by - he's got some questions of his own he'd like answered. Well, you would, wouldn't you?!

Another week, another ... Nope. No more dollars. Not at Broken Voice Comics anyway! There is, however, lots and lots of updatey stuff that we haven't told you about yet, so take a seat ...

The Spires - fightin' words!
Things had been getting just a tad maudlin over in The Spires recently. Well, that's what happens when you start letting characters tell their back-stories!

But never fear - even though things are still in backstory mode for the latest instalment, it rather looks as if someone's about to get a beating. Yup - and it's a safe bet it's not going to be the pretty girl in leathers, either!

Shades - Chapter 8 launched!
A real milestone was reached on Wednesday. For ease of navigation, Shades is organised into three volumes online. When a print version is eventually put together, however, there will only be two and the last chapter in Volume 1 will be, yes - Chapter 8! Woo hoo!

But you don't care about that. You just want to know what's happened to Ryan, Craig and Becky since last week, right? Well, just skip to the latest instalment (and make sure you have a box of tissues handy!)


Thy Will Be Done - office romance!
So, you've seen Daniel, the main character in E.C. Nickel's and Alexandre Lobao's SciFi comic Thy Will Be Done, enjoying a deserted beach alone with his wife Sara. (Well, a virtual beach, anyway!)

But all good things must come to an end, they say, and in last Friday's instalment Daniel returns to work. Fortunately, he's about to get a surprise visit to brighten his day!

Shades - fan art!
Some time ago, you clever arty types were asked whether you were interested in trying your hand at some fan art for any of the BVC titles. Well, it seems nobody was ... at least not back then!

But things change and now, the talented JustNoPoint has drawn Stan (from Shades) in a cameo role as a waiter in the webcomic Off Hours. That's like - super-fanart! Use that link to go straight to the full comic or click here for the fan art first!