Orchid Comes to An End with #12

***SPOILER ALERT***

The beginning of this month brought us the ending to Tom Morello's maxi series, "Orchid."  In 12 issues, first-time comic-book Writer, Tom Morello, and Artist Scott Hepburn told us the story of Orchid: a young girl who only cares about the survival of herself and her immediate family, but transforms into a great fighter of all oppressed people living in fear of the evil dictator, Tomo Wolfe.

This last issue is action-packed with lots of great moments where you don't know if the cast of characters will survive the final battle with Tomo Wolfe.  But, of course, there are last-minute reinforcements to come save the day, personal sacrifices, and some unexpected surprises to keep you hanging on.

There's even a nice epilogue to show what all the key characters ended up doing after their hard-fought victory and to show the new--much better--community that everyone now enjoys.  (There's even a scene that leaves enough room for a possible sequel).

Orchid's gradual transformation from a person willing to just do anything to survive, into someone who finally only wishes to do all she can do away with the current living conditions of all who live in misery was the whole point of this story. And it takes new friends, many battles, many deaths, and the help of a magical mask to help her become the courageous and ferocious fighter for the people that she becomes.

For now, "Orchid," can be collected in 12 separate issues or three volumes.  But, I'm hoping, Dark Horse will release some sort of special edition hardcover containing the entire 12 issues.

Tom Morello & others Join Occupy Guitarmy

As many of you radicals know, this May first is International Workers Day, (also known as May Day), and the Occupy Movement is calling on people to participate in a General Strike (No work, no school, no business as usual). Over in New York, specific plans have been made for large protest marches that will include a "Guitarmy."

A call has been made for a 1000 musicians to enlist and other blogs have reported that The Nightwatchman, (AKA Tom Morello), will be leading this guitarmy to Union Square where he will be performing at 4 p.m. alongside artists like Immortal Technique, Ben Harper, Das Racist, and others. Morello has showed the Occupy Movement a lot of support; he's played some sets at a few of the Occupy encampments around the country, including in L.A., and even did a dance party for Occupy at SXSW earlier this year.

Here is what Pitchfork Media has said about the march route:

Morello will also lead a "Guitarmy" of 1,000 guitarists, string players, and singers that will march from New York's Bryant Park, through midtown Manhattan, down to Union Square, culminating in a performance at 4 p.m. An open rehearsal for the performance will begin at 12 p.m. in Bryant Park, to practice Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land", Sergio Ortega's "El Pueblo Unido", Willie Nile's "One Guitar", the Nightwatchman's "World Wide Rebel Song", and the traditional protest song "We Shall Not Be Moved".

The song list seems pretty tame and lame to me, but this is still a pretty cool idea!

Review: Orchid #1

***SPOILER ALERT***


This Tuesday was the release of Tom Morello's first penned comic-book, "Orchid," (which will be a 12 issue series). It's filled with good art by Scott Hepburn, and lots of background, story set-up and character introductions by Mr. Morello.

The first couple of pages show scenes of how a dystopian future came to be: where the majority of earth's survivors live horrible lives, lorded over by a few people who control small armies, (and don't forget all the scary mutant monsters that have now come to exist due, most likely, to pollution).

We first meet Simon, who's part of a small "Shadow Rebel" enclave that, in the book, is being chased by a caravan of armed soldiers loyal to local dictator, Tomo Wolfe. Simon luckily escapes the solders--in a very dramatic way--and then we then follow him as he walks around his home, among the rest of the "Bridge People."

We actually don't meet Orchid until much later in the book, and we learn that a horrible existence as a teen prostitute has made her callous, clever and tough. She tries to show no sympathy for others except herself, but we also find out that she's been secretly using her earnings, (and what she can manage to steal from her pimp/owner), to support her mother and young brother. How her character transforms throughout this series will definitely be worth paying to see/read each month.

Speaking of paying, this first issue is only $1.oo. so it's definitely worth going to your local comic book shop to check this out. There is also a variant cover by Shepard Fairey/Obey (pictured HERE) that costs more: $3.50 and up, depending on where you buy it. I highly recommend this book--especially if you've never picked up a graphic novel before.

Tom Morello at OccupyLA

The LA Weekly's West Coast Sound blog had a good piece today about Tom Morello's recent visit to Occupy LA this past weekend. He was there performing as The Nightwatchman on Saturday as part of a music festival to celebrate the one-week occupation of City Hall.

The author of the post mostly gets into the role of music in protest -- specifically in this Occupy movement that started in Wall Street (NYC) and has spread to hundreds of towns in cities and towns across the nation. (The Nightwatchman is also set to perform at OccupyWallStreet tomorrow).

Morello had some great lines in the interview, like: "I think that music's combination of harmony, rhyme, truth and groove speaks to the reptilian brain of human, in a way that's different from the written or spoken word...Check the historical record -- you don't win unless you've got an excellent soundtrack."

There were many other musicians at the festival, but Morello was probably the most popular. (In fact there has been a lot of cool bands playing at OccupyLA since day one and I hope to blog more about these bands next week).

Here are links to a few official videos from the Occupy LA media team: The Nightwatchman performing Maximum Firepower and Worldwide Rebel Song.

By the way, Morello has been pretty busy lately. He had a new Nightwatchman album recently released, and today was the official release of the first issue of a comic book he is writing, (which I hope to review soon)!

Tom Morello Writes a Comic Book

Last weekend, at the annual San Diego Comic-Con International, (the biggest pop-culture event in the world), Rage Against the Machine guitarist, Tom Morello, announced that Dark Horse Comics will be publishing a comic-book that he is writing.

The 12-issue series, “Orchid,” (which has an October 12 release date for its first issue), is said to be about a “16-year-old street prostitute who learns that she is more than the role society has imposed upon her.” The synopsis that has been circulating on the Internet says:

“When the seas rose, genetic codes were smashed. Human settlements are now ringed by a dense wilderness from which ferocious new animal species prey on the helpless. The high ground belongs to the rich and powerful that overlook swampland shantytowns from their fortress-like cities. Iron-fisted rule ensures order and allows the wealthy to harvest the poor as slaves. This is the world of Orchid.”

What is exciting to me, as a Communist, is that Morello will definitely inject some class-consciousness into his story. In a recent article he said, “It’s like Lord of the Rings meets Battle of Algiers…I wanted to craft a story that has the same visceral impact and political clout as the music I’ve been involved in.”

Other people are also excited that Morello is also providing music for the book as well! He told Rolling Stone, "When you buy the comic book you’re going to get a free song, which is the musical score for that issue. Over the 12-issue arch of the story, there will be 12 musical pieces that make a complete musical score for it."

There is already some buzz on the net about this book: Click HERE for a look at some of the cover and interior art; Go HERE for more information on the Shepard Fairey variant cover; and check out this VIDEO where Morello talks about this project and also reveals his previously unknown comic-book geek history, including how he collected thousands of comics!

Help Outernational release their debut EP

My favorite band that you might not have heard of: Outernational. They are currently working on releasing their first album, but they need our help! Check out some of their tunes on YouTube and you will see that they are all about helping to create a revoltionary culture. I just pledged $50, and you all should do the same--even more, if you can!