Afterlife with Archie – The Horror Writers

Paper Cuts: April 26, 2017

Paper Cuts: April 26, 2017

By Ryan “HB” Mount

Redneck #1 (Skybound/Image)

Modern day Hatfield and McCoys is one of the families was full of vampires and the other led by a preacher.

While the story is not breaking any new ground, it was extremely well written and a perfect first issue. We immediately get a sense of the Texas town, the Bowman vampire family and their rivals of the Landry Family. Even the beginning where many creators get bogged down in info dumps, the set up here was done without feeling like I was reading a poorly constructed novel and the opening two page spread certainly helped.

The rules of the world seem simple. Vampires drink cow blood and paint thinner to avoid human blood. They are still vulnerable to sunlight but nearly immortal. There also appears to have some telepathy, but not fully defined.

The art of Lisandro Esterren has a lot of sketchiness of Jason Latour with some facial work similar to Howard Chayakin. As with any book written about vampires, creatures of the night, you would expect the book to have an overall dark appearance. While the book certainly let the reader know if you were in the woods at night or in a dimly lit, you were not staring at pages soaked in black ink. The coloring from Dee Cunniffe contained a lot of cool blues and soft reds and accented the book perfectly.

This book was a perfect first issue.

Ratings: 4.5 out of 5

Jughead: The Hunger #1 (Archie)

This is simply an elseworld style tale of Jughead was a werewolf and Betty was a monster hunter. The story is not bad, but it is not compelling. The tone of this book was closer to Riverdale than to Archie Horror. There was some injected humor, but I believe fans read these books for the straight horror aspects.

The art of Michael Walsh feels like a cross of Jeff Lemire and Francesco Francavilla. Now while to compare the art styles to two of the greatest working in the industry right now could seem like high praise, there was also some art that felt extremely rushed and not finished. While the art did fit into the Archie horror universe well, it simply does not hold up against Afterlife with Archie and The Chilling Tales of Sabrina. This is the second book reviewed this week that features colors of Dee Cunniffe. Her color palate is perfect for horror books and should be a name to look forward to seeing when it comes out.

One thing that always made the Archie Horror universe so special was that even though the books came out sparingly is that they were so well done, it was worth the wait. In this case, it was such a step down in overall quality that this is a totally passable book.

Ratings: 3 out of 5

Quick Cuts:

Plastic #1 (Image) – What is Joaquin Phoenix from Her was in love with a plastic doll and a murdering psychopath? Ratings: 4.5 out of 5

The Atoll #2 (Big Pictures) – Human vs Shark fighting ring drama. Ratings: 4 out of 5

The Beauty #14 – This arc is Hannibal Season 1 type of drama and creepiness. Ratings: 4 out of 5

Grimm Tales of Terror: 2017 April Fools Edition – It certainly lives up to the title of April Fools, with each story providing a “twist” ending. However, it still was incredibly unclever and not scary. Ratings: 0.5 out of 5

Grimm Tales of Terror (Vol. 3) #4 – If you fear clowns, this will terrify. For the rest of us? Ratings: 1 out of 5

If you like what you read make sure to like it and share it. What are you reading right now? What would you like to see us reviewing? Make sure to reach us at @hebruise and @horror_writers

Paper Cuts: 9/1/16

Afterlife with Archie #10 (Archie)

These Archie Horror books come out slower than a horde of lurching zombies, but they are always 100% worth the wait.

This issue featured a re-imagining of Josie & the Pussycats in this new horror-filled world of Archie comics. I do not want to spoil it, but I love that the world is expanding outside of Riverdale. This issue opened up a lot of great possibilities.

The art and colors are stunning. Francesco Francavilla needs to be mentioned in the same breath as Frank Quitely – who also put out a book this week – and I truthfully cannot tell which one is better looking.

This series has stunning storytelling. If you fell off because of the long delays, get back into it.

Ratings: 5 out of 5

Zombie Tramp #26 (Action Labs / Danger Zone)

To be honest, I was not expecting much with this series, given the title. Perhaps I went in with such low expectations that I was surprised when it was not the worst book I read this week.

This book will have its audience. Its first quarter is basically torture porn. Then it turns into a total cheesecakes fest for the next half of the book. It ends with a story that at least has a small hook for new readers to wonder what happened.

Ratings 1.5 out of 5

Vampblade #7 (Action Labs / Danger Zone)

If you are like me and never have read an issue of Vampblade it does not take too long to figure out what this book is all about. It is right there in the title. Vamperella + Blade = Vampblade. “Sexy vampire fights other vampires.” As a matter of fact, that was the only thing that happened in this entire issue. Vampblade fights Mario Brothers-inspired demons of some sort in a sewer. How do I know they are Mario Brothers inspired? Because Vampblade tells us, then procedes to go on for several pages of video game references.

I typically like having some books that are fun (even the occasional cheesecake is alright), but this was simply #notgood.

Ratings: 1 out of 5

Broken Moon: Legends of the Deep (American Gothic Press)

This was my first title from American Gothic Press and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The art is very scratchy and unpolished, but reminds me of Sean Murphy. The art was fine, but it felt very storyboarded at time.

The lettering was tough to get through. It looked so unprofessional that it really took away from the art and story. However, going back over the book and just looking at the book without the word balloons, it redeemed itself.

The story itself was pretty good. I really enjoyed the setup of a fishing town during the apocalypse, with kaiju roaming the seas. I wished we explored that more, but the story took a couple of Mad-Max-with-werewolves turns after that and left me wanting more of that first story.

Ratings: 2.5 out of 5