Tag: comics

Paper Cuts: 12/19/16

Tales from the Suicide Forrest #1 (Amigo)

You may have not read the original “Suicide Forest” published by IDW, but you may be familiar with the story, which was turned into the 2016 movie entitled, The Forest. It is all based around Aokigahara – or The Suicide Forest – a real area in Japan, where people go to commit suicide often and is believed to be haunted. Whether you are familiar with the property or not, you can jump in with this one-shot by Amigo Comics.

Tales features two stories told in beautiful black and white art that had some of the most compelling story-telling since Scott Snyder’s Severed. Very rarely do horror stories weave such stories that leave the reader engrossed and genuinely terrified, but this issue should be read and admired by any fans of the genre.

The characters were so compelling that I forgot where the stories took place and left me genuinely surprised with each ending of the two narratives.

With a small publisher, make sure you get to your local comic shop and ask them to order this book.

Ratings: 4.5 out of 5

Chimichanga: The Sorrow of the World’s Worst Face #3 (Dark Horse)

Part of the fun of picking up a book with Eric Powell is never knowing what you are going to get. Eric Powell has two very different story telling styles: one is clearly intended for adults with mean, tough violence, while the other has a juvenile sense of humor. Chimichanga is on the more fun side of things and intended for all ages.

The other part of picking up a book with Eric Powell is always knowing what you are going to get. Incredible art. Whether Powell is on art duties himself or brings someone in – Stephanie Buscema in this instance – there is always a certain style and feel that is familiar, yet absolutely stunning and jaw dropping.

Ratings: Ratings 4 out of 5

Richard Corben: Shadows on the Grave #1 (Dark Horse)

Shadows on the Grave is a new anthology series from Richard Corben, who most notably worked on Heavy Metal magazine and received several awards for his work on Hellboy.

The first two short tales in this book were absolutely terrifying and may have been even too creepy and disturbing for Tales of the Crypt.

Although Corben has been an artist for many years, the old school art feels fresh amongst many of the horror books currently populating the shelves.

While this book was truly beautiful and told some great tales, the final tale was a bit wordy and disjointed.

Ratings: Ratings 4 out of 5

Overall, this was a big week for horror comics. Feel free to check out some of the other books that came out this week that did not make the cut. Die, Kitty, Die #3 came out and still continues to be a fun poke at the comics industry. If you need some adult Eric Powell books in your life, check out Hillbilly #4. And if you need your weekly fix of cheesecake, Cinderella: Serial Killer Princess #1 came out from Zenescope. And those were only some of this week’s horror books.

Tags Amigo, Chimichanga, comics, Dark Horse, Paper Cuts, Richard Corben, Shadows on the Grave, Tales From the Suicide Forest

Posts

Micky Neilson to Pen Comic Adaptation of The Howling

Post author By A.M. Novak
Post date December 14, 2016
No Comments on Micky Neilson to Pen Comic Adaptation of The Howling

How many werewolf horror fans do we have in the audience today? If you are, you know and have seen Joe Dante’s The Howling. It’s iconic, it’s outstanding, and it’s getting adapted into comic form. Space Goat will release The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen in the summer of 2017, written by bestselling author Micky Neilson.

A longtime veteran of Blizzard Entertainment, Micky Neilson has plenty of experience with the medium, having written Ashbringer, a Warcraft graphic novel that made the NYT Bestseller list. The werewolf subgenre isn’t new to him, either; a few months back, we raved and howled over his horror novel The Turning, and are currently snuggling up with its recently published prequel, Whisper Lake. If anyone can handle the four-part Howling miniseries which begins where the 1981 film ended, it’s Neilson. Add in artwork from Jason Johnson of Wetworks fame, and the bar is set gloriously high for a solid series.

Tags comics, Horror, Werewolves

Articles Paper Cuts

Paper Cuts: 12/5/16

Number one issues can be tricky. The writer needs to set a world, give compelling characters and leave with something to come back around for the next installment. All within the confines of 32 pages.

Bad Moon Rising has some elements that intrigue, but unfortunately get lost in the shuffle because there are too many plot points in this first issue. The book opens with American soldiers trapped in Vietnam, only to be saved by one of them turning into a werewolf. Truthfully, you could do a whole series on that alone and it would have been compelling and interesting. After finishing Bad Moon Rising, I am not even sure that has anything to do with the plot moving forward because there were 3 more story lines crammed into this single issue. There is a story of fringe science doctor who sees ghosts and is desperately trying to get law officials to believe him. There is a story of a biker gang who have some sort of connection to wolves, although the connection itself is unclear. And then there is a story of what sets up to be the main character of the series, a guy who ran away to the city, leaving his small town behind, and is back due to an animal attack on his father that killed him. That is all in one issue. These elements could work together, but the story execution felt flat and rushed and never let any of these characters develop and breathe, or give the reader a real reason to care about any of them.

One thing to really give credit to this issue is on the art layout. Newer and smaller publishers really tend to stick to a simple grid format of storytelling and it was a pleasant surprise to see the creative team work with a much wider scope of formats that moved the story along and kept the reading engaging by changing the format depending on how the story needed to be told. There is some real talent in that and something that is missing from a lot of the horror comics that are published on a monthly basis.

The art in the rest of the book is all over the map. There are a lot of misplaced shadows and odd coloring choices. The line work also seems to be really thick in some places and pencil thin in others. I was a bit surprised to find that the artist, Ty Dazo, has had success working for the largest comic publishers. Looking back over the credits, there were three different colorists on this single issue. That could be the determining factor on the inconsistencies of art throughout the book. In today’s comic market, that seems to be the norm, with monthly double shipped, big 2 comics. But for an indie publisher, it is odd to have that many in one book.

Overall, this book is fine. The couple elements that I liked – the Vietnam angle and the art layouts – warrant another chance on this series for issue #2.

Ratings: 2.5 out of 5

Tags Bad Moon Rising, comics, Paper Cuts, Werewolves

Archives Articles Paper Cuts

Paper Cuts: 11/17/16

Die Kitty Die #2 (Chapterhouse)

This may have been a little less impressive than the first issue – which was one of my stand-out books of the year – but still delivered a solid read and worthy of any pull list.

The story format continues to delight as the reader is first given a “flashback” comic to our main character Kitty’s heyday in comics, which sets up the story to come in the rest of the issue. The writing in this issue was little more on the nose with its jokes and jabs at the overall comic industry. The language was also turned up a little more. That aspect – combined with a couple of drug references – took away from some of the light-heartedness, but still continued to charm and deliver laughs.

The art shone throughout the entire book. The flashback portion felt like an Archie book of the past, while the present story remained in that updated – yet classic – Archie feel. Art this well done really helps move the story at a fantastic pace and never get bogged down. There continued to be a little cheesecake to the art, but it added to the overall fun of the book without making it feel like staring into a 90s long box or a slightly creepy deviant art page.

The two-page spreads by J Bone are worth the price of admission alone.

Overall, this was still a treat to read and was easily the first book off my stack this week.

Ratings: 4 out of 5

Spell on Wheels #2 (Dark Horse)

Spell on Wheels is doing something very special and commendable.

It gives the reader a fun tale of strong independent women, while delivering a feminist message that is not meant to be beaten over anyone’s head.

These characters are real women – living in this current day and age – but just happen to be a bunch of spell casting witches looking to reclaim their stolen items.

The X-Men taught a lot of us that it is alright to be a little different when we were growing up. Spell on Wheels is teaching us all how to live a little bit better.

It’s a great message. A well written book and absolutely stunning cartooning.

I want more of this in comics and want to give those books to my nieces.

Ratings: 4.5 out of 5

Lady Killer 2 #3 (Dark Horse)

At one point, Dexter was the best television show out there. When the show was at its best, we knew who Dexter was and that was not going to change, but it was the pieces around our main character that made the show compelling and interesting.

While I enjoyed the first two issues of Lady Killer 2, it felt like perhaps this was just another romp in the world of this 60s mom serial murderer. It’s always a fun time, but nothing super compelling. Luckily, issue #3 added some new wrinkles and dropped in a little lurking mystery around some of our supporting characters. Those wrinkles made it feel like a whole new world while still keeping us connected to our main character, whom we have come to root for.

Michelle Madsen on art continues to kill on art duties and gives this book a distinct feel. The first two-page spread of this book is meant to be marveled and poured over.

Ratings: 4 out of 5

Tags Chapterhouse, comics, Dark Horse, Die Kitty Die, Lady Killer, Paper Cuts, Spell on Wheels

Archives Paper Cuts

Paper Cuts: 11/4/16

Hellchild: The Unholy #1 (Zenescope)

This book was simply perplexing.

Zenescope has not been known for its stellar art, but when you first open this book, there was some truly great art. It had me wondering, “who is this?” The credits list Renzo Rodriguez as the artist, but the art and lettering is so wildly different from segment to segment that it feels like it had to be a collection of artists. Assuming Renzo drew the first 4-5 pages, they were incredibly well done. It went from a book that I felt like I had to read to a book I wanted to read.

However, the book then stops all momentum and gives you a full page of written backstory which is almost never a good story telling device; it usually spells doom for films that do not trust the story they have.

The art after that then appears to have been drawn by a completely different artist. It is extremely jarring. The easiest way to take me out of a book is poor lettering, and that’s exactly what happened here. If that was not already challenging, the book seems to change art styles at least one more time.

The actual story that was told in the beginning of the book seemed to be setting up a great supernatural mystery and had me on board. However, after the text page, we meet the “hero” of the book. Hellchild is an uninteresting character and the writers feel like they have to justify how badass she is by turning the remainder of the book into one long, gory fight scene.

After all the fighting, the writers spend a couple pages trying to make Hellchild a brooding loner, but instead the writing is just amateur to put it as nice as possible.

The art in the beginning will force me to pay attention to this series, but if the inconsistencies continue, I will hold out my hopes for Renzo Rodriguez to see what he will do next.

Ratings: 2.5 out of 5

Nailbiter #26 (Image)

26 Issues in and there has not been a single dull moment in this entire run.

If you need more Hannibal Lecter in your life, this book is a must read.

The payoff in this issue is huge if you have been reading the series from the beginning. While you could jump in with this issue, the reveal in the book is much more satisfying after spending time with these characters.

I know it is only November 2^nd, but after a month of Halloween inspired tales, this tale of murder during the Christmas season seemed refreshing.

Ratings: 4 out of 5

Eclipse #3 (Image)

If you enjoyed the type of horror in John Carpenter’s The Thing, then you should be reading this wonderful series.

This series is the perfect dystopian future/murder mystery.

The art continues to amaze as it is so bright yet continues to be so bleak.

My only criticism is that the story telling felt very quick and would not have minded to have it breathe a little bit more.

Ratings: 4 out of 5

Tags comics, Eclipse, Hellchild, Image, Nailbiter, Paper Cuts, Zenescope