Michele Brittany
Primarily set in Aspen, Colorado, Ipso Facto is a coming-of-age story with a twist: the main protagonist Mosel, who thought he was just another high school teenager, discovers he is an alien tasked with the decision to save humanity. Written by J.R. Rothenberg and illustrated by Jason Badower (True Blood, Castle), this trade paperback from Shenandoah Publishing collects the first six issues. For the first volume, Rothenberg and Badower were joined by colorist Annette Kwok (The Watch and Witch King, Witchblade), letterer Jim Campbell, and edited by Joan Hilty.
“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.”
Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
“Darwyn always made me feel like when he was talking to me, he was 100% focused on me.
It's because he was...he was like this with everyone. It was his superpower.
To live in that moment and give it his all.
His art was a physical version of this. It's why his art reached so many people.
He was speaking directly to you and giving you every bit of himself. I'm going to miss you, man.”
- Shannon Eric Denton (Writer/Artist, Spectrum, Fleshdigger)
The swashbuckling feline, Puss in Boots, is back in this new, four-issue comic book series from Titan Publishing Group titled The Adventures of Puss in Boots. Issue one features two tales: “The Owl and the Puss in Boots” scripted by Chris Cooper and art by Egle Bartolini, and “Costume Craze” scripted by Max Davison and art by Dave Alverez. Jim Campbell lettered both stories.
For those interested in weird westerns, there is a new gal in town with the law in her blood: Wynonna Earp. IDW has just released Wynonna Earp: Strange Inheritance that collects Wynonna Earp #1 – 5 (Image Comics), Wynonna Earp: Home on the Strange #1 – 3 (IDW), “Blood is the Harvest” in IDW's Tales of Terror, and Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars #1 – 4 (IDW) into one larger graphic novel edition of over 300 pages. Beau Smith wrote/created the six tales, and each featured an accompanying creative team of artists, inker, letterer, etc. The visuals do change from one story to the next, but the writing remains consistent throughout.
Orphan and Dymphna are back in this latest one-shot story titled Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In that releases this week in local comic book shops around the country. The Eisner and Harvey Award-winning comic book series that began with “Stray” in The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings (2003) and then in 2009, given its first four-issue story arc treatment. The world of talking dogs and cats that investigate paranormal occurrences in their community of Burden Hill was created by Evan Dorkin, illustrated by Jill Thompson, and lettered by Jason Arthur. Over the years, Dorkin has often been joined by Sarah Dyer for shared script duties.
*Be sure to find out how to win your own copy of The Jack Reacher Field Guide: An Unofficial Companion to Lee Childs Reacher Novels below the review!
Like many filmgoers, I was introduced to the character Jack Reacher in late 2012 when I saw Jack Reacher staring Tom Cruise. Not a consistent reader of the thriller genre, I was, however, aware of Lee Child's name, because I would regularly see at least one (or more) of his books prominently displayed on the bestseller shelf at the local bookstore and his paperbacks in the local grocery store on the magazine rack. I took from the movie that Reacher was enigmatic, intense, and deadly; I wanted to know more! Thanks to Smart Pop and BenBella Books, they have just released George Beahm's The Jack Reacher Field Guide: An Unofficial Companion to Lee Child's Reacher Novels.
Protests to block an environmental waste dump and strange, unexplained deaths plague small town America in The Pilfered, a digital comics book series from Level 21 Boss Publishing available in an iOS app. Created by Alan I. Djivré and developed by Philippe Blaise, the four-issue mini-series blends the typical anatomy of a comic book – panels, speech balloons, captions, and such – with elements of motion and music by utilizing DAZ Studio and Photoshop software. Three years in the making, the result is an engaging and dual-sensory reading experience.
Early cinema fair often turned to literature for inspiration and source material. The space horror genre is no different; its roots can be traced back to early 20th century science fiction writers such as H.G. Wells (The War of the Worlds, 1898) and Robert Potter (The Germ Growers, 1892), featuring alien invasion storylines. As films grew in popularity, filmmakers were looking past the reality shorts that defined the medium, realizing that this new format could be used to tell stories that entertained.
Be it pin-ups, Steampunk, or channelling Alphonse Mucha's art nouveau style, Aly Fell's art is versatile and breathtakingly beautiful. It comes as no surprise that the Elizabethan era clothing of doublets, collars, flowing cloaks, ruffles, and flourishes have been expertly illustrated by Fell in his first comic book series, The Shadow Glass in which he also created the cover and wrote the story. The second issue (of six) is out this week from Dark Horse.
