“The Detective knew he had to come back.  That afternoon, a strange sensation had crept up his spine.  It had a familiar feeling, but it was a feeling he hadn’t felt.  For many years . . . and it terrified him.  It wasn’t the Santeria altar for some deity the old man must have worshipped.  Not even the missing head bothered him . . . He had seen plenty of oddities, in his twenty plus years, on the street. It was the lingering thought of that ONE THING he could have done, back when things like that really mattered.”
     -The Locksmith #1


Detective Mick Fagan is having a bad day that’s about to get worse.  Called out on the unnerving death of a building superintendent named Santiago, he and his belligerent brother find the crime scene anything but ordinary, when the dead man wakes up to deliver a cryptic message . . . just before his head explodes.

At the end of World War II, a desolate English church on a rocky crag crumbles under a raging storm, killing its priest and cutting it off from the small village it supports.A year later, Marwell Clay comes home, scarred from the war and bearing the wrath of the people that have decreed him an outcast for his crimes. Dr. Robert Temple has also come to this village to build his dream house, an immense creation of precise standards and calculations . . . and dark knowledge. Because everything is not right in this village.  People are disappearing, and the villagers are seeking an answer.  And, if they can’t find that . . . a scapegoat.

“We call it the House.  The way it works is that you die . . . and where you wake up is a black pit of a room.  The first room. Your Room.
You can create that room in any fashion you want just by imagining the components.  Unless, of course, the process gets interrupted . . .
In which case, well, you have the start of Sam’s tale . . .
A tale that begins with a dark room filled with the sound of wailing souls.”

Sam Coleman is dead.  This much he knows.  What he doesn’t know is why he woke up in a dark room in a house with seemingly limitless space and bricked-in doors . . . and demons trying to kill him. 

“For some reason, the stranger reminded me of a scarecrow that had crawled from its perch in the cornfield. Every few steps, he glanced over his shoulder . . . as if he expected to see someone following him.”

From the moment the brooding Cole Jensen arrives at their farmhouse, young Birdie has a bad feeling about him. But, it’s not until the slaughtered rats in their barn come back to life and start dancing that she realizes there may be more to him than meets the eye.

New York, 1949 - Detective Drake Harper is deep into his first year in Homicide and has fallen into a case he doesn’t want.  A serial killer, dubbed the Vulture, has killed five women in eight weeks, torturing and disfiguring them, taking an eye as a souvenir from each, then dumping them back on the city streets to taunt police.

But, Drake isn’t only dealing with the case.  A veteran partner with a drinking problem, an eager and irresponsible Press, a rotting tooth, and a rapidly dissolving marriage are all adding to his troubles.

“I killed your father . . . for no other reason than to watch him die . . . and he died screaming!  And, he burned!”

“We both have the same prayer in our hearts . . .”

“ . . . hatred . . . ”

“and revenge . . . "

“REVENGE IS OUR BATTLE CRY!!!”

In the last days of World War II, brothers Hans and Rudi Krueger, the last survivors of the Wolf Pack, find themselves at odds after killing an American soldier held hostage, while the Allies converge on them.

“I work alone now.  As it should be. “
“No partners.”
“No women.”
“Just death.”

-Killer of Men

Killer of Men tells the story of Abriam, a former marine/mercenary seeking to exorcise the ghosts of his war days' misdeeds by working as The Hitman, a private contract killer.  His latest assignment: take out Klaus, a mob boss in Vegas, and ease his troubled conscience.   

We’re currently in a Golden Age of Sherlock Holmes right now, with two pictures from Legendary and well-received modern versions of the detective currently being produced by the BBC and CBS.  It’s not surprising with such a strong, unique character with such a rich history.

Coming out of Europe and based on the hit series of Assassin’s Creed games by Ubisoft, Assassin's Creed: Hawk is a lush, visually-rich story set in the same universe.

“Aus der Traum”
Translation: The Dream is Over
  - Graffiti writtenby German Soldiers after the battle of Berlin

“This is the end of the line, old friend.  I don’t have much time left.  I’m sorry. I didn’t want to leave you in the city, breathing that stinking air, locked in a room, never getting a chance to run.  Really run.  You’ve been a good boy, Sam . . . Go be free.”
  - John Summer

With Issue #5 of Alterna’s moving series Wolves of Summer, writer Tony Keaton is pulling off the masterful trick of allowing each new issue to force the reader to reinterpret the previous ones, while simultaneously adding new light and still raising more questions.