Patrick Wolf 11/8/17 Patrick Wolf 11/8/17

Review: The Backways #1

By Patrick Wolf

Backways is a new age, gothic, horror-romance that features a pair of feisty teens out to find their missing girlfriend. While the series’ artwork is wonderful and the characters are charming, the story suffers from too much jargon and hidden exposition to be as fluid as it needs to be. At the moment, the franchise does seem to have a lot of potential, but it still needs more time to get off the ground. Until then, I’ll give it a pass.

Justin McCarty 10/26/17 Justin McCarty 10/26/17

Review: Brilliant Trash 1 & 2

By Justin McCarty

What do you get when you do a mashup of sci-fi social commentary and superheroes? That would be Brilliant Trash. Here we have a superhero story that leans heavily on the trashy, pandering media culture, and the SJW narrative of the last couple years, all wrapped up in a tight superpowered bow. The final product isn’t perfect, and the themes are a little heavy-handed, but that doesn't take away from the truly unique presentation and use of the comics medium.

Patrick Wolf 10/25/17 Patrick Wolf 10/25/17

Review: Dark Ark #2

By Patrick Wolf

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of series that start off with a bang, but then run out of steam as early as issue #2. Cullen Bunn’s second installment of Dark Ark, unfortunately, belongs to this category. While the series began with a captivating premise and an even more entrancing opening, its novelty quickly wore thin once we become accustomed to the ark’s passengers. We’ve gone from a high-concept ‘Noah’s-Ark-for-monsters’ to a mundane ‘find-the-killer-story’ within a span of one issue. Hopefully, the next installment with offer the freshness and excitement we’ve come to expect from a writer like Bunn, but for now, the franchise is teetering the fine line between genius and mediocrity.

Jonathan Edwards 9/27/17 Jonathan Edwards 9/27/17

Review: Fu Jitsu #1

By Jonathan Edwards

I spied a preview of Fu Jitsu in the closing pages of Dark Ark #1. Martial arts stories have never really grabbed me simply by virtue of them being about martial arts, especially outside of the film world. And knowing nothing else about this book, I only skimmed those sample pages at first. That is, until I saw the eponymous Fu Jitsu transitioning between several well established animal-style poses. That by itself wasn’t particularly interesting, nor were the classical elements associated with each stance. What did catch my eye was the inclusion of tarot suits and periodic table elements as well. And then to top it off, the next page (which also happened to be the last one included in the preview) has him refer to his “Sub-Atomic Kung Fu.” That promise of high concept shenanigans is what finally hooked me enough to check this one out, and the full first issue did not disappoint.

Press Release 9/18/17 Press Release 9/18/17

AfterShock Comics Announces Monstro Mechanica

Press Release

A new series starring Leonardo da Vinci, his female apprentice, and their wooden robot!

At the height of the Renaissance, warring factions vie for control of Leonardo da Vinci’s destructive arsenal. The only thing standing in their way is Leonardo’s young apprentice and her nine-foot tall mechanical bodyguard. Together, they navigate a world of wicked men and war machines, determined to save Leonardo from the world—and the world from Leonardo.

Press Release 9/12/17 Press Release 9/12/17

AfterShock Comics Announces "Backways"

Press Release

There is a hidden nation. A nation of magic and madness, one that exists in all the forgotten spaces. Your basement, your attic, the haunted house down the street, anyone of those might be a part of the Backways.

Patrick Wolf 8/16/17 Patrick Wolf 8/16/17

Review: Dark Ark #1

By Patrick Wolf

We all know the story of Noah’s ark: Noah rounds up two of every animal, herds them onto his vessel, and keeps them alive until the great flood subsides. But, what if there was another person with the same idea as Noah? And what if, instead of rescuing the animals of the natural world, this person rescued the monsters of the unnatural world? In this dark reimagining of Noah’s ark, Cullen Bunn continues his hot streak of resurrecting old tales and casting a new light on them. So far, this is definitely his best.

Press Release 6/15/17 Press Release 6/15/17

New AfterShock Series "Dark Ark"

The wickedness of mankind has moved the Creator to destroy the world by way of the flood. Noah has been tasked with building an ark to save his family and the animals of the world. But this is not Noah's story. For darker powers have commanded the sorcerer Shrae to build his own ark and save the unnatural creatures of the world—such as the vampires, the dragons, the naga, and the manticore. But what will happen on a vessel crawling with monsters, where insidious intrigue and horrific violence are the rule of law?

Dustin Cabeal 6/14/17 Dustin Cabeal 6/14/17

Review: Jimmy’s Bastards #1

By Dustin Cabeal

This is an interesting comic to describe. There’s a hook to the first issue that is basically the selling point of the series. With that, it’s also all right there in the title, “Jimmy’s Bastards.” The title character’s name is Jimmy and using “Bastards” in the traditional sense means a child born out of wedlock. That’s all I’ll give you really about the hook, but it's humorous. It reminded me of another comic that tried something similar but failed miserably at it.

Patrick Wolf 6/13/17 Patrick Wolf 6/13/17

Review: Unholy Grail # 1

By Patrick Wolf

We live in a generation that’s constantly craving new stories. We’ve all heard the tale of Hercules, Macbeth, and Cinderella so many times, we can practically recite them. So, if someone’s going to retell a classic, it better have a fresh spin on it if it’s going to pique our interest. Well, I’m happy to say this is exactly what Cullen Bunn does in his dark reimagining of the legend of King Arthur.

Levi Remington 5/17/17 Levi Remington 5/17/17

Review: Eleanor & The Egret #2

By Levi Remington

After a delightfully bizarre first issue, Eleanor & The Egret is back and it's picking up speed. Detective Belanger draws nearer, Ellis the egret's bowels assist in "Operation Daring-Doo," and Anastasia Rue hires a bounty hunter of sickly proportions. Read ahead for my thoughts on this week's issue of a series that is like no other.

Dustin Cabeal 4/14/17 Dustin Cabeal 4/14/17

AfterShock Announces Unholy Grail

Press Release

Arthur Pendragon was the king of all Britain. His story is legendary. Merlin. The Lady of the Lake. Excalibur. Camelot. The Knights of the Round Table. But these stories are bright lies painted over the truth. Here is presented the gospel of Arthur's bloody rise to power and his unholy reign. The legend of King Arthur is not the stuff of legends, but the fuel of nightmares.

Levi Remington 4/5/17 Levi Remington 4/5/17

Review: Eleanor and the Egret #1

By Levi Remington

In John Layman and Sam Kieth's eclectic and surreal ode to classic European fables, Eleanor and the Egret #1 tells the story of Eleanor, a woman who steals art from all across Paris with the help of her magical pet bird, an Egret, who eats the stolen art and consequently expands in size by a significant degree, as birds do. Read ahead for my thoughts on the delightful beginnings of this bizarre miniseries. In the meantime, I'll be pondering the origins of a feather with Cheswick the cat, lamenting the absence of my Bird-Identification specialties, and picking advanced locks with the beak of a mystical heron.

Dustin Cabeal 2/24/17 Dustin Cabeal 2/24/17

New AfterShock Comics Series - "Pestilence"

It’s the late 14th Century, and a Great Pestilence—the “Black Death”— is sweeping across Europe, killing over 100 million people. BUT, what if history as we know it was a lie? What if, in reality, this was no straightforward plague, but the FIRST non-recorded Zombie Infestation of man? Ex-Crusader Roderick Helms and his fellow “black ops” agents the Church, Fiat Lux, must seek out the cause of this undead outbreak and vanquish it before mankind ceases to exist!

Press Release 2/23/17 Press Release 2/23/17

Preview: AfterShock Comics' "The Normals"

Think about your “life” for a moment…the people you’ve known, the one’s you’ve loved, and all the stuff in between. Now imagine you learned that everything YOU believed, everything YOU lived, everything YOU felt actually never happened...it was ALL not real. But it is REAL to YOU and you now must fight to save it and everyone you love. But to do that, you first have to save the world. Welcome to "The Normals." an exciting new rush-of-blood-to-the-head series and AfterShock Comics.

Dustin Cabeal 2/22/17 Dustin Cabeal 2/22/17

Review: Rough Riders: Riders of the Storm #1

By Dustin Cabeal

Originally, I was going to read and review the first volume of Rough Riders prior to reading the new series. That was before I decided to read and mini-review every IDW title this week. I didn’t want to miss out on the new series, and so I did what I’ve done a hundred times before and start a series on the second volume.

Dustin Cabeal 2/9/17 Dustin Cabeal 2/9/17

New AfterShock Series From Cates and Brown - "Baby Teeth"

I'm not going to lie... that's a weird title. It's also by Donny Cates who's writing I enjoy. Garry Brown's never done me wrong either so this definitely seems like something I'll check out. I'm not a big Buffy fan though so that raises my eyebrow a little. We'll see.

Dustin Cabeal 2/8/17 Dustin Cabeal 2/8/17

Review: Blood Blister #1

By Dustin Cabeal

Blood Blister is going to need a few more issues. I was left on the fence the entire time while reading it. There were parts that I liked and other parts not so much. It was a teeter-totter read in that way, but at the end of it, I really couldn’t tell if I liked it more than I disliked it.

Dustin Cabeal 1/17/17 Dustin Cabeal 1/17/17

AfterShock Comics Announces New Series from Layman and Kieth

By Dustin Cabeal

I think now that Chew is over everyone's going to be a little more interested in what John Layman is up to, but I'll admit that I didn't see him doing a series with Sam Kieth as one of his next projects. There's a quote from Layman about their new series Eleanor & The Egret, and it sounds crazy, but the type of crazy that makes you want to pick it up first thing on April 5th.

Press Release 1/13/17 Press Release 1/13/17

AfterShock Announces Garth Ennis Title "Jimmy's Bastards"

Press Release

Since its official debut in April 2015, AfterShock Comics has launched 16 titles from some of the world’s most celebrated creators. With hits including Animosity from Marguerite Bennett, Alters from Paul Jenkins, Rough Riders from Adam Glass and Shipwreck from Warren Ellis, AfterShock will debut its second series from award-winning creator Garth Ennis, called Jimmy’s Bastards, later this year.