Benjamin Snyder 6/14/17 Benjamin Snyder 6/14/17

Review: Black Cloud #3

By Ben Snyder

Delivering a solid issue, Latour seems content with slowly unspooling a story that is getting noticeably more convoluted. Black Cloud #3 picks up directly after the second issue, with the main character Zelda drowning herself to get to the other world. However, in this instance, we are treated to some of glimpse Zelda’s history in this other world. In issue #3, we find out that Zelda was an elder of the other world and had to flee for reasons explained.

Daniel Vlasaty 4/26/17 Daniel Vlasaty 4/26/17

Review: Loose Ends #4

By Daniel Vlasaty

This is it, my friends. This is the end. The final issue of Loose Ends. If you’ve read any of my previous reviews for this series, you know how much I’ve been enjoying this series. So how does issue #4 stack up in relation to the previous three issues, but also to other books in the same genre? Does it pay off? Does it deliver on all the things it promised throughout the series? Read on for my review of Loose Ends #4.

Daniel Vlasaty 4/5/17 Daniel Vlasaty 4/5/17

Review: Black Cloud #1

By Daniel Vlasaty

Black Cloud is a book where I really have no idea what’s going on. I read it twice and I still feel like I’m just barely starting to understand. Like I’m just starting to kind of maybe get it. Black Cloud is about storytelling. It’s about how life is a story. It’s about the story that’s all around us, the one we’re living in right now. It’s also about dreams and magic and fear and history and adventure. Jason Latour and Ivan Brandon have created something really special here. Because, even though this is a complex and difficult first issue, it’s also beautiful and welcoming and invigorating.

Daniel Vlasaty 3/22/17 Daniel Vlasaty 3/22/17

Review: Loose Ends #3

By Daniel Vlasaty

If you’ve read any of my other reviews you know that I’ve been really enjoying Loose Ends. You also know that I’ve got a soft spot for drugs and junkie stories, and more importantly crime fiction. And this book checks off both of those categories. Loose Ends is billed as a Southern Crime Romance, and luckily for me the crime part of that tag line is the thing that sticks out most. Not that I have anything against romance, really, I’d just rather read some hard-boiled crime shit.

Daniel Vlasaty 2/22/17 Daniel Vlasaty 2/22/17

Review: Loose Ends #2

By Daniel Vlasaty

I like good crime fiction. I read it, I write it, I watch it. I am a fan of the genre because I believe that it shows up what a person is made of. It breaks right through all the bullshit and shows you the true nature of a person, what’s really in his or her mind and heart. Loose Ends is right up there with the best of them. It’s a book with a lot of characters and they’re all after something else (though we as the readers aren’t given all the information on what that may or may not be yet). Plus, it’s a beautiful book that’s gritty and violent, everything I look for in the genre.

Daniel Vlasaty 1/25/17 Daniel Vlasaty 1/25/17

Review: Loose Ends #1

By Daniel Vlasaty

I know Jason Latour mainly from his art in Southern Bastards. I’ve been aware that he also writes comics for a while now, most recently Marvel’s Spider-Gwen. I’ve just never read any of his stuff and I feel like starting off with Loose Ends is kind of like running a marathon when I’ve only just learned to walk. This book had the sleazy/grimy feel to it that is everything I love about crime fiction. Everyone’s up to something and no one can be trusted.

Daniel Vlasaty 1/12/17 Daniel Vlasaty 1/12/17

Review: Southern Bastards #16

By Daniel Vlasaty

It’s been a few months since issue #15 came out, which is kind of Jason Aaron’s MO, it seems. I think I’d be pretty pissed about the delay too if the issue wasn’t so damn good. I love Southern Bastards, man. I love everything about it. I love the feel of it. I love the stink of it. I love the writing and the art. I love that this is what I imagine life in southern small towns is probably like.

Robert Larson 11/2/16 Robert Larson 11/2/16

Review: Southern Bastards #15

By Robert Larson

Southern Bastards is finally back, after a painfully long hiatus, and close to a dozen issues that were about the backstory and background of Craw County. I've been excited for this story to come back, and not just because I'm a fan of chicken-fried noir stories. We're finally moving toward some kind of narrative payoff, after what the first story arc managed to establish well over a year and a half ago. I'm pleased to say then that we what we get here lives up to the promise of the first arc. Blood is in the water in Craw County, but nothing fights more viciously than a wounded predator.