Interview: Writer Victor Gischler (Sally of the Wasteland - Titan Comics)

Gef Fox (Wag the Fox) was kind enough to interview Victor Gischler, writer of Sally Of The Wasteland (Titan Comics), for the flock! Check out Gef's 4 1/2 sheep review of Sally of the Wasteland #1-5. 
Victor has also written such comic book titles as X-Men, Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth, The Punisher, Conan, and The Shadow. 

Gef: What was the impetus behind Sally of the Wasteland? It felt like it harkened back to some of those great post-apocalyptic films of the 70s, so was there any kind of inspiration from that era?
Victor: Yes, I think so. And the 80’s. It’s a whole stew of influences from Mad Max to Barbarella. I also love the idea of “atomic monsters.” Purely B-movie science which I think works well in an over-the-top, irreverent book like this.

Gef: What was it about this series, if anything, that you approached differently from the previous titles?
Victor: Well, the obvious thing is that it’s creator-owned and for mature readers. Or at least mature readers who still embrace their inner immaturity. So I guess I like the fact we can throw a lot of rules out the window. I don’t hold anything back, or if I do it’s because of a decision I’ve made not because I have to play it safe for a mainstream audience. There’s nothing wrong with a mainstream audience, but sometimes it’s nice to cut loose. I like the opportunity to follow my instinct and damn the torpedoes.

Gef: Tazio Bettin did one heck of a job bringing Sally and her motley crew to life. How did this collaboration come about?Victor: I was at the SugarPulp Festival in Padova, Italy one year, and Tazio showed up with some illustrations he’d drawn based on scenes from my post-apocalypse novel GO GO GIRLS OF THE APOCALYPSE. They were great drawings. So when it came time to find an artist, I already knew he had talent, appreciated my writing, and was familiar with the genre. I was very lucky to connect with him, and his art just keeps getting better and better.

Gef: What do you consider to be the saving grace of apocalyptic fiction?
Victor: This isn’t a “saving grace” but it’s something that’s always attracted me about the post-apocalyptic genre, and that the fact that we’re looking at the ruined version of something very familiar – a city, a society, a civilization. There’s something very compelling and morbidly fascinating about that brand of destruction and ruin.

Gef: Fantasy football time: How would Sally fare in a cross-over issue with another female comic book character, and who might be on your wish list to see her team up with or go toe-to-toe with?
Victor: Awesome. Take note comic book publishers! This is your next best-seller.

I’ve heard people say Sally has a slight Harley Quinn vibe, so that might be cool. I’m also a fan of Tim Seeley’s Cassie Hack. Let’s toss Lady Deadpool into the mix too.

Gef: What's the worst piece of writing advice you ever received? Or what piece of writing advice do you wish would just go away?
Victor: This notion that you have to sit on broken glass while writing.

Wait … that’s not writing advice? Damn it, who told me that?!

Gef: What kind of guilty pleasures do you have when it comes to books or movies or whatnot, assuming a writer capable of concocting Sally of the Wasteland is even capable of guilt?
Victor: Yeah, I don’t do guilt. Short of child porn or something like that, people should read whatever the hell they want and just own it. But, hey, I’ll take the question in a different direction. I LOVE watching golf on TV. My fave sport. So many people think it’s so boring that I guess I’m supposed to be embarrassed to admit it. I’m not.

Gef: What projects are you cooking up that folks can expect in the near future, and how can folks keep up with your shenanigans?
Victor: I wrote an epic fantasy novel called INK MAGE and the sequel THE TATTOOED DUCHESS will but published in a couple months. BUT … you won’t know what’s going on in book 2 unless you read book 1 first, so every man, woman and child reading this needs to order INK MAGE now.

Go ahead … I’ll wait.

I’m also teaming again with Titan Comics for a creator-owned book called TERMINAL TOWN and Titan Books is publishing an APPALLING (but fun and pulpy) novel called GESTAPO MARS.

Sally Of The Wasteland #1

Writer: Victor Gischler

Artist: Tazio Bettin

Letterer: Jon Chapple

Series: Sally Of The Wasteland

Titan Comics

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction

Miniseries

Extent32pp

FormatSoftcover

Age:15+
Saving the remains of civilisation plays second best to keeping her sweetheart safe as our smart and sexy princess of the wild frontier runs a gauntlet of gigantic genetic freaks and roving gangs of blood-hungry barbarians!

The ever-so-cute but ever-so-slightly-insane Sally is the wayward daughter of writer Victor Gischler (X-Men, Angel & Faith, Noir) and artistic up-and-comer Tazio Bettin. This first issue in a fantastic new series proves Armageddon can be fun!

About the Author:
website-FB-twitter
Victor Gischler is the author of such novels as GUN MONKEYS, SHOTGUN OPERA, GO-GO GIRLS OF THE APOCALYPSE, THE DEPUTY and others. His work has been optioned for film and translated into numerous languages. He's also written such comic book titles as X-Men, Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth, The Punisher, Conan, and The Shadow. He is a world traveler, grad school survivor and BBQ aficionado.

Comic Review: Bitch Planet #1 Image Comics

Bitch Planet #1
Story By: Kelly Sue DeConnick
Art By: Valentine De Landro
Cover By: Valentine De Landro
Cover Price: $3.50
Digital Price: $2.99Image Comics

Diamond ID: OCT140578
Published: December 10, 2014
2014 Best Writer Eisner Award nominee KELLY SUE DeCONNICK (PRETTY DEADLY, Captain Marvel) and VALENTINE DE LANDRO (X-Factor) team up for the very third time to bring you the premiere issue of BITCH PLANET, their highly-anticipated womenin- prison sci-fi exploitation riff. Think Margaret Atwood meets Inglourious Basterds.

“The striking thing about Bitch Planet is that we're already on it.” - Danielle Henderson (in the afterword of the inaugural issue)

Looking back at 2014, with the way women in gaming were treated, the way women in Hollywood were treated, the way women in comics were treated ... well, women everywhere, generally, it's pretty plain to see where the sentiment behind Bitch Planet comes from. But the real world isn't so deliciously stylized as this new series helmed by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro.

In the realm of exploitation fiction, lesbian prison stories are kind of a thing, kind of a big thing back in the 70s. Bitch Planet isn't quite that, but it has the trappings, taking the tropes and having as much fun as possible in subverting and celebrating them. In the first few pages we are introduced to the Auxiliary Compliance Outpost #2 as a new shipment of naked female inmates are delivered via rocket ship from Earth, given uniforms and welcomed to their new, pitiful existence. And, boy oh boy, Bitch Planet don't play.

We see the severity and ridiculous of this universe through the eyes of three women: Marian, Penny, and Kamau. Poor Marian was a doting wife in an affluent neighborhood, but gosh darn, she just didn't live up to the standards set by her husband ... or society for that matter. In no time flat, she becomes a target of just about everyone on Bitch Planet, especially after she pleads her case for her imprisonment all being a horrible mistake. Enter Kamau and Penny in all their bad-assery coming to her aide either out of a sense of doing what's right or just wanting to start a ruckus with the guards.

It's grim, it's grimy, it's just great. The first issue totally immersing you in this world, but leaves the door open for so much to be explored, especially since this premiere issue doesn't come close to ending as expected.

5 stars

Gef Fox

Comic Review: Grindhouse: Slay Ride #1

GRINDHOUSE: DRIVE IN, BLEED OUT #1
Writer: Alex de Campi

Artist: R. M. Guéra

Colorist: Giulia Brusco

Cover Artist: R. M. Guéra
Dark Horse

Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Publication Date: November 12, 2014

Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries

Price:$3.99

UPC:7 61568 26746 4 00111

Preview

Grindhouse is back from the dead, and it’s meaner, badder, and dirtier than ever! In the first of four new exploitation opuses,Scalped’s R. M. Guéra joins series writer Alex de Campi for “Slay Ride,” a brutal holiday tale of revenge and supernatural terror in the driven snow!

* We’re back, just in time to celebrate the holidays in bloody style!

* From the perverted mind of Alex de Campi (Smoke/Ashes, Lady Zorro)!

* World-renowned artist R. M. Guéra (Django Unchained,Scalped)!

I was already made a fan of Alex de Campi's gory greatness that is Grindhouse, but now that it's back this month and has it's new story taking place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada? Well, shoot...I'm a double fan now.

Grindhouse goes for the jugular yet again too, with de Campi's high-octane horror featuring a father and son murdered in the opening pages, then the elderly cancer-ridden Mother Wolf facing down a malevolent trio of misfits with only the estranged daughter of Papa at her side.

In Grindhouse's ghosts of Christmas past (the previous issues, of which I clumsily refer), the stories were all done in two-parters, but this time around Slay Ride will be a four-parter, which should give de Campi more elbow room for some character development—not that you need heaping piles of that in exploitation fare. Actually, this doesn't feel like the kind of gritty, hard-nosed 70s-style grindhouse, but more in keeping with the supernatural, hack-and-slash kind of stuff that came along with the advent of VHS in the 80s. It's blood, and weirdness, and jump scares, and mounting dread, and a bevy demonic debauchery.

With R.M. Guera offering some gripping illustrations and Giulia Brusco adding top-notch coloring, the visual impact of this first issue is about as great as a fan of the series could ask for. Alex de Campi had mentioned in an interview back in May (http://www.ismellsheep.com/2014/05/interview-alex-de-campi-comic-book.html) that she had artists in mind for what is ostensibly Season Two of Grindhouse. And in these early goings, it looks like its paid off with great choices.

Now, with the frenzied manner with which this first issue left off, I can only salivate at the chance to read the ensuing issues to find out just how in the heck the folks of this idyllic little snowscape can survive the scourge of the Clown, the Man Who Walks, and the Overseer.

Reviews: Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight

4 1/2 Sheep

Gef Fox

Wag The Fox

Comic Review (ARC): Prometheus: Fire and Stone issue #1 from Dark Horse

PROMETHEUS: FIRE AND STONE #1
Writer: Paul Tobin

Artist: Juan Ferreyra

Cover Artist: David Palumbo
Genre: Science-Fiction
Publication Date:September 10, 2014

Format:FC, 32 pages; Miniseries

Price:$3.50

Preview

When the Prometheus never returned from her fateful journey to LV-223, the questions surrounding the origins of man went unanswered. Now a new team of explorers seeks to uncover the dark mystery that holds not only the fate of theoriginal mission, but possibly their own damnation.

* Ties directly into the hit motion picture!

* First issue in a blockbuster crossover event!

From Eisner Award–nominated team of Paul Tobin and artist Juan Ferreyra (Colder)!

Prometheus was one of those movies that you either loved or hated, and the hate tended to stem from the litany of plot holes. Turns out that most of those plot holes weren't actually plot holes at all though, just unanswered questions and unexplained plot points. And there's nothing a movie audience hates more than having to think when watching a summer blockbuster.

To perhaps help answer a few of those unanswered questions, and likely raise even more questions, Dark Horse has a new cross-over event featuring a brand new away mission to the doomed planet that was the stage for Prometheus. This time around our wayward cast of astronauts are not only looking to pick up where the original mission left off but find out the fate of the crew that never returned, including that of billionaire and god-wannabe, Peter Weyland, and his diabolical pursuit of immortality and the secrets of the Engineers.

Much like the film, the visual aspect is vivid and captivating even in its most minimalist moments. Juan Ferrerya brings his A-game to this series and does about as good a job at hearkening to the original film one could ask for. But when the tone has to change a bit with the scenery, particularly when the team finds a jungle on what should be a barren wasteland of a planet, the artwork does a lot to build the suspense of what lurks within.

While it is a treat to gawk at the scenery and the alien discoveries the team finds in their early explorations, this issue is merely setting the pieces on the board before the real game begins. Plus, Dark Horse is using four--count 'em, four--comic book series to create what could be a huge and possibly confounding cross-over event, as Aliens: Fire & Stone #1 coming out this month as well, and Predator: Fire & Stone #1 and Alien Vs. Predator: Fire & Stone #1 both coming out in October.

I have a feeling this is going to get intense.

3 1/3 Sheep

Gef Fox

http://waggingthefox.blogspot.com/

Interview: Alex de Campi - comic book horror writer

From gore and sex to My Little Pony, writer Alex de Campi can do it all! Gef and I talked with her about her Dark Horse hit Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight along with some future projects. 

Gef: I'm no expert on comics, but it seems a press like Dark Horse is willing to feature subject matter that DC and Marvel might be too timid for, but when it comes to Grindhouse and your vision for the series, even they were a little blanched at first. How much convincing was needed to let you and the artists you've worked with on the series thus far pour a bucket of gasoline over the exploitation genres and light the match?
Alex: Marvel might be too timid for it, but DC's Free Comic Book Day comic had some female character's screaming face cut off and stapled to the chest of another character soooo yeah, DC would probably be down with it. In fact, one of the reasons I wrote Grindhouse was I was so tired at the ham-fisted co-opting of exploitation tropes into mainstream superhero comics as a way of making them seem more “real” and “relevant”. I wanted exploitation to be fun again, and not always about horribly mutilating an innocent female character. I mean, any fule kno, you only mutilate the sluts or the evil ones. (I kid. Partly.)

But yes. That is the secret origins of Grindhouse. Bring sex and gore back to something I can enjoy! More sex! More exciting gore! Not horribly offensive to women / all from a white male gaze! Make it gleefully schlocky and fun again!


Gef: With each two-issue story, Grindhouse apparently has a checklist of genres it is tearing through. Was there one in particular that you couldn't wait to dive into? Is there one in particular you hope to highlight in the future?
Alex: I had way more fun than I was expecting to with the summer camp slasher, Flesh Feast of the Devil Doll. It's like some unholy melange of Incubus, Sixteen Candles, and The Dirty Dozen. There's a reason why the summer camp slasher is the high plateau of horror genres. I mean, they were all a ton of fun. The kiss at the end of Prison Ship Antares (and the shower scene at the beginning) are two moments I just love. Page 1, Panel 3 of Bee Vixens.. yeah, that was fun. That whole page was fun.
In terms of genres I can't wait to do? The space sexploitation story (Barbarella, etc). The blaxploitation story (Coffy, Cleopatra Jones). A straight up giallo/paranoia-slasher. My Christmas Annual story, which I need to finish!


Gef: Nearly every story in the series has its fair share of humor to go along with the horror, except for Bride of Blood. Is that a case where any hint of levity would have diminished the emotional impact you were aiming for?
Alex: I have many things to say about rape as a device in comics. But my short answer here is I wanted the rape to be lengthy and physically uncomfortable/unenjoyable for the reader. This isn't a shortcut to character actualisation. This isn't a lazy footnote to tag a male character as “the baddie”. This isn't so the male character can scream “noooo” in silhouette over the broken and mutilated body of PoC / teenage / gay / female (circle as appropriate) team member and then go on a vengeance spree.
And, c'mon, there were a couple good lines and a good twist-scare at the end. No chuckle? No chuckle.
Part of me ultimately wondered if the story being medieval was too distancing. What if she were a young freshman who got gang-raped at college? Would that have been more uncomfortable for people? Because that book, the point of it (like all the good rape revenge films) was to make you uncomfortable.


Gef: How many fingers do I need to cross in order for "Swamp Tramp" to become a real thing?
Alex: Oh, we definitely want that to happen. It was on the list for Grindhouse Season Two, which is still in negotiation. I love Luca Pizzari's work and have wanted to do a project with him for some time.


Gef: I imagine scheduling is one of the big determining factors when you have a series that features multiple artists. How trying was it find the right artist for the right story? With the prospect of future Grindhouse stories, do you have an artist wishlist in your hip pocket for specific stories?
Alex: One of the good things about two-issue stories is the brevity opens you up to a much larger pool of artists. Many artists who could have never done a 6-issue book, could fit in two issues with a long deadline. I finished all the scripts by March 2013, and the first issue didn't come out until October.
I had a pretty easy time finding artists for the Grindhouse stories, and I'm immensely pleased with how each one of them delivered.
As far as Season Two, yes, I have artists I very much want to approach for certain stories. Some I've already had brief chats with.


Gef: Along with writing comics, you're also squeezing in time to write your first novel. How much of a gear shift is it when focusing on a different medium?
Alex: It's a huge shift. Comics, I don't revise that much. I think over the story for a couple months, sketch out some notes/breakdowns, then I sit down and write an issue in a week or less. The novel, holy cats, no. I get these awful, jumbled, leaden words down just to beat a path through the emptiness and I hate myself for how clumsy the phrasing is. I know in my heart that when I type the last sentence of the novel's first draft, then the real work begins.
  

Sharon: What is the nerdiest thing you own?
Alex: Hm. I don't own that much nerdy stuff. I also don't own that much nice stuff, and half my life has been in boxes for almost a decade now due to poverty / living in tiny apartments / general life turmoil. But! You know the bug-typewriter in the film NAKED LUNCH? I have touched it. It is in a good friend's home.

Sharon: Does it feel weird to write a My Little Pony Story and then turn around and chop off penises in Grindhouse? <G> Have you ever wanted to have Pinky Pie go into beast mode and eviscerate someone?
Alex: I had totally wrapped the Grindhouse scripts about six months before I wrote Pony, so there was a clear delineation in my mind. Also, I have to say, horror and comedy share a lot of similar pacing tricks.

Pinkie Pie using Twilight as a magic machine gun in the season finale of Season One was... one of my all-time favourite Pony moments.

Sharon: How many languages do you know? Which is your first?
Alex: American is my first language. I'm fluent also in English. I can stumble along in French and Spanish, and I used to know a fair amount of Italian. I can curse in Cantonese and Tagalog. 

Sharon: If you could own any piece of art in the world what would it be?
Alex: There was a huge, wall-sized Basquiat painting up at auction in London just before I moved to the US. I wanted that with the fire of a thousand suns. And, of course, the modernist urban mansion to display it in. 



Sharon: What can we be on the lookout for you in the second half of 2014?

Alex: I am not quite going to achieve my goal of having a book out every month of 2014...June is my letdown. (Though my supernatural thriller webcominc, Valentine, still updates every Wednesday at Thrillbent and it's free! Go check it out). In July, my Lady Zorro mini from Dynamite comes out – a four-issue swashbuckling extravaganza where hot, shirtless men are saved; indigenous peoples are badass and awesome; bad people are cleaved in the head with axes, and Lady Zorro doesn't fall out of her bra ONCE. Wonderbra has nothing on the 1820s, people.

In November, my next project with Dark Horse debuts in Dark Horse Presents #4: a supernatual horror series with Jerry “The Greatest Artist Ever (And Also Nicest Dude)” Ordway (seriously his pages make me cry, they are so good). It's called Semiautomagic, but I tend to refer to it as The Alice Creed Stories. If you liked Hellblazer? Well, this is nothing like Hellblazer, but you might like it too.

Check out Valentine over at Thrillbent. It is an amazing way to read a comic.

About the Author:
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Alex de Campi loves explosions and obscure film noir. She hates writing bios. She writes the comics SMOKE/ASHES and GRINDHOUSE for Dark Horse. She has directed a bunch of music videos for indie bands famous and not so famous. Rumours that she was the product of a secret Mi6 programme to create a race of genetically modified super-agents are, alas, entirely without foundation. The rumours that she snuck across the Russian border and spent many louche years in Hong Kong are completely true.

Comic Review: Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight #7/#8 (Flesh Feast of the Devil Doll)

GRINDHOUSE: DOORS OPEN AT MIDNIGHT #7

Writer:Alex de Campi

Artist: Gary Erskine

Cover Artist: Francesco Francavilla
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Dark Horse

Publication Date:April 02, 2014

Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries

Price: $3.99

UPC:7 61568 22741 3 00711
Preview

Lace up for the “Flesh Feast”! Built on the site of a Puritan-era curse, Camp Oneida is better known today for vicious hockeymatches and even more intense pie fights! But when the Devil Doll returns to seduce and kill once more, the Oneida hockey girls make with the high-sticking!
* Gary Erskine (Judge Dredd, The Mask) joins the mayhem!
* Alex de Campi (Smoke, Valentine) brings her blood-and-guts A-game!

 GRINDHOUSE: DOORS OPEN AT MIDNIGHT #8

Writer: Alex de Campi

Artist: Gary Erskine

Colorist: Gary Erskine

Cover Artist: Dan Panosian
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Dark Horse

Publication Date:May 07, 2014

Format:FC, 32 pages; Miniseries

Price:$3.99

UPC:7 61568 22741 3 00811The knock-around teen gals of Oneida hockey camp discover that they may have taken on more than they bargained for, as they face off with an ancient, evil beast with a hunger for the sweet meat of virgins! And that calls for a shopping spree—for all the guns!

* Gary Erskine (Judge Dredd) brings on the bloodthirsty fun!
* Alex de Campi (Ashes) turns the blood and guts up to eleven!
Preview

Review #7/#8

What would happen if in the movie Meatballs, Bill Murray had to fend off a soul-sucking demon bent on devouring the blood of virgins? Well, unless Wes Anderson makes that movie anytime soon, I guess we'll never know. So we're all going to have to settle for the next best thing: Flesh Feast of the Devil Doll.

Renae is heading to private school when the summer's through, but because the school has a field hockey team, she's been shipped to Oneida Feild Hockey Camp to learn the ropes with the rest of the outcast gals. Might not be so bad, but darned if that camp isn't built on top of a satanic ritual site that was massacred by Native Americans. And exploritory fracking has unearthed the demon those silly Satanists were trying to raise in the first place.

The good news is that the demon has a pretty face. The bad news is that the demon has a second not-so-pretty face that it uses to chomp on its victims as soon as it seduces them. Or it's just really hungry.

So on a slow night with the girls stepping out, they wind up in a no-holds-barred showdown with the demon, and it's just terrific.

If you loved all those schlocky B-movies about summer camp from the 80s, and also have a penchant for those gruesome Satanic cult conspiracies from the same era, you're probably gonna love this two-parter as much as I did.

If there's a character that steals the show, it's not Renae. It's not even the demon. It's Tina, the cool-as-shit leader of the pack with her collar tee and aviator shades. She's the ambassador and head buttkicker for the gang of gals, and pretty much the queen bee. And no boys allowed, either. The topless pie fight should be a big giveaway there.

It's campy, yes. Pun intended. But it has some serious chills too, because that demon is scary as hell. Sure, the idea that these field hockey players are all too eager and apparently all too ready throw down with hellspawn strains credulity, but just remember the genre this thing is paying homage to while you're reading.

Throw in some very crisp--and at times icky--artwork from Gary Erskine, and Alex de Campi has a real winner with this one.

4 1/2 Sheep

Gef Fox

Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction

Comic Review: Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight (Bride of Blood) #5, #6

GRINDHOUSE: DOORS OPEN AT MIDNIGHT #5
Writer: Alex de Campi

Artist: Federica Manfredi

Colorist: Federica Manfredi

Cover Artist: Francesco Francavilla
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Dark Horse

Publication Date: February 05, 2014

Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries

Price: $3.99

UPC:7 61568 22741 3 00511

Brace yourself for Grindhouse’s most disturbing tale yet! On what should be the happiest day of Branwyn’s life, atrocity beyond comprehension strikes. With everything she’s ever loved destroyed by reavers, all she has left is revenge, in “Bride of Blood”!
* Cover by Francesco Francavilla!
* Art by Hack/Slash and True Blood’s Federica Manfredi!
* Eisner nominee Alex de Campi (Smoke/Ashes)!
Preview

GRINDHOUSE: DOORS OPEN AT MIDNIGHT #6
Writer: Alex de Campi

Artist: Federica Manfredi

Colorist: Federica Manfredi

Cover Artist: Dan Panosian
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Dark Horse

Publication Date:March 05, 2014

Format:FC, 32 pages; Miniseries

Price:$3.99

UPC:7 61568 22741 3 00611
Clad in her fallen brother’s armor, massacre survivor Branwyn vows to repay every drop of blood that was spilled during the slaughter of her wedding party. But her mission turns even more horrific than expected when the true authors of her torment are revealed in the grisly conclusion to “Bride of Blood”!
* Cover by Dan Panosian!
* Hack/Slash and True Blood’s Federica Manfredi brings the hurt!
* Eisner nominee Alex de Campi (Smoke, Ashes) will make you squirm!
Preview

Review #5/#6

Back in the 70s or maybe very early 80s, there was this exploitation film called I Spit On Your Grave. A rape/revenge film that's kind of built in cult status to the point where it's probably the rape/revenge film. It must have some measure of notoriety to earn a crap remake like most other horror properties of the 70s and 80s.

I mention this because "Bride of Blood" the two-issue tale in the Grindhouse series feels like high fantasy incarnation of that movie ... sort of.

It's Branwyn's wedding day, but when barbarians called Reavers attacked her husband-to-be ditches the wedding party, including his blushing--and bleeding--bride. She survives, but barely, and being the last in her family's lineage the fate of her kind rests with her. And when she's up and around again, she's out for blood.

I could say the first issue is pretty brutal, but if you are a reader that needs trigger warnings on subject matter like rape and violence against women in general, brutal might be an understatement. It's a direction I really didn't expect the Grindhouse series to go, but I will give them points for their willingness to push the boundaries of what their audience will read. Unlike the "Bee Vixens from Mars" and "Prisonship Antares", there is nothing fun about this two-issue story. It doesn't feel gratuitous to any offensive degree, but the winks and nods that came with the two previous stories in the series were glaringly absent. Granted, rape-revenge doesn't exactly lend itself to brevity.

As for the artwork, it felt a little uneven in spots. Most of the drawings and coloring are really well done, especially in capturing the quiet scenes or ramping tension, but there are action scenes that just lack vibrancy and fell kind of flat. Brownie points, however, for dressing Branwyn in her slain brother's suit of armor when she goes out to crack skulls, rather than truss her up in some skimpy gold bikini for the sake of a few pages of cheesecake.All in all, it's a straight-forward, action-packed, blood-soaked revenge story.

3 Sheep

Gef Fox

Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction

Comic Review: Bloodhound: Crowbar Medicine #4 and #5

BLOODHOUND: CROWBAR MEDICINE #4
Writer: Dan Jolley
Penciller: Leonard Kirk
Inker: Robin Riggs
Colorist: Moose Baumann
Cover Artist: Leonard Kirk
Genre: Superhero, Crime
Publication Date: February 05, 2014
Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries
Preview
Cape hunter Travis Clevenger’s biggest case becomes his most personal! As Clev learns the terrible secret behind Dr. Morgenstern’s ability-granting Power Chip, he’s also reeling from the family tragedy it’s caused. All that’s left is the choice between self-destruction and unleashing brutality on a level even Clev’s never reached before!
BLOODHOUND: CROWBAR MEDICINE #5
Writer: Dan Jolley
Penciller: Leonard Kirk
Inker: Robin Riggs
Colorist: Moose Baumann
Cover Artist: Leonard Kirk
Genre: Superhero, Crime
Publication Date: February 05, 2014
Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries
Preview
Crowbar Medicine reaches its gut-wrenching climax! Cut off from backup, Clev, Saffron, and uneasy ally Terminus confront the scientist behind the ability-granting Power Chip. Still shaken by personal tragedy, and going up against a trio of Power Chip users at Dr. Morgenstern’s side, Clev is about to take on the most vicious fight of his life!

Clevenger's professional life clashed with her personal life once before, as the one guy on the planet with the wherewithal to contend with full-blown superhumans, and a man now with daughters to care for. The last time they clashed, his family was devastated and he wound up in a supermax prison. Judging by the events of the third issue, history may be about to repeat itself.

The fourth issue reveals Clevenger physically scarred like never before, in the aftermath of seeing one of Morgenstern's vigilante superhumans accidentally kill his youngest daughter. There's no going back from that, and while he isn't the type of guy to wear his heart on his sleeve, his grief looks to take him to a state of mind that will have him letting loose with unbridled fury. The F.B.I. and the rest of the law enforcement know he's bad news and have wiped their hands of him. Well, excerpt for Saffron.

To say that now it's personal would be an understatement of a woeful degree.

When the death scene happened in the third issue, I half-expected a soap opera attempt at emotional turmoil. But this is Dan Jolley writing and he doesn’t seem too interested in writing schmaltz. And Clevenger seems so out of place wallowing in grief. Well, these final two issues graphically depict just how little he wallows, and just how little he cares for his own well-being in seeking out Morgenstern.

Without giving away how this five-part series wraps up, I will say it provides a clear portrait of Clevenger's mindset. Even when pushed to the extreme, he is undeterred. Even when everything crashes down around him, he just keeps getting up and doing the one thing he seems born to do: stomp superhumans. It doesn't end pretty for him, and it should have been clear to readers from the get-go that a happy ending wasn't in the cards, but the ending we are given seems well-suited for a character like Clevenger.


4 1/2 Sheep

Gef Fox
http://waggingthefox.blogspot.com/

Comic Review: Terminator: Enemy of My Enemy #1/#2

Terminator: Enemy of My Enemy #1 (Jamal Igle cover)

Writer: Dan Jolley

Penciller: Jamal Igle

Inker: Ray Snyder

Cover Artist: Jamal Igle
Genre: Action/Adventure, Science-Fiction
Publication Date: February 19, 2014

Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries

Price: $3.99

UPC: 7 61568 24901 9 00111

Preview

In 1984, Kyle Reese protected Sarah Connor from a cyborg that would stop at nothing to terminate her. In 1985, Skynet targets a scientist whose discoveries threaten its future, but this time there is no resistance fighter sent back to face it! With only enemies around her, what chance does Elise Fong stand against the perfect killing machine?
* Fan-favorite writer Dan Jolley (Bloodhound, Prototype 2)!
* Supergirl artist Jamal Igle !

Terminator: Enemy of My Enemy #2Writer: Dan Jolley

Penciller: Jamal Igle

Inker: Ray Snyder

Colorist: Moose Baumann

Cover Artist: Jamal Igle
Genre: Action/Adventure, Science-Fiction
Dark Horse

Publication Date: March 19, 2014

Format: FC, 32 pages; Miniseries

Price: $3.99

UPC: 7 61568 24901 9 00211

Preview

Biotechnician Elise Fong is destined to discover a vital weapon against the Terminators, and Skynet has no intention of waiting until she does! Targeted for actions in her future, Fong’s only hope in the present is the ex-CIA operative tasked with kidnapping her. But can even CIA training stop a T-800?

To this day, Terminator 2: Judgment Day remains one of my all-favorite movies. I hadn't seen the first Terminator movie at the time its sequel hit theaters, but that didn't matter. Arnold Schwarzenegger as a cyborg sent back in time to protect the leader of a human resistance against machines? A thirteen-year-old boy hears a premise like that and he's on board, no questions asked.

The sequels beyond that, however...sigh. Sufficed to say they've fallen well short of the mark. So maybe a different medium is needed to recapture that boyhood wonder. Enter The Terminator: Enemy of My Enemy.

Set in 1985, shortly after the events of the original Terminator film, a new T-800 has arrived from the future, only this time Skynet sends it in search of a scientist in New York City. Cosmetically different than the first Terminator, there's no sign of Arnold. There's no sign of Sarah Conner, either. This is a completely divergent storyline here, featuring a new protagonist in the form of a female super agent named Farrow Greene, tasked with delivering Dr. Elise Fong to her employers safe and sound, no questions asked. But when she runs afoul of the T-800, questions abound.

The first issue wound up being a bit underwhelming for me, in so much that I had sky-high expectations for a Terminator story. Maybe I should have lowered the expectations a bit given the lackluster productions from years past, but Dan Jolley is a heckuva writer, and while he's honed in on a ass-kicking female protagonist, this inaugural issue just fell a bit short of getting me on the bandwagon. A metric ton of action, however, kept me engaged going into the second issue.

And that's where things really heat up. Dr. Fong is holding information back from Greene, even when it seems the T-800 and other forces are at work to put her six feet under. Throw in a flash-forward that offers a new twist to the backstory on this one, further contextualizing the Termintor universe as a whole, and I'm definitely on the bandwagon to see how the third issue shapes up.

4 Sheep 

Gef Fox
http://waggingthefox.blogspot.com/