CHOKER #4 (of 6)
story BEN McCOOL
art & cover BEN TEMPLESMITH
MAY 19
32 PAGES / FC
ISSUE FOUR: BEAST COPS
Teamed with the dirge of Shotgun City’s police force, Johnny Jackson is thrust into confrontation against Hunt Cassidy and his band of killers, their sinister influence having put the city on edge. And when Hunt realizes that a precious possession is missing, the full extent of the madness is revealed…
RETAILER WARNING: MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES
New from Image Comics in February;
CHOKER #1
story BEN McCOOL
art & cover BEN TEMPLESMITH
FEBRUARY 10
32 PAGES / FC
$3.99
ISSUE ONE: PAIN
Industry superstar BEN TEMPLESMITH teams up with writer BEN McCOOL for this deliciously skewed tale of hardboiled noir. Johnny “Choker” Jackson, once one of Shotgun City’s most promising police officers, is a bitter private detective with a terrible case of Alien Hand Syndrome. But he’s unexpectedly been offered a job back on the force: provided he can nail a twisted drug dealer selling a very exclusive product, that is…
RETAILER WARNING: MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES
Not so many this week, but here they are – the titles I am looking forward to this week;
BOYS HEROGASM #1 DYNAMIC FORCES
BRAM STOKERS DRACULA IDW
CAPTAIN AMERICA #50 MARVEL COMICS
The big one of the week for me – The Boys Herogasm #1 is the first Boys spin-off, and is Garth Ennis pointing his savage pen at the comic book notion of the ‘crossover event’. It is described thus; An evil so profound it threatens all mankind… the mightiest heroes on the planet uniting to defend us all… a secret crisis of such utter finality that a countdown to civil or infinite war seems unavoidable… but have you ever wondered what really happens during Crossovers? The Seven, Payback, Teenage Kix, Fantastico and every other supe on Earth team up for an annual event like no other… and where the supes go, can a certain “five complications and a dog” be far behind? Vought-American prepare to make their move, in a story that will change the world of the Boys forever: Herogasm #1.
So, the book will have implications for the main title, which is currently on a high with Ennis writing some quality stuff, so this is a must if you are a Boys fan or an Ennis fan. Read more about it here.
A less conventional choice, ‘Dracula‘ is less a comic book than a collection of illustrations by Eisner- and Scream Award-nominated writer/artist Ben Templesmith. With Dracula, he provides 27 all-new, full-color chapter illustrations for this special presentation of a classic horror novel. Originally published in 1897, Dracula is one of the best-selling and most influential stories of all time. Looks very nice. Preview here.
A major milestone in the brilliant Brubaker iteration of the iconic Captain America, as it reaches issue 50. Bucky Barnes, another man out of time, is the new Captain America now…but today he’s trapped in the past, because today is Bucky Barnes’ birthday. See Bucky’s favorite and least favorite birthdays – from the cold winters of the Depression on military bases, to the front lines of WW2 fighting alongside the Invaders, to his new mission as Cap. Oh yeah, and someone’s trying to kill him. By Ed Brubaker and Luke Ross.
Ray Delgado has lived a bad and disturbed life. He has been created from pain, abuse and misery, and is now the one who deals out pain, abuse and misery. A lifer with no chance of parole, he and several others who are beyond salvation are sent to a maximum security facility that is privately owned by a Russian security firm. You know that there is some other motive other than rehabilitation about the place, and the pay-off is well worth buying this book for. When a violent, unlikeable psychopath looks like they are going to play hero, you know you are in for something a bit beyond the pale.
This title has the makings of being up there with the best high concept mash-ups in comic form. Who wants odds on someone trying to make this into a movie? Ben Templesmith (writer and artist on this) keeps the language gritty, the story repulsive and creepy and the art is a brilliant blend of photo-realism and celebratory gore and violence. It could play out a bit like an episode from ‘OZ‘ on PCP and Crack. It could be even more extreme than that (was that a foetus I saw being passed around like a bucket of popcorn, or was that my imagination?). This comic looks like ut will pull no punches in being the most challenging comic of the year. I will be following this with anticipation, which means another title to the pull list.
It is isn’t going to be for everyone, but along with the release of Crossed last week, this is proof that comics are Horror fictions best showcase at the moment. Issue 1 is out now from IDW.
Consider me *ahem* ‘hooked’.
http://bentemplesmith.blogspot.com/2008/08/welcome-to-hoxford.html
those we left behind 