THE CARLYLE SCHOOL FOR KINGS #1 is out next week, but thanks to Dark Horse Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive six-page look at the art process behind the debut issue!
About the series: Emmelene Heron is the daughter of traitors, but even she cannot be denied entrance to the Carlyle School for Kings. For thousands of years, the academy has opened its doors to the best and brightest young people in the Kingdom. There, they are trained in matters of heart, strength, and mind, and the one who is deemed most exceptional will be crowned king for the next thirty years, when the King Cycle repeats. This decree was enacted by Godwit himself, to ensure the King is one young enough that hope and idealism still thrive within them—but if they want hope and idealism, they invited the wrong girl.
The series is by writer Nelson Greaves and artist Davide Castelluccio, with colors by Francesca Vivaldi, and letters by Frank Cvetkovic. The main cover is by Castelluccio.
Check out our CARLYLE SCHOOL FOR KINGS art process preview below:
Are you picking up THE CARLYLE SCHOOL FOR KINGS #1 next week? Sound off in the comments!
From writer Scott Hoffman (Nostalgia Wag, Scissor Sisters member) and artist Alberto Ponticelli (Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.) comes a fantastic blend of Cyberpunk science-fiction and Cronenberg-ian body horror in Warm Fusion #1. With painfully relevant themes, a sharply handled blend of genres, and phenomenal, atmospheric visual work, Warm Fusion looks to be another stellar new story from comics publisher DSTLRY.
“Half a century into the future, New York City has been devastated by crime, ongoing storms, residual radiation from a terrorist attack, and genetic mutations spurred by the medical innovations created in response. After a series of murders rip through the city’s brothels, an escort named Vin Young, who cosplays as the Brothers Grimm’s Snow White—and is one of the generation of deformed victims—pursues the killer, or killers, reluctantly joining forces with Jarrod Hannover, the lone cop assigned to the case. The two eventually arrive at a biotech megacorp developing a cellular metal called Warm Fusion—a pioneering technology meant to replace prosthetics limbs—and soon confront the sociopathic scientist Nicholas Fleischer, his monstrous alter-ego, Mr. Barnaby, and the hideous monster that he’s been secretly developing.”
Writing & Plot
Scott Hoffman brings together a batch of notable influences to create something intelligent and unique in Warm Fusion #1. The procedural detective story pulls from sources like Blade Runner and Shadowrun, paying homage to past genre icons while blending into this wholly new environment. The sense of fear and destitution throughout the comic is made palpable on every page, and through the eyes of every character. Hoffman pens these news reports that Vin, one of the protagonists, listens to while on the subway. These reports describe a New York ripped apart by fear and trauma stemming from some unknown series of events in this universe’s past. This is yet another Cyberpunk genre staple, and it feels frighteningly real in our own reality. They main story is segmented into three different perspectives – Detective Hannover’s investigation, Vin Young’s experiences as an escort and her growing paranoia surrounding the murders, and tech billionaire Nicholas Fleischer’s development of a new product – and the twisted acts he commits to achieve his goals. All three of these intertwined stories are equally compelling, from Hannover’s noir-styled notes, Vin’s detached commentary on her reality, and Fleischer’s utter derangement. Every bit of dialogue comes off as naturalistic and compelling to read, all while crafting a sort of dream-like haze surrounding the grime and filth their world is covered in. The body horror elements start off like any other gore-horror affair before turning into a medically-fused nightmare, giving readers a nice shock of bloody terror in their science fiction read. Scott Hoffman’s writing here is brilliant, and starts Warm Fusion off strong with one hell of a script.
Art Direction
Alberto Ponticelli’s detailed and thoughtfully directed visual work brings the dystopian cyberpunk vision of New York to life in Warm Fusion #1. His character work is reflective of the kind of diverse figures we often see in this brand of sci-fi, from 2077 to Total Recall. The streets are littered with struggling, armed denizens and the trash they leave behind. These street-level visions contrast with the polished and sanitized offices that Fleischer and his staff work in, letting the irony of the story hit readers in a subtle way. Ponticelli’s direction lets the story flow perfectly, letting each moment have breathing room and feel important. Tense conversation scenes among the sex workers transition to the floating, dissociative sequences of Vin while she’s working. The detective sequences with Hoffman are directed with the look of a noir mixed with a police procedural, complete with flashing red and blue lights through the rainy, foggy haze of an urban alleyway. The horror sequences carry all the gore and tension of an actual horror comic, complete with visions of dismemberment and a terrifying visage with Mr. Barnaby (seriously, what a mask). There’s an intentional messiness to Ponticelli’s work here that fits perfectly with the tone of the story, and how he shifts from moments of dreamy dissociation to pure terror. This is a stellar vision of cyberpunk brought to the comics medium.
Verdict
Warm Fusion #1 is a phenomenal debut issue, and yet another fantastic story from DSTLRY publishing. Scott Hoffman’s script is thematically rich and compelling, blending sci-fi noir and horror in expert fashion. Alberto Ponticelli’s visuals bring this grimy dystopia to life in equally stellar form, with his pencils and hazy colors pulling readers in to the pages with ease. Be sure to get to your local comic shop to preorder this new #1 ahead of FOC on October 28th!
PHASES OF THE MOON KNIGHT #3 hits your local comic book store on October 30th, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive five-page preview for you!
About the issue: Fall into the next PHASES OF THE MOON KNIGHT alongside New York Times best-selling Author JUSTINA IRELAND as she weaves a tale of an ALL-NEW avatar of Khonshu that might just eclipse every other Fist of Khonshu that came before!
Plus! Don’t miss the Marvel debut of manga superstar YUJI KAKU (HELL’S PARADISE) as he introduces a brand new Moon Knight with a violent past from a magical future!
The issue features three stories. The first is written and drawn by Yuji Kaku; the second is by writer Justina Ireland and artist artist Daniel Bayliss, with colors by Dee Cunniffe; the final story is written and drawn by Chris Giarrusso. All three stories are lettered by Cory Petit, and the main cover is done by Mateus Manhanini.
Check out our PHASES OF THE MOON KNIGHT #3 preview below:
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From writer Sabir Pirzada and artist Michael Walsh comes a story of ancient evils taking vengeance against humanity in The Sacred Damned #1. Featuring additional color art by Toni Marie Griffin and lettering from Becca Carey, this comic makes for a stellar horror pilot, and my personal favorite of the Horizon Experiment issues thus far. With a fun, gruesome script and grossly atmospheric visual work, this is a blast of a first issue that deserves to have its full story told.
“Celebrated TV writer SABIR PIRZADA (MS. MARVEL, MOON KNIGHT, DANDELION) and Eisner-winning creator MICHAEL WALSH (THE SILVER COIN) present INAYAH JIBRIL, a “Muslim John Constantine” — a new type of exorcist re-examining modern horror for fans of THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH and KILLADELPHIA.”
Writing & Plot
Sabir Pirzada takes readers along on a journey of twisted Middle Eastern mythology and ancient anger with his script for The Sacred Damned #1. A rising young football star begins to have some strange bouts of sleepwalking – and sleep eating. His problems become worse and worse until Inayah Jibril, an occult specialist a la John Constantine, arrives to help him with his case. Pirzada’s script feels like a mix of The Twilight Zone and a classic Tales From the Crypt story. There’s a kind of twisted humor to what happens to the young athlete that will definitely be a hit among fans of that sort of ironic, gallows humor/horror. The dialogue and interactions around what is happening are also kind of stilted in an intentionally peculiar way, with no one reacting to the athlete’s actions and bodily changes in any kind of sensible manner. The issue feels like a sort of uncanny nightmare until Jibril comes in. Structurally, this comic plays out like any other possession story seen or read since Blatty/Friedkin’s The Exorcist. This doesn’t keep Sacred Damned from being any less fun, however. While the final pages of the issue are bogged down a bit by backstory exposition, the script as a whole is a satisfying possession romp that deserves the chance to breathe with a proper long-form series.
Art Direction
Arguably more than any other genre, horror comics are made or broken on their visual style. The Sacred Damned is blessed with the talents of Michael Walsh to deliver the story’s atmospheric experience. The Silver Coin artist’s unique use of heavy hatching and thick pencil lines give the entire comic an unsettling feeling – even when there’s nothing horror-related on the page. Walsh’s sequential direction carries the comic along at a careful, suspenseful pace, with an interesting mix of classically “cinematic” panels and interesting POV shots. Walsh actually cuts in and out of POV fur several sequences, where each part ends with some new, twisted climax to what is happening to the athlete. The color art, with help from Toni Marie Griffin, pulls readers into this comic’s atmosphere. Each page has its own palette that often looks like it’s being lit by neon or RGB lighting. Even the direct sunlight somehow feels oppressive due to the use of shadows in each panel. When the body and demonic horror hit, they do so in an almost cartoonish manner that still fits with the comic. Becca Carey’s lettering adds to this creepy reading experience with a sort of harsh, scratchy lettering style. There are pages where an entity will be speaking, almost as if to the reader, and the words show up in the dead space of a panel in a striking font that looks like it’s been carved with a knife. This team manages to create a visual experience that is unsettling and fits with a very classic-feeling kind of comics horror. Hopefully, we get to see them craft more of The Sacred Damned like this.
Verdict
The Horizon Experiment: The Sacred Damned #1 is a fun horror romp that deserves a chance to full breathe as a complete long run. Sabir Pirzada’s script takes some classic tropes and mixes them with a sort of Tales From the Crypt-style approach mixed with Middle Eastern mythology to create a story that is very familiar but still a blast to read. Michal Walsh and Toni Marie Griffin’s visual work is creepy and atmospheric, combining a sort of pre-comics code art style with modern techniques to make a comic that is lovably gross as it is enjoyable. Be sure to grab this new release when it hits shelves on October 23rd!
Gerry Duggan, widely known for X-Men, takes readers on a journey half a century in the making. Released by Image Comics and presented as a series of photo essays, Timing/Luck is a time capsule and visual narrative of Duggan’s life as he falls in love with comics, writing, and photography, and how the world around him both changes and stays the same.
Timing/Luck features a wide array of comic writers that Duggan calls friends and mentors, such as his Deadpool writing partner Brian Posehn, and other legends like Stan Lee, Jason Aaron, Skottie Young, and Jeff Lemire to name just a few. The book also captures other celebrities, influential writers, and actors, like J.J Abrams, Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and many more. However, Timing/Luck is much more than a photo album of famous cameos; it’s a strong visual narrative of a changing world, empty streets, lasting friendships, and over 40 years of photographs.
Writing
Duggan writes like he photographs: with sincerity, curiosity, and respect. There’s no sentence in this book that doesn’t feel bathed in awe and gratefulness for his peers, mentors, and those who came before him. Inanimate objects, like his first car, and old Hollywood institutions are given life through his storytelling and accompanying photos. Duggan’s writing is hard to dislike as it is purely honest. It is a man who is so grateful to everyone around him, for the life he lived and the lessons he learned simply for having lived it, and it made it very difficult not to feel the same emotionality when reading along.
While Timing/Luck does not shy away from the hardships of Duggan’s life, the sense of dread and sadness is often cut by a clear optimism, especially as he writes about the days leading to and overcoming the pandemic.
Art
The photographs used in this book come in many varieties. There are the candids, most of which typically feature Duggan’s friends, other celebrities, and the occasional interesting person on the street. These take up much of the book, with Duggan making clear choices to be a fly on the wall, wanting to save the moment as opposed to intrude on it, which allows for many behind the scenes in usually private or reserved areas, such as writers’ rooms and backstage rehearsals.
Many photos feel much more typical to the everyday person with a camera, with a few selfies, convention panel photos, and bar hangouts throughout the book.
However, the photos that most stood out to me were the ones without a human subject as the focus. Duggan showed the life and spirit of the places he visited through his photographs, not just by portraying their beauty, but by showcasing why they were important to him and their communities.
Verdict
The title Timing/Luck heavily undersells this book, but after reading it, it’s clear that Duggan is the kind of man who would consider all the work he put in as a product of just timing and luck. Yet it is so much more than that. It is decades of hard work, dedication, love, and effort, to himself, his friends, family, and simply his craft: this book is a splendid biography, and a journey worth following.
SCARLET WITCH #5 hits your local comic book store on October 23rd, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive four-page preview for you!
About the issue: HAUNTING IN HELL’S KITCHEN!
When the Scarlet Witch and Daredevil team up to exorcise a murderous spirit from the subway tunnels of Hell’s Kitchen, Wanda realizes she’s encountered the entity before. But will that knowledge be enough to save a train car full of possessed civilians?
The issue is by writer Steve Orlando and artist Lorenzo Tammetta, with colors by Frank William, and letters by Travis Lanham. The main cover is by Russell Dauterman.
Check out our SCARLET WITCH #5 preview below:
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RODERICK AND THE CITY OF MORHIL #5hits the internet October 15th, but thanks to Comixology Originals, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive five-page preview for you.
About the series: Roderick is a dedicated, young postman from the countryside making a delivery in Morhil, the biggest city on the entire continent. Roderick’s dedication will be put to the test when the package he should deliver is stolen, and he finds himself as the main suspect of the disappearance of a famous influencer from the kingdom.
About issue #4:
The deception has been uncovered! Now Roderick and Dritho race against time to prove the truth to all the citizens of Morhil.
The series is written and drawn by Eduardo Medeiros, with colors by Bruno Freire, and letters by Deyvison Manes. Issue #5 is the final issue of the series.
Check out the RODERICK AND THE CITY OF MORHIL #5 preview below:
Have you been reading RODERICK AND THE CITY OF MORHIL on Comixology? Sound off in the comments!
BLOOD HUNTERS #3 hits your local comic book store on October 16th, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive three-page preview for you!
About the issue: The BLOODCOVEN strikes! It’s an all-out action issue as the super-vamp villains finally descend upon the BLOOD HUNTERS. Will a vampirized SPIDER-MAN on their side be enough to push back the darkness? Marvel’s newest – and bloodiest – team faces their ultimate challenge!
The issue is by writer Erica Schultz and artist Robert Gill, Rain Beredo drops the color, with letters by Joe Caramagna.
THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MEN #8 hits your local comic book store on October 16th, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive four-page preview for you!
About the issue: A NEW HERO RISES! New story arc starts here! An old evil resurfaces. And our two Spider-Men are way out-classed.
The issue is by writer Greg Weisman and artist Emilio Laiso & Andrés Genolet, Edgar Delgao drops the color, with letters by Joe Caramagna.
Check out our THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MEN #8 preview below:
From writer Declan Shalvey (Bog Bodies, Time Before Time) and artists Luke Sparrow & Colin Craker comes a return to one of the most iconic franchises in sci-fi with The Terminator #1. Featuring lettering by Jeff Eckleberry, this debut issue treads familiar ground in terms of plot, but still delivers on sharing a universe with one of the greatest “unstoppable killer” stories in modern fiction. With a safe but compelling script and great visual work, The Terminator is off to a strong start in bringing this iconic world back to the comics medium.
“The plans to kill Sarah Connor and her son John have failed, but the genocidal Skynet isn’t out of options yet. There are still a few more avenues into the past that will allow it to destroy the human resistance that is poised to smash its processors into silicon shrapnel – it just needs to expand its theater of operations.
Opening a new front in the war, Terminators are dispatched across the globe and throughout time to target current resistance fighters, their ancestors, and anyone else unlucky enough to be in the strike zones. And while none of these secondary assignments are as straightforward as the missions of the first T-800 and T-1000, time is literally on the machines’ side. When all of history becomes a war zone, nowhere – and nowhen – is safe!”
Writing & Plot
Declan Shalvey takes us on a familiar but completely satisfying journey with The Terminator #1. Basically, this issue gives readers a taste of what the first film would have looked like if Sarah Conner and Kyle Reese had been able to run away together – while still being pursued by a T-800. The story jumps between the post- nuclear war present and the pre-Skynet past, showing us what a couple has had to endure to stay ahead of their unstoppable stalker, all while managing to find some peace in their lives. The entire premise and execution of this comic’s story is satisfying, albeit a bit on the safe and predictable side. In the end, this comic is an elaboration on the exact kind of story we expect from The Terminator. This is only the first issue though, and based on its end, there looks to be much more by the way of new stories to be told in this series.
Shalvey’s real strengths here come out in his character writing and how he approaches this well-established universe. Introducing readers to a happy couple far from the effects of nuclear war, then ripping away the facade and replacing it with a familiar fear and sense of urgency, was genuinely unexpected. Shalvey’s writing of the lead couple feels heartfelt and real, with naturalistic dialogue and a sense of human empathy that drives home the character-focused nature shared by Cameron’s films. While predictable, Declan Shalvey’s script goes to great lengths to make this a memorable new chapter in The Terminator mythos.
Art Direction
Luke Sparrow’s pencils and Colin Craker’s color art bring this post-apocalyptic world to life wonderfully in the pages of The Terminator #1. This comic does not include the aesthetic that many fans may be expecting. The ruined cities and falling as are largely replaced by stunning mountain vistas and a peaceful lake, due to the story of the lead characters. Sparrow’s rendition of the iconic T-800 evokes the same terror as its appearance in the ’84 original, but juxtaposed brilliantly against the stunning natural backdrop. Sparrow and Craker make this sci-fi comic feel like a nightmare coming to life, with the Terminator’s nonstop stalking always provoking a sense of terror – especially once it’s revealed just how long this unit has hunted the protagonists. Its form being largely shrouded by shadows and the features of is flesh-disguise being hidden from the reader is such a clever choice. It isn’t surprising that this being ends up being a Terminator, but its hulking, shadowy form having its glowing red eyes and metallic skeleton revealed is still an awesome sight. The character animations combined with Sparrow’s focused sequential direction make the protagonists’ struggle all the more intense. The action hits hard in tightly plotted bursts, matching the intensity of the overall story. Colin Craker’s color art wonderfully crafts the comic’s tone. From the gorgeous natural views on the peaceful mountain setting where much of this story takes place, to the shadowy details of the encroaching Terminator, Craker’s work brings this debut issue to the next level. Overall, The Terminator is off to a stunning start in terms of visual direction.
Verdict
The Terminator #1 is a predictable but compelling first issue of this new chapter in the iconic sci-fi franchise. Declan Shalvey’s script touches on familiar territory for any who have seen the films, but the story of the characters is still so good that this does little to dampen how much fun it is to read. The visuals from Luke Sparrow and Colin Craker are brilliantly detailed and and animated, constantly ramping up the tension as the story moves forward. Be sure to grab this debut issue when it hits shelves on October 9th!
