As many of you probably already know, London Super Comic Convention 2013 happened last weekend, February 23rd-24th, and Word of the Nerd regulars (and the only two British people!) Jay Martinand Jack Chambers were there to bring you coverage from the weekend’s panels (all written by Jay) and some exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in comics today. (all transcribed by me, Jack)

On day 1, we managed to secure a few minutes to talk with Top Cow Productions‘ President and Chief Operating Officer, Matt Hawkins. Matt turned out to be such an interesting and insightful gentleman that those few minutes swiftly turned into half an hour. Thankfully, my trusty new sound recorder managed to capture every second of our first ever interview.
Below is our exclusive sit down interview we did with one of the most influential people in the comics industry today.

Jack Chambers: Hi Matt, thanks very much for taking the time. How are you finding London so far?

Matt Hawkins: It’s going well. It’s been pretty solid and busy. Very cold though. I just came from a convention in India, 2 weekends ago, and it was 27 degrees and entirely outside. I’m from Los Angeles so I’m used to 21 degrees, but here it’s minus figures! It barely rains in LA and never drops below around 20.

Jay Martin: I think we could do with some of that around here!

Jack: Yeah, definitely. So, first thing’s first, I’m a big fan of Think Tank. I did a review for Word of the Nerd of Issue #4 and, considering I have a Physics degree, I was instantly sucked in by the science. What’s your background in Physics?

Matt: I have a BS in Physics from UCLA and an MS from CalTech, but it’s been so long, that was back in 1994. I’ve been in the comics business for more than 18 years now and hadn’t really used my knowledge at all. I was already working at Image in 1992, and in the early days of the company, everyone was making so much money, I thought “Why would I want to do this science thing?” But in 1997-98, the industry kind of collapsed. I did Lady Pendragon for a couple of years and shortly came to Top Cow and started running the business there. It was only a couple of years ago, after Michael Crichton died, that I realized, “Who’s going to take up the mantle of doing science-thrillers?” There’s a lot of sci-fi out there, but Crichton had a unique way of making it accessible.

Jack: By making interesting characters and stories the focus, you can have the science and physics as a thing that holds it all together.

Jay: Sneakily teaching people things in comics!

Matt: Yeah, exactly. So many people are stark about it, you know? “I’m not going to dumb it down for anybody!” There are some novelists that are science guys, and most people can’t even read it. They don’t sell in good numbers, so that’s definitely not what I’m interested in doing!

Jack: I think you’ve found a really good balance between the story driven thriller elements and

the science side of things. If a reader doesn’t care about the physics, they can skip it and still enjoy the characters, but if they’re a science nerd, like me, they can dig deep into all the Science Classes, dossiers etc.

Matt: All that back material is actually inspired by me reading From Hell. I love Alan Moore’s annotations and footnotes. I kept finding myself going out of my way to read the books he references, and I kind of got obsessed with the whole Jack The Ripper thing for a year.

So when I did Lady Pendragon, I did that. I referenced places I’d been, pictures I’d taken, stuff like that, but that was more for fun really. When I sat down to do Think Tank I really wanted to do a science-thriller and not a science fiction book.

Jack: The thriller side of the book is just as interesting and rooted in the real world as the science. Think tanks, espionage and government conspiracies are all real things.

Matt: Totally! They do some seriously crazy shit! In the US, we have the Freedom of Information Act, so every 7 years, they have to release everything. Well, I’m sure they don’t release everything, but they’re supposed to. They just dump all the files onto websites. Most of them are 500-page manuals, and to find the interesting you pretty much have to skim through all of it. For example, if you want download the Department of Defense‘s budget, it’s a 7GB file. No pictures, just giant words, somehow. It took me 8 hours to download it on my wifi and, after downsizing it so I could actually read it, I discovered that Homeland Security actually has a larger budget for drones than the military! The part I put at the end of Think Tank #4 came from that. I looked at the spreadsheets and thought “Why does Homeland Security have such a big budget for drones? That makes no sense!” Well it means they have a bigger fleet cruising the skies of the US than in Iraq.

Jack: Using them to spy on US citizens?!

Matt: I guess so. If you look at YouTube, you can just type ‘drone over US skies’ and there are a bunch of people taping them, they’re visible!

Jay: With Think Tank set in a completely different universe from the rest of the Top Cow books, is there still the possibility of some crazy crossover?

Matt: Setting it aside from the rest was actually part of the reason for bringing back Minotaur Press. There are certain things we do that are not connected, obviously The Darkness, Artifacts, Cyberforce, Aphrodite IX are all in the same universe. But that universe has two sides to it, what I call the cybernetic side, Cyberforce & Aphrodite IX, and the magic side with Artifacts & The Darkness.

Jack: You’ve just mentioned Aphrodite IX, which you’re bringing back in big way soon, can you tell us a bit more about that?

Matt: The return of Aphrodite IX came about because Stjepan Sejic wanted to do something with it. He wanted to do it, talked to me, and I thought I’d give it a shot. Part of it is a challenge I’m giving to myself because a lot of scientists I know don’t think that science fiction right now is very good. In the 50s, 60s and 70s, we had the Silver Age, authors like Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov, and a lot of people grew up reading these books. Now we have the Star Trek communicators in our lives, cell phones, we have geosynchronous satellites and all these other things that people read and thought about as children. That’s all already doable. We can do so much with particle accelerators, then someone comes out with a flying car, well whoop-de-fucking-doo. It’s no longer science fiction if we can do it. We built the railgun for god’s sake! That thing they used in Transformers 2 and haven’t used again since. It has so much recoil that it almost tips the battleship completely over!

Jay: We’re just coming off the Talent Hunt, something you really took charge of. How did it go?

Matt: Yeah… *rolls eyes* It was a little brutal. The funny thing is, the writer part of it was a complete add-on. We initially thought “Let’s go look for some more artists,” and I thought, “There’s no real way for a writer to get into this business,” and I’m always being asked the “How do I break in to the business?” questions so thought, hey, why not add a writer option too?

I’ve been in this business for 20 years now and I don’t know a single writer who has ever been hired from a blind submission. Not one.

Jack: Is it the classic case of “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”?

Matt: Correct. It’s that and the other way which is self publishing, what I call ‘buying your way in’. Most people who self publish lose money, at least at first. Take Brian Michael Bendis with Jinx, Torso and AKA Goldfish, he lost money for years with all the touring of conventions and stuff. He paid his dues and now he’s the man. I think that’s the best way of doing it but getting into business in any way you can, through who you know, is still a good idea. I got in to the business side first and eventually switched over to being creative.

With the Talent Hunt, we had 800 writers and a total of 1200 entries and I read ALL OF THEM. It took months, literally. With that many scripts I could only allow myself 10-15 minutes per entry, with most of them being around 8-10 pages. That’s already hundreds of hours and having to do that and keep up with the usual stuff as well. Yeah, it was pretty rough.

Fortunately, there were a lot of good ones. Around of 100 of them were potentially really good writers. That’s a huge number, when compared to the 400 entries we had for artists, only around 5 of them were at the level we were looking for. I really wanted there to be more female submissions. We need some new people in the industry, especially true when it comes to women. So if a female writer was on par I would actually give her the edge and that ended up with 3 winners instead of 2 because I wasn’t able to narrow it down.

We’re definitely going to do it again next year, although it’s not necessarily going to be an annual thing. I think I’ve learned from my mistakes. A couple of people to help me read through and pick winners might be a good idea. We’re actually looking to do 4 winners instead of 2, all one-shot comics and have things like a message board where everyone can talk about it on our website.

However, I did find it interesting that a lot of writers were posting their submissions online even before the winners were chosen. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that necessarily. I prefer that you not do it obviously. I honestly don’t care, but you are just giving your competitors ideas though, so it probably isn’t the best tactic to take.

Jack: There’s a big movement happening at the moment in DC and Marvel where it seems like a lot of writers are moving on to doing their own creator-owned things. With ‘the old guard’ perhaps standing in the way of many of the young and innovative writers, was the Talent Hunt a direct answer to that sort of thing? It seems like the kind of thing that’s key to keeping the whole industry from stagnating.

Matt: You definitely need new blood. You need different visions and outlooks than what you’ve seen before. The worst thing that could happen for comics is having the same 20 guys writing everything over and over.

Jay: That does seem like a subject that’s very close to you. You seem to be actively looking for ways to get new people involved in the industry.

Matt: It can get very frustrating, you know? I read a lot of comics and most of them are crap. The reason I do the things I do is because, to me, reading comics is an experience. I don’t want to read a comic and then 5 minutes later, I’ve forgotten about it. At least half the comics on the stands these days are exactly that, in my opinion.

Jack: That’s a great point. I found the exact opposite with Think Tank. I would follow the links to the NSA documents you’d referenced and I would learn and get so much involved and invested in the book.

Matt: That’s fun! I’ve actually saved you a lot of time doing that. I had to go out and find those things. I can assure you, they’re not always easy to find. I use the Google shorten tools for the URLs because some of them are literally about 10 lines long. Fortunately, I know a few guys who can link me to those sorts of things.

Jay: So do you think you might be being investigated by the government yet?

Jack: Have you had the secret service knock at your door?

Matt: Haha, well I’m sure I’ve made their radar. Nobody’s contacted me. I doubt I will, but if they do some research, my father was in the military, my sister was in the military; I’ve never been arrested. They’ll learn very quickly through my Facebook statuses that I’m a loyal American.

Jay: With the recent huge world-ending/resetting event in your universe, Rebirth, was that planned out well ahead of time or did that come about organically through the stories themselves?

Matt: The funny thing about Rebirth is that it was originally an idea to reboot all the books back to #1. We had been talking about it for years and when you do a book for a long period of time, these natural highs and lows happen. Go back and read the 100+ issues of The Darkness and there’s amazing shit and some horrible shit, you know? It can be pretty embarrassing as a publisher to look back and think “How did that get made?!” but you quickly remember how and why it got made. We have our fan base and we were trying to build more fans. We had no idea about DC’s New 52 and, even though we’d been talking about it for years, they beat us to the punch. So we decided not to renumber everything back #1, which I think actually turned out to be a mistake. We would have had more success if we had renumbered.

Jack: I think the idea of taking books back to #1, even if some/all of the continuity remains true, is that they automatically serve as a jumping on point for new readers. For example, The Darkness #101 was a good issue for new readers but that number can be daunting. When you read the number 101, you tend to feel the pressure to read the previous 100 issues.

Matt: Yeah, that’s definitely true. Everyone’s OK with reading a #1!

Jay: I think that’s what’s so good about the Artifacts series, which has only been running for 25 issues so far, it serves as a good jumping on point because it’s not as high a number as The Darkness or Witchblade.

Matt: Right, of course. Well the new story we’re starting in Artifacts #25 is called “Progeny” and, without giving too much away, there’s a point where people will think we’ll be reverting to the numbering of the old universe but we don’t.

Jay: I really love the Rebirth idea because it could simply happen at any time. If all the artifacts happen to be on a plane together – boom! – it’s the end of the world.

Matt: Haha, I could lie to you and say that it was all planned when Witchblade came along. When I joined in 1998, I wrote all these documents about the possible inter-relationships in the Top Cow universe and I came to the number 13. We like the idea and the numerology of 3 (the 3 main comic series) and 13 (13 magical artifacts in that world) and then Paul Jenkins came in and we began to truly develop the bigger universe.

We are going to keep it small in terms of books though, it’s a 3 book experience. If you pick up The Darkness, Witchblade and Artifacts, you will get the whole universe. We keep it to 3 books, a total of $10 per month, we think that makes sense. Artifacts and Witchblade are actually selling very well at the moment but The Darkness, which is my favourite of the 3 (Jay & Jack: Mine too!) is actually our lowest seller.

Jack: That’s weird! I actually got into The Darkness via the first video game and, with the release and critical acclaim of The Darkness II around a year ago, you would think that The Darkness would be the most popular book.

Matt: Yeah, it’s very frustrating!

Jay: Are there any plans to expand the universe beyond comics in to more video games, TV shows, movies and things like that?

Matt: Well there’s always plans! We have, at any given point, multiple TV and movie projects in development. People are so eager to announce their movie deals these days, but only 1 out of 20 of them even go anywhere close to getting made. Part of its luck, but you can’t get lucky if you don’t play the game.

Going back to the move into creator-owned comics, I think that all started with Mark Millar and Robert Kirkman. With their success, within the comics worlds and in TV and movies, it has inspired a lot of people to get involved. Eventually though, I think we’ll see that snap back. After so many people say “When’s my movie going to get made?”, they might just give up. I’m interested to see if something like Saga, which is a great comic book, can ever be made in to a movie or a TV show.

Jack: Yeah, I think Saga might be too surreal and high concept. The budget would have to be -

All three: Astronomical!

Matt: Haha, jinx! I really do think we’re going to see a lot of people flood through soon but the pendulum swings both ways and they’ll go back to Marvel and DC after a while. They can make $10,000-15,000 per issue at either of those two publishers so it’s like Todd Macfarlane said “The only reason people followed me and read Spawn is because that was the only way to get my work.” The problem with writers is that a lot of them will simultaneously write 2-3 Marvel/DC books while also doing their creator-owned stuff. This means that readers can get their work in those Marvel/DC books and they start to think “Why would I read that other series when I can get my fix for this writer in these books?”

Jack: That’s really interesting and makes sense. So you think doing it in a staggered way; writing for DC/Marvel and building a fan base and then moving over to Image once you’re established is the best way to work?

Matt: Yeah, that’s it. That’s exactly what Mark Millar and Robert Kirkman did, that’s the secret!

Jack: I couldn’t have put it better! Well thank you so much for the interview Matt, I appreciate you taking the time to speak with us.

Jay: It was very nice to meet you, thank you

Matt: Oh thank you guys, it was a lot of fun. It was nice to meet you both.

There we have it, folks. My first ever interview with Jay was a damn good one, if we do say so ourselves. Of course, that is entirely down to our wonderful guest, Matt Hawkins, who we would like to thank once again for being so generous with his time.

From that description, one would not assume that that man is also one of the most enduring, well known and influential heroes in the history of pop culture.

Therein lies the incredible oxymoron that is Bruce Wayne.

He owns a manor yet spends his time in a cave. Maybe the best place for this so-called Batman is with the other costumed freaks in Arkham Asylum.

It’s a subject that has been brought up by The Joker multiple times over the years – Batman is more like his enemies than he would ever care to admit. Behind his powerful sense of justice lies decades of anger, underneath the cowl lies a scared boy who longs for his parents. Fear and anger sound more like the motivations of a serial killer than a tried and true superhero.

To quote Yoda: Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate and hate leads to suffering. A Jedi Knight, Bruce Wayne is not.

A key element to the character is that he is able to turn these negative emotions in to positive reinforcements. A young Bruce Wayne had a fear of bats and in Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One we see the moment where he decides to harness that childhood fear, turn it on its head and strengthen himself against the villains of Gotham.

Since then he has become more than a man; an almost mythical symbol of justice, instantly striking fear in to the heart of any street thug. He is fear incarnate.

Batman’s obsessive compulsive nature is something that is both a good and bad thing.

Regularly going for days without sleep is not healthy for anyone, let alone a man who literally has a target on his chest from every super villain in town. Lack of sleep is known to cause delusions and paranoia that can gravely affect the brain even after a normal sleeping pattern is restored. Bruce’s complete and total paranoia is perhaps best displayed in Mark Waid’s JLA: Tower of Babel. Batman’s archnemesis Ra’s Al Ghul steals files from the Bat computer that allow the ancient immortal villain to eliminate the Justice League of America, one by one. That’s right, Batman is so paranoid, he created contingency plans for the entire JLA, in case they ever turn rogue. These plans are executed by the Al Ghul family and the story arc climaxes with Batman’s expulsion from the League.

However, this compulsion also compliments his attention to detail and detective skills. Perhaps a man can only become The World’s Greatest Detective if he is abnormally dedicated to his work?

This trait is seen in other similar fictional characters, from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes to CSI‘s Gill Grissom. Anyone who has become the best in the world at something has made great sacrifices in the name of their work. This is true for athletes, writers, scientists and Batman. Maybe it’s not an unhealthy characteristic, it may be the only way to become truly brilliant.

In an interview with BBC’s Comics Britannia, Alan Moore described his iconic Watchmen character Rorschach (real name Walter Kovacs) as a real world interpretation of Batman – a revenge fueled vigilante. Rorschach is driven to a fault, being the only non-government-sanctioned costumed “hero” who had refused to hang it up at the beginning ofWatchmen. His sense of justice is also amplified as he brutally punishes any perpetrator he encounters.

While he may not take it to the right-wing extremes of Walter Kovacs, Bruce Wayne is compelled to clean up every street of DC’s most infamous city.

Both characters’ unstable mental states stem from traumatic childhoods. Bruce saw his parents gunned down in front of him and the combination of Rorschach’s abusive mother & his witness of the two brutal murders of Kitty Genovese and Blair Roche.

So the question is, if Batman existed in the real world, would he be the man he is or end up more like Rorschach?

Another of Batman’s defining traits, and one that very much separates him from characters like Rorschach, is his considerable supporting cast. In contrast to much of his antisocial tendencies, Batman has created and established an astonishing number of relationships with a wide variety of people. As previously mentioned, people who strive to become the best often have to make significant sacrifices in other aspects of their life and one of the more common things to sacrifice is a social life. Aforementioned Batman-like characters such as Sherlock Holmes and Gill Grissom have been shown to have poor social skills and have great difficulty maintaining relationships with their peers and allies. Yet Bruce Wayne has some of the most enduring and long term relationships in all of comics, with characters such as Alfred and Dick Grayson. Mr Wayne’s ability to build and inspire friendships is almost unmatched. For example, over the years, there have been five Robins. Does this show that Batman is an inspiring leader and father figure or does it show that he is willing take young children into the war he is waging on Gotham’s criminals? He has almost certainly improved their lives after taking them on as his proteges, yet he’s endangered their lives multiple times (and in the case of Jason Todd, actually gotten them killed). Bruce Wayne, however, has never been able to hold down a romantic relationship. Perhaps that is his sacrifice, maybe love is something he will never truly achieve.

So, is Batman the great hero we know and love or is he a dangerous madman in a costume who should be locked away in Gotham’s notorious psychiatric hospital? Only one man is convinced that he knows the answer. But then again, everything’s a joke to him.

Originally posted on Word of the Nerd Online.

My first article for Word of the Nerd is a heartwarming tale of Scott Everhart & Jason Welker and their comic inspired love.

For the full story, please click HERE

You know that short story I posted a little while ago? Well I’ve decided to do a mini-audiobook of it! Here’s the opening paragraph.
Any & all feedback would be greatly appreciated.

The map I drew for this story, clearly inspired by Tolkien’s maps.
Anjellus stormed through the gates, his scarlet cloak flapping in the wind.
“Hello?” he called out. A road echoed through the hall of the Iron Tower.
A black creature lunged from the shadows but Anjellus nimbly deflected its claws, his sword bouncing off its scaly skin.
“Grr…beast” he growled as he thrust his gun to its belly, firing.
It screamed out and fell limp to the floor.
“Job done.” Anjellus said, striding out of the tower and into the cold night.

The demon-hunter travelled through the night and finally arrived at his home of Terek. He stood atop the hill East of Terek, his black boots frozen in fear. Terek was burning to the ground!
He could just make out small figures amongst the flames. There were much larger beings also, killing Terek’s natives.
Anjellus sprinted down the hill and slew many evil creatures, an enormous shadow lurked still, engulfed in fire.
“Anjellus, you are a fool.” the beast’s voice pounded in the demon-hunter’s head.
“You are the fool, Borion, I’ll slay you like I do every demon.”
“Don’t count on it!”
With those words, Borion struck Anjellus to the floor, knocking him unconscious.
When he regained his senses, he noticed a face peering down at him.
“Anjellus, you’re awake.”
“Dante, how…did…you…survive?” Anjellus murmured.
“I hid in my cellar.” his old friend smirked.
“We must kill Borion before he destroys Caradrha” (the country’s capital) Anjellus said as he stood up.
“You are right, we must follow him through the Forest of Silence.”

“Where has he gone?” Dante said, puzzled.
“West, to the Onyx Tower, his lair.” Anjellus answered.
“I need to feed soon, Anjellus.” Dante gasped for blood.
With a rustling in the bushes, a boar launched itself, attempting to tackle Dante’s leg. With his lightning-quick reaction and superhuman strength, Dante swiped at it and began to drink.
“Satisfied, friend?” chuckled Anjellus.
“Indeed.”
A few hours late, they reached the edge of the forest and prepared to cross the bridge.
The bridge was more rotted and worn than ever before.
“Where’s Pyret?” Dante asked.
“I do not know.” Anjellus replied.
Pyret was an old friend, a troll that guarded the bridge from intruders intending to attack the more populated areas.
“I fear the worst.” Anjellus said, reluctantly.
The bridge could only support one person so Dante flew while Anjellus trod cautiously across. On the other side lay the corpse of Pyrey.
“Borion shall pay for this.” Anjellus cursed. “We must move swiftly.”

The unusual due trekked across a barren wasteland. A roaring motor sounded in the distance.
“Oh no, Attack Squads. The natives of this area are very technologically advanced, they have motor driven chariots they call Speeders, prepare for a fight.” Anjellus informed Dante as they drew their weapons.
The Speeders approached at unbelievable speeds, a trail of dust following them as they tore across the dry and cracking ground. Anjellus responded, unloading his Colt .45s, trying to disable the vehicle.
A tyre popped, causing the Speeder to tumble and spin out of control, smashing in to the ground.
Another three vehicles appeared behind the first, in V formation.
“Take to the sky.” Anjellus instructed.
Dante did as he was told. Anjellus fired constantly at the lead Speeder. The engine began to smoke. The passengers suddenly realised what was happening, scrambling furiously as they tried to escape their doom. The explosion that followed destroyed the last three Speeders and the burnt bodies tumbling over Anjellus’ head.
“Job done.”
“Incredible gun work, my friend.” Dante thanked, impressed by his friend’s skill. “I owe my life to you and your guns.”
“Quickly, we must travel South. Through the marsh.”

The demon-hunter and vampire trudged through the thick, sludgy mire.
“Disgusting.” muttered Dante.
“Indeed.” Anjellus replied. “Hurry, we must get out of her before nightfall.”
“Why?” the vampire asked.
“Terrible beasts roam these parts.” He said, staring all around him.
A scream echoed in their ears, coming from deep in the marsh.
“Come.” Anjellus sprinted towards the source.
A woman’s body lay in the bog. “We’re too late…”
The murderer erupted from the depths and struck Dante squarely in the sternum, claws ripping at his clothes and skin.
“A Malrok!” Anjellus exclaimed.
“Leave this to me, brother.” Dante smiled.
One hand wrapping around the creature’s neck, while his other sharp, powerful fingers thrust into the creature’s chest. He sank his teeth in to its throat, the beast gurgled as it’s heart was ripped from its body.
“Let’s get going then.” Dante said as he threw the heart into the marsh.
“The final stage of the journey, the Onyx Tower awaits.”

Anjellus stormed through the doors of Borion’s lair, killing anything that moved.
“Borion! We are here to slay you!” Anjellus called out to the demon.
“If you want me, come and get me, hunter.” The demon’s voice echoed back.
“Go Anjellus, you take care of him. I’ll eliminate any creatures down here.”
“Very well, I’ll do our home proud my friend.” Anjellus ran up the stairs to greet his foe.
“Welcome to where you will die.” Borion boomed as Anjellus burst in to the room.
Both warriors launched at each other, exchanging blows at incredible speeds. Anjellus fired and slashed at Borion but the demon dodged, ducked and struck back, smashing Anjellus into the wall at the other side of the room. Anjellus stood up and waited for his foe. As Borion flew at him, the demon-hunter somersaulted, spinning and shooting constantly as he did so. He landed with a thud, embedding his sword in to the beast’s back. He wailed in pain, releasing an enormous powerful ball of energy that completely swallowed his prey.
“It’s over.” Borion chuckled.
“For you, demon!” Anjellus jumped down from the ceiling and stabbed his blade through his opponent’s head. Borion’s death howl echoed through the tower, disintegrating in a blinding light.
“Job done.”

Reblogged from Jaybwebb Blog:

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So this right here is my first review from a major publisher, and I was asked by Tim Seeley (the books writer/creator) not to reveal to many interior pages, so this im gonna try to keep it bit shorter than my full reviews, just because I put quite a lot into them, and to be honest after reading this I think it is gonna be a huge hit for image comics, and that this could be the next big book to be released from them.

Read more… 744 more words

Zyklon B [zy-klon bee]

noun

1. A cyanide-based pesticide infamous for its use by Nazi Germany to kill human beings in gas chambers of extermination camps during the Holocaust.

2. An independent horror comic book created and written by Adam B Cheal with art by Joel J Cotejar, colours by Mike Summers and letters by Mindy Lopkin.

The world of independent comics has never looked better. With websites like Kickstarter and indiegogo, creators can now get their work funded (by the public, no less) without having to go through publishers. This relatively new system works particularly well for possibly controversial projects, such as Adam Cheal’s Zyklon B. The title itself brings controversy and, combined with the language used and often gory artwork, the book has a sinister feel that may not appeal to some audiences. However, the book is clearly not intended for all audiences and the dark content is not used simply for it’s own sake. Cheal uses the strong language, particularly bloody kills and subjects such as Nazism and black magic to tell an interesting and horrifying story.

The story moves at a consistently high pace and it tells a complete story, something rather unusual in a world full to the brim with cliffhangers. Visher’s origin tale could have easily been told with a series unto itself, instead Cheal chooses to cover all the necessary points in issue #1 and allows for the rest of the series to expand in to a larger world of Zyklon B. This swift storytelling definitely helps maintain the reader’s interest at all times but sometimes lends itself to feeling rushed. There seem to be no truly good people in this world, a compliment to Cheal’s unconventional characterisations. The man turned into Zyklon B gas, now known only as Visher, is clearly the focus of the issue and is the most fleshed out member of the cast but he’s no hero. For the vast majority of the book, he is little more than a literal a force of vengeance. The most intriguing man in this tussle is Caleb Montana, seemingly Visher’s only friend before he becomes cursed with his gaseous form. He is not heavily featured in the book but every panel that the practitioner of powerful dark magic is featured in is a highlight. I know that he will be returning in the next three issues and I can’t wait to see where Caleb is taken, even more so than Visher.
Overall, a good balance of action and dialogue is struck but unfortunately, a few lines of dialogue feel unneeded and ham-fisted. More subtlety around the Nazi elements and characters would have been a nice touch but it doesn’t detract from the overall quality of the writing.

Joel J Cotejar’s illustrations and Mike Summers’ colours compliment the twisted nature of the script brilliantly. Every drop of bloody violence is extremely well detailed and the expressive close ups of faces particularly stand out. The panel layout is always fresh and never difficult to follow, something that can bring down even the best writers/artists.
An always unsung and under-appreciated member of a comic creative team is the letterer. Well, I’m glad to say that Mindy Lopkin’s work on Zyklon B is some of the best lettering work I’ve seen in quite some time. Unique bubble styles are expertly used, allowing the read to follow the script freely between character perspectives without hesitance. Lopkin’s letters emphasise the professional level of work of everyone involved in this project.

Despite the aforementioned lack of a real cliffhanger, Zyklon B #1 leaves you wanting more when you’re finished. Cheal’s writing is brave and powerful, Cotejar & Summers’ artwork is bold and striking and Lopkin’s lettering is simply superb. I’m proud to have helped the team on their way to seeing out their vision and I’m very happy to find that my time and money were well worth it.
Zyklon B would not look out of place on a shelf next to horror comics of the highest level. Bring on the other three issues!

Overall: 9/10

To contribute and support Zyklon B on indiegogo: http://www.indiegogo.com/ZyklonBComic

Official Zyklon B website: www.zyklonbcomic.com/

Follow Zyklon B on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zyklonbcomic

Reblogged from Joey Esposito:

Reblogged from I mean, a girl just can't go to Sing Sing with a green face.:

My exams are coming up in 5 days so I’m currently really busy with revision and the last pieces of coursework. But with every storm cloud of university unpleasantness, comes a silver lining.

In exactly two weeks, I will be a free man and able to greatly increase my writing output! Hooray!

So please bear with me over the next two weeks and I’ll more than make up for it after that.