Kickstarter Spotlight: On the Off Chance’s Dan Dougherty

It’s a well known phenomenon that people who are artistic in one sense are often artistic on other fronts as well, that they cannot contain all that creativity with one medium.  That truth is no more evident than in the person of Dan Dougherty, creator of the comic strip Beardo and the comic book Touching Evil.  A talented artist and writer, Dan is also a musician, and with the band On The Off Chance, and is releasing their debut album, White Shoes Black Water, and Kickstarting a vinyl edition.

Review: Sink #1

(Comix Tribe- 2017)

Story by John Lees

Art and Colors by Alex Cormack

Letters by Colin Bell

Logo by Tim Daniel

Glasgow, largest city in Scotland, third largest in the UK, and home to a bustling nightlife.  And there are bars and clubs as well.  In John Lees latest comic, Sink, from Comix Tribe, there is a distinct difference from what you envision.

Review: The Curiosity Shop #1

(DimThroat Comics-2017)

Creator: Brad Gischia

Colors: Lesley Atlansky

Letters: Zakk Saam

Sometimes life sucks. Sometimes we don’t get exactly what we want. Sometimes a crazy robed figure looking for an occult specialty item invades your town, and you are thrown into things without an invitation or nary a warning.

Review: Lonesomes #1 and #2

Writer – Ryan Little

Pencils and Inks – Eder Messias

Colors – Fahriza Kamaputra

Letters – Jamie Me

Addl. Letters – Nick Warner

Tom Auld is lonely in a way that only a young person can be lonely.  He feels cut off from his family and his peers, and the old people ,teachers, just don’t connect.  It’s exactly the kind of person that the Lonesomes appear to.

Review: A.D. After Death Book One

(Image Comics 2016)

Written by Scott Snyder

Illustrated by Jeff Lemire

Lettered by Steve Wands

There are sure things in the realm of comics and literature.  Some authors and artists you pick up because their name is on a book.  That’s the simple truth of it.  For all of the admonitions of elementary school librarians, we judge books by their covers.  And often when we’re paging through PREVIEWS magazine, or browsing the over-packed shelves of our local shops, it’s the art or the name on the cover that makes us pick it up.

Review: Triggerman #2

(Hard Case Crime/Titan Comics – 2016)

Original Story by Walter Hill

Adapted by Matz

Art by Jef

Translated by Edward Gauvin

“Story so far…serving a life sentence for his violent criminal past, mafia gunman, Roy ‘Triggerman’ Nash, finds himself abruptly free from his prison cell and tasked with one final job, but all this straight-shooting mobster really cares about is Lena Dorsey, the woman he was forced to leave behind…”

Review: Ancestor

(Image – 2016)

By Matt Sheean and Malachi Ward

SPOILAGE

What is the future of the Internet?  In what ways will technology impact people and how we interact with on another?   Social theorists, scientists, comedians, all of them talk about what it would be like to have the power of the Internet at your very whim, implanted into your brain.  Some see it as the next reasonable step.  What would the ramifications be?

Review: Hard Case Crime Twofer

(Hard Case Crime/ Titan Comics- 2016)

If you’ve never heard of a “twofer” before I apologize.  In the cannon of my youth, that was a great deal, a “two-for-one”.  Although you have to purchase these books seperately, I’ve reviewed them together…such a deal…and you’ll want to go out and get them anyway.  Titan Comics has partnered with noir publisher Hard Case Crime to showcase new and old crime stories. It’s a move that can only benefit both companies and I had a chance to look through their first two releases,Triggerman and Peepland, on sale on October 5 and October 12 respectively.  After reading both of these firsts…holy crap…these are great crime books, and that entails all you might think as far as content.

Review: Britannia #1

(Valiant 2016)

Writer – Peter Milligan

Artist – Juan José Ryp

Color Artist – Jordie Bellaire

Letterer – Dave Sharpe

Introduction Art  – Raul Allen and Patricia Martin

Something is rotten in Britannia.  The Druids hold sway over the peasants even as Roman legionnaires enslave and kill them.  Nero sits on the throne, his vices ruling over him as he rules over Rome. 

Review: Planet of Daemons #1

(Amigo Comics 2016)

Written by Kevin Gunstone

Art by Paul Moore

Color by Stefan Mrkonjic

Cover by Paul Moore and Stefan Mrkonjic

The ranks of Hell are packed with demons, daemons, archdemons, monsters, weird insects, and all other manner of creeping, crawling, hellions.  What creatures lurk amidst the charred landscapes, who keeps them in check?

Review: Ness #1

(Chris Welsh 2016)

Script by Chris Welsh

Art by Rob Carey

Colors by Dee Cunniffe

Letters by Robin Jones

1 of 4

The idea of cryptids, Bigfoot, Loch Ness, etc. has always been fascinating to people.  The fact that humans have searched through so many isolated areas of our Earth and still believe are a testament to the strength of the idea.  People are always coming up with new incarnations of the legends, and every so often a sighting happens and the fervor is once again ramped up.  Just when you think you’ve read every story about Nessie, a tentacle reaches out of the Loch and wraps you in it’s icy grip.

Review: Vikings #4

(Titan Comics – 2016)

Writer – Cavan Scott

Art – Staz Johnson

Colors – Rodrigo Fernades

Letters – Rob Steen

I just finished binging on season 4 of Vikings from the History Channel.  Say what you will about the programs featured on that particular cable station, Vikings, although perhaps not perfectly historically accurate, is a completely enjoyable drama series, one that hooked me pretty quickly and had me chanting along with the warring tribes “Ragnar! Ragnar! Ragnar!”

Review: Edward Scissorhands: The Final Cut

(IDW 2016)

Writer – Kate Leth

Artist -Drew Rausch

Colorists – Drew Rausch, Jeremy Colwell, and Rikki Simons

Color Assist – Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons

Letterer – Travis Lanham

Editor – Sarah Gaydos

There’s always worry when you see something you grew up with and really enjoyed being remade, no matter the format or medium.  Late sequels to films, adaptations, nothing is out of the realm of possibility.  Properties that were once thought “untouchable” prove very much touchable and remarkable.

Review: I Hate Fairyland #8

(Image 2016)

Story and Art by Skottie Young

Guest Artist – Jeffrey “Chamba” Cruz

Colors by Jean-Francois Beaulieu

Letter by Nate Piekos of Blambot

Logo and Design  by Rian Hughes

So if you’ve missed anything…Gertrude is a little girl who has been trapped in Fairyland for thirty years.  She nearly made it home in the first story arc, only to kill the Queen and become Queen herself, which she made a complete mess of.  She’s been fired and now roams the sugar-sweet countryside once again, with an ax in her hand and murder in her tiny heart.

BagandBored Previews: Fall 2016

by Brad Gischia

One of the worst feelings for a steady consumer of funny books is to walk into your lcs and hear the buzz generated by a new book and to have absolutely no idea what’s going on.  Here at Bagandbored we’re going to try and give you a heads up on new books that are coming down the pipe so you can adjust your pull list  accordingly.  “But that’s why I grab Previews” you say.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve still missed books, because, like it as much as I do, Previews is a beast of a magazine that I can’t peruse in a timely manner.  So here are Bag and Bored’s picks for upcoming books.

Review: The Underwater Welder

(Top Shelf 2012)

By Jeff Lemire

The name of Jeff Lemire has become irrevocable entangled in all things comic book in the last decade.  From Dc’s New 52 to Sweet Tooth, Lemire’s work has long been the object of every praise and criticism that can be launched at a creator.

Review: ROM #1

(IDW 2016)

Plot and Script by Christos Gage and Chris Ryall

Pencils and Colors by David Messina

Inks by Michele Pasta

Letters by Shawn Lee

ROM and I go way back.  I was one of the first Marvel characters that I don’t remember interacting with mainstream characters.  No Spider-Man/Rom team up.  ROM was a character that lived in his own universe.(Even though he was in Marvel’s.) When he teamed up with other characters, at least in my (at the time) one ROM comic collection, it was with relative unknowns like Ursa Major.

Review: Hilliblly #1

(Albatross Funnybooks 2016)

By Eric Powell

Edited by Tracy Marsh

There’s something really great about a credit that’s literally two lines long, the creator and the editor, and speaks to a level of comic genius that is achieved by few.  “By Eric Powell” has come to mean something special to me.  Powell stands out for me as one of the best creators in the business, and his latest monthly book Hillbilly was a sure thing placement on my pull.

Review: Adventures of the Rifle Bridgade

(Image 2016)

Written by Garth Ennis

Art by Carlos Ezquerra

Colors by Patricia Mulvihill and Kevin Somers

Letters by Clem Robbins

Covers by Brian Bolland and Glenn Fabry

“When the marines have got a headache..when the paras scream like schoolgirls..when the S.A.S. foul their britches…you send for the Rifle Brigade!”

Review: Ghostbusters International Vol. 1

(IDW 2016)

Written by Erik Burnham

Art by Dan Schoening

Colors by Luis Antonio Delgado

Letter by Neil Uyetake

Step right up to my soapbox ladies and gentlemen, the love-fest is about to begin.  I just read through Ghostbusters International Volume 1.  It is, as per usual, everything you’d want out of a Ghostbusters story and more.