Happy Sunday Night Stash, geeks and geekettes. We’re taking a broad look at some disparate titles and publishers today, and there’s nothing wrong with that! So let’s cut the chitchat, and dive right in as we start to bid farewell to the month of September with some upcoming horror and spooky titles..
@thepattawontron
At first looking at the cover of SFSX #1, my thought was, “Okay, this looks interesting; two women kissing, getting pulled away from each other by a SWAT team.” The cover look like a romantic fight for freedom story and it tingled my curiosity so I decided to check it out.
Turn the page, Boom! Random orgy! Then I said to myself, “Oh, we talking about those types of ‘freedoms’, the kinds that’d be right at home on tubev.sex. Alright, that’s fine.”
This should have been expected being that SFSX #1 is written and created by Tina Horn, journalist and nonfiction writer known for her works that focus on sex work, queer communities, and sex positivity. The Fun is all over, however, when the conservative religious organization known as the Party come busting in yelling “ATTENTION! The Party is here to rescue you from yourselves!”
When I read this part, I thought that if I was there I would’ve yelled back, “We Don’t Want Your Help Mutha…..!” Anyway back to the story, raiding the club known as the Dirty Mind, the Party arrested the owner, while the protagonist Avory grabs her husband, George and escapes. Scared of the consequences if the were to continue further exploring their sexual urges, Avory and George conforms to Party’s fascist societal regulations.
The Party requires the citizens of San Francisco to report all sexual activities which leads to Avory and George having a less exciting and fulfilling life. Later, something happens to George and he gets arrested, and Avory comes home to see her apartment getting investigated by officers of the Party. One officer finds a sex toy and a stiletto and Avory jumps out the window to avoid getting arrested.
If that does not tell you how extremely strict the Party’s hold on the city of San Francisco is, I don’t know what to tell you. This was a fun read, with very “descriptive” writing — to say the least — and an ominous tone to the theme of having your privacy regulated and freedoms suppressed by fanatical religious regime that feel uncomfortably real. 3.5/5 Bibles (ironically!).
-Tony Pattawon
Tim Daniel and Michael Moreci work together to bring about a decent family secrets style horror comic that feels very familiar. It has everything you would expect from a cheesy B-list made for Netflix horror. You’ve got orphaned children, an alcoholic uncle, an old abandoned family home being remodeled, and, of course, ghouls and ghosts.
The Plot sends out vibes similar to The Haunting of Hill House, but with swamp monsters. The tagline promises a story full of family drama and dark secrets. The best part was definitely the art of Joshua Hixson and Jordan Boyd. The detail in Hixson’s line work mixed with Boyd’s dark colors lend way to a very eerie scene, especially, the creatures. To be fair, I feel this would make a better graphic novel than a monthly release: there wasn’t enough time to really invest in the characters to make me want to keep going. 2/5 Bibles.
-Jimmy Cupps
@GeneSelassie
I will say right off the bat that I hate the generic-as-hell name. Now that I got that off my chest, this was a pretty fun romp.. The story opens with a secret bio chemical storage facility getting broken into by several familiar heroes, Spider Woman, Spectrum, Winter Soldier, Wiccan and Angela. But all is not what it appears to be. Writer Tini Howard really had fun with the concept and with the character interactions. Her dialogue was pretty spot on and the pacing of this, for a horror book, was perfect.
Artist Germ Peralta did a good job setting the mood. But one of Marvel’s most unsung heroes has been colorist Jordie Bellaire; her palettes — from the bright colors during the Avengers heroic entrance, to the horror style flashbacks with Blade — were pitch perfect. If that last page wasn’t a bait and switch, then Blade accidentally just changed the entire paradigm of the horror corner of the Marvel Universe. This book feels like the heir apparent to The Defenders…and that, my friends, is a good thing. 3.5/5 Bibles.
-Gene Selassie