It’s all Image! Yep, these 2 comics are worthy of your time and a quick review, and both are out now.
Who Is Jake Ellis? #4. The penultimate issue of this series that is just dying to be made into a film is just as entertaining as the ones before it. Writer Nathan Edmondson (The Light, Olympus) and artist Tonci Zonjic (Daredevil) started things very mysteriously with the first issue and have been peeling away the layers like craftsmen with each subsequent issue. Traditionally, debut issues sell very well, driven by curiosity, but then drop off with the instalments that follow. This, however, is a series that rewards loyalty and it’s quite refreshing to be caught in its grip. Jon Moore and Jake Ellis (who always appears in monochrome) is part of former CIA analyst Moore’s mind. The pair’s aim in this ish is to break in to the facility in Morocco that birthed their unusual partnership, when Ellis reveals that he has had memories – and emotions. Just when you think this series has unveiled all the surprises it needs, out pops another one. Great stuff, and Zonjic’s art is always gorgeous to look at. His superb use of colour and simple lines is like nothing else on the stands at the moment, though I guess Francesca Francavilla’s art comes close. Who Is Jake Ellis? is also currently being serialized in Clint magazine, and shirts are now available too! Cool. See a preview of this issue here.
Shinku #1. I remember seeing black and white preview pages for this ages ago and being eager for the finished product. Now, this creator owned series from writer Ron Marz and artist Lee Moder is out. Part 1 of Throne of Blood, there’s certainly plenty of the latter in these pages. If you like your vampire action more in the throbbing vein of Kill Bill and less like Twilight, grab this. It starts with Davis, a newcomer to Tokyo who gets lucky at a nightclub, when a (very forward) woman bares her…fangs. Davis is rescued by a motorcyclist in a cool crimson suit (yep, Shinku) and is opened up to her tough secret world of vamp killing by bloody means. Within her cool hideout Shinku reveals that she’s the last of her samurai clan (complete with a nifty sepia flashback) before we see her nemesis who has had enough of her actions. This is a mature comic, so be warned. It’s a simple story, of the kind that’s been told many times – outsider becomes embroiled in an ancient war, yet it does work here and Marz and Moder’s bold take is worthy of attention.
There’s an interview with Moder here.
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