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[5 Skull Comic Review] “The Fade Out” # 3 Transcends The Medium

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9 years ago

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Reading “The Fade Out”#3 is like sitting in your Studebaker drinking scotch from a flask, listening to jazz, and waiting for your wife’s lover to leave work so you can stab him in the parking lot.  And I mean that in the sexiest way possible.  C.S. Lewis used the word Sehnsucht to describe a nostalgia for something we never experienced.  Woody Allen talks about golden age thinking in his film “Midnight in Paris”.  When I read “The Fade Out” I long to live between the pages, to rub elbows with the Hollywoodland elite, to get caught up and swept away their world, and to embrace the seedy dark truth of it all beneath the surface.  “The Fade Out” transcends the medium for me.  I’ll try my best to talk about it in more certain terms

STK652805

WRITTEN BY: Ed Brubaker

ART BY: Sean Phillips
PUBLISHER: Image
PRICE:  $3.50

RELEASE: November 12, 2014

Reviewed By Eric Switzer

The scope of this series gets wider in this issue as new characters are introduced and their darkness is exposed.  Characters in Brubaker/Phillips books can be described by their weaknesses.  Their defining characteristics are the things their flaws, which more often than not turn out to be fatal ones.  Maya is hired to replace Val in the film and has had to do some pretty shocking things to get where she is now, as evidence by her reaction to Thursby using a secret door to invade her dressing room.  I wouldn’t be the first to call Brubaker a feminist, so in the golden age of film industry misogyny, I think there is a lot here to unpack thematically, but I’ll save that for a future essay.

Discovering who Val was through the different perspective of each character is not unlike unravelling Laura Palmer.  It feels like Brubaker is making us slowly fall in love with a dead girl, and if she turns out to really be like Laura, the rug will be pulled out from under us in the most earth shattering of ways.  Brubaker has that capacity.

“Fatale” gave Sean Phillips and opportunity to color outside the panels, and I think he is taking some of that expression and energy to the pages of “The Fade Out”.  I am in love with his imaginative panels.  The mark of a great artist is in how their art enhances or expands the themes, narrative, and characters.  Phillips work is beyond comparison.

My only issue with this series is the inconsistent release schedule.  Quality takes time obviously, but too much time and it necessary to start the series over every time an issue comes out.  Not that I’m complaining, I’m pretty sure I have designated “The Fade Out” as my desert island book already.

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Eric Switzer  is an aspiring filmmaker and screenplay writer living in Los Angeles.  His work tends to focus on the lighter side of entropy, dystopic futures, and man’s innate struggle with his own mortality.  He can be found on twitter @epicswitzer or reached via email at ericswitzerfilm@gmail.com. 

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Comics

‘Witchblade’ is Getting Resurrected This Summer in New Comic Series from Top Cow and Image Comics

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9 hours ago

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April 17, 2024

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Witchblade cover

Witchblade, the popular comic series that initially ran from 1995 to 2015 and launched a TV series, is getting resurrected in a new comic series from Top Cow and Image Comics. It’s set to unleash heavy metal, black magic and blood this summer.

Look for the new Witchblade series to launch on July 17, 2024.

In Witchblade #1, “New York City Police Detective Sara Pezzini’s life was forever fractured by her father’s murder. Cold, cunning, and hellbent on revenge, Sara now stalks a vicious criminal cabal beneath the city, where an ancient power collides and transforms her into something wild, magnificent, and beyond her darkest imaginings. How will Sara use this ancient power, or will she be consumed by it?”

The series is penned by NYT Best-Selling writer Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, Batwoman, DC Bombshells) and visualized by artist Giuseppe Cafaro (Suicide Squad, Power Rangers, Red Sonja). The creative duo is working with original co-creator Marc Silvestri, who is the CEO of Top Cow Productions Inc. and one of the founders of Image Comics. They are set to reintroduce the series to Witchblade’s enduring fans with “a reimagined origin with contemporary takes on familiar characters and new story arcs that will hook new readers and rekindle the energy and excitement that fueled the 90’s Image Revolution that shaped generations of top creators.”

Bennett said in a statement, “The ability to tell a ferocious story full of monsters, sexuality, vision, and history was irresistible.” She adds, “Our saga is sleek, vicious, ferocious, and has a lot to say about power in the 21st century and will be the first time that we are stopping the roller coaster to let more people on. I’ve loved Witchblade since I was a child, and there is truly no other heroine like Sara with such an iconic legacy and such a rich, brutal relationship to her own body.”

“The Witchblade universe is being modernized to reflect how Marguerite beautifully explores the extreme sides of Sara through memories, her personal thoughts, like desire and hunger, in her solitude and when she is possessed by the Witchblade. So, I had to visually intersect a noir True Detective-like world with a supernatural, horror world that is a fantastic mix between Berserk and Zodiac,” Cafaro stated.

Marc Silvestri notes, “This is brand new mythology around Sara, and I can’t wait for you to fall in love with her and all the twists and turns. Discover Witchblade reimagined this summer, and join us as we bring all the fun of the 90s to the modern age and see how exciting comics can be. I can’t wait for you to read this new series.”

Witchblade#1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, July 17th, for $4.99 for 48 pages. And it’ll come with multiple cover variants.

  • Cover A: Marc Silvestri and Arif Prianto (Full Color)

  • Cover B: Giuseppe Cafaro and Arif Prianto (Full Color)

  • Cover C: Blank Sketch Cover

  • Cover D (1/10): Dani and Brad Simpson (Full Color)

  • Cover E (1/25): Marc Silvestri and Arif Prianto, Virgin Cover (Full Color)

  • Cover F (1/50): J.Scott Campbell (Full Color)

  • Cover G (1/100): Bill Sienkiewicz. (Full Color)

  • Cover H (1/250): Line art by Marc. Virgin Cover, Inks (B/W)

Witchblade #1 will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.

Witchblade comic panel Witchblade #1 cover image

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