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Review: ‘Grim Leaper’ #1

Published

12 years ago

on

The tag line of Image Comics new series, Grim Leaper, is, “A love story to die for.” Needless to say that made me a little hesitant to open up to page 1, especially since the cover was slightly pink and features a dude with a black leather jacket and faux-hawk… But the “i” in “Grim” was dotted with a skull, not a heart, so I gave it a shot. Kurtis J. Wiebe offers something completely different from his normal bag of tricks, with some wild twists and turns throughout. “Grim Leaper” is a very different book, to say the least, and it’s shaping up to be quite the thrill ride.

WRITTEN BY: Kurtis J. Wiebe
ART BY: Aluiso Santos
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $3.50

Everyone remembers Chaz from Wedding Crashers? Will Ferrel’s character? Well the “Grim Leaper” starts off by paying homage to Chaz. The main character, who remains nameless for the time being, admits to going to thirteen funerals and attempting thirteen times to pick up women, but unfortunately for him, “It’s not like in the movies. They always say people want to feel alive when faced with their mortality. They meet a stranger and then f**k like rabbits. It’s bulls**t.”

Thankfully before I threw down the comic in disgust for being cliche and tasteless the narrator reveals that each funeral he has attended has been his own: he can’t die. This plot twist is immediately followed by proof of the fact the narrator can’t die, or let me rephrase: can die, does die, will die horribly, but each time comes back to life in a different body. This is really where the comic grabbed my attention. Firstly, there was a full page panel of a stray tire decapitating the narrator’s body #13 (maybe he will be luckier at funeral 14?), and secondly, he isn’t just plopped into another body. The narrator finds himself whirling through the cosmos to a hallway full of photographs. As he walks down this hallway towards the only exit with a single photograph hanging on it, he explains his “curse” of not being able to die, of “getting a second chance to… I dunno, do something.” As he says this the face on the photograph begins to morph into a giant monster and he is reborn while screaming, “F**king limboooo!” The beginning of the comic had me pretty concerned, but the cosmic death/rebirth scene was really well done, enough so that I will be reading the next issue.

The love part of the title happens at the end of the comic, where the narrator, whose name is Lou, meets a girl, Ella, who shares his curse. While he watches her narrowly avoid death, and saves her life once or twice, I began to think that this comic is based on the real life situation of two clumsy nerds falling in love and trying to bump uglies while all sorts of exaggerated shenanigans (like death) get in their way. Hopefully whatever the narrator is getting a second chance to do, won’t just be losing his virginity to his similarly cursed love interest after one of their funerals. While I cant decide if that would be hilarious or disturbing, I’m going to keep reading because I can’t see how a comic with this many graphic death scenes, and awesome cosmic death/rebirth via galactic monster scenes, could turn out to not have more awesome plot twists.

3.5/5 skullz

Reviewed by- TheSandMan

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Comics

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

Published

5 days ago

on

April 18, 2024

By

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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