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Sam Keith & Chris Ryall Team Up For ‘Mars Attacks: First Born’

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IDW announced plans for a new “Mars Attacks” four-issue miniseries from creators Sam Keith and Chris Ryall that will tell the story of the first Earth-born Martian as she is left behind after the big invasion. Ryall and Keith describe “Mars Attacks: First Born” as their love letter to classic science fiction.

Look for issue #1 in shops May, 2014.


Official Press Release:

San Diego, CA (January 30, 2014) – There have been many stories told in the Mars Attacks universe, but possibly never one quite like this. Beginning in May, Chris Ryall and Sam Kieth, the team behind The Hollows, join forces once again to tell the story of Mars Attacks: First Born.

First Born, a four-issue series written by Ryall from a story co-plotted by Ryall and Kieth, and featuring art and covers by Kieth, tells a deceptively quiet story of the aftereffects of the Martian invasion: in a devastated neighborhood, a few survivors try to rebuild their lives. One of those survivors is an infant Martian, left behind in the attacks. But was she left behind on accident, or as part of a more nefarious plan? Does nature versus nurture apply to horrible invaders from Mars? These are some of the themes being explored in this series. Also: giant bugs.

“This series is a multi-tiered love letter,” said series writer and IDW Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall. “Every page shows not only the love Sam and I have for Mars Attacks, but also wild science-fiction tales from the past, the sorts of things Wally Wood drew in the pages of Weird Science-Fantasy and other EC comics. Our adoration of Wally’s work is front and center in this series, but it’s also a great next move for Sam and I after the working relationship we developed on The Hollows. And it surely gives Mars Attacks fans something special, in addition to also giving them some of the wanton carnage and gallows humor they’ve come to expect.”

The influence of classic science-fiction stories of years past extends to the variant covers for each issue, too. Artist Loston Wallace pays homage to classic Wally Wood EC covers in each image he’s creating for the series.

“Sam has been a friend to Topps for more than 20 years, and we’re happy to see him finally put his stamp on Mars Attacks,” says Adam Levine, Topps’ Head of Outbound Licensing. “His wild style and one-of-a-kind sense of storytelling will no doubt bring a fresh take to our classic Martians.”

Mars Attacks: First Born #1 (of 4) launches in May.

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[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

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Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.

“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”

Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.

Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.

Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.

Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re  reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.

Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.

Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.

Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.

Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion. 

Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.

‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

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