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Monkeybrain Monday Review: “The Remains” # 1

Published

10 years ago

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While Monkeybrain comics may not specialize in horror, they do specialize in quality comic books. For those of you looking to expand your palette this is “Monkeybrain Monday” showcasing some of the digital titles this smaller publisher has to offer.

Cullen Bunn has recently taken the comics world by storm with “Sinestro”, and the new “Magneto” ongoing from Marvel launching this week. “The Remains” follows two young girl’s horrific encounter after their struggling father decides to take in a rat-like drifter. The dusty art style of A.C. Zamudio lends the book a homespun feel that is filled with skittering scares.


WRITTEN BY: Cullen Bunn
ART BY: A.C Zamudio
PUBLISHER: Monkeybrain Comics
PRICE: $0.99
GET IT HERE: http://www.monkeybraincomics.com/

After reading his stellar short story in “In The Dark” it’s clear the man has an obsession. Cullen Bunn seems to revel in the world of rats. “The Remains” is comfortable in the dirt and grit. Getting low to the ground with a children’s perspective of a terrible and horrific plight.

Birdie and her little sister Abbie don’t know what to think when a rough looking drifter interrupts their playtime. He’s looking for work and their father’s more than willing to oblige. He’s a scarred and scary looking man. He smiles with a certain glint of malice, and from the right angle, he looks remarkably like a rat. Although Birdie is uneasy about all this, she knows her father needs the help, so she keeps quiet.

The girls are ordered to clean out the barn, and what lies in wait for them there makes for one of the most disgusting, engaging, and horrifying sequences in any horror book. If something like this happened to me as a child I think I’d be mute today.

This is just the beginning. Bunn builds a tale of horror wrapped in mystery. The girls don’t get a ton of development, and the characters are somewhat archetypal, but the drifter intrigues enough to keep interest. Something supernatural is going on, and it’s clear this drifter has everything to do with it. Just how it all fits together isn’t clear but the setup is tantalizing enough to tease dire consequences in the future.

Zamudio’s art has a homespun feel that really understands the environment of the book. Characters look weathered and tired. The drifter has an air of otherworldly personification, but only from the right angles. It’s the type of chilling stuff that’ll have you giving the book a second glance. The sequence in the barn is paneled in such a way that feels overwhelming and hopeless. Which only adds to the girl’s plight.

Bunn has crafted a simple tale of horror around a questionable love of rodents to create a chilling tale of lost innocence and threatening strangers. It’s straightforward in its setup and smooth in its execution. It may not do anything new for the genre, so to speak, but it’ll assuredly get under your skin.

Rating: 4/5 Skulls.

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Comics

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

Published

11 hours ago

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April 18, 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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