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5 Skull Advance Review “Southern Bastards” #1

Published

10 years ago

on

Jason Aaron and Jason Latour’s new series “Southern Bastards” is morally questionable mayhem. It’s breaded in violence, peppered in history, and deep fried in a perfectly developed and unique voice. It’s also one of the most visually descriptive books I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Despite having a stoic protagonist, Aaron and Latour set their series up to beautifully show how a man can never truly escape his past.


WRITTEN BY: Jason Aaron
ART BY: Jason Latour
PUBLISHER: Image
PRICE: $3.50
RELEASE: April 30th, 2014

Earl Tubb is a lonely old man with daddy issues. He don’t talk much, and he’s pretty matter o’ fact when he does. He returns home to Craw County, Alabama to clean up his family’s estate. He plans to be in and out in three days, but home has a way of sucking you back in.

Tubb’s a bastard, and he’s the son of a bastard. Aaron’s script plays around in Tubb’s life. The story has a clear sense of the past with fleeting flashbacks to Earl’s father and his exposure to violence. There is a progression into the future, and a lot of simple symbolism. It’s something as mundane as a tree that comes to define this issue. It has a totemic purpose in the script, and comes to characterize both Earl and his relationship to his father in a heavy way.

Despite all this, meth soaked mayhem is still the name of the game. Earl can’t keep his hands out of other people’s business. In an act of kindness manifested in extreme violence, he gets himself involved in a pissing match against a local gang of bastards. It’s sure to end horrifically for both parties.

Jason Latour has captured the Dixie-fried south in a way that no comic has previously. The small BBQ shacks ooze personality, and the characters who frequent these places are despicable. Latour is able to draw a desperate red-eyed methhead as a vile creature with an incredible amount of vulnerability. His use of paneling is a revelation for how to tell a story clearly, and without the use of a dense script. Thanks to an incredible intercutting of panels that are seemingly unrelated Latour communicates the major beats of the town, the characters, and the past without a single word from Aaron.

So “Southern Bastards” is totally worthy of insane hype. This is a book crafted with care on every level. It’s poignant and brutal. It’s over the top in all the right ways and completely subdued at the same time. It’s a beautiful dance in pacing that effortlessly shows how comics should be and need to be done. It’s more delicious than fried chicken but still manages to hit you like a pickup truck to the head. It needs to be on your pull list ASAP because by the end of April you need to be part of the conversation.

Rating: 5/5 Skulls.

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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

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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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