Comics

Comic Book Review: ‘The Life After’ Volume 1 TPB – Welcome To The Fantastically Weird Afterlife

Published

9 years ago

January 28, 2015

The Life After Volume 1 makes storytelling look easy yet challenging, simple yet complex and beautiful and ghastly all at the same time. Being in Purgatory for suicides and a handkerchief are what start us off on the truly bizarre voyage through the after-life…and that’s when things get weirder and weirder in all the best ways possible.

WRITTEN BY: Joshua Hale Fialkov

ART and COLORING BY: Gabo

PUBLISHER: Oni Press, Inc.

PRICE: $9.99

Jude, the would-be hero, Ernest Hemingway, a dog named Gertie and the lady Nettie take readers on a journey through the bureaucratic hereafter. Breaking free of the monotonous repetition is what gets Jude noticed by the higher-ups, and that’s not a good thing. One should stick to the program, such as it is, and not cause any ripples in the system. Thankfully, suicide (and too much mercury in your blood) gives Jude someone to fight alongside: The Ernest Hemingway. Sound wonky? It is and it’s fantastically captivating. The utter mystery and not knowing what will happen next is what makes this such an engrossing read.

This creative team of Joshua Hale Fialkov and Gabo have made this story unlike anything else. I hope that when this book gets re-packaged with bonus material down the line that readers can get a glimpse of the notes these two came up with to pitch this tale. The amount of detailed thinking and sheer hellish details poured into this book is something to behold. Artist Gabo’s depictions of both Heaven and Hell and their residents are truly distinctive and genuinely scary.

The Life After is indeed a scary place, no matter where you end up. Yet somehow, throughout this entire first volume, there still remains hope scattered here and there. Change is never easy, no matter what dimensional plane it happens upon. The creative minds behind this attempt to change the realms of the dead truly know how to make it all make sense. They also will entertain you completely all at once. Read this and enjoy the jump off the cliff like Hemingway does herein with a pipe in one hand, a pistol in the other and leaving no one behind.

RELEASE: 28 January 2015

Reviewed by: Your Friendly Neighborhood Brady
Twitter: @mrbradysteele

Zac Thompson

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Comics

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

Published

6 days ago

April 18, 2024

Meagan Navarro

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.