Comics
Monkeybrain Monday Review: “High Crimes” #1
Monkeybrain comics don’t specialize in anything save for quality books. “Monkeybrain Monday” showcases some of the digital titles this small publisher has to offer. This week’s entry may not be in print, but the fear is very real on the pages of “High Crimes.”
Christopher Sebela takes a familiar concept and twists something new into the heart of the story. The result is cooly refreshing like mountain air. It has a chill sense of dread with a protagonist who makes death his business, a supporting character who just can’t escape her past, and just when you thought it was a by the numbers murder mystery the antagonist bursts onto the scene and changes everything. This is how you write crime comics, folks.
WRITTEN BY: Christopher Sebela
ART BY: Ibrahim Moustafa
PUBLISHER: Monkeybrain Comics
PRICE: $0.99
GET IT HERE: http://www.monkeybraincomics.com/
Its no secret that Christopher Sebela’s “Dead Letters” was a resounding success last month. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that’s what brought me here, but inside this comic isn’t the makings of a great crime writer, its an already great crime writer doing his thing.
Haskell Price and Zan Jensen are working literal cold cases. They take to mountains and dig up lost bodies in an attempt to trace their past and sort out their affairs. Of course they come to dig up the wrong man and involve themselves in a massive conspiracy.
“High Crimes” does an excellent job at taking a familiar concept and throwing it into an unfamiliar world. The things you come to expect with the genre are all here, but they have to be explained in radically different ways. Something as simple as a lopped off hand seems to be the most important piece of the puzzle.
Ibrahim Moustafa has bold and clean art that manages to make the dizzying peaks of the book look as threatening as the gun-toting goons. He has a style with a thicker line weight that reminds me of Michael Walsh. His colors are bold but appear to be diluted and a little washed out. He can also draw one hell of a frozen body, but that’s beside the point.
“High Crimes” is an incredible debut issue that spins several plates at once without faltering. It’s as impressive as it is engaging and manages to keep my interest despite being another crime story. Yet, it’s unique setting and complicated and morally ambiguous characters add a lot of heart and intrigue to the story outside the allure of a dead body. The idea of risking your life just to bill the survivors and remind them of the person they lost is wonderfully morose.
Comics
‘Curse of the Where Wolf’ Bites Into August Release With Trio of Werewolf Theatrical Screenings [Exclusive Preview]
Larry Chaney‘s hairy misadventures are continuing in the sequel graphic novel Curse of the Where Wolf from creative team Rob Saucedo, Debora Lancianese, and Jack Morelli, and its author is celebrating with a trio of horror’s greatest werewolf films.
The Curse of the Where Wolf hits shelves on August 7 from Encyclopocalypse Publications.
That coincides with the launch of a theatrical screening event in Houston, Texas, featuring a trio of seminal werewolf flicks turning 45 this year: The Howling on August 7, Wolfen on August 14, and An American Werewolf in London on August 21.
Each screening features a “werewolf in film” presentation as well as a book signing from Where Wolf author and River Oaks Theatre artistic director Rob Saucedo.
In the new graphic novel, “Being a werewolf sucks. Reporter Larry Chaney wanted to be a hero. Instead, he became a werewolf. Now, caught between incredible new powers and a desire to eat everything (and everyone) in sight, Larry must find a cure for his curse. Or die trying.”
“With Where Wolf, I wanted to tell a whodunit set in a furry convention, so the story was pretty contained within a very specific setting and genre. With Curse of the Where Wolf, I wanted to celebrate everything I love about the possibility of comic books. Curse of the Where Wolf is a funny book, in every sense of the phrase, but it’s also an earnest look at a person’s struggle to become a better version of themselves, especially when the alternative is to become a literal monster,” Saucedo says of Curse.
The original graphic novel was previously serialized as the first webcomic hosted on Fangoria before being collected by Encyclopocalypse Publications in 2023 and has already been optioned for film, podcast, and television development ahead of launch by producers James Fino (“The Freak Brothers” for Tubi, “Rick and Morty” for Adult Swim) and Charles Horak (First Date for Magnolia Pictures).
Expect Larry to find himself in even weirder situations in the 362-page full color sequel; Saucedo has provided Bloody Disgusting with exclusive art pages from the upcoming graphic novel that showcase lupine humor.
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