Comics
Review: “Translucid” #1
Well, shit. This comic is bananas. “Translucid” #1 is the coolest take on villainy that I’ve seen in years. A true psychological look at good and evil. Writers Sanchez and Echert present us with an almost Dom/Sub-type love between superhero and villain, causing all kinds of chaos in its wake. Leading us to wonder, who’s the real villain here?
WRITTEN BY: Claudio Sanchez & Chondra Echert
ART BY: Daniel Bayliss
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: April 16, 2014
Starting off rather innocuously, we are introduced to our villain: The Horse. He’s a Carmine Falcone-like criminal mastermind (with a Knight chess piece style headdress) fresh out of prison with a renewed sense of psychopathy and an odd determination to prove the dependency of his superhero counterpart, The Navigator. He orchestrates his own abduction in order to show that The Navigator would sooner blow up the Empire State Building than see him perish in its place.
When The Navigator plays directly into the trick, instead of being pleased, The Horse is angered at the dependency The Navigator shows, and punishes him by forcing him to watch his failure play out in a grand explosive gesture.
Since the beginning of the comic book hero/villain relationship, it’s always been clear that the two feed off of each other. This comes as no surprise. They never truly want to end each other’s lives, because without one, the other ceases to exist. Good is only relative to the evil it counteracts. “Translucid” definitely explores that notion but smacks it around a bit first. In a standard hero/villain relationship, we find the villain on the sad end of the dependency continuum, whereas “Translucid” turns our hero into a sad, pathetic, almost treacherous, fool-in-love for the villain. To the point where The Navigator’s dependency on The Horse causes more damage than The Horse could possibly do on his own. It’s fascinating. It’s daring. I love it.
I didn’t think I was going to enjoy this comic book as much as I did. I had the impression that it was going to be the hero/villain equivalency of a bromance film. And for a second during the comic when a reporter refers to The Navigator and The Horse as a “dynamic duo” I thought my initial feelings would be validated. But Sanchez and Echert swing wildly off course as The Horse dominates in emotional stability, completely putting The Navigator (along with his creepy amount of respect for his “nemesis”) in his place. I’m crazy excited to see where the next five issues of this strikingly original comic book will take us.
Review by – Bree Ogden
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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