Anathema – Help Keep the Epic Lesbian Werewolf Horror Comic Alive!

If you read my Twitter-review of Anathema last week, you won’t be surprised that I am flippin’ stoked about this: the writer/creator of Anathema has launched a new Kickstarter campaign to get the remaining five issues created.

If you didn’t read that review, or if you are very forgetful, you can get acquainted with Anathema via this 5-page preview of issue 1. Or, avail yourself of this tidy summary from the new Kickstarter page:

Anathema is a six issue limited series horror comic that tells the story of Mercy Barlowe, a tormented young woman with a dark side. She must fight through treacherous lands and unspeakable horrors to reclaim her lover’s soul, which has been stolen by members of a sinister cult, bent on resurrecting a terrible and ancient evil.

In issue #1, we saw Mercy’s world torn asunder, and watched as she accepted the curse of the wolf. Can Mercy learn to harness her horrible new powers and stop the raven cult before they succeed in their vile plan? Mercy needs your help to see her journey through!

The campaign runs until April 30th, with a goal of $20,000. As I’m writing this, over $4,000 has been pledged so far. The money will pay for illustrator Chris Mooneyham and colourist Fares Maese to finish what they started: creating the visuals to accompany Rachel Deering‘s story. Given that the first issue’s goal was $6,000, we’re getting a pretty wicked discount on the remaining five. Your thrifty mom would totally approve (just don’t tell her it’s a horror comic about a lesbian werewolf avenging the murder and soul-theft of her lover – some moms get weird about that).

In addition to the comics themselves, there are some excellent pledge rewards, including a copy of the now-unavailable issue 1, original artwork pen & ink from issue 1, pinup art from Chris Mooneyham, and a general sense of satisfaction. I was too slow / poor to get the pledge item I really wanted ($500 for the 2-page spread of Mercy’s first transformation), but you can bet your ass I’ll be ponying up a solid contribution a little later this week.

Now, since I really believe this project needs to happen, I’m going to try a two-pronged approach for the “ask” portion of this post. If you are a nice and gentle person, read item 1 below. If you are a snarky comic snob, read item 2.

  1. Werewolf friends, I implore you: help get this awesome comic series completed. I’ve chatted a bit with Rachel and she’s every bit as excited and committed to this project as Jeff Davis was about the Teen Wolf show (and look how that turned out). Alas, Rachel doesn’t have an MTV-style budget, so please consider pledging a few bucks. I will love you forever.
  2. Only Kickstarter contributors and a lucky few reviewers got copies of Anathema’s 1st issue. When positive reviews started popping up, Twitter and the blog-o-sphere began to roil with the mewling cries of comics fans who missed the boat the first time around. If your voice was among that warbling cacophony, here’s a second chance to climb aboard. Stop scratching that neckbeard and get your credit card out!

In conclusion, Rachel Deering makes a good comic and you should help her out. Thank you and good day.

Apr. 3rd 2012

Teach Your Kids the Alphabet the Awesome Way with the “ABC Monsters” Video

I saw this on FEARnet yesterday and loved it. Some of the references went over my head (especially the “classic” ones), but I was happy to see ‘W’ properly represented. ‘B’ and ‘D’ were great, too.

Nice work by La Pompadour!

Mar. 30th 2012

Beautiful & Cruel graphic novel WOLVES by Becky Cloonan, available on iTunes & Graphicly for a buck

Illustrator Becky Cloonan has made her self-published short graphic novel WOLVES available on the iTunes store for $0.99. I bought the book right after I saw her tweet about it, and then spent 20 breathless minutes pinching and flicking at my iPhone’s screen so I could get a better look. I loved what I saw, and for $0.99, I think you will too.

From the book’s page on Becky’s site:

As a lone hunter tracks an elusive beast through the forest, he reflects on his life and past love through a series of flashbacks, bringing the story to a climax that is as romantic as it is violent. This powerful mini-comic lends itself to multiple read-throughs, never giving concrete answers but (like the best enigmatic endings) leaves your own conclusions satisfying.

The story is simple but well-realized, and the black & white artwork is full of ominious hard shadows and evocative close-ups. I didn’t find the ending enigmatic at all – by the last few pages, it’s pretty clear what’s going on, and although I find most short stories leave me wanting more, I was completely satisfied with the conclusion of WOLVES.

The original print run has sold out, but as I mentioned all the way back at the top of this post, a digital version is available on iTunes for $0.99. You can also get it from Graphicly for the same price.

Mar. 29th 2012

Live-Tweeted Quasi-Review of “Anathema”, the Lesbian Werewolf Horror Darling of Kickstarter

In July 2011 I posted about one of the first Kickstarter projects I ever contributed to: Anathema. The goal was to fund the illustration, colouring and printing of issue #1 of a werewolf comic that writer Rachel Deering called “a return to classic horror in comics”. Now, seven months after that post, and five months after the project surpassed its Kickstarter goal, the first issue of Anathema is circulating among Kickstarter contributors. I got my claws on a PDF and sat down to read it yesterday, during a break at work.

I’m going to leave the formal analysis of Anathema to people who actually know how to review comics – I’m just a werewolf fan with a blog. Instead, because I’m a silly git, I decided to live-tweet my reading, making (spoiler-free) comments on every page of the book. I’ve reproduced those tweets in chronological orders, and I’m going to let this stand as my formal review of the book.

Time to read @racheldeering‘s Anathema! Even the intro on the inside of the front cover gave me chills.

I’m gonna live-tweet this reading, page by page, omitting spoilers. Page one: okay, dad’s a dick. Lovely colours, though.

Page 2: Authentic emotional response to characters I just met. Great panel layout. Dad’s going to need some Bactine!

Page 3: First overtly supernatural incident. Intense but not too dramatic. Love the time-shifted narration. That’s flame-resistant hair!

Page 4: Third segment of this page expresses her isolation perfectly. Well done Chris Mooneyham.

Page 5: I want to live in Henrich’s house and visit his manicurist.

Page 6: Jeez, what a drama queen.

Page 7: UGH that TONGUE. Put it away, dude!

Page 8: Great colours and lines. Any of these panels could be posters. Nice work explaining the crows, too.

Page 9: Any of these could be levels in a Zelda game that I would play the fuck out of.

Page 10: Great character design. Brilliant work to tie the plague doctor’s mask concept into the design. The glow around the moon!

Page 11: Come on, Henrich, give up the goods. Also, you look like Christopher Lloyd. This is not a bad thing.

Page 12: Where can I get me some of those?

Page 13: Come on, at least freshen the linen. Nice transition out of the scene.

Page 14: I probably shouldn’t be reading this at work.

Page 15: When Anathema gets made into a movie (as it inevitably must), this’ll make a great little nasty sequence.

Page 16: Part of me is disappointed that there’s no “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.” moment.

Page 16 cont’d: I’m impressed with how solid these characters are. Henrich could’ve been a 2-D quest-giver, but he’s richer than that.

Page 17: Holy fuck, lady, where’s your climbing gear!?

PP 18-19: BAD. ASS. A lot of werewolf fanboys (and a few werewolf fangirls) are going to pin this spread over their beds.

Page 20: Immediate thoughts: this would be a great video game, either 1st-person slasher or 2D side-scroller. I like that she mentions pain.

Page 21: PRIMAL. “As I, myself, become the object of fear.” This is exactly what I love about horror and werewolves.

Page 22 / last page: Great setup for the next issue. This isn’t a cliffhanger, this is a gun, loaded and cocked.

So, yeah. Verdict on Anathema, issue 1? Basically, you need to buy this thing as soon as you can, and then we need to fund the other issues.

Go follow @racheldeering and pester her to sell you a copy – she’ll have some pretty soon, I think. DAMN, I’m all riled up!

So, while that wasn’t a proper review, over the course of 25 tweets, I exclaimed over the quality of the writing, the art, the colours, the characters and the layout (and, come to think of it, I meant to mention the lettering too). I also said that Anathema would make a great film or video game, and although I didn’t tweet about it, I pitched a little fit when I got to the last page because it’s over and I need more. The book was a terrific effort by writer/letterer Deering, artist Chris Mooneyham and colourist Fares Maese, and I think Kickstarter contributors (and fans of horror comics in general) are going to love it.

I want to take a second to expand on my comment about page 21: This is exactly what I love about horror and werewolves. The “this” I’m referring to is the vicarious indulgence of a particular blend of righteous fury and macabre glee that I think horror fans (and most people in general) are familiar with, even if they don’t want to admit it. Articulated as a thought, it might go something like “I want to do terrible things to people who deserve it, and suffer no repercussions.” Act so in real life and at best you’d be a sociopathic asshole, but channel that desire into a fictional vessel like Anathema’s grieving anitheroine (or the miserable little brother from The Wrong Night In Texas) and you’ve got werewolf therapy – a wonderful outlet for a very dark but very human urge. This is one of the things I’ve always loved about werewolves, and although not every werewolf story manages it, Anathema delivers.

So. Er. If that sort of thing sounds good to you, or if you just want to read an awesome werewolf comic where a lady fights werewolf-style for the soul of her murdered lover, watch Rachel Deering’s Twitter profile for Anathema issue #1!

Mar. 22nd 2012

Web Series “Wolfpack of Reseda”: Drink some True Blood while driving your Kia to your job at Initech

According to the end of the first episode of  Wolfpack of Reseda, when you’re infected with lycanthropy you immediately receive enormous feathery sideburns and a brand new Kia Soul. (more…)

Mar. 17th 2012

Life-Size Werewolf Statues and Busts by Tom Spina Designs

Tom Spina is one of the nicest people I’ve come in contact with through Werewolf News. I’ve posted before about the great work he and his colleagues do, and he always gives me a heads-up (and an early preview) when he’s about to share something werewolfy. Here’s a new promo video for his “New Moon” werewolf statue and head display (no, not that New Moon), which you may have seen previously, but which I am promoting again because they’re fucking awesome. Enjoy, and if you enjoy then a lot, you can buy them here and here (no, I don’t get a commission).

Mar. 16th 2012

Simon Beaufoy still adapting “very mad, really fabulous” epic werewolf poem Sharp Teeth

io9 has a few tidbits from screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) regarding his in-the-works film adaptation of Sharp Teeth. As reported in February, Beaufoy is preparing a screenplay version of Toby Barlow’s novel-length poem for his perennial collaborator, director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Sunshine, Slumd– oh here).

From the interview:

io9: Are you able to enjoy a book, when you’re reading a book? Or do you see a screenplay straightaway?

Simon Beaufoy: It’s quite difficult to read a book now, I took to reading poetry (because I thought that will be alright. And it’s not. I just started adapting an epic poem. So that didn’t work, called Sharp Teeth it’s a really fantastic novel length poem. It’s gangland LA. Except the gangs happen to also shapeshift into dogs. It’s all about the pack dynamics — it’s very mad, but really fabulous. So poetry wasn’t even safe from the adaptation process.

Will it be animated?

Yeah probably not, that would be too easy. We have to make life much more difficult for ourselves and use real dogs. That would be the best, because that would be truly terrifying. I think animation would allow too much distance from it.

Beaufoy doesn’t bring up much of anything new, but it’s interesting to know they’re not considering doing something animated. That’s kind of a shame – an R-rated (traditionally!) animated feature would die at the box office, but damn, wouldn’t it look good? Especially if they used the book’s cover art as a design cue!

Mar. 14th 2012

Video Tutorial: Realistic Werewolf Claws for Under $10

Convention season is fast approaching (ahem, ahem) and if you’re not already thinking about how to step up your game vis-à-vis werewolf costumes, well, there you go – I’ve just given you another anxiety to cope with.

Werewolf hands are tough to do realistically, especially on the cheap, which is why I like this video tutorial by fumsmusing. I saw this on YouTube last weekend, and fully intend to have tried it myself by the end of this weekend.

There you go! Darken those knuckles some more, maybe get some crepe hair happening around the wrists, and you’re ready for your big date!

Mar. 13th 2012

“Shades of Red” – Red Riding Hood as told on Facebook

“Digital storytelling” agency Eastwood Media is cooking up something interesting on Facebook. Shades of Red is “a modern-day re-telling of Red Riding Hood”  – ho-hum – “that will be told through facebook” – wait, what?

Seven years ago, Werewolf’s Guide to Life author Ritch Duncan told a terrific werewolf story via “this is real” blog posts. That was linear story-telling from a single point of view, though. A multi-person story happening in real time on a social network like Facebook sounds much more complicated, and I’m really interested to see how it pans out.

Mar. 12th 2012

Dark Horse to Publish Hampton / Tinnell Werewolf Book “Riven” in August

From a Dark Horse press release comes news of a 196-page title from artist Bo Hampton and writer Robert Tinnell: Riven.

Riven is a stone killer of a werewolf story with a fragile young woman as a protagonist. It was irresistible for us to create and we’re betting the readers will agree it was well worth the wait,” said Bo Hampton. “She’s adopted from a Romanian orphanage at the age of three and brought to America. At the age of thirteen an accident puts her in a coma—but doctors are completely baffled because her brain waves spike every thirty days—in direct correlation with the full moon.”

Katya has been in a coma for five years, and when she awakes, everything has changed. Now she is a gorgeous teenager with a mysterious, gruesome past, becoming aware of a growing, terrifying power inside her body, triggered by the touch of the full moon, eager to break free . . . Can Katya solve the mystery of her blood-drenched nightmares before they become reality?

Katya, the solution to the mystery is: you’re a werewolf. Now go and enjoy yourself!

Riven goes on sale August 22, 2012 – nine days before the second full moon of the month (a blue moon). Probably not intentional, but a nice coincidence!

Mar. 11th 2012