Halloween is here and here are three great independent comic books to check out before the sounds of jingle bells start filling the airwaves. The first is about werewolves and the second is about demons and angels and the third also deals with angels and demons but from a different perspective.
Either way you won’t want to miss these three amazing books:
Nazi Werewolves From Outer Space #1
Trauma Comics
Simon Sanchez, Writer
Dean Juliette, Artist
Don Marquez, Cover Artist
$3.75
Jack Lynch is a normal teenager who finds that his town is overrun by werewolves from outer space. Created by a resurrected Adolph Hitler, it is up to Jack Lynch and his friends to try and save the day.
This is a great science fiction story and it has the making of an old fashioned monster movie from the 1950s. I adored “Nazi Werewolves from Outer Space.” Sure it sounds like a story Ed Wood would write, but it is so much more than just a title that is a throwback to “50 Foot Tall Women,” “The Thing that Ate Cleveland” or “Amazon Women from the Moon.”
This comic features the head of Adolph Hitler (in a fishbowl) resurrected on the body a gorilla, with a robot arm and werewolves in Nazi uniforms stepping out of flying saucers and brutally attacking the world.
How could you not love a comic book like that? I mean comic books were made for such bold far out ideas. While it could go down a cheesy road, writer Simon Sanchez tells the story in its gory glory.
Mixed with the art of Dean Juliette, “Nazi Werewolves…” is a winner of a comic. Check it out here.
The Ripperman
Arcana Comics
Joe Martino, Creator & Penciler
Johnny Lowe & Adam O. Pruett, Letterer
Peter Palmiotti, Ian Sokoliwski, Steven Preston, Jim Taylor, Guillermo Gustavo Ucha, Jeff Austin, Dash Martin, Cesar Feliciano, Contributing Artists
$14.95
The Ripperman tells the story of Joseph, a man who appears in and bolt of lightning outside of a Catholic church in Timeless, New York and he can’t remember who he is. He is taken in by Father Jacob and put to work around the church. Soon, Joseph finds out several children are missing in the area and it appears the other priest, Father Manning, is at the center of it.
Upon a confrontation of it, Joseph finds he can create chains, blades and barbed wire from his body and sets to war with not just Manning (a demon in disguise) but all manners of evil.
In this amazing graphic novel by Joseph Martino (see my interview with him here), he proves what a story teller he can be. The Ripperman is a cross between Wolverine and Spawn. Martino explores the highest realms of Heaven and the lowest realms in Hell and introduces the denizens between.
What we find is a complex tale of a man trying to figure his place in the world and he asks the biggest questions, “Why should I care?” and “What’s in it for me?”
Granted the average person will not have to make a deal with an eight-foot tall beast with bat wings that resembles Helen Thomas, but we do ask, “Why should I care about the world around me? Why bother getting involved? Why not pull inside and make life easier for me?” Martino, through Joseph the Ripperman, asks those very questions? His answer is worth the read.
To get your hands on Martino’s graphic novel “The Ripperman” visit here.
Corrupt Theophony #1
A.I.P. Comics
Andy Kirby, Writer
Noel Libunano, Artist
It’s another case of a human warrior bestowed with the powers of Heaven and the Demons of Hell want to do him in. Emmanuel Taylor is a master swordsman and he kills the demon Karantee and steals the Devil Stone. Now, agents of Hell work with the Angel of Death to retrieve it.
Writer Andy Kirby is mostly known for his wonderful podcast “Comic Booked” and now he takes the step into the world of creating comic books. He has proven he has the ability to tell a story. Corrupt Theophony could benefit with a narrative note here and there, but Kirby is an expert story teller and I hope to see more.
In this first issue artist Libunano steals the show. His pencils are a blend of anime and his own unique style, the comic is worth getting just for the art, but Kirby’s story telling will bring you back.
Check out the comic here.
