By Various — Tomorrow marks the debut of a new publisher on the market...AWA Studios, with AWA standing for artists, writers, and artisans. This publisher is the work of a couple of former Marvel top honchos in Bill Jemas and Axel Alonso, who are serving here as founders and co-chief creative officers. AWA is also armed with a creative guiding council that includes other big names such as  J. Michael Straczynski, Reginald Hudlin, Garth Ennis, Gregg Hurwitz, Margaret Stohl and Frank Cho.

That’s all well and good, but as with any new publisher, the main question here is — are their books any good? That’s what we set out to discover this weekend, reading no fewer than 13 forthcoming comics from AWA. What we found is one breakout title (see Archangel 8!), some promise, and a misfire here or there. All in all, AWA is dropping four new series tomorrow, another in April, and a sixth in May...all with creative pedigrees that will likely warrant a good deal of interest. If you’re curious, you’ll find our brief reviews alone, along with our recommendations for what type of readers should check out which books.

Enjoy!

New comics publisher AWA’s first books

The Break Out Hit

Archangel 8 #1 - #3
Writer: Michael Moreci
Artist: C.P. Smith
Colorist: Snakebite Cortez
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Release Date: March 18, 2020
In a world beyond the sight of mortals, Heaven and Hell wage war for the souls of mankind. Principal among God's legion are seven archangels written about in religious texts for millennia. But there is an eighth archangel, known only from passing allusions in Apocrypha, who operates under a different code. Fighting without God's sanction, he faces the enemy on his own terms, and shows just how bad good can be.

Archangel 8 is not what you'd expect. At least, not what you'd expect based on the promotional copy (above). From that I kind of got the idea of a supernatural, almost dark fantasy type thing. While it's not inaccurate in its description, Archangel 8 is something else entirely.

Michael Moreci, CP Smith, Snakebite Cortez, and Sal Cipriano gives us something more akin to a gritty, brutal crime story here. It's decidedly modern, as our 8th archangel (his name is given, but it's kind of a reveal during the story and I won't spoil it) is tasked by Gabriel to bring down one of his brothers who's gone rogue. It feels more like Garth Ennis' Punisher MAX series, revelling in violence and betrayal, as our protagonist seeks to ally himself with the leader of a criminal organization who's being targeted by his angelic quarry. As such, it's a lot more grounded in its approach, using the supernatural elements more as flavor than a primary driving force. Through faith, Biblical passages, and heavenly creatures complement the cast, there's a focus more on the terrestrial world and its methods.

In the first three issues I've read of this five issue series, Moreci utilizes an almost hard-boiled, grizzled narration as we get inside the thoughts of the 8th archangel as he waxes philosophical on big ideas like free will and determinism which becomes a larger theme as he begins to question his directive from Gabriel. Smith and Cortez set the tone perfectly visually, with many dark, shadowy close-ups and a colour scheme that tends towards darker blue, grey, and earth tones when not in a firefight. There is a lot of action throughout with Smith handling it wonderfully. Cipriano rounds out the team on letters and there's an interesting rounding on the narration boxes. They're different shapes and sizes of kind of amorphous rectangles, giving the 8th archangel's thoughts a different kind of feel.

Overall: I think that Archangel 8 delivers something unique that's not often seen in comics, somewhere between Punisher MAX, No Angel, and Violent Messiahs. Moreci, Smith, Cortez, and Cipriano present a gritty crime story here with some intriguing moral questions and the mystery of why an archangel would go rogue, against a backdrop of divine beings that aren't so heavenly. I'll definitely be buying the rest of the series as it's released. (d. emerson eddy)

The Strong Starts

Old Haunts #1
Writers: Ollie Masters & Rob Williams
Artist: Laurence Campbell
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Release Date: May 6, 2020
Three Made Men, standing at the brink of retirement, find their unbreakable bond put to the ultimate test when they are suddenly assaulted by the ghosts of their past. Confronted by decades of buried secrets - resentments, affairs, doublecrosses, and murders - the three friends have no choice but to unearth the deepest, darkest sin from their past and pray they don't find an empty grave.
What’s This Book About?: As the solicit suggests, this book gives us three mafiosos on the brink of retirement...and it swiftly draws them into a supernatural plot, making perfect use of series artist Laurence Campbell’s ample talents.
What Kind of Readers Should Try This?: Fans of Michael Mann and Hellboy, of Quintin Tarantino and Stephen King, of zombie movies and mob shoot outs. Of all the books in this launch lineup, Old Haunts has one of the cleanest dichotomies.  
Overall: This is a great first issue. It’s spare and efficient, introducing us to our three principles, having them interact in a way that gives each a distinct personality, and then throwing them right into the #*$@. I quite liked how Laurence Campbell’s artwork was entrusted to do so much work for this story, from setting the ominous tone to giving it the gritz-meets-grit feel one so inherently associates with this kind of story. While the ideas of writers Masters and Williams are sure to come into play later, this first issue is all Campbell, which makes it as intriguing and as scary as you’d expect. (Zack Quaintance)

Year Zero #1 - #2
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Ramon Rosanas
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Release Date: April 1, 2020
Ben Percy (Wolverine) and Ramon Rosanas (Star Wars: Age of Resistance) team up to present an epic tale that offers a global look at the Zombie Apocalypse. A Japanese hitman, a Mexican street urchin, an Afghan military aide, a Polar research scientist, a midwestern American survivalist - five survivors of a horrific global epidemic who must draw upon their unique skills and deepest instincts to navigate a world of shambling dead. Year Zero wrestles with the weighty moral and theological questions posed by the pandemic and investigates its cause and possible cure.
What’s This Book About?: This is a pretty easy book to describe — it’s a zombie apocalypse told by following four survivors who are in different parts of the globe: Tokyo, Mexico City, Afghanistan, and Minnesota. 
What Kind of Readers Should Try This?: Fans of zombie fiction, naturally. You know who you are. Also, fans of experiments in comics formalism should find much to enjoy here, paying careful attention to how the first two issues are split between the characters, largely differentiated by colorists Lee Loughridge’s choice of shades.
Overall: Year Zero is going to be really popular among fans of zombie fiction, but it shouldn’t be viewed as only a zombie book. It’s a really interesting storytelling experiment, in which Percy and Rosanas do a great job telling four clear stories (which is an awful lot to juggle). In addition, Percy is one of the most skilled writers in all of American fiction when it comes to incorporating interesting, offbeat, and sometimes just absurd facts into his work, and he’s really done a great job of that here.  (Zack Quaintance)

d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.

Jarred A. Luján makes comics, studies existential philosophy, and listens to hip-hop too loudly. For bad jokes and dog pictures, you can follow him on Twitter.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.

The Gore Fest

Hotell #1 - #3
Writer: John Lees
Artist: Dalibor Talajic
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Release Date: March 18, 2020
You won't find it on any map, but if you happen to be driving down Route 66 late at night and  you're truly desperate for shelter, sanctuary or secrecy, you might see a battered sign on the side of the road: The Pierrot Courts Hotel. - where many check in but few check out.
What’s This Book About?: In brief, this comic is about the world’s single worst hotel.
What Kind of Readers Should Try This?: Reader who like really disturbing, really gruesome horror will absolutely love this series. I’ve read plenty of horror comics in recent years — from existential horror to horror comics that examine the futility of modern living — but this one probably wins the title for the most traditional horrific imagery.
Overall: I continue to be impressed with the way comics creators continue to find new space within the horror genre. This book is as gruesome as it gets, yet interconnected in an interesting way. There are some truly awful men in this book, too, making it almost a case study at times in the awful things men do to women. It’s horror, and as such, this is not a book for the faint. (Zack Quaintance)

The Superhero Universe

The Resistance #1 - #2
Writer: J. Michael Stracynski
Artist: Mike Deodato, Jr.
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Release Date: March 18, 2020
J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5 and writer of beloved runs on The Amazing Spider-Man, Thor, and Superman: Earth One, returns to comics teaming with Mike Deodato Jr., the blockbuster artist of The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Infinity Wars. Together they plant the flag for a new universe of heroes and villains. A global disaster leaves hundreds of millions dead in its wake. Shortly after, a few thousand suddenly manifest superhuman powers. Are they harbingers of more perils to come...or Earth's last hope.
What’s This Book About?: A virus wipes out four hundred million people. Only 5 percent of those who were infected survived...and they developed mysterious ability as a result of it. This is a dark look at the birth of superheroes.
What Kind of Readers Should Try This?: Fans of Garth Ennis and Frank Miller’s approaches to superheroes should find a lot to like here. If you like apocalypse stories, I think there’s a nice blend of that in here as well.  
Overall: The first issue feels like a stumble. This seems like the first twenty minutes of a TV show’s debut episode and less like a #1 comic. There’s no clear-cut main characters or really an indication of where the plot is headed, just a ton of backstory. However, I like the general direction of the book. It’s approach on how these people with powers gained them through the rest of the world’s fear and tragedy is interesting and right up my personal tastes. There’s at least enough here to push us towards a #2. (Jarred A. Luján)

The Ouch! That Stings

Red Border #1 - #2
Writer: Jason Starr
Artist: Will Conrad
Colorist: Ivan Nunes
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
Release Date: March 18, 2020
A young Mexican couple narrowly escapes the Juarez Cartel by fleeing across the border into Texas, only to be run down in the desert by the Cartel's most brutal thugs. Rescued by a mysterious local who takes them to the safety of his family's ranch, the couple soon realize their hosts have more than just skeletons in their closet. Trapped in a house of horrors beyond their wildest imagination, the army of assassins on their trail might be the least of their problems.
What’s This Book About?: It’s about drug cartels and border violence, albeit from what feels like a distant point of view, meaning it doesn’t seem to be especially nuanced or well informed by the reality of the part of the world it portrays...just the ugliest things about it. In the first act alone there are cartel hitmen, tits, and a pretty weak attempt at writing Spanglish that for Spanish only uses the words jefe and cojones. It’s more like somebody made a comic based on headlines they’d read about border violence.
What Kind of Readers Should Try This?: Fans of Don Winslow’s Border Trilogy novels. It’s a pretty straight-forward action thriller where the women are drawn sexy and the action is wild and bloody.
Overall: Well, at one point, a dude literally gets his dick shot off...and then another guy yells, “$*#&, somebody shot his dick off!” In other words, it’s not for me. But if you just read that and said, “heh,” you’ll probably enjoy this. The dicks are a flyin’. (Zack Quaintance)