REVIEW: Vindication #1 is a realistic comic steeped in shades of gray

in

Vindication #1 is out 2/6/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — Mining ideas for comic book stories from current events is nothing new. In fact, I’d wager a guess that a vast majority of creator-owned comics these days (as well as much of the corporate superhero fare) excavate their thematic interests from the news. This is one of the qualities I appreciate most about weekly comics—their production times/release schedules make them the storytelling medium best-suited for processing the real world via narrative. It’s a wonderful thing.

The most common route for comics to go is to take the news and steep it in genre, in horror and fantasy and science fiction. But what if the actual news is sufficiently complex and terrifying? What if an injustice has become so severe, so brutal and hard to accept, that adding vampires or aliens or a realm filled with elves would actually waterdown the impact? This is essentially what Vindication #1 posits through its embrace of total realism. Simply put, everything in this comic feels real, from the world to the plot (culled straight from the headlines) to the understated character moments. And I’m not talking real in the sense of something like The Authority or 100 Bullets or Lazarus, all of which—let’s face it—involve plot conceits that are still incredibly unlikely, even if they’re given grounded, logical treatments.

Vindication reads like a snapshot from the real world. Created by Matt Hawkins (who has made similarly-realistic comics in the past with his series Think Tank) and writer M.D. Marie, this is the first of a four-part series about a police detective who “maneuvers the blurred blue line between racism and due diligence in order to do his job.” Police discrimination against young black men is a major problem in society (and has been for some time), brought to a fever pitch in recent years via the acceleration of video technology, specifically the increased ability of citizens to take/share quick videos with mobile phones. An entrenched and polarized debate has risen around the subject (as it has around so many subjects in America 2019), with part of the country demanding accountability for blatant injustices while others denounce the denunciations, essentially telling activists and protestors to lay off the police.

Perhaps most realistically, there is no clear hero in Vindication. The central character actually appears to be a villain, though the audience doesn’t have all the info it needs yet to make a final judgement. Not quite. This hint of ambiguity makes the story feel realistic, allowing the comic to inhabit a space of cold, logical gray, like a well-made documentary. The lead character is Detective Chip Christopher, who at first blush seems prejudiced and maybe even corrupt. He pushes down a newly-exonerated young black man named Turn in the opening scene, going on to claim he was helping Turn up, which we as an audience know to be a falsehood. The detective is just convinced Turn was guilty. What we don’t know—because the comic shrewdly doesn’t show us—is whether the detective is right. We as readers are given only what the detective himself knows, really, a great choice for the narrative. Things get complicated when one of the jurors who convicted Turn is murdered in an incident that mirrors the crime of which he was originally convicted.

It’s a timely story, and writer M.D. Marie and artists Carlos Miko, Dema Jr., and Thiago Goncalves execute it well. The detailed art mirrors the realistic plotting, and the characters are well-defined yet subtle, with a script that works hard to give even bit players depth. I thought the main character’s new partner, Detective Maggie Cruz, was especially intriguing and strong, the way she approached Detective Christopher collegially but with healthy skepticism. Christopher himself is also given touches perhaps aimed at making him more sympathetic—a partner who was killed, friendly relationships with co-workers of different backgrounds, etc. I’m personally viewing Christopher as a villain at this point, but my sense is that the real threat in this story will end up being human fallibility, which is terrifying when applied to something as complex and consequential as the country’s law enforcement system.   

Overall: A realistic comic that lives in ambiguity and shades of gray, Vindication #1 is a scary look at how individuals influence something as consequential as the justice system. 8.6/10

Vindication #1
Created By: Matt Hawkins / M.D. Marie
Writer: M.D. Marie
Penciler: Carlos Miko
Inker: Dema Jr.
Colorist: Thiago Goncalves
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Publisher: Image Comics/Top Cow
Price: $3.99

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

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

REVIEW: Infinite Dark #1 by Ryan Caddy, Andrea Mutti, K. Michael Russell, & Troy Peteri

in

Infinite Dark #1 is out 10/10.

By Zack Quaintance — Infinite Dark #1 is a space survival story, albeit one that functions differently than most stories that fit that description. Space survivalism often sees a protagonist or group of protagonists fighting desperately to return to Earth (or whatever other habitable planet) as oxygen or power or food depletes. What sets Infinite Dark #1 apart is that there is no return waiting for the humans in this comic. There’s nowhere to go at all.

Ryan Cady and Andrea Mutti’s Infinite Dark is set after the heat death of the universe, on a single space arc that has escaped annihilation. There is no pressing concern to be outrun, with the characters here chased only by the knowledge that the vast majority of life has been snuffed out around them. In this story, it’s survivor’s guilt, nihilism, malaise, bleak routine, and lack of a vibrant future that people must confront. It’s powerful stuff, a complex and nuanced dive into human psychology, one that feels forlorn and relatable in ways most dystopian sci-fi stories don’t.

Andre Mutti’s first page from Infinite Dark #1…space has rarely felt so claustrophobic.

Cady builds Infinite Dark atop painfully universal feelings: these characters are safe, at least in terms of having basic needs met, yet that alone is not enough to make them content. The titular infinite dark comes to serve as an effective metaphor for depression so severe, so palpable as to be almost smothering. The plot grows from an inciting incident that threatens to make life even worse. It’s a compelling murder mystery with a great horror tinge, but mood is really what’s for sale here.

Cady’s narration really bolsters the mood throughout, with a number of excellent lines, including That’s what the Orpheus feels like—humanity’s perfect tomb, outwitting the end of all things, the ultimate habitat...and Mutti’s artwork shines especially well in exterior shots of the ship, making it as small as it must feel to those inside. Space has rarely seemed so claustrophobic. This book also builds toward an intriguing crescendo of rapidfire plot points that culminate in a fantastic cliffhanger (as debut comics must). So yes, while it certainly looks like no fun to be aboard the Orpheus, as a reader I’m signing up for the long haul.

Infinite Dark #1 is also an interesting companion to another major creator-owned book launched this week, Daniel Warren Johnson’s Murder Falcon. At their cores, both books are about unthinkable loss. Whereas Murder Falcon takes a fantastical approach to grieving, Infinite Dark’s perspective is rooted in reality, which is a credit to how real the characters are, given Murder Falcon is set in our world and this one takes place in limitless space.

Overall: Infinite Dark tells an intriguing story steeped in depression with a deep and nuanced understanding of human psychology, plus forlorn visuals to match. This complex comic makes readers feel as if they too have boarded a space arc following the heat death of the universe. A must-read for fans of meaningful science-fiction, with extra points for so adeptly incorporating horror and mystery tinges. 9.0/10

Read our recent interview with Infinite Dark writer Ryan Cady.

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

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

Five Questions With Creators: Stephanie Phillips

in

The final order cutoff date for Devil Within is Sept. 10.

By Zack Quaintance — Stephanie Phillips new book Devil Within (out Oct. 3 from Black Mask Studios) caught my attention after I hear her discussing it on a panel at San Diego Comic Con. It’s no stretch to say that 2018 has been a banner year for horror comics, and Devil Within seems to fit squarely into that, while also staying ground in something most readers will surely relate to — a shared romantic relationship.

We recently caught up with Stephanie to ask her about her new book Devil Within. Stephanie is also involved with a pretty diverse set of pursuits outside of comics, ranging from academia to Muay Thai and hockey. We also used this as an opportunity to talk to her about all of that, and how (if it all) it connects with her writing.

Without further adieu, here is this week’s edition of Five Questions with Creators!

1. Okay, so first things first…can I start by asking about your background as a writer? Just from taking a quick look at your website, it seems super interesting and also intellectually diverse…

I have an MA in English and I am a PhD candidate in Rhetoric and Writing (currently dissertating). I also teach technical communication in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University at Buffalo. I have worked as a technical writer, an editor, a journalist, and a writing teacher. Besides my brief stint making sandwiches at a Firehouse Subs in Florida, most of my jobs have centered on writing.   

2. I heard you describe your forthcoming book from Black Mask, Devil Within, at SDCC…and it sounds terrifying. What kind of experience should readers expect when we pick up this comic?

The main focus of the story is actually trust and relationships. I think back to old slasher movies where a couple is in peril and one person has to watch their lover get slaughtered in some horrific manner. Loss of love is terrifying, but I want to explore what it means to lose love while also being terrified of the person you love. What if the monster is sharing a bed with you?

Reveals and jump scares don’t work in comics the same way they might in a movie, so we are definitely going for a more psychologically stimulating scare that calls into question who we trust and let into our lives, while also showing off some creepy creatures. Maan’s storytelling and monsters should definitely make your skin crawl.

Rising comic writer Stephanie Phillips. 

3. The book is also set in the Philippines…what role does Filipino mythology play in the book?

I don’t want to give too much away, but a lot of our creatures are based in Filipino mythology, if not directly taken from mythology. The story also focuses on Filipino cultural practices surrounding possession. As I have said before, DEVIL WITHIN is based on a true story. Using the actual events as a jumping off point, I tried to stay authentic to the experiences of the people who witnessed what they believe was a demonic possession. One interesting thing I learned about Cebu is that a friend of mine who lived in the Philippines actually had a school day canceled on account of possessions. Snow days, hurricane days, possession days… makes sense.

4. So, compared to the academic writing, personal essays, and journalism you’ve done…how is writing comics different and do you have to drastically alter your approach?

This is actually a really tough question. There is absolutely crossover with everything I write, and I would like to think that my degrees, at the very least, qualify me to write a grammatically sound sentence. Pinpointing what bleeds into my comic writing from my time as an academic writer is a bit tough, but I think the biggest takeaway from working in technical communication is how best to work with my teams. Comics are extremely collaborative, and that means communication is essential. When I explain to Maan what I envision for a page, I need to be able to write in a way that allows Maan to clearly interpret all the things happening in my brain without taking away his creative license, but still providing enough detail to where he isn’t left in the dark. It’s actually a super interesting process and I could write an entire dissertation on it… oh wait, I am!

Kicking Ice from Stephanie Phillips and Jamie Jones is coming soon.

5. Aside from Devil Within, what other upcoming comics projects are you currently at work on? 

So much! KICKING ICE, drawn by Jamie Jones, is at the printer and will be out in the wild very soon. I am also working on a short story with Top Cow set in the Postal universe, and three secret projects that I can’t talk much about yet, but I promise they are big and I am really, really excited about them.

+1. So, you’re an accomplished beer league hockey player, and some of the proceeds from your all-ages graphic novel Kicking Ice went to help the National Women’s Hockey League grow women’s hockey…if you weren’t writing, what are the odds you’d be spending even more time on the ice?

Actually, if I wasn’t writing and teaching, I think I would be spending more of my time in a boxing ring than an ice rink! I absolutely love to play hockey, but I was never good enough to reach the level needed to play professionally. As a Muay Thai fighter, however, I had a number of bouts and worked as a trainer at a local gym in Florida. The more writing projects I took on, the less time I could spend training and fighting. I still train for fun once in a while, but I don’t think I will be stepping back in the ring for the time being (my mom is thrilled about this). 

Check out our other Five Questions with Creators pieces and other Comics Lists here!

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at@zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

Five Questions With Creators: Ryan Cady

in

Infinite Dark is slated for release Oct. 10.

By Zack Quaintance — Ryan Cady will make his Marvel debut this coming Wednesday, writing a backup story drawn by Hayden Sherman for the Old Man Logan Annual. The month after that, he’s launching one of the darker creator-owned books to be solicited all year. How dark? Infinitely so (the book’s title is Infinite Dark).

I could continue prattling about his credentials and how he’s basically the definition of an exciting creator to watch, but instead I’ll step aside now as Ryan answers our latest set of five questions with creators (plus one extra one about fast food)...

1. So, I had a chance to read the preview of Infinite Dark from SDCC. Really great stuff! Where did the idea for this story come from and what was your process like for taking it from idea to a fully-realized comic?

Thanks man! I’ve had the idea for quite awhile. It came out of some pretty rough, bleak times in my life, and I sort of hung onto this idea of “survival as a virtue.” Wanting to explore that, I turned toward this mishmash of horror ideas I’d had about the Heath Death of the Universe, listened to some really appropriate dark/emo music, and synthesized it all into a plot. It was just about bringing all those disparate kernels together under that theme, and getting it to be something Andrea wanted to create together.

2. The concept of the book and the preview left me feeling lonely and almost outside of myself…what sort of headspace did you have to get in while writing this story and developing these characters?

Like I said before, I was in a hard place. 2017 was the worst year of my life, personal-life wise. I moved across the country for a relationship that started crumbling, I lost of lot of support structures, some friendships collapsed, money was tight – I felt kind of lost out there. But coming out of that – surviving at any cost and finding a home even if it’s not who you were before…that’s sort of where I was when it finally became time to script. And even if the story starts off as bleak as can be, in pure empty oblivion, I promise there is hope for these characters. Even if they don’t have much yet, themselves.

3. Andrea Mutti’s art is so good, such an interesting hard sci-fi aesthetic. What is the collaboration process between the two of you like?

Andrea Mutti is one of the most enthusiastic people in comics. He’s always cheery, always excited, always pushing me. I have a lot of close character thoughts, but he’s always so good about making sure I remember the dynamism of comics, the big images and dramatic action that can precede or even help further convey those moments. Plus, he uses a lot of friendly emojis in his emails that just always make my day.

Hayden Sherman's art (via Twitter) for Cady's story in Old Man Logan Annual, out Sept. 5.

4. What can you tell us about the story you’re writing for next month’s Old Man Logan Annual, from what I understand it’s an excerpt from Frank Castle’s War Journal…

Oh man, I could not be more ecstatic about my Marvel debut, man. This story is…Well, it’s an examination of Frank Castle – one of the most nihilistic dudes in the Marvel Universe – traversing the Wastelands of the Old Man Logan timeline – easily the most nihilistic time period of the Marvel Universe. And while that sounds bleak and brutal and awful (and the story is, at times), where we’re taking Frank still gives him a leg to stand on. A crusade. He’s going to encounter some people who want to recreate the mistakes of the past, and he’s having none of it.

5. So, when you haven’t been mentally inhabiting post-heat death survivalist scenarios or alternate future stories about whatever-it-takes vigilantism…what comics, books, TV, movies, music, etc. have you been consuming lately?

Ha! Well, I’m a huge D&D fan, so I play in a couple campaigns and I’m a huge fan of the Adventure Zone podcast. I like podcasts and audiobooks cause I drive a lot and listen to ‘em when I do chores, etc. So I’m big on TAZ and the Magnus Archives, and I’m doing my best to work through a lot of the “Top Horror Novels of All Time,” and try to get back to my roots, as it were. Comics-wise, I’ve actually been trying to go back and read more formative, classic stuff – I just finished Transmetropolitan, some old X-Men runs, a few Ennis stories…Like I said, trying to shore up my roots.

The Beefy Crunch Burrito in all its...glory?

+1. As a noted fast food connoisseur, what if any fast food products are most likely to survive the heat death of the universe and why?

Taco Bell re-releases the Beefy Crunch Burrito once every couple years, and everyone loves it, but they never keep it around for long, even though demand is crazy high and it’s easy to make with ingredients they mostly keep on hand anyway. I imagine that somewhere on board the Orpheus there’s some kind of future Taco Bell, and even though all food is available with matter processors, even though there’s no actual time or seasons or anything, they STILL only release the fucking thing once a year, just to torture these poor people.

Check out our other Five Questions with Creators pieces and other Comics Lists here!

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

Five Questions with Creators: Zack Kaplan

in

Zack Kaplan

By Zack Quaintance —  Writer Zack Kaplan is on the rise in comics. He’s currently writing three new and exciting series: Eclipse and Port of Earth for Image’s Top Cow imprint, and Lost City Explorers for AfterShock Comics. Both Eclipse and Lost City Explorers have also been optioned for TV, with the latter getting the call pretty quick after its first issue. It’s impressive stuff, and as fans of his work, we wouldn’t be surprised to see more success coming Kaplan’s way soon.

With that in mind, we recently talked to Kaplan for a new feature we’re launching on the site: Five Questions with Creators. It’s exactly what it sounds like. No more explaining needed...so, let’s get right to it!

1. I’ve seen in other interviews and your own notes with Eclipse that you’ve had some pretty interesting jobs...so, what are the most interesting jobs you’ve had (aside from creating comics)?

I mean, people may know I was a poker dealer and a SAT tutor, but I’ll tell you, one of the most interesting jobs I had was a movie trailer surveyor. I did temp work for a data entry company and they would input surveys measuring audience reaction to movie trailers. I punched in thousands of these surveys, and then I asked, hey, who does this? Someone goes to movie theaters and watches how the audience reacts to each trailer and gives it an “Okay” or “Good” or “Great”, and sure enough, there were a ton of people doing this around the country and sending in their data. So I said, “Can I do that?” and they said sure. For about two months, I went and watched movies and before the movie started, I would go to the different theaters and showtimes and gauge audience reaction, which was a completely subjective and random measurement. My own personal evaluation of whether people thought that Mission Impossible movie trailer looked good or great. It was a very random guess, but they reported this data to the studios, and they probably made pivotal decisions based on my keen insights. And I got to tell people I get paid to go watch movies. That was pretty interesting!

2. How do things like having been a poker dealer on the graveyard shirt or having taught screenwriting in the Philippines inform your stories?

I’m a big people watcher. I’ve always enjoyed jobs that allow me to watch and interact with people. Characters in stories are three dimensions, but people are like eight dimensions, and I’ve always found that fascinating. Being a poker dealer, I got to see a lot of interesting people and how they handle the challenges of an involved game like poker, but that was mostly people-watching. Teaching writing is a far more interactive practice, where you have to not just communicate the principles of the craft, but in a workshop setting, identify each student’s needs and address them in a way that helps that student improve. At the end of the day, I think all those experiences help me better understand that people are complex, and I try to capture those complexities and nuances in my writing.

Port of Earth #8 came out this Wednesday.

3. When and how did you first become interested in writing comics?

It began in 2002 when I came back to comics. I had read superheroes growing up, but when I discovered Brian K Vaughn’s Y THE LAST MAN or Greg Rucka’s QUEEN AND COUNTRY or everything Warren Ellis, I realized how diverse and multi-faceted the medium was. I got to see it through adult eyes and gained a whole new appreciation for it. I began reading and collecting a lot of creator-owned comics. I was already pursuing writing in film and TV, but I think that was when the seed was planted: cool writers write cool and original stories in comics. From then, whenever I thought of a story idea, and wondered if it would make a good movie or TV show, I started to wonder about comics. And finally, I took the plunge and decided I wanted to write a comic series too. I spent years trying to land a pitch. When I finally landed ECLIPSE, I still thought I was writing a comic, and it wasn’t until it came out that I realized I was becoming a comic book creator.

4. Your career trajectory has been really cool to watch...what’s the most important piece of advice you’d give to someone who is where you were years ago and would love to eventually be where you are now?

When I finally landed ECLIPSE, I was very nervous. I’m a perfectionist and I wanted it to be great. And that’s simply too much pressure. So, I had to tell myself, Zack, this is not the one. This series, it can be good, you can do your best, but in your life, this one isn’t the one. This is the one that leads to the one. And that allowed me to do two things. Write without such pressure. And realize another important lesson. If I’m just writing good stuff until I get to the one, and none of these are the one, then I’m the one. I’m the product. And as a writer, or an artist, or any creative, I think if you realize that you are building a career of many projects and stories, and some will be good, and some will not, but overall, you are building a long career of creating, that thinking helps. It helps new creators to think small and create a lot of short content to get their names out, it helps inspire creators to work on lots of projects, because you never know which one will be the one. Who knows, maybe ECLIPSE will actually be the one, after all. Maybe not. I’m just busy writing lots of stories now, I can’t think about which one is the one.

5. Lost City Explorers seems to me like a classic teen adventure story for 2018...what are some of your favorite classic teen adventure movies?

Oh, where to begin! GOONIES! INDIANA JONES! Is ET an adventure movie? I think so! How about NEVER ENDING STORY or EXPLORERS? LABYRINTH or BACK TO THE FUTURE? I loved all of that fun, maybe campy stuff from the ‘80s. But I think what inspired THE LOST CITY EXPLORERS was wanting to have my version of those stories but without the 1980s nostalgia. It seemed like whenever people made those stories, they always had a nostalgia to them. I wondered what would a teen adventure look like in modern times. I’ve seen teen dramas. I’ve seen big world teen stories like HARRY POTTER or HUNGER GAMES, but those aren’t our world. So yes, THE LOST CITY EXPLORERS is my teen adventure but in our very own modern times!

+1. Do you remember the worst sunburn you’ve ever had...and do you ever think about it while you’re writing Eclipse?

When I was growing up, I went on a ski trip and got my face so burned, the skin was peeling off. My nose was a mess, and, of course, I came back to high school and they were taking the class pictures. Ugh! But this was years and years ago. The crazy thing is nowadays, it’s not even enough to put on sunscreen once for a day at the beach or a day outside. You have to reapply. The sun is becoming more and more deadly to us. This is happening, and 50 years from now, who knows how bad it will be. That’s what I love about the concept behind ECLIPSE. The sun is supposed to be this positive, happy, plant-growing force in our lives, but everyone secretly harbors a hatred to the sun and the one time it totally burned them. Screw you sun, we never forget!

Click here for a review of Eclipse #9 and here for a review of Lost City Explorers #1.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

July 2018 New Comic Discoveries: So Much Horror

in

By Zack Quaintance — Ice cream men, sunlight, sweethearts...there’s not usually anything scary about all of that innocuous and gleaming wholesomeness, but comics is comics, a skunkworks for ideas, and as such an enterprising group of creators has, indeed, made ice cream men, sunlight, and sweethearts scary. This is the central throughline of our three picks for July 2018 New Discoveries (the feature in which we finally catch up with comics we've been meaning to read). All of these stories take the precious, the quaint, the everyday pleasantness of being—and viciously mine them for hidden terrors, which, let's face it, seems appropriate for our recent times.

This is, after all, the odd and acrimonious year of 2018, wherein the news is a horror show and any attempt to understand the direction of the country by engaging with your neighbors is liable to end in a berserker bout of verbal combat. Maybe that’s why I found these three books so engaging...they contained ideas that seemed innocent, but, upon closer examination, were rife with seething dysfunction. If these comics are any indication, such explorations can yield fantastic stories (see also David Lynch, specifically Twin Peaks).

With all that in mind, let’s look now at our July 2018 New Comic Discoveries!

July 2018 New Comic Discoveries

Eclipse Vols. 1 & 2 by Zack Kaplan and Giovanni Timpano

In Eclipse, the sun has become an indiscriminate killer. A mysterious solar incident has occurred, turning sunlight lethal and forcing humans to spend the daytime underground. Old power structures have crumbled; new ones have risen in place. A mysterious group of albinos—immune to the light—have now appeared. They are murderous, engineered by corrupt societal leaders who are now targets of their revenge. Those are the high-minded things I like about the book. On a base this is really freaking cool level, I also dig the creative ways bad guys weaponize the sun, like using mirrors, poking holes in walls, etc. It’s scary and exciting stuff.

This book had been on my radar for some time, especially after writer Zack Kaplan’s other comics—Port of Earth and Lost City Explorers—were met with such enthusiastic reviews by many writers I admire and respect. This book’s concept essentially succeeds by turning the nurturing presence of sunlight into a lethal menace that exacerbates societal ills, ills that were easily ignored during less trying times, ills such as power disparities, corruption, and sacrificing the lives of those deemed inconsequential in service of the higher classes. This concept, of course, needs a grounded character-driven story, too, and Kaplan and artist Giovanni Timpano have definitely crafted one, one that is improving as their run continues. If only there were a fitting adjective to describe the exciting outlook for this book, to say the future of this story is...something. Oh well.

Check out our review of Eclipse #9!

Ice Cream Man Vol. 1 by W. Maxwell Prince & Martin Morazzo

There are so many good horror comics coming out right now (have you all read Gideon Falls? so good!), but, even amid the onslaught, Ice Cream Man by W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo stands out as exceedingly sinister, like if Alfred Hitchcock, Rod Serling, Stephen King and sometimes also David Cronenburg had a kid who grew up resenting the dysfunction of the suburbs and was now letting the pent-up angsty darkness flow. This is an anthology (I wish there were more of those...especially on TV, but I digress…), unified by the titular Ice Cream Man, who is, of course, always way way worse than he first seems.

Ice Cream Man Vol. 1 is excellent, and it’s a credit to this comic that through four issues nothing here becomes predictable. Not its structure, its characters, its themes. It’s sort of like The Twilight Zone in that all you know at the start of each installment is things fall apart. This, I think, speaks to our throughline of looking closer for dysfunction in 2018. I hadn’t realized this before, but the Twilight Zone was created after decades of American’s questioning each other, looking for commies or fascists or Soviet spies, etc. With a similar climate now, stories where horror lurks beneath a shining veneer are poignant as ever. Whether Ice Cream Man was conceived with this in mind isn’t relevant—the fear of what's being hidden is both real and compelling.

Sweet Heart #1 by Dillon Gilberton, Francesco Iaquinta, Maco Pagnotta & Saida Temofonte

For the third choice of our New Discoveries list each month, we spotlight a less-known book or a Kickstarter project, and this month it just so happens to be Sweet Heart by writer Dillon Gilbertson, artist Francesco Iaquina, colorist Maco Pagnotta, and letterer Saida Temofonte (the Kickstarter for Sweet Heart #2 runs through Aug. 10, btw). Gilbertson shared the first issue with us, and, man, is it a great fit for this list, turning childhood—and the traumas that occur—into a horror story with a fantastic mystery at its center. Simply put, Sweet Heart is a great comic that deserves to scare and disquiet a larger audience.

Gilbertson’s use of an omniscient narrator is understated when it needs to be and creepy as all get out when a more threatening tone is appropriate. Iaquina’s art is a great fit too, with his monster designs standing out as especially impressive, and Pagnotta’s colors add quite a bit. There’s also an impressive confidence in this book that isn't always present in crowd-funded comic efforts, a sense that the team has an urgent story to tell. The book’s greatest strength, however, is its poignant central metaphor, which I suspect is about childhood illness (or maybe hereditary addiction?) but, really, has a universality to it. Basically, whatever dysfunction was in your house (we all had some), I’m guessing you’ll see it play out here. I recommend supporting this one, for sure.

See all our past months of new discoveries here. And check back to the site next week for our Best Debut Comics of July 2018 as well as our Top Comics of July 2018, too.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.