Heading into the summer, Vault Comics is getting ready for a new Mindset this month with Vault’s psychedelic sci-fi thriller debuting on June 29th. Creators Zack Caplan and John J. Pearson chatted with The Beat about what readers can expect from this new series.
Did you catch the Heathen blog tour? Celebrating The Complete Series Omnibus Edition of Natasha Alterici and Ashley A. Woods’ feminist lesbian Viking masterpiece, the tour is making its way through various book blogs with reviews and giveaways throughout the month of May.
And look out for These Savage Shores, making to number 5 on CBR’s best horror comics list.
Coming Soon
This August will see the launch of Revealer from Michael Moreci, Tim Seeley, and Luke Boyce. This is a one-shot tie-in to the “the apocalyptic, neon-soaked horror movie” of the same name, premiering on Shudder on June 23. All proceeds from Revealer #1 will be donated to Brave Space Alliance, the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ+ Center in South Side Chicago.
“Revealer is set during the height of Satanic Panic in 1980s Chicago. Angie Pitarelli just wants to make some extra cash dancing in her peep show booth at the Revealers Adult Bookstore. Sally Mewbourne wants to save Angie’s soul by leading a protest outside her workplace. When the sky turns red and terror starts to consume the streets, Angie and Sally end up trapped in Angie’s booth—and, together, have to find a way to survive an apocalypse of biblical, and demonic, proportions.”
Robert Wilson IV (Heartthrob, Knuckleheads, Like a Virus) joins the Barbaric team for the June 29th release of Barbaric: The Harvest Blades. Vault promises that this will be the first of many one shots for Barbaric, with the series itself returning in July.
Cover Gallery
Gorgeous covers to gaze upon from recent releases:
Bonus: This is how you do a series cover gallery!
It’s so beautiful all hung up together! Thanks to @yoshisquared for creating these covers for Witchblood by @MatthewErman @lisa_sterle @GabContrerasR @andworlddesign from @thevaultcomics ! An absolutely awesome series that just had its trade paperback release. Go check it out! pic.twitter.com/FXCnNYNlnG
— Sparks Comics (@Sparks_Comics) May 22, 2022
What would comic covers be without excellent cover designs? Here’s Tim Daniel showing off some of his latest.
Vault title logos for the hits of today and all of the legendary icons of tomorrow! POW! pic.twitter.com/4aOP6UtzP8
— Tim Daniel (@TimDanielComics) May 18, 2022
Firsts and Faves
In just a few quiet pages, Fox and Hare #1 lays down the foundations for a pair of protagonists deeply bound together by pain and loss after being left behind by their parents for some unknown reason. It’s no surprise then to see that, several years later, their heroic purpose is focused on saving other orphans from similar — or worse — fates. Their opening caper, stylized in cyberpunk aesthetics, moves quickly through the pages from there on out, zipping through the streets on neon lines of light, slicing through killer robots. The book’s aim is to reclaim the Asian aesthetics of cyberpunk through Asian creativity, and so far, the imagery manages to do so successfully. As for the story, this first issue has set out the pieces of the ills that plague Mazu Bay and the villain that Kita and Keza must protect its people from. A villain that, of course, doesn’t see himself as such…
Here we learn the secret of Constance Der Bend’s birth and why the soil she must return to is so sacred to her. But she and her faithful servant, Dooley, are still miles from reaching it and her strength wains while her hunger grows. As I mentioned with the first issue, it’s the relationship between the two that intrigues me, and West of Sundown #2 doesn’t let me down here. It also ups the stakes. Previously, we met the Frankensteinienly monstrous monster hunter who is on Constance’s trail. Now add a cult and some nasty creatures and it seems Constance and Dooley have a lot more than sacred soil to worry about…
As is to be expected with fantasy series, there is a lot of exposition going on in Quests Aside #1 as well as a lot of characters introduced in this one issue.Thankfully, that is interjected with sharp scene cuts and lots of humour that’s equal parts cheesy and snarky, with site gags and even a really bad stand up comedian and a vibrantly dynamic bard battle that soundly sets up this world as one worth visiting. That is, as long as you’re up for its challenges and mind the giant. But aside from quests, it seems that, Barrow, former adventurer and the owner of the Quests Aside has trouble on his hands with people wanting to take the pub and his found family from him. And that includes the king himself.
