A comiXologist Recommends:
Leah Wishnia recommends Harold
In a time in which many comics seem to strive for a slick and colorful exterior, each page densely packed with calculated, witty one-liners, and every shade of the color-wheel represented in all its Photoshopped glory, a quieter, more nuanced work like “Harold” comes along and reminds us that comics, the wonderfully malleable medium that they are, can still be brilliant and attention-grabbing without all the excess.
“Harold,” Antoine Cossé’s fourth or fifth long-form comic published in the last year, starts off with several full-panel pages of silent observation. We see the silhouette of a dog running in the distance, contrasted against an array of vast mountainous landscapes, black on white, white on black, and so on. As the comic panels progress and multiply, the single silhouette of the dog turns into a herd of silhouettes, running onwards through each frame of Cossé’s continued world of silence. It’s a quiet that further tunes us into the subtle, unspoken visual elements of each page. As trees sway in the wind behind the running herd, one can almost hear their leaves rustling along with the patter of each dog’s footstep. As the herd moves on past our field of vision, the frame slowly zooms in on a dominant structure in the distance, eventually focusing in on the narrative’s main characters standing within it, famous movie star J.1137, and his mysterious, all-knowing bodyguard, Harold. And with that, the story unfolds.
Like Antoine Cossé’s other recent comic works, “Harold” is poetically enigmatic and surreal in its tone and general approach; one must read between the panels in order to fully realize the true meaning behind the narrative. With delicate and deliberately inked forms, brush strokes, and light washes, Cossé’s line work is a visual treat, likewise serving as an aid to help digest and interpret some of the social commentary that has been quietly inserted into the overarching, pseudo-futuristic, semi-dystopian, and occasionally psychotropic narrative that Cossé has created. Fans of comic works such as The Backwards Folding Mirror by Jesse Moynihan (Alternative Comics), Luv Sucker by Charles Forsman (Oily Comics) or MA by Matt Huynh (self-published, via submit) could easily fall in love with “Harold” and Cossé’s multitude of other small-press titles, as could a reader less familiar with the comics form, even those of a more abstract and poetic nature such as Cossé’s.
I’ve been keeping an eye on Antoine Cossé’s progress as an artist and cartoonist for a few years, having seen his work go from relative obscurity to greater demand and recognition in the alternative comics community. With that, I am personally elated to see his work finally available on ComiXology’s digital platform, for it means a much wider audience will be able to enjoy his enthralling visual narratives as he continues to flourish. Take the leap and try Harold!
Leah Wishnia is a digital assets specialist at ComiXology, and a working artist and cartoonist based in NYC.
A comiXologist Recommends:
Leah Wishnia recommends Tyranny of the Muse #2
Imagine a world in which creative inspiration can literally be inserted directly into one’s brain; a seed that has the potential to grow and flourish in the mind. It’s the drug of choice for some artists struggling to find their muse, a kind of salvation for the easily dispirited and tired. But as with any other drug, with every high, there’s a much deeper low, as aspiring screenplay writer Frank Fisher has learned.
In the first installment of “Tyranny of the Muse”, written by Eddie Wright and illustrated by Jesse Balmer, we were left off with a hopelessly depressed and desperate vision of Frank, pleading for a “new seed” or injection from his dealer friend Bonnie, a seductive and mysterious woman prone to sarcasm with a smirk. Hesitant at first, she eventually complies with his request, and even injects the new seed for him, thrusting the syringe of liquid into a clearly infected abscess on Frank’s forehead. In this moment, the scene goes dark and so begins issue #2 in which we awaken to find Frank speeding down the road with Bonnie in a state of drug-induced elation.
The tone has changed, visibly. The thick black brush strokes and detailed cross-hatching in Jesse Balmer’s inking that evoked a dark, and chaotically tense environment for the first issue have evolved into organically-formed, fluid, and free movements for the second. “This is the one!” he exclaims, a hallucinatory energy radiating from his body and mind as Bonnie looks on with a weary eye. It’s the seed he has “been waiting for,” the one that will finally inspire the production of his great American screenplay — not like all those other seeds, he exclaims. But will it? Or will this seed, like the ones before it, wear off too quick, bringing Frank back down to a state of despair and frustration? Time will tell, as this ongoing series has only begun to unravel the mysteries it holds.
In short, Eddie Wright’s futuristic take on a very prevalent, modern-day affliction is ambitious and promising, with Balmer’s intricate and striking brushwork heightening every emotion, thought, and action in their alternating states of psychedelic ecstasy and despair. Together they create a twisted, futuristic narrative that blurs the lines between real and surreal, a journey for which each upcoming installment should be an exciting one.
[Read Tyranny of the Muse #2 on comiXology]
Leah Wishnia is a digital assets specialist and production assistant at ComiXology, as well as a working artist who hopes that they never have to inject any “seed” into their mind to inspire creativity.
A comiXologist Recommends:
Leah Wishnia recommends The Package (thepackageogn)
The Package, written by elliotblake with art by Alexis Ziritt (aziritt) is a dark and gripping novel of revenge and retribution that will keep you holding your breath till the last gasp.
The first scene takes place in the desert of Mexico, at a hideaway resort called “Vista Del Sol.” We are introduced to two foul-mouthed, violent, and misogynist gang members who are given a mission to pick up a mysterious package. At this point I wonder if we’ll have to spend the whole narrative following these two bums around, enduring their sexist remarks and over-the-top Machismo-driven egos. I am then delighted to find that a twist in events reveals that Paz, a beautiful and cunning young Mexican woman with an unassuming role as a cook at the resort is the true protagonist of this story. WIth a dark past and a specific vision for the future, she reveals herself as a modern-day Bonnie with a mission to avenge her father’s death and the loss of her own childhood and innocence. She picks out her Clyde, the sole-surviving man of a shoot-out, and together they prepare to seek out the one who wreaked havoc on their lives.
Further heightening the hard-boiled yet striking nature of the story is Ziritt’s black and white brushwork, which evokes raw emotion, passion, and energy, never missing its mark. Fans of the Hernandez brothers’ Love and Rockets may find resonance with the work as well as any readers of more gritty crime novels and comics, such as Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight or From Hell. I must issue a warning, however, that there are scenes of sexual abuse and violence that may not sit well with all, and reader discretion is advised. Otherwise, I highly recommend checking out the fresh and bold take on contemporary crime in The Package, and get your heart rate thumping with it.
For fans of: crime, gangster, action, drama
Leah Wishnia is an independent cartoonist and publisher who holds the position of Digital Assets Lead at ComiXology.
A comiXologist Recommends:
Leah Wishnia recommends The Walking Dead #126
Part twelve of the All out War story arc, the finish line after a series of war games filled with surprising strategies, deceitful trickery, and of course, death, asks us to do something seemingly more difficult than taking down an army of grenade-bearing men or escape from a herd of the undead…. it asks us to trust. To trust in Rick, to trust in the remaining Saviors, even those who could do great harm, and to trust in humankind and its potential to rebuild itself from the ground up. Could we, the human race, conquer our greed, our hate, our fear, if we were given a clean slate? Or is self-destruction our only fate?
It’s probing questions like these that elevate The Walking Dead from being a simple genre-comic about zombies to a philosophical exploration of What Could Be and If So, Could You?
We don’t know how the future will pan out for Rick and his crew, but after ten years of following their various journeys, some futile, some less so, we can’t help but eagerly continue down the road with them, and see where the next ten years will take us all.
The Walking Dead #126, which comes out today, is a rewarding journey for veteran and new fans alike.
[Read The Walking Dead #126 on comiXology]
For fans of: post-apocalyptic, zombies
Leah Wishnia is an artist and cartoonist who acts as a micro-press publisher when not fulfilling her roll as Digital Assets Lead at ComiXology.