As the title suggests, MORBID CURIOSITY is a collection of fantasy artist Dubisch’s work from over the past twenty years. Dubisch has created covers for a number of science fiction magazines, as well as for Dark Horse Comics, and role playing games like “Dungeons and Dragons”. He’s also produced some horror comics of his own, and is currently working on an all-ages graphic novel to be published at a later date.

That last bit actually came as quite a shock to me when I read it, because there’s nothing about the material contained within this volume that would ever suggest Dubisch could pull off an all-ages work. The stuff printed in the book is almost uniformly horrific and disturbing; nasty monsters and tentacles beasties litter these pages, occasionally stooping for a moment to add a female demon of some sort to the mix. Dubisch’s work is the stuff that nightmares are made of.

To be fair, there are a couple of pieces within that do pull back away from the straight horror edge and deliver something a bit more palatable, but they are in the definite minority. I know there’s a huge audience out there for the kind of work that Dubisch creates, but I’m honestly not in it. I can respect and acknowledge his talent; he’s very good at what he does, and I understand why he’s been successful at it. The package he’s put together here is also very nice-looking. But ultimately, I can only offer a full recommendation to those who deeply love the twisted stuff; those with more delicate taste will want to avoid.

Marc Mason

The town of Elk’s Ridge, West Virginia was created by a group of Vietnam veterans looking to make a paradise for themselves and their families. The town charter calls for peace, harmony… and protection of the town at any cost. No outsiders are allowed. No police force is necessary. And whatever it takes to keep the town’s secrets goes… including murder. But what the founding fathers and mothers of the town don’t count on is their own children; kids always find a way to bring the outside world into play… and they didn’t sign the town charter and for a life that feels like imprisonment.

ELK’S RUN has been one of the more storied comics of the last few years, but unfortunately not solely because of the quality of the work. The first three issues were originally published by Fialkov’s indy publishing company, but they ran into problems with sales numbers and publicity. However, along came Speakeasy Comics, flashing their publicity machine and taking the book under their wing. The first three issues would be re-packaged as one, and then the final five would see release. Which was perfect… but then Speakeasy collapsed, again leaving ELK’S RUN, one of the most critically acclaimed comics of the mid-2000s without a home. But finally, a happy ending: Villard Books, a division of Random House, has come to the rescue and printed the full graphic novel in a deluxe and attractive package.

What makes the book so gripping is the banal evil at its heart. No one in Elk’s Ridge believes that they’re an evil or bad person at first; they’re solely trying to protect their personal utopia. It’s only when pressed that each character begins to discover who they truly are and what they’re made of. But it’s the struggle of the kids that gives the book its “oomph”; many books and films with teenagers at the core lack depth, because the kids don’t dream about things of importance. Not so with ELK’S RUN, as the kids must take a stand and risk their lives for the chance to lead any sort of life with meaning. This is really a very fine effort, and the book was worth the wait. Congratulations to the creative team for finally seeing their vision completed.

Marc Mason

Alex Cahill has shown himself to be an indy creator to be reckoned with, so I approached POISON THE CURE with more than a bit of intrigue. This was the first project I’d seen from him that he didn’t write, but I was still certain that it would be an interesting and fascinating effort. Little did I know that it would also turn out to be one of the strangest books of 2007 to date.

The book opens on an alien spaceship, one that’s surveying alien planets for signs of telepathic activity. What they find is the planet Earth… completely uninhabited, the population decimated and gone. Using their superior technology, they begin to reconstruct the use of telepathy by an unknown person twenty years prior that may have led to the destruction of Earth’s civilization. That takes us into a book-length flashback where we’re introduced to Miguel and his friends, activists against nuclear waste dumping. However, one night their attempts to sabotage the dumping grounds go horribly awry, and we’re given reason to believe that horrible power may have arisen that will end the world as we know it.

Even as lengthy as that explanation is, it doesn’t quite cover everything that happens here. This is a very complex 108 pages, and it’s only the first part of what will be four. And really, the stunning disconnect between the alien sequences and the earthbound material is hard to get past. But Ziade and Cahill both fully invest themselves in their premise and story, never once winking at the reader, and that pays off. You take the book as seriously as it takes itself.

The very human themes at the heart of the book, combined with a spare script and Cahill’s nicely rendered art, make POISON a success. The one real complaint I have is that the back of the book indicates that part two won’t hit shelves until the calendar reads 2008. That’s awfully risky on the creators’ parts. But I’ll be back for more, regardless.

Marc Mason

This one was a long time in coming. The first installment of FLYTRAP came out about a year and a half ago, and it was easily one of the best minicomics I’ve read in recent memory. Now, her latest novel seemingly completed, Ryan returns to the world of publicist Maddy and the bizarre little circus she’s taken on the task of promoting. And as with the first mini, this is more than worth the wait.

What’s good here? Pretty much everything. The story finds Maddy taking pictures of the motley crew of performers as part of creating a website for the group. But the photo session quickly spirals out of control when the two male performers she’s shooting begin trying to one-up each other in the hopes of impressing and seducing the woman now controlling their fate. Ryan’s script not only allows each performer to strut their stuff, but also to grow as characters through their interactions with one another and Maddy. Plus, is also gives Chan, stepping in for the great Steve Lieber, plenty of room to stretch his legs; there’s a ton of action here, yet it never overwhelms the character moments, and he can pull off both with ease.

My only real complaint is that we only get nine new pages of art and story after all this time. Still, that’s nearly offset by the inclusion of an excerpt from Ryan’s new novel THE RULES FOR HEARTS, the much-anticipated sequel to EMPRESS OF THE WORLD. Do yourself a favor and track down a copy of this terrific mini; heck do yourself two favors and make sure you get both episodes.

Marc Mason

I completely understand what Jason Martin is trying to do here. His terrific indy book, SUPER REAL, is at a point where he needs it to get wider notice in order to solidify it in the marketplace. As someone who’s read the book since he first handed me his PREVIEW SPECIAL two years ago, I’m an early adopter here. But unfortunately, SUPER REAL VS THE COMICS INDUSTRY doesn’t really do the job it really needed to in order for it to be successful.

SUPER REAL itself has a very snarky, satiric bent to it, so the natural progression to poking at other comics isn’t one that’s out of reach. The problem is that Jason turned loose some talents that didn’t do his own work justice. The first story in the book, is drawn by “Boo”, and wow, is it scary… looking. The story telling and panel work is so awful that the story is almost unreadable. Nothing can kill a story quicker than bad art, and considering this stuff leads off the book, it puts the entire comic in a hole right out of the gate.

Martin himself takes on the art chores for story two, and things pick up, and a later bit from the great Jim Mahfood helps immensely. But just when it seems like the book is going to completely recover, the final pages of the comic see the story run aground, and it frustrates. SUPER REAL is a book that is very much worth your time, but ultimately this digression for the series doesn’t pay off.

Marc Mason