Love Letters #8

Insert self-inflated but well meaning waffle here. Comics, believe it or not, still great. Good book make Tom happy, here are multiple good book. 

I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer #1 

Writer: Doug Wagner Artist: Daniel Hilyard 

A new series from the creators of Plastic, Vinyl and Plush is a perfectly reasonable excuse to be very excited for this book, and it stays true to form, hitting the black-humour serial-killer-thriller notes that these guys do so, so well. If you’ve read any of their previous titles, you know what you’re in for here, if not, expect a very bloody, very gory, very tongue in cheek story about the weirdest serial killer you want to know. Although, in spite of the fact that the protagonist is a using the skin of her victims to create clothing for assignments at her prestigious fashion shcool, this feels like the most grounded of story from Wagner and Hilyard yet, if only from this first issue. They’re definitely a well-oiled creative machine at this point, everything is working seamlessly together - their ability to keep stories like this fresh and unique despite the similarities to their past work shouldn’t be understated - but above all else, I appreciate these guys for their ability to constantly make their comics so much fun to read. 

Recommended if you like: Slashers, dark humour and creepy vibes

Tokyo Alien Bros Vol 1 

Story and Art: Keigo Shinzo 

Tokyo Alien Bros is the latest translated manga from the author of Hirayasumi, which I have been keeping up with and absolutely loving. In a lot of ways, this feels like it’s from a completely different writer, the story and tone is just that different, but at it’s core, the humour and heartfelt moments really connected it back to Keigo Shinzo for me. It mixes a sci-fi/alien story with a fish out of water/odd couple turn that really opens itself up to a lot of possibilities, and although it starts a little slow (and a little strange honestly), the story really finds it’s feet and only gets better and better as this first volume goes on, and ends on a great twist that turns the initial conceit of the story on it’s head. The art is fantastic from the start, Shinzo is so good at capturing perfect facial expressions, and gives panels to seemingly mundane moments that others wouldn’t bother to put in their books, but really add a layer of character here. The two main characters and their journey to understand humans by living among them could almost be left without dialogue at all, the characters express more than enough through the visuals alone. 

 Recommended if you like: Quirky manga, odd couple tropes, fish out of water humour

Assorted Crisis Events #2 

Writing: Deniz Camp Artist: Eric Zawadzki Colourist: Jordie Bellaire Letters: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou 

I normally try to stay away from writing about the same series twice, the absolute wealth of awesome comics coming at the moment means I can normally keep my picks here pretty fresh and try to showcase as many new titles as possible. Assorted Crisis Events feels like it’s going to be a book that I want to write about every month, it’s just so outrageously well done. Both the writing and the art continue to be home runs in a series that’s shaping up to be a group of one shots, connected by the fact that they take place on an Earth where time is collapsing and literally anything’s possible. Just like the last issue, everything seems so layered and intricately planned, I was still picking up new tricks on my third read through. This is a brutal, tragic masterclass of storytelling, and even though it’s definitely not for the faint of heart, (brutal means BRUTAL), this is the type of book I would recommend to anyone who wanted to see what comics are capable of. Find a copy of these issues, or wait for the trade, either way you’ll be doing yourself a favour. 

 Recommended if you like: one shot stories, unconventional story structure, comics as art

Exquisite Corpses #1 

Writer: James Tynion IV Art: Michael Walsh Colours: Jordie Bellaire Letters: Becca Carey 

The USA is secretly run by thirteen families from the shadows, every five years they each send an assassin/killer/lunatic (each with their own unique, highly stylised look/style) into a small town to compete in a tournament style deathmatch, the winning family gains full control over the others, and the winning killer gets $100 million and a clean identity. Exquisite Corpses is a cake made from a mountain of tropes, stereotypes and familiar story beats, which could be a damning thing, but it comes out so fully realised and confident that it already feels destined to be far greater than the sum of it’s parts. It’s unfair to say but you’d almost expect it from Tynion and Walsh, they’re both such fantastic storytellers, with some seriously impressive resumes, and you can certainly add this book to those lists. 

Issue one is double sized, but paced in a way that makes it fly by. All those extra pages are put to good use, with a really solid introduction issue that lays out the mythos and ground rules of the world, as well as giving us a massive cast of fleshed out and interesting characters. Between the families, the killers and the inhabitants of the town they’ve taken over for the night to host their brutal games, you’ve got so many points of intrigue and compelling places for this story to go. With how elaborate, yet developed the story appears to be, it feels safe to trust it to hit the mark long term. 

They’ve really got something with this one, and judging by the way Exquisite Corpses is being marketed, you can tell they know it. There’s already a card game in development based around it, but I expect we’ll see a lot more licensed material based around it in the future, it seems tailor made for it. 

Recommended if you like: Slasher thrillers, alternate history/illuminati, video games