On the Cover: Riley Rossmo

Canadian artist Riley Rossmo is best known for his interior work on Proof, Cowboy Ninja Viking and Green Wake. A graduate of the Alberta College of Art and Design, Rossmo's style is striking and unique. His work is well suited to comic book covers, as he uses layered textures and unusual lines to create powerful design. check out a showcase of his work after the jump!

Review: Valen the Outcast #4

Every week I review Valen the Outcast, and every week I say It's awesome fantasy comics. This issue is no different. Full of great action, as always. Full of bad-ass character moments, as always. Great art, as always. I'm kind of running out of things to say. One thing I love about this comic is how each issue is kind of a story in it's own right, but there is an over arcing story that guides the action. It's a lot like a television series. Normally I would say that's a bad thing - TV is TV, comics are comics, let the other alone. In this case, however, it really works.

Review: Fatale #3

Bottom line first: buy this comic. Seriously, if you're reading this and haven't read Fatale yet, drop what you're doing, jump on Comixology and download it. Any one who has any interest in pulp or lovecraft or crime noir or just a good, sold story should check it out. Brubaker and Phillips nail it once again with this issue. The characters are the main focus here, and the world Brubaker and Phillips has made for them is unusual in a way that I can't quit put my finger on - just how I like it.

Review: The Goon #38

Eric Powell's The Goon is essentially a comedy. Pretty much every issue has me in stiches. Every know and then though, Powell can hit some really emotional beats. Chinatown, for example, widely considered Powell's best work. The Goon #38 is one such story. Powell dedicates the issue to Betty Jean Wheeler, "the best Grandma anyone could ask for". From this opening dedication to the tear-jerker of a final page This little story tugs the heartstrings and proves to the world that Powell has not only matured as an artist, but as a powerful and moving storyteller as well.

Review: Superbia #1

Boom! Really cranks out a brilliant, emotionally-wrangling book that unravels as simply…WHAT IF DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES WERE SUPERHEROES? The entire cast…not just the women. Despite a bland ending (not too drab but one I saw coming a million miles away), Grace Randolph scripts a tale chock-full of webs of deceit with capes on top capes…behind sometimes…literally. It’s a smorgasbord of drama. You feel tension creeping off every page as Dauterman’s art is kooky and quirky enough to translate this issue as the funny calm before the impending storm.

Review: Hell Yeah #1

Last of the Greats meets Luthor Strode meets Kick-Ass. That’s what I thought this book was. It kinda is. Then it kinda ain’t. It’s about Ben, a kid in a new-world order where superheroes changed and evolved the world. This revolution is linked to Ben’s family and it’s quite bogged down with mystery. Ben himself is an enigma as he’s vastly different and unexplained. In other words, there are a lot of clichés here. Also, include the best friend who loves you but you don’t realize it. It’s complicated why they shroud this book in mystery when I feel it would have worked better to be straightforward as to what’s Ben’s deal and his family motives.

Review: The Cape #4

Howard and Daniel craft one of the most visually breath-taking books I ever read. It’s sublime that they can pronounce the grim tone and darkness that emanates off the lead character. The settings are pretty much what you look for in a book that’s draped in terror and angst.

This book definitely delivers quality art in leaps and bounds as it paints the wicked ways of Eric as he screams, kicks and spills blood with an effervescent ease.