Well well well, if it isn’t my lucky day (it is, actually). I have in my hands a copy of Stephen Lindsay’s Buck #1, and it’s my pleasure to provoke and prompt you to pick this up as soon as it’s available.

If Stephen Lindsay doesn’t ring a bell, then perhaps Jesus Hates Zombies does (and my childlike excitement over the discovery of it). That’s an amazing comic, so if my math and logical reasoning is right, Buck will be as well!

I couldn’t sum up the story better than Lindsay himself, saying it’s a take on the “awesomely bad b-movies that SyFy has been producing lately”. You know, the ones with the slightly cheesy acting, the overwhelming absurdity of the creatures/situations (as well as readers/viewers’ surprise at how easily the characters believe in what’s happening). The ones that can keep you laughing, then surprise you with gore, then make you laugh even more. The ones where you find yourself cheering for the villain just to kill off all the imbecile humans (at least I do).

From 215 Ink, Buck’s going to be 4 issues short, so expect plenty of action to be packed in. Issue #1 gets rolling fast, and leaves no room for funny business. Things start with a bang, high paced from the first pages. It’s going to be a fun ride.

The story centers around the small town of Pititchu, Washington, where Sheriff Layne O’Donnell and his deputy Mike Peterson obviously spend their days (normally) doing things like slapping people on the wrist for not paying parking tickets, or maybe giving the local town drunk a ride home. Until now … when the town has a visitor … you can guess what …

Newcomer Danny Kelly provides fantastic black and white artwork (there’s some color mixed in …) that has the necessary simplicity yet edginess that goes along with a tale like this. I think Walking Dead (and Jesus Hates Zombies) immediately, which is a good thing.

It comes out March 30th (should be on the 215 Ink Shop soon). Prepare for the Buck!

“Welcome to Pititchu”. This is the point where if this were a movie, the audience laughs!

Yeah, I thought that was a hell of a title too when I first read it. But you know, I have no problem with eccentric comic book characters who have multiple important characteristics.

Created by Sam Johnson, Cabra Cini is a recovered crackhead who used voodoo as her new addiction and escape from darkness. She’s become a hitwoman, and a damn fine one at that apparently, evidenced by her skill with various forms of murder (you’ll see for yourself).

The story’s brief (it’s just an intro after all), but there is a ton of promise here for a dark and rich storyline.

On top of getting to know the hero of the day, you’re introduced to a menagerie of things/themes/people (crack, boobs, pimps, Limbo, demon-types) as several characters get their chance to make a quick impression in the few precious pages they have.

There are a variety of mischievous fiends, all apparent mortal enemies of Cabra. She generally has a chip on her shoulder, and intends to make those who have wronged her or other women (probably men too) pay dearly.

Artists Bruno Letizia and Rodrigo Diaz present us with fantastic amounts of blood and boobs, 2 things which we give major thumbs-up to.

Overall, this is a great intro that leaves me wondering what’s next. I look forward to seeing if the future appearances of Cabra can live up to expectations! The most intriguing thing for me would be to learn more about her past, how she actually became a hitwoman (her first kill, etc.).

If you wanna read for yourself, you can do so online for free.

Cabra Cini is one of three strips featured in Digital Visions #4 (along with Deity and Gangland Avalon, also good reads), a compilation series published by Visionary Comics.

Go here, click “Read Online”, and you’re all set (no account or login required! Cabra Cini is the first story). DO IT.

I stumbled upon Jesus Hates Zombies while searching for “zombies” in the Android Marketplace. You can download the first two issues for free, with the rest costing only a paltry $0.99. Easy win.

I appreciate an insightful title. Jesus Hates Zombies is about Jesus being sent back to Earth to, you guessed it, stop a zombie apocalypse by killing all the zombies. Written by Stephen Lindsay, it’s pretty hilarious, is broken into several short stories so it’s perfect for reading on the go, and is worth picking up. Download now!

You can also pick up physical copies of Jesus Hates Zombies books, Jesus Hates Zombies: Those Slack-Jaw Blues, or the epic crossover, Jesus Hates Zombies featuring Lincoln Hates Werewolves.

Warning, if you really love the Jesus (capitalized Jesus) you may not like this one. But you should still buy it/read it anyways.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Neil Gaiman is one the greatest writers of our time.

So I went to the MoCCA art festival this past Sunday, and bought all kinds of stuff. It was great. I wish it happened more than once per year.

One of several highlights for me was all of the attention I garnered for wearing my Immortal t-shirt. I had the pleasure of having probably 7 or 8 different people throw comments at me like “That shirt is fucking badass” and “You look badass” and “Your ass is BAD” etc. etc. One such admirer pointed me in the direction of a table (AW Illustration I believe …) that had a comic I might be interested in.

I picked up the above comic, “True Tales Ov Black Metal” and had a hilarious several minutes of a laugh. There are references to Mayhem, Immortal (YAY), and Norway in general. I’d scan that whole thing and post it, but that’s probably not nice.

Check out A Warner’s blog at http://aw-illustration.blogspot.com/. There is some black metal artwork there, among other awesome things.

30 for the comic book series by Steve Niles, 30 Days of Night. Not for the movie. Which wasn’t awful, but just wasn’t that good compared to the comic.

30 Days of Night is one of the books responsible for getting me back into comics a few years ago, specifically into the horror genre which over the past few years has just gotten insanely good. It exposed me to the work of Steve Niles, who is an absolute genius.

All hail horror comic books.

I need to follow comic news more closely, at these when it involves one of my favorite current writers and the man who was responsible for me really getting into comics (and spending all of my money) in the first place.

Todd McFarlane and Robert Kirkman are collaborating on a new project called Haunt, and I am excited. All the dates and articles seem to indicate it should have been out a long time ago, but you know how these things are.

53 for issue #53 of one of my all time favorite comics, SPAWN.

It’s been a while since I’ve read Spawn and can’t say I know too much about the story anymore, but what I do remember leaves a smile on my face.

A man dies, goes to Hell, makes a deal with a demon (and becomes a general in Hell’s Army) to come back and see his wife (love story), only to learn she’s moved on, so now he just gets to take out his anger and angst on all kinds of gruesome creatures, while trying to maintain some level of his past humanity.

I should write one liners for the New York Times book/movie reviews section. Anyone have an in? I’m tired of writing here. KIDDING.

Anyways, Spawn for me represented the new and flashy in comics back in the 90′s, and gave me something with edge and spice that I wasn’t finding in Spiderman and other vanilla comic books in the midst of the censorship and parental advisory era in the US. Spawn had amazing visuals, gave a teen something to almost feel guilty about reading.

But the story was truly amazing, and featured some of the “realest” characters I had come across. All in all, it garnered my attention and adoration for the comic genre, so thank you Todd McFarlane. Even though on all accounts, you’re a giant douchebag. But that’s fine, so are we.

Back to issue #53. Great cover:

I had a Malebogia toy. Do you remember how rare those things were? It’s in a closet somewhere, collecting dust.

As you can read from the link above, this particular issue involved Spawn making a trip back to Hell to visit Billy Kincaid, accused child murderer, whom he ends up gruesomely decapitating.

$1.95? No fair.

There are some great Spawn images captured on this Spawn comics blog.

53 days left!!!

As an avid Steve Niles fan, and a Criminal Macabre fan to boot, this news excites me greatly. I actually went on a comic purchasing hiatus for quite some time, before Steve Niles was big on the scene, and it was his comics which single-handedly got me back into ‘em.

A movie version Criminal Macabre is in the works, which is a spooky mystery series centered around a man named Cal Macdonald, who is essentially a detective who deals with spirits/ghosts/monsters, but in a cool CSI way which isn’t corny at all.

Here’s to hoping Keanu Reeves doesn’t get the part.

[Via Bloody Disgusting]

In my second geeky post about something from the San Diego Comic Con, I discuss a new iPhone application from comiXology which allows you purchase/organize/read comic books on your phone.

Many publishers have already signed on to have their comics available in this format, with more certainly to follow. What’s the most interesting thing for me about this is that Robert Kirkman (he of Walking Dead fame) will be adding his work as well. This can only hopefully lead to loads of zombie comics on this app.

If I owned a iPhone, I would get this. So, if you do own one yourself, get on it.