Snap Flash Hustle #2
Writer: PAT SHAND (Breathless)
Artist: EMILY PEARSON (The Wilds)
Letterer: JIM CAMPBELL (Calexit)
As Haley navigates the pitfalls of her new job as an alt-model / middleman, Coral sees a chance to earn a promotion… and all it takes is one dead rival to get her to the top. The subversive hit series from Pat Shand (Breathless) and Emily Pearson (The Wilds) heats up every issue!
Co-created by writer Matthew Erman and artist Emily Pearson, Bonding is a YA graphic novel about two people who fall in love. It just happens that in this world, humans are made to ‘bond’ with strange alien-like parasites that hang onto their chests like weird leeches or sea-slugs. Your health, emotions, preferences, and tastes can be reflected in the way your slug looks.
Bonding comes from Vault Comics’ young readers imprint Myriad Books. To celebrate the project, Vault Comics and the Bonding creative team created a special “Chapter 0” comic that not only introduces reader to the story, but invites the public to submit their own illustrations for how they think their own slugs would look.
Using the templates provided online as a starting point, everyone from young readers to the young-at-heart can design their own slug and submit it to Vault Comics for potential inclusion in the book itself. For more information on how to submit your designs head to the Vault website.
In addition to being about love, the book also touches on mental health, self-perception, anxiety, and more, as all of these thoughts are displayed through your parasite for everyone to see. It’s important for YA audiences to be able to talk about these concepts and emotions.
Bonding will be released on February 5th, 2020. Design submissions are upon from now until September 13th, 2019.
Check out a preview of the series below.
Snap Flash Hustle #1
Written by: Pat Shand
Illustrated by: Emily Pearson
Lettered by: Jim Campbell
Cover A by: Emily Pearson
Cover B by: Lisa Sterle
Cover C by: Jenn St-Onge
$3.99 | full color | mature
Haley Mori, a downtrodden alternative-model, happens upon a secret society of elite models in NYC that are using their platforms to sell narcotics. Seeing a possible escape from a lifetime of crushing debt, Haley becomes involved and works her way up the ranks, making new alliances and enemies alike while getting a taste of a power she never knew she craved.
In this new stylish crime thriller from writer Pat Shand (Breathless) and artist Emily Pearson (The Wilds), nothing is as it seems.
Vault Comics has announced the first slate of titles published by its new young adult and middle grade focused label, Myriad.
The titles announced are Wrassle Castle, written by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover, Bonding, written by Matthew Erman and drawn by Emily Pearson, and Unfinished Corner, written by Dani Coleman. These three titles will see release throughout 2019 and 2020.
A publishing label of Vault Comics, Myriad has a distinct focus on middle grade (MG) and young adult (YA) stories that are delivered in a wide range of unique unique sizes and formats. Myriad is headed by Vault Editor-In-Chief Adrian Wassel and Vice President of Branding & Design Tim Daniel.
The new imprint is to give young readers their own heroes and represents a “seismic shift in readers’ attitudes and expectations” when it comes to format and content.
Wrassle Castle is a middle grade title written by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover. Paul and Colleen previously collaborated on Banana Sunday and the Eisner-winning Bandette. Paul is a New York Times-bestselling author, with other works including Colder, Made Men and several titles for Marvel Comics. Colleen is also known for the Eisner-nominated Small Favors. The artist on Wrassle Castle will be announced soon.
Lydia Riverthane has always wanted to join Wrassle Castle, but due to her parents’ disapproval has been forced to secretly train in the forest. Her three best friends Chelsea, Deandra, and Lyle—aka the Underground Alibi Society—help her by providing cover stories when needed. Lydia also secretly trains with her brother, John Gator-Chomp, a high-ranking wrasslin instructor. Lydia idolizes her brother—until he’s arrested for stealing one of the Legendary Wrasslin Folios! A crime he DID commit! But…why? Lydia believes the only way she can learn the truth, and more importantly save her brother, is to enter and win the Grand Wrasslin Tournament.
Bonding is a YA title written by Matthew Erman with art by Emily Pearson. Matthew has written Scout Comics’ Long Lost (along with Lisa Sterle), the CORPUS Anthology, and is a 2018 Ghost City Comics finalist. Emily is known for her art on The Wilds and Snap Flash Hustle, both with Black Mask Studios.
A man, a woman—and their parasites. Marcus has been alone since the loss of his closest friend and has just recently entered the dating scene, while Laura has drifted in and out of relationships since high school. They meet and strike up a good rapport, learning about each other, friendship, and how to deal with the slug-like parasites that have infected humanity. Bonding is a funny, quirky, and honest look at love, in a world where people wear their anxieties, not on their sleeves, but on their chests like big ol’ leeches.
Unfinished Corner is a YA title written by Dani Colman. Dani is a powerful new voice, writer and editor known for essays in Image Comics’ ODY-C and Black Jack Ketchum, and for the story “All Thumbs” in the Femme Magnifique anthology.The art team on Unfinished Corner will be announced soon.
Jewish mythology has it that when God created the universe, He left a tiny corner of it unfinished. Opinion is divided on why, but everyone agrees that the Unfinished Corner is a dangerous place full of monsters. Twelve-year-old Miriam neither knows, nor cares about the Unfinished Corner. She’s too busy preparing for her Bat Mitzvah, wrestling with whether she even wants to be Jewish—until an angel appears, whisking her and her best friends Avi and David off to this crazy and monstrous land with a single mission: Finish the Unfinished Corner.
THE WILDS #4
Written by: Vita Ayala
Illustrated by: Emily Pearson
Colors by: Stelladia
Lettered by: Jim Campbell
Cover by: Natasha Alterici
$3.99 | full color | mature
IN STORES 8/1
Waking in the belly of the beast – Medical Central – Daisy finds herself reunited briefly with Heather. Their time together is cut short when Heather is taken away to undergo “treatment.” Unable to rescue her partner on her own, Daisy is able to flee Medical with the help of a mole, vowing to return with every ally she has at her back. The only thing standing in her way: the people she has sacrificed everything for, the people of the Compound.
If you missed the show live, listen to it on demand!After a cataclysmic plague sweeps across America, survivors come together to form citystate-like communities for safety. Out beyond the settlement walls are innumerable dangers: feral animals, crumbling structures, and Abominations; those that were touched by the plague and became something other – something as beautiful as it is deadly. Welcome to The Wilds, a brand new comic series.
We’re joined by the writer and the penciler of this hot series from Black Mask Studios.
Listen to the show when it airs LIVE this Monday at 10pm ET.
Vita Ayala spent years in comic and book retail, and night security at a one of the oldest museums in New York City before taking the plunge and entering the Thunderdome life-style that is pursuing a career in the arts. They have since written for DC Comics (Rebirth Wonder Woman Annual #1, Rebirth Supergirl #19), Dark Horse Comics (Secret Loves of Geeks), and Image Comics (Bitch Planet Triple Feature #4), as well as having a creator owned book, The Wilds, through Black Mask Studios.
Before coming to Black Mask Studios to work on the Wilds, Emily Pearson attempted to studying art at her local Junior College. After deciding to drop out she took on commissions and learned how to draw comics. Since then she has illustrated : Vault Comic’s “Cult Classic: Zero Short” written by Eliot Rahal, and “All Roads” for “Jacob” written by Jed McPherson.
After a cataclysmic plague sweeps across America, survivors come together to form citystate-like communities for safety. Out beyond the settlement walls are innumerable dangers: feral animals, crumbling structures, and Abominations; those that were touched by the plague and became something other – something as beautiful as it is deadly. Welcome to The Wilds, a brand new comic series.
We’re joined by the writer and the penciler of this hot series from Black Mask Studios.
Listen to the show when it airs LIVE this Monday at 10pm ET.
Vita Ayala spent years in comic and book retail, and night security at a one of the oldest museums in New York City before taking the plunge and entering the Thunderdome life-style that is pursuing a career in the arts. They have since written for DC Comics (Rebirth Wonder Woman Annual #1, Rebirth Supergirl #19), Dark Horse Comics (Secret Loves of Geeks), and Image Comics (Bitch Planet Triple Feature #4), as well as having a creator owned book, The Wilds, through Black Mask Studios.
Before coming to Black Mask Studios to work on the Wilds, Emily Pearson attempted to studying art at her local Junior College. After deciding to drop out she took on commissions and learned how to draw comics. Since then she has illustrated : Vault Comic’s “Cult Classic: Zero Short” written by Eliot Rahal, and “All Roads” for “Jacob” written by Jed McPherson.
After a cataclysmic plague sweeps across America, survivors come together to form citystate-like communities for safety.
Daisy Walker is a Runner for The Compound, a mix of post-apocalyptic postal service and black market salvaging operation. It is a Runner’s job to ferry items and people between settlements, and on occasion scavenge through the ruins of the old world. Daisy is the best there is at what she does.
Out beyond the settlement walls are innumerable dangers: feral animals, crumbling structures, and Abominations — those that were touched by the plague and became something other. After a decade of surviving, Daisy isn’t phased by any of it — until her lover, another Runner named Heather, goes missing on a job. Desperate to find her, Daisy begins to see that there may be little difference between the world inside the walls and the horrors beyond.
Writer Vita Ayala manages to create an interesting post-apocalyptic story of love, and survival with The Wilds. The first issue doesn’t just focus on the bleak now but balances things by showing us a brief glimpse of the world before and a grander glimpse at the world that follows. Humanity survives in walled-in settlements trying to protect itself as it sends Runners out to gather supplies, messages, and trade and the main character Daisy seems to be one the best runners at her compound. It’s an interesting focus in that it feels like it puts the weight of the story on one person’s shoulders as opposed to a group. The stakes feel a bit higher in that way. And when her lover Heather questions her commitment, things get interesting. The fact Daisy is the best there is at what she does, her retiring makes it a bit more dire. If she quits, will this community fall apart? There’s a nice metaphor about society being built on the backs of hard laborer.
The art by Emily Pearson with color by Marissa Louise possesses an interesting offset balance of the falling apart world and the semblance of normality humanity fights to posses inside the compounds. The art also is the reveal about some of the creatures they call Abominations. Which seem to have flowers and other plant life growing out of thier skin, despite possessing human bodies. And that detail is about what we know of the affliction that has impacted humanity. It’s also enough to tell a story unto itself. The detail is subtle and the color helps that detail stand out.
The first issue is a good one diving into a familiar genre but delivering something that feels new and different.
Story: Vita Ayala Art: Emily Pearson Colors: Marissa Louise Covers: Natasha Alterici
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy
Black Mask Studio provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
THE WILDS #1
Written by: Vita Ayala
Illustrated by: Emily Pearson
Colored by: Marissa Louise
Lettered by: Jim Campbell
Cover A by: Emily Pearson
32 pages | $3.99
After a cataclysmic plague sweeps across America, survivors come together to form citystate-like communities for safety.
Daisy Walker is a Runner for The Compound, a mix of post-apocalyptic postal service and black market salvaging operation. It is a Runner’s job to ferry items and people between settlements, and on occasion scavenge through the ruins of the old world. Daisy is the best there is at what she does.
Out beyond the settlement walls are innumerable dangers: feral animals, crumbling structures, and Abominations – those that were touched by the plague and became something other. After a decade of surviving, Daisy isn’t phased by any of it – until her lover, another Runner named Heather, goes missing on a job. Desperate to find her, Daisy begins to see that there may be little difference between the world inside the walls and the horrors beyond.
From writer Vita Ayala (Bitch Planet: Triple Feature, Wonder Woman Annual) and Emily Pearson (Cult Classic) with colors by Marissa Louise (Spell On Wheels) and covers by Natasha Alterici (Heathen), comes this bold tale of surviving in bleak times.
Launched on Kickstarter, CORPUS: A Comic Anthology of Bodily Ailments is a new comic anthology that explores illness, both mental and physical. The full color graphic novel features over 200 pages and 40 stories.
The graphic novel covers a wide range of topics from peanut allergies to losing an eye, from depression to epilepsy, what it takes to care for a sick person to the stigma of chronic illness.
The creative line-up is impressive:
COVER ART BY: Mark Wang
You can get a digital copy for as low as $12 and items range from your name in the back of the book to comissions.
The project is looking to raise $25,000 and ends on March 4th.
Check out some art from the graphic novel below.
