Tag Archives: gab contreras

Early Review: Deprog Volume 1 is a tough read that finds room for joy, self-realization, and hard truths

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Content warning: This review discusses sexual assault, including incest.

Deprog Volume 1 collects the first four issue arc of Tina Horn, Lisa Sterle, and Gab Contreras’ fiercely queer series about a woman named Tate, who works as a counselor to former cult members in her friend Les’ video store. When a flirtatious, non-binary bombshell named Vera comes into her place of business and asks for her help to save their brother Vinny, Tate ends up being face to face with some extremely dark things from her past. As a crime thriller, Deprog is full of twists, turns, and even some gunplay. It also features some spot-on media criticism (Tate is a pop culture addict because she wasn’t exposed to a lot of it growing up in a cult) and the healing power of BDSM sex as well as some genuinely disturbing moments, including scenes of rape and incest. However, Deprog is an engaging read with a charismatic lead character, and Horn and Sterle aren’t afraid to dig into societal taboos as Tate, Les, and Vera dig deeper into the mysterious The Caring.

Although Tate isn’t a licensed private eye, or God forbid, a cop, Deprog reads like a more queer, kinkier take on an L.A. noir story feeding into the history of cults, new religious organization, and MLMs from Goop to Scientology and The Family International. Through Tate’s knowledge and background, Tina Horn does make the distinction between corporations that want you to purchase weird self-care products and sell them to your friends and death cults although she and Lisa Sterle play on the blurred lines between these organizations, especially during the recruiting phase. This makes sense because one of the recurring themes of Deprog is boundaries. For example, The Caring uses lots of language centered around membranes and penetration while Tate thinks more critically about power dynamics like when she ends a consultation with Vera when she brings up Tate’s past. It’s interesting to see the red (Or occasionally green) flags that characters demonstrate early on in the comic coming around full circle by the time Tate and company are in full infiltration mode

On the visual side, Lisa Sterle and Gab Contreras excel at showing ecstatic pleasure through pain like in early scenes when Tate hooks up with Vera at a BDSM club. There’s a real sensuality to how Sterle draws their bodies, and Contreras brings bisexual lighting to these sequences as well as how Tate’s office is lit. These beautiful pinks permeate the spaces that Tate feels comfortable in as she reclaims her self-worth and tries to help other folks overcome cults and manipulative organizations. The chemistry between Tate and Vera is blinding, and that is all in how Lisa Sterle conveys body language.

However, Deprog isn’t solely eroticism. The second chapter is a tense road story with Horn and Sterle using tight grid panels to show Tate, Vera, and Les escaping from a shadowy gunman. This portion of the story digs a little bit into the horror genre as the gang heads out into the desert and declines stopping at a gas station to relieve themselves by the side of the road. Of course, this goes poorly and adds an air of menace to the story with Tate starting to think that the cult leader who manipulated her and her family is still alive. The tension also deepens the relationship between Tate and Vera as they immediately start having sex in the motel bath tub once Les leaves the room. The highs and lows of pleasure and pain, theory and praxis, and hopes and fears kept me connected to Deprog’s narrative, especially since Tate is such a vulnerable, complex protagonist.

At times, Deprog can be a tough read, but Tina Horn, Lisa Sterle, and Gab Contreras find room for joy, self-realization, and hard truths through the power of queer, kinky sex and self-examination. It’s also a damn good crime yarn, and I hope more adventures with Tate helping former cult members are in the card as well as her insights about life, the world, and pop culture. Seriously, this book is incredibly quotable and funny too.

Story: Tina Horn Art: Lisa Sterle
 Colors: Gab Contreras Letters: Apparatus Revolution
Story: 8.8 Art: 8.8 Overall: 8.8 Recommendation: Buy

Dead Sky provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Amazon – Bookshop

Deprog #4 wraps things up nicely and leaves us wanting more

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Captured by the Adaptogentic desert cult and facing the very interdimensional bathtub ritual that killed her family, Tate once again finds herself alone against the manipulations of a charismatic leader. In this special extended finale, will Tate be able to use her deprog skills to overcome trauma and stop the latest sacrifice before it’s too late?

Story: Tina Horn
Art: Lisa Sterle
Color: Gab Contreras
Letterer: Apparatus Revolution

Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.

Third Eye Comics

Deprog #3 adds a lot of background but also is a bit predictable

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With Les going undercover in the Adaptogentic desert bathhouse, Tate and Vera are staked out in a sleazy motel. As Les attempts to resist seductive hippie girls, Vera finally learns the backstory of Tate’s cult upbringing, which is weirder than anyone could have possibly imagined.

Story: Tina Horn
Art: Lisa Sterle
Color: Gab Contreras
Letterer: Apparatus Revolution

Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.

Third Eye Comics

Dead Sky Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Deprog #2 begins to lean into its detective roots and builds nicely off the debut issue

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The hunt for Vera’s brother leads detective Tate on a desert road trip with her apprentice Les, where they are stalked by a figure with a mysterious tattoo. As Tate and Vera fall more in lust, they narrow in on their target: the abusive cult from Tate’s past.

Story: Tina Horn
Art: Lisa Sterle
Color: Gab Contreras
Letterer: Apparatus Revolution

Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.

Third Eye Comics

Dead Sky Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Deprog #1 is an interesting concept about cults and control

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Meet Tate Debs, a hardboiled hard drinking leather loving dyke detective with an office in the back of Los Angeles’s last video store. When a femme who may just be fatale hires Tate to infiltrate a mystical group that sounds suspiciously like the cult Tate escaped years ago, she must decide if Vera’s charms are worth being re-traumatized.

Story: Tina Horn
Art: Lisa Sterle
Color: Gab Contreras
Letterer: Apparatus Revolution

Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.

Atomic Empire

Dead Sky Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Creed: The Next Round #4 delivers a decent finale that expands Creed’s world

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Creed: The Next Round #4

Amara prepares for the showdown of a generation, aided by family and coaching that only the ring can bring. But winning the war in the ring can only go so far, while the war in the boardroom remains… Creed: The Next Round #4 wraps up an intriguing extension of the Rocky and Creed brand.

Overseen by Michael B. Jordan and written by Latoya Morgan and Jai Jamison, Creed: The Next Round has been an interesting way to further extend the Creed storyline started not too long ago. The series picked up on a throwaway line from the third film, diving deeper into Adonis Creed’s siblings as Adonis’ daughter attempts to carve her own legacy in the ring.

The series has been decent overall. It has done a solid job of expanding the franchise in logical ways and opening things up further to explore. Where it slips, and does so in Creed: The Next Round #4, is rushing things. The series should have been a four issue series. It feels too compressed, too condense. Not enough of its solid ideas are given enough room to expand and explore. The story overall feels like a three act play stuffed into four issues.

In Creed: The Next Round #4 not only do we need to deal with Adonis’ sibling issues but Amara’s big fight. It all is wrapped up well enough but everything deserved more. More interesting imagery, more emotion, more drama, and more boxing. The issue hits the beats you’d expect but doesn’t deliver the “f-yeah” feeling you’d expect. There’s something missing that both Creed and Rocky films nailed consistently. A montage is cut short. The fights never quite delivering the dance you want or the brutality you expect. A graphic novel for each act would have allowed for exactly that as well as build more into the family drama of Adonis, his wife, and daughter as well as Adonis and his siblings. Everything feels rather… rushed, as if it’s up against a bell.

The art is a bit mixed too. The series has had moments of greatness but these past two issues have slipped a bit. Paris Alleyene, Lea Caballero, and Wilton Santos handle the pencils and ink while Gab Contreras and DJ Chavis handle color with Andworld Design on lettering. While there’s some interesting visual moments, the art style of the three is different enough to notice and unlike earlier issues, some of the characters don’t look as much like their onscreen counterparts. BOOM! has had some issues with multiple artists on titles lately and this is a prime example of that working against the end result.

Creed: The Next Round #4 is a fine ending to the series. It leaves things open for some interesting next chapters and new directions for the franchise to go in. Hopefully, someone believes in that potential and keeps things going. A comic spin-off of the film series that delivers the next chapter is a great way to go and a lower barrier to dive further into and expand the world of the Creed family.

Story: Latoya Morgan, Jai Jamison Art/Ink: Paris Alleyene, Lea Caballero, Wilton Santos
Color: Gab Contreras, DJ Chavis Letterer: Andworld Design
Story: 7.25 Art: 7.0 Overall: 7.1 Recommendation: Read

BOOM! Studios provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: TFAW – Kindle

A new story arc and new ghosts kick off Cullen Bunn and Leomacs’ Ghostlore #5

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BOOM! Studios has revealed a first look at Ghostlore #5, the next issue and beginning of a brand new story arc of the horror series by acclaimed author of The Empty Man and Harrow County, Cullen Bunn, superstar artist Leomacs, colorist Jason Wordie, and letterer Ed Dukeshire, along with guest artist Naomi Franquiz with colorist Gab Contreras, continue a new kind of ghost story this October 4th.

With Lucas and Harmony having parted ways, Shane continues enacting his sinister plan, with Harmony in his sights. Meanwhile, while Harmony finds herself invited into the home of another who can see ghosts manifest, she encounters yet another ghost story, and her views on family take on an entirely new light.

Ghostlore #5 features main and variant cover art by Reiko Murakami, and other variant covers by Naomi Franquiz,  Jorge Corona with Sarah Stern, and Rafael Albuquerque.

Ghostlore #5

Preview: Mezo: Battle at Coban Rock #5 (of 5)

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Mezo: Battle at Coban Rock #5 (of 5)

Story: Tyler Chin-Tanner
Art: Val Rodrigues, Gab Contreras, Varga Tomi
SRP: $3.99

Itza’be and Zea arrive at the Tzalekuhl Palace, unaware they are walking into the trap. Emperor Vuh plans to use their piece of the Celestial Seed to cause chaos during the solar eclipse. Meanwhile, at the battle of Cobán Rock, Roden’s loyalty to the empire is tested. Will he help his friends escape with the tribes, or let Phegor hunt down and execute every last one of them?

Mezo: Battle at Coban Rock #5 (of 5)

Review: Trve Kvlt #1

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Trve Kvlt #1

Marty Tarantella has been flipping burgers for 15 years. He has no kids, no hobbies, no love interests, and, essentially, no life. But, Marty wants to change that. And he’s going to change that by robbing some local stores. But, in his heist, he also steals something from a religious cult and they want that back. Trve Kvlt #1 kicks off an intriguing series that shows a lot of potential in its weirdness.

Written by Scott Bryan Wilson, Trve Kvlt #1 is an interesting start in that it delivers characters that are generally unlikeable. They’re Clerks without the charm. Marty is a loser. He goes on about his life and how he found a “family” with his job at Burger Lord, but overall we get a sense that he’s kind of worthless. He’s had this job for 15 years but hasn’t really gotten anywhere in life and we’re never really given a solid reason as to why. He just is… and his theft is really just a way to get things rolling as far as what’s to come. What that exactly is? That’s only hinted at.

The art by Liana Kangas is good. With color by Gab Contreras and lettering by DC Hopkins, a lot of the humor of the comic comes from its visuals. What Kangas does so well is nail down the body language and stances of everyone. Marty feels like he has a language all his own in how he presents himself. The robberies and after, and even before, give a sense of a person who is very antsy and skittish. That’s understandable considering what he’s done. But, it comes off really well on the page. There’s a physical humor in the panels that brings the story together.

Trve Kvlt #1 isn’t a bad start but there’s a sense of a scattered story that matches its lead Marty. The comic doesn’t focus at times and feels like it bounces around but misses some key motivations and depth to the main character. Due to that, he’s not one to really cheer for which makes the point of reading the comic to see how he’s going to mess up.

Story: Scott Bryan Wilson Art: Liana Kangas
Color: Gab Contreras Letterer: DC Hopkins
Story: 7.5 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read

IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – comiXology/Kindle

Preview: Mezo: Battle at Coban Rock #3 (of 5)

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Mezo: Battle at Coban Rock #3 (of 5)

Writer: Tyler Chin-Tanner
Artists: Val Rodrigues, Gab Contreras, Varga Tomi
Cover A: Val Rodrigues
Cover B: Terry Blas
In Shops: Jul 06, 2022
SRP: $3.99

All-out war erupts as Kyma leads the attack against the invading Tzalekuhl army. But will her thirst for revenge interfere with her mother’s well-planned strategy for victory? The odds swing in their favor when the hero twins arrive, and they’ve brought along the mighty creatures known as the Arbath’a to lend a hand.

Mezo: Battle at Coban Rock #3 (of 5)
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