Tag Archives: jason starr

Magma Comix partners with Lunar Distribution

Boutique comics publisher Magma Comix has announced a worldwide deal with Lunar Distribution, effective as of this week. The partnership will give Lunar the non-exclusive rights to roll out and distribute Magma Comix’s individual issues to comic book stores beginning with their three launch titles: Silicon Bandits (Jason Starr, Dalibor Talajić) and The Principles of Necromancy (Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly, Eamon Winkle) in April 2024, and The Scale Trade (Steve Orlando, Megan Huang) in May 2024.

Founded in 2020, Lunar Distribution is committed to providing the Direct Market partners the best products, price, and customer service. Their customers receive their merchandise quickly, accurately and as carefully packed as possible. They are continually growing and always striving to improve in every facet of the business. Lunar provides distribution services to the Direct Market with an emphasis on quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

THE PRINCIPLES OF NECROMANCY #1

By: Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly, Eamon Winkle
April 3
Cover A: Eamon Winkle • 0224MM802, Cover B: Jana Heidersdorf • 0224MM803, Cover RI: Darick Robertson • 0224MM804

SILICON BANDITS #1

By: Jason Starr, Dalibor Talajić
April 10
Cover A: Dalibor Talajić • 0224MM805, Cover B: Goran Parlov • 0224MM806, Cover RI: Mike Deodato • 0224MM807

Magma Comix announces Silicon Bandits by Jason Starr and Dalibor Talajić

Magma Comix is kicking off 2024 with some new series including Silicon Bandits. Crime novelist and comic author Jason Starr reunites with Casual Fling collaborator Dalibor Talajić in a tale with enough twists and turns to fry your circuits! Each issue features a variant cover by Goran Parlov!

In a near future where automation has caused mass unemployment, programmers Kenji and Aurora’s careers seemed safe. But when they are suddenly fired, the couple hatches a desperate plan: assemble the perfect heist crew out of androids they programmed. The ensuing crime spree goes perfectly… until betrayal and sentience emerge in equally devastating turns!

Silicon Bandits #1 is out April 10.

Magma Comix announces its first wave of 2024 creators

Magma Comix

Recognizing that it all starts with the creator, Magma Comix has announced its first wave of creators spearheading the publisher’s forthcoming titles: Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Eamon Winkle, Jason Starr, Dalibor Talajić, Steve Orlando, and Megan Huang!

Since reestablishing itself as independent publisher in 2023, Magma Comix holds steadfast to empowering comic book creators with the freedom and support necessary to make their 100% creator-owned passion projects that will excite and enthrall our readers. All creators signed to the publisher receive a fair and transparent deal with advance royalties, as well as first-look deals with partners to be revealed. The publisher will offer direct market support through a multi-distributor approach with simple, low-risk ordering for retailers, including returnability and a limited number of variant covers. 

Stay tuned for all of the title announcements from Magma!

Review: Casual Fling #4

Casual Fling #4

Content warning: sexual assault

Jason Starr, Dalibor Talajic, and Marco Lesko’s erotic thriller comes to a sweet, satisfying close in Casual Fling #4 as Jennifer teams up with her estranged husband Matthew and his hacker buddy Sensei to find the mysterious man that she had a one night affair with, but then was blackmailed by a potential leaked sex tape. Before going into the issue proper, I would like to applaud AWA Studios for publishing a monthly comic in this genre while helping the popular genres in comics match up with prose. This is while not losing sight of what makes comics great as one glance or a character’s body language as drawn by Talajic can tell as much about who they are as paragraphs of pure text.

With only four issues to work with, Starr has to quickly wrap up the loose ends of Casual Fling and leave time for a denouement featuring the beating heart of this series: the relationship between Jennifer and Matthew. The Hackers meets Eyes Wide Shut hijinks of a man, who is manipulative, charming, and as shown in this issue, a rapist are the surface draw of the comic. However, the most compelling part of Casual Fling is how it maneuvers a struggling marriage that ends up being quite complex with children, in-laws, and if the sex tape gets out, lost employment. This is why Jason Starr and Dalibor Talajaic bookend the issue with interactions between Jennifer and Matthew. The opening sequence shows how worn down they are with Jennifer balancing her career and being a single mom, and Matthew having many sleepless nights trying to track down the golden masked man, who blackmailed his wife.

There’s a chaotic energy in the way Talajic arranges the figures in his panels this first scene of Casual Fling #4 that goes with the confused dialogue that Starr writes for Jennifer and Matthew’s young children. They don’t know anything about the deeper implications of what is going on, but are tired of being shuttled in and out of the city depending on which parent gets them. The stress extends to Jennifer and Matthew, and Jason Starr’s writing nails where the relationship is at with Jennifer trying to be complimentary and repair their relationship while Matthew is laser-focused on the comic’s procedural plot. However, he does end up opening up to Sensei while they watched a montage of the curved dick, golden masked man manipulate women and says that maybe he got too caught up scheduling his children’s lives to think about her needs. Matthew also thought their relationship would work out because his parents were married for over forty years. Dalabor Talajic zooms in on Matthew’s furrowed brow while Sensei diagnoses why Jennifer had an affair. Sense is the unsung hero of Casual Fling with her filthy, often inappropriately timed sense of humor (She makes a crack about how Jennifer would be good at porn.), genuinely good advice, and casual, god-tier hacking skills.

Speaking of hacking skills, Starr definitely leans on it to wrap up the plot of Casual Fling #4 as we go from Jennifer meeting with other blackmail and sexual assault victims of the gold masked man to something out of the last five minutes of a Law and Order SVU episode. That quick wrap up connects to how Casual Fling overall is structured with the first couple issues focusing on Jennifer having the affair and the effect it had on her marriage and her career, and the back half of the miniseries turning into more of a thriller. Some off panel hacking gets the good ending, and even though it would be nice to see Sensei, Matthew, and Jennifer match wits with the golden masked man, Jason Starr and Talajic focus on getting justice for his victims instead of trying to make him a sympathetic figure. In the end, he and his partner end up looking like Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, and the fact that there are powerful men out there who act this way (Or look the other while their buddies act this way *cough* Bill Gates) is what makes Casual Fling such a harrowing read. I also love the dig that Starr gets in at the police, who are basically useless in this comic just like they are in most cases of revenge porn in real life with a focus on shaming women instead of understanding consent.

With emotionally open art and color palette from Dalibor Talajic and Marco Lesko and honest writing from Jason Starr, Casual Fling #4 is a strong finish for a comic that was a decent erotic thriller and still had plenty of time for tough, nuanced conversations. I would definitely love to read more monthly books like it in the future.

Story: Jason Starr Art: Dalibor Talajic Colors: Marco Lesko
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.3 Overall: 8.1 Recommendation: Buy

AWA/Upshot provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review


Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – Zeus Comics – TFAW

Preview: Casual Fling #3

Casual Fling #3

(W) Jason Starr (A) Dalibor Talajic, Marco Lesko (CA) Dani
In Shops: Apr 07, 2021
SRP: $3.99

Jennifer Ryan has the perfect life. A loving family. A high paying job in corporate law. A luxurious apartment in upper Manhattan. Then one day she steps out of her marriage…and finds that her new lover isn’t the one night stand she expected. Stalked and threatened with exposure, Jennifer attempts to unravel the true identity of her tormentor, discovering valuable clues in the trail of destruction left in this mysterious man’s wake.

Casual Fling #3

Preview: Casual Fling #2

Casual Fling #2

(W) Jason Starr (A) Dalibor Talajic, Marco Lesko (CA) Dani
In Shops: Mar 03, 2021
SRP: $3.99

Jennifer Ryan has the perfect life. A loving family. A high paying job in corporate law. A luxurious apartment in upper Manhattan. Then one day she steps out of her marriage… and finds that her new lover isn’t the one night stand she expected. Stalked and threatened with exposure, Jennifer attempts to unravel the true identity of her tormentor, discovering valuable clues in the trail of destruction left in this mysterious man’s wake.

Casual Fling #2

AWA Studios, Magnetic, and Harlequin Deliver 8 New Digital Comics Today

ComiXology Delivers eight new digital comics for you today including the first round of collections from AWA Studios. You’ll also find new releases from Harlequin and Magnetic Press. Find all eight comics and get shopping here or check out the individual releases below.

Archangel 8

Written by Michael Moreci
Art by C.P. Smith
Colored by Snakebite Cortez
Cover by Jeff Dekal
Purchase

In a world beyond the sight of mortals, Heaven and Hell wage war for the souls of mankind. Principal among God’s legion are seven archangels written about in religious texts for millennia. But there is an eighth archangel, known only from passing allusions in Apocrypha, who operates under a different code. Fighting without God’s sanction, he faces the enemy on his own terms, and shows just how bad good can be.

Archangel 8

A Baby For The Boss

Written by Maureen Child
Art by Megumi Toda
Purchase

Jenny is at a loss. Finally getting a big opportunity for her career, she finds out she’ll have to work with Mike of all people. Jenny had once felt an instant connection with the tall, handsome billionaire. But it had all disappeared when their one-night stand led to a horrible misunderstanding the next morning. Now, trying to forget their past intimacy while working with Mike makes it increasingly difficult for Jenny to deny her feelings. She succumbs and they share another passionate night together. Jenny finds out she’s pregnant, but Mike can’t seem to get over the past…

A Baby For The Boss

The Contaxis Baby

Written by Lynne Graham
Art by Kanako Uesugi
Purchase

“A horrible woman who drove her boyfriend, Connor, to his death.” That’s the cruel reputation that haunts Lizzie. But worse still is the truth about Connor, which Lizzie refuses to reveal. With a heavy heart, Lizzie agrees to a friend’s invitation for a night out. There, she draws the eye of a Greek man named Sebastian. She spends the night with him…but little does she know, his true intention is revenge!

The Contaxis Baby

Hotell

Written by John Lees
Art by Dalibor Talajic
Colored by Lee Loughridge
Cover by Kaare Andrews, Keron Grant
Purchase

You won’t find it on any map, but if you happen to be driving down Route 66 late at night and you’re truly desperate for shelter, sanctuary or secrecy, you might see a battered sign on the side of the road: The Pierrot Courts Hotel – where many check in but few check out.

Hotell

Red Border

Written by Jason Starr
Art by Will Conrad
Colored by Ivan Nunes
Cover by Tim Bradstreet
Purchase

A young Mexican couple narrowly escapes the Juarez Cartel by fleeing across the border into Texas, only to be run down in the desert by the Cartel’s most brutal thugs. Rescued by a mysterious local who takes them to the safety of his family’s ranch, the couple soon realize their hosts have more than just skeletons in their closet. Trapped in a house of horrors beyond their wildest imagination, the army of assassins on their trail might be the least of their problems.

Red Border

The Collected Toppi Vol. 4: The Cradle of Life

Written by Sergio Toppi
Art by Sergio Toppi
Purchase

The fourth volume contains ten tales set in Africa, India, and Australia, presented in English for the first time: The Kokombo Dossier, Bwuma, my Son, Warramunga, M’Felewzi, and Pacific Island. Featuring a foreword by NYTimes and Eisner-winning author John Jennings.

The Collected Toppi Vol. 4: The Cradle of Life

The Resistance

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art by Mike Deodato Jr.
Colored by Lee Loughridge, Frank Martin Jr.
Cover by Rahzzah, Mike Deodato Jr.
Purchase

J. Michael Straczynski – creator of Babylon 5, co-creator of Sense8, and writer of beloved runs on The Amazing Spider-man, Thor, and Superman: Earth One – returns to comics teaming with Mike Deodato Jr. – the blockbuster artist of The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Infinity Wars. Together they plant the flag for a new universe of heroes and villains. A global disaster leaves hundreds of millions dead in its wake. Shortly after, a few thousand suddenly manifest superhuman powers. Are they harbingers of more perils to come…or Earth’s last hope?

The Resistance

Year Zero

Written by Benjamin Percy
Art by Ramon Rosanas
Colored by Lee Loughridge
Cover by Kaare Andrews
Purchase

Ben Percy (Wolverine) and Ramon Rosanas (Star Wars: Age of Resistance) team up to present an epic tale that offers a global look at the Zombie Apocalypse. A Japanese hitman, a Mexican street urchin, an Afghan military aide, a Polar research scientist, a midwestern American survivalist – five survivors of a horrific global epidemic who must draw upon their unique skills and deepest instincts to navigate a world of shambling dead. Year Zero wrestles with the weighty moral and theological questions posed by the pandemic and investigates its cause and possible cure.

Year Zero

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Preview: Red Border #3 (of 4)

Red Border #3 (of 4)

(W) Jason Starr (A) Will Conrad, Ivan Nunes (CA) Tim Bradstreet
In Shops: Jul 15, 2020
SRP: $3.99

A young Mexican couple narrowly escapes the Juarez Cartel by fleeing across the border into Texas, only to be run down in the desert by the Cartel’s most brutal thugs. Rescued by a mysterious local who takes them to the safety of his family’s ranch, the couple soon realize they must escape a house of horrors beyond their wildest imagination. The army of assassins closing in on them might be the least of their problems.

Red Border #3 (of 4)

Preview: Red Border #2 (of 4)

Red Border #2 (of 4)

(W) Jason Starr (A) Will Conrad, Ivan Nunes (CA) Tim Bradstreet
In Shops: Jun 24, 2020
SRP: $3.99

A young Mexican couple narrowly escapes the Juarez Cartel by fleeing across the border into Texas, only to be run down in the desert by the Cartel’s most brutal thugs. Rescued by a mysterious local who takes them to the safety of his family’s ranch, the couple soon realize they are trapped in a house of horrors beyond their wildest imagination, and the army of assassins on their trail might be the least of their problems.

Red Border #2 (of 4)

Read Red Border #1 for FREE

A young Mexican couple narrowly escapes the Juarez Cartel by fleeing across the border into Texas, only to be run down in the desert by the Cartel’s most brutal thugs. Rescued by a mysterious local who takes them to the safety of his family’s ranch, the couple soon realize their hosts have more than just skeletons in their closet. Trapped in a house of horrors beyond their wildest imagination, the army of assassins on their trail might be the least of their problems.

AWA Studios is releasing the first issues of their series for you to read for FREE! Written by Jason Starr with art by Will Conrad and Ivan Nunes, and cover art by Tim Bradstreet, read Red Border #1 below!

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