Tag Archives: john lees

Preview: Orla!

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Orla!

(W) John Lees (A) Sally Cantirino

ORLA! is a romcom/creature feature mash-up about a lonely woman struggling to navigate the Seattle singles scene while sometimes turning into a man-eating monster.

Orla Bard is an antique restorer, romance novel enjoyer and keen birder who has a secret. She is afflicted with The Ick, a monstrous entity dwelling inside her, who violently emerges whenever Orla feels too stressed, angry or afraid. She is unable to rid herself of this curse, and The Ick needs to feed, and so Orla has decided to use her powers to help other women by removing the worst men from the dating pool. But when she finally meets a guy she actually likes, and finally has a chance at a love story of her own, will she be able to keep her inner monster under control?

Orla!

Preview: Orla! #5

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Orla! #5

(W) John Lees (A) Sally Cantirino (C) Dearbhla Kelly (L) Lucas Gattoni

You are cordially invited to the Valentine’s Day wedding of Harriet and Josh. Should anyone present know of any reason that this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace. Orla Bard might have a few things to say. As her two lives collide, can Orla protect those she cares about from the carnage of The Ick? Can true love prevail? Or is a Valentine’s Day massacre on the cards? All will be revealed in this heart-stopping conclusion.

Orla! #5

Preview: Orla! #4

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Orla! #4

(W) John Lees (A) Sally Cantirino (C) Dearbhla Kelly (L) Lucas Gattoni

Following the disastrous events of Halloween, Orla is in freefall, and has never felt more alone. Fully embracing her murderous mission, she has set her vengeful sights on her white whale: odious manosphere influencer Rick Holester, whose speaking tour has arrived in Seattle. If one horrible man is so toxic that him being eaten by The Ick would make the world a tangibly better place, is it worth the cost? Meanwhile, Gwyn has some secrets of his own to share.

Orla! #4

Preview: Orla! #3

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Orla! #3

(W) John Lees (A) Sally Cantirino (C) Dearbhla Kelly (L) Lucas Gattoni

The Ick – the terrifying creature Orla transforms into – is unleashed at times of stress, and the longer she tries to keep it bottled in, the harder it is to hold back. But Orla is working at being a different, better person, and part of that is finally keeping her promise to attend her best friend Harriet’s Halloween party. Crowded rooms, loud music, Harriet’s emotionally abusive fiancé Josh… sounds like a stressful environment. And, weeks since it was last let loose, The Ick needs to be fed…

Orla! #3

Preview: Orla #2

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Orla #2

(W) John Lees (A/CA) Sally Cantirino (C) Dearbhla Kelly (L) Lucas Gattoni

Orla has reluctantly agreed to a lunch-date with Gwyn, the friendly manager of her favourite local bookstore that she’s been crushing on. Gwyn tells cheesy jokes, dances badly, and has a worrying lack of embarrassment. But as initial awkwardness gives way to a fun afternoon, Orla faces a conundrum: how does she deal with a guy she actually likes and doesn’t want her murderous alter ego to devour? Orla might just have a chance at a story-book romance of her own… if she can keep her inner monster under control.

Orla #2

Preview: Orla #1

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Orla #1

(W) John Lees (A/CA) Sally Cantirino (C) Dearbhla Kelly (L) Lucas Gattoni (CB) Lisa Sterle

Orla Bard is an antique restorer, romance novel enjoyer and keen birder. She also believes in true love, continuing to navigate Seattle’s singles scene despite repeated disappointment. But Orla has a secret. She is afflicted with The Ick, a man-eating monstrous entity dwelling inside her, who violently emerges whenever she gets too angry or afraid. Unable to rid herself of this curse, Orla uses The Ick to save other women by removing the scummiest men from the dating pool…permanently. Hearts (and bodies) will be broken in this offbeat romcom/creature-feature mashup!

Orla #1

Preview: Orla #1

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Orla #1

(W) John Lees (A/CA) Sally Cantirino (C) Dearbhla Kelly (L) Lucas Gattoni (CB) Lisa Sterle

Orla Bard is an antique restorer, romance novel enjoyer and keen birder. She also believes in true love, continuing to navigate Seattle’s singles scene despite repeated disappointment. But Orla has a secret. She is afflicted with The Ick, a man-eating monstrous entity dwelling inside her, who violently emerges whenever she gets too angry or afraid. Unable to rid herself of this curse, Orla uses The Ick to save other women by removing the scummiest men from the dating pool…permanently. Hearts (and bodies) will be broken in this offbeat romcom/creature-feature mashup!

Orla #1

The Nasty #1 delivers an interesting spin on the horror genre

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The Nasty #1

Calling all scary movie fans! Scotland, 1994. Eighteen-year-old Thumper Connell still has an imaginary friend: the masked killer from his favorite slasher film. Thumper is obsessed with horror and always has been. He fills his time with scary VHS rentals and hanging out with his fellow fans, The Murder Club. Things begin to get weird when the club gets ahold of a notorious film that no one has seen and causes bad things to happen. The Nasty #1 is a fun start that feels like a nice spin on the horror genre.

Written by John Lees, The Nasty #1 spends most of its time introducing us to Thumper and his friends. It’s not about the kill count or creative ways to kill people. The Nasty #1 is very much a boy and his imaginary friend. Thumper seems like a nice person, but he’s a bit of a loser, not super popular, gets picked on, and his safety is his small group of friends. We also get a lot of focus and hints at his life at home, one that comes off as unhappy with a father that’s who knows where and a mother who is overworked and underappreciated. An imaginary friend like this spinning out of an unhappy home life is an essay unto itself.

And things are generally interesting building towards the end when things begin to get rolling. It’s a debut and start that’s not what I expected at all and the rather slow, and somewhat uneventful, nature of it all is a surprise from the blood and guts I was expecting.

The art by George Kambadais and Adam Cahoon is good. There’s an interesting style that I don’t normally associate with horror comics and the duo have a lot of fun with Thumper’s imaginary friend. There’s moments that got me to laugh as they play off of horror tropes. Some of the pages themselves are silent, lacking dialogue, which puts all of the focus on the art to drive the entertainment.

The Nasty #1 is a solid debut with an interesting take on the horror genre. It should be interesting to see where it all goes and overall, the debut issue shows off a lot of potential replacing what we’d expect is a horror story with something that resembles more of The Goonies.

Story: John Lees Art: George Kambadais, Adam Cahoon Letterer: Jim Campbell
Story: 8.15 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.2 Recommendation: Buy

Vault Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – comiXology/Kindle

The Nasty #1 sells out before its release

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The buzz has been building for months around the debut of John Lees, Adam Cahoon, George Kambadais and Jim Campbell‘s new slasher-inspired horror series The Nasty. Vault Comics has announced the title has completely sold out at the distributor level before its release on April 5, with a second printing on the way! 

The new second printing cover is a an all-new primarily black and white take on the series’ main cover by Adam Cahoon, and is pictured above. Final orders are due for this special second printing alongside orders for issue 2 on Monday April 10 with codes and additional information forthcoming.

Scotland, 1994.

Eighteen-year-old Thumper Connell still has an imaginary friend: the masked killer from his favourite slasher film. Thumper is obsessed with horror and always has been. He fills his time with scary VHS rentals and hanging out with his fellow fans, The Murder Club. But everything changes when his local video shop acquires one of the notorious films known as “video nasties” – films so scary, they’re the target of the British Moral Decency League’s crusade to ban and burn. But it’s only a movie, right? It’s all just imaginary, isn’t it?

A story about the perception of evil, the power of genre, the love of fandom, the need to create art, oh, and crap-your-pants TERROR!”

The Nasty #1

Adam Cahoon joins The Nasty as the new series artist

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Vault Comics has announced that Adam Cahoon will be the new series artist for The Nasty beginning with the third issue. Cahoon has already contributed art to the first two issues of The Nasty, written by John Lees with letters by Jim Campbell. 

Equal parts Friday The 13th, Giant Days, Empire Records, and The Ring, The Nasty is a story about the perception of evil, the power of genre, the love of fandom, the need to create art, oh, and crap-your-pants TERROR! 

The Nasty follows eighteen-year-old Thumper Connell still has an imaginary friend: the masked killer from his favourite slasher film. Thumper is obsessed with horror and always has been. He fills his time with scary VHS rentals and hanging out with his fellow fans, The Murder Club. But everything changes when his local video shop acquires one of the notorious films known as “video nasties” – films so scary, they’re the target of the British Moral Decency League’s crusade to ban and burn. But it’s only a movie, right? It’s all just imaginary, isn’t it?

The Nasty #1 hits store shelves in March 2023, and will feature a full suite of gorgeously terrifying variant covers from some of the hottest artists in comics, including Killadelphia’s Jason Shawn Alexander, Giant Days’ Max Sarin, Nightfall: Double Feature’s Maan House, Door to Door Night by Night’s Sally Cantirino, Barbaric’s Robert Wilson IV, & more.

The Nasty #1
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