Mad Cave Studios is packing their bags and headed to Baltimore Comic Con 2022! From Friday, October 28th through the 30th, Mad Cave will be set up at Booth #2203, with Maverick in tow! Be sure to drop by the booth and say hello to the crew! Tickets for admission and VIP experiences are online now.
Lower your Sights creators, Chas! Pangburn, Kevin Cuffe, Matthew Clark, Micah Myers, Sean Gorman, Bob Frantz, and John K. Snyder III will be attending the Mad Cave booth Saturday from 3-4pm for signings on the benefit anthology.
The Baltimore Comic-Con returns to the Inner Harbor this October 28-30 at the Baltimore Convention Center. The Baltimore Comic-Con welcomes comics creators Brett Breeding, Kevin Cuffe, Bob Frantz, Adriana Melo, KhoiPham, and Billy Tucci to the 2022 event. Tickets can be purchased online now.
Brett Breeding has enjoyed more than forty years as a comic book artist, illustrating and creating characters for Marvel and DC Comics. Primarily known for his finished inks over pencilers George Perez, Ron Frenz, Kerry Gammill, and Dan Jurgens, Brett has also done penciling, and traditional and computer coloring, as well as story development and plotting. He is a co-creator of DC Comics characters Doomsday, Blaze, Lord Satanus, and Shadowdragon. Brett has worked on many titles for Marvel and DC Comics, but is most recognized for his work on the Superman titles, notably the “Death of Superman” storyline, as well as the Spider-Man titles, The Mighty Thor, The Avengers, and West Coast Avengers. While working on Thor #390 with Ron Frenz, Brett originated the idea that Steve Rogers would be worthy to wield Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, and Ron and writer Tom DeFalco made it a key part of the story. Over 30 years later, Brett’s idea would be immortalized on the big screen as a key moment in Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame. Brett’s recent works include licensing art for DC and Warner Brothers Consumer Products along with children’s books and digital interactive iPad apps featuring Superman and Batman for WB Global Publishing.
Kevin Cuffe is a father, a warlock, and a Ringo Award-winning comic book author. When not podcasting with Bob Frantz or protecting the universe from malicious extra-dimensional entities, he is usually writing, playing D&D or watching AEW. Kevin lives in Williamsburg, Virginia with his lovely partner, Danielle and their three spawn.
Bob Frantz is a Ringo-nominated writer who resides in Cincinnati, Ohio with his amazing wife and two Pokemon-obsessed children. When he isn’t writing funny books such as Metalshark Bro or The Dust Pirates, Bob is preparing a snack for his kids who haven’t touched their dinner. You can also check out the Word Bros podcast with his co-writer Kevin Cuffe.
Adriana Melo has worked for Marvel, DC, Image Comics, and Titan Comics. Some of the books she has worked as a penciler/artist are: Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Amazing Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Jackpot, Star Wars: Empire, Rose & Thorn, Witchblade, Miss Marvel, Birds of Prey, Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, Female Furies, Plastic Man, Dr. Who: New Adventures of the Ninth Doctor, Harley and Ivy Meet Betty and Veronica, Marvel Voices, and Trial of the Amazons. You can find her most recent work in the DC Comics series Wonder Girl with Joelle Jones, and in Superman: Action Comics.
Khoi Pham is an artist and mentor. His artworks include DC’s Teen Titans, Marvel’s Mighty Avengers, X-Men Legacy, Scarlet Spider, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Chaos War, Incredible Hercules, Gambit, Mighty Thor, and X-Factor, and Top Cow’s Cyberforce. He has done numerous cover illustrations for various publications. Khoi was an attorney and venture capitalist prior to switching to art and mentoring. He has a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Saint Joseph’s University.
Billy Tucci is an award-winning cartoonist best known for his modern-day samurai fable, Shi. Through Billy’s Crusade Fine Arts, the multi-Eisner Award-nominated Shi has been printed in five languages and sold more than 3 million comic books. He has also worked on a litany of projects for DC Comics, including Sgt. Rock, Harley Quinn, Flash Vs. Superman, and Batman. His earnest retelling of the Christmas story, A Child Is Born, has quietly turned into an international blockbuster after winning the Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award. 2021 celebrated Billy’s 27th Anniversary in comics with the release of the Shi: Return of the Warrior, Shi: Haikyo, and the Shi: Omnibus Vol. 1. He also illustrated Wonder Woman: Angel of Battle for DC Comics and wrote the comics return of June Tarpe’ Mills’ golden age icon, Miss Fury for Dynamite Entertainment.
2022 GUESTS
Confirmed guests for this year’s show include: Chris Barcomb (The Amazing Adventure of Superior Sam), Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl), Marty Baumann (Pixar artist), John Beatty (Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars), Carolyn Belefski (Curls), Brian Michael Bendis (Action Comics), Brett Breeding (Superman), Dan Brereton (Nocturnals), Russ Braun (The Boys), Harold Buchholz (Sweetest Beasts), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Jeffrey Burandt (Killer Bad), Jim Calafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit), Joe Carabeo (Black Magic Tales), Richard Case (Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror), John Cassaday (Astonishing X-Men), Howard Chaykin (Time Squared), Frank Cho (Harley Quinn), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Katie Cook (Nothing Special), Kevin Cuffe (Metalshark Bro), Nick Davis (The Night Guardians – Awakenings), Kristina Deak-Linsner (Roses for the Dead), J. Robert Deans (Crass Fed), Todd Dezago (The Perhapanauts), Garth Ennis (The Boys, Friday and Saturday only), Chris Flick (Capes and Babes), Scott Fogg (Phileas Reid Knows We’re Not Alone), Trish Forstner (Stray Dogs), LJ and Kayla Fowlkes (The Adventures of CHIBIWONGTONG), Franco (The Ghost, The Owl), Bob Frantz (Metalshark Bro), John Gallagher (Max Meow: Cat Crusader), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Nation), Steven Grant (X), Dawn Griffin (Zorphbert & Fred), Bob Hall (West Coast Avengers), Dean Haspiel (The Fox), Mike Hawthorne (Happiness Will Follow), Greg Hildebrandt (Star Wars), Jamal Igle (Molly Danger), Klaus Janson (Daredevil, Friday and Saturday only), Chris Kemple (Artist Alley Comics), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Alien), Barry Kitson (Amazing Spider-Man), Jim Lee (Action Comics, Friday only), Joseph Michael Linsner (Red Sonja), Howard Mackie (Ghost Rider), Mariano Brothers (Claire Lost Her Bear at the World’s Fair), Whitney Matheson (Pandemix: Quarantine Comics in the Age of ‘Rona), Jason May (LEGO Club Magazine), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Mike McKone (Genis-Vell: Captain Marvel), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), Adriana Melo (Action Comics), Pop Mhan (Gears of War 3), Frank Miller (Sin City, Saturday only), Mark Morales (Thor), Bill Morrison (The Simpsons), Trevor Mueller (Albert the Alien), Jamar Nicholas (Leon: Protector of the Playground), Sedat Oezgen (Judge Dredd), Jerry Ordway (Superman), Rachel Ordway (Chainmail Bikini), Richard Pace (Second Coming, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Dan Parent (Archie vs. Sharknado), Andrew Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Brandon Peterson (Uncanny X-Men), Khoi Pham (Teen Titans), Ed Piskor (Red Room: Trigger Warnings), Andy Price (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), Tom Raney (Green Lantern), Afua Richardson (Omni), Christopher Ring (Seamus (the Famous)), David A. Rodriguez (Skylanders), Don Rosa (Uncle Scrooge), Craig Rousseau (The Perhapanauts), Arsia Rozegar (Shahnameh For Kids), Jim Rugg (Hulk Grand Design), Stuart Sayger (The Joker), Pat Shand (Destiny, NY), Liam Sharp (Green Lantern), Louise Simonson (X-Men Legends), Walter Simonson (Ragnarok), Don Simpson (Megaton Man), Matt Slay (Equilibrium), John K. Snyder III (Suicide Squad), Jim Starlin (Infinity Gauntlet), Joe Staton (Dick Tracy), Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother), Billy Tucci (Shi), Emilio Velez Jr. (The Dodgeball Teens), Dexter Vines (Civil War, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Sean Von Gorman (Return of Toe Tag Riot), Mark Waid (Superman: Red and Blue), Adam Wallenta (Punk Taco), Todd Webb (Mr. Toast Comics), Emily S. Whitten (The Underfoot), Matt Wieringo (Stargate Atlantis: Gateways), Keith Williams (Thor the Worthy), Charles P. Wilson III (Wraith), Rich Woodall (Electric Black), Gene Luen Yang (Superman Smashes the Klan), and Thom Zahler (Love and Capes).
Bob Frantz, Kevin Cuffe, and Walter Ostlie’sMetalshark Bro: What the Finis a little over 90 pages of cartoonish violence, fun one-liners, and a battle between Heaven and Hell with an anthropomorphic shark and a floating, hat-wearing magic eyeball named Ira caught in between. The premise is that a heavy metal band is lost at sea, and its members are devoured by an ordinary shark. However, Beelzebra, Satan’s “douchebag nephew”, held claim to one of their souls so he merged the soul of the band members with the shark to create “Metalshark Bro”. Now, Metalshark Bro must travel the land and collect the souls on Beelzebra’s to-do list so he can return to swimming in the ocean and having rows of teeth. However, as with any story featuring a Faustian bargain, it’s a bit more complicated than that.
Metalshark Bro is definitely a comic you read for the over the top mayhem paired with its protagonist’s easygoing, and at times, cheesy quips as he cuts all his opponents down a peg. However, there are some sweet moments too like when Metalshark Bro takes a break to pet a cat (Who ends up biting his hand) or leading a resistance movement. Bob Frantz and Kevin Cuffe set up some basic world-building with different realms, magic, a hierarchy of devils looking for souls, and a militant church trying to end the apocalypse that is straight out of the late-1990s Top Cow comic, but more tongue in cheek than sleazy. However, this world (and plot) exists just to take Metalshark Bro and Ira from wacky situation to situation as he tries to become himself again.
However, these situations that Frantz, Cuffe, and Walter Ostlie conjure up are creative and fun and make Metal Shark Bro a breezy read. For example, there’s an extended fight with a wizard that transforms into a goat whose heart Metal Shark Bro ends up eating, or later on, he and Ira end up fighting a horde of donut shaped demons. The comic also has pop culture homages too, including Star Wars, Fight Club, and mecha anime in general. Bob Frantz and Kevin Cuffe really write Metalshark Bro as a classic, wisecracking action protagonist, which is very much a coping mechanism as much as it’s his personality, especially when he ends up a little bit over his head later tin the comic. Metalshark Bro really has a unique personality: an incredibly human blend of anger and politeness like when he slaughters all the diners at a chicken and waffle restaurant, but still leaves a tip. He definitely reacts how someone would if you were put in another species’ body with a completely different set of rules and purpose for living.
On the art side of things, Walter Ostlie creates his share of big, dynamic moments in Metalshark Bro like the initial transformation sequence, or even Metalshark Bro and his fellow prisoners fake fighting to start a riot and escape. However, he doesn’t sacrifice storytelling coherence or smoothness for cool metal moments using grids for rapid fire conversations like when Satan and his nephew have a little chat and opening up the page and intensifying the color palette during the various fights against wizards, monsters, demons, or ninja nuns. All kinds of fluids are flying throughout this book, and it gives Metalshark Bro a knowing B-movie charm to go with its deadpan humor meets eviscerated body parts Adult Swim tone. However, the emotional side of the story comes from little jaw and eye movements from Metalshark Bro as he genuinely wants to back in the ocean even though it looks like he’s having a good time tearing through damned souls.
Metalshark Bro: What the Fin has a likable protagonist, a good sense of humor, and epic art from Walter Ostlie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Bob Frantz and Kevin Cuffe have combined two classic story archetypes (Hero’s Journey, Deal with the Devil) and replaced the usual white bread protagonist with an anthropomorphic shark and a floating eye with some laugh out loud funny results and loads of violence. This is definitely a book you want to check out if you want to take a break from the “real world” for a bit.
Story: Bob Frantz and Kevin CuffeArt: Walter Ostlie Letters: Chas! Pangburn Story: 8.8 Art: 9.0 Overall: 8.9 Recommendation: Buy
Scout Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
(W) Kevin Cuffe, Simon Birks, Carlos Giffoni, Joseph A. Michael, Mark Schmidt, Octavio Karbank, Christopher Preece, Austin Allen Hamblin, Omar Spahi, Frank Martin (A) Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque, Donny Tran, Eva Cabrera, Livio Ramondelli, Balazs Valyogos, Andrea Mutti, Atilio Rojo, Christian Dibari
Genetic manipulation, paradox, alternative histories, and much more are included in this 128-page anthology of hard science fiction and genre stories! From some of the best up-and-coming talent in comics comes a mind-bending look at what makes us human.
Clive Owen is a one of those actors whose believability in roles is the reason so many people watch him. His ability to immerse himself is what makes people relate to him. The first movie I remember him in was Children Of Men, a story in which he plays a gun for hire in a dystopian future where no one can get pregnant. He played the character with ease, grit, and soulfulness. You couldn’t help but root for his character.
One of my favorite movies by him was the enigmatic yet hard-boiled I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead. He portrays a former gangster whose brother has suspiciously committed suicide. He displayed what Descartes called “the duality of man,” where he easily turned back to his former life in name of vengeance. In the debut issue of Oathbound, we find a protagonist much like Owen’s Will, where his old life interferes with his present life and he is forced to act.
We’re taken to 1868 Nevada where a posse is about to undertake a score of a lifetime by stealing enslaved Elves. Of course, nothing goes as planned. One of the posse members, Cole Jamison, meets the love of his life during the heist leading to a change of heart. We fast forward 20 years later, high in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Cole and his daughter Voila living a fairly boring normal life. Their seemingly quiet existence gets interrupted when a band of Goblins decides to cause a ruckus near the house leading Cole to spring into action.
Overall, a powerful story that will remind readers of Wynonna Earp but will find a more entertaining story. The story by Kevin Cuffe is even paced, well-characterized, and masterfully told. The art by the creative team is beautiful. Altogether, a story that is both emotive and action-packed, providing readers with a rare story that will move you and entertain you.
Story: Kevin Cuffe Art: Paul Gori, Hedwin Jimenez Zaldivar, Micah Meyers, and Shawn Greenleaf Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy
Created by Bob Frantz and Kevin Cuffe; artwork by Walter Ostlie and Shawn Greenleaf, Metalshark Bro! is the latest series announced by Scout Comics.
Metalshark Bro! takes place off the coast of Bali where sharks swim along, casually looking for their next meal. Beelzbra, the horrific nephew of Satan himself, interrupts this tranquil patch of mother nature by turning one of the deadly fish into an anthropomorphic shark with a penchant for brutal murder. Wanting nothing more than to be turned back into the happy, swimming creature he was, Metalshark Bro must collect nine cursed souls for the wretched little demon before he will turn Metalshark Broback.
