Tag Archives: sainted love

Sainted Love #1 delivers an intriguing time travel adventure

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Sainted Love #1

New York City. 1907. Malcolm Irina is the greatest inventor the world’s never heard of, and his lover, John Wolf, is the toughest bare-knuckle boxer in the city. Irina’s crowning invention, the Chronocorridor, is nearly complete. He dreams of whisking himself and Wolf away to a time when they can live and love freely. But when crazed Detective Felt raids Irina’s lab, the couple dive into the freshly powered up portal to escape capture. Sainted Love #1 is an interesting start to an intriguing time travel adventure.

Written by Steve Orlando, Sainted Love #1 takes us to the early 1900s and the bigotry oozing. We get two very interesting characters in a bare-knuckle boxer and an inventor, a duo that seems to work but my catty self can’t see together. John is a talented boxer with a female manager/trainer who is underestimated while Irina’s inventions feel more like show to bilk money from the rich. The two are forced to go on the run after a raid that sends them through time, launching them ahead to the 1950s.

Orlando sets things up well and makes it all intriguing. Some of the story is a little thin, like the motivation of Detective Felt, but the time travel adventure is more the focus, getting the along the way. Orlando’s use of that is fun, especially what Irina does with his time and in a new time.

What was unexpected was the sex. There’s nothing wrong with it, and it feels like Orlando taps classic underground LGBTQ comics of the 90s and early 00s, but not expecting it, it caught be off guard. I’ve read a lot of Steve Orlando’s work and this is pretty open, not something I remember his previously doing (much has been hinted but not shown previously).

The art by Giopota is where the comic for me is a bit of a downer. It’s not bad but it’s not a style I particularly like. It doesn’t quite hook me. Some works, and works really well in particular panels but others, not for me. It’s a personal taste thing and what one enjoys for comic art.

Sainted Love #1 is a pretty good start. It’s cool to see a mix of a classic time travel story with an LGBTQ mix. It stands out on the shelves and if you are looking for queer stories or a new spin on a classic story, it’s well worth checking out.

Story: Steve Orlando Art: Giopota Letterer: Simon Bowland, Andworld Design
Story: 8.0 Art: 7.0 Overall: 7.85 Recommendation: Read

Vault Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: TFAW – Zeus Comics – Kindle

Graphic Policy’s Top Comic Picks this Week!

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40 MEN AND 12 RIFLES GN

Wednesdays (and Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in

Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!

Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this week.

40 Men and 12 Rifles (Arsenal Pulp Press) – an expansive, gripping graphic novel set in Indochina in the year leading up to 1954, when the French-held garrison at Dien Bien Phu fell after a four-month battle, leading to the end of the first Indochina war between French forces and Ho Chi Minh’s nationalist rebels.

Ancient Enemies #6 (Frank Miller Presents) – The series has been the standout from the new publisher and we want to know how it all ends… and see if there’s more to come!

Conan the Barbarian #3 (Titan Comics) – An fun an entertaining take on Conan the Barbarian that old fans will love and new readers can dive right in. Great story and great art.

Creed: Next Round #4 (BOOM! Studios) – The next chapter in the Creed story wraps up here! We’re excited to see how it ends and hope we see more.

Darkwing Duck #9 (Dynamite Entertainment) – We’re fans of the classic animated series and every issue of this series feels like returning to old friends.

Fist of the North Star Vol. 10 (VIZ Media) – We’re expecting more of the same over the top martial arts action in an apocalyptic world.

The Flash #1 (DC Comics) – A new team and a new direction focused on Wally West and the Flash family. There’s a lot of groundwork laid here for what has potential as an interesting direction.

Immortal Thor #2 (Marvel) – The first issue featured some pretty big changes and direction for Thor and we’re intrigued to see what the second brings.

Invincible Iron Man #10 (Marvel) – We’re still skeptical over the whole Tony and Emma wedding but we’re also suckers for events like this.

The Penguin #2 (DC Comics) – Such a fantastic second issue which is impressive since the first was so good too. It’s tragic in so many ways with solid tension throughout.

Sainted Love #1 (Vault Comics) – Get hurled across time and encounter famous queer people throughout history and fight back against all who would see their names and love erased!

Stuff of Nightmares: Red Murder #1 (BOOM! Studios) – New R.L. Stine that features a real ax murderer eerily paralleling a hatch-wielding killer from a comic.

Ultimate Invasion #4 (Marvel) – The miniseries overall has been blah but we want to see what’s next.

Void Rivals #4 (Skybound/Image Comics) – How will the series tie into the Energon Universe further? This issue is a big one! Expect a sellout!

WildC.A.T.s #11 (DC Comics) – Pure dysfunction and great action. The comic continues to deliver.

Vault announces Sainted Love and Lone for September

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Vault Comics first announced the new series Sainted Love from Steve Orlando, known for his work with both DC and Marvel as well as numerous creator-owned series across publishers, and newcomer and queer cartoonist Giopota with colors by Rosh and letters by Simon Bowland via Kickstarter earier this month. Vault has now and announced the wider debut of Sainted Love in September! In addition, the publisher today reveals deals of Brooklyn-based artist Angie Marie Hewitt’s previously announced Wonderbound debut series Lone the same month!

Sainted Love, the steamy time traveling adventure series; equal parts romance and science fiction is already a certified success midway through its crowdfunding campaign, currently sitting at nearly four times its original funding goal.

Sainted Love

Now, Angie Hewitt’s supernatural middle grade mystery series joins the party after previously being announced last summer. On the last day of summer before eighth grade, Alma makes a disturbing discovery: the lake her town is named for has disappeared. Not dried up. Vanished! What’s more concerning is that no one else remembers it ever existed. With the help of her best friend, Kel, Alma tries to get to the bottom of the mystery. But as more things start to disappear, Alma worries she might somehow be the cause. 

Meanwhile, Sainted Love is a gay romance that sees queer heroes becomes legends themselves as they explore and adventure through iconic times in queer history, from the passion of gay saints Sergius and Bacchusto to the Lavender Mafia of the 1970s, and in between. Irina and Wolf first think they need to return home, but they soon realize that their real calling is elsewhere in time, to places where they’re free to love and exists as who they are and eras that desperately need their help.

Sainted Love comes to comic shops on September 27, while the fist issue of Lone will debut two weeks earlier on September 13.