(W) Tom King (A/CA) Bilquis Evely In Shops: Apr 17, 2024 SRP: $4.99
From the Eisner Award-winning and bestselling creative team of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comes this Gothic sword and sorcery epic that’s Conan the Barbarian meets The Wizard of Oz. As the secret history of her family begins the unravel, Helen explores the grounds of Wyndhorn House and its many inhabitants both real and fantastical, on a quest to understand her true family heritage and what role she plays.
As freedom and democracy flourish, the animals work together to set up a steady stream of donations for the pound, and all seems well for a time. However, tensions build as the fairness of the current system is called into question, and when Piggy the dog decides to run for election, he does something unthinkable that shocks all of the animals to their core… Animal Pound #3 is a tragic issue as things begin to go south.
Things are going well so far as the animals begin to get their new world in order. Elections have come and with an income stream, things are looking good for the dogs, cats, and rabbits. But, we know that peace will eventually end as Animal Pound is a cautionary tale, exploring the slide from populism to fascism. Writer Tom King takes us through elections as we see things begin to crack.
While smooth at first, even the best situations can’t last forever and choices are made that are both good and bad in their results. It’s all interesting and King works through the transition from one leader to the next and what they bring, and don’t, to the table. It all is a slippery slope as we see tensions rise and leadership really fail to deal with the underlying issues. All of that leads to a shocking, cliffhanger ending. It’s also an interesting choice by King to have the slide of society really ramp up with an entertainer… almost like it’s a real world reflection…
Peter Gross‘ art is key to it all. With color by Tamra Bonvillain and lettering by Clayton Cowles, there’s a calm about it all but underneath, tension. The art delivers cuteness but at the same time an animalistic aspect. There’s s tone about the art that really fits the nature of the comic. Things are generally calm and going well but you also get the sense from the visuals this isn’t some utopian world. There’s a weariness, a worn look to it. That helps drive the slide to the end of the comic.
Animal Pound #3 is a solid issue taking us through various governments and what they bring to the table. The slide to where things go is slow but looking back, you can see the start of it all and the why of it all. Where things go next will be key and interesting but overall, the series is a wonderful new and updated take on a classic tale.
Story: Tom King Art: Peter Gross Color: Tamra Bonvillain Letterer: Clayton Cowles Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy
BOOM! Studios provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
(W) Tom King (A/CA) Bilquis Evely In Shops: Apr 17, 2024 SRP: $4.99
From the Eisner Award-winning and bestselling creative team of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comes this Gothic sword and sorcery epic that’s Conan the Barbarian meets The Wizard of Oz. As the secret history of her family begins the unravel, Helen explores the grounds of Wyndhorn House and its many inhabitants both real and fantastical, on a quest to understand her true family heritage and what role she plays.
(W) Tom King (A/CA) Bilquis Evely In Shops: Apr 17, 2024 SRP: $4.99
From the Eisner Award-winning and bestselling creative team of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comes this Gothic sword and sorcery epic that’s Conan the Barbarian meets The Wizard of Oz. As the secret history of her family begins the unravel, Helen explores the grounds of Wyndhorn House and its many inhabitants both real and fantastical, on a quest to understand her true family heritage and what role she plays.
(W) Tom King (A) Daniel Sampere, Clayton Cowles In Shops: Apr 16, 2024 SRP: $4.99
WONDER WOMAN VS. THE SOVEREIGN! After being captured by a team of villains, Diana finds herself at the mercy of the scariest of them all. Unbeknownst to our hero, the Sovereign has been pulling her strings since the very beginning of our tale, and now it’s time for her to see the world his way as she falls under the influence of the Lasso of Lies! Plus, Trinity visits the past and unexpectedly changes the future!
Baltimore Comic-Con‘s 25th Anniversary will take place on September 20-22, 2024 at the Inner Harbor’s Baltimore Convention Center. The Baltimore Comic-Con has announced the addition of comics guests, Ringo Awards jurors Todd Dezago, Jamal Igle, Sam Maggs, Craig Rousseau, Matt Wieringo, and Ringo Award winner Tom King for the 25th Anniversary event! Comics readers can vote for their favorite comics and creators from 2023 via the Ringo Awards homepage now. Tickets for the convention are available now!
Todd Dezago is a writer best known for his work in comics. He has written for Marvel, DC Comics, Image, Dark Horse, Scout Comics, and others. His credits include scripting the adventures of Spider-Man, X-Factor, the X-Men, the Avengers, Marvel Super Hero Squad, the Justice League, Flash, Impulse, Batman, and Young Justice. Todd co-created the high-adventure fantasy title, Tellos, with Mike Wieringo and The Perhapanauts with Craig Rousseau.
Jamal Igle is the recipient of the 2011 Inkpot Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comic Art. He is writer/artist/creator of Molly Danger for Action Lab Entertainment, the co-creator of Venture with Dynamo 5 creator/writer Jay Faerber, and the penciller/co-creator of The Wrong Earth with writer and Editor in Chief, Tom Peyer for AHOY Comics. Jamal is a comic industry veteran whose detailed pencils have graced books as varied as The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the all-ages action miniseries Race Against Time, as well as mainstream hits such as G.I. Joe, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Green Lantern. Jamal has served as the series artist for popular runs on Firestorm the Nuclear Man, Nightwing, Tangent: Superman’s Reign, Superman, Supergirl, and Zatanna for DC Comics, Noble Causes for Image Comics, and a four-issue run on New Warriors for Marvel Comics.
Jamal recently completed the sequel to the hit series Black called White from Black Superpowers/Black Mask Studios, and The Wrong Earth: Night and Day, The Mysterious Micro-Face for NPR Planet Money, and Milestones in History for DC Comics. Jamal also worked with legendary Batman writer Scott Snyder on his new creator-owned series, Dudley Datson and the Forever Machine for Comixology.
Currently, Jamal is hard at work on the newest volume of The Wrong Earth as well as helping shape the next generation of comics creators at The School of Visual Arts in New York City.
Ringo and Eisner Award-winning Tom King was the long-term writer of Batman at DC Comics, where he has also written Mister Miracle, Grayson, The Omega Men, DC Nation, Swamp Thing Winter Special, and has a story in Action Comics #1000, not to mention his award-winning work at Marvel on The Vision. King’s first book, A Once Crowded Sky, a postmodern super hero novel, was recognized by USA Today as one of the best Graphic Novels of the year. He was named by the Hollywood Reporter as one of the five comic creators to watch in 2015.
Sam Maggs is a New York Times Bestselling Author of books, comics, and video games. Her novels include Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars and The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope; she’s written for games like Call of Duty: Vanguard, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and Marvel’s Spider-Man; and her comics and graphic novels include Marvel Action: Captain Marvel, Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins, and Tell No Tales: Pirates of the Southern Seas. She is also an on-air host for networks like Nerdist. A Canadian in Los Angeles, she misses Coffee Crisp and bagged milk.
Craig Rousseau has been working in the comics industry for over 2 decades, working for all the major publishers, including DC (Impulse, Batman Beyond, Harley Quinn, Batman ‘66) and Marvel (Iron Man Armor Wars, Captain America and the Korvac Saga, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane). Besides Young Hellboy from Dark Horse Comics, he’s currently working on the latest adventures of his creator-owned book, The Perhapanauts (with Todd Dezago) at Black Caravan… and a few other things.
Matt Wieringo works in advertising. Chances are, you’ve swiped past, fast-forwarded through, or tweeted a rude response to something he’s worked on without knowing it. He’ll let it slide if you donate to the Mike Wieringo Scholarship Fund at S.C.A.D. See how he just effortlessly sneaked an ad into his bio? Dang, he’s good. Matt lives in Richmond, VA with his wife (and Wonder Woman uber-fan) Suzanne and their two cats, Ivan and Danger.
This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Rodney Barnes (Killadelphia), Marty Baumann (Pixar artist), John Beatty (Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars), Rose Besch (Miles Morales: Spider-Man), Brett Breeding (Superman), Tom Brevoort (coursey of Hero Initiative, FCBD 2023: Avengers/X-Men), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Jim Calafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit), John Cassaday (X-Force), Keith Champagne (Stranger Things), Howard Chaykin (Time Squared), Cliff Chiang (Paper Girls), Frank Cho (Harley Quinn), Michael Cho (Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories–Qui-Gon Jinn), Amy Chu (KISS: The End), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Katie Cook (Nothing Special), Todd Dezago (The Perhapanauts), Chris Eliopoulos (Ordinary People Change the World), Steve Epting (New Avengers), Trish Forstner (Feral), Franco (Teen Titans Go to the Library), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Nation), Ron Garney (BZRKR), Sanford Greene (Bitter Root), Gene Ha (Mae), Bob Hall (West Coast Avengers), Mike Hawthorne (Deadpool), Kyle Higgins (Radiant Black), Greg Hildebrandt (Star Wars), Dan Jurgens (Action Comics), Jamal Igle (Superman), Klaus Janson (courtesy of Hero Initiative, Daredevil), Joëlle Jones (Lady Killer), Tom King (Wonder Woman), Barry Kitson (Amazing Spider-Man), Emma Kubert (Inkblot), Jim Lee (Superman), Sam Maggs (Marvel Action: Captain Marvel), Shawn Martinbrough (Red Hood: The Hill), Mike McKone (Red Goblin), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), Adriana Melo (Action Comics), Al Milgrom (Spectacular Spider-Man), Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise), Fabian Nicieza (courtesy of Hero Initiative, Deadpool), Jerome Opena (Uncanny X-Force), Dan Parent (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Andrew Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), Khoi Pham (Star Wars: Darth Vader), Nick Pitarra (Ax-Wielder Jon), Andy Price (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), Tom Raney (Green Lantern), Afua Richardson (Omni), Don Rosa (Uncle $crooge), Craig Rousseau (The Perhapanauts), Alex Saviuk (Web of Spider-Man), Liam Sharp (X-O Manowar Unconquered), Geoff Shaw (God Country), Don Simpson (Megaton Man), Louise Simonson (The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special), Walter Simonson (Thor), Matt Slay (Equilibrium), Matt Slay (Equalibrium), John K. Snyder III (Suicide Squad), Mark Sparacio (Omega Paradox), Joe Staton (Dick Tracy), Brian Stelfreeze (Black Panther), Joshua “Swayart” Swaby (Star Wars), Babs Tarr (Batgirl of Burnside), Jeremy Whitley (Navigating With You, courtesy of Mad Cave Studios), Matt Wieringo (Stargate Atlantis: Gateways), Stephanie Williams (Nubia: Queen of the Amazons), Marv Wolfman (What If…? Dark: Tomb of Dracula), Rich Woodall (Electric Black), and Leinil Francis Yu (Wolverine).
Tom King, Bilquis Evely, Clayton Cowls, and Matheus Lopes put their own spin on the classic portal fantasy genre in Helen of Wyndhorn #1.
Story: Tom King Art: Bilquis Evely Colors: Matheus Lopes Letters: Clayton Cowles
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.
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site
BOOM! Studios has revealed a first look at Animal Pound #3. From the minds of writer Tom King, artist Peter Gross, colorist Tamra Bonvillain, and letterer Clayton Cowles, discover the modern retelling of the timeless Orwellian allegory.
As freedom and democracy flourish, the animals work together to set up a steady stream of donations for the pound, and all seems well for a time. However, tensions build as the fairness of the current system is called into question, and when Piggy the dog decides to run for election, he does something unthinkable that shocks all of the animals to their core…
Animal Pound #3 features a main cover by series artist Peter Gross and variant covers by highly acclaimed artists Yuko Shimizu, Phil Hester with Bill Crabtree, and Julian Totino Tedesco. Out April 17, 2024.
This week we’re revisiting a previous entry in the series with Tom King’s A Once Crowded Sky.
This is a column that focuses on something or some things from the comic book sphere of influence that may not get the credit and recognition it deserves. Whether that’s a list of comic book movies, ongoing comics, or a set of stories featuring a certain character. The columns may take the form of a bullet pointed list, or a slightly longer thinkpiece – there’s really no formula for this other than whether the things being covered are Underrated in some way. This week: A Once Crowded Sky
It’s no secret how much I love comics. Or at least it shouldn’t be.
While most pretty much all of the comics I read can, to varying degrees, be placed on the superhero side of things, sometimes I’ll pick up the odd non-superhero comic. I’m a big fan of the modern comic book re-imaginings of the early pulp heroes such as The Black Bat, The Spider, and The Phantom, although one could argue their closeness to the superhero genre renders the example moot, so let me be blunt; the point I am poorly trying to make is that I love superhero stories (of all varieties) in my comics more than any other type of story.
Amazingly enough, I also read books.
If you look at my book shelf you’ll see a lot of fantasy, sword and sorcery, and historical fiction. There isn’t much set within the last one hundred years or so that I tend to pick up and read. I can think of, maybe, twenty books (or series) that I’ve read in the last fifteen years or so that are set within the last century, and only a handful of them were based around superheroes. One was an average Wolverine tale I read on Kindle, one is the hugely enjoyable Dresden Files series and another was A Once Crowded Sky by some dude named Tom King, which is the subject of today’s column.
Although the story wasn’t quite mind blowing, it was remarkably well told, and had some incredible ideas within its pages. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the book is actually the way it is told. In a book with multiple point of view characters, each character’s point of view is laid out like a comic book; the book is set up like a text version of a collected comic book tie-in event across multiple issues. It’s a brilliant way to tie in the obvious influence and homage to the four colour medium, as is the occasional comic book page within the book itself.
A Once Crowded Sky is a relative anomaly for me; it’s a superhero story that I read, and enjoyed, that wasn’t in a comic book. Now, my sample size of superhero books is obviously incredibly small compared with that of superhero comics, but the thing I must stress here is it isn’t that I’ve had no access to superhero books, it’s that I simply have no desire to read about superheroes in any other medium that isn’t a comic book, and I have no idea why.
Maybe it’s because up until A Once Crowded Sky every superhero book I’ve looked as has been hard to justify the price tag. I found A Once Crowded Sky for $3 on a table of reduced hardcover books at a chain book store – it’s easily worth four times that amount, but would I have looked at it for more than $3? Seeing as how it took me two days to decide to pick the book up even for about the price of a comic, well, then probably not. Maybe I don’t like superhero books because they lack the visual nature of comics, which probably does have something to do with it, but I’m more then happy reading theDresden Files novels and graphic novels, but then the Dresden Files and superheroes occupy two different genres. Maybe, and most likely, it’s because there simply hasn’t been much buzz about any superhero books.
So what’s A Once Crowded Sky about, and why should you read it?
“The superheroes of Arcadia City fight a wonderful war and play a wonderful game, forever saving yet another day. However, after sacrificing both their powers and Ultimate, the greatest hero of them all, to defeat the latest apocalypse, these comic book characters are transformed from the marvelous into the mundane.
After too many battles won and too many friends lost, The Soldier of Freedom was fine letting all that glory go. But when a new threat blasts through his city, Soldier, as ever, accepts his duty and reenlists in this next war. Without his once amazing abilities, he’s forced to seek the help of the one man who walked away, the sole hero who refused to make the sacrifice–PenUltimate, the sidekick of Ultimate, who through his own rejection of the game has become the most powerful man in the world, the only one left who might still, once again, save the day.”
Tom King’s debut novel has some lofty ideas, and some great presentation ideas that more than out weigh the at times overly wordy moments as King at times loses himself in backstory and internal monologues. There are flashes of his later brilliance in this 2012 novel, and it’s fascinating to see how he’s grown as a writer since this book. Despite having some rather interesting names for his characters (no, that’s not food – that’s my tongue in my cheek), it’s not hard to identify where their inspiration came from. Soldier of Fortune and Captain America do bear more than a slight similarity, after all.
But by using his own versions of these characters we’re all so familiar with, King is able to tell the story he wants without worrying about the guiding hand of either of the big two publishers impacting his story.
What we’re left with at the end of the day is a solid, and very enjoyable superhero novel written by a man who would go on to write some utterly fantastic comics. This book isn’t on that level, but it’s still well worth checking out should you come across it.
Someday, hopefully soon, superhero books will have their own section in the book store and when they do, that’s where you’ll find me.
Join us next week when we explore another Underrated aspect that may be at best tangentially related to comics!
