Afterlife Volume 1
Written by Stormcrow Hayes
Art and Lettering by Rob Steen
Foreword by Joshua Dysart
Published by TokyoPop
Cover Price: $9.99; Available Now

What happens when you die? Every religion has an answer. Philosophers debate about it. Artists try to capture it. Scientists try to define it. And they’ve all got it wrong. There is no Heaven, there is no Hell. There is no punishment for lack of morals or reward for a decently lived life. There are no virgins, no pearly gates, no fire and brimstone. There is only a void of eternity, where every… single… person who has ever lived goes. In this world, Mother Teresa and Hitler stand side by side pondering, L. Ron Hubbard and David Koresh fist fight to pass the time, and priests from the Catholic, Taoist, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths sit in a circle and point fingers at each other. Forever.

But in this ethereal nothingness, there are some problems, as space is becoming increasingly hard to find, and there are of course the “demons” that attack and drag souls off into the black void. To keep the people safe from these creatures, and to try and keep some order, there are a few selected who become Guardians. Thaddeus is one of these selected, and has been given an organic bodysuit that he uses to fight, defend, and keep the general peace. Thaddeus has lost track of how long he has been in the Afterlife, and tries to keep some sense of sanity with the secret journal that he keeps, and his friendship with the other Guardians. There are many times when Thaddeus has just wanted to quit, and when rumors of The Gate — a supposed portal out of the Afterlife — reaches him, he finally comes to the first real decision he has been able to make since dying.

Creators Stormcrow Hayes and Rob Steen have reached into the deepest and darkest recesses of the minds of the human collective and brought to the surface the awful and horrible truth about what is waiting for us after we breathe our last breath on Earth. What they have to offer us is a mind-numbing nihilistic view point, that given credence by the wrong people, could spell the ruin for everything that has been created since the dawn of man.

Infiniteens #1
Story and Art: Zeu
Lettering: IK Comics
IK Comics
Cover Price: $1.00; Available Now

It has been eighteen years since the Vitori-Shears Barrier was broken through, and the ensuing rift released superparticles across the entire world. The result was over two million “event children” or “event freaks” as they would despairingly come to be known as. These superpowered freaks, with abilities that are limited only by the imagination, have strewn anarchy across the entire world. Boston, New York, and Los Angeles now lie in ashes, and are just a few of the victims to the constant battles of the failing governments and military against the event freaks.

But in Cape Ruseur, a small town that has evaded much of the strife plaguing the rest of the country, four teenagers that have been charged by the superparticles are honing the powers that they have been given. They call themselves The Infiniteens, and they are about to become the first true superhero team on the planet, and offer a glimmer of hope and a supercharged helping hand amidst the rampaging chaos.

Jesus Hates Zombies: Those Slack-Jaw Blues TPB
Created by Stephen Lindsay
Artist: Various
Independent Horizon
Cover Price: $17; Available Now

A zombie plague has overtaken Earth, and the situation has become so dire that God feels he must step in and once again send his only son to Earth to save the souls of those that remain alive. Jesus’ goal is to find a church where a group of survivors are boarded up and are the key to saving the human race. Unfortunately, there are two catches. First, God is unable to locate the specific church due to the evil clouding Earth, and so Jesus must travel the globe until he finds it. Second, since Jesus’ powers on Earth are fueled by faith and belief, and with so few left alive to believe, Jesus is essentially a mortal.

Now on Earth, and armed with a trusty baseball bat, Jesus wanders from town to town, and city to city, looking for this one specific church. He encounters hundreds of zombies, which he dispatches with ease, and deals with worse in the form of those that are still human and driven insane by the walking dead. Along the way, Jesus picks up an unlikely sidekick — a “Bub” style zombie who has retained some slight speech abilities and recognizes Jesus for the savior that he is.

Blasphemy hasn’t been this fun since Willem Dafoe donned the crown of thorns! Pouring from the demented mind of Stephen Lindsay, and assisted by co-writer Michael Bartolotta and a score of artists, this is not Billy Graham’s or Jimmy Swaggert’s Jesus. Our hero here has no time to turn the other cheek, relishes in being able to take aggression out on some zombies, smokes more cigarettes than the Marlboro Man, and isn’t afraid to take his own name in vain. God also gets a rather interesting makeover, as an overweight cigar-chomping gangster-type, who hangs out at Heaven’s Spa, home of the famous “Godly Touch Massage.”

Witch Hunter #1
Writer: Vincent Verrante
Pencils: Scott
Inks and Colors: Victor Dominicis, Keith Seifert
Monarch Comics
Cover Price: $2.99; Available Now

Three hundred years ago, a young boy along with his mother are burned at the stake for practicing magic. But while his body burned, his soul was kept safe in an amulet. Now, in this modern time where magic has ceased to exist because the world has ceased to believe, this young boy is needed more than ever. His soul is released from the amulet, and his body brought back to life. Thus is born the Witch Hunter who adorns his swashbuckling garb with magical artifacts and weapons, and is cloaked in a purple robe, ready to take on evils in whatever dimension they raise their head. One of Witch Hunter’s first missions is to locate the daughter of a rich businessman. His journey takes him to a manor in a land deep underground, where monsters pay to “rent the services” of females of all shapes and races. With his trusty gun, sharp blade, and sharper wit, the Witch Hunter will have to cut through more than just a few unruly customers and staff to find the girl he has been paid to save.

The character of the Witch Hunter has existed in creator Vincent Ferrante‘s head since 1976 and first appeared in single page strips back in 1994 for the now discontinued Comic Culture magazine. The Witch Hunter finally made the full comic transition with his first issue for Monarch Comics, and is waiting in the wings to take the comic and entertainment world by storm. As the character was created at the tale end of the Silver Age of comic books, Ferrante’s writing style retains that time-period with each panel, without feeling like a forced retro throwback to a bygone era. In many ways, the Witch Hunter is a Silver Age character, and it has just taken thirty years for him to make it to the page.

When Panther Duen is apprehended and brought to justice, an international team of special agents are brought to Hong Kong to testify against him. During his transport to trial, Panther’s police caravan is attacked, and in a military-style ambush, Panther is taken away. While at first it is thought that it was his triad who saved him, it becomes clear after inspecting the attack style and the aftermath in the criminal underground that Panther has been abducted instead. The agents that were only brought in to testify have now teamed up and storm the streets to figure out who is behind the brutal attacks. Commander Hon (Simon Yam) offers all the police back up he can, while Kong Long (Sammo Hung), who has been demoted to transportation supervisor, offers the team advice on what they are going up against. And what they are going up against is a team of ruthless mercenaries who will stop at nothing to collect the money that is owed them.

For pure balls-to-the-wall action that is going to satisfy your need for hails of bullets, there is still no other source more reputable than Hong Kong to turn to. Even in this day, where current films must live in the shadows of their predecessors, Hong Kong can still deliver the goods. Director and writer Daniel Lee, who was the force behind mid-nineties martial arts fare such as One-Armed Swordsman ’94 and Black Mask starring Jet Li, now focuses his lens and pen on the cops-n-criminals bullet fest genre.