Forager
Written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti
Illustrated by Steven Cummings
Colored by Challenging Studios
Lettered by Bill Tortolini
Cover by Darwin Cooke
PaperFilms
Release Date: January 2014
Cover Price: $6.99 (Digital)

Humans are a curious species. We continually look to the stars and wonder what else might be out there. In Forager, a broken family not only ponders this concept, but is thrust into a situation that forces them to discover the answer. From Jimmy Palmiotti‘s production company, PaperFilms, comes an extraordinary graphic novel that delves into the heart of human nature and our longing for change and knowledge.

When a young, troubled married couple take their six year-old daughter, Ellie, on an outer-space cruise ship in hopes of working on their relationship as a family, Ellie begins to hear peculiar “singing” within her head. As a massive alien spacecraft — the first new race that humanity has ever encountered — hovers above the cruise ship, all on board soon realize that Ellie has become the vessel for the aliens to speak through. The events that proceed span almost a millennium as a handpicked crew of Earth’s finest travel galaxies in search of a viable new habitat.

Sex & Violence
Written by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray
Artwork by Jimmy Broxton, Juan Santacruz
Color by Challenging Studios
Letters by Jimmy Broxton, Bill Totrolini
Cover by Amanda Conner and Paul Mounts
Paper Films
Release Date: April, 2013
Cover Price: Kickstarter

Kickstarter…what a change it has brought. No longer does a creator have to hope that they get their idea picked up by a major player in the appropriate genre. Truly amazing the way it has changed business for some people. Not that Sex & Violence needed to worry about any of that. No, with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray leading the way, this one was destined for print regardless. They did, however, do their fans a solid by making this comic exclusive (for the time being) to the Kickstarter backers and for Print On Demand for a few other exclusive folk. It makes this book a lot more rare than the average comic, no matter how it came to life.

Broken into two sections, this graphic novel is all about sex and violence (obviously). But whereas I expected one about sex and another about violence, these are a bit of both. Each weighs in heavier on one than the other to balance themselves out, however. I would say like yin-yang but in this case it’s all dark so I’m not sure that applies here.