Mother Russia
Written and Illustrated by Jeff McComsey
Cover by Drew Moss
FUBAR Press | Alterna Comics
Release Date: November 18, 2015
Cover Price: $11.99

A little over two years ago, I wrote a little Kickstarter Spotlight for an up and coming graphic novel/comic series. Change out your calendar a couple of times and you get the present day incarnation: Mother Russia. I can definitely attest to the fact it is everything I expected and more. I had previously seen some of the pages, but I just read the final product and thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. Keep reading and I’ll explain why!

FUBAR: Mother Russia is the first full length graphic novel from Jeff McComsey‘s FUBAR series. The FUBAR anthologies are historical zombie stories and contain some great stories and art. This gem is from the first volume of FUBAR and was originally a twenty-eight page story that ended in a cliffhanger. And while Jeff fully intended to finish the story out in the second volume, he had other projects that arose to capture his attention and never got a chance to get back to it…until now. And that’s where this Kickstarter campaign comes in.

By now, you are probably familiar with how this works. You pledge a few hard earned dollars and are rewarded with some coo,l one-of-a-kind perks. The more you donate, the more you get. I’ve pledged a fair bit of money to several of these over the past couple of years and let me say that it feels nice to be a part of something bigger than myself. You may not be changing the world but you certainly are having an effect on the world of the person or persons behind each of these fundraisers. And did I mention there are cool gifts? Need a bit more information before you give up your cash? Then read on, my friend…read on.

Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! Read no further if you watch the HBO series Game of Thrones but have not yet read the books. One of the greatest chapters from George R.R. Martin’s A Storm Of Swords has been rendered into sequential art, but the scene probably won’t be seen on the television series until Season 4. I will not be held responsible if you fail to heed my warning!

There, with that out of the way, let me say this A Storm of Swords fan art, by comic artist Jeff McComsey, is amazingly well done. Detailing the duel between Oberyn Martell, Prince of Dorne, called the Red Viper, and Gregor Clegane, nicknamed the Mountain because of his gargantuan size….it appears to be a very uneven fight from the start. I won’t get into too many details but the point is that Prince Oberyn volunteered to fight this massive warrior for personal reasons. Though both of these men are champions for another, they enter the battlefield with the express intention of killing their opponent in this trial by arms.

Breath of Bones: A Tale of the Golem #1
Written by Steve Niles
Illustrated by Dave Watcher
Lettered by Nate Piekos of Blambot
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: June 12, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Fans of Hellboy, B.P.R.D. Secret Origins, and FUBAR should definitely straighten up and pay attention! The latest addition to the horror-and-mythology-meet-WW2 family – and arguably the most beautifully rendered of the lot – is Breath of Bones: A Tale of the Golem from Dark Horse Comics.

Set in Poland just before the German invasion, the story unfolds around a Jewish boy named Noah who watches all of the men in his village “” including his own father “” march off to join the Allied forces in an attempt to hold back the enemy. Noah stays behind with his grandparents and has only the regular radio broadcasts to keep him informed of the battles that are drawing closer every day to the peaceful countryside he calls home.

After the long wait for his father’s return to the village with no word of his condition, Noah and his grandfather brace themselves for news of his death. This moment of emotional bonding between the boy and the old man quickly takes a turn when an Allied fighter plane roars overhead and crashes just outside the boundaries of their village.

Comic book fans can attest that it is often hard to find treasures among modern publications. We hold classic titles from years gone by so high with reverence that it often seems to be the case that the next release of significance comes as a surprise. Enter: Flutter“¦

Flutter was not merely a surprise for me when I read the preview issue – it was like a baseball bat across the back of the head. Delving into the context of super-powered beings, the new graphic novel dives deep into the consideration of sexual orientation and gender identity – a concept that could well place Flutter as the most important graphic novel of the decade.

This might be a bold call to make – but there’s something significant about Flutter‘s exploration of this social commentary. While we’ve seen some of the bigger publication companies seek social popularity by uncovering that one or two of their characters just so happen to be gay; Jennie Wood and Jeff McComsey take Flutter instead and explore a more grounded and serious side that will resonate strongly and sensitively with countless readers.

And so after having my mind blown by the preview issue, I had a chance to shoot out some questions to artist Jeff McComsey about Flutter, who explains the importance of social context in comic books, and what to expect from the full graphic novel upon its release.