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!

First Law of Mad Science #1-4
Written by Mike Isenberg and Oliver Mertz
Illustrated by Daniel Lapham
Colored by Jeff McComsey and Oliver Mertz
Lettered by Mike Isenberg
Cover by Daniel Lapham
Noreon Labs
Release Date: September 18, 2013
Cover Price: $2.99

“When we cross the line to the boundless and hideous unknown — the shadow-haunted Outside — we must remember to leave our humanity and terrestrialism at the threshold.” – H.P. Lovecraft

The above quote, used within the issues of First Law of Mad Science, describes this comic book series perfectly. A Kickstarter project come to fruition, First Law of Mad Science is written by Mike Isenberg and Oliver Mertz with illustrations from Daniel Lapham. What could be more maddening than the unknown?

George Baker, scientist extraordinaire for the Noreon Corporation, has helped the world advance technologically multiple times. His most recent development, Cyber-Eyes, are implants that allow the owner to view the world beyond the usual visual spectrum. Hank Baker, George’s son, is among the first batch of recipients to test out the Cyber-Eyes. Soon, George’s world begins to unravel. One of his employees falls through a window and unexpectedly dies; shortly thereafter, Hank begins to see small, green creatures wherever he looks. What does this all have to do with the Cyber-Eyes technology?

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.

Director Eric Ramos is adapting Jeff McComsey‘s graphic novel, American Terror: Confession of a Human Smart Bomb, for a short film release. They launched a Kickstarter in February that’s set to expire on March 30th, 2013 at 11:30 PM. The film is completed, but the group needs your help to fund post-production work such as color correction, sound design, an animated intro, and the musical score.

The short film will closely follow Volume 1 of Jeff McComsey’s graphic novel series. Victor Shepard, now an old man at the end of his life, lives in obscurity under a false identity. In his lonely solitude, he counts the days before he draws his last. The Rooster, the last of his comrades has passed. En route to his funeral, he is visited by the ghosts of his past, his memories of a life long gone. We then learn of his beginnings, before he became the father of a revolution that would forever alter the world.