Cancertown Vol. 1 & 2
Written by Cy Dethan
Art by Stephen Downey
Colors by Melanie Cook
AAM/Markosias
Release Date: November, 2012
Cover Price: $19.99

The trouble with a lot of the comics I review is that they just try too damn hard. From hack dialogue to characters that are more caricatures than actual heroes or villains, some comics just scream inauthenticity. It’s not that there is no place for over the top dialogue or characters *cough The Big Two cough* it’s just that for most indie comics, subtle is better. Cancertown by Cy Dethan is anything but subtle. Part Silent Hill part 100 Bullets, this is a comic that samples from every classic genre and, for the most part, comes out on top.

Cancertown starts in a frenzy and pretty much keeps that pace up through its entirety. Even now, if you were to ask me to sum up this book in a sentence I’d have a hell of a time trying to figure it out. But, since it’s my job to sum things up in sentences, here goes. Cancertown follows Vince Morley as he traverses the darkest depth of madness, his own sickness, and the dark-world known as Cancertown.

The Vessel Of Terror
Written by Magnus Aspli
Art/Letters by Dave Acosta
Colorists: Pages 1 – 22 by Jeremy P. Roberts, Pages 23 – 110 by Goran Kostadinoski
Markosia Enterprises
Release Date: October 1, 2011
Cover Price: $17.99

For as many years as humans have been exploring Earth, there is still much of its cracks, caves, and crevices that we’ve yet to discover. Our oceans hold many mysteries we may not see solved in our lifetime. In Magnus Aspli‘s The Vessel Of Terror, our ignorance of the oceans’ depths proves very costly for the crew of the research vessel Alesia.

While out at sea to study sperm whales, the Alesia comes across a rare find. The crew reel in and capture a Magnapinna squid, the first to ever be caught by mankind. The ship then alters its course and heads for home early, to bring the Magnapinna in to study. On the way home, strange things start happening to the ship’s crew members. Something overtakes their minds and forces them to carry out horrifying acts, the consequences of which effect the entire crew.