Sanctuary
By Stephen Coughlin
Slave Labor Graphics
Release Date: Available Now
Cover Price: $.99

Stephen Coughlin‘s Sanctuary is a really nice change of pace from any comic that’s out there today. Not quite sure where you’d categorize this, and I get the feeling that’s what the writers are going for, so I won’t even try to. Although the comic features talking animals, make no mistake, this is NOT a kids book and nothing along the vain of Captain Carrot or Spider-Ham. I feel bad even making those comparisons. Billed as “part Lost, part Island of Dr. Moreau” that wasn’t quite the feeling that I got out of it, having the bite of neither of these things. Yes, there’s mystery, but that’s really where it ends. The story is a little slow to begin, but once it gets going, it’s decent.

Star of 10 seasons of Stargate SG-1 and two direct-to-DVD Stargate movies, Amanda Tapping is definitely one of geekdoms greatest stars. Spending a season on base at Stargate Atlantis, Tapping decided to then move on to her next project, a project she had started first on the internet.

The project is Sanctuary, and along with former SG-1 writer Damian Kindler, who conceived the show, and Stargate director Martin Wood and executive producer N. John Smith who produce Sanctuary, the web-series was picked up by the Sci Fi Channel.

Set almost entirely in front of virtual sets, the show stars Amanda Tapping as Dr. Helen Magnus, as she seeks out other mysterious creatures. Magnus is the first female doctor in the Royal College, her fiancé, played by Christopher Heyerdahl — also from Stargate Atlantis — manipulates time and space, allowing him to teleport. But each teleport trip manipulates his DNA, making him display more and more homicidal tendencies. He, of course, soon becomes known as Jack the Ripper.