Sheltered #3
Written by Ed Brisson
Illustrated by Johnnie Christmas
Colored by Shari Chankhamma
Lettered by Ed Brisson
Cover by Johnnie Christmas
Image Comics
Release Date: September 4, 2013
Cover Price: $2.99

“The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away.” — William Golding, Lord of the Flies

Sheltered #3 from Image Comics is out and its as frightening as ever. Writer Ed Brisson and illustrator Johnnie Christmas have released their latest chilling installment of the pre-apocalyptic thriller — delving deeper into madness.

Victoria and Hailey have been hiding in an underground bunker for two weeks since the massacre that took their parents’ lives. When Victoria quietly sneaks around Safe Haven in search of any form of communication device in order to contact the outside world, she’s subsequently found by Lucas, the leader of the murderous adolescents. Lucas tries to calm her down by explaining his reasoning behind the killings. He tells her that soon, a caldera — a massive volcano underneath Yellowstone National Park — will erupt, leaving the majority of North America in a volcanic winter that could last up to three years. In order to survive in the bunkers created by their parents, the kids needed to cut their group down to half its size.

Kill Shakespeare #5
The Tide Of Blood
Written by Conor McCreery & Anthony Del Col
Illustrated by Andy Belanger
Colored by Shari Chankhamma
Lettered by Chris Mowry
Cover by Simon Davis
IDW Publishing
Release Date: August 28, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Kill Shakespeare: The Tide of Blood #5 written by Conor McCreery and Anthony Del Col and illustrated by Andy Belanger is the final installment in this latest series from IDW. With the culmination of the events from the previous four issues, how does this series end? Well, I’ll give you a hint: in true Shakespearean fashion, it’s tragic.

I’m going to skip my normal synopsis of the issue, as so much happened within the 27 allotted pages that trying to mention anything at all would give too much away; and believe me, you wouldn’t want that. Instead, I’m going to move right to the part in which I offer unabashed praise for McCreery and Del Col’s story as a whole. Kill Shakespeare: The Tide of Blood has been an incredible series with a wide assortment of clever and unique twists to Shakespeare’s tragedies. They’ve added extra heart and revelations about the characters that weren’t necessarily focused on in the first series, but helped to make this addition stand on its own. While a few things are left unfinished — which is fine because, you know, sequels and what not — issue number five provides an intense conclusion to the mini-series with enough closure to leave me satisfied.