Written by Matz
Art by Luc Jacamon

Some of the best hard-boiled noir France has to offer.

A professional.

A man of few scruples, nerves of steel, and a steady trigger finger.

A man whose crimes might be catching up with him.

A man on the verge of cracking.

ASP presents THE KILLER, a hardboiled 10-issue noir series chronicling one man’s journey through some seriously bad mojo.

“4 (out of 5) stars. An intriguing look into the life of an assassin, The Killer delivers a sober tale of the risk and solitude faced by the protagonist.”
— Lance Eaton, Curled Up With a Good Book

“In the tradition of Jean-Pierre Melville, it captures a noir-infused Paris, with atmosphere to spare and enough sex, double crosses and hard-boiled attitude to leave you wanting more. Grade: A.”

—Mike Sebastian, Campus Circle

“Maddeningly enjoyable… Whether or not you traditionally enjoy graphic novels, the cinematic sensibility of The Killer makes the book as accessible as any film.”

—Erik Hinton, PopMatters

“A fresh breath in the noir genre with art that is terrific in its simplicity and writing that is engaging, intriguing, and gripping.”
—Newsarama’s Best Shots Team

“Matz and Jacamon have created a storytelling language that is immersive and riveting… A mesmerizing piece of work that thrills to the potential of the comic-book medium.”

—Jeff Jensen, Entertainment Weekly, The Best Comics of 2007

“The French have long been masters of moody noir films like Band of Outsiders or Le Samourai, so The Killer carries some heavy expectations. Fortunately, Jacamon's art is more than up to the task. His layouts are exciting, equally adept at choreographing brutal action, placing the camera for maximum suspense, and playing with panel borders to convey the protagonist's gradual mental breakdown.”

— Publishers Weekly (July 2007)

“A+… This is a modern work of art which has already immediately earned itself a place in the pantheon of respected industry works.”

—13 Minutes

“An A+ project. It’s the best thing on the stands right now. It’s just as smart as anything from Vertigo.”

— Dan Head’s “Stray Voltage,” Paperback Reader
http://www.paperbackreader.com/

“A provocative and intense read…. If you just like a good, well-told, nicely illustrated book you definitely need to pick this one up!”

— Brant Fowler, Silver Bullet Comics
http://www.silverbulletcomics.com/

“A dark, disturbing tale of rationalization, violence and death. If your comic book store doesn’t carry this import, tell them they are missing out.”

— Matthew McLean, The Comics Review
http://www.thecomicsreview.com/

"Looking into the head of a sociopath shouldn’t be this intriguing, and yet that’s exactly what Matz provides… Jacamon’s art is lovely, a lushly styled creation."

— Greg McElhatton, www.readaboutcomics.com

“[The Killer is a] tale of a contract-killer [that] forgoes the usual hyperbolic mix of adrenaline and testosterone for realism, patience, and introspection—and the results are terrific.”

—Blair Butler, “Fresh Ink” on Attack of the Show
http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/index.html

“Matz has woven an intriguing and frightening look inside the mind of a murderer here, and it is as chilling as it is entertaining. Luc Jacamon's art here is phenomenal, and really drives the book home… It takes a great artist to make the minute to minute activities of a man waiting seem interesting, but Jacamon does it perfectly, accenting each thought the killer has with his bored activities. Very impressive.”

—Dan Grendell, “Indie Jones” at Ain’t It Cool News, http://www.aintitcool.com/

“Jacamon’s gorgeous artwork… The Killer #1 is one of the best first issues I’ve read this year, a moody and intense character study that serves as gateway to a very intriguing new story.”

—Randy Lander, Comic Pants, http://www.comicpants.com/

“The Killer is, in fact, a lot like reading a movie. It plays like a French film, more elegant and heady than your typical American fare… The Killer is a small gem of a find… The Killer is 32 pages of ad-free, uninterrupted intrigue, and worth every penny of its $3.95 price of admission.”

—David Henry, Comixfan.com, http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/

“Really, truly excellent. It's a Comic You Should Be Reading if you like hard-hitting comics that don't dumb it down. Don't miss it.”

—Dan Head, Paper Back Reader, http://www.paperbackreader.com

http://rapidshare.com/files/307034197/The_Killer__complete_.rar

Imagine Les Trois Mousquetaires as written by J.R.R. Tolkien, in graphic novel format with fantastically drawn and colored animal characters. On the surface, this may look like a children book but don't let that fool you. It's serious and at times dark; full of adventures and realistic dangers. Despite having a good story, I suspect it's the attractive, vivid artwork that will keep you coming back for more. Certainly one of the most beautiful graphic novels I have ever read. Support the authors, buy the books, if you can. There is a RPG based on this comic that will be released soon. According to some of the previews I have read, the game is as good as the books. I am definitely getting it.

Here is a short review for Mouse Guard Fall 1152, from x-librarian.com:

Mouse Guard is a beautiful book, even the physical presentation is something to behold. A fairly large square-book format it will probably cause some librarians angst in regards to shelving but that should dissipate once you see the book. With vibrant autumnal colours on a matte dustcover and a cover picture of three earnest mice with swords and capes, the presentation leaps out at the reader and is instantly appealing.

Originally released as a 6 part comic series in 2005-2006 Mouse Guard was an instant hit with various issues selling out, being reprinted and then selling out again. Much like Bone by Jeff Smith, Mouse Guard starts with a deceptively simple beginning. The three mouse protagonists are sent to search for a lost mouse that failed to arrive at his appointed destination. Like all good mysteries, this small act reveals a clue that bigger things are afoot and soon the story expands into a tale that reaches into the history and mythology of the Mouse Territories.

It is a fairly sombre book, with focus on the quest of the three mice intertwining with a larger war situation later in the book . However the violence depicted is fairly minimal, with no gratuitous shots and minimal blood. Younger readers may find it all too serious and heavy despite the cute protagonists. The ideal minimum age would be approx 11+.

For me, its the art that drew me in, and keeps me coming back. You can see some internal art from the series at David Petersen’s website. Make sure you check out his other work , such as the covers he is doing for the latest Muppet comic series from Boom! studios.



http://rapidshare.com/files/305865525/Mouse_Guard_-_Fall_1152.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/305878183/Mouse_Guard_-_Winter_1152.rar

I borrowed this graphic novel, in French, at the local library, not knowing anything about Cyril Pedrosa. Turned out I made one of oh-so-few good decisions in my life. Three Shadows is a dark, suspenseful and heart-wrenching tale about a father's attempt to save his son's life. Here is the English version for your reading pleasure. If you love this book, buy it. It deserves a honorable place on your bookshelf.

Review from School Library Journal Blog:

When I showed my husband my latest First Second graphic novel, Three Shadows, he took a gander at where the book had originally been published. “France? Doesn’t First Second know that there are hardworking American graphic novelists being put out of their jobs because of guys like this?” He was joking of course, but after a while a person might begin to agree. Where DOES First Second come up with these people? If they’re not romancing us with handsome mummies as in The Professor’s Daughter then these overseas masters of the pen are shooting dogs into space like in Laika. Cyril Pedrosa is French, but looking at his style alone you wouldn’t be inclined to give his pen a strict nationality. This is maybe one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. Can you “read” an image? “Reading” Pedrosa can be dangerous. It means fully immersing yourself in a story that, at its heart, is about the death of a child and how parents fight and cope with the tragedy. You have to be able to trust that the artist will get you in and out of this kind of subject matter with skill. Fortunately, in this particular case there is little need for worry.

When little Joachim sees “shadows” staring at him from his window at night, it doesn’t initially seem to be of any concern. Sure, there are three mysterious horsemen on the hill by his home, but is that a crime? Until now Joachim, his mother, and his father have all lived an idyllic life consisting of planting, skinny-dipping, and long nights in front of the fire. Yet the presence of the shadows is undoubtedly sinister and when the boy’s mother discovers their real purpose, her husband decides to take matters into his own hands. They want his son? Fine. They’ll just have to follow where he goes, over the river and to a land where they’ll be safe. Soon, though, it becomes clear that the journey to safety may be more dangerous than anyone could have expected. And when at last it’s time to let go, it is Joachim who enables his father to face the truth and who helps him understand at last.

The bookflap of this novel says this about the story’s creation. "Three Shadows was born out of the agony of watching his close friends’ child die very young.” Maybe a parent who had lost a child firsthand would have been too close to the material. Maybe it took a friend like Mr. Pedrosa to put a magical realism spin on the action and make something that is more “true” than a straight memoir might be. A book like this, working with the hope that it will convey at least a smidgen of what a person feels when their child is taken away, has to rely on the skill of the author’s storytelling. So it is that we encounter several lives. There are moral uncertainties and terrible choices, and it is the mix of these stories that make this book a richer piece of fiction. The story makes a rather odd turn when Joachim at last confronts the three shadows and we take a peculiar interlude into the decadent upper echelons of rich society. Otherwise the script is tight and the scenes a valuable part of the whole.

You might wonder what other artistic endeavors Mr. Pedrosa has dipped his toe into. Well I’m getting all my information about him from the bookflap of this title, so take that for what it’s worth. Apparently Pedrosa, “began his career in animation, working on, among others, the Disney films Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules.” I wouldn’t have had a clue about this without reading this info. Thinking of those two films you get a very clear image in your mind of that particular Disney style. And certainly Pedrosa’s art is, above all, wholly cinematic. There are close-ups, landscape shots, views from above, and magnificent dream sequences. There are panels that stretch across the page in long strips, panels that are tiny boxes and others that work without lines or borders.

More than this, however, is the man’s use of line. He is to long thin curvy lines what Peter Sis is to dots and speckles. Whole scenes are carved out of twisted lines that sweep about the characters. And yet it is the sheer variety of artistic styles that will impress you the most. When Joachim’s father takes him away to be “safe” the sequence of the boy leaving his mother is done in sharp contrasting shadows, the mom almost barely more than a shadow by the end. Or there's the golem sequence that looks more scratchboard than ink. And yet the image in this book of Joachim pulling a chair across the floor, in spite of all the technical beauty of Pedrosa’s ink, is my favorite image if only because it feels so real and true. That then is the true reason I respect the man’s work.

All this, and not a single sacrifice made on the part of character. Motivations are never purer than when they are invested in keeping your children healthy and happy. There’s not a person in this book that doesn’t appear to know his or her own mind. What they do, they do out of self-interest, or on behalf of someone who is impotent. Except the three shadows, of course. They too know their own minds, but their actions are on behalf of something we cannot hope to understand while we live.

You may wonder if this is an appropriate inclusion in your children’s collection, to which I would have to reply, “Ah, the French”. About page four you get a look at innocent full family nudity that is highlighting the sweetness of their life together and will make many a parent shake in their shoes. Boobs! And later in the book when the family is sleeping, more boobs! And hanging dangling bits! So, taking into account the maturity of the subject matter, the allusions to what happens to African female slaves, and the sheer amount of breasts in the book, best to be putting this in the teen and adult sections of your library, I should think.

The book begins with the poem “Not Pleasant But True” by Deborah Garrison about a parent’s wish to die in their child’s stead. It’s a small poem. No more than ten lines in length, but the tone is there. And yet, this is not a story that dwells in misery and loss without acknowledging life in all its mysteries. Three Shadows is a sometimes subtle, sometimes chaotic, always beautiful book that dares to tackle every parent’s deepest fear. Heartbreaking and brilliant by turns, this is required reading.

http://rapidshare.com/files/305810753/Three_Shadows__2008___Minutemen-DTs_.cbz (132mb)

by Eddie Campbell, based on a screenplay by C. Gaby Mitchell, 2007, First Second

Very nice mystery/western comic with great artwork from Eddie Campbell whose work in Alan Moore's From Hell propelled him to international stardom.

Review from Jog - The Blog:

Sitting here now around the tail end of the publisher’s third wave of releases (the fourth wave has been announced, by the way), totaling an even 18 books with all heads counted, The Black Diamond Detective Agency is a unique in two major areas: (1) it’s largely a straightforward, ‘realistically’-rendered action/mystery comic; and (2) it’s a comics adaptation of a pre-existing movie screenplay, written by C. Gaby Mitchell and handled by producer Bill Horberg. The movie has not yet been made, but Eddie Campbell’s comic is all ready to go.

The book is also unique among the artist’s works. Campbell is no stranger to adaptation, mind you. After all, his prior book for First Second, The Fate of the Artist, concluded with an adaptation of an O. Henry short story, which the artist seamlessly folded into his mix of themes and intuitive visual cues. Prior to that, we’ve had the works eventually collected as A Disease of Language, transformations of Alan Moore’s spoken-word performances into swirls of word and picture. However, Campbell has never quite matched his style with the quick-moving thrills of a streamlined slice of action movie entertainment before - obviously there were action sequences in various bits of the Bacchus saga, or the likes of Batman: The Order of Beasts, but they’d always been contained in a Campbell-created capsule of austere intrigue and mythic conversational play, one where he could set the parameters right from the start. Here, the parameters had to be reconfigured.

Thus, we have the saga of John Hardin, a haunted man of obvious mystery, and the murderous train bombing that obliterates the peace of his life and summons the detectives of the title, one of those private investigation services that could grow to the size of an army back around the close of the 19th century, which is where the book is set. The Black Diamond detectives think Hardin exploded that train, and maybe facilitated the disappearance of a very important mystery safe traveling therein. The detectives are at a bit of a loss themselves - they’re always clashing with federal authorities, like the Secret Service, and don’t even have access to the basic knowledge of what the stolen goods they’re chasing actually are. But then, the truth was as flexible a thing back then as it was now.

As will come to no surprise to those who’ve read First Second’s Free Comic Book Day giveaway, Hardin eludes the detectives’ grasps, and goes on the run. Have I mentioned his beloved wife has also left him, at just the same time as the bombing? Neither of them were quite what they seemed to be, and throughout Our Anti-Hero’s journey, several additional transformations take place. Hardin adopts two additional names. At different times, he poses as two other members of the book’s cast. At one point -- and this would no doubt be the trailer’s ‘hook’ if this were to become a major motion picture -- he actually joins the very detective agency that’s chasing him, utilizing their smarts and resources to accomplish his own ends, which after all does involve solving the mystery.

All of this is possible through the uncertainty of memory, identity and technology, a theme that Campbell ably carries through this comics incarnation of the material. The book is divided into two chapters, plus a prologue and epilogue. The chapters are titled “Frames” and “Secrets.” That first one is particularly pregnant with possibility - Hardin is apparently ‘framed’ for a crime he didn’t commit, he constantly stares at the world through the frames of glasses (a classic comics symbol for secret identity), and he moves freely thanks to the low quality of the drawings that frame his image for the newspapers. Eventually, Hardin and the detectives run in with a lovely, alcohol-soaked sketch artist and photographer, the only person around who seems capable of harnessing something evoking the truth in the frames of her own creations (an interesting character indeed for Campbell, who himself has worked as a courtroom artist, sketching the likenesses of the accused, for occasional use on the news).

--Red the complete review here.

http://rapidshare.com/files/305792490/The_Black_Diamond_Detective_Agency.cbz (35 mb)