FREAKANGELS: EPISODE 0091
Some of the best visual storytelling to date, with images of the building the Freakangels are inside, confronting Mark, on either side of a poignant vignette from earlier, happier days. No spoilers, go read it.

True creative genius comes from the heart of insanity. Lacking that fractured existential viewpoint?  Another way to rend your own frame of reality is with the power of story. The best stories for enhancing your creative muscles are the genre-breakers; historical-magic realism, modernized fables, absurdist fiction, or metafictional ‘fourth wall’  modes.

Grant Morrison pours kerosene on the ‘fourth wall’ and lights it on fire. Then he laughs insanely at that silly perplexed look on our faces. And we thank him for this, as we should, because in those moments of confused delight are the origins of understanding and learning. Each of these titles below are great examples of Morrison’s storytelling abilities. I claim no responsibility if you are sucked into purchasing years of back issues, but you will thank me for it later.

Animal Man #1
Doom Patrol #1
The Invisibles #1

…Something New

We’ve had something old, now for something new (find your own something blue) Another metafictional tale, this time from Studio 407, Quantum Adventures where “a team of explorers brave the uncharted worlds of fiction to correct anomalies in pop culture”. Seems like something worth following. Studio 407 has a cadre of interesting stories with great art.

Warehouse of Indy Publishers

For those of us financially challenged, the move from $4 paper comics to cheaper PDF comics is a welcome change. Although the larger publisher’s aren’t quite ready to make this move (minus Marvel’s archives) it is a great way for the independent publishers to get their work into fans hands…err…computers.  The group behind DriveThruRPG saw how successful lower costs PDFs of gaming manuals were and made the next logical step towards comics. They have a large list of free comics available for the inquisitive. If you find a title you like, pick up the other issues for cheap.

DriveThruComics

http://www.avatarpress.com/2009/11/09/supergod-1/

Invincible #1 - Kirkman • Walker • Crabtree – Yep, this is the same Robert Kirkman that continues to wow fans and critics alike with “The Walking Dead” every month. Son of the famous hero, Omni-Man, Mark starts the book off as a normal teenager, juggling an after-school job and the pressures of not being able to go to a party with his friends. All a bit Peter Parker, right? Turns out he’s just waiting for his super powers to appear, as they do one fine day, his super strength showing up as he tosses a trash bag WAY past the dumpster. “It’s about time, ” he says. Watch the family plan a suit, watch Mark choose a name, deal with the foibles of a two-week old super power manifestation and see if you like the story enough to start picking it up at the real comic store. I found the artwork breezy and the writing fairly transparent, all serving a story that could have been severely cliche but only ends up to be moderately so.

Elephantmen #1: Starkings • Moritat • Comicraft • Ladronn- From the comic world of “Hipflask” comes this issue one that reads as more of a one-shot than anything else. The melancholy facial expressions of the protagonist are underscored by the dark, neon lighting and mood rain through the story. It’s the future, and elephantmen were created as teh ultimate super soldiers. Seem slike they’ve been forgotten and/or abandoned, so they wander the streets like so many other veterans in our own time. Our protagonist chats with a little girl in this comic, showing her how he can put his nose in his own mouth in response to her question, “Hey, do you pick your nose?” This is good stuff, and I can’t wait to check out more of the series and the writer/artist team’s current output.

Written by internet jesus, Warren Ellis and drawn (and originally colored) by Paul Duffield, this comic is the real deal. You can even go buy trade paperbacks of the volumes. The characters and dialogue are up there with the best he’s done, and the watercolor style and clean lines of Duffield is as good as anything seen in the printed world. What’s best? This comic comes out every friday for FREE. That’s right, you can read six pages of the story every week, right at FreakAngels.com. There are also some SWEET merchandising to be purchased as well, so make sure you buy us that messenger bag, ok?

The story so far is this: a bunch of hip twenty somethings are surviving in a post-flood-event Whitechapel, in the UK. They have freaky psychic powers that seem, as yet, untapped. They’ve settled into the role of protectors for this town of event survivors, and all play differen troles in the community. Kaz the engineer, Kait the policewoman, Arkady the freaky chikkinz lady, who has pushed her powers (“the package”) past what most of the kids are doing these days.

Add in tons of sexuality, a couple of misfits and enemies from within the FreakAngel ranks, and a ton of ethical and moral dilemmas laced with a serious dose of bakc humor, and you’ve got a series that should keep you busy every Friday for the rest of the run, which doesn’t seem to have much of an end in sight. Make sure you head over, right now, and either get to know FreakAngels or catch up on the amazing story.

If you’re a comics creator, feel free to hit us with your own work and we’ll get it out to all our rabid fans. All three of them! Hah. So, here’s your first Free Comic Friday. This week? We’re focusing on Boom Studios, with the cool free comics you can read right on their website.

2 Guns – Two guys walk into a bank! It goes badly!

Described on the back cover as a “plot-rich crime thriller for fans of Elmore Leonard, Ocean’s 11, and The Italian Job,” this book looks all sorts of sweet crime-drama action. The book starts on page 1 and the latest page is 125. How’s THAT for free comic love? Written by Steven Grant with art by Mat Santolouco and covers by Kristian Donaldson and Rafael Albuquerque.

Tales of Cthulhu – Read this at your own risk!

This one looks slick, too. If a bit on the “scary if read at night” side. The web version is up to page 99, so there’s plenty to whet your whistle while you whork (sorry, had to). Creators include Michael Alan Nelson, Keith Giffen, Mark Waid, John Rogers, Andew Cosby, Hans Rodionoff, and Mark Badger. ‘Ware the Cthulhu! Spell Carefully!

If you’re a comics creator, feel free to hit us with your own work and we’ll get it out to all our rabid fans. All three of them! Hah. So, here’s your first Free Comic Friday. This week? We’re focusing on free digital comics on the iPhone and iPod Touch:

Box 13

This one’s free on your iPhone, and you can read it online right from comixology’s site. There are currently nine issues in the queue, just waiting for you to download or click your way through.

Writer: David Gallaher
Art By: Steve Ellis
A reimagining of the popular radio serial, BOX 13 follows the harrowing adventures of author Dan Holiday as he unlocks clue to his past and his very identity.
Investigative author Dan Holiday has spent the last several years of his life researching the secrets behind the MKULTRA project. His latest book has brought him a degree of notoriety around the country and around the world. And, during his recent book tour – Dan discovers something that will change his life forever. Join him as he learns what lurks inside Box 13.

Bardo

Get a sneak 8-page look into this fascinating series named for a word that means literally “intermediate state” – also translated as “transitional state” or “in-between state.” The first issue is also available, for only $.99.

If you’re a comics creator, feel free to hit us with your own work and we’ll get it out to all our rabid fans. All three of them! Hah. So, here’s your first Free Comic Friday. This week? We’re focusing on Image and Vertigo books:

DEMO Volume 1 issue #1, here. – here’s the first of 6 brand-new, single-issue, done-in-one stories from Brian Wood (DMZ, NORTHLANDERS) and Becky Cloonan (AMERICAN VIRGIN, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), each one just as powerful and emotionally charged as the original run.

Human Target - Download Issue #1 Written by Peter Milligan; Art by Edvin Biukovic and Javier Pulido; Cover by Tim Bradstreet – Collecting the Vertigo title that inspired the upcoming Fox TV series! Christopher Chance makes his living by turning himself into a human target.

Joe The Barbarian – Download Preview (Issue 1) – story by master storyteller  Grant Morrison with lush art by Sean Murphy (Sean does an On The Ledge column this month)

Fell #1 – You can’t go wrong with this darkly humored noir book by Ellis and Templesmith

Dynamo 5 #1 – I read this first on the PSP and found it strangely compelling. An interesting take on the superhero genre.

Grrl Scouts, Vol. 1 #1 – can you not just dig that cover?