RED ROOM: THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK #4
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS
CARTOONIST: Ed Piskor
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
COVER: Ed Piskor
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Kayfabe; Jim Rugg; John Gallagher; Geof Darrow
MISC. ART: Preston Asevedo; Small Man Big Mouth; Andrew Gutierrez; Mike Manzi; David Lawless; Adam Lemnah; Anthony Negron; Charlie Franz; Ralph Bednarski; Vinny Olmstead; Tony Fero; Jay Daken; @Gigacrab; Jeff Brown; Slowhed; Dr. Ben Anthony; Yaakov Agrat; George Vega; Steve Meesey; Michael Murphy
32pp, B&W with some color, $3.99 U.S. (August 2021)
Red Room: The Antisocial Network is a four-issue comic book miniseries from cartoonist Ed Piskor. It is part of an overall series, entitled Red Room, that will be published by Fantagraphics Books as three miniseries for a total of twelve issues. Piskor is best known for Hip Hop Family Tree, a comic book that chronicles the early history of Hip-Hop culture. It has been published in webcomic, graphic novel, and serial comic book form.
Red Room focuses on a murderous, dark web subculture in which a secretive audience pays with cryptocurrency so that it can view “murder for entertainment” in real time via webcam. A “Red Room” is a place on the Internet with an encrypted I.P. address. Each Red Room is a webcam stream where viewers can watch a “torture star” murder another human being in the most brutal, savage, vile, and stomach-turning ways.
Red Room: The Antisocial Network #4 opens with the notorious host of this comic book, “the Crypto-Currency Keeper.” He informs his viewers that Red Rooms existed before the World Wide Web did and takes them back to the days of VHS and Betamax with a story entitled “Cyclical Terror!”
This is the story of Raina Dukes. Her father, Edward, was the victim of Red Room star, Donna Butcher. The torture and murder of Edward was titled “Donna Butcher Gets Her Man!,” and was one of the most notorious snuff videos of the 1980s. However, the tape was digitized for the Internet, gaining it an ever growing audience. The death of her husband dragged on Raina's mother until the day she died. Raina has been plotting her revenge for decades...
“Pure Evil!” is the story of Evie. Once she was Donna Butcher, and her Red Room exploits made her famous. However, hubris and tax evasion led her to federal prison. “Snuff Said!” is the story of the eventual meeting of a torture celebrity (Donna Butcher) and revenge seeking victim (Raina), so how will it all work out in the end, for both Evie/Donna and Raina?
THE LOWDOWN: In “Morgue Files,” Ed Piskor's afterword for each issue of Red Room, he discusses how the spirit of EC Comics' publications shaped Red Room #4. EC Comics was probably the first great comic book publisher that actually produced excellent comic books crafted by the best writers, artists, and editors.
Science fiction, fantasy, horror, war stories, crime stories, and tales of comeuppance: EC Comics did it all with style and superb craftsmanship – and a little fine art. EC's horror comic books also had a horror host/mascot. The most famous may be “the Crypt-Keeper” from the classic EC title, Tales from the Crypt, which was the inspiration and source material for the HBO television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 and for two spin-off films.
EC Comics which had its heyday from 1949- to 1954 could not have published something like Red Room, as notorious as it comic books were. However, Piskor's art and story are true to the spirit of EC, especially Red Room #4. Piskor's compositions and page design are … I'm not sure if I have the words. If he uses an assistant to help draw Red Room's pages, I would still call him incredible. If he draws all this by himself, I'll call him “Muad'Dib.” The craziness, the violence, the anger, the suffering, etc.: it all comes through the powerful graphical storytelling of Red Room: The Antisocial Network #4.
This fourth issues proves that Red Room: The Antisocial Network is both one of the best debuts of 2021 and one of the best comic books of 2021. Through the allegories, metaphors, and symbolism, this series has the gift of having a ring of truth and of being prophetic. If the antics in Red Room seem silly and exaggerated to you, dear readers, your favorite news source can introduce you to the Ukraine.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Ed Piskor's work and of alternative comics as science fiction will want to read Red Room: The Antisocial Network.
A+
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
Buy and/or subscribe to Red Room here: https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/red-room
https://twitter.com/EdPiskor
https://twitter.com/cartoonkayfabe
https://www.youtube.com/c/cartoonistkayfabe
https://www.instagram.com/ed_piskor/
https://linktr.ee/edpiskor
https://www.fantagraphics.com/
https://twitter.com/fantagraphics
https://www.instagram.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.facebook.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtLxEaspctVar287DtdsMww
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.
-----------------------
Amazon wants me to inform you that the link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the ad below AND buy something(s).
You can support Leroy via Paypal or on Patreon.
NEWS:
MARVEL - From ScreenRant: With the "Reckoning War," Marvel basically admits that its event comic book crossovers usually don't matter.
DC COMICS - From ScreenRant: Hawkgirl's new costume might make her the Justice League's Wolverine.
MARVEL - From StarWars: Marvel Comics has announced a comic book adaptation of the Disney" series, "The Mandalorian." The eight issue series will adapt each of the first season's eight episodes. Rodney Barnes ("Killadelphia") will write and Georges Jeanty will draw.
SONY SPIDER-MAN U - From RadioTimes: Actor Charlie Cox went to a theater near where he lives to see how people react to his appearance in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" as "Matt Murdock/Daredevil" was not pleasantly surpised. But he says he will reprise Matt Murdock in a future Marvel Cinematic Universe project.
MANGA - From ABCNews: Graphic novel imprint, First Second, will publish an English-language edition of Oscar-winner Hayao Miyazaki's 1983 graphic novel, "Shuna's Journey," on November 1st, 2022.
SONY SPIDER-MAN U - From WeGotThisCovered: Visual effects company, Digital Domain, was still working on VFX for "Spider-Man: No Way Home" a month after the film was released to theaters.
DARK HORSE - From BleedingCool: Dark Horse will collect writer Roy Thomas and artist Pablo Marcos's Tarzan webcomics in the hardcover, "Tarzan of the Apes Volume 1," in August 2022.
COMICS - From BleedingCool: Writer Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad and artist Liam Sharp will launch the new series, "X-O ManoWar: Unconquered," from Valiant Comics in November 2022.
COMICS - From BleedingCool: Author Margaret Atwood and author/comics scribe Neil Gaiman are among the contributors to a comic book anthology, "Little Earthquakes: The Graphic Album," which will contain 24 stories inspired by the 12 songs from "Little Earthquakes," the 1992 album by Tori Amos.
MARVEL STUDIOS - From WeGotThisCovered: The site claims to have set photos from the upcoming Disney+ series, "Secret Invasion," starring Samuel L. Jackson. The photos reveal a "Skrull" character.
DC MILESTONE - From BleedingCool: DC Comics' "Milestone Universe" is now known as "Earth-M," and it is expanding with "Duo," a new comic book from writer Greg Pak and artist Khoi Pham.
From DCBlog: In a Q&A, the creative team of Greg Pak, Khoi Pham, and Scott Hanna introduce "Earth-M" title, "Duo."
--------------
EN MEMORIAM - From BleedingCool: Comic book writer, novelist, and poet, Tom Veitch, has died at the age of 81. He was best known for his work on "Animal Man" and "The Nazz" for DC Comics; "The Light and Darkness War" (Marvel); and Dark Horse Comics first "Star Wars" comic book, "Dark Empire" and its sequel, "Dark Empire II." His brother was comic book creator, Rick Veitch.
DC TV/SANDMAN - From Empire: Neil Gaiman talks about the Netflix adaptation of his legendary comic book series, "The Sandman."
From ScreenRant: Netflix's Sandman show is dark, traumatic, and feel-good, says Neil Gaiman.
---------------------------
COMIXOLOGY - From Gizmodo: Amazon's overhaul of comiXology sucks. Amazon's closer integration of comiXology comes with lost features, bad storefronts, and a truly woeful browser reader.
From AppleInsider: Amazon's comixology migration is a disaster - here's what you need to know.
MANGA - From CBR: 42-year-old manga-ka Atsushi Okubo, the creator of such manga as "Soul Eater" and "Fire Force," says that he has just turned in the last chapter of "Fire Force," the final manga of his career.
MARVEL - From BleedingCool: Writer Chris Claremont's five-issue "Gambit" miniseries will be drawn by Sid Kotian, and the first issue will arrive May 2022.
IMAGE COMICS - From BleedingCool: Skottie Young and Kyle Strahm are launching a new fantasy comic book series, "Twig," in May from Image Comics.
DC TV - From THR: HBO Max has ordered a second season of James Gunn's DC Extended Universe TV series, "Peacemaker," starring John Cena in the title role.
GEORGE PEREZ - From ComicsBeat: In March, The Hero Initiative will publish a limited edition trade paperback edition of Kurt Busiek and George Perez's seminal crossover comic book, JLA/Avengers. The publication, which will be limited to 7,000 copies, will benefit Perez who has Stage 3 pancreatic cancer.
From Newsarama: This is an interview of George Perez posted Dec. 10th, 2021, posted a few days after he announced his cancer prognosis.
COMICS TO ANIMATION - From THR: Fox is developing a primetime animated series based on cartoonist Berkeley Breathed's iconic and beloved newspaper comic strip, "Bloom County."
SONY SPIDER U - From WeGotThisCovered: "Spider-Man: No Way Home" has passed "Avatar" at the all-time domestic box office.
MANGA - From ANN: Shueisha announced that its MANGA Plus app will allow users to read all the English chapters of its simul-release manga series for free for one year.
COMICS - From BleedingCool: Titan Comics' "Blade Runner 2039" could be the end.
MARVEL - From BleedingCool: The upcoming comic book, "Punisher," will supposedly do for "The Punisher" character what the 1980s story line, "Born Again," did for "Daredevil."
MARVEL TELEVISION - From Deadline: Disney is set to get the rights to the six TV series produced for Netflix by the now-defunct Marvel Television. However, Disney is being quite about what the new streaming home will be for the "Defenders" universe shows: "Daredevil," "Jessica Jones," "Luke Cage," "The Punisher," "Iron Fist," and "The Defenders."
DC CINEMA - From Variety: Warner Bros. releases a social media video clip that contains the first footage from "Aquaman and the Lost City" and clips from "Black Adam," "The Flash," and "The Batman."
SONY SPIDER U - From Variety: Kevin Smith says that 2022 Oscar nominations' snub of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" in the "Best Picture" category proves why no one watches the ABC television broadcast of the Oscars ceremony.
DC CINEMA - From IGN: Actor Paul Dano, who plays "The Riddler" in the upcoming film, "The Batman," says that the Riddler sees himself as a vigilante like Batman.
DARK HORSE COMICS - From BleedingCool: Geof Darrow's comic book series, "Shaolin Cowboy," will return in 2022 from Dark Horse Comics.
DC CINEMA - From WeGotThisCovered: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson teases a "Super Bowl LVI" ad that previews 2022's DC Films: "The Batman," "Black Adam," "The Flash," and "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom."
DC COMICS - From GamesRadar: DC Comics' big event after "Death of the Justice League" will be "Dark Crisis." The seven-issue monthly miniseries will be written by Joshua Williamson and drawn by Daniel Sampere and begin June 2022.
MARVEL - From GamesRadar: Marvel has provided a first look at Jonathan Hickman and Chris Bachalo's story for "Moon Knight: Black, White and Blood #1."
DC COMICS - From GamesRadar: DC has released preview images from the upcoming "Batman/Catwoman: World's Finest #1," which is due March 15th.
SONY MARVEL U - From THR: Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe is joining Sony's "Spider-Man" spin-off movie, "Kraven the Hunter."
EN MEMORIAM - From 2000AD: British illustrator and comic book artist, Ian Kennedy, has died at the age of 89, Tuesday, February 7, 2022. He may be best known for his comics work for the Scottish media company, DC Thompson, especially "Hotspur" and the war comic, "Commando," for which he drew of 1600 covers. Kennedy also helped launch the 1980s "Dan Dare" revival for "Eagle" magazine.
--------------------------
SONY SPIDER-MAN U - From TheDirect: "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part One" producers Chris Miller and Phil Lord talk about the possibilities of a crossover with the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe multiverse.
DARK HORSE COMICS - From BleedingCool: Dark Horse will collect the first eight chapters of the Kickstarter-funded comic, "The Winds of Numa Sera," in June 2022. The series is from creators and writers Morgan Rosenblum and Jonny Handler, and artists Eduard Petrovich, Filipe Andrade, Eduardo Mello, Alessio Moroni, and Valentina Taddeo, and lettered by Ismail Nihad.
MARVEL STUDIOS - From HuffPost: Channing Tatum is apparently too traumatized to watch Marvel movies. The trauma comes from the fact that Disney cancelled his planned "Gambit" film after it bought 20th Century Fox, which was originally developing the film.
BLACK COMICS - From BloodyDisgusting: Rap music legend, Snoop Dogg, and television writer-producer and comic book writer, Rodney Barnes ("Killadelphia") are united for a horror graphic novel, "Tales from the Crip." The graphic novel will be published by Barnes' Zombie Love Studios in association with Snoop's Snoopadelic Films and is due Fall 2022.
DC TV - From DCBlog: Actor Tyler Hoechlin, who plays "Clark Kent/Superman" on The CW's "Superman & Lois," talks about Clark's struggles in Season Two.
SONY MARVEL U - From THR: Dakota Johnson is in talks to play the title character in "Madame Web," the Sony spinoff centered on the Spider-Man character first introduced in 1980’s "The Amazing Spider-Man No. 210." Madame Web is a clairvoyant mutant who specializes in predicting the future of Spider-themed superheroes.
DC COMICS - From BleedingCool: "Deadman Tells The (Spooky) Tales" is a new young reader graphic novel that is also a comic book anthology from DC Comics. Due Sept. 27th, 2022, it will feature DC Comics character "Deadman" telling spooky tales and ghost stories.
MARVEL - From FanboyPlanet: The House of Ideas is reviving "Savage Avengers" with a new creative team, writer David Pepose and artist Carlos Magno. The new series is scheduled to arrive May 4th.
MANGA TO ANIME - From YahooNextShark: "Uzumaki" creator Junji Ito will voice a character in the anime adaptation of Uzumaki. The series is set to debut October 2022 on Adult Swim's "Toonami" block.
ARCHIE - From BleedingCool: Meet Mike Pellerito is the new editor-in-chief of Archie Comics Publications.
MARVEL - From CBR: From the House of Ideas, the "New Fantastic Four" returns May 25th, 2022. That would Logan/Wolverine, Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Daniel Ketch/Ghost Rider, and Bruce Banner/Hulk, as first seen over 30 years ago in "Fantastic Four #347" by the legends Walt Simonson and Art Adams.
BANNED BOOKS - NBCNews: Banned: Books on race and sexuality are disappearing from Texas schools in record numbers.
EN MEMORIAM - From BleedingCool: Comic book editor and writer Brian Augustyn died this past weekend at the age of 67. Many will remember him as the writer of the 1989 Batman one-shot comic book (or graphic novel), "Gotham by Gaslight."
MARVEL - From Gizmodo: The X-Men, Avengers, and Eternals come together in the Marvel Comics' event series, "Judgment Day," which also sees the X-Men once again participating in the events of the Marvel Universe.
DC CINEMA - From Variety: Actor Robert Pattinson says that his agent was shocked that Pattison would be taking over the role of "Batman" in director Matt Reeves' "The Batman."
DC TV - From Deadline: HBO Max's "Titans" Season 4 has added new cast members. Joseph Morgan as "Sebastian Blood/Brother Blood" and Franka Potente as "May Bennett/Mother Mayhem" have been cast as series regulars. Lisa Ambalavanar as "Jinx" is recurring.
BANNED COMICS - From BBCNews: Various editions of Art Spiegelman's seminal graphic novel, "Maus: A Survivor's Tale," have topped Amazon sales charts after in the wake of the news that a school board in Tennessee banned the book from school libraries.
MANGA - From BleedingCool: Yen Press announces three manga titles, five light novels, and a "Delicious in Dungeon" guidebook.
--------------------
----------------------
HELLBOY WINTER SPECIAL (JANUARY 2017)
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Mike Mignola, Scott Allie, and Chris Roberson
ARTISTS: Christopher Mitten; Paul Grist; Sebastian Fiumara
COLORS: Dave Stewart; Bill Crabtree
LETTERS: Clem Robins
COVER: Sebastian Fiumara with Dave Stewart
BACK COVER: Geof Darrow with Dave Stewart
EDITOR: Scott Allie
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (January 2017)
Hellboy, a superhero and horror comic book character, was created by writer-artist Mike Mignola and first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 (cover date: August 1993). The character's debut in his own comic book was Hellboy: Seed of Destruction #1 (March 1994). However, Hellboy has been featured in short stories that have appeared in various publications for over two decades, including the Hellboy Winter Special.
The 2017 edition of the Hellboy Winter Special, an anthology comic book, was recently published and offers three Hellboy short stories. It sports two covers: a front cover by Sebastian Fiumara (colored by Dave Stewart) and a back cover drawn by Geof Darrow (and also colored by Stewart). Eight creators contribute to Hellboy Winter Special – January 2017: Mike Mignola, Chris Roberson, Christopher Mitten, Dave Stewart, Paul Grist, Bill Crabtree, Scott Allie, and Sebastian Fiumara.
The first story is “The Great Blizzard” by Mignola and Roberson and Mitten and Stewart. The story is largely set in Cornwall, England and takes place in March 1891. An excerpt from the “secret journals” of Sir Edward Grey, the story finds Grey and Sarah Jewell (of Rise of the Black Flame) trying to discover if a fierce winter storm that has gripped England is of supernatural origin.
“The Great Blizzard” seems like a prologue for a larger story to come. It's okay, but I really didn't warm to it.
The second story is “God Rest Ye Merry” by Mignola and Roberson and Grist and Crabtree. It is set in December 1961 and opens in Fairfield, Connecticut (the home of the BPRD, the occult research organization of which Hellboy is associated). In the story, Hellboy has to battle a bad Santa.
Once again, “God Rest Ye Merry” did not arouse much interest in me. It apparently is the intro to an upcoming comic book, entitled The Visitor. Surprisingly, while the story doesn't excite me, I am curious about The Visitor, which will be a new “Mignola-verse” title. On a side note, this story reminded me of what a stunningly “white bread” world Hellboy is. Black and Latino characters are virtually nonexistent. It is as if Hellboy was set in the programming world of MeTV (which has pretty much taken the place of “Nick at Nite” and “TVLand” when it comes to reruns of 1950 and 1960s, black and white television series).
Finally, we have “The Last Witch of Fairfield” by Mignola and Allie and Fiumara and Stewart. The story is set in 1979, once again in Fairfield. While searching for two missing girls, Hellboy, Abe Sapien, and Liz Sherman encounter a tormented spirit.
“The Last Witch of Fairfield” is the best of the trio of stories presented here. Sebastian Fiumara and Dave Stewart make a killer art team, and turn this comic book short story into a bejeweled fairy tale and ghost story. I think “The Last Witch of Fairfield” would make a superb longer narrative, perhaps as a one-shot comic book or even as a miniseries. It is classic weird Hellboy.
Overall, I don't think that Hellboy Winter Special 2017 has the dramatic heft and imagination of the 2016 edition. 2016 was filled with stories that are classic Mignola, classic Hellboy investigates, or classic Hellboy humor. While “The Last Witch of Fairfield” matches the high-quality of last year's edition, “The Great Blizzard” and “God Rest Ye Merry” are minor works.
I would recommend Hellboy Winter Special 2016 to anyone who reads comic books. I would only recommend Hellboy Winter Special 2017 to Hellboy completists.
B
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
---------------------------
DARK HORSE COMICS
JAN210296 ART OF SAMURAI SHOWDOWN HC $39.99
APR210360 BLACK HAMMER VISIONS #5 (OF 8) CVR A ROMERO $3.99
APR210361 BLACK HAMMER VISIONS #5 (OF 8) CVR B WU $3.99
APR210362 BLACK HAMMER VISIONS #5 (OF 8) CVR C SAUVAGE $3.99
APR210448 GOD OF WAR FALLEN GOD #4 (OF 4) $3.99
JAN210245 HELLBOY AND THE BPRD 1952-1954 HC $39.99
APR210376 SECRET LAND #1 (OF 4) $3.99
APR200387 SHAOLIN COWBOY SHEMP BUFFET TP (MR) $19.99
JAN210305 SHAOLIN COWBOY WHO`LL STOP THE REIGN TP (MR) $19.99
