Crowdfunding Comics: Reviewing Comixery’s ‘Foliate’ And ‘Fangwild’

It’s a great time for monsters right now in comics. While Skybound is returning to the classics with their Universal Monsters series, new comics publisher, Comixery, is creating new monsters with their two launch titles, Fangwild and Foliate. Here are some early thoughts on the first issues:

Foliate

Writers: Rob Jones and Michael Sambrook

Artist: Gavin Mitchell

Letterer: Rob Jones

There’s nothing scarier than monsters that look like ordinary objects, like the dandelion on the first page of Foliate. Nothing about that dandelion looks unusual until you get closer, and then it couldn’t be more strange, but without looking closer you would never notice. It’s only because artist, Gavin Mitchell, wants us to be aware that something is going on that we see the eyeballs at the center of this dandelion or the twisted faces in the bark of the trees or all of the other strange things going on in what’s revealed to be Robbie’s nightmare.

While Robbie may be dreaming when this issue starts, though, that doesn’t mean everything’s OK. On the surface, everything is better than OK – like free island vacation ok. That’s what Robbie’s partner, Ruth, announces when she walks through the door – that her work is giving them an all-expenses paid vacation. They just have to be willing to drop everything and go without a moment’s notice. Why is it that everyone else on the island seems to be there for free, too, though, and why does the staff seem equally caught off guard by this grand opening?

As with all the best first issues, writers, Rob Jones and Mike Sambrook, are raising a lot of intriguing questions. My favorite part is how they and Mitchell manage to convey the quickness at which this is all happening, like on one page where Robbie and Ruth are having a continuous conversation but they’re on completely different modes of transportation between panels. It’s disorienting and unsettling in the best way – impossible literally but it gets the point across. They’re making these decisions too fast but it’s a snooze or you lose situation. Hopefully they don’t lose anyway.

Fangwild

Writer: Matthew Hardy

Artist: Hüseyin Özkan

Letterer: Rob Jones

Like Foliate, Fangwild also grabs readers’ attention right away, not with a nightmare but with the disturbing contrast of a very worried looking couple sitting next to a guy with a syringe and a giant smile on his face. His eyes are hidden behind glasses so his only distinguishing feature is that creepy grin. It turns out the couple have come to Dr. Lamiara because he’s promised to help treat the woman’s cancer. Unsurprisingly, he’s not the doctor he made himself out to be but he’s also not the only one keeping secrets and the tables are turned quite a few times before this issue is done.

You can’t start a monster universe without new monsters and, with the Fangwild, writer, Matthew Hardy, and artist, Hüseyin Özkan, have created a new type of vampire – one that I actually mistook for a werewolf at first but it’s definitely clawing its own path. Sometimes there’s more telling than showing with the mythology and maybe the tables are turned a few too many times to get a handle on the characters just yet, but Özkan’s glo-brite color palette adds a lot of energy to the issue and both sides established in this hunter-versus-predator tale have a lot of explaining to do.

Comixery’s Kickstarter campaign for Foliate and Fangwild ends early on December 2nd. To contribute, click here.