![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
 |
And here are the reviews!
The Reverend Syung Mung Me at Kitty Sneezes:
With the gleefully offensive, there's always a risk that the work ends up falling into the unfortunate trap of shock-for-shock's-sake; a depressing trap where there's nothing more being said than "Look at me! I'm edgy!" Luckily, Vaistron doesn't pitch forward into that pit. While there's enough to shock people who are looking to be shocked, the material is witty and engaging enough that it doesn't merely rely on the outrageousness alone.
Graig Kent at Rack Raids:
Vaistron is, yes, extreme, and there are moments that are visually or verbally toying with bad taste, but what could have been a simple sight-gag gross-out is actually a farcical and highly enjoyable sci-fi romp....
Both reviews mention the immersive nature of the graphic novel, with a richness of background detail that makes the city of Vaistron seem like a real place. (A favorite of mine is the main character's visit to a supermarket. The line "I got a coupon for the asses" just sticks with me.)
Review copies of Vaistron are still available for the unsqueamish! Drop me a line at slgchief@slgpubs.com, and I'll set you up.
Corporate Ninja #2 by Matt Mocarski
32-page comic book, $2.95
In order to expand their empire, a tobacco company manufactures a new line of cigarettes aimed at household pets. As the popularity of the product explodes, the supply dwindles transforming the once cute, cuddly, lovable, fluffy bundles of joy into vicious, nicotine-starved-killing-machines!! Can Corporate Ninja find a way to satisfy the animals' unquenchable thirst or will he be tossed aside like last week's chew toy? Find out in our second action-packed issue! Now with extra sauce!
Vaistron #4 by Andrew Dabb and Boussourir
32-page comic book, $2.95
Romance! Sex! Betrayal! Nursing! All that and more in this pulse-pounding, puppy-loving new issue. With SEPO imposing marshal law on the city, Gabriella has gone undercover as Rob’s sidekick. Gabby thinks anything will be better than a trip to General Unger’s torture chambers. She’s about to be proven wrong.
 |
Andrew Dabb has written an article for Pulse called "Why Vaistron Is the Best Comic Ever!" if you need any further proof. But you should just trust me. I'm like the president in that sense.
Haunted Mansion #2 by (deep breath now) Christopher, Roman Dirge, Serena Valentino and FSc, Jon "Bean" Hastings and Jon Morris, Dan Vado and David Hedgecock
Front cover by Roman Dirge, back cover by Steven Daily
32-page comic book, $2.95
Haunted Mansion #2 continues to bring you hot and cold running chills and wall-to-wall spooks. This issue features a visit to the mansion by Lenore, america’s favorite little Dead Girl, plus the continuing Manse Mystery series exploring the secrets of the Mansion's owners. Based on the classic Disney theme park attraction, this is a must-have.
The Super-Scary Monster Show by Landry Walker and Eric Jones
24-page comic book, $2.95
This issue of The Super Scary Monster Show presents an all-new twisted trilogy of TERROR! FEAR for your sanity as Carl Cthulhu returns to Happy Bunny Hollow! SCREAM in horror as Frank stumbles into the Wax Museum of Evil!! SHIVER with dread as Little Gloomy discovers an ancient and menacing mummy’s curse!!! This bi-monthly series of all-ages HORROR features the same sinister cast of creepy characters often found in the pages of the diabolical and delightful Disney Adventures Magazine! You love them, you fear them, and you cannot stand to be without them! Order the third installment of The Super Scary Monster Show before it’s too late!!
Vaistron #3 by Andrew Dabb and Boussourir
32-page comic book, $2.95
For road killer and all around unpleasant person Gabriella Bukowsky, things have gone from bad, to worse, to “Oh my god, is that brain on my shoe?!” Alexander Bates has put a price on her head, meaning every psycho and murderer in the city is hunting Gabby, including the righteous, square-jawed, and massively annoying superhero known only as Rob. It’s a problem with only one possible solution: explosives. Lots of explosives. For "mature" readers.
-Jennifer de Guzman, e-i-c
First up, from ITW #1:
Vaistron: Guns, Cars, Money, and Robot Porno
 |
|
Vaistron, home to flying cars and senseless killing.
|
 |
But, then again, we're a bunch of jaded bastards.
In that light: Remember, kids -- rebelling specifically against the status quo is just acknowledging the existing power structure. If you like filth, like it for filth's sake, not because you hate those who define the dominant moral paradigm.
Y'know?
 |
Buzzscope calls Vaistron "an excessively graphic and sickly funny future shocker for those hardy souls who have the stomach for it."
And artist Boussorir gives a quick interview over at Jazma.
Issue #1 of Vaistron is in stores now, and #2 will out the first week of December!
Now here's an SLG comic book that is in stores now. RUN, through traffic if necessary, to make it yours! But only if you are, you know, a mature reader. Because this one is kind of violence-sex-profanity-filled.
Vaistron #1 by Boussourir and Andrew Dabb
32-page comic book. $2.95
(released 9/7/05)
Gabby is the most hardened Road Killer there is, a seasoned hijacker and mercenary-for-hire that answers to no one but herself. But being a resurrected sky-pirate isn’t always the limitless alcohol, booty, and senseless killing that it should be. Gabby’s easygoing, felony laden daily life is starting to go from bad to worse. Her car is totaled, her credit is maxed out, her hostage is missing, and if she can’t get her business back up and running soon, she might find herself in a place worse than prison...like retail!
Welcome to Vaistron, the new comic book series by Boussourir and Andrew Dabb, a darkly humorous science fiction Fete de Boom with more robots, prostitutes, inept policemen, superfluous exhaust pipes, and headless monks named Stumpy than you can shake a stick at.
 |
That's why we publish Pirate Club by Derek Hunter and Vaistron by Boussourir and Andrew Dabb. And we are rewarded for our deviance with enthusiastic reviews!
Scroll down to the pellet reviews in the Best Shots column at Newsarama to read a review of Pirate Club #7, where Caleb writes, "Last issue was a trip for anyone who’s ever wasted a significant portion of their life on a Super Mario Brothers game, and an upcoming trade will collect the first five issues, so one trip to the comic book store should be enough to get you all caught up and awaiting the next issue as eagerly as I."
I take issue with the assertion that time spent playing a Super Mario Bros. game is ever wasted time!
There's a review of Vaistron #1 at Comixfan. James Groves writes, "Andrew Dabb manages to hit the reader hard and fast by embracing extreme themes and taboo issues in a wonderful departure from the norm here in Vaistron #1, and together with Boussourir's hyper-stylised artwork, we get a debut issue of Vaistron that reminds me of 2000AD in its pomp, and a comic book that leaves me eager to read the second instalment as soon as possible."
Guns, Cars, Money and Robot Porno
Vaistron from SLG in September!
|
|
8/10/05
Gabriella Bukowsky is the most hardened Road Killer there is, a seasoned hijacker and mercenary-for-hire who answers to no one but herself. But being a resurrected sky-pirate isn’t always the limitless alcohol, booty, and senseless killing that it should be. Gabby’s easygoing, felony-laden daily life is starting to go from bad to worse. Her car is totaled, her credit is maxed out, her hostage is missing, and if she can’t get her business back up and running soon, she might find herself in a place worse than prison...like retail!
Welcome to Vaistron, the new SLG Publishing comic book series debuting in September by Boussourir and Andrew Dabb, a darkly humorous science fiction action-adventure with more robots, prostitutes, inept policemen and superfluous exhaust pipes than you can shake a stick at.
Boussourir’s gritty, over-the-top storytelling and irreverent humor couple with his highly stylized visuals in a story that he says is about “the little things that make life so enjoyable: Guns, Cars, Money and Robot Porno. More specifically, it is about a kidnapping gone horribly wrong in a chaotic, futuristic megapolis called Vaistron.”
Co-writer Andrew Dabb elaborates: “Gabby, our somewhat unstable main character, and her sin obsessed, robotic ‘gal friday’, Rekoton, are our main characters. They thought kidnapping the girlfriend of the richest man in Vaistron and holding her for ransom would be a gold mine, but it hasn’t really turned out that way. Now pretty much the entire city is after them, and the destruction and carnage that’s going to follow is, well, it’ll be a lot of fun.”
Readers should be warned, however: The fun in Vaistron is definitely of the grown-up variety. "The setting of Vaistron is one of complete moral anarchy," said editor-in-chief Jennifer de Guzman. "You have everything from rich men who keep harems to ascetics who believe the brain corrupts the flesh." She noted that it was a struggle to find sequential pages to use as a preview on the SLG website that were close to being all-ages appropriate. "We usually put up about eight pages, but we had to go for only four with Vaistron, and even one of those had to be altered a bit."
The violence- and smut-riddled fun can be yours in September, with the release of Vaistron #1. It's available now for pre-order through Diamond Comics, and you can see the now nearly obscenity-free (but still car crash and bombing heavy) preview at SLG's website, www.slavelabor.com.
Established in 1986, SLG Publishing is a San Jose, CA-based publisher of comics books and graphic novels. Operating under its imprints Slave Labor Graphics and Amaze Ink, SLG Publishing has distributed the work of such notable cartoonists as Jhonen Vasquez, Evan Dorkin and Andi Watson
|
Be part of the buzz:
Marc Mason at Movie Poopshoot took a look at the first two issues and reviews them in his Should It Be a Movie? column. It's the last review on the page, and it doesn't tell you whether or not Vaistron should be a movie, but it does tell you that Vaistron is "an amusing science fiction reality full of sick, twisted characters, and plenty of sick, twisted humor." And, hm, you actually do see the sex-toy called the Geiger, though not in action. Vaistron isn't a comic about leaving a lot to the imagination.
Chad Boudreau at Comic Readers takes a look at the first two issues as well, in a review titled "Ah, glorious depravity": "Vaistron is a filthy, violent comic. The first two issues are filled to the brim with action, blood and deviant sexual acts involving humans, robots and some things in between. There's not a ray of sunshine to be found within the story; it's fun, but in a dark and twisted way." There's also an interview with Andrew Dabb conducted by Boudreau at Comic Readers in which Andrew describes his target audience: "one that enjoys mindless destruction."
Christopher Butcher recommends Vaistron at Previews Review. "VAISTRON is a wonderfully-conceived and brutal little piece of science-fiction, with French artist and plotter Broussir drawing inspiration from cartoons, manga, and Geoff Darrow to create some lovely cityscapes, spectacular action sequences, and repulsive character designs." He gives a nod to our re-offering of Skaggy the Lost by Igor Baranko, too.
