Black Mask Studios is a new creator owned and operated publishing company that can be described as being influenced just as much from the punk rock scene as it is the comic market.
Publishers Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), Brett Gurewitz (from punk band Bad Religion) and Matt Pizzolo (Occupy Comics, Godzilla) are ready to represent the punks, vegans, animal liberators, the 99% and hip hop heads with a variety of intelligent, funny and sometimes bizarre catalog of comics featuring artists and writers from the underground and also celebrity writers and artists the likes of Alan Moore, Ghostface Killah, Darrick Robinson and Ben Templesmith.
After the jump we take a look at their first wave of titles.
BALLISTIC
Writer/Co-Creator: Adam Egypt Mortimer
Illustrator/Co-Creator: Darick Robertson
Colorist: Diego Rodriguez
Letterer: Crank!
Producer: Pizzolo
Issue #2 out on September 11, 2013
BUY DIRECT
Not since Transmetropolitan (Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson) has a future world looked so disgustingly bleak and surreally awesome. One could also draw comparisons to the cybernetic hyper pop culture world of Hard Boiled(Frank Miller, Geof Darrow) or elements of Miller’s Roninfor this tale of ex-con Butch with his talking, fleshy best friend of a gun.
The walls, the cars, the drugs, the cloned human meat and even gigantic buildings with human heads seem to be living and breathing.
Everyone’s on drugs, especially the gun and bong hits from organic brain stems seem to keep everyone on the same level.
The psychedelia is merely a backdrop for a bad-boy heist story except that this time, the guns is too hungover to participate or function properly.
What we have here is a cyber-psychedelic-anti-hero action comic for the ages. No wonder this is Grant Morrison’s favorite comic of 2013. Writer Adam Egypt Mortimer is working with Morrison on a movie project that will mess with your head no doubt!
Darick Robertson is a master of the page, with incredible detail and really excellent work here. Fans of The Boys and Transmetropolitan need this book!
[READ MORE at FORCES OF GEEK]