The Devil’s Cut

by Mirka Andolfo, Brian Azzarello, Marc Bernardin

YOUR INTRODUCTION TO DSTLRY FEATURING 11 UNFILTERED STORIES FROM THE MOST FEARLESS CREATORS. In the aging process, the whiskey that evaporates is called the Angel’s Share. But the most potent spirits are captured in the wood—the Devil’s Cut. You may want to sip these spirits slowly. They pack a punch.

Genres: Comics

88 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2023

About the author

Neapolitan artist and writer, she is one of the most complete and eclectic Italian creators in the international field. Her upcoming Mercy is going to be published almos simultaneously in Italy (November 2019, Panini Comics), France (January 2020, Éditions Glénat) and United States (March 2020, Image Comics).

Her ControNatura (Panini Comics) is one of the most successful Italian series of the last few years. Published in the USA by Image Comics under the title Unnatural/b> , it’s a best seller hit with several reprints already.
There are also Spanish, French, German, Polish, Mexican and (upcoming) Brazilian, Czech and Bulgarian editions.

Andolfo has been collaborating with DC Comics since 2015, having lent her pencil for titles such as Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Bombshells, Teen Titans, Green Arrow, R.W.B.Y. and Hex Wives (published under the cult-imprint Vertigo). Together with the writer Sylvain Runberg, she is creator of The Under York Chronicles (Éditions Glénat).

She also wrote stories for BOOM! Studios ( The Amazing World of Gumball ) and illustrated two issues of the award-winning Ms. Marvel series by Marvel Comics.

In 2012 she created Sacro/Profano (Edizioni Dentiblù), a huge bestseller published in United States, France, Netherlands, Germany, Serbia, Spain.
As an artist she’s drawn comics for Dynamite and Aspen, as well as some short stories for Vertigo and DC’s Young Animal, and she’s actually working on covers for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Valiant, BOOM! Studios, Aspen, Zenescope.

As a colorist, she worked on covers and comics books of important franchises such as Geronimo Stilton, Adventure Time, Ice Age, Peanuts and other series and volumes published all over the world.

During her collaboration with Topolino magazine (Disney’s Mickey Mouse), she has colored numerous covers (including the cover of the historical issue 3000) and stories, working with artists like Giorgio Cavazzano, Corrado Mastantuono and Fabio Celoni.

When she is not working, she loves good food, reading comics and… sharing photos of cats and wolves on Facebook.

Reviews

[Valéria. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Half really good, 1/4 decent, 1/4 / what the eh?

[Alex Sarll]

A new hardback edition for publisher DSTLRY's launch anthology, which brings home what a funny little grab bag it is. Some of the stories are complete unto themselves, like the SF short by Jamie McKelvie, in which a scientist on a post-scarcity ringworld bridles at a life where all problems are so easily solved. Which, reading it on 2020s Earth, is the sort of worry I'd love to have, but that aside it's a great little piece of work. Similarly, the Ram V/Lee Garbett story about a solar flare; I know a guy who's had a memory wipe, albeit for less celestial reasons, so I can't really get with the manic pixie dream treatment of it here, but if I try to consider the story dispassionately, it's solid enough. Elsewhere, though, a lot of creators are trailing their bigger DSTLRY projects, and I don't have them handy to check (because, as with this, I had them as time-limited Edelweiss ARCs) but I'm pretty sure that the book release of Jock's Gone did include the story here, but Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay's Somna didn't. And for Tynion and Ward's Spectregraph, which I'm buying in singles, I certainly haven't seen this prologue before. Now, you could say that a similar inconsistency and parcelling out applied to the little anthologies that used to be put out by Vertigo, an imprint whose early magic DSTLRY, like so many new publishers, seem eager to recapture. But even accounting for inflation &c, comics were a damn sight cheaper back then, especially compared to the fancy oversized issues DSTLRY have made their USP – and they didn't tend to get reprinted as slim hardbacks only a year later. There's some really good comics in this, but they come trailing an unsettling sense of contributing to the gradual rebranding of art and culture as a luxury experience for the well-to-do.

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

To tease their launch series of titles, new comics publisher DSTLRY (founded in early 2023) released The Devil's Cut, an anthology issue featuring 11 stories from the current biggest names in comics. A publisher with a directive to compete in both the collected editions and digital comics markets, DSTLRY spent no expense with putting out a high quality sampler of their incoming talent. Released as a large magazine/album sized comic, The Devil's Cut features the following story excerpts:

- "Spectregraph" by James Tynion IV & Christian Ward
- "Shepherd" by Marc Bernardin & Ariela Kristantina
- "8 Rules to Make it Out in One Piece" by Elsa Charretier & PK Colinet
- "What's Mine is Hearse" by Stephanie Phillips & Joëlle Jones
- "A Blessed Day" by Mirka Andolfo & Fabio Amelia
- "The Stowaway" by Jock
- "Deleted Scene, #2" by Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso
- "White Boat" by Scott Snyder & Francesco Francavilla
- "What Happens Next..." by Jamie McKelvie
- "Waiting to Die" by Ram V & Lee Garbett
- "What Blighted Flame Burns in Thee?" by Becky Cloonan & Tula Lotay

Most of the pieces here are hardly complete, and are effectively just teasers so it makes judging them tough. That said, it becomes apparent with The Devil's Cut how homogenous genre storytelling has become in contemporary independent comics. With a couple exceptions, most of the contributors here rarely stray from formula or style, so it's difficult to see what DSTLRY offers that isn't being done by the myriad of comics released by Image, Dark Horse, IDW, etc. The few solid pieces here include Charretier's story, and the artwork in the Joëlle Jones piece. Eduardo Risso adopting a completely different aesthetic in his story with long-time collaborator Brian Azzarello was also a pleasant surprise. Much of the rest of this magazine is pretty unappealing to me, but credit to the publisher for putting in the effort to print such a high quality comic to showcase the artwork well.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid taster anthology for Dsltry's initial slate of projects; the only one that has yet to appear is 'Shepherd', which was fairly generic S-F anyway to be honest. The standout is the collaboration at the very end by Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay entitled 'What Blighted Flame Burns In Thee?' (I really, really need to get my backside into gear and read Somna).

[Leslie Carnahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't find the hardcover edition of this title on here, so I'm reviewing it as this version. I love that this newer publisher released this so we could get a taste of what their upcoming titles would be like. :)

[Love Veridian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great teaser for the new publisher.