Ex.Mag, Vol. 05

EX.Mag #5

by Peow Studio, Akino Kogomi, Adam DeSouza

Genres: Comics, Sequential Art, Graphic Novels, Comic Book

300 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2024

Reviews

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

sooooo incredible!!!!! i wanna make comics!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tommy Fritz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complete stunner. My new favorite thing I own. Every page is beautifully crafted and the presentation is fucking inspiring. Insane quality for how affordable this was. The Adam de Souza comic had me saying "fuck no" alone in bed when i got to the end and wished there was more to the story. I fucking looooove anthologies from multiple artists. Focusing around the simple yet complex topic of "vampires". Gold baby. makes me dream of creating community and putting together our own anthology. i am gobsmacked woah. 10/10 go to jail fucko aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
aaaha
aaa

[Jua · Rating 5 out of 5]

dare i say... the best ex mag so far

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the return of Peow Studios (as Peow2), it was only a matter of time for another entry of their anthology series, Ex.Mag. Each volume has sported a central theme for contributing artists to abide by, and this volume is subtitled as "Bloodsucker". Stories featuring vampires aren't usually my thing, but Ex.Mag, Vol. 05 features yet again another diverse range of cartoonists that made me confident that I'd at least enjoy a few of the pieces. Beyond just the prompt that the stories must feature vampires in some fashion, it seems an additional request to all contributors was that only color that can be used for each piece is red. What follows are some truly gorgeous short comics that utilize black-and-white screentones, heavy blank inks and offset or spot reds to a great degree.

Speaking on just the use of color alone, some highlight pieces include Adam de Souza's "Zoonosis", Tyler Landry's "Gravissimus Vir" and Tia Roxae's "Blood Kiss". Mixing blacks with reds can sometimes be unappealing, but each of them render immense contrasts with their artwork. Their individual stories are fairly slight, but boast some fantastic artwork from start to finish.

The clear standout piece here is "The Long Penance" by Matthew Houston, the final story to grace this volume of Ex.Mag. A regaling and melancholic tale of a vampire's lengthy existence on Earth, the story is rendered in an archaic, medieval art style. Houston doesn't just use spot reds, his entire piece looks like it's absolutely dripping in blood. But the excess reds never allow for the depth and contrast of the linework to get out of hand, but rather make things look exceedingly clean and comprehensible. The pages are bordered with intricate art pieces, some of which seems to allude to the narrative flow but also seemingly tell a story of its own. Each page looks intricate and ornate, almost individual art pieces on their own.

Aside from "The Long Penance", there are a few other really intriguing stories here as well. "O Marielle" by Theo Stultz, a story about a vampiric doppelganger, had me wanting more. "Malice's Mouth" by Mel Tow was a fun, gory strip about a vampire visiting a dentist. The wordless "Times Have Changed" by Akino Kogomi and "End of the Line" by Marko K. Gavez were brilliantly drawn, with the latter reminding me a lot of the art style used in Tsutomu Nihei's Blame! manga series.

It's great to see Ex.Mag back with a new volume, and the new production team clearly did not hold back. The book itself is gorgeous, with the gorgeous dust jacket and interior cover design, along with the luxurious quality of paper they've used. This is the heftiest volume of the anthology series yet, and perhaps the highest quality as well.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully bound, printed and well designed book -- easily the most gorgeous, stunning book I own. Thanking my lucky stars I caught wind of the Kickstarter because the dust jacket that the KS edition comes with is so breathtakingly beautiful I plan to flatten it out and frame it. There's an incredible list of contributors in this vampire-themed anthology and an amazing range of comics and illustrations ranging in tone from comedic to horrific to homoerotic. Loved the diversity of themes and art styles represented here. The way the book is designed and set brings all these different styles and comics together seamlessly into a really cohesive, fun anthology.

Speaking visually, I was especially blown away by the final comic by Matthew Houston's "The Long Penance." Genuinely jaw-dropping use of the limited palette of rich black and vibrant red inks this book was printed with. I also loved the beginning comic by Theo Shultz, and thought it was an amazing comic to start the anthology with and set the tone at a high note. I enjoyed the break between the more serious comics with comedic ones to switch up the pace as you read. I especially found myself laughing out loud at Luca Oliveri's "Le Blood," "Papercut" by Ryan Plaisance and Morgan Nix, and the brief short story parodying YA vampire works like Twilight and Buffy (and perhaps the infamous fanfiction "My Immortal"?). I do think the comedic works could have been interspersed more evenly between the serious ones, because it felt like they got sandwiched all together in the middle. But that's up to personal preference too.

Also loooved the illustration section with works from the well-known Takato Yamamoto, although I think some of the single full-page prints of their larger works would have benefited with close-up shots on the accompanying page (this was done with one or two works, but not all of them). Because of Yamamoto's incredibly fine linework and intensive detail, it was sometimes a little hard to make out on the smaller canvas of this book's pages. But I also had fun sticking my nose right in the book and slowly tracing every line and detail with my eyes.

Overall, truly an incredible and well put together anthology that is palpably full of passion, genuine love and joy that celebrates the medium of comics. Can’t wait to see more future Ex. Mag volumes (I hope!!!) and more publications in general from the amazing indie publisher Peow! Also will beg on my knees for Peow to do a second print run of previous Ex. Mag volumes...

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt the most beautiful book I own. Stunning, just gorgeous!!

This is PEOW so every single story hits but I think my favorites were: Theo Staltz's dreamy and unnerving "O Marielle"; Adam de Souza's "Zoonosis" (the cave scene and goblins will haunt my dreams); "Le Blood" by Luca Oliveri (SILLY); Jane Mai's unhinged, pitch perfect Twilight/My Immortal fanfic "Because I Craved"; and "The Long Penance" by Matthew Houston. That last one was breathtaking - I couldn't believe it was Houston's first comic. It's got a unique paper silhouette style that makes this fable-like tale feel very mythic. There were so many tiny demons and intricate patterns, I was poring over every panel and frame.

Thank you PEOW2 for another banger <3<3<3 I luv u

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a bit biased because I feel blessed to have an Ex.Mag V at all, but this definitely delivers on my expectations from the previous volumes. the book itself is beautiful, of course, and there is a really nice range of stories, which is important since "vampire" as a theme can get tired easily.

my personal favorites, in order of appearance:
O Marielle - Theo Stultz
Malice's Mouth - Mel Tow
Papercut - Ryan Plaisance & Morgan Nix
Le Blood - Luca Oliveri
The Vampire Hunter's Dilemma - Nozmo
The Long Penance - Matthew Huston

and honorable mention to Because I Craved by Jane Mai, a joke which may have only landed for a handful of readers. I really liked the fake cover with the New York Times "seller" sticker.

[Ryan Mandelbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Ex.Mag yet, which is really saying something. I liked literally every single story in this one except for (sorry) Jane Mai's contribution which was 3 pages of typed out writing for an imaginary YA vampire story that doesn't exist. I get these books are loose in format but that one was not really it for me, but the rest ranged from very good to downright amazing. And I'm not even especially into vampires! I was actually going into this one with the least excitement, and was very pleasantly in all aspects. PEOW forever!!

[Renaud Bédard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quelle joie, ces Ex.Mag. Le style de chaque histoire individuellement est pas toujours exactement dans mes cordes, mais on fait toujours des belles découvertes. J'ai trouvé ça très drôle que la contribution de Jane Mai soit une parodie de YA Romantasy, sans dessin... c'était niaiseux en maudit mais aussi très drôle. Le dernier comic, "The Long Penance" de Matthew Houston, m'a complètement jeté sur le cul! Un style singulier et tellement de matière, c'était glorieux. It's all great stuff.

[stratofang · Rating 3 out of 5]

packaging ❤️
o marielle ❤️‍🩹
malice's mouth ❤️❤️
zoonosis ❤️❤️❤️
gravissimus vir ❤️
times have changed 💔
papercut 💔
circle of the moon ❤️‍🩹
le blood ❤️❤️
because i craved 💔💔
the vampire hunter's dilemma ❤️❤️❤️
end of the line ❤️
drawing board ❤️❤️
blood kiss ❤️
nosferatu: underdrawings ❤️
the long penance ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[Bobb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I beautiful Anthology of Vampire comics, Each story was extremely competent and offered an amazing array of types of stories and styles presented. A mixed bag with something to offer for everyone. I loved it <3 and I'm excited for the next anthology I get.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another banger anthology. So glad Peow is back.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous art, interesting takes on the vampire theme/mythos. My favorites (unsurprisingly) were the nuns and the final story

[TxD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vampires rule. Comics rule. Peow2 rules.

[YY · Rating 4 out of 5]

300 pages of straight GAS. Truly banger after banger—standouts for me include the stories by Theo Stultz, Adam de Souza, Nozmo, and a showstopping final entry by Matt Houston. Stacked artist lineup and a bunch of sexy tragic vampires, all wrapped in a beautiful (and surprisingly affordable) package for you to enjoy. This is what life is about!!!!!!