Twisted Romance #1

Twisted Romance

by Alex de Campi, Sarah Horrocks (Artist), Magen Cubed (Artist)

Critically acclaimed writer ALEX de CAMPI teams up with some of comics' hottest artists to create tales of love gone wrong, right, and everywhere in between. ISSUE “OLD FLAMES”In New York City in 1978, there are thousands of ways for people to get together. There's only one agency dedicated to tearing them Heartbreak Incorporated. But who is the handsome seducer who runs the agency, and what is the secret he's hiding? Drawn by KATIE SKELLY(My Pretty Vampire). Backup comics story by SARAH HORROCKS (Goro, The Leopard) and prose story by MAGEN CUBED (Crashers).

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Short Stories, Romance, LGBT, Graphic Novels Comics

50 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2018

About the author

Alex de Campi is a New York-based writer with an extensive backlist of critically-acclaimed graphic novels including Eisner-nominated heist noir Bad Girls (Simon & Schuster) and Twisted Romance (Image Comics). Her most recent book was her debut prose novel The Scottish Boy (Unbound). She lives with her daughter, their cat, and a Deafblind pit bull named Tango.

Reviews

[Sarah]

Such a cool, original comic series. Can’t wait to see #2.

[kaitlphere]

I like the anthology nature of this issue. I enjoyed the "front" story quite a bit, as well as the prose story. Both were real-world with a supernatural element. Their universes were fleshed out well and efficiently, and also contained some minor character development. The "back" story was very abstract, and I felt like it was too short to fully understand what was going on.

[Liz (Quirky Cat)]

Check out my review over at Comic Bastards

[Amber]

This is a weak start, when issue #2 was so interesting. The art for the first story was too amateur, the other story I don’t remember and I didn’t even read the prose. Not sure if the experience was too different because I read digital for this one.

Still, I want to check out the next one.

[Alexander Peterhans]

3.5 stars

[Su]

I finally got around to reading the first issue! And I’m really glad I did. I’m also terribly glad I didn’t read this one first - I now completely understand why the subsequent issues threw people off because they were more “unconventional” rather than “twisted”. But not so in this first issue! Or at least we can say that about the two comics. The prose piece in this issue is not so twisted, but worth every cent to print it.

Alex de Campi’a “Old Flames” illustrated by Katie Shelly, is almost Chinatown meets True Blood hybridized with Twilight? That is to say a spurned wife reaches out to a centuries’ old vampire to handle her cheating husband’s mistress, and the cheating mistress turns out to also be a centuries’s old vampire and the clean-up man’s ex. I loved everything about this. It’s definitely worth your time. Also it features some great lines very artistically places from some of your favorite discotecca tunes.

Magen Cubed’s “Leather & Lace” is by far the best prose out of Issues 1 - 3 (I have, at the time of review, yet to read Issue 4). Perhaps it is also the longest, and therefore has an advantage over the other two issues. Cubed allows the story to unfold at a natural but engaging pace, characters and relationships are easy to pick up and well-developed as we go along. Descriptions are short and sweet and...descriptive, as in I can actually see in my mind’s eye what is going on! Each character has a distinct voice and speech style, and it is truly wonderful. We’re not rushing through time, but we’re also not stagnant or being slowly dragged throw one million different events in the span of hours. Characters communicate and misunderstand one another in a truly real world fashion. And the romance isn’t the only plot or focus, these characters have lives and day jobs and purpose beyond trying to get together! This story had all the elements which made the comics from Issue #2 so wonderful! And it was a really fresh take on the coexistence of supernaturals and humans.

But there’s always the one piece I don’t love, I suppose. Sarah Horrocks’s “Red Medusa on the Road to Hell” started off with a ton of intrigue and super trippy art that worked well with the dark and twisty story we were getting into. But everything quickly became messy and hard to follow both aesthetically and narratively. Once Red Medusa (?) takes Mark to hell (?) and the grim reaper or some other spiritual entity appears (?) I completely lost the thread. Which is so disappointing because I was really invested and willing to go along with anything at the start. But if you’re familiar with this kind of art style and like the kind of work that usually gets brought up when your friends are reminiscing about their best old high or ‘shroom trip, then you will probably enjoy this immensely.

Overall, a fun and enjoyable issue.

[Stephanie (My Book Throne)]

This was such a fun read! There were definitely some hits and misses but overall, I enjoyed most of the stories told in this volume.

My favourite has to be the first one, with the vampire heartbreaker in Old Flames. The illustration quality was the perfect style and the writing was fast-paced. I want to know more about these characters please! How did he turn into a vampire? Are there any more like them?

I didn't enjoy a few of the other comics but that was down to personal taste.

Overall, a great little collection of stories that will stay with you for hours after you've finished!

[Christine]

A mixed bag. I liked Leather & Lace by Magen Cubed as a paranormal action story with partners to lovers gay romance element, my only quibble being it seemed very unclear what made Dorian a vampire (one vague reference to drinking blood, otherwise he seemed completely human so it seemed an odd choice).
Red Medusa had compelling art but was hard to follow, interesting but not completely successful.
Old Flames was an interesting idea but I really didn’t like the art and didn’t feel any connection with the characters.

[chelsea]

I thoroughly enjoyed the art work style! The plot line seemed interesting enough but it was hard to follow and didn’t establish the setting enough to fully understand any of it even it the upcoming edition was meant to explain.

[Rakan]

طريقة سيئة لجذب الإنتباه من أول تشابتر، الرسم ظريف.

[Comics Alternative]

http://comicsalternative.com/episode-...

[Elle Maruska]

Review to come

[Angelique]

Dark and sexy - loved it.

[Rajasree Jayaram]

It was very...interesting, to say the least

[Shannon The Romance Addict!]

Werid but cool

[amanda]

i really liked the first story, though it was a little bare. cut through the second. loved the art of the third but anything else was lost on me.

[Valita]

El estilo de dibujo del segundo cuento es precioso, pero el primero se me quedó corto.

[Rebecca Dawkins]

I’ve read some of Katie Skelly’s work before. She definitely has a unique style. I love the 60s/ 70s feel to her stuff.

[John “Hoss”]

I enjoyed the comic. Katie Skelly and Sarah Horrock’s stories were great. I loved the art and direction each tale offered. The story by Magen Cubed really could have used another polish or editorial guidance. I liked her characters and the use of the wendigo, but some stuff seemed stilted or forced in the story. For a story focusing on the natural and supernatural it felt like I’ve read something like this before, and it didn’t really provide something new or interesting. Overall not bad, but I think the best pieces in this comic go to Katie Skelly and Sarah Horrocks.

[Kristin]

Bad art.

[Online Eccentric Librarian]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

I'm on the fence with this title. It is wholly original - contained within is 1 medium length comic story, a very short comic story, and between those a short story in prose. I'm not quite sure how romance really enters in any of these and I don't see a unifying theme. It feels more like a 'life sucks and then you die' type of series than a satire on relationships.

The first story, old flames, is set in the club scenes of NYC in the 1970s. The wife of a famous nightclub owner shows up at Heartbreak Inc.'s office. We're not sure exactly what Heartbreak owner Meserov is supposed to do other than that he's told the wife wants her husband's new girlfriend out of picture. Turns out, Esther, the girlfriend, has supernatural origins as does Meserov/Mackie. Neither have a heart but Meserov is tired of killing while Esther still revels in it. Will Meserov triumph over Esther and earn his fee from the night club owner's wife? The very stylized art (reminiscent of 1930s folk movement perhaps?) is a hard sell but perhaps works because it is so counterintuitive to the jaded aspects of the story.

The second story, Leather and Lace, is a novelette or short story and has no accompanying imagery. The story is about a Vampire, Dorian, and his human lover, Cash, and a 'case' they take on to find out why Wendigos are turning murderous. Along the way, they test the limits of their own relationship as Cash looks to be falling for another human, Max .

The third story, Old Flames.... I have no idea. The art is odd, the lettering is nearly illegible, and I have no idea what's going on other than a naked woman having a soliloquy while striding a dead body.

I can honestly say I've never read anything like this before but I also can't say I enjoyed any of it nor would wish to read any of this again. A lot of feels like a bad hallucinogenic trip - all style with no substance. The first story was the best of the three but the very distinct art made it a hard story to follow or really enjoy. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.