Sullivan's Sluggers

Sullivan's Sluggers #1-5

by Mark Andrew Smith, James Stokoe (Illustrator)

Eisner and Harvey Award-winning writer Mark Andrew Smith joins forces with Eisner-nominated Orc Stain creator James Stokoe for a graphic novel packed with shocks, gore, and screamingly outrageous humor, when America's Favorite Pastime becomes one baseball team's ultimate nightmare!

Long past their former glory, the minor league Sluggers get an invitation to play a baseball game in a cursed small town. After the 7th inning stretch, the sun goes down, and the dysfunctional teammates find themselves fighting for their lives against a town of flesh-eating monsters! Now, it's up to coach Casey Sullivan to help his team escape from being the next dish in the town's terrifying feeding frenzy!

Featuring a bonus section with concept art, pinups by multiple artists, and more.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Baseball, Humor

208 pages, Hardcover

First published August 24, 2010

About the author

Mark Smith studied film at UC Santa Barbara and has a Master’s Degree in Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages from SIT Graduate Institute. He writes Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors and the New Brighton Archeological Society.

Reviews

[Matt Sabonis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's face it, I was really only here for Stokoe's art, and he doesn't disappoint. Smith's writing is hacky and stupid, relying on crude stereotypes that he doesn't even bother to deconstruct or make fun of, just letting the art carry the whole project.

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

James Stokoe is the only good thing about this racist, disjointed, meandering drivel.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funkadelic type art meets Army of Darkness/Field of Dreams story...okay.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

A ton of action. A little bit of baseball. And not Stokoe’s greatest work, though it was still great. This one was a fun read, but nothing life-changing. I was excited for this one as a baseball fan and the baseball was pretty limited, though I did enjoy the art of that beginning portion quite a bit.

[Dinuka Fernando · Rating 5 out of 5]

This read more like a movie screen play than a comic book and that's not a bad thing at all.
The story is a mix between Bruce Campbell's Evil Dead and Cabin in the Woods. It's a fun, roller-coaster that'll remind you of them good old 80's and 90's horror/action movies.
Also the artwork is to die for (sorry for the pun) but seriously, James Stokoe is a talent worth keeping an eye on. If you don't buy it for the story, definitely buy it for the art.
But at the end of the day, you'll want to keep it cause it's so damned good!

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Manager Casey Sullivan and his Dragons semi-semi-semi-pro baseball team roll into the small town of Malice for a ball game with their team, what they never expected was for the night to be rife with anything but baseball. In fact, what they find is a town populated by demons and other hellish creatures who have no intention of letting the Dragons get to their next game. To call what comes next a “wild night” would be the understatement of the century.

I absolutely adore James Stokoe’s artwork. It is so detailed and lush and makes you want to stare deeper at it even when what you’re observing is the dissected body of pitcher being gobbled up by an tentacled monster from beyond.

But this is the first book I’ve read where Stokoe didn’t also provide the writing. Mark Andrew Smith does a good job even if the “writing” is minimal while the visuals take the front seat. I did enjoy, however, the story of Malice’s history. It was a nice juxtaposition to the gory romp that otherwise pervades this book.

Highly recommended.

[A Fan of Comics · Rating 3 out of 5]

Home run? More like run home.

A failed baseball star with a thirst for redemption takes his lousy baseball team to a damned town. While the basses are loaded, an army of demons try to devour the team.
I liked this one, but it definitely has its flaws. The art is amazing, and I loved seeing such a cool variety of monsters. The colors are good but you can tell it’s early in stokes career. I also really liked the way they used the speech bubbles. But there were a few moments where I winced. It’s characters are portrayed in a pretty racists way. They were still fun and likable though. This book wants to be an anime so badly. With the way the pages move, the kind of art style, and the extreme kill scenes, it feel like a manga epic. I honestly had fun reading it.

[Alex Sarll]

A story about a touring baseball team isn't my usual turf – if there's one thing less interesting than sport, and there really is only one, it's American sport. But if they're trapped in a town full of man-eating demons I begin to admit a faint possibility of entertainment. And if James Stokoe is doing the art, well, now you're talking. His usual grotesque flair for the violent, the revolting and the darkly comic turns a generic script into a gory, kick-ass extravaganza, though there's still an awkward tonal shift when we find out how the town called Malice (yes, really) got that way, and the gross-out disembowelments and decapitations suddenly give way to the real and not remotely funny sins of America's past.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you aren’t a big fan of action-packed and blood-and-guts filled comics, this isn’t for you. As a baseball fan, I was hoping for more of a story about the game, but it is purely the set-up of having so many characters. The characters are very stereotypical with extremely limited development or backstory. The author attempted to create a story about 2/3 through which may have a had a bigger impact if it played out earlier in the story. The art is pretty fun and trippy but I did have a hard time figuring out who some of the characters were when the action was heavy. Come for the art, not for the story.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an incredibly stupid, hackily written, pant-by numbers ultra-vilent monster story about a team full of formerly professional baseball players trapped in a haunted town. But you kind of know that going in, so it shouldn't be a letdown when the writer hits every horror story beat without adding any flair or interesting humor.

If you like baseline (umm...sorry) horror or James Stokoe's art, this will be a fun read. If you're not a fan of either, I'd stay far away.

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

A washed baseball team must prove their mettle when they're facing off against a group of flesh-eating monsters instead. The dysfunctional teammates must relearn how to be a proper team in order to survive their ordeal. It's a flimsy B-movie premise, and the writing doesn't do much to salvage it. Utterly meandering and tedious, with the minor saving grace that is Stokoe's artwork.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the spirit of the old Eerie comics a baseball team battles a cursed town full of disemboweling monsters. Graphic and fast paced.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved every bit of this book!

[Arsala · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Sierra Dean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read for TLP

[Joel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best thing about this book is the artwork. The storyline is like Evil Dead, and isn't enough to carry for more than 1/3 of the book.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stokoe's art is incredible but the story is a little thin.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very solid book that is just pure fun. There's nothing too deep going on with the writing or the story. Just some good old fashioned, B-movie grade horror that involves monsters and a washed up baseball team. This book does two things that make it stand out:

1) The art is unbelievable. Jame Skokoe is a straight up genius and this is one book in a long line of evidence to support this fact.
2) Everything possible was done to make this book look and feel exactly like it should. The packaging and printing jobs allow these pages to be experienced how they should.

It's a quick, fun read that's beautiful to look at and I'm glad I picked it up.

[D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A unique mix of baseball and horror, this is an enjoyable, but ultimately forgettable graphic novel. It follows a traveling baseball team who have the bad luck to enter a small town with a dark past. The resulting showdown is filled with every imaginable horror movie and baseball cliche, and is about as "over the top" as "over the top" can be. It's a diverting entertainment, if that's your cup of tea, but it never really rises above the concept. It's the art that is the real selling point -- the artist really knocks it out of the park. (Pun intended.)

[Graham Faught · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a Kickstarter backer for this project and am glad I decided on a whim to back. It's a pretty good story (anything baseball related works for me) and the art is truly fantastic!

Very glad some of the extras were hit money-wise as the physical book is a beauty. For my read, I took it in digitally to see how that version fared and it held up well, though I would say to grab the physical copy to really take in some of the artwork.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I kickstarted this project

This book was really, really good. The characters were entertaining, the story moved at a fairly quick pace, I kept trying to guess what would happen next and was always surprised! The story is also very unique. All in all I am very, very happy with this book.

[The Ghost's Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, over-the-top horror tinged with humor and baseball. What more could you ask for? The oversized format is really fantastic for this volume too, really fitting the insane larger-than-life monsters drawn by Stokoe.

[Micah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork is gorgeous but the story leaves a whole lot to be desired. I guess it's decent fantasy stuff.
Really it's only worth it for the Stokoe art.

[Albert · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing book, and as usual STOKOE really brought his game... too bad there's a disagreement b/w Stokoe and Smith

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baseball meets horror in a visual extravaganza. The story's ok and the Stokoe art is beautiful.