SPOTLIGHT is a new ongoing column by Aaron Fever that looks to draw attention to some of Ireland’s indie comics and their creators.
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Irish independent publisher Limit Break Comics have an open call for pitches at the moment, they’re looking for four-page comics of far-future twists on classic fairy tales. It’s called WISH UPON A STAR and the deadline for pitches is January 26, 2024. You can read all about it HERE. With that date fast approaching, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at their previous anthology FRACTURED REALMS.
Released in December 2023, FRACTURED REALMS is a collection of 24 stories and the book has (at my best count) 52 creators involved! Helmed by editors Paul Carroll and Gary Moloney, the theme of the project is Norse Horror. An intriguing basis for an anthology. I myself know little-to-no Viking mythology outside of the standard Thor/Loki Marvel stories and very little of that has any bearing on the true norse tales. That made this read a little exciting as not only would I be learning a lot but also it was unlikely any of the tales within would be predictable for this writer.
As you can imagine with this quantity of four-page short stories, there is a wide rang of plots and settings at hand. From modern day Britain to WW2 Iceland and on to the heavens themselves, you’re taken to further reaches than the medieval folklore might lead you to expect. Tales of servant rebellion, deals with demons, and murderous guilt pepper the paperback but I’d like to take three particular stories that I felt stood out to me as highlights.
Robert Cullen is a comic superstar waiting to happen. I guess his flourishing television and animation career has been holding him back. His story BOAR has the visual beauty of the likes of Darwyn Cooke and Chris Samnee and packs a gut punch stronger than the gruesome meat at the centre of his story. A boar whose flesh can cure people of illness? What happens when it’s no longer on the menu? You are.
Kaydee Artistry manages to use colour to create a sense of unease and disgust in their body-horror SOSTER. Estrid travels to check in on her elderly father who isn’t returning calls, only to find him being devoured by this creepy little boy you see below.
This one stuck with me. Maybe it’s the visceral imagery, maybe the bug-eyed characters Kaydee employs, maybe it’s because I’m a new dad myself. Either way, nightmare fuel.
Andriy Lukin & Andrea Schiavone team up in MEAD OF POETRY to provide a classic “be careful what you wish for” morality tale. With art that reminds me of classic Mike Mignola or Bruce Timm, it’s a story that neatly wraps in a bow and feels like it could repeat forever at the same time. A wonderful trick to pull off in only 4 pages.
Now, full admission, I have a story in this anthology myself. I obviously won’t comment on the quality of that tale other than to say a big shout-out to wikipedia for helping me research the story and a huge thank you to James Killian, Hugh Madden, and Rob Jones for making it look amazing at the very least.
At the moment the FRACTURED REALMS anthology isn’t available through the Limit Break online shop but they’re constantly at conventions selling copies at their table so make sure to keep an eye on their socials for the next opportunity (and likely, posting this will shame Paul Carroll into adding FRACTURED REALMS to their store).
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