The wilderness, who knows what's out there, the good and the bad, it's a gamble isn't it? These titles for our first Fresh Friday Features of the year will leap into the unknown beyond their comfort zones and hope for the best. Some go amazingly well, some go horribly wrong, it's left up to chance! I hope you enjoy these comics as much as I have!
This week, @ArtCrumbs picked for this week:
- Comic - Zal and Simurgh: A child born with white hair and eyes as red as a demon’s, the mythical bird of alborz takes the child in and raises him as her own...
- Graphic Novel - Grist: An island-city of Grist is surrounded by an endless monster-infested ocean.
- Manga - The Good, The Bad, & The Magical Girl: Magical girl meets Westerns.
- Webcomic - Charming: Prince Radish gets himself re-cursed to have the hottest face in existence... Which ends up horribly backfiring by killing anyone that sees it!
Zal and Simurgh, 46 pages - Published by Gitiban, (cc/ @artbychicho)
This story goes back to the ancient times, when Iran’s great warrior and the king of Zabol, Sam, befathers a son. A child born with white hair and eyes as red as a demon’s. Sam, filled with fear, abandons his albino son in the alborz mountain, in hope that the child dies there eventually. But little did he know that simurgh, the mythical bird of alborz, takes the child in and raises him as her own...
Story and Art by Gitiban
A rather newer comic on the platform, the cover and character design captured my attention right away. The artwork is absolutely beautiful, but isn't overwhelming either. I love the colors used as well as the finer details like the gold hidden in some of the panel borders and artwork of the panels itself. It really blends well with this being a story based in mythology. I'm excited to see where it goes, and I was able to read both chapters currently uploaded. I think this is a comic you don't want to sleep on!
Grist, 43 pages - Published by Andromeda Comcis, (cc/ @Lukas-Koelbel)
The island-city of Grist is surrounded by an endless monster-infested ocean. Protectors of the city, the Gutsmen, battle fiercely to keep hordes of fish at bay, but the brittle walls of Grist are beginning to crack.
Story and Art by Andromeda Comcis
A dark and skin-crawling story! I loved the dark, ink-heavy artwork of the cover and first few pages hooked me and I just couldn't look away. The artwork is detailed and gritty, the handwritten look of the text serves the narrative nature of the Graphic Novel. One of the things I really enjoyed about this was the bizarre and abstract nature of the actual events themselves and the follow-up in Chapter 2 that takes the story in a completely different direction. I'm all here for it and if you like dark, gritty, gorey, and unpredictable, this is the graphic novel for you!
The Good, The Bad, & The Magical Girl, 47 pages - Published by Queue Hall, (cc/ @Failmonger)
In the magic and demi-human Engkanto filled land of the Far West, a magical girl and her sister search for a way to break their family’s curse.
Story and Art by Queue Hall
Never have I ever seen such a manga like this, mixing a classical wild west story with the manga format and art style. As an avid manga reader, I just had to check it out. The artwork is stunning, including the use of tones, knowing when something needed tones and when the panels had minimal tones. The story is fun (I love a good mystery) having a short intro to our characters, and then diving into the deeper story. Incredibly well done and added to my personal reading list, if you want a stunningly-unique manga with a mystery at its core plot, this is for you!
Charming, 992 pages - Published by ArtofJoe, (cc/ @artofjoe)
In an effort to escape his arranged marriage, Prince Radish gets himself re-cursed to have the hottest face in existence... Which ends up horribly backfiring by killing anyone that sees it! Can Radish become the Prince Charming he'll need to be in order to woo a princess to break his curse, or is he doomed to fall back into the arms of his ex-fiance Princess Turnip?
Story and Art by ArtofJoe
Imagine for a minute, a face so hot, people burst into flames? In comes Prince Radish, with oddly enough, this very hyper specific problem! Cursed to look like a radish, and forced into an arranged marriage, he seeks a way out of his current curse, with a second curse. But as we all know, two wrongs don't make a right and he gets more than he bargained for. I love this comic, so much. If the prologue is any indication for how the rest of the series will go, I know what I'm binging this weekend! Thank you to everyone who kept suggesting this one!
That's all for now, but we'll have another set of Fresh Friday reading recommendations next week. You can also browse through our Featured Comics news section!
Check out more amazing stuff from @ArtCrumbs below.
ArtCrumbs