Rough Cut Comics brings Freedom Collective to book

Rough Cut Comics will release its long-awaited new volume of Freedom Collective stories through the June edition of Diamond Previews.

The original one-shot title – which re-imagined the type of comic-books that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, could have created IF they had been born and worked in the 1960s Soviet Union – became a “sleeper hit” in the independent comic-book scene and has attracted fans such as Grant Morrison and Alex Ross.

It also received the backing of The Jack Kirby Collector and was one of new distributor UKonDisplay’s biggest selling titles at their launch earlier this year.

The new 76-page Compulsory Freedom Collective re-prints the original 20-page one-shot story and adds three brand new adventures featuring the titular Red Avengers, adding more ’Silver Age’ parodies in the shape of The Siberian Six and Ivan Karnage, Agent of KRUSH.

The original teaming of Dom Regan (A1) and Colin Barr are joined in this volume with the art of renowned Kirby enthusiast Dave Golding, award-winning Dave Alexander, Total Fear creator Curt Sibling, and Zenescope Entertainment colourist Derek Dow.

Creators Igor Sloano and Barr are again providing the scripts which truly capture the jingoistic style of the House of Ideas back in the sixties.

Publisher Ed Murphy said: “This is a tribute to a long-lost style of comic-book story-telling. It’s one which conveyed the action dynamics in five-to-nine frame panel pages; with cut-to-the-chase dialogue sometimes conveyed in the now-defunct style of ‘thought bubbles’.

“I’m so glad the original one-shot found its audience and continues to grow in popularity. I think this is a book for genuine comic-book fans and particularly of the Lee/Kirby style which should never be forgotten.”

Rough Cut Comics will attend the Glasgow Comic Con on 13-14th July at the city’s CCA, where they will preview the new Freedom Collective book. Artists Dave Alexander and Dom Regan are also expected to be in the attendance.

• You can find out more about Rough Cut Comics at www.roughcut-comics.com on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/roughcutcomicsuk or their twitter feed @roughcutcomics.

• THE COMPULSORY FREEDOM COLLECTIVE is solicited in the June edition of Previews for shipping August 2013. The product code is JUN131260 and is featured in Page 333 of the edition.

 

In Review: Rose Black

She is a vampire who is 600 years old and doesn't know why her lonely, endless life began. Such is the character of Rose Black created by Edward Murphy and Tom Campbell in Rough Cut Comics' Rose Black graphic novel, written by Campbell, pencilled by Jaeson Finn and inked by Colin Barr.

Rose has been in a French convent for decades, hiding from the world and her recent past as an agent for the British Secret Service. When a special forces team infiltrate the convent and attempt to kill her, she returns to her former spy partner, Raymond, in an attempt to understand why she is now being targeted. Teaming up with a new, younger partner, Dobie, Rose finds that their investigations lead them to the Vatican and Cardinal Bochour who is trying to eliminate the woman he considers to be the world's only vampire.

As a character Rose is a cross between Marvel's Black Widow and 2000AD's Durham Red, and not just in the similarity of the names. She is a former secret agent who is a vampire in a world in which vampires don't exist. Beginning with her as a nun, the plot slowly reveals her secret agent background as we discover more about both her and the people around her, from her former spy partner to the Vatican sect who are trying to kill her.

While the book is very violent at times, Rose is not a character who is simply out to kill and, while she is very good at killing, writer Campbell gives her a Christianity-based conscience that means she tempers the use of her demonic powers as best she can, generally only using them for self defence. The reason for those powers, and why she appears to be a vampire, is left to virtually the last page of the book and provides a very neat twist that I, for one, didn't see coming.

The black and white artwork has a nice 1980s 2000AD feel to it and while the lack of colour reduces some of the impact of the violent deaths her enemies meet, this is probably a good thing. Throughout the story penciller Finn's page layouts are impressively dynamic and, while the finished artwork feels a little rushed on some pages, where the story needs the artwork to make a visual impact it always does, leading up to the climactic impact of who and what Rose actually is.

For a first graphic novel from a small press company, Rose Black is very impressive package and left me wanting to read more about the character. Based on reports on the Rough Cut website and their blog, I won't have to wait long as a second book, Rose Black: Demon Seed is due for release very soon.

There are more details about Rose Black and other Rough Cut Comics titles on the Rough Cut website.

There are more details of the upcoming Rose Black: Demon Seed on the Rough Cut blog.