On a whim I decided to pick up a copy of Dead By Dawn which I had noticed on Kickstarter but hadn't gone for it. My copy arrived yesterday a little late for Halloween but that doesn't really matter with horror comics.
Apparently this title has been around before but it's only over the last couple of years I've taken any notice on the Independent comics scene with titles like The 77, Sentinel and Plainer Jane amongst others. On opening this is obviously a well produced and thought out comic containing ten stories.
And next comes the usual disclaimer on anthology titles. I rarely like every story in such titles either for the story itself or sometimes poor art. This is especially a problem with non-professional comics however this genre does have some gems which is why I keep coming back for more.
First up is Dosed by Brox which is nicely done with an interesting twist, one I didn't see coming. If you are wondering why I kept that short it's because all these stories are just four pages long so I really don't want to give any spoilers. This is followed by Cold by Mike Powell and Stephen Daly about a man and a waitress that I just knew he shouldn't trust!
Two good stories so far and then joined by a Middle Ages themed tale The Laughter of King John which has a ending you can sort of guess at but is far more horrible than you can ever imagine.....
Thumbs up so far when we reach Promises an entertaining if not too original tale. It's here that I noticed something was wrong with my copy. There were two pages that made no sense followed by a science fiction tale Home which would fit in any title like DC's Mystery In Space or Charlton's Space Adventures those long lost sci-fi anthologies that I used to love in my younger days.
Sadly the next two tales didn't too much for me though don't let that put you off. Finally I got to read Bird Brain which is entertainingly sick. Skipping over the next story we reach the full version of the two pager I had come across earlier. It's obvious my copy wasn't bound properly and there was a second printing of Home and a couple of other pages.
Over all I would have said this was a well produced title and I'm sure most copies are fine so I'm not going to penalise the publishers for the problems with my copy. Overall I'd say worth buying. Five stories get the Thumbs up Two thumbs down and three were a wee bit "meh". However I would try this title again. I often felt that way about big publishers anthologies which also sometimes printed stuff I wasn't keen on.
Rating: 3 Stars
Available from: theshift.store/independent-creators
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