In the year 2239 war rages across the European continent as Africa and China fight a bloody and brutal conflict. A deadly virus known as FCN, “the deadliest pandemic that the world had ever known,” has killed untold masses of people across the world. The survivors are left to try to live through a war they neither asked for or deserved.

Whereas the Chinese fight with human soldiers, the African soldiers are transgenetic creatures made by the shadowy company Mappo which rules Africa in all but name. In other words Europe (the backdrop for War Toys) is being overrun by an army of African animals genetically modified into humanoid forms.

War Toys is essentially a prequel to the larger Elephantmen universe. It’s the story of how that world came to be born out of the ashes of the world we know. Aside from just being a very engaging sci-fi war story, War Toys is also a thoughtful exploration on what it means to be “human.” Continue reading “Review: Elephentmen: War Toys”

By Ahmad Chaudhary

This book reminds me of the first black and white movie I ever saw. It was Casablanca and I was a 14-year-old punk. Not mall-punk, though I did hang out at the mall; not actual punk like I was into crappy “”core music – and by that I mean grind core, hard core, mom core, noise core, apple core, core-of-the-earth core, etc. I was not old-school punk like I was into the Buzzcocks or Black Flag, and certainly not punk like when people say “that is so punk rock,” which doesn’t actually mean anything since everything is inevitably “punk rock” and I suppose is the same thing as mall punk. I was a punk like I was a stupid adolescent. For example, I didn’t listen to anything my parents told me, I swore constantly, I smoked Marlboro Reds and cared little for school.

In my differently skewed state of mind at the time, based on technological merit alone, there was no possible way a black and white movie could be better than a full color movie. It just could not be. Watching the Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny dud Space Jam in one of my classes and the ultra-classic Casablanca back to back under the direction of the teacher changed my perspective. In fact, my sentiment was echoed by most of my classmates, pretty shocking considering Casablanca was a couple of years yet to be considered “cool” even by nerds and was generally considered nerdy due to its love-story nature and ancient status. Continue reading “Torso”

So I was facing another friggin’ deadline, even though I started planning out my stuff for this month’s edition over 3 weeks ago. I had several things written and ready to go and was just waiting for a good night’s rest to clear my head so I could wake up, do a final edit and get everything ready for this issue.

But that night, I read a copy of Wonderlost that I picked up at the comic shop earlier in the day. The deadline was going to have to be pushed back, because more than any other, this is the book I wanted to write about this month.

Wonderlost is an autobiographical anthology about teenage love and loss, raging hormones and broken hearts, and the friendship that remains throughout it all. The book is broken up by Cebulski into six chapters, each illustrated by a different artist. Breaking the book up this way provides for a wonderful shift in tone, not just by the story Cebulski is telling but by the artistic stylings. Continue reading “Wonderlost: Love and Angst”