Advance Review: Image Comic’s “Twisted Romance” Issue 1
Hey guys! Welcome back to my comic review shop, where I take on all manner of image-induced shenanigans. This week I’ll be looking at the four-issue release of Twisted Romance by Image Comics. Each issue features three stories for a total twelve, count ‘em, twelve tales of romance from the everyday to the supernatural.
The mix of comic and narrative is enough to satiate comic lovers and literary chasers. I loved reading each story, and I wish each one would continue. I’m definitely going to follow these creators from now on.
The first issue featured a comic called Old Flames by Katie Skelly and Alex De Campi. It is a story of deception and intrigue in the guise of 70s-style pop art. Skelly’s artwork evoked the time period exceptionally well. I say this with confidence, even though I was born in 1988.
De Campi weaves the tale of Misha, a vampire on the straight and narrow, whose business is heartbreak. He takes a job that leads him to a violent, former love, something he doesn’t need as it’s hard enough to be a vampire who doesn’t indulge in violence. The emotional turmoil he feels is evident throughout his sexual exploits. But come on, it’s the 70s. Who isn’t sexually free?
I would love to see Misha’s backstory and how he became the semi-strait-laced vampire who breaks people up for a living. This would make for great Netflix show. What do you guys think?
The second story is a narrative tale of vampires, wendigos and the humans who hunt them. Magen Cubed delivers a fantastic and gripping story of one-sided homoerotic love in Leather & Lace.
Brooding and depressed vampire, Dorian, fights other supernatural creatures at night with his partner, and secret crush, Cash Leroy. Magen gives these two heartthrobs the royal “will they, won’t they?” treatment. She then adds in a mix of danger on the supernatural hunting fields to bring forth a sweet love story.
The final story in this anthology comes from Sarah Horrocks. In Red Medusa on the Road to Hell, two lovers are reunited in Hell of all places. This story produced my favorite line, “The dreams of the body obscure the memories of the spirit, but I remember your skin.”
The tragic lovers are hauntingly inspiring. Sarah’s art conjures a visceral reaction. Images of blood and Hell evoke, what I imagine to be, the nightmares of victims of demonic possession. The story and images are insanely difficult to look at, yet they’re so compelling in their truthful depiction of the love these two people share in an abyss of torture.
There is a depth in the darkness that oozes complex creativity on the part of Sarah Horrocks.
Image Comics has made me a fan today. But let’s hear from you guys. Whose got the most twisted romance story?
You can purchase the digital edition from Amazon or subscribe to the print editions at Image Comics.