Have you ever felt trapped inside your head? In some bizarre world that you’ve created, filled with anthropomorphic characters like beer drinking skunks or bar-brawlin’ venus fly traps? No? Well, that is exactly what happens to Detective John Loris after a horrible accident drives him towards an attempted suicide in a new, ongoing comic series called Slow City Blues.
“In Slow City, John is reviled and feared as “The Trigger Man,” the one responsible for the existence of all. There, he does the only thing he knows how: solve crimes, with his partner (now a six-foot-six smart ass skunk called “Moof”). With his wife and son waiting back in the real world and his subconscious conspiring to keep him trapped in his imagination forever, John must overcome the worst parts of himself and defeat Death, in his quest to find out whether he is worthy of enlightenment and happiness – or if he is beyond salvation.”
Creator, Samuel Haine, came up with the idea for Slow City Blues after being turned down for a job at a video game company. In the process of meeting artists to get his new idea illustrated, Samuel met 28-year comic artist veteran John Livesay (Spider-Man, The Avengers, X-Men, Batman, and The Flash). Through John, Sam fell under the impeccable tutilage of the one and only Jim Shooter, former Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief. From there Samuel learned the ins and outs of writing comics from the “Shooter School of Storytelling”.
Originally, Samuel was intending to release Slow City Blues at Image Comics but with a global Covid-19 pandemic throwing schedules left and right all five issues of the book will now launch on June 7th, 2021 through ZOOP. With a pal like Jim Shooter, is it any wonder that Slow City Blues will feature an All-Star cast of variant cover artists? Expect to see covers from David Finch, Paul Pope, Derrick Chew, Doug Mahnke, Brett Booth, Julian Totino Tedesco, Francesco Mattina, Yasmine Putri, Howard Porter, Phillip Tan, Cary Nord, Pat Olliffe, and Randy Green.
Wait a sec … ZOOP? What the heck is a ZOOP? Well, the press release says that ZOOP is a “brand new crowdfunding platform” and a “first-of-its-kind fully curated turn-key solution for comic creators.” I popped over to www.wearezoop.com and at the moment the only project listed is Slow City Blues so Samuel and Company are getting in on the ground floor.
But what about the book itself? Well, I only got to read a few pages but what I did see was pretty darn great. Samuel’s dialogue is witty and enjoyable to read. The basic premise has a tonne of potential as we see John Loris work through his purgatory nightmare and you hope he ultimately finds peace. The story is more mature in themes and words but you expect that from a gritty idea like this. Shawn Moll’s pencils are fantastic, what else would you expect from someone that has drawn Venom, Deadpool, She-Hulk and WILDCats, just to name a few? John Livesay’s inks are equally as professional and David Baron’s colours set the mood effectively. Letter Thomas Mauer turns in great lettering with, again, professional-level precision. This book would have been very comfortable living at Image Comics so don’t assume a shift to a crowdfunding platform is any reflection of the quality of the project.
If you dig a redemption story with talking bunny waitresses in fishnets, do yourself the service of checking out Slow City Blues when it launches on ZOOP on June 7th, 2021.
Series: Slow City Blues | Publisher: ZOOP
Writer: Samuel Haine | Artists: Shawn Moll, John Livesay & David Baron
Letters: Thomas Mauer | Editor: Chris Ryall
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