A. Shay Hahn is a madman. There, I said it. If you are looking for guerilla comic making then look no further as Shay is your man. He’ll take a crazy idea like dinosaurs fighting in gladiatorial combat and turn it into a full comic in a handful of days. His topics and concepts are eclectic as heck and all seem to be born out of a late-night conversation at a Pub.
Shay’s latest book is Beaver Damn. Set in Canada during the 1820’s fur trade as adventurers would hike deep into the Canadian wilderness for months and months at a time. Think Leonardo DiCaprio’s The Revenant if you are not familiar with the time period. The introductory, first issue of the comic series follows three different tales as they converge towards the end of the book. In Shay’s own words “a lot of people die’. Some form of mysterious parasite is infecting the world’s animals turning them into rabid killers, hungry for blood. In the first sub-plot, we have a group of Canadian fur trappers journeying through the forest when they come across an infected stag. “A lot of people die”.
Handling all the art chores himself, Shay adopts a very clean and subdued colouring style that gives the pallet a real smooth texture. The linework is bold and stylish and Shay’s creatures are the stuff of nightmares. Allowing the art to really take centre stage there is almost no dialogue in this comic which doesn’t hinder the story at all.
Set to be a three or four issue series Shay explains in his intro that he is having fun with this comic, keeping the outline loose to allow any new ideas that might pop up. This first issue also features a few super-low print run variant covers by Katie Chinaski, Logan Faerber, and the main cover by Ivan Shavrin. There will also be a Seven Crowns Tattoo shop specialty edition featuring the tattoo art of Matthew Ellis, George Brown III, Savannah Parent, Michael Beddome, Emma James and Robyn Lee.
I snagged my copy at the Peterborough Comic Con but the main release will be at the upcoming London Comic Con. For details and information on ordering a copy, head to A. Shay Hahn’s Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/TheHomelessGMen/ and don’t forget to check some of A. Shay Hahn’s other great comics. Issue #2 of Beaver Damn should be available March 2018.
Issue: Beaver Damn #1 | Publisher: Studio Comix Press
Writer: A. Shay Hahn | Artist: A. Shay Hahn
Letters: A. Shay Hahn | Editor: A. Shay Hahn
Price: $5 – 28 pages
About Author
