Free New Books

Issue One of Warren Ellis’ new opus is available to read in full online

This is a bit hard on my eyes with the pages of the comic, but still, it’s a good intro. Here’s the blurb for Fell:

Detective Richard Fell is transferred over the bridge from the big city to Snowtown, a feral district whose police roster numbers three-and-a-half people (one detective has no legs). Dumped in this collapsing urban trashzone, Richard Fell is starting all over again. In a place where nothing seems to make any sense, Fell clings to the one thing he knows to be true: Everybody’s hiding something. Even him.

And here’s the link to read Issue One of Fell online at Newsarama.

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The preview issue of How Loathsome, a critically acclaimed graphic novel which explores gender experimentation and sexuality is free to read online.

Here’s the blurb from Publisher’s Weekly: “An androgynous figure, wearing nothing but black PVC pants, dominates this bookâ??s cover. Itâ??s an appropriate introduction to a story that explores gender experimentation. At an s&m party, Catherine meets Chloe, a “tall and immaculate” transvestite. The narration is entertainingly self-loathing, as when Catherine tells readers, “I wondered how to put her at ease, how not to come off as the person I was.” With Chloe, Catherine sees herself as part of a pair of “outcast aliens… beautiful monsters.” The four stories in this book explore various aspects of San Franciscoâ??s queer, transgendered subculture as the characters drift in and out of a world of drugs and broken romances. The spare, angular style of Naifeh (Courtney Crumrin) makes the characters look inhumanly glamorous, capturing the cast as the freaks they not only think themselves to be, but pride themselves on being. But Craneâ??s sympathetic script puts this defiance in the context of the universal search for love and self-acceptance. Deep black and sepia pages alternate with gray-toned fairy horror stories, flashbacks and dream sequences to provide insight into a world of fetishes and addictions, appearance and identity. Like the best stories, these put readers inside the head of someone they might otherwise never know.”

Read the preview issue online here

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The entire Continuity graphic novel to download for free

The theory goes that people who download music illegally are the ones who actually buy the most music as well. Apparently there’s a burgeoning trade in pirated comics on file sharing networks too - so Larry Young, publisher at PlanetLar, has taken the bold step of providing the entire Continuity graphic novel, which is forthcoming in June, for free on the Web now. It’s downloadable as a 12 MB PDF file - all 105 gloriously illustrated pages of it. It’s certainly got my attention - I love graphic novels but never have the patience to find the next big thing beyond Alan Moore, Frank Miller or Warren Ellis - so this is a great chance to sample writers completely new to me at no cost - and more importantly, no effort either.

Continuity has been reviewed already by Postmodern Barney, who say:

“This upcoming graphic novel from AIT/Planet Lar focuses on Alicia, a pregnant teenager who ran away to New York. The problem is, she’s never had sex and no one’s heard of New York. And every time she goes to sleep, the whole world changes. But in this story, what could have been a sci-fi cliche becomes an examination of teen loneliness and anxiety. Alicia is quite literally no longer in control of her life, as her dreams continually blur the boundaries between fantasy and reality. And she never quite manages to take control, despite forming new attachments in a family of choice, of sorts, as she still spends all her time and energy focusing on avoiding her central dilemma. Only at the end does she reach a resolution which manages to be both touching and tragic.”

Definitely off the track from the usual pants-outside-the-tights superhero fare.

AIT/PlanetLar blog

Continuity graphic novel direct download link [12 MB PDF file] [via BoingBoing]

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