Mike Garley’s Samurai Slasher already boasts two impressive issues but a different look and feel to the third release bearing the same name had me intrigued.
While those initial issues were full-on 80’s horror affairs this new release instantly takes a new direction with an opening focused on a rights-of-passage tale between father & son, where restricted movies are a shared guilty pleasure. The nostalgic edge is there but it’s not shoe-horned in thankfully as it develops naturally in a typical father/son relationship that brings horror out of the shadowy corners of a local video store and into that home video player where a new world explodes in the imagination.
Life seeps into that world of escapism though and Mike then blends the horror elements with what feels like a much more personal tale of family & loss. It’s a contrasting set of themes to put together but it all works as we weave between gore and heartache with a mix of ups & downs along that way that shows off a comic with heart as much as anything else.
Artist Lukasz Kowalczuk (Knock Off Wars) and colourist/letterer Lukasz Mazur end up being a great fit for this change in direction and as that “horror with a heart” tale plays out they pour the energy into the action, gore & heartfelt pain with an impressive sense of balance. This creative combo means we end up with a self-contained piece of work that acts as a horror homage & heart breaking reality check all rolled into one and Late Fees is a comic that stays with you for all the right reasons.
Go check out the creators links below for more on this and their other work:
Mike Garley : Website, Facebook, Twitter
Lukasz Kowalczuk : Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter
Lukasz Mazur : Facebook
Click the image below to check out the Facebook launch event at Orbital comics:
9/10
G-Man
