What DO giant protruding forehead spikes actually say about a character? Are they mighty like a stag? Defensive like the ram? Libidinous like the narwal?
Not sure. Probably none of the above. What we do know, and I mean a scientific fact, is these characters and their protruding protrusions define awesomeness itself. Here’s our list our favorite horny men.
Lorne From Angel
Joss Whedon loves his music, which is why it’s no surprise that his Buffyverse includes a demon lounge crooner that rejects the warrior society of his birth dimension to open Los Angeles’ most successful underground karaoke bar as its eminent host. Even when he’d rather remain neutral in the eternal battle between Angel Investigations and the forces of evil, Lorne often steps up to prevent numerous apocalypses. What a class act.
Vincent From Catherine
A video game about relationships, cheating, growing up, and death by pillow, falling, and mutant giant babies? Already dope, but commito-phobe man-child Vincent and his dreamy sheep-horns is one of our favorite video game “heroes.” We secretly hope Vincent is damned forever to climb his puzzle blocks toward some sort of understanding about women, if only to avoid ending up with either of his horrible girlfriends.
Beast from Beauty and the Beast
A tale as old as time, though his beastly attributes didn’t last nearly as long as that. Although Beast was cursed to his buffalo horns for being kind of a shit, we, and more importantly Belle, have seen the good man within. However, the Disney design of Beast as a chimera mush of a few different animals has always been really cool.
Marko from Saga
Saga, from writer Brian K. Vaughan and co-creator and artist Fiona Staples, is without a doubt one of the best new series in comics. Its epic blend of fantasy and a space opera unsurprisingly produced a magic wielding romeo-trope character in the horned Marko. Like Lorne, Marko rejects his warrior culture and embraces pacifism after the birth of his daughter, Hazel. Of course, when it’s time to kick some major ass, Marko has no problem unleashing a glorious vengeance on enemies of his taboo union with the winged and spunky, Alana. We love Marko and this couple, though knowing Vaughan, we’re in for some serious heartbreak in issues ahead so don’t get too attached.
Ig Perrish from Horns
Ignatius Perrish is little less beast and a little more devil in a blue dress. The main character, soon to be played by Daniel Radcliffe in the upcoming movie adaptation of Joe Hill’s second novel, has been accused of violently murdering and raping his sweet-heart and wakes up one day with a pair of horns and some not so nice powers. One look at his new best accessory drives people to confessing their darkest fantasies, some that only a devil could push them to acting on. Even while turning in to the dark lord himself, Ig never forgets the pain of losing his angelic girlfriend or his passion for the truth and revenge. We’re sinfully excited to see this movie!
Loki from Mavel Comics
Cheating? Yep. Long Hair Don’t Care.
- artist cred by alicexz
Aquaman is the Embodiment of “Fine”
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Sub Cultured Heads to PAX South 2019!
REVIEW | The Batman Who Laughs – #1
Sub Cultured is Heading to DakuCon 2018!
Dear reader,
You have stepped into a world where there is no real return from, as comics like Saga are a gateway drug to visual fiction, OTPs, and fan fiction. Why, you ask? Because it is series’ that are so expertly constructed like Saga that you can’t help but fall into them head first. Let’s talk about what it did to me.
I used to have a life outside of comics. I used to know what the sun felt like, the smell of grass after a rain storm…but no longer. Now my life has been consumed by possibly the greatest comic I have ever read. Have you read the great gospel of our Lord and Master, SAGA?
How can you not want to read this!
Saga is an epic space opera by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, think about if how the situation would play out if Romeo and Juliet never committed suicide, instead of Capulet vs Montague we had Horns vs Wings, and Shakespeare jumped into a blender with Star Wars. What we’re left with is a nice Saga smoothie. It’s a great smoothie too as the art and writing flows so well together sometimes you can’t tell the two apart. When that happens you get moments like this.
Vaughn weaves a story that is simultaneously out of this world and incredibly grounded. Fiona Staples’ art is unique, and her lines draw your eye towards the action. While there are tons of things to love about the main characters Alana, Marko, and their daughter Hazel who serves as the narrator, the supporting cast really shines from the bounty hunter The Will to Prince Robot IV.
You might be asking yourself,
“Self, how do I get Sub Cultured to tell me where to start reading this amazing and exhilarating piece of visual fiction?”
Well, weird reader that refers to themselves in third person personal (or first person possessive, I always forget which one you are using), there are more than a few places you can find Saga. Image has a really incredibly priced trade paperback (softcover) for the first six issues and sites like Comixology allow you to keep it on your mobile device or tablet. You could also go the route of the collector and hunt each individual issue down.
Whatever it is you decide to do, make sure to find a way to read this book.
REVIEW | The Batman Who Laughs – #1
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Emerald City Conversation with Jen Wang
REVIEW | Doomsday Clock #2
Top 10 Comics of 2017
Two Star Crossed Lovers…with Robot-Space-Sex. This is the majesty of a ship that eminent comic book scribe, Brain K. Vaughn, has given us in the science fiction fantastical epic Saga. With issue nine’s released this week and its complete absence of our favorite champions of love, I decided to fill my Alana and Marko void with a tribute to what has only been the beginning of their amazing adventure.
It’s hard maintaining a relationship when your families aren’t supportive, but how do you make that magic happen when your entire respective planets can’t seem to play nice? In less than ten issues published, the apparent answer is with a ghostly teenage baby-sitter, a tree-rocket ship, and a bit of luck in being one step ahead of deadly bounty hunters. How obvious.
If you’re familiar with Vaughan’s work, you’re familiar with bad times and heartbreak. Naturally then this ship can only be headed toward some rough waters…actually it started there. Although one of the more lackluster soldiers hailing from the planet Landfall, Alana’s first encounter with Marko, a magic wielding and horned “Moonie” from Wreath, involved a more or less unpassionate exchange between Alana’s gun and Marko’s face. Oh and Marko? Not always the conscientious objector we’ve come to have cuddly feelings for.
Wreath and Landfall’s bloody and near endless war has spanned hundreds of years and galaxies, but somehow Alana and Marko worked their shit out. How you ask? Well the comic, narrated by their daughter Hazel (born in issue #1), doles out answers to these questions with excruciating slowness and an almost miserly glee. We do know now that Marko, while in love with Alana, has a bit of a past that includes a fiancé he kinda-sorta just forgot about. Perhaps less sordid (or perhaps not wink wink) was the revelation of Alana’s past dalliances with cheesy romance novels. Scandalous, I know.
Still, you just can’t help but root for the horned Romeo and his Juliet with wings. A classic trope embedded in a high fantasy and science fiction universe, the book is less about forbidden passion and more about parent’s struggle to nurture and protect the life they’ve created from their love. Hazel has a rough road to grow up on, but Alana and Marko aren’t prepared to throw in the towel and lock themselves away in the name of protecting their daughter. There’s a whole universe out there, the majority of which wants them super dead, but they want to show it all to little Hazel as a family.
We last saw the couple zooming through space with Marko’s parents, who are not so very fond of their new daughter-in-law and forcibly former eternal enemy, towards the home of her favorite writer. In pursuit of the young couple is the feared Freelance bounty hunter The Will and Marko’s understandably pissed off ex, Gwendolyn. Chapter 10 comes out next month and I certainly hope you’ll join Saga for what Brian K. Vaughan promises to be an epic of every and all proportions.
Until next issue, tide yourselves over with some ship swag below!
On Deviant and elsewhere:
Saga By Christeeeny
Father and Daughter by Kare Nissen
Alana, Marko, and Izabel by Jimmy Booth and Kaira Groehler.
In Cosplay (because I can’t find anything on etsy)
Prince Robot IV at NYCC
Inkblot Blunder as Izabel
Kaitlyn
Staff- Writer
@deadrabbit92
REVIEW | The Batman Who Laughs – #1
REVIEW | Doomsday Clock #4
Review | The Lost Path by Amélie Fléchais
Emerald City Conversation with Jen Wang
REVIEW | Doomsday Clock #2
Top 10 Comics of 2017
With that first fresh breeze of under 90 degree weather, also comes October and what happens in October, my fellow geeks?
New York Comic Con!
This will be the first time I attend this bustling convention and in the Big Apple no less. Hmm, a Texan in the Big Apple….sounds like the makings of a sitcom, but I digress. I read Deadrabbit92’s thrilling account of what it was like to wade through the ass tons of people at this particular convention and I swore to be there.
If you’d like to break out that grade A stalking gear (namely your smart phone equipped with Twitter and veritable amounts of courage to say hi), here’s where myself, Ladyvader99, and Deadrabbit92 can be found:
As Thursday and Sunday are exclusively set aside for gratuitous amounts of touristy tourist stuffs and sampling the cuisines of the locals, Friday looks like this:
Kaitlyn Leia
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Star Wars Books Wondrous Worlds & Fractured Futures
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Anime Network Christopher Lloyd Q & A
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm 4:15 pm – 5:15 pm
Vertigo: Cutting Edge of Comics World of Capcom
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Oni Press – RevolutiONIzing Comics Costume Contest
1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
Dark Horse Presents: Yoshitaka Amano
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Costume Contest
As I’m sure we’ll be most tired from our excursions (and not to mention the sore arm muscles from the bags of swag I hope to procure), I think one last lap around the convention would do us well before bidding adieu and getting ready for the chaos that is Saturday.
Kaitlyn Leia
11:00 am – 12:00 pm 11:15 am – 12:15 pm
The Image Comics Experience Marvel Video Games
11:15 am – 12:15 pm 11:15 am – 12:15 pm
15 Years of Buffy the Vampire Slayer 15 Years of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
DC COMICS – THE NEW 52 Violet & Daisy
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm 3:45 pm – 4:45 pm
Ladies Who Steam: Women in Steampunk Carrie
3:45 pm – 4:45 pm 6:45 pm – 7:45 pm
Carrie Saga: Sex, Drugs & Rocketships
6:45 pm – 7:45 pm
Saga: Sex, Drugs & Rocketships
Any time in between panels, or during the hours of missed/filled to capacity panels, will be spent roaming around the surrounding Block section, the sure to be huge exhibition hall, perusing the wares in the dealer room, and generally fucking around with my cohort.
If you haven’t bought tickets to this illustrious experience, I implore you to do so and meet up with us to have fun times filled with sexual innuendos and plushies.
Keep an eye on both @IHOGeek and @Ladyvader99 twitters (I’m unsure if I can persuade @Deadrabbit92 to actively use hers) for instantaneous whereabouts (and possibly prizes to be won from us)!!
Daku Con 2018 Photo Gallery
Daku Con 2018 Convention Recap!
PAX South 2019: Splitgate Arena Warfare, World of Horror, JackQuest, and Disjunction
PAX South 2019: Jump Force, Skellboy, A Fold Apart
PAX South 2019: Devil May Cry 5, Young Souls, Magequit
Nan Desu Kan 2018 Photo Gallery
Hoax Hunters
Story by Michael Moreci & Steve Seeley with Art by JM Ringuet & Axel Medellin
Hoax Hunters is a reality show but told through a comic. Their mission? To prove all creatures of legend fake even if they’re real in order to keep them top secret as of 1947. There are several time jumps in this issue and we catch one page in the year 1961 where a metal craft with United States stamped on it crash lands in Nevada and five people run toward it (one military looking guy, two in hazmat suits, and two regular joes). Next page we flit over to Moscow in present day and people are filming a floating astronaut with crows on his shoulders. This turns out to be a feed from Hoax Hunters, starring Regan, Ken and Jack, who discuss possible explanations for his floating, like demon possession. As they research, they uncover a plot from NASA who sent a lone astronaut to see what the Soviets were up to in space. The Soviet space program was testing out an experiment with the help of one Luzhin, then a Nazi scientist who discovered a tear in the universe he planned on using as an energy source for a special kind of army. As the trio track down Luzhin and the astronaut, Regan attempts to use some kind of innate power she has but we don’t get an explanation. Luzhin gets ahold of scary astronaut and attempts to channel energy through him in order to finish the last phase of his experiment but those darned crows get in the way and Luzhin is fried, the unfortunate victim of another mad scientist scheme gone bad. The team wraps up the mystery for the show, blaming the crow astronaut as a clever ploy to draw attention away from a heist planned by Luzhin. They gather to bury the astronaut and Ken shows off some mind reading skills to gather the astronaut’s name who insists on joining them. There’s also a little preview for issue #1 at the end.
I’ve never read a comic where one artist draws one 3/4 of the book and another draws the other quarter. Luckily, I didn’t notice it too much as Ringuet does the art for the entire story and Medellin does the #1 preview. The art’s a little scratchy and it’s a bit of a departure since the last thing I saw him do (Transhuman with Jonathan Hickman) but it works for this kind of story. Usually I prefer my lines and colors a bit cleaner but like I said, it works.
This is an interesting concept and I might check out a couple more issues. (more…)
REVIEW | The Batman Who Laughs – #1
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REVIEW | Doomsday Clock #2
