Doc Dinosaur, Tigress, and Adventures Into Darkness!

This month's First Issue on the First is a very special one. Without even pretending to be unbiased, I am reviewing Adventures Into Darkness #1 by Greg O'Driscoll and James Hanson. The culmination of a lifelong passion for comics and the creative byproduct of over twenty five years of friendship, James and I have finally brought our own characters to life. Appropriate for October, there are enough ghouls, mutants, beast men, killer robots, and restless ghosts to fill a dozen haunted mansions-- and it all looks amazing!

Adventures Into Darkness is an all new 44 page, one and done story, starring the deadly Doc Dinosaur and the feline fury of Tigress, plus a bonus swords and sorcery back up feature called Swords Drawn. A blend of classic pulp adventure influences and Bronze Age execution, the main story takes you from the shadowy streets of Delta City to the lost island empire of Lemuria. Battling hordes of weird menaces, Doc and Tigress race against time to rescue a kidnapped scientist from the clutches of the undead sorcerer L'mur Kathulos before he can conquer the world.

Artist and co-creator James Hanson has previously drawn for the Barbarians of the Ruined Earth RPG and the Super Freaks one shot from Image Comics, but this might be his best work ever. James's work on Adventures Into Darkness, bearing influences from Kirby, Byrne, Allred, Timm, and other greats, really delivers. It was a distinct honor to see him bring my fevered scribblings to life! And the writing? Well, what could the guy who wrote it say that wouldn't sound like shameless self-promotion?

What I can say is the principle driving both of us was "make the comic you would want to read." I can honestly say, if I found a comic like this on the shelves of my local shop, I would buy it-- and James better tell you the same thing! He gave me a laundry list of the things he wanted to see in a story, the kind of stuff he loves to draw, and not to pat my own self on the back-- I delivered without ever trying to get too clever or too high concept for my own good.

This is a full steam ahead, meat-and-potatoes, blood-and-thunder style adventure. Drawing on a ton of influences from comics, movies, and adventure fiction, some more obvious than others, this project reflects the sensibilities of two buddies crazy about lost worlds, giant monsters, forbidden temples, eldritch horrors, arcane sorcery, and mad science. In terms of a comic book pedigree, Adventures Into Darkness blends elements of Flash Gordon, the Rocketeer, Mr. Monster, Tom Strong, Skull the Slayer, and other high-adventure titles into something uniquely its own thing.

On a personal note, I spend a lot of time and words on this blog reviewing other people's creative efforts. It feels good to finally have some skin in the game. Prior to Adventures Into Darkness, my only widely published work was a four page feature in Super Freaks from Image Comics. James also did the art for that, and he has only gotten better since then. After years of dreaming about creating comics, my buddy and I finally got one across the finish line. Now, we want to share it with anyone into the same kind of stuff we love.

The kickstarter is currently ongoing and includes some fun incentives for our backers. Give it a look and if it seems like it might be your kind of thing, join in on the adventure.