Mother Russia

Mother Russia http://etsy.me/1QeNHvI is a 120-page, B&W graphic novel with full color covers written & illustrated by Jeff McComsey, published by Alterna Comics http://bit.ly/1QgTwY1 and FUBAR Press http://on.fb.me/1QeNFUy

Wow! This is one fast paced, action-horror-drama comic that I couldn’t put down! I breezed through the 100+ pages because the story grabbed my attention very early on and kept me engaged with anticipation. The setting is very appropriate for the horror genre, Stalingrad at the close of World War II in Europe. German military, stretched beyond its logistical support and decimated by combat, has collapsed into scattered pockets of soldiers hunkering down in makeshift fortifications. The Russian military too has paid an enormous price with a very few soldiers still remaining combat ready. The haggard remnants of the two enemies find themselves isolated in the midst of roaming zombies among bombed out hulks of military equipment and the wreckage of a city. A lone Russian sniper, dubbed “Mother Russia” by the Germans, sights an abandoned child wandering among the undead. She leaps to action in an effort to save the child and in the process makes an unlikely alliance.

The storytelling in Mother Russia is near perfect for my taste! The action starts right up front and pulls the reader along through the rubble littered and dead filled streets of a destroyed Stalingrad. Characters are introduced rapidly and their motivations revealed as the action of the story continues at an uninterrupted pace, as if the horror of the war, its dead, and its undead aren’t willing to wait for the reader to get comfortable. The reader is thrust into a bad place with bad things happening and all you can do is keep moving forward or risk being consumed by the death that surrounds you!

The artwork is a fitting match for the story. Shades of grays that roll into dark shadows among detailed debris of crumbling buildings and decomposing bodies. Nothing here that portrays hope or happiness, just destruction and despair with unknown dangers around every expertly crafted corner and finely rendered ruin. There’s also an epilogue that provides a little more information on the main characters and helps to fill any gaps that might remain in regards to their backstories.

Clean your scope and set your sights on Mother Russia at http://etsy.me/1QeNHvI and http://bit.ly/1Y1ywVZ

via Almost Normal Comics on Tumblr at http://bit.ly/1QeNHvM