Over at the news site Comics for Sinners, you’ll find my review of Lola XOXO: Wasteland Madam #1, currently available from Aspen Comics. Written by Vince Hernandez (Charismagic, Trish Out of Water) and illustrated by creator Siya Oum (Michael Turner’s Soulfire: Faith), it’s the postapocalyptic adventures of a woman leading a ragtag band of survivors in the ruins of a nuked Chicago, and the sequel to the 2014 miniseries titled (appropriately enough) Lola XOXO. If you’re into dystopian settings like those presented in such films as The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, and the Mad Max franchise—including the upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road—then maybe Lola is a character you’d enjoy reading about. Head over to C4S to learn more.
And if action heroines are your thing, then might I suggest that you check out StarWarp Concepts’ own leading—and sometimes lethal—ladies:
Lorelei: SWC’s first leading lady of horror, Lori is a succubus who revels in devouring the souls of bad guys, and currently stars in two critically acclaimed projects: the Mature Readers graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City, in which she battles a cult of Elder God worshippers to prevent them from unleashing hell on Earth; and the one-shot special Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, in which she tries her hand at hosting an old-style horror anthology comic.
Pandora Zwieback: Pan is a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s spent the last decade being treated for mental health problems because she can see monsters. It’s only after she meets a shape-shifting monster hunter named Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin that Pan discovers she’s never been ill—her so-called “monstervision” is actually a supernatural gift that allows her to see into Gothopolis, the not-so-mythical shadow world that exists right alongside the human world. Pan currently appears in the novels Blood Feud and Blood Reign, as well as the comic book The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1.
Sebastienne Mazarin: Pan’s immortal, monster-hunting mentor, she currently appears in the Saga of Pandora Zwieback novels. But long before that, Annie was the star of a short-lived “bad girl” comic book miniseries in the 1990s: Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa. Here you’ll find Annie doing a bit of research for an article about gentlemen’s clubs in Times Square—research that includes actually performing as an exotic dancer (I did say it was a ’90s comic, didn’t I?). It’s that part-time gig that brings her into contact with Corum de Sade, a heavy metal singer with a deadly secret: he’s a soul-devouring incubus! All three issues are available for free from this very website, so download them today!
Dejah Thoris: Created by author Edgar Rice Burroughs, Dejah Thoris is the sword-wielding princess of the Martian city of Helium and the costar of the classic science-fantasy novel A Princess of Mars, first in Burroughs’s “John Carter of Mars” series about a post–Civil War era American who suddenly finds himself on the Red Planet, battling to stay alive against all sorts of alien threats. It served as the basis for Disney’s 2012 film adaptation, John Carter, and inspired a century’s worth of SF works, including Flash Gordon, Star Wars, and James Cameron’s Avatar.
Carmilla: The blood-drenched temptress of a 19th-century novella by author J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla is a vampiress who desires not just blood but love from her victims, and when she enters the life of a young woman named Laura, Carmilla decides that her new friend will become her next great love—and won’t take no for an answer. Regarded as the one of the earliest lesbian vampires—if not the first—Carmilla was an influence on author Bram Stoker in the creation of the vampire brides in his seminal novel, Dracula, and remains a popular character in fiction to this day.
Gypsy and Shadowmist: One’s a sorceress, the other a ninja, and both are members of Troubleshooters, Incorporated, a group of supernatural superheroes-for-hire that star in the graphic novel Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings. Created by the husband-and-wife team of Richard C. White (The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special) and Joni M. White, and illustrated by Reggie Golden and Randy Zimmerman, Night Stalkings presents the TSI members on their first mission: protecting a multimillionaire from a trio of Middle Eastern demons out to raise a little hell!
Captain Kalana: Kalana is the costar of The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special, a 99¢ pirate-fantasy digital comic by writer Richard C. White and artist Bill Bryan. The equal of any male officer—including Asheera, captain of the Sea Dragon and the star of the comic—Kalana leads her crew of privateers aboard the Black Talon into battle against opposing forces both on land and on the high sea, usually to keep Asheera from getting into any deeper trouble!
Most of the titles are available in print and digital formats, so visit their respective product pages for ordering information, as well as sample pages.
