PANELS

IF YOU HAVEN’T GOT IT, THEN YOU DON’T “GET IT.” SO GET IT NOW!

Originality has often been met with skepticism, confusion, even derision. Vincent Van Gogh would sell only one painting in his lifetime when, a century later, his Portrait of Dr. Gachet would be auctioned for $82.5 million. When Manet first exhibited Olympia, the painting had to be guarded to ensure that it wouldn’t be vandalized by an outraged public. Even Blade Runner, a movie that would redefine the look of science fiction, was a critical and commercial failure when it first came out. People just didn’t get it. Not always is the avant-garde met with such virulent criticism or dismissal, but history has shown that anyone willing to take chances and push the limits of any artistic medium also takes the risk of not being appreciated in their time. At FPP, our goal is to produce entertaining stories, but we are also going for something different and are willing to experiment in an attempt to come up with something truly original. Whether it is dialogue spoken mostly in an invented future patois, a series ending as a different genre than it started out as, or merely presenting ideas that might challenge a reader’s preconceived worldview, we are willing to take those chances with the comics we create… even if only a few will get them.

READ ISSUE 1 FREE!

OH, WHAT A TANGLED WEB

WRITER Ian David Jones

ART/COLORS/LETTERS Flygohr

“Truth. That stranger than fiction. That elusive light. That which we all seek but are afraid to face. Philosophers spend their days contemplating it. Scientists search for ways to quantify it. And holy men attempt to sway the world to their vision of it. You could say that I’m a seeker of truth, and what I’ve found is to learn the truth you have to play the game of deceit. You see, you’re never given the whole truth. You have to filter it out in bits and pieces. Like a game of cat’s cradle, you have to look for the pattern in a web of lies.”

—Jack Featherstone

By all accounts, Jack “One-eyed Jack” Featherstone is your archetypal Chandleresque private eye: a cynical, tough-as-nails, hard drinking wise-ass with a penchant for beautiful femme fatales. But Jack has a gift, an ability to see clues where others cannot; an ability to see the truth—if only in fragments—that lies beneath this illusory fabric we call reality.

When hired by a mysterious antique dealer to track down a thief who has stolen an ancient Tibetan sword, Jack finds himself drawn into a series of “ritual killings” that have been plaguing the streets of Manhattan. The further he gets into the case, the more entangled he gets in a web of deceit and murder, and the more intense his soothsaying visions become. Soon Jack is questioning his identity, his sanity…and reality itself. All is not what it seems in this pastiche of 1950s hard-boiled detective stories, not even genre, and when this mind-bending, existential mystery is finally solved, you might find yourself questioning reality as well.

XTREMOPHILE

WRITER Ian David Jones

ART Francesco Gerbino

COLORS/LETTERS Alessandro Buffa

VARIANT COVER Marco Turini

“I hd zzz thru the dA... Ø tht U cn tL by lookng outsId. W/ the sky as blak as it s, dA + nIt prety much = the sAm. Bt I (heart) the city @ dA/nIt, its bildngs of str@ospheric hIts jutng from the dns clustrng of sprawlng Rchitectur. BrIt lIts + flikrng holos project corp IDs, ads, cryptc logos + ideograms = gaudy, gOstly aparishns; a cacophonous, sEzur-Nducng dsplA of capitalistc dRwNsm viciously cmpetng 4 the fikL + flEtng a10shn of the ØIQ, cnsUmr masz. BUtiful! N the old dAz, ppl wuld txt about the awe + majSty of natur: snO-capd mountns, rolng grEn plAns, Opn blu skIs. Bt ths s wot gts me waxng poetic.”

—George Blick (in textspeak)

It is the year 2140 in the Incorporated States of America and, due to unchecked privatization and industrialization of the world, the planet has become a pollutant-filled, toxic cesspool. Most species have died off due to the uninhabitable environment, but the ones that have survived have adapted to the more extreme conditions, becoming something much more extreme themselves. And, when these extremely dangerous, extremely invasive, extremely evolved pests (EEPs) become a threat to human life and property, they must be dealt with by something, or someone, as equally extreme—an exterminator.

READ ISSUE 1 FREE!

To many, what George Blick does for a living could be considered heroic—he kills monsters. But to Blick it’s just another job, a job that, because of the hazards involved, happens to pay very well. But, when it comes down to it, he doesn’t do it for the money… he does it for the action! Xtremophile is an over-the-top, satirical take on society, politics, and pop culture magnified through the lens of time to absurd proportions. Let’s hope this isn’t the future that’s in store for humanity, but you might want to bone up on your textspeak just in case.

SNEAK PEEK ISSUE 1!

PRESTIDIGITAL JANE

WRITER Ian David Jones

ART/COLORS/LETTERS HMT Studios

The epidermal armor fit like a second skin. Metallic plates, hydraulically hinged and wired to react to the wearer’s nerve impulses, shifted synergistically with every muscle twitch; a fine-tuned dance leaving Drake the freedom to move unburdened. Death engine demolition was more of a cockfight than a sport: two more-machine-than-men sparring with power tools strapped to their limbs. It combined the reflex and speed of a boxing match, the anticipatory thrill of a racecar wreck, and the no holds barred of a barroom brawl. Here, sanctioned and endorsed, stripped to the barest essentials of voyeuristic bloodlust and gearhead enthusiasm, murder had become a spectator sport… and here Drake was reigning champion.

—Excerpt from Prestidigital Jane

Drake Kilborn is a Death Engine, a cybernetically enhanced gladiator that fights to the death for sport. Jane is a Jacker, a data thief that syncs her mind with cyberspace to crack corporate mainframes. When Jane is hired to steal from one of the most powerful corporations in the world, the neuroware that comprises half of her brain becomes infected with a virus that will fatally corrupt its operating system within 48 hours. Meanwhile Drake, a majority of his body owned by the same corporation, has been framed for the murder of his trainer.  Learning how these two things are connected, and what larger event they portend, becomes their mission when they are brought together by Herm3Z, a thirteen-year-old skateboarding drug courier.

Separate, these are just three desperate, hustling cyberpunks in a bleak world ruled by corporations and the hierarchal execs that run them. But, together, they are the perfect combination of expertise capable of toppling a corporate empire. But time is not on their side. Superstar artist Harvey Tolibao’s own studio, HMT, use their team of top-notch artists to illustrate this homage to cyberpunk classics such as Neuromancer, Snow Crash, and Ghost in the Shell, bringing to life a fast-paced, stylish future where man has become indistinguishable from machine, and data is more valuable than gold.

UNSPEAKABLE

WRITER Ian David Jones

PAGE ART Felipe Poveda Serrano

COLORS Russell Vincent Yu

LETTERS Flygohr

COVER ART Luciano Fleitas

“What horrors lie just outside the boundaries of man’s five meager senses? What indescribable things are waiting just beyond that tenuous edge of sanity to snatch us into the dark void? In our endeavor to further understand this world and the strange forces that influence it, we blindly, and arrogantly, tread into realms not meant to be traversed by man. How much farther until we reach that abyss where one misstep could mean madness… or worse?! As we search through lenses more and more powerful, seeking to see beyond that most distant star or diminutive particle, how much longer before we find something staring back? It may not be so far as that. It may, in fact, be no farther than the very walls of this room.”

—L. Philip Ward

Something strange has been found in the library at Miskatonic University. A homicide…? Perhaps. If the authorities could tell what the horribly burned thing was. But the gruesome discovery is what leads to novice reporter Samantha “Sam” Carter being contacted by weird fiction author L. Philip Ward. Faced with having to prove herself in a male dominated field in early 1950s Boston, the opportunity to cover the story her first day on the job is a godsend.

COMING SOON!

But Sam will find that God has no place in the town of Arkham, at least not the God of man, and her and Ward will start to uncover an ancient conspiracy of cosmic significance—and cosmic horrors. Something that has been sleeping for a very long time has begun to stir—something unspeakable—and this bizarre case is just the first in a series of maddening events designed to bring about its awakening.

Help support this series and and gain access to the interactive Unspeakable game and other perks at patreon.com/UnspeakableProject.

With a three-legged bulldog familiar named Cerberus and a demon possessed pickup truck he calls Beer, Joe Bob will be influenced by both the forces of light and darkness, and he might have to choose a side whether he likes it or not. Upcoming talent Manuel Bracchi lends his expressive and versatile art style to this comedic, white-trash version of Dr. Strange.

FORCED PERSPECTIVE

WRITER Ian David Jones, various, YOU

ART/COLORS/LETTERS Manuel Bracchi, Novanim, various, YOU

Irreverent and comedic, abstract and experimental, Forced Perspective showcases works from new up-and-coming writers and artists alongside established pros. From an Olympic high diver’s surreal exploration of the self to the misadventures of a misanthropic, anthropomorphic organ grinder monkey, this anthology of short and episodic stories are told from differing unique perspectives… both human and otherwise.