Superficial Saturdays #5 – CATALYST COMIX #1 by Rafael Grampá

I was actually clicking around some comics websites looking for news updates on some of my favorite Image books [that haven’t come out in forever], HELL YEAH and DANGER CLUB, and I just saw a banner ad for CATALYST COMIX out of Dark Horse (which was more-or-less a cutaway of the below #1 cover).

I thought it was gorgeous… Kind of like a cross between Geoff Darrow (or maybe P. Craig Russell on SANDMAN) and Popeye cartoons.

So here’s the criteria…

• Banner ad for a [book?] I had never heard of… And who clicks banner ads anyway?
• Not only was it disruptively engaging, eye-catching, and in my opinion gorgeous…
• I even wrote a blog post about it!

Success!

Success?

Comic: CATALYST COMIX #1
Artist: Rafael Grampá

Though the Popeye-esque chin on that protagonist (?) is what initially caught my eye, my favorite thing about Rafael Grampá’s cover has to be that right boot. They obviously applied computer coloring to his gorgeous, clean, cartoon-esque line work; but that boot. It’s just a huge chunk of black ink. In fact, it’s almost an eff-you to gradient color. I want to say all the detail is perfectly-applied negative space, but it actually looks like white ink (or at least white Photoshop). Love it regardless. Absolute best thing about a pretty great shot.

So (other than admiring that boot) what do I know about CATALYST COMIX?

Um… Nothing?

I know a mite about writer Joe Casey. He wrote one of my favorite comics, CODEFLESH (link is to a review I wrote on my old blog almost a Deckade ago), was responsible for the ingenious and ultimately unsuccessful WILDCATS 3.0, and is a co-creator of the character Ben 10 as a part of Man of Action; but of CATALYST COMIX, I know nothing.

But I thought the cover was engaging enough to pen these ~200 words.

If you are interested in learning more, Dark Horse has a free CATALYST COMIX preview on their website.

So… What do you think? Good enough cover for a Superficial Saturdays with no other knowledge?

LOVE
MIKE