Primer (1996) #1 by lots of people
Comico decided to revive the anthology book that had been a commercial failure a decade earlier… but why?
The value proposition for a publisher is clear with this kind of book: They can try out new creators and see whether they possibly can carry a book of their own, and if not — at least you can get an issue out of them. The value proposition for the reader is less clear: These are comics that the publisher didn’t really want to bet on, so… why should the reader care?
So these types of books seldom last long — and this only lasted one issue.
But “Lady Bathory” — that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? But no, some quick googling shows nothing. I think I was thinking of Lady Death, which was something of a hit.
Anyway, it’s by Brian Azzarello, Vincent Proce and others, so let’s have a look.
Err… Yes, that really is the first page of this story.
It’s about a super assassin/agent or something with an improbably physique.
It’s very, very confusing, and it’s only 14 pages long. It’s really generic — kick-ass futuristic sexy kick-ass sexy futuristic agent stuff that’s been done a bazillion times, and the only thing that makes this stand out is how badly done it is.
The other feature is shorter and is about a guy getting a tattoo? A magic tattoo! It’s horror! It’s by Ed Dunphy and Andrew Kudelka, and Kudelka’s artwork is interesting… but the story kinda isn’t.
Overstreet’s FAN #7 ran a four page ad/serialisation for Lady Bathory, which sounds like a good idea… until you read the thing.
I can find no reviews of this book, neither contemporary nor on the intertubes now.