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.
Wow…never heard of this late era Comico book either. I’m astonished that Brian Azzarello is credited as writer (and previously as line editor). This guy is going to write 100 Bullets in a few years, yet there is no hint of his abilities from the pages you excerpted. The lady assassin is bog standard dretch. And I’m almost certain that the cover and the last page are swipes. This stuff looks awful.