Comic companies will forever try to recapture the lightning in a bottle dynamism of early Vertigo and, arguably, early Dark Horse and BCQ is the latest swing for the fences.
Unsurprisingly, as tour-de-force editor Shelly Bond is at the reins. Bond was part of Vertigo for some nutty amount of time, something like 20 years, and that æsthetic has stuck with her.
BCQ is a melange of preview stories for upcoming comics in the imprint, short articles and interviews, and a sensibility reminiscent of a DIY ‘zine. Pardon the cliche, but there’s an overall punk rock quality to the book in its counterculture approach and indie vibe. It reminds me of a mid-late ‘80s collaboration Fantagraphic might have published or what Dark Horse Presents used to be.
Black Crown Quarterly differs from most anthology books in that the stories therein retain a common thematic feel. They read like they belong together as opposed to a slice of life piece followed by a science fiction adventure followed by superhero action.
Anthologies like Heavy Metal run the spectrum with stories all over the place; Black Crown Quarterly runs a tight ship.
The downside is none of the pieces engaged me, personally. They all are fine tales, scribed by talented writers and artists, but none of them kicked down the door and took no prisoners.
Tales From the Black Crown Pub is the opening installment and features the titular pub and its eerie staff and patrons. It almost feels like the goal was to split the uprights between Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore but fell short.
Following stories featured a (possibly?) supernatural hotel, a dispossessed teen and the ghost of Sid Vicious, and the members of a washed-up band tryin’ to get that feeling back, amongst the backmatter of short article/interview pieces.
The standout, for me, was Assassinistas. It features an all-girl mercenary assassin team and roller disco illustrated by Gilbert Hernandez. The writing intrigued me and I’m a sucker for anything from the Bros Hernandez...
Aside from Assassinistas and aging rocker story, CUD, the majority of Black Crown Quarterly fell a bit short.
I appreciate the hell out of the composition and editorial direction but the execution wasn’t for me. I’ll probably pop into the Black Crown Pub here and there and will certainly check out Assassinistas, but the remainder will probably not find its way onto my pull list.
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