March PREVIEWS catalog Pre-Order Picks: VIOLENT LOVE trade paperback

By pghhead -

VIOLENT LOVE Volume 1: STAY DANGEROUS trade paperback.  (Image Comics, releases on May 24) 152 pages, full color. Mature readers. $9.99 Story: Frank J. Barbiere. Art & Covers: Victor Santos.  Collects Violent Love #1-5.

STL035010

       The PREVIEWS catalog doesn’t have a lot to say about this:  

 

     “Daisy Jane and Rock Bradley were two of the most notorious bank robbers in the American Southwest.  And then they fell in love.

 

     Join Frank J. Barbiere (Five Ghosts, The Revisionist) and Victor Santos (The Mice Templar, Polar) for a pulp-infused criminal romance oozing with style and action.”

 

    Crime comics and romance comics are two less-recognized but still well-read genres within the comics medium.  Combining the two happens less frequently, and based on VIOLENT LOVE and the equally engaging GRAND PASSION over at Dynamite we could all benefit from more of this great story-telling. 

 

   Just like the Previews catalog, we’re not going to add a lot to the description or even attempt to summarize it.  What we will say is that VIOLENT LOVE is worth a look if you enjoy either crime or romance stories, or just would like to try something different.

 

   Fran Barbiere’s story is a slow burn, and takes it’s time to develop.  The benefit of that is that readers get a glimpse into the head of the characters and get a better understanding of what led them to the decisions they made and the road they chose to travel. 

 

   Victor Santos has a crisp art style that seems simple on the surface but reveals subtle layers of expression when you read it again and give his work the proper time.  I’m reminded a bit of Darywyn Cooke’s work, but Santos still has the training wheels on when compared to Cooke — give him time and he could develop into quite the visionary.

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