Poison Flowers Pandemonium

Just a couple of months before his tragic passing in March 2020, cartooning master of the macabre Richard Sala completed his final book ― or, actually, his final four books. Poison Flowers and Pandemonium collects all four of these original graphic novellas in one beautiful hardcover worthy of Sala’s legacy. First up in Poison Flowers is “House of the Blue Dwarf,” a 125-page thriller featuring master criminal the Bloody Cardinal, who leaves a wake of mayhem and madness everywhere he goes. “Monsters Illustrated” is a fun, 64-page monster movie riff that showcases Sala’s visual imagination. A young woman in a dusty bookstore reads a strange bestiary ― the “book within a book” showcases a series of Sala’s gorgeous watercolor and ink drawings. But when she gets to the end, she finds the bookseller drives a hard bargain. “Cave Girls Of The Lost World” is a campy, 60-page romp about a team of young women whose plane crashes in a land forgotten by time and rife with dinosaurs, carnivorous plants, and apemen ― but these intelligent, brave, and resourceful women are ready to rumble! Rounding out the book is “The Amazing Adventures of Fantomina Fantomella,” a 45-page graphic novella of violence and non-stop action. Priest and his mob thought Fantomina was dead. So how is it that she's come back with a vengeance? Poison Flowers & Pandemonium is a perfect showcase of Sala's gorgeous watercolor artwork and his love of B-movie horror, silent film-era archetypes, and femmes fatale.

As Now hits its landmark tenth issue, what better time to bring back the cover artist who launched the series? Painter and cartoonist Rebecca Morgan returns with one of her signature depictions of the underbelly of America. Meanwhile, the issue also features new work by a number of familiar names, such as Steven Weissman, Tim Lane, and Walt Holcombe. Young Frances creator Hartley Lin contributes his first piece to the magazine, as does Italian cartoonist Sylvia Rocchi and American cartoonist M.S. Harkness ― with a piece about competitive weightlifting during the Covid-19 pandemic! Along with other surprises, Now #10 includes one other special feature: a tribute to the late cartoonist Richard Sala (1954-2020), a cartoonist who built his long career contributing to various anthologies of the 1980s, including the legendary Raw magazine. We are pleased to present nine previously unpublished pages of comics by Sala, all created as an art student in the 1970s and presaging a prolific and brilliant oeuvre to come. Also: comics by Nick Thorburn, Jacob Weinstein, Joakim Drescher, and Julia Gfrörer.

In this graphic novel, a series of grisly murders echo the work of the master criminal, the Bloody Cardinal. But, he’s dead! Or is he? He was trapped by police in an abandoned asylum which burnt to the ground. The charred remains found in the ashes were presumed to have been his. However, he left behind a journal which has been tied to a string of violent, unsolved murders. Who is behind these crimes? Full-color illustrations throughout.

When a pandemic ensues, it disrupts the very lives of the people causing a number of negative events: crime, domestic violence, looting, and distrust of neighbor, family, and friends as most people don’t know how to combat the menace that goes berserk, who, with a voracious appetite, devours the crops, harvests, trees and, when that’s all gone, eventually wooded houses and people. When the mighty rainforests are devoured by the menace, the whole ecosystem and biodiversity of the world changes: there are mega droughts, superstorms, flooding beyond belief, and other catastrophic events that humankind is unable to deal with, and less oxygen slowly decimates humankind to the next mass extinction.

It is a world like our own in every respect . . . save one. In the 1950s, random acts of possession begin to occur. Ordinary men, women, and children are the targets of entities that seem to spring from the depths of the collective unconscious, pop-cultural avatars some call demons. There’s the Truth, implacable avenger of falsehood. The Captain, brave and self-sacrificing soldier. The Little Angel, whose kiss brings death, whether desired or not. And a string of others, ranging from the bizarre to the benign to the horrific. As a boy, Del Pierce is possessed by the Hellion, an entity whose mischief-making can be deadly. With the help of Del’s family and a caring psychiatrist, the demon is exorcised . . . or is it? Years later, following a car accident, the Hellion is back, trapped inside Del’s head and clamoring to get out. Del’s quest for help leads him to Valis, an entity possessing the science fiction writer formerly known as Philip K. Dick; to Mother Mariette, a nun who inspires decidedly unchaste feelings; and to the Human League, a secret society devoted to the extermination of demons. All believe that Del holds the key to the plague of possession–and its solution. But for Del, the cure may be worse than the disease. “Look out, Lethem! Daryl Gregory mixes pop culture and pathos, flavoring it with Philip K. Dick. Pandemonium possesses every quality you want in a great novel, and the good news is it’s only his debut.” –Charles Coleman Finlay, Hugo and Nebula Award-nominated author of The Prodigal Troll

In Migration Journeys to Israel, psychologist/anthropologist Gadi BenEzer examines the neglected subject of journeys of migrants and refugees, focusing on the experience and meaning of such journeys for Jews migrating to Israel from around the world during the 20th century.

Sala's intrepid adventuress of the macabre faces monsters, zombies, witches, madmen, evil children and a villainess who may or may not be in love with her, in this delightfully creepy collection of thrilling, chilling tales.