#going insane your linework is gorgeous
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What graphic novel would you recommend? (And if you don't read graphic novels: what book would you recommend?) :D
i dont read often enough to get a lot of pick and choose so my recommendations here are varying states of "if youd like x then why not":
- junji itos artstyle and storytelling is fascinating to me but needless to say his stuff isnt the typical thing you would read before bed. its fleshy and detailed and leaves you feeling a bit weird so like. tread lightly! most recently i read his graphic novel rendition of no longer human by osamu dazai which was heartbreaking so i rec you google the rough synopsis of that story before you know what youre getting into
- does manga count. for the love of god haikyuu and witch hat ateliers panelings are out of this world in different aspects: haikyuu encapsulates a lot of action and movement being a volleyball based story and picking apart its artstyle is SO fun when you want to learn foreshortening and larger composition with big casts. witch hat has such gorgeous linework and detail in its character designs, and i definitely recommend it if you love fantasy worldbuilding
- im already insane enough about the locked tomb so i might as well put it here: sci-fi horror series about love. charming narration that practically begs you to reread it for extra hidden understanding the second and third time around. books that tease questions around you but lead you by the hand to the answers if youre a little stupid like me. the biggest complaints ive heard about these books can just be resolved by reading further, which sounds annoying but you Have to give it a chance and entertain it for what its got. if you want a singular, straightforward love story you are Not going to get it here
- in high school my friend gifted me strange the dreamer which is part of a duology- its been fucking years so i really dont remember much of it now but i do remember it enchanted me with worldbuilding and an overarching story that wove in tidbits of charm and like, the horror of gods, so theres that
- this is how you lose the time war is SO GOOD GUYS. im sorry bigolas dickolas was right that book is so short but it left me sobbing. now if you want a singular straightforward love story THATS what you need
#i hope to read more soon but i dont have any easy access to libraries and ive become a slow reader#by which i mean i need to sit down and force myself to read for 5 hours to finish something or else ill snack at it over months#talking back
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hi seri ssseriema can i just say how much i love your art. your shapes and linework are always just soooo pleasing to the eye and your character designs too.... like they always tell something about the character of the mcyter really well and aren't too cluttered or too little and its just !! so !! and your colours are always so gorgeous too. like i always end up thinking about your one mapicc art surrounded by dogs and his eyes the only thing seen on his face as a good example of ur colours bc they work and compliment each other so well and it just makes me Feel Things and go insane!! and once again back to your shapes and linework like wow. they always just have a lot of character into them and always so readable and generally just pleasing to the eye and and
sorry for the really long incomprehensible(?) ramble. i just really love your art it's such a huge inspo!!
XAVIERR WAAAAAAHHH AAAAHHHHGHHAGHHHHH AUUUGGGGGGRR WAAAHH CRYING SOBBING THIS IS SO SWEET MAKES ME SO HAPPY WAAAHH I LOVE YOUR ART TOO SO MUCH I LOVE YOUR STYLE N RENDERING M STUFF AND ITS SO GOOD AND THANK YOU THANK YOUUU
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Assumption: you’d be willing to share your top graphic novel reads. Also do you read any written in French? I’d die for those titles too!
lmao i see what you're doing anon. prepare for a long post (no french unfortunately; i've mostly just read bd-style stuff, so asterix and tintin and schtroumpfs kinda vibe... not much else. my faves are franquin’s spirou et fantasio tho)
gonna have 3 categories in this list: 1. select favourites 2. other favourites that i shouldn't have to explain (better-known stuff) 3. haven't read but i already know
select favourites, in no particular order:
emily carroll, through the woods
through the woods probably doesn’t need me to wax poetic about it because you should hear the name emily carroll and already know it’s going to blow your socks off, make you insane, and be gorgeous. this one is an anthology of spooky stories set at various times in the past, and you’ve probably seen a slice or two from it on tumblr already. her use of values? of black and white? creative panelling? i’m insane
brandon dayton, green monk
this is one i read a while ago and i’m still deeply upset that mr dayton hasn’t made volume 2. a gorgeously-drawn introduction to a Chosen One in fantasy russia, raised by monks and haunted by weird heroic dreams where he battles monsters. mr dayton where is volume 2.
simon spurrier and matias bergara, coda
i have three words for you: post-apocalyptic fantasy. i have two more words: Big Wife. a few more words: this thing is gorgeous, with psychedelic colours and detailed linework, and i like it a whole lot. did i mention big wife. did i mention big warrior wife with a sword. yeah.
molly mendoza, skip
again, don’t feel the need to say anything. molly mendoza’s art is some of the most breathtaking i’ve ever seen in a graphic novel and it made me insane. post-apocalyptic, but subtle. no one has a gender. a lot of dimension-skipping and you’d better believe the art absolutely goes off the shits every time but ultimately it’s about being true to yourself, and friendship
james tynion iv and michael dialynas, wynd
most recent read! it deceived me in the comic book store: the back said the main character was gay, and it looked like YA or K-12 so i was like aight cool some light reading. nope. it gets dark. the characters are young but the world they live in is fraught with war and genocide and it gets Dark. not overly dark but people die. love it tho. 2 of the main four are confirmed mlm in the book which is fun to see in a fantasy!
more favourites that require no explanation
noelle stevenson, nimona, aka extremely fun fantasy, hilarious, but also hits in the feels. also noelle stevenson, so you already know it’s good
alice oseman, heartstopper, aka the softest romance i’ve ever read. i screamed a lot.
kevin panetta and savanna ganucheau, bloom, aka messy gays on the cusp of adulthood, toxic friends, and a gorgeously-illustrated love letter to baking
future-favourites
tillie walden, on a sunbeam
trung le nguyen, the magic fish
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Eivor x Fem!Reader - Ink Me Up
Oh, what to do when the Norwegian woman tattooing your thigh is insanely attractive, clearly gay, with a criminally good bedside manner?
Warning: about tattooing and obviously needles.
Word count: 4363
Can be found on AO3 here.
Heavily inspired by this post here. The tattoo itself is purely self-indulgent. Eivor is stupidly attractive and it's not fair. (Y/N) replacer safe.
After months of saving and deliberation, the time had come. For the longest time you had dreamed of getting something big, bold and beautiful permanently inked into your skin. Something meaningful. And you wanted someone talented to tattoo it.
Thus, you found yourself scouring the web for reputable tattoo shops, hours upon hours poured into searching artists’ portfolios, hoping that someone was skilled enough at black-and-grey realism within a relatively close radius. If you were going to pay a hefty sum for a tattoo, you wanted it to be perfect. Your desktop was flooded with reference images of sword lilies – the subject of your desired ink – and about a dozen different parlours, tabs whittling down one by one during your search.
The final tab was the website for a slightly pricier shop, but one of the artist’s Instagrams utterly captivated you. Their artwork was extraordinary, the details in their pieces stunning and intricate; you decided investing a little extra cash would be worth it. Eivor Varinsdóttir, handle @wolfkissed_ink. Grinning, you emailed the artist, requesting a consultation.
You explained to the artist during that consultation that you wanted a composition of black-and-grey realistic gladioli on your left thigh. Sword lilies represented strength, after all, and you wanted to commemorate overcoming a difficult part of your life with something gorgeous and symbolic. That and, well, flowers were pretty. Within the week they had responded with a sketch that was beyond what you could have possibly thought up yourself: two stunning, bloomed sprigs of the flower with petals floating either side, lifelike as a monochrome photograph. Smiling ear-to-ear, you booked up your first appointment.
Unbridled excitement led to the time before your appointment soaring by, with you opening up the file of the sketch almost every day. Bringing us to the present: you stood anxiously outside the parlour door, 12:50pm, ten minutes before your scheduled appointment. Sucking in a shaky breath, nerves both good and bad, you stepped inside.
The tattoo shop was sleek, modern and decked wall-to-wall with flash sheets, the small designs varying in style, colour and detail. Everything was spotless, as one would expect, with shining awards dotted about. Just seeing the various trophies did well to quell some of your anxieties, knowing you were in good hands, that you’d end up with a lovely piece on your thigh. A stout man covered neck to foot in swirling Japanese designs manned the front desk, smiling warmly at you, obliterating any stigmas you had heard from older relatives about tattoo culture.
Biting your lip, you made your way to the desk, mustering a nervous smile. As thrilled as you were about getting the tattoo, the whole pain aspect was still rather daunting. “Hey, one o’clock appointment for (Y/N) (L/N)?” You fidgeted with the hem of your shorts while the gentleman checked his desktop.
“With Eivor, right?” he verified. You nodded.
“Sorry I’m a little early—”
“No, not at all! Rather you be early than late,” he chuckled, clearly sensing your worries. His eyes flickered across a clipboard. “She’s not with a client at the moment, so I’ll send you through now, if that’s alright.”
“Sounds good, thank you,” you bade, pulse quickening. Come on, you’ve wanted this for so long, you can’t pussy out now.
The guy asked you to wait by the desk as he ventured down a long corridor, the black paint giving off an ominous vibe that did nothing for your nerves. A few seconds later, he returned, cocking his head for you to follow. Your knuckles were white from gripping the strap of your purse so tightly.
He led you to the room at the end of the hall, holding the glossy black door open for you. “Go easy on her, Eivor, it’s clearly her first,” he called out, flashing you a wink, before letting the door close behind you.
Holy shit.
She was hot.
Eivor was nothing short of a modern day viking. Tall, rippling with muscle, late twenties to early thirties, blond hair strewn into an unruly braid with a strip on the right shaved clean to the flesh, revealing a fucking skull tattoo of a bird…a raven? Her face was stupidly handsome, eyes blue and icy but warm with greeting, a long and gnarly scar cutting into the flesh of her left cheek with a smaller nick protruding from her upper lip. Hell, the nape of her neck was marred with an even more vicious looking scar. She wore a tight black t-shirt that strained around her deliciously grizzled arms, which were adorned with Norse-looking runes and text curving into circles, ink that carried on to her hands and neck. The smile she offered you made you weak in the knees.
“(Y/N), right? I’m Eivor, a pleasure to meet you,” she greeted, voice deep and gravelly, decorated with a rasp that to you sounded like butter. Fuck me, she’s a tall, tall glass of water.
You shook her hand when she extended it to you, marvelling at the patterns and blacked-out bands on her long, thick fingers. Her nails were cut extremely short, confirming the strong lesbian vibe she gave off. “Likewise,” you squeaked, cursing yourself for acting like some bloody schoolgirl.
She sauntered over to her setup, weight carried in her shoulders, consolidating her already intimidatingly attractive butch energy, sanitised her hands and pulled on a clean pair of gloves. “Come on over,” she said, grabbing a disposable razor from a box. “I’ll just need to make sure the area is shaven, if that’s alright.”
“Of course,” you replied, joining her by the leather chair, covered by a sheet of cellophane. It was a relief to see all the hygiene precautions taken in the shop. Eivor picked up a disinfectant wipe.
“Left thigh, if I remember correctly?”
“Mhm, yeah.”
She dropped to one knee – wasn’t that a fucking sight – and wiped down the expanse of your thigh before gliding the razor over the flesh.
Hesitantly, you asked her what the general procedure was, desperately trying to divert your thoughts from the sapphic spiral they were travelling down.
“Alright, after I’ve finished here I’ll apply the stencil. You’ll get to check if you like the placement, and if you don’t I’ll keep going until you’re happy with it. It’s a big piece, so we’ll have to split this up into two sessions, as we discussed alongside payment.” She brushed away the loose hairs and peach fuzz. “I’ll do the linework this session, and the shading next time.” With one final pass of the razor she pulled back, tossing it into a bin.
Eivor then picked up a sheet of thin paper with the sketch printed on it. She plucked a purple pen from her table. “Give me a few minutes to trace the stencil, then we’ll apply it and see how you like it.” You nodded, trying to focus on your breathing.
While she traced over each line of the sketch, she kindly attempted to soothe your fears with small talk. “I’ll admit, I’ve never heard of a ‘gladiolus’ before our consultation. Any reason why you chose it?”
You smiled. “They represent strength. I finally got through a rough spell and wanted something to celebrate with,” you explained, heart skipping a beat at the soft expression on the artist’s face.
“All the more reason to get this perfect then,” she said with a grin. The way the scar on her upper lip quirked was positively adorable. A couple minutes passed and she re-capped the pen. “Stand up straight for me, darling.” Oh.
Cheeks burning with bashfulness, you complied. Eivor took a second to angle the stencil before smoothing it over your thigh, leaving a purple outline once she removed the paper. “Just have a look in that mirror over there and tell me if you’re happy, okay?”
You walked over to the mirror and stared at your thigh. The tattoo was large – which you expected, with the amount of detail in it – and perfectly central, the loose petals appearing to float down the length of your thigh. “Perfect,” you breathed out, giving the woman a thumbs-up.
Eivor switched over her gloves and gestured for you to take a seat on the chair. “Get comfy, then. Do you have water?” Nodding, you took out your water bottle from your handbag. “Brilliant. Still want to do this?”
“Hell yeah.” Weirdly, the nerves about the pain (not about the sexy artist) had almost wholly subsided, leaving you brimming with anticipation.
She poured some jet black ink into small caps, no larger than the tip of your thumb. “Remember to breathe through it and hold still, yeah? You picked a smart place for your first tattoo, not too close to the bone.”
“I’ll try.” Eivor opened a sealed packet containing a new, sterilised needle, inserting it into her tattoo machine. She switched it on, the buzz of the machine’s piston filling the room with a gentle hum. Looking up at you, she cocked her brow – if only your gay thoughts could bugger off for two minutes – as if to ask, ready? Affirmatively, you beamed at her.
Dipping the needle into the ink, she pulled the skin of your thigh taut. Immediately, you noted the warmth of her hand on your leg, fighting off a shudder. Then came a mildly painful scratching sensation as she brought the machine to your thigh.
Honestly? It wasn’t bad. Irritating, like an itchy eye, but not drastically unpleasant. You followed Eivor’s advice, keeping your breathing steady, averting your attention to the artwork on the walls, some of which you had seen on her Instagram portfolio. Portraits, flowers, animals, realistic-looking jewellery…the woman had mastered black-and-grey. You knew you picked the right artist. The frown of concentration on her face spoke volumes about her dedication to the art, steeled and intently focused on the lines she was pulling.
When she wiped the area and reached for more ink, she glanced up at your face. “All good?” she asked.
“Yeah, no issues here.”
“Wonderful.” She set back to work, positioning her needle over the flower’s curved stem, dragging it downwards in a slow arc. “Your skin takes ink like butter, by the way.”
“Oh, that’s good,” you breathed out. Her hand suddenly felt a little warmer. Tell me this woman does audiobooks, you thought.
After a few more lines, you tried to pepper in some small talk without breaking her concentration. Fortunately, her bedside manner was immaculate, and she entertained your questions without any grudges.
“Your voice is really soothing. Where abouts are you from?”
“Oh, thank you. I’m from Norway, moved here a few years back.” She grinned at the compliment. “It’s funny, people usually say the opposite about my voice.” You wondered if they were deaf.
“It’s a nice rasp,” you chuckled. Buzzing stopped, more ink.
“I was bitten by a wolf when I was nine,” she explained. Buzzing recommenced, scratching returned. “My larynx never properly healed from it, so I’ve sounded like some chain-smoker since before I hit double-digits, despite never touching a cigarette in my life.”
“You don’t sound like a chain-smoker, though. I mean it.”
Her grin widened. “That actually means a lot.”
An hour passed by, most of it spent in comfortable silence, with Eivor checking in on you occasionally to see how you were coping. Certain patches of nerves stung a little more than others, but none of it was unbearable. That was until her machine passed over a particularly rough area. It fucking killed, the burn of the needle seemingly deeper than anywhere else, the sting infinitely more intense than before. You hissed, gritting your teeth together.
“Ow,” you winced, clutching onto your water bottle in an attempt to relieve the pain, to no avail.
Eivor continued pulling her line, her rasp coming out in a low mantra. “Just breathe through it, nice and slow…” You tried to follow, attempting in vain to relax your shoulders. “Keep holding still for me…” Your breaths came shallow but steadily so, the stinging slowly becoming more endurable. The machine reached the end of the line. “Good girl,” she muttered, blissfully of absent mind.
Good girl.
Oh fuck.
Just when your clearly gay tattoo artist couldn’t get any hotter, she comes out with some hot-girl bullshit like that. And fuck, you didn’t think you had a praise kink before, but now this certainly awakened something. Why, why did it have to sound so good in her husky voice? No, you were absolutely not going to fantasise about your artist, not when her hands were on your skin, on your thigh of all fucking places. God, this stupidly attractive Norwegian butch was making you uncomfortably hot.
When she finally pulled away, sweet bloody reprieve, you took a sip of your water. “That wasn’t fun,” you remarked.
“Took it like a champion, though,” she beamed proudly, clearly unaware of the affect her words had just had on you. “Need a break?”
“Just a minute or two, thank you,” you sighed with relief. Eivor wiped you down and analysed her work.
“We’re just over halfway there,” she commented. Only halfway? Fuck. You allowed your eyes to wander over the black lines, all perfectly smooth from practiced precision. Yeah, this woman was talented.
“I mean, that killed, and that was my thigh…” you trailed off, making her laugh. “What was the most painful tattoo you’ve gotten?”
Eivor answered without hesitation. “My head, without a doubt. Packing solid black into that thing was agony. My fingers killed, too, but all completely worth it.” You couldn’t help but agree with that last part. Her hands looked extremely good, both with and without those gloves.
“I’m guessing places with more nerve endings and by the bone are the worst, then?”
“Definitely. The palm of the hand is the most sensitive, and it’s tough to get right. Ink bleeds, skin bleeds…and if you don’t do it well it’ll just fade. All that pain for nought.”
You gulped down some more water. Ouch. “Duly noted.”
After ninety odd more minutes, Eivor switched off her machine for good, the linework finished and utterly flawless. “All done for this session,” she announced, changing gloves once more to clean and wrap the area. There was minimal irritation around each line, and the wipe felt wonderfully cool against the reddening flesh.
Once she finished placing various equipment in a tub labelled ‘autoclave’, she escorted you to the front desk. You paid half the decided fee of the tattoo and booked your second session for three weeks’ time. Eivor gave you an aftercare kit, explaining in detail how to keep the tattoo clean, how to prevent infection, and to avoid direct exposure to sunlight as much as you could. Eagerly, you listened, trying to drink in as much of her voice as possible before departing.
“I’ll see you in three weeks, then. Take care, (Y/N),” she grinned. From the moment you stepped out of the shop, you knew that grin would be engraved into your mind for the weeks to come.
The second appointment couldn’t have come quickly enough.
You spent an embarrassing quantity of time thinking about your dreamy tattoo artist, right up until the day you walked back into the shop, this time free of any concerns pertaining to the tattoo. The gentleman from before recognised you and asked how the tattoo was holding up, if you’d had any issues keeping it clean, to which you replied all was good. Only this time, Eivor came to greet you by the front desk.
“How’s it going?” she asked, welcoming as before.
“Really good. I just hope I’ve been doing everything right,” you chuckled, anxiously glancing down at your thigh. The redness had completely disappeared a few days after your first appointment, the black ink proudly meandering over your skin.
Eivor smiled reassuringly. “Trust me, you’d know if you haven’t. From here it looks like you’ve done a fantastic job of keeping it clean, anyway.” You followed her to her studio, mentally noting how she was wearing an even tighter black t-shirt than last time, the fabric clinging to the defined contours of her muscled back, biceps, abs… Needless to say, the gay thoughts had returned at full-force.
As before, she shaved and disinfected your thigh, but instead of a stencil she had the full greyscale reference images for the design printed and taped to a metal beam above her table. She took careful time in diluting various caps of black ink into a plethora of greys, experience shining through as she added precise amounts of diluter to each cap. There was something addictive about watching the woman work, with how methodical she was, how delicately she handled the bottles of ink.
When she unpacked a needle, you noted the shape was different to before. “Now, some parts are gonna be only a little rougher than before. Others will suck, I’ll warn you now,” she mentioned as you positioned yourself on the chair.
“Mama didn’t raise a bitch,” you joked. Eivor laughed.
“You handled it like a trooper before. I have zero doubts you’ll do the same today.”
And so she began, making multiple passes with the machine unlike before, packing in the different shades of grey in front of her, scratching into the already broken skin. It wasn’t massively painful, but Eivor was right – last time was a breeze in comparison. You rested your eyes and bore the pain, focusing on the faint music playing from the shop’s reception.
As previously, she was ever considerate, checking up on you as she worked – albeit not as frequently, now that you were accustomed to the needles – and encouraging you through the nastier patches. You tried your hardest to not look at your thigh, wanting the final result to be a surprise, but over time it grew increasingly difficult not to sneak a glance at her hands. Merely the thought of them flustered you (pathetic, you knew) and nothing would be more embarrassing than drifting off into a less than appropriate fantasy about the woman when she was simply being professional.
Time blurred together amongst your inner dilemma – to look or not to look – until Eivor’s signature rasp caught your attention. “Time for your least favourite part,” she said, giving you a knowing look, positioning her needle in one of the petals over the area that hurt like a bitch previously.
“Oh god, I forgot about that area.”
“Just own the pain and keep still, alright?”
“I’ll try.”
Eivor smirked: a wicked thing that could have killed every sapphic in a mile radius. “Squirm and I’ll pin you down. I’ve had to do it before, and I’ll do it again.”
That, under different circumstances, would be an appealing notion.
Closing your eyes once more, you tried to decipher the song lyrics resonating through the shop’s hall, grimacing when the needle penetrated the skin. Just focus on Rihanna, focus on Rihanna…
“That’s…not so bad, actually,” you mutter, not entirely self-assured of the words leaving your lips, hoping some placebo affect would take place.
Eivor chuckled, dipping into another shade. “You sound convincing,” she drawled.
“I’m – ow – serious… Okay fuck, that’s way worse.”
“Shh, it’ll be over soon. Find something to focus on.”
So you did, on what happened to be the first thing in your immediate line of sight when you re-opened your eyes: Eivor’s bicep. God, her shirt strained around the muscle, black fabric against tanned skin and the deep green runes littering her arm. Perhaps the ink had something to do with her ancestry, given that the woman said she was Norwegian – that or she was just a mythology nerd. Your eyes trailed over the spirals of script, the perfectly concentric circles. Mind wandering, the idea that she may have tattoos on her back and front piqued your interest. Then came the delightful image of Eivor without a shirt. Pinning you down. Fuck.
Before long the pain subsided, leaving a dull ache where the needle had worked at your skin. “All done, darling,” Eivor murmured, wiping the patch. Darling. You knew it was simply her bedside manner, trying to keep you as relaxed as possible, but damn was it having the polar opposite effect. Cheeks feeling impossibly hot, you unscrewed the cap of your bottle and took a sizeable gulp of water. She gave you a moment to breathe, now that the most difficult part was out of the way. Still flustered, you drained half your bottle.
Concern plastered on her face, Eivor leaned closer, inspecting your face intently. “Are you feeling faint?” she asked, evidently worried. “It’s important you tell me if you are—”
“No, no, I’m fine, really.” You were stuttering, annoyed with yourself that you made her worry. “Just being weird. I promise.”
“You do?” Her eyebrows were still upturned, not entirely believing you.
You nodded frantically. “Yeah, really. Please don’t worry.”
Taking a slow breath, she restarted the machine, relief flashing across her features. She gestured for permission to continue tattooing, which you granted, and set back to work.
Cursing internally, you let your eyes flutter shut, thoughts full of nothing but ‘good girls’ and ‘darlings’ in a husky Norwegian accent. Numbing yourself to the needles, you drifted off into slumber.
“Hey, (Y/N)?”
A gentle pressure squeezed at your hand, slowly stirring you, bringing you back to the world of the living. Yawning, you opened your eyes, gaze brought to a gloved hand atop your own.
“Good evening,” Eivor said, retracting her hand and watching as you gasped and scanned the studio for a clock in a panic. Evening?
“Kidding,” she laughed. “I finished up ten minutes ago.” You shot her a half-hearted glare through sleepy eyelids.
“That was mean,” you pouted. She grinned.
“I do stab people for a living.”
Snorting, you swung your legs over the side of the chair, stretching them to regain a semblance of sensation. Chest pounding with excitement, you looked to the mirror at the side of the room, then at Eivor, silently asking permission to peak at the finished tattoo. She held out her hand in gesticulation.
Giddy with anticipation, you walked over and… Holy shit.
It was beautiful.
Each shade of grey blended into one another in a perfect harmony, so seamlessly that the black outline from before was barely visible. The shadows underneath each leaf, each petal looked real. Every speckle and wrinkle on the petals shone through, love and attention going into every marking. The falling petals were akin to a photograph, with the light grey background wash tying them to the main flowers, each little shadow appearing to give them different depths. It was beyond anything you imagined. All that pain, mental and physical, turned into a lifetime of beauty.
You didn’t realise you were crying until the salt of tears rolled into your awe-parted mouth.
“I’m, well… Wow.” Beaming, you turned to face your artist, who looked at her artwork with pride. “Thank you, Eivor. Thank you so much.”
She shook her head and offered you a box of tissues, from which you took one gladly. “I’m just honoured to have helped you lay that chapter of your life to rest. May the sword-lilies battle any shreds of it that remain.”
Stunned by her poetic inclination, you dried your eyes in silence, lips curved into a joyous smile. Meanwhile, she removed her gloves.
“You have tissues at the ready. I’m guessing people cry a lot here?” you asked, finally prying your eyes away from the masterpiece on your thigh.
“Mostly from the pain,” she remarked.
“You know, you could just lie to me so I don’t feel like such a fucking sap.”
The sound that left Eivor’s mouth in response was nothing if not angelic. She practically howled in hearty laughter, echoing through her studio, her eyes crinkling at the corners. You didn’t think it possible for your grin to widen further still, but her outburst was contagious in the best way.
“I’m glad you’re happy with it. Truly,” she breathed out, chest stilling from her fit.
“It’s beautiful. Happy is an understatement.”
Eivor made her way over to the desk in the corner of the studio, where a graphics tablet lay alongside a stylus. “Now, before I dress it, I’m legally required to ask you if I have permission to photograph the tattoo for advertisement purposes. I appreciate it’s a personal subject matter and completely understand if—”
“Go for it,” you shrugged.
“Are you certain?” You nodded.
“Of course. It’s a work of art.” The smile she gave you was genuine.
“This’ll only take a minute. Thank you, really.”
She knelt down and snapped a picture with the tablet, checking the quality. “All done.” Eivor then proceeded to sanitise her hands and slip on one last pair of gloves, grabbing the wipes and plastic wrap from her station. “The photo will be uploaded to the shop’s website and my professional Instagram, if that’s alright with you. Completely anonymous, of course.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. Although, it’ll be weird seeing my leg on my feed.” She chuckled.
“Feel free to email or DM if you have any concerns with the healing.” Patting your leg, she stood up to her full height, placing her gloves in a biohazard ziplock. “Well, I’m honoured to have given you your first tattoo.”
“Honoured to be your…canvas?”
And just like that, your time with the artist was up. You watched wistfully as she put together an aftercare pack at the front desk, your previously overjoyed expression drifting into a sad one. After paying, you thanked her one final time.
“Take care, søta,” she said with a wink.
The very moment you arrived back home, you whipped out a Norwegian-to-English translator and immediately tried to replicate her pronunciation of the word she called you, blushing profusely when discovering it meant ‘cutie’. And upon opening your cleaning pack, you found an addition that wasn’t present in your previous bundle:
A small slip of paper. On one side, a mobile number. On the other, in beautifully neat cursive,
I’d love to take you to dinner. Text me if you’re interested?
Yours, Eivor
#eivor#eivor varinsdóttir#eivor x reader#f!eivor x reader#female eivor#tattoo parlor au#modern au#ac valhalla
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Amalgama Space Zombie: The Galaxies Most Wanted! #1
Amalgama Space Zombie: The Galaxy’s Most Wanted! #1
Action Lab Danger Zone 2020
Written by Jason Martin
Illustrated by Winston Young
Coloured by Geraldo Filho
Lettered by Jerome Gagnon
Mature Readers’ Only
The start of a new story arc! She may be the most wanted “woman” in the galaxy, but she’s also the most dangerous. And now that Amalgama is hunting her bounty hunters, does anyone, or anything, stand a chance?
I am not entirely sure what I absolutely love about this series but then it really doesn’t matter because I do love it and I will not pass up the opportunity to read it. Sure she’s scantily clad and yes she swears with every other word out of her mouth but ya know what she’s unapologetic, has three voices in her head and seems to have fun regardless of what or who she’s destroying. There is this infectious quality to what we see throughout the book that just elevates the enjoyment for the reader.
I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is laid down extremely well. While we think that this is pretty straightforward it really isn’t as there are layers to the story that permeate throughout the entire run so far. I like it because while you can understand them when you see them you can still read this as your introduction and not feel lost at all. The character development we see is seriously good, strong and entertaining. Normally we get to see how they act and react to situations and circumstances which help to flesh them out more but honestly I think here the more telling moments are seeing her with Troo. The pacing here is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing a day in her life it is easy to see how all of this works together to create the story’s ebb & flow.
How the book is structured and how this affects the flow of the story is so well done. This is the unconventional conventional challenge and it works on so many levels. What I see here shows a level of talent that you might not expect because to do this with the quality of storytelling that we see is insanely good. I know too many of you don’t take Action Lab seriously enough, but with multiple Eisner nominees, awardees and books that have been optioned for film and television you need to be reading this.
The interior artwork here is really rather wonderful. I love the way we see the linework here and how the varying weights are being utilised to showcase the detail work. There is also this incredible display of creativity and imagination as well in not only some of the character designs but in the utilisation of Amalgama’s abilities as well. I am also a huge fan of the way we see backgrounds being utilised within these pages. They add ambiance, atmosphere and bring us this depth perception, sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show this remarkable eye for storytelling. The colour work is fantastic. We see some beautiful gradation effects as well colour blocking happening here and the various hues and tones being utilised really makes this super gorgeous.
Girls just wanna have fun and every girl has fun in different ways. Amalgama is a girl who like the Honey Badger doesn’t give a damn! That is a part of her charm and her appeal is the whole no fucks given attitude. This is one of my favourite series and I never expected that to happen so what have you really got to lose? Give it a go will you.
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Coffin Bound #2
Coffin Bound #2
Image Comics 2019
Written by Dan Watters
Illustrated by Dani
Coloured by Brad Simpson
Lettered by Aditya Bidikar
Sex! Chainsaws! Pancakes! As Izzy seeks to wipe out all trace of her own existence, old relationships are revisited, old wounds are torn open, and all those she’s wronged in the past take notice.
This is one of those really weird, interesting and incredibly thought provoking stories that comes along and takes the industry by surprise, much like say Preacher or Scalped. It has this very much grounded person surrounded in the supernatural and takes us this unforgettable journey. Along the way as Izzy tries to erase her past by visiting those who play prominent roles and takes those things that she feels will help save them from the Eartheater.
So the opening here introduces us to something new and as if that weren't interesting enough they are crazy and I mean the flock flew over the cuckoo's next crazy. They look amazing though and I like this updated kind of Death Doctor look they sport and unlike the original Death Doctor's these well they deliver something else altogether. I like it it's morbid, visual and t does what an opening is supposed to do by grabbing the readers' attention and ensuring that they want to keep reading. Yeah this appeals to almost everyone and once it's seen it will stay in your mind.
I like the way that this is being told as the release of information, twists and turns that the story takes comes about through the story & plot development and the character development. With the pacing grabbing it all up and moving things forward it creates a sensational ebb & flow. The way Dan is telling this is really something else. It is a great premise and it's got those really quirky moments not to mention some very adult content but all that isn't going to make many lists, what is is the fact that the characterisation we see and how it carries through the book and the story development. This is crazy good and it only gets better with each turn of the page.
Last issue we saw Mr. Starlight try to confront the Eartheater and get buried in the earth, alongside his assistant. Oh thank your lucky stars that Dan manages to keep us up to date the characters we've been introduced to in the first issue. This is another aspect of the book that keeps us coming back.
Dani's work on the interior is utterly gorgeous. I love the linework that we see here and how the varying weights are being utilised to create such amazing attention to detail is marvellous. The composition inside the panels and how we see depth perception and scale is insanely good. The faces, facial expressions just add to all the characterisation in some beautiful ways. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective inside the panels show this amazing eye for storytelling. The utilisation of backgrounds here is superb and the do wonders in expanding the moments and bringing this size and scope to the book. The colour work is stupendous as we see how the colours are utilised through their hues and tones to create shading and the shadows that we see. There are moments when a red or purple is utilised on the page and it really enhances the mood of what we see perfectly.
I have no idea what on earth is going to happen here and how all of this is going to end but let's face it it's never about the destination it's about the journey taken getting there. So as long as Dan and Dani, with Brad and Aditya, keep going to the way that they are and I am going to be here. Forget the ending, I don't wanna see it for a long time so just keep this wacky journey going as long a it makes sense to keep telling it. This is one of the years stronger debuts.
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Devil’s Highway #3
Devil’s Highway #3
AWA Upshot 2020
Written by Benjamin Percy
Illustrated by Brent Schoonover
Coloured by Nick Filardi
Lettered by Sal Cipriano
Shannon Harrow, an elite military veteran with skeletons in her closet and a dark family secret, embarks on a quest to hunt down the serial killer that brutally murdered her father – only to discover that he is just one piece of a national network of evil that snakes across the country and hides in plain sight. To catch the Devil, Harrow must first embrace and unleash the darkness within.
This book just keeps getting better with each issue. I mean c’mon now a brutal highway filled with human trafficking and just some bad, bad peopole running things and all of it illegal as hell. Of course that’s the appeal for this book as well and I am by no means complaining about that. All I know is that I feel these guys are knocking this outta the park here and creating something that is incredibly powerful in storytelling that doesn’t require powers but is horrific enough that this could be ripped out of today’s headlines.
The way that this is being told is pretty damn brilliant. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is laid out beautifully. I am so loving how we see the character going through their own way of doing things so that it adds these interesting and somewhat unexpected moments that stick with you. It doesn’t get much better than that as it keeps your mind engaged in the story and it’s crazy how long it’ll stick with you after you’ve read it. The character development is phenomenal and as we see them have conversations and act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter fleshing them even out further. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns along the way it’s easy to see how everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow.
I like the way that this is structured and how we see the layering within the story add that depth and diversity to the going ons. We really do get to see some truly extraordinary moments that we wouldn’t be able to see without them and at first some seem a little arbitrary but you know what they turn out to be great examples for the overall story.
The interiors here are bloody gorgeous! The linework we see and the varying weights and techniques that are utilised are so damn good! How they are utilised to create the attention to detail we see, this includes the colour work as well, and that it is so well rendered it is just stunning to behold. How we see backgrounds with just as much detail work not only enhance the moments but bring us some great depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. I mean that panel in Minneapolis is great for all of that in one fell swoop. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an insanely talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is divine and how we see the various hues and tones within any given colour being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows someone who understands how colour works. The imagery here is phenomenal and it just makes me incredibly happy.
This story epitomises why this publishing house has quickly risen through the ranks to become a premiere publisher for me. The strength of the storytelling and the quality of the artwork we see shows us an insane level of talent all around.
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Lady Mechanika Sangre #4
Lady Mechanika Sangre #4
Joe Benitez's Productions 2019
Story by M.M. Chen & Joe Benitez
Illustrated by Brian Ching, Joe Benitez & Martin Montiel
Digital Inks by Studio J-13
Coloured by Beth Soto
Lettered by Michael Heisler
Events from the past converge with the present as Lady Mechanika begins to unravel the mystery of La Madrina. But will she prove to be a useful ally - or a dangerous foe?
There is a very good reason that this series has something of a cult following. This is one of the most consistent books you'll ever read from arc to arc in terms of the writing and the interiors. Mechanika is damaged goods and she's trying to piece together the mystery of how she came to be who she is now, who made her this way? The path to discovery is never a straight road instead it winds and twists as it goes up and then down again kind of like driving the North Yungas Road.
We are finally seeing the past and present converge and I have to say that seeing how one is reflected in the other has been absolutely amazing to see. I think that this has been amazingly well depicted and in such a unique way. Plus the opening here has constantly made me want to see more and more and by that I mean of the setting, these people, these gods and all in the past. There is something about the way we see the mythology here that excites you deep in your soul and it just doesn't want to go away.
When Doña Mechanika meets La Reina Roja that's one of the most amazing moments in a series that's had more than it's fair share of amazing moments. What this meeting leads to and what it means in terms of the long term remains to be seen but oh my goddess what the mind can come up with is always so much worse than what it actually is. That we are engaged in this way shows the strength of the writing and if you've never thought about the regions mythology we've still been presented with more than enough that your own imagination will more than fuel what your imagination can come up with. Just the fact that page after page we are constantly reminded that we go off-script and into our own heads is more than an accomplishment or a feat it's simply damn impressive.
I will always have the hugest soft spot for the work Joe does as the sheer amount of work he puts into each panel and the pages is insane. He and Martin have this synchronicity to them that is hard to beat. Brian does a really nice however and his linework is gorgeous as we see him utilise the varying weights to create some really nice attention to detail. He needs to utilise more backgrounds in his work so that they enhance the moments and bring that sense of size and scope to the story. He hardly utilises them at all and it's a real shame. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels do show a solid eye for storytelling. The colour work here is utterly marvellous. How we see the hues and tones within any given colour to create this shading and shadow work really sings.
This is as thrilling as anything you'll see in films upon the big screen, if not more so. There is this unpredictability to this that makes it hard to imagine what is next and instead keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering where this may lead to next. The writing is explosive and dynamic and the confrontations can be chilling and then to see it all play out for us as visually as it does only manages to enhance everything we feel and so much more.
#comic books#comics reviews#joe benitez productions#mm chen#EL Joe Benitez#Martin Montiel#Brian Ching#beth sotelo
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