Tag: comic books

Sleeping With Ghosts – The Hotel Avira Haunting #1

The following is a review of the first chapter in a new series by Damian Simankowicz. Anyone who followed my writing over at Nerds in Babeland might recognize that name from the series of reviews I did for another project of his: Sage Escape. This one is quite different stylistically, but definitely worth a try if you like ghost stories. Now, without further ado, I present the first chapter of Sleeping Ghosts (albeit a little late).

PS- Normally I would give you a spoiler warning before continuing, but for once I did pretty good at not being too specific. Enjoy this rare treat! And now, on with the show…

Sleeping With Ghosts

The Hotel Avira Haunting #1

Chapter 1: Sebastian

The first impression with any comic is going to be the artwork, and this one does not disappoint. I was immediately impressed with the coloring on this one. Next impression is going to be whether the story catches you immediately. Right from the opening panels you immediately get that this is a supernatural themed story, which I am all about. My two favorite genres for comic books are superheroes and the supernatural. (Put them in a story together and you get Doctor Strange, one of my current favorite comics running now. Honestly, I could write a whole other article about the current story they have going, but that’s not what we’re here for now.)

Sorry for the tangent, folks. My brain doesn’t always like to focus (which is maybe why I’m writing this a good 3-4 months later than I should’ve). I am so very good at life… (but that’s a different article as well).

As I was saying, the story is a supernatural tale of a haunted hotel and the debunker who actually finds some ghosts. In fact, he finds more than he bargained for, and ends up in unexpected places because of it. I know the story has been out for awhile, but I still don’t want to give too much away. I definitely recommend you check this piece of the story out, if you haven’t already. My only warning is there is one scene that is on the mature side, which was fine for me but may not be right for younger readers.

You can find part one of The Hotel Avira Haunting online at ComiXology and on iBooks.

Creative team:

  • Damian Simankowicz – writer/creator
  • Marcelo Salaza – Art
  • Mike Stefan – colorist/ cover artist

Publisher: Primal Archetype 

Life Happens

Earlier this month I wrote my first post in over a year because one of my favorite shows turned 20 years old and I had to add my two cents on what that meant to myself and the industry as a whole. Writing that article made me realize I had one that was grossly overdue, a review of a comic for someone whose work I usually love. I wrote him an apology email today about how life got busy and I’m really sorry. And then I read the comic and wrote a thing on it and in that one article I came up with two others I should write – this being one of them (the other is a thing is on the current run of Doctor Strange and how much I LOVE it, but that can wait). The actual article I wrote about the thing I was supposed to will be coming out very soon, but for now I wanted to do yet another giant update on what I was doing that kept me here.

Mostly I got a new job that kept me very busy and RELEASED A RECORD.

Yes, Lonely Atom Records, the small start-up record label I work with, finally released our first 7″ record late February. The two bands featured are The Pandemics and InCircles (both bands from NYC/LI). You can either download the songs or purchase the vinyl on our Bandcamp. There’s also stickers and pins for sale, and we’re working on t-shirts.

Between releasing the record, booking shows, and my actual real job(s), I’ve been fairly busy. I honestly love writing on here though, so I’m going to try to pick it up again. I’ve been reading a lot of comics lately, and between that and watching The Wednesday Club every week on Geek & Sundry’s Twitch channel, I will probably want to talk about that more. Don’t worry though, I’ll still have plenty of music musings as well as just general stuff about the news and other random things. The site is called “News on Shuffle” for a reason…

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for the review I just finished and whatever other things pop into my head and scream to be written down into this void we call the internet. And remember folks, when life gets you down you gotta remember to just keep swimming.