READ IT! TALES FOR THE CORNERSTONE

TALES FROM THE CORNERSTONE is a book I've been wanting to plug for a while. I really love this series. Written and drawn by Andrew Charipar, TALES FROM THE CORNERSTONE is funny, original and exciting.

I first met Andrew at the NYC Comic Con in 2007. He came up to my table to chat about self-publishing. Now I've talked to many people who's goal it is to self-publish, but few ever have anything to show when I meet them. To my surprise, after chatting a bit, Andrew pulls out a complete graphic novel of TALES FROM THE CORNERSTONE. I was totally impressed. Not only had he already finished all the story we had been chatting about, but he already printed it! I gladly accepted Andrew's offer of the trade and looked forward to reading it later.

What I didn't expect was not being able to put it down the next day. I honestly laughed out loud on many occassions and when I was done, I wanted more.

TALES FROM THE CORNERSTONE is a great mix of mystery and humor all set in a city full of monsters where a special situations task force made of up of other monsters enforce the law. There's Ricky 17, a Frankenstien created super solider who is also Cornerstone's favorite detective. Then there's Cortez, the were-wolf dectective who's crude and sexist jokes hide his true nature and loyality to task force. Rounding out the team is Officer Amanda Wright who is one of 306 in a third generation of witches and warlocks.

In the first trade the team tries to track down a murderer they believe to be a vampire. But like any good story, everything is not as it seems and the resolution to the first arc is surprising.

As both artist and writer, Andrew really pulls out all the stops and must never sleep in order to produce this book. His art fits perfectly with the oddity of the series and creates a vidid world for the characters to live in.

Currently Andrew is finishing up the second TALES FROM THE CORNERSTONE trade and hopes to have it out in time for either the Florida Megacon (in March) or the NYC Comic Con (in April).

I can't reccommend this book enough! It's that good.

Check out Andrew's site to see more and even read the first issue for free on Drunk Duck at http://www.misfitcorner.com/