Why You Should Be Reading Gestalt Comics

When we enter into the world of comics as readers there’s only two things we know – Marvel and DC. As you get to know your local comic shop you discover the fantastic titles being put out by the smaller publishers and independents. You find that while Batman will always be the world’s greatest hero it’s the other stuff that will challenge you and change the way you see the world. But then you face a greater problem – with only so many hours in a day you cannot read them all. Instead you must choose. But choose what?

Choose Gestalt Comics. They have a select number of titles currently on the go and they are all top shelf material. Let us tell you why.

For starters they have a similar ethos to the Pixar company – story comes first. As they state on their website they publish stories of strong narrative and substance and their catalogue to date supports this claim. Take a gander.

THE DEEP

This graphic novel series will be of special interest to those who grew up with the family adventurer type stories that populated Saturday morning cartoons and comics of the 70s and 80s, but with modern awesomeness. The Deep follows the Nekton family as they explore the ocean depths and following ancient clues to the lost city of Atlantis. In their giant live-in submarine, the Nautilus, they toy with awesome technologies and discover mind blowing creatures as they answer distress calls and investigate natural phenomenon.

The Nekton’s are very easy to get on board with. They’re the perfect amount of quirky and dysfunctional, balanced with caring for each other. They get themselves into scrapes that they have to work together to get out off, but it never feels forced or cheesy. Their diverse ethnic backgrounds give them a unique feel among the world of comics, and the design of the crafts is slick and funky. With two volumes already on the shelf and an animated television series in the pipeline it’s time to set sail!

CHANGING WAYS

After flexing his artistic muscles on 30 Days of Night and Silent Hill Justin Randall lunched his own title with Gestalt and gave us one of the most unique and fascinating new horror stories you’ll likely to find. It begins with a man on a farm collecting up insects that have all started to exhibit a strange red markings. Evidence shows that this is more wide spread than the farm, and people are starting to show the scar-like markings themselves. Each person that exhibits the marks also has unusual new abilities, but whether this is a good or bad thing is yet to be seen.

Within a few pages you will learn that this is unlike anything else you have read before. The mix of fantastic artwork and a story seeped in mystery makes this a must-read event. The second volume is now available and there’s still plenty left unsaid. Changing Ways is a genre defying masterwork that every comic owner should have.

TORN

A wolf is turned into a man. Something of a reversal of the usual werewolf tale, but this is nothing so cut and dry. After an unusual event in the wild a vengeance wolf wakes in the body of a man and feels compelled to flee the sanctuary of nature to lurk in the city. Encounters with thugs, a homeless girl and cops see him challenging the his instinct as a wolf and as a man as he cultivates relationships and struggles to survive. The heavily inked artworks create a mesmerising series of images that draw you into this unusual character’s world.

These are just three of the great titles Gestalt is currently offering – now I’m off to read the rest!

Gestalt and some of their creative people are currently touring Australia with Oz Comic Con, and international readers can find their publications on Amazon. As a self respecting geek you should do yourself a solid and track them down.