- Who doesn’t like a good Pirate yarn? Pirates are some of everyone’s favourite kinds of stories. There’s treasure, monsters, and maybe just maybe a bit of a love or revenge story on the horizon. In this case, we have a tale of revenge and mourning of loss, as Tatsumi vows to destroy the monsters that destroyed her world.
The Book
Tatsumi The Serpent Mistress #1
Written, Lettered, and Flattened by Matt Knowles
Written and edited by Steph Cannon
Illustrated by Alessandro Ventura
Colors by Alan Emmanuel
Publisher Insymmetry Creations
Tatsumi starts in a bad place, as her home is destroyed by invading dark konquestors. She has vowed revenge and is forced to flee as she is the last surviving member of the inner circle of her empire. She wakes up on board a pirate ship and wonders just how she got there. It turns out that on her escape from her homeland, she found herself in the sea, about to die. She was rescued by the sea serpents, who managed to get an oath from the Sidestalker, the name of the boat that Tatsumi woke to.
Safe, for now, Tatsumi collapses and begins the long process of getting up for revenge. She befriends Lydia Snakearrow (I love this name), and Lydia begins the process of bringing Tatsumi into this new world by teaching her some of the customs on the ship.
From there, Tatsumi makes a proposition to the crew of the Sidestalkern, which they accept. The journey to revenge begins, as that is at the moment the moving force behind Tatsumi. Little does she know that there is more.
Her enemies had taken Tatsumi’s sister Miyu into their ranks by forcing her to become a Dark Konquestors. She hates it with a passion, and when the source of their food, the soul ripper, seems to be poisoned by the last people they tried to devour. Something is going on with them, and maybe just maybe, if Miyu has her way, she can speed along the path of destruction.
Loss and revenge are the big themes that open up Tatsumi. She is now without her home and is seeking vengeance for losing it. In the process, she may find herself becoming part of a different world, and that will be fun to explore, as havegot a world of pirates, sserntss, and soul rippers on the horizon. But also, loss isn’t just on Tatsumi’s end of things. Miyu has her own loss as well. Both are isolated and fighting an enemy both without and within. When they do meet each other again, it will be interesting to see what happens.
Matt Knowles and Steph Cannon have created this epic comic world and continue to populate the universe with new and fun concepts. This is old-school pirate fantasy, and it’s fun. Allesandro Ventura and Alan Emmanuel add a fun, horror, metalesque vibe to the whole series that depicts action, adventure, and just a touch of mayhem. This is a good and solid issue one with promise of a lot more fun on the horizon. I will definitely pick up issues two and three when they come out.
Right this minute, if you are interested in their work, check out their latest Kickstarter right here.
The Business
It’s been a wild few weeks. I worked on a movie. Yes. I was thug number two (and more) on Tim Chizmar’s Naked Alien Massacre. I flew into Sacramento and did my part to make the film as fun as possible. It was a blast, and I hope you guys check out the preview right here so you can get a glimpse of the first two minutes of this awesome little horror movie that could. It’s a riot, and I hope you enjoy the first two minutes. Giulia killed it, and you’ll get a kick out of it too. I promise.
Fair warning to anyone, this is not for kids or safe at work. Watch at your own time. It’s fun
though. I promise.
In addition I’m back on the road. I’m currently prepping to go into Mexico as I’m constructing a
resume for my acting/stuntwork I did, and am interested in to the doors that might be open. I’m
nervous as heck as this is truly going to be a new world. But as they say, it’s in discomfort you
grow. I’m intending on growing as much as I can. I’ll be writing about it on my substack.
The podcast is back this weekend. Episode 1125 is ready to launch. It’s a new era as it’s the
post Josh Shush era. My podcast would always end with Josh Shush, and I’ve misplaced it. I
may come up with something better. We’ll see. Or I may find it.
Outside of that, I am looking for work. If yo uneed an editor or just want to support my travels,
hit me up. My substack is https://joshuapantalleresco.substack.com. The membership is
growing fast. It’s been incredible.
Alright, that’ll do it for this one. My next column features one of my favorite authors ever. Take a
read. Stay inspired everyon
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