OPCA #08 (Paperback)

Description

Oneshi Press’s eighth comics anthology explore trauma, redemption, and healing through fourteen short comics, guest art, artist spotlights, and more. These 120 pages will make you possibly contemplate, probably cry, and definitely smile.

Wrapped in a beautiful cover created by James Groeling that tells its own tale of redemption, our first semiannual short-comics anthology explores stories of healing.

PJ the Villain’s multi-character introduction sets us off on the right foot. Then, in V2.3 of Lynsey G. and Jayel Draco’s epic graphic novel, Tracy Queen finally learns about her best friend Nikola the raccoon’s escape from a terrible past—and how he deals with his trauma. Next, follow “Finn: Guardian of the Five Gates” into a terrifying realm where only the mistakes of this teen rocker’s parents and her own self-assurance can save her in eight pages from Desiree King and Kevin Sheely. The Zee Brothers set off to help a homeowner with a zombie infestation, then come face to face with their own fears when they arrive at a gated community in the conclusion to Grivante and Samir Simão’s mini-comic, “The Case of the Zombie Omelet.” 

Then, float off into a meditation about dissociation, identity, and beauty in Jacey Chase’s haunting and beautiful “Far Away.” AJ O. Mason and Luca Cicognola join forces next in “My Giant Strange Friend,” a dark yet uplifting story about a friendship that survives abuse and trauma—whether it’s real or imaginary. Discover how the zombie apocalypse—and a redemptive graphic novel that transforms a chicken wrestler into a savior in the introduction to Jayel Draco’s graphic novel, “Mr. Guy: Zombie Hunter.” And journey into the deep forest with a delightful polyamorous trio venture into magical adventures in the first half of “Detour” by Allison Bannister and Tom O’Brien.

Next, take a dark look into a world where medicine, addiction, and blood have become complicated bedfellows in the first eight pages of “Ziegler Box” by Chaka Freeman, Vicente Alcazar, Nouri Zander, and Greg Gallagher. Return to the vast fantasy universe of Children of Gaia in “Carrying Iron,” and visit an underworld of shady deals meet otherworldly fae music in a short comic from Peter Lampasona and D.L. Johnson.

Then, Oneshi Press debuts its Poets and Artists series as Jenny Williamson’s melancholic yet empowering poem “Lungs and the Ghosts of Lungs” meets Libby Bacon’s figurative artwork. In “A Tale of Good Intentions” by Patricia Loupee and Amy Hay, a superhero’s best instincts lead her astray when she finds herself in a far more complex situation than she can handle. Then, in the first eight pages of LaNada Peppers and James Mason’s “Quantum,” a Northern Cheyenne woman discovers that her sister has gone missing at the same time that she notices strange new abilities. Can she save her sister while learning to control her superpowers? Finally, begin the third arc of Lynsey G. and Jayel Draco’s ongoing series, PACK, with one rookie police officer’s attempt to bring six stray dogs—and one stray man—to heel, and instead gets a lesson in how the PACK takes care of its own.

These pages are packed with beauty and redemption, and are sure to help you find your own!