Comichaus is an
online comic book marketplace, and is also a store for indie creatives to sell
their work. This inaugural issue of what will be a monthly anthology pulls
together new works from several of them, featuring the initial instalments of
several new ongoing stories.

Things
begin strong with Karyn Shade,
featuring its eponymous protagonist become stranded somewhere in the untamed
wilds of eastern Scotland. Like a hybrid of Lisbeth Salander and Buffy Summers
in a really bad mood, Karyn is a barely contained storm of irate fury. While it’s
entirely possible she’s a carefree and agreeable young woman outwith the
context of being marooned in the arse end of nowhere, it seems unlikely. The story
is clearly soon to head down the gothic horror route, but with a foul-tempered,
genre savvy and eternally snarky heroine at the fore who strides towards “a
really big creepy looking house” in full acknowledgment of how ill-advised an
idea that is, we’re sure to be in for a few surprises.

In
Feather, a new strain of avian flu
has begun ravaging the planet, which if the apparent flash forward of the first
page is anything to go by, will not end well. Meanwhile, we follow Doug, a police
officer in a small town somewhere in rural America going about his evening in
an easygoing way as the epidemic slowly finds its way to the isolated
settlement. The story is heavy in dialogue, allowing us to get to know the few
characters introduced and get a feel for the slow pace of the lives they lead.
Tantalisingly vague clues are dropped about the direction in which it’s
heading, but offers nothing definitive yet.

Suited and Booted is a
sci-fi tale relating humanity’s colonisation of Mars and its subsequent fall and
enslavement by ruthless and pitiless alien invaders christened the Breakers. The
reminiscence takes us past the domed settlements and heavy industry of Mars’
initial terraforming, then the twinkling lights of futuristic urban utopia,
before finally the cuboid pits of a strip-mined hellscape. It’s entirely
backstory and only reveals its protagonist in the final panel, but sets things
up nicely for a saga of bloodthirsty vengeance.

With
an intriguing hybrid setting of Western mixed with fantasy, The Troubleshooters follows a pair of
gunslingers crossing a stretch of desert badlands on their dragon mounts. Who
they are, where they came from, what they want and even their names are all
still unknown, but it’s precisely that mystery that ensures you want more of
the story. The monochrome watercolour of the artwork reflects the setting, as
though the pages, seemingly stained with the arid dust of the lawless frontier,
are as old as the tale itself.

In
Mortality, a simple pick up for one
of the Grim Reaper’s assistants becomes complicated by his charge Morton
refusing to accept the situation as presented to him. It soon becomes clear
something unusual is going on, but exactly what remains to be seen. The
jet-black backgrounds create a suitably sinister atmosphere; contrasting nicely
with the ethereal glow of otherworldly conjurations and the bright light of
flames you can practically hear crackling.

Ending
with the sole one-shot of the issue, Mum
& Dad is a nightmarish horror told from the perspective of a small
child. Playing on kids’ suspicions that their parents aren’t entirely truthful
to them, it pulls you along with the shock of little Jimmy’s discovery, ending
on a revelation that manages to be both poignant and tragic, while at the same
time also grimly humorous.

Something
akin to an indie 2000 AD, Comichaus has the breadth of writing and artistic talent
at its disposal to go the distance of its renowned forebear. While each of the
tales are still properly finding themselves, the engaging openings promise
greater things to come.

COMICHAUS #1 / AUTHOR AND ARTIST: VARIOUS / PUBLISHER: COMICHAUS / RELEASE DATE: 1ST SEPTEMBER