Cropped Will Cardini artwork

October 16th, 2019

For the Love of Indie Reviews Urscape #1

Filed under: Press — Tags: , — William Cardini @ 9:28 pm

Back in early September, Drew reviewed Urscape #1 in an episode of his indie comics podcast For the Love of Indie! Click here to listen via Apple Podcasts or you can read the episode notes and listen on other platforms here.

Draw talks about Urscape in the context of the larger Hyperverse mythos and says the Hyperverse “is a new Fourth World.” I’m blushing! I love Jack Kirby’s comics and his Fourth World creations are a big inspiration for my work. Thanks to a recommendation from my brother, I read the black-and-white Mister Miracle and New Gods collections back in the early aughts. Even without color, they blew me away with their inventiveness and energy. Kirby’s story of what happens after Ragnarok is visionary reimagination of mythology that he sadly was never able to complete as he intended. Fortunately I recently acquired the color trade paperbacks of New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen that DC released to celebrate the centenary of Kirby’s birth and they were even better in color. I hope that DC releases a similar edition of Forever People, which I haven’t had a chance to read.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a book review on my blog but I occasionally post reviews on Goodreads. I wrote a little bit more about those three Kirby comics there. Also, if you’ve read one of my comics, I’d appreciate a rating or review! Those can really help an author out. You can see my reviews and my comics from my Author Profile.

Bonus: here’s another animated GIF I made from an Urscape page.

Urscape 1 animation of an interior page

July 30th, 2019

Urscape #1 Reviews

Filed under: Press — Tags: — William Cardini @ 7:39 am

Urscape #1, which I self-published in the spring, has accumulated a couple of reviews!

The first review is on the blog Ryan C’s Four Color Apocalypse. Here’s an excerpt:

A phantasmagoric whirlwind of impossible nightmare geometries, ever-transitory physical formations and states of being, and impenetrable pseudo-realities greets our boy Miizzz as he enters the titular Urscape, a ferociously post-giving-a-fuck updating of The King’s “Negative Zone” or “Quadrant X” with all the stops pulled out, the foot off the brake, and the accelerator weighed down with a brick.

Read the whole review here.

Urscape 1 interior photo
Photo from Ryan’s review.

The second review is on the site Optical Sloth. Here’s an excerpt:

Sometimes I wonder what would happen to me if I gathered all the William Cardini comics I’ve picked up over the years, took an afternoon and read them all in a row. I’m honestly not sure what that would do to a person. I mean that in the best possible way, of course; comic-induced madness always seemed like a likely fate for me.

Maybe I should include a warning, “May cause comics-induced madness!” on the cover of Urscape #2? Read the whole review here.

Urscape 1 interior scan
Scan from the Optical Sloth review.

You can buy Urscape #1 here.

Urscape 1 animation of an interior page
You’re not hallucinating – I created an animated GIF based on a page from Urscape.

May 29th, 2019

CAKE 2019

Filed under: Comic Fests,Events — Tags: , — William Cardini @ 10:18 pm

This weekend I’ll be tabling once again at the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, AKA CAKE. This year the fest is Saturday June 1st and Sunday June 2nd from 11am to 6pm at the Center on Halsted. And admission is free!

CAKE 2019 poster by Marnie Galloway
CAKE 2019 poster by Marnie Galloway.

I’ll have my new self-published comic, Urscape #1, and oldies-but-goodies including Tales from the Hyperverse, Vortex, my last copy of the climate change poetry comics anthology Warmer, some Retrofit comics, and the risograph prints I debuted at the show last year. I’ll be at Table 221B.

Urscape 1 cover
Urscape #1 cover photo.

Urscape 1 interior
Urscape #1 interior photo.

If you can’t make it to CAKE, Urscape #1 is also available in my online shop, or from the distros Birdcage Bottom Books and Domino Books.