Posted in: Comics, Indie Comics | Tagged: black mask, black mask studios, Jade Street, Jade Street Protection Services, last song

Last Song & Jade Street Protection Services Coming from Black Mask

Published Sat, 15 Aug 2020 15:30:51 -0500

by Theo Dwyer

Comments

Black Mask Studios is back like they forgot something. The company is known for the hit comic Kim & Kim, and We Can Never Go Home announced earlier that they'd be publishing Breathless in trade paperback, and are now rolling out two more graphic novels: Jade Street Protection Services, which collects the 2016 series, and Last Song 3, the penultimate volume of this series of graphic novellas.

Last Song 3 cover. Credit: Black Mask Studios.

Jade Street Protection Services cover. Credit: Black Mask Studios.

Jade Street Protection Services is a magical girl comic that feels part Harry Potter and part Sailor Moon. It's the first creator-owned series by Charmed writer Katy Rex, who co-wrote with artist Fabian Lelay, who would later go on to create We Are the Danger for Black Mask. Along with colorist Mara Jayne Carpenter and letterer Taylor Esposito, the team brought a pastel touch to this action-packed comic that is described as a "new-adult adventure." It has been a long time since the series first debuted in single-issue form, and now it's finally here for the trade waiters.

Jade Street Protection Services page. Credit: Black Mask Studios.

Black Mask Studios has also dipped into original graphic novels and novellas in recent years, notably with Ryan K. Lindsay and Eric Zawadzki's Eternal. Now, their series of graphic novellas Last Song continues with Part Three of Four, described in the press release as the issue where "everything goes to shit." Written by Holly Interlandi and drawn by Sally Cantirino, this is a grounded story about friendship and music, following the formation of a band called Ecstacy. The art in this story, in particular, is terrific, with black and white, almost memoir-style pages that, with their grounded focus and choice lettering, evoke the style of zines.