Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Babs Tarr, Brenden Fletcher, cameron stewart, Karl Kershl, Motor Crush

Motor Crush Revs Up With Lush Backup Feature Isola

Published Tue, 06 Dec 2016 08:00:25 -0600

By Jonathan Rich
Bleeding Cool Correspondent

The celebrated trio of Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart and Babs Tarr created quite a following for themselves by modernizing DC Comic's iconic character Batgirl in 2014 and hope to follow up that success with their creator-owned project Motor Crush for Image Comics.

"It's the story of motorcycle racer Domino Swift," Fletcher said of the new series available Wednesday. "Domino is, probably like most racers, an adrenaline junkie. Racing is the premiere form of entertainment in the world called Nova Honda we created and she is as one of the new racers on the circuit poised for great celebrity. But, for some reason, she has the need to go out and fight and race in these illegal street races against all of these gangs. They race for this machine narcotic, an illegal accelerant called Crush, but is that the only reason she is out there? Why is she is putting her entire career and family at risk? There are broader mysteries out there to answer as we drive forward."

Team Motor Crush has already discussed plans for a total of three story arcs in their creator-owned universe, but the initial issues will have an added extra preview of more work from Fletcher and his longtime collaborator Karl Kershl for another Image title scheduled to later launch in the spring.

"We're all friends. Karl and I are going into Isola fresh off of Gotham Academy just as Babs, Cameron and I are doing Motor Crush fresh off of Batgirl," Fletcher said. "Karl and I have known Cameron for 20 years and Karl and I have known each other since elementary school. It just seemed natural to me that if my Image book with Karl is coming out in the spring of 2017 that we lead into it through an exclusive feature in the back of Motor Crush."

Isola is set in a mystical land where the queen's brother enacts a treacherous plot to transform her into a tiger and the female captain of her guard responds with swift and lethal vengeance unaware the wicked prince alone has the power to reverse the spell. The two women undertake a globe-trotting journey to find the spirit of the queen's late brother and convince him to return her to human form.

"Karl's artwork has never been better," Fletcher said, adding that their colorist from Gotham Academy Michele Assarasakron is also along for the ride. "She does this beautiful background painting and she and Karl have been working together to build this lush environment of the world. For the Motor Crush previews, we're doing a short story that serves as a prologue of which you get a chapter each month. It's a two to four page taste of where we're going with it. It's a melancholy story, but also and adventure. We describe it as being in tone very much like a Studio Ghibli film."

"I've always felt like I was creating for two very different audiences," collaborator Kershl said in a press release of his acclaimed work on the web comic The Abominable Charles Christopher and superhero titles in the DC universe. "Isola is a marriage of the comic series Brenden and I grew up reading and the animal stories I've been drawing. I'm excited to finally share it with everyone."

Motor Crush #1 is scheduled to arrive in comic shops Wednesday, Dec. 7.

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