City of Others

by Steve Niles, Bernie Wrightson, José Villarrubia (Colorist)

Stosh Bludowski is a killer, born with the capacity for no apparent human emotion other than rage. Killing comes easy for Blud, and he makes a good living doing what's easy - until the day he meets two jobs in an alley who just won't die, and a grotesque mystery unfolds right in front of him. Soon, the remorseless killer is confronted by a reality he could never imagine, and he will be invited to make a decision once and for all . . . is he human, or is he Other?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Vampires, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published March 5, 2008

About the author

STEVE NILES is one of the writers responsible for bringing horror comics back to prominence, and was recently named by Fangoria magazine as one of it's "13 rising talents who promise to keep us terrified for the next 25 years."

Niles is currently working for the four top American comic publishers - Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse. He got his start in the industry when he formed his own publishing company called Arcane Comix, where he published, edited and adapted several comics and anthologies for Eclipse Comics. His adaptations include works by Clive Barker, Richard Matheson and Harlan Ellison.

Steve resides in Los Angeles in his bachelor pad with one cat. While there's no crawlspace, there is a questionable closet in one corner and no one is quite sure what is hidden in there...but we have an idea.

--from the author's website

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is mainly setup as we are introduced to a hitman who encounters a group of vampires. Along the way the villain is introduced as well, a Dr. Frankenstein type who has conquered eternal life even if he is at times just a head. Bernie Wrightson's art is the real star. His pencil art is amazing. He forgo an inker and had the book directly colored from his pencils.

Received a review copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.

We grow up learning that monsters aren’t real. We grow up discovering that sometimes humans can be monsters too. But what if monsters do actually exist, hiding in plain sight, claiming the darkness to themselves? What if you could become one of them on one faithful night? It might not be easy to believe it now but maybe a fictional story can help us all envision such a city, populated with monsters and humans. From the writer who brought us 30 Days of Night and the artist who co-created The Swamp Thing comes a grimly strange world where humans and monsters co-exist and wage secret wars between themselves.

What is City of Others about? Cold-blooded and incapable of human emotions, the assassin for hire Stosh Bludowski is content with his job as he hunts down his targets without a care in the world and lives off his sense of duty. It’s on an unpredictable and unexpected run that he encounters a target that somehow can’t seem to stay dead that he thus finds himself dragged into a mystery that will change his destiny forever. Collecting City of Others issues #1-4, the story presents a killer’s life-threatening choice to remain a monster amongst humans or join the Other in a search for an identity and a purpose far greater than he would have ever given to himself.

The idea behind this graphic novel is pretty neat. It’s essentially an opening scene to a city filled with various monsters while you follow a cold-blooded hitman in his journey to discovering these creatures and their intergenerational turmoils. While the intention to set the table for more stories within this world hasn’t been fulled exploited to this day and will probably never happen with the passing of illustrator Bernie Wrightson in 2017—apart from other stand-alone stories set within this universe (see Dead She Said, The Ghoul or Doc Macabre) but don’t feature Blud’s character—City of Others feels like an incomplete graphic novel with unmet expectations served on a silver platter. That being said, the story in itself is intriguing but gives us a look at an unfortunately unactualized vampire- and zombie-centric narrative that is, however, essentially intriguing due to the artwork.

For this project, illustrator Bernie Wrightson’s special request was to realize these stories in a detailed penciling and bring colourist José Villarrubia to work directly with the pencils afterward. The result is impressive and ends up being the main attraction as the characters and the world are developed into an almost folkloric style. Brimming with action sequences and a curated dose of horror elements that doesn’t tip towards excessiveness, the artwork flows marvelously and opens up a whole world to the reader. Although the colouring does seem unadapted at times, one can only imagine the complicated process of working directly with such a rough penciling style where delimitations are almost transparent. Nevertheless, with how short this graphic novel is, it is almost mandatory to gaze at the art much more than ever throughout this tale.

City of Others is an incomplete yet engrossing world crawling with humanlike monsters as a gun for hire is given a chance at a new life.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an odd series. It's like we get dropped in the middle of the story, and then we don't get an ending either. It feels very unpolished considering the creators are some of the best horror comic creators ever. The Berni Wrightson art is great, no issues there. But the story is just confusing. It feels like we were missing too much, and that's not even taking into account there's no real ending. This had potential, but unfortunately it looks like we'll never see what could have been.

[Drew Woodworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bernie Wrightson is as amazing as ever, but story is pretty standard fare, unfortunately. It doesn’t that it feels like the first act of a three act play which never materialized.

[Scott Waldie · Rating 3 out of 5]

City of Others has potential in setting up a supernatural world of bloodsuckers and immortal maniacs, but it's once again a story crippled by its short length. Within 120-ish pages you barely get any time to expand upon this world. A shame, because the protagonist's plight and the villain both have some interesting characteristics, and they go nowhere within this unfinished tale. Always a pleasure to see Wrightson's art, but I felt some of the coloring here didn't do it justice. The visuals were arguably better than the story, though. This needed a good dozen issues, not four.

Halloween Read 2/13 for 2019

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can one say about Bernie? I'm just glad he's back drawing comics!

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

“When it comes to horror comics, few artists can measure up to the legendary Bernie Wrightson. Now, after a long hiatus from making comics, Wrightson is back at the drawing table working side by side with acclaimed writer Steve Niles on the more exciting new horror comics of the year – City of Others,” touted Dark Horse’s website for the first issue of this series that dropped in February, 2007.

Writer of 30 Days of Night and Criminal Macabre, Steve Niles penned a dark story about a hired killer, Stosh “Blud” Bludowski, who seems to be incapable of feeling anything other than intense rage. From a young age, killing came easy for the loner. While completing what should have been a typical hit, Blud learns of the existence of undead others. Legendary Swamp Thing and Frankenstein Alive, Alive artist Bernie Wrightson brought his classical visual expertise to the horror story and was joined by colorist José Villarrubia (Promethea, Sweet Tooth), letterer Michael David Thomas (X-Wing: Rogue Leader, Clone Wars Adventures), and editor Shawna Gore (Criminal Macabre: Cellblock 666, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein).

“Critical events always begin a long time before you have any idea something has even started.” Thus begins Blud’s voice-over in the opening scene....

Review my full review at Fanbase Press: http://www.fanbasepress.com/index.php...

[Shawn Ingle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed much of Steve Niles' work, especially with Ben Templesmith, so I was looking forward to this. I thought Niles and Bernie Wrightson would be a match made in horror comics heaven but this really missed the mark for me. None of the characters are remotely likeable or relatable because they're barely fleshed out (no pun intended). Unoriginal zombie, vampire and werewolf violence and gore for it's own sake.

[Eye-ra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really wish they would’ve been able to flesh out the city later in more titles. That being said what we did get as a starting point I thought was amazing. Short and horrific and leaving you wanting to know more. I was left wanting to read right then and there what happens to Blud and Katie and the follow up to this great and gruesome set up.

[Francesca Giardiello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Purtroppo una lettura che risente dei suoi tempi e che è invecchiata male. Dallo stampo decisamente noir, caratterizzata da una color troppo chiara e sgargiante considerando l'ambiente descritto e soprattutto, ci sono troppi monologhi interni che cercano di fare hambient, ma che servono solamente ad annoiare.

[Raymond St. Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

Would have preferred if this didn't end so abruptly. It was just getting into the story; it would be helpful to know when the next issue is available. The art is good kept me interested

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hands down the worst Steve Niles I've ever read. very disappointing. The plot is all over the place, it feels like several pages of backstory are missing, and no one has a motivation for anything they do.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story is generic but the art is pretty decent.

[Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

C’mon! It’s Bernie Wrightson AND Steve Niles!?! Highly recommended.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vampires, werewolves, zombies, Steve Niles, Bernie Wrightson, and it was in the half off box at the Motor City Con. We have a winner! This would have been good even at full price.

[Sezer Turgay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Devamı olmadığı için lek öneremeyeceğim ama oldukça orijinal bir kurgusu olan güzel korku çizgi romanı City of Others.

Manyak bir seri katilin zombi dolu trene binip vampirlerle dolu bir barakaya varan macerası.Ve olayların çok daha ilginç bir şekil almasını anlatıyor bize.

Zaten çok bir beklentim olmadan aldım elime bir buruklukla aynı zamanda çünkü Bernie Wrightson en sevdiğim 10 çizerden biridir.Vefat etmeden önce çıkardığı son işlerden bu kitap ve o yaşına rağmen üstad döktürmüş yine.Saygıyla anıyorum kendisini.

[Warren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steve Niles goes down easy. Like soda. But i probably shouldn't consume so MUCH of it. Can't say i'm proud i read this.
Berni Wrightson is one of my heroes. He is why I bought this. But as I read the book, i thought : yikes the art seems wayyyy less polished than past berni work. why? well, the end of the book offered up some of his original pencils, proving that he is still a king amongst men.
the colorist/inker apparently ruined his work (by simplifying it. it's like detailed line work being smudged into rough pastel work. bleh).

Despite these gripes: i enjoyed the book. It has a fun pacing, and knows when to stop and focus on something exceptionally horrific. It has fun iconography, from zombies to brain transfers to werewolves to vampire junkies to heads in jars (and other places).

A fun bit of horror candy. I look forward to more of the story. I wonder if it's sort of a rip off of NightBreed? blah blah.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a decade, the legendary horror artist, Wrightson returns to what his bio calls "his favorite medium." He co-creates (with writer Niles) and draws the adventures of the remorseless killer Stosh Bludowski. The protagonist encounters a race of vampires and zombies called the Other, who exist to defeat an even more nefarious immortal. Characters with no emotions are very difficult to write and Niles doesn't rise to the occasion. Thankfully, Wrightson's art, magnificently colored by José Villarrubia, screams off the gruesome, often blood-splattered pages.

[Bruno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ook al wijs. Alleen een beetje Amerikaans preuts als het op naakt aan komt, waarbij ik mij altijd afvraag: als ge per se naakt wilt tonen, waarom dan zo hypocriet door op de zogezegd cruciale plaatsen toevallige objecten voor te plaatsen.

Maar bon, leuk om lezen, aangenaam verhaal, vampieren, zombies, moordenaars, the works. Ontspannend.

[GD · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second comic of the year. I liked it alot, but I was thinking that the whole story would be in one volume, but apparently not, which is depressing because I'll probably never find the rest of it. Very bloody and very cool pictures. I'm tired of vampires, but the zombies and the head-switching doctor made up for them.

[Kristen Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man has known killing since the age of 7. What he did not know was that there are vampires in the world as well as a man who controls zombies who wishes to learn the secret to a vampire's immortality. Read it to find out more...

[Earline · Rating 3 out of 5]

vampires, zombies, and living brains oh my! I like the Niles/Wrightson team up but the story was kinda meh. Wrightson's snow is really pretty and the art is pretty gore-tastic. For more great Wrightson artwork check out the cover art for Toe Tags and the illustrations in The Stand!

[Kandice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Bernie Wrightson's illustrations, and I thought the story was interesting, I just felt there needed to be more detail. I will read the next, but I'm not dying to. I like to be left craving the next installment.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was confusing and went to a darker place than I like. It reminded me of those bad vampire movies in which the blood just spurts and gushes and generally covers everything just because the filmmaker wanted it that way and s/he doesn't care in the least about plot or continuity.

[Lonnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really Like Steve Niles' writing. I think it's a bit clumsy and sophomoric. However, Bernie Wrightson is the man. So few comic artists can revile and thrill me the way Wrightson does. I enjoy reading any comic for which he's done the art.

[Hillingdon Libraries]

Find this book at Hillingdon Libraries

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, the art was pretty cool and the story had promise, but the execution of the writing was poor. Poor enough to ruin it.

[Craig Thomson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story with fantastic graphics.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok . curious twist of main character from emotionless human to 'feeling' vampire

[Aron Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great art,
Plot and direction pretty good, though lacks a proper ending.