Mikkel Lund Szklany

Ascend Cover

Welcome to the post-apocalyptic Purgatory Wars, where the battle over “harvested” human souls has destroyed Heaven and Hell. Sebastian, a young human tragically killed and unwillingly drafted into the war, is reunited with his deceased brother, Gideon, the most powerful angel in the Legions of Heaven, who plans to lead a coup to regain power and restore order. Realizing he holds the key to ending the war, Sebastian must face his brother, before Gideon destroys the cycle of life on Earth. — From Amazon

Christopher Shy’s artwork is like looking at an image in a dreamlike state.  The the blurriness and the choice coloring give the book a really supernatural effect to it, which fits the story really well. Also the haze over the landscapes gives the comic a dark and cryptic feeling.
The only bad thing that I have to say about the artwork is that it’s the main characters look very similar, and therefore it can be hard to tell the difference, especially because of the dark tone in the coloring.
Ascend has a pretty interesting plot, and well throughout characters.
But storyline is a bit incomprehensible and things get very vague at certain points throughout the book, which can possibly be attributed to the fact that Keith Arem thought of the whole story line in his sleep

Overall: This book shows of the amazing talents of Christopher Shy, and I would recommend it for the art alone. The storyline is a bit too vague to really get anything interesting across, and I would have liked to see a bit more background story, and just slow the pacing of the book down a bit, by putting in some chapters, for instance I would have liked to see the siblings spending some more time on the battlefield, before being banished to earth.

Shadowplay Cover

This special collection presents the fantastic art of Ashley Wood and Ben Templesmith under one cover. In “Demon Father John’s Pinwheel Blues,” Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Tara) and Ben craft a tale of a syndicate of vampire street children that is turned upside down by new recruit Pinwheel. In “Shunt,” Christina Z and Ash present the tale of the perfect woman, who gives up the perfect life to uncover a heinous human slavery ring run by an elite group of vampires. Vampires who transform their beautiful female victims into the most sensually marketable product. Within the torture and depravity lies a twisted tale of obsessive passion and furious loyalty. — From Amazon

The artwork of Ashley Wood and Ben Templesmith is amazing and visually stunning, but it is also extremely graphic and very adult, so it may not be for all readers.
The two stories where pretty interesting, but they seemed to lack a smooth continuity, and at points it almost felt like there where pages missing from the stories, especially in the Ashley Wood/Amber Benson story.

Overall, two great stories and amazing artwork, I would recommend this book the any fan of modern horror comics, or just fans of Wood/Templesmith.