Comics

Steve Bissette and Vanessa Cardinalli Go Widescreen in The Golem of Venice Beach (Exclusive)

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Ahead of next week’s star-studded Kickstarter campaign, ComicBook can reveal a pair of two-page sequences from the upcoming graphic novel The Golem of Venice Beach. Iconic comics artist Steve Bissette provides the first, and rising star Vanessa Cardinalli the second, so it’ s a pretty good cross section of some of the talent who are set to take part in the project. Little is known about the project yet, but the Kickstarter pre-launch page reveals it will feature art by Vanessa Cardinali, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jae Lee, Paul Pope, Nick Pitarra, Stephen R. Bissette & Michael Allred, and ComicBook.com has learned it will be written by Chanan Beizer.

Here’s the official synopsis: “In Venice Beach, where the dangerous back-alley shadows by night contrast with the unrelenting heat of the California sun by day, a monster created to save lives must find his way in a world he never asked to be born into.”

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“As a writer I know that story is important, but in comics if the art isn’t working, the story really doesn’t matter,” said writer Chanan Beizer in a statement. “It’s been truly thrilling to witness the artistic interpretation of my words. Every artist involved has left a lasting imprint on The Golem of Venice Beach. They’ve elevated the story beyond what I could ever describe on a two-dimensional piece of paper. That is what art should do.”  

Check out the Bissette pages below:

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In 2018, Chanan Beizer’s script for The Golem of Venice Beach won the very first ScreenCraft Cinematic Book contest for graphic novels. For the past three years, Beizer has been working with Eisner-Award winning editor Chris Stevens (Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream) to bring the story of the Golem to life with a dream team of artistic collaborators, including five Eisner-award winning illustrators, as well as Nick Pitarra (co-creator of The Manhattan Projects), and the main artist, Vanessa Cardinali, a brilliant Italian artist who is currently making waves with Image Comics’ Slumber

…And here’s Vanessa Cardinali’s two-page spread from The Golem of Venice Beach:

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The Kickstarter campaign will launch on Monday, June 6. You can check out the pre-launch page and sign up to be alerted when the Kickstarter begins at the link above.