What do you get if you combine 18 small press creators and get them to put together a free comic for Halloween? Why, Cops vs. Sharkwolves of course! The brainchild of And Then Emily Was Gone’s Iain Laurie and featuring some of the small press scene’s most interesting names, will this book’s exciting concept match it’s creator input or is it a book best left sleeping with the fishes?

Publisher: N/A
Writer: Colin Bell and Sam Read, based on an idea by Iain Laurie
Artist: Paul Harrison-Davies (pg 1-2), Allan MacRitchie (pg 3-4), Leonie O’Moore (pg 5), Gareth Hopkins (pg 6), Paul-Jon Milne (pg 7), Andy Clift (pg 8), James Corcoran (pg 9), Michael Kennedy (pg 10), CJ Camba (pg 11), Sha Nazir (pg 12), Alex Cormack (pg 13), Joseph Nathan (pg 14), Brad Gischia (pg 15), Cian Tormey (pg 16), Charles Rosia (pg 17), Lesley Atlansky (colours), Iain Laurie (cover), Dee Cunniffe (Cover Colours)
Price:  Download for free from here

Our rating: [star rating=”5″]

Cops vs. Sharkwolves follows the story of the Los Angeles Police Department Occult Group, a specialised team of cops who deal with the supernatural threats such as monsters, ghosts and werewolves. When one particular job involving the latter results in its death and disposal into the sea, the L.A.P.D.O.G find their past coming back to bite them in the arse (quite literally) when the werewolf bites a shark, creating Sharkwolves. Now with an army of these Sharkwolves descending on their city, it’s up to Sarge, Doc, Landon, Frenchie and the Rookie to put a stop to them, by any means, and with any help, necessary.

Originally thought up by Iain Laurie, the extensive creative team have really rolled with the completely ludicrous idea and developed it into completely insane but absolutely hilarious comic. Colin Bell (Dungeon Fun) and Sam Read (Exit Generation) have turned this title into a homage to the long history of cinema ‘B movies’, with cliched lines, narrative and events occurring from beginning to end. Examples of these include one-liners such as Sarge learning the werewolf is her ex-husband, Landon’s recap of events leading to this story and pastiches such as the “Sasquatches Sassemble” battle cry. In fact, practically every moment in this book doesn’t take itself at all seriously and is played fully for laughs, imbuing that sense of 80’s action movie exaggeration to an immensely enjoyable effect.

The artwork throughout is solid throughout, with some gorgeous variety from the wide array of artists, many of whom’s style really compliments the horror aesthetic this book is going for. As a result, Cops vs. Sharkwolves has a look and feel similar to Griff Gristle in terms of both its action and its characters which works nicely with the Hellboy meets The Boys tone the story is displaying. Of course, with such an eclectic list of various artists with differing styles, the jump from one to another is jarring in places while seamless in others. However, colourist Lesley Atlansky’s gory colours throughout helps minimise this problem by keeping a part of the various styles consistent

Cops vs Sharkwolves is an unbelievably hilarious and light-hearted horror/action mash up which is worth reading regardless of your comic preference. With some great talent onboard and a tale which will lighten anyone’s day, Cops vs Sharkwolves is a comic steal which everybody should snap up.