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Every so often an original graphic novel (OGN) is released that grasps the attention of not only the avid fanboy, but also the casual comic book browser. Com.X’s Forty-Five45, written by Andi Ewington and art by, well, 45 different artists, fits this billing perfectly. Says Andi of the work, “Forty-Five is a series of Superhero interviews documented by James Stanley. As a soon-to-be father, James wants to find out what lies in store for his family if his unborn child turns out to have a Superpower. Forty-Five features forty five different industry artists, all having just one page to capture the essence of each interview.”

Sounds pretty amazing, right? What sets the 132 pages of Forty-Five45 apart from most other works of sequential entertainment is not only does each page feature the work of a different artist, but there is also no predetermined guidance from Ewington to the artists of how the pages should look; the artists are given total creative freedom in expressing their portion of the story. The result is something truly unique and spectacular; a real gem amongst the non-mainstream, and something that will impress comic readers from any generation.

The 45 different artists who worked on Forty-Five45 include Liam Sharp (Testament, Spawn: The Dark Ages), Kenneth Rocafort (Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer, Astonishing Tales), John Higgins (Swamp Thing, Superman: Red Son), Sean Phillips (Hellblazer, Sleeper), Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead, X-Files), Jock (Judge Dredd, The Losers, concept art for Batman Begins and David Lynch’s Dune), Lee Garbett (Outsiders, Batgirl), Admira Wijaya (Radical’s Hercules), Carlo Pagulayan (X-Men/Agents of Atlas, Emma Frost), Rodin Esquejo (Hasbro, Avatar Press), Matt Timson (Impaler, FutureQuake), Neil Edwards (Farscape: D’Argo’s Lament), Trevor Hairsine (X-Men: Deadly Genesis, Ultimate Six), Andie Tong (The Batman Strikes!, Tales of the TMNT), Rufus Dayglo (Tank Girl: Dark Nuggets), Dom Reardon (Something Wicked), Sally Hurst a.k.a. Bo:K (Darren Dead, Jonah Hex), Andrew Wildman (X-Men Adventures, GI Joe), Stephen Thompson (Die Hard: Year One), Jeff Anderson (The Transformers: Best of UK: Prey), Frazer Irving (Silent War, Days Missing), Ben Oliver (Ultimate X-Men, Young X-Men), Eduardo Francisco (Executive Assistant Iris, Worlds of Aspen), Dan Brereton (Lady Justice, L.E.G.I.O.N.), Barry Spiers, Robert Atkins (IDW’s GI Joe, Ultimate Fantastic Four: Requium), Fiona Staples (North 40, Proof), Bob Wiacek (Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor vol. 1, Marvel’s Star Wars), Boo Cook (Elephantmen, X-Factor: Layla Miller), Gary Erksine (The Knights of Pendragon, Army @ Love), Ross Dearsley (The Knights of Pendragon), Lee Carter (The Darkness), Sean O’Connor (Classical Comics’ Julius Caesar, Redshift), Kevin Kobasic (The ‘Nam, Deathlok, Rai), Dave Ryan (hilarious dude), Randy Green (Witchblade, Emma Frost, New X-Men vol. 3), Tim Vigil (Faust: Love of the Damned, Threshold), Simon Coleby (The Authority, Eternal), Calum Alexander Watt (video game concept artist), Steve Sampson (Mister X, Overkill), Kit Wallis (Breathe), Anthony Castrillo (X-Force vol. 1, Timewalaker), Seb Antoniou (Rupert the Bear, The Cramp Twins), Dan Boultwood (The Gloom) and Dan Fraga (Gear Station, Bloodstrike). Phew! Andi Ewington’s background credits include graphic design, working on Dungeons and Dragon, and he has an unpublished, 250,000 word novel called Limpit Muskin & Company which he worked on with a friend. Forty-Five45 will be his first work with comic books!

Check out some of the preview art from the book:

It’s ok, you can say it out loud: sexy.

Com.X’s first publication was the sampler issue, Issue#Zero which was released in April 2000. After that the company didn’t release anything else until February 2001, when Bazooka Jules, Razorjack, and Puncture hit the shelves. Other notable works from the company include Cla$$war, Sky Between Branches, Path, Codename: Babetool and N-jin, and The Last American. Stay tuned to ComicAttack.net for reviews of some of these stories!

If you’re looking for an original, quality, and intellectual work of sequential art, than look no further than Com.x’s Forty-Five45. The OGN comes with a mature audiences tag, meaning it’s not for the kiddies! It ships in December with the order code DCD#OCT090823, so tell your LCS owner to order you a copy. You can follow the Forty-Five blog/web site by clicking here.

Andy Liegl
andy@comicattack.net