GRAPHIC NOVEL

Jazz Legend

This was the book that put me on the map in a big way, and is still one of the works I’m best known for. As far as genre, this story is hard to pin down. The closest thing I’ve found to describe it is as cosmic horror, although the story also has heavy elements of both hard-boiled noir and mystery.

Jazz Legend follows the reclusive writer Benjamin Way, who has made local Motocity jazz legend Martin Comity the subject of his latest novel. However, Ben’s fascination with Martin goes beyond that of a mere literary muse, as both men have experienced terrifying visions of an alien specter known as the Magus. Attempting to put the specter out of his mind, Martin turns to the excesses of alcohol and a mysterious new street drug, the New Blue. The drug’s effects are unlike any other: an immersive psychedelic dreamscape filled with animalistic abominations and god-like humanoids. Throughout the story, Ben and Martin grapple with their ever-loosening grip on reality, the day-to-day friction of their personal and professional lives, and the eventual crushing realization that beings beyond imagination are in actuality playing puppet master with their very existence.

This book also marks the start of my creative partnership with the uber-talented Vincent Jolas Dubourg, whom I still work with today. Another point worth noting is that Jazz Legend was originally conceived as an ongoing series but was later packaged and published as a graphic novel (not exactly a decision I loved, but again, I’m not the publisher, so what can you do?). A few years after its release, Jazz Legend was picked up for development as a TV series but never made it into production, with a good bit of the blame falling to the pandemic (which hit at the very early phases of development).

BUY JAZZ LEGEND HERE: https://www.scoutcomics.com/collections/jazz-legend/comic

words: JC Lacek

illustration & cover: Vasco Duarte, Vincent Jolas Dubourg

colors: Patrick Gama, Max Araujo, Justin Wood

inks: Cristian Docolomansky, Vincent Jolas Dubourg

letters: Cristian Docolomansky

editing: Stephen Jackson, Erik Morse

published by: Scout Comics

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