Titan Comics and Hard Case Crime have announced that the critically acclaimed and best-selling comic series Gun Honey is returning for a second series, with award winning writer Charles Ardai and artist Ang Hor Kheng reuniting for Gun Honey: Blood For Blood. OK, good news, the second volume of Gun Honey is better than the first one, albeit not by much. It still feels like a Friday night movie on Cinemax. It is still mindless, head-scratching entertaining, but at least there are not glaring plot holes in every issue.

A great read, with a fantastic lead character, written in a way that engenders a sexy, violent and fun book. 5 Stars" - Comic Crusaders So I was paying attention even before I got to the bit about Gun Honey being 2021’s best-selling non-premier comic, according to Diamond Comic Distributors. Oh, and the Titan Comics series already having a TV adaptation in development. In addition to his writing and publishing activities, Ardai serves as a managing director of theD. E. Shawgroup. Honestly, Gun Honey isn’t the type of comic that I would normally read. At least at first glance. Even as a queer woman, the various cheesecake covers for this pulp noir series feel a bit too male gazey for my liking. Much like the old Top Cow Tomb Raider series, its scantily clad, ultra-curvaceous and provocatively posed heroine visually blasts the message that Gun Honey isn’t a book for me.A slight aside ... this book contains a few photos of a model dressed (provocatively, of course) as Joanna Tan and the commentary states that the model is a cosplayer whom the publisher met at a convention and was invited to model professionally for the book. the powerhouse creation of a world-class criminal, a femme fatale, and James Bond all rolled into one.” - Comical Opinions

What follows is another globe-trotting cat-and-mouse adventure as Joanna tries to stop Filippa and clear her name. From Malaysia to Monaco, Milan to Montana, there are car chases, shootouts, bombings, executions, and even a topless fight between the two adversaries disguised as burlesque dancers… Ang Hor Kheng's artwork remains bright and colorful. (He must have learned how to draw the female form from Tomas Giorello; neither artist has apparently ever met a woman without a silicone-enhanced bust.)Gun Honey: Bound for Blood #1 will launch later this year while Gun Honey Volume 1 goes on sale on April 5th.

I tell one of the writers I edit that it's more challenging than you think to write something whose main virtue is that it's easy to read. At the time, I was thinking of romance novels, but it could just as easily apply to the first collection of Gun Honey. I believe Titan promoted the series at NYCC last year? Gun Honey volume one cover by Bill-Sienkiewicz Again, this is still bloody good, and the art has generally improved, which was already bloody great to begin with. If the series continues in this direction and with this level of quality, I will hardly be complaining, it's just that volume one will likely always be the best. 3.75/5 In 2010, he began working as a writer and producer on the SyFy television series Haven,inspired by the Hard Case Crime novel The Colorado Kid byStephen King.The first episode of Haven aired on July 9, 2010and the last aired on December 17, 2015. That said, Gun Honey, from writer (and Hard Case Crime co-founder) Charles Ardai and Malaysian artist Ang Hor Kheng, comes with some serious pedigreed praise – not to mention series cover art by the likes of Bill Sienkiewicz, Adam Hughes, and movie poster legend Robert McGinnis. Meanwhile, endorsement quotes are from such big names in crime fiction as Ed Brubaker, Max Allan Collins, Stephen King and Duane Swierczynski. Ardai previously received a Shamus nomination for the short story "Nobody Wins" and he received theEdgar Awardin 2007 for the short story "The Home Front". In 2015, he received the Ellery Queen Award for his work on Hard Case Crime.Ardai's third novel, Fifty-to-One, was published in November 2008.It was the fiftieth book in the Hard Case Crime series and the first to be published under Ardai's real name.

Marked for death by a U.S. intelligence agency, Gun Honey Joanna Tan turns to Dahlia Racers to help her pull a vanishing act. But with the killer hot on her trail, beautiful sociopath Sarah Claride, will leave bodies strewn from New York to Las Vegas to Tijuana, Mexico, if it means cornering Dahlia — and breaking her… The award winning Charles Ardai, co-founder of Hard Case Crime, brings his noir expertise to the fore in his debut graphic novel about a sexy weapons smuggler.

That said, barring the times Gun Honey leaned too hard (for my liking) into gratuitous nudity, I really enjoyed the story of supremely efficient weapons smuggler Joanna Tan. Sometimes you’re just in the mood for R-rated popcorn thrills, and Gun Honey consistently delivers. Hor Kheng may fall prey to some weird perspective distortions at times but the artist has a suitably kinetic and scratchy style that brings the action to noir-ish life. Gun Honey Finds Exciting, New Directions for a Familiar Genre WRITER Charles Ardai Artist Ang Hor Kheng Letterer David Leach Cover Artist Robert McGinnis, Andrea Camerini, Bill Sienkiewicz, Ang Hor Kheng Publisher Titan Comics Price 3.99 Release Date 2021-09-29 Colorist Asifur Rahman It's male gazey as hell, but then again, that goes with the genre. And when the publisher's Hard Case Crime, a publishing company literally founded to bring works inspired by those early pulp novels to market, I understand how they get there. IF THE HEAT IS ON, DAHLIA RACERS CAN HELP YOU DISAPPEAR – FOR A PRICE. Marked for death by a U.S. intelligence agency, Gun Honey Joanna Tan turns to Dahlia Racers to help her pull a vanishing act. But the killer hot on her trail, beautiful sociopath Sarah Claride, will leave bodies strewn from New York to Las Vegas to Tijuana, Mexico, if it means cornering Dahlia – and breaking her…

MORIARTY CLOCKWORK EMPIRE TP (MR)

His first novel, Little Girl Lost, was published in 2004 and was nominated for both theEdgar Allan Poe Awardby theMystery Writers of Americaand theShamus Awardby the Private Eye Writers of America; his second, Songs of Innocence, was called "an instant classic" by The Washington Post,selected as one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly,and won the Shamus Award.Both books were written under the alias Richard Aleas and were optioned for the movies by Universal Pictures. With weapons expert Joanna Tan, the legendary "Gun Honey," off the grid, recuperating from her last job, a vengeful rival takes her place – and frames Joanna for murder. On the run from Malaysia to Milan, from Montana to Monaco, can Joanna catch up to her ruthless enemy…or will she catch a bullet first? GUN HONEY is sexy, violent and fast, a blistering burning house of a narrative." – Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition)