Powr Mastrs: Volume 2

The second installment in a planned six-novel cycle from Providence, R.I.–based artist Chris Forgues (aka C.F., who records music as Kites and self-publishes the comic “Low Tide”) comes with a map and illustrative list of all major characters; readers will need the help. There are great beasts and disturbed individuals (with names like Buell Kazee and Mosfet Warlock), all navigating narratives of madness and violence in a woozily concocted world that centers around something called the Plex Knowe Crypt. C.F.’s style is that of the vaguely disturbed outsider artist, replete with spurting fluids and grievous bodily harm, shot through with the occasional blast of Yellow Submarine –era psychedelia. The stories don’t make much impact on their own but appear to be tiny glimpses of an epic fantasy brewing in the artist’s mind. Unfortunately, until the entire work is unveiled, Powr Mastrs will most intrigue readers who crave new frontiers in graphic novel expression. (Dec.)