It’s sad, sad news that Ladronn is officially stepping aside as the artist when “Hip Flask”flips over to Image and goes monthly but he’s staying on as the cover artist at least, and the guy that Starkings has found to replace him seems to be pretty good. Justin MORITAT Norman was the artist on something called “Solstice” (also from Active Images, “Hip Flask’s” original publisher), and judging from his gallery on DeviantArt, the kid’s got chops. “Hip Flask” is one of my favorite indy titles, so it’ll be nice to see this prequel series released on a regular basis. Considering Ladronn is still going to be involved in an art director style capacity, and the list of guest artists includes Chris Bachalo, the ongoing should still be freaking beautiful.

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