All throughout April and May, we’re crowdsourcing a coronavirus quarantine comics reading list. Each weekday for a month, we’ll post a new recommendation from someone in the comics industry to help folks get through the isolation. This includes writers, artists, letterers, editors, comics journalists, publicists, and more…all paired with a local shop that’s currently selling the books via mail order.

Today’s pick comes from writer Ron Marz…enjoy!

First and foremost, I hope everybody it safe and healthy, and doing the best they can with the quarantine measures in place. The need to keep ourselves entertained is more keen than ever. So my reading recommendation is my favorite comic from last year, now available as a collected edition: These Savage Shores, written by Ram V, drawn by Sumit Kumar, colored by Vittorio Astone, lettered by Aditya Bidikar, and published by Vault Comics. Set in 1766, it’s a smart, atmospheric tale of horror and romance, delving into both Eastern and Western supernatural traditions, and the real-world horror of colonialism.

A vampire lord flees England, intending to find a more fertile hunting ground as the East India Trading Company exploits India. But the vampire comes to discover he’s not the only ancient creature with teeth. To say much more about the plot would be to spoil the delight of discovery.

The storytelling is superlative, both the narrative and the visual. Comics work best when words and pictures combine to create a larger whole, something that neither could produce alone. That’s very much the case here, as text, line art and colors are inseparable. These Savage Shores is lush, exotic, clever, and very human. It’s more than recommended, it’s essential. -Ron Marz

Ron Marz has been writing comics for three decades, including acclaimed runs on Silver Surfer, Green Lantern, Witchblade, and many more. Currently Editor-in-Chief of Ominous Press, follow him on Twitter: @ronmarz

These Savage Shores
Writer: Ram V.
Artist: Sumit Kumar
Colorist: Vittorio Astone
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Publisher: Vault Comics
Two centuries after the first European ship sailed to the Malabar Coast and made landfall at Calicut, The East India Company seeks to secure its future along the lucrative Silk Route, in the year 1766. An old evil now sails aboard a company ship, hoping to make a home in this new found land. But he will soon find that the ground along the Indus is an ancient one with daemons and legends far older than himself. Along These Savage Shores, where the days are scorched and the nights are full of teeth.

Buy It Now: Third Eye Comics in Annapolis, Md., is open in that region for shipping, delivery, or curbside pickup. Get more info here!

Get it from a local comic shop with this directory from the Comics Industry Collective of stores open and doing mail order!

Click here for the full coronavirus reading list!