Hello! Today, we have something truly special for you, something that has been in the cards for almost as long as the development of the new Metrocop itself.
First things first, a bit of personal context: back in the days of PHWOnline (Metrocop’s biggest predecessor, which we’ll be talking about at length here in the future), circa 2005-2006, I was a huge fan of a comic maker that went by the name Era, who was known for his wildly creative series. For the past fifteen years, I’d been yearning to read his classics again and hopefully add them to Metrocop’s comic archive.
A little after my one-year “sabbatical” from the old Metrocop, as the new site started being developed, I started looking for more comic makers online whose comics could hopefully have survived the years and backup drive rot. One of the first people I tried to find, naturally, was Era.
I managed to get in touch with him and, as luck would have it, not only was Era gracious enough to let me add his old comics to our ever-growing archive, but he still had his complete collection backed up!
So, it’s with great pleasure that I announce that we will be re-releasing Era’s entire comics output on Metrocop, starting today. Seeing as it’s quite a daunting collection, we’ll be doing it in parts, beginning with three absolutely classic series for your reading pleasure:
- Coma is perhaps Era’s best known work, a 2005-2006 Garry’s Mod comic series about Bryan, a man who falls into a coma, discovering an entire dimension full of new worlds beyond consciousness, then finds allies to try and come back to the real world. Coma is actually being adapted into a novel by Era these days, but you can now read the original that started it all here;
- House on St. Bernard is another old classic from the same era (no pun intended), although this one has an asterisk. It’s a Family Guy-inspired comedy about the inhabitants of the titular house, who (apart from Lisa, the only one thath as a job) desperately try to avoid “the Outside”, and the shenanigans they get to inside. I have to throw a content warning on this one though, as it’s very much a product of its time and some of its “edgier” humor can be downright offensive nowadays, including some cliché portrayals of homosexuality, sexism and misogyny. Just bear in mind it was made 15 years ago and no longer represents the author’s views and try to enjoy the rest of it anyway;
- Un-Rest Z is yet another 2005 series, this one telling the story of Darren, whose sleep turns into a living nightmare where he’s not sure what’s real or a product of his subconscious, but with a pervasive sense of something—or someone—being involved in the events that unfold.
As mentioned, this is only the first part of Era’s collection and we’ll be doing at least two more of these later. First, though, next week is the anniversary of Apostasy‘s sixth and final chapter, so we’ll be releasing something special to mark the occasion, followed by another brand new episode of Combine Exchange Program on October 19. In the meantime, enjoy the first of Era’s works to join Metrocop!