Creator/Writer: Jay B. Kalagayan
Artist: Dylan Speeg
Layout Design/Logo Design: Geoff Raker
Cover Design: Dylan Speeg
Editors:  Kristen Ruthemeyer and Annie Wadman
Character Design: William Grape and Dylan Speeg

“The world of MeSseD expands in Season 3 as the creatures of the Roots come above ground to tangle with the filter workers on their home turf. While Liliput recuperate from injuries sustained while snatching the filament “mother” for study, Quasi leads the filaments in an attempt to infiltrate (I-N-I) the MSD Main Treatment Plant, and the filter workers rise to meet them.”

I was super grateful to receive this special press package for MeSseD volume three in the mail a few weeks ago. If you aren’t familiar with MeSseD, let me tell you a bit about it.

Follow the flush, and join Liliput and her rat, Akka, in the sewers. The Metropolitan Sewer District, or MSD, nicknamed “MeSseD” by it’s workers, is Liliput’s employer, where she is a filter worker, taking on some out of the ordinary challenges. Tackling everything from bizarre underground creatures to paperwork – Liliput has her hands full.

Kalagayan writes a heroic, badass main character for us, set in a grimy underground, away from fantastical, beautiful settings. She doesn’t have a glamorous or sexy costume, but rather coveralls. There is a feeling of reality at the base of this story with how it’s written, working in science and embellishing it all with oversized, mutant cockroaches and crazy root monsters, among other things.

The most frequent art we see is that of Dylan Speeg. The pages are black and white, but insanely well detailed and fleshed out. Complimenting the science fiction feel of the writing is an art style that feels very influenced by pulp novels and film noir. The realism captured is gorgeous, and even unsettling when you see some of the creatures of the sewers in a way that makes them feel like they could be real.

Volune three, chapters one and two, take us into a very creature feature horror feeling, with the filter workers vs the root monsters. It’s fun, well executed, and an exciting new addition to the story.

MeSseD is a creative look into the wet, underground world and what could be lurking beneath Cincinnati. It’s great seeing such strong characters, like Liliput, and her bonds, persistence, and fearlessness.

Check out MeSseD Comics and show some love for indie books!

-Angel