Dark Horse Confirms Release Date and Cover Art for Cameron Stewart’s ‘Sin Titulo’ Collection

Dark Horse has confirmed for ComicsAlliance that the long awaited hardcover collection of Cameron Stewart's self-published webcomic Sin Titulo will finally see release on September 24 of this year. The 184-page mostly black-and-white book will be priced at $19.99 and measure 9" x 6 and 3/4", preserving the format of Stewart's widely acclaimed webcomic.

Check out the final cover artwork below.

Launched on the web in 2007, Sin Titulo is a surrealist mystery about a young man called Alex whose mundane existence is disrupted when he discovers a photograph of an unfamiliar blonde woman in his late grandfather's belongings. Alex is compelled to learn the truth behind the woman and her relationship to his beloved grandparent, and his mission to do so thrusts him into a dangerous world of shadowy figures, a strange apparition from his youth, and getting framed for murder.

ComicsAlliance's Lauren Davis compared Sin Titulo favorably to Lost when she wrote about the webcomic last year, noting that unlike that frequently surreal mystery series, Stewart's work endeavors to answer the questions it poses and truly tie up the plot threads that are introduced early on.

It would be forgivable if Sin Titulo had proved merely meditative, a working through of the things in life that don't make sense--that can't make sense because they belong to a moment that we'll never be able to properly examine. After all, this is a passion project from an artist who has spent much of his career illustrating other people's stories. But Stewart is determined to tell a story that lives outside his head, where Alex's investigations find some logical (if impossible) solution.

To that end, Sin Titulo is a strictly noir fantasy. Although there are suggestions of maybe teleportation, maybe interdimensional travel, maybe shared cognitive space, much of the comic's distinct imagery wouldn't be out of place in less fanciful detective novel. There is, however, some almost Lynchian playing around with symbols--retro videophones locked in cinderblock cells hidden behind plush lounge doors, grotesque crabs served up by a blindfolded waiter. Those moments of the almost-familiar serve to make Sin Titulo slightly disorienting. We're not just following Alex through his visual dissonance; we're experiencing it alongside him. Fortunately, we also end up with less blood on our shirts.

Here are some Sin Titulo strips that give you an idea of not just the psychological intrigue of this ambitious project, but also the modified art style Stewart employed to tell the story. Necessarily much more economical than his more fully rendered comic book art on print books like Batman and Robin and BPRD Hell on Earth: Exorcism, Stewart's more minimal, spot-color approach does a fantastic job of sucking you into the haunting world of Sin Titulo.

The Sin Titulo hardcover goes on sale September 24 from Dark Horse. In the meantime, check out the first 18 pages of Stewart's next webcomics project, Niro, a gunslinging action adventure told in a totally different style.