By Jacob Cordas — The first volume of Faithless was a gut punch and a reach around all at the same time. I had become jaded with writer Brian Azzarello at this point, concerned that his best work was behind him. And artist Maria Llovet was completely off my radar. But the art looked great and Azzarello had built up so much good will with me after writing one of my preferred runs of Hellblazer, I decided to give it a shot.
Read MoreBy Gabe Gonzalez — “If you don’t find it in the index, look very carefully through the catalogue.” …this quote comes at the start of Everything #5, the first season finale of one of the most interesting and abstract titles put out by Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint. That quote comes at the beginning and expertly speaks to what the entire story is about. If you need to ejaculate every time you lay down to sleep, if you need an infestation of ants, if you need an illness, or if you need a paint chip-driven hallucination — The Everything shopping center has it all!
Read MoreBy Jarred A. Luján — Back before COVID-19 derailed so many facets of our life, Butcher of Paris was one of the titles I found to be among the most intriguing on my pull list. Though we’ve had to wait a bit for the completion of the book, this is a series that is certainly going to be one of my favorites during this entire messy, complicated year.
Read MoreBy Keigen Rea — November is about three women being brutalized by cops and the broken systems in society. It’s a story about a city under siege and the effect it has on a few ordinary citizens, which is to say; it feels like this last week in the US. Right now, pretty much any media I consume reminds me of the protests and brutality by racists taking place across the United States, because, well, it seems to be the only reasonable thing to think about right now.
Read MoreBy Gabe Gonzalez — In terms of comic book storytelling, the dual-genre of mystery/horror is something that seems to come up rather often, but never seems to be utilized to a point of the great potential it could have. Written and illustrated by Mirka Andolfo, the new series Mercy is well-visualized with good writing to match. Yet, as the mystery continues from the first issue…I still haven’t found myself entirely enthralled with the narrative, and I think the book might suffer some of the same issues that other comic book mysteries often do.
Read MoreBy Jacob Cordas — I greatly enjoyed the first volume of Sabrina the Teenage Witch by the creative team of Kelly Thompson, Veronica Fish and Andy Fish. The first comic was a fun and visually exciting take on the character. They had smartly maintained the lighter tone of the main Archie Comics while embracing a more whimsical and vibrant world. I have been eager for this latest volume to start coming out and am not disappointed now that we have Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Something Wicked #1.
Read MoreBy Jarred A. Luján — Engineward is a new comic from Vault Comics. The 12 issue series is described by Vault as: In ENGINEWARD, Earth is an ancient myth, long forgotten. Now, the god-like Celestials, who embody the surviving zodiac signs, rule with brutal efficiency. When Joss, an Engineward, discovers and reactivates the head of a fossilized Ghoulem, she learns all is not as intended. Her destiny—and the truth about her imperious rulers—lies somewhere far beyond the borders of her shantytown.
Read MoreBy Jarred A. Luján — Cyberpunk vampire ninjas is one hell of an elevator pitch, and it’s also the best way to describe Bleed Them Dry, the new book from Vault Comics, due out at the end of this month. Created by Hiroshi Koizumi, written by Eliot Rahal, drawn by Dike Ruan, and colored by Miquel Muerto, the series is set in the year 3333, in a world where vampires and humans have co-existed for centuries. Unfortunately, someone begins killing off the Immortals and a police detective is caught in the middle of the conspiracy.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — There’s a lot going on in Adventureman #1. First, the book is heavy. Literally. Written by Matt Fraction (Hawkeye, Casanova, Sex Criminals) and illustrated by Terry and Rachel Dodson (X-Men / Fantastic Four), Adventureman #1 clocks in at 56 pages (an absurd bargain given the price tag is the usual $3.99). It’s nearly triple the length of a standard issue. I suspect there is significant utility in making the first issue that length, stemming from this debut reading like two distinct comics.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Write It In Blood is a four-issue miniseries released entirely online in April and May, during a time when new physical comics releases were mostly stalled out. From the creative team of writer Rory McConville, artist Joe Palmer, colorist Chris O’Halloran (Ice Cream Man!), and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, the book was available via Gumroad, at a price point of $2 minimum, with the option to pay more. The first issue hit in late April, and the finale is available now.
Read MoreBy Jarred A. Luján — Dead Day is a zombie comic from Aftershock Comics, written by Ryan Parrot and drawn by Evgeniy Bornyakov. Zombie media is hard because the bar is always high. Zombie stories are so popular and so in the cultural zeitgeist that it is an increased challenge to do something fresh and new with them. Often times, zombie film/comics/games are just the same tired tropes resurrected (ha!) and rehashed.
Read MoreBy Jarred A. Luján — New comics are finally coming back, maybe, I don’t know…does anyone know? Or are we all just latched onto whatever semblance of normalcy we can reach for in the hope in order to ignore the massive and constantly-frightening turn our lives have taken? Maybe! It’s a disaster!
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — If you’ve found your way to something so esoteric as this website, there’s a fairly good chance you know that there’s been a pause in the distribution of weekly comic books for the first time basically ever, at least for this long of a period. With American sheltering in place to flatten the curve of the virus, there have been challenges with printing comics, distributing comics, and selling comics.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — The past month has been rough. I think any human occupying this odd world we’ve found ourselves stuck in would agree. The coronavirus pandemic has, in a word, been awful, owing to fears and threats that range from health to economics. Yesterday, however, I found myself blissfully unaware of the fear and threats for the better part of an hour. For that, I can thank Friday.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — “What in the world is going on at the abandoned X-Mansion?” It’s a line of (on the nose) dialogue that gets delivered on the second page of Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1, and it’s also this book’s pitch/concept/mission statement. You know what? It’s also an effective one, one of those superhero comics ideas that make you immediately wonder why you hadn’t already been wondering about what was going on at the X-Mansion now that all the mutants were on an island.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — I had been looking forward to the newest X-Men comic — Hellions #1 — since the book was first announced, and in a way, I feel like I’m still looking forward to it. Don’t get me wrong, I read the comic this morning, but Hellions #1 had a lot of setup to do. So much so that it felt like one of those first issues that doesn’t really get our plot moving, instead having a team-building checklist to accomplish before it can introduce storytelling elements like character motivations, dilemmas, threats, and larger goals.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — The first thing that jumped out at me right away about Road to Empyre - The Kree/Skrull War #1 — which as the name suggests is paving a road to Marvel’s forthcoming major event, Empyre — is that it’s well-built to orient new readers. Now, I don’t think that anyone off the street (even those who have a cursory knowledge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe) could just jump in here, but it’s friendly to those of who who have read around some of the titles that seeded what’s going on here.
Read MoreBy Jarred A. Luján — I want to preface this by saying that going into this review, I knew very little about Hundred Wolves. The thing about books from publisher Vault Comics, however, is that it’s pretty rare for me to dislike one. My shop preorders them for me automatically, so I really don’t read much about their books in advance aside from a Tweet here or there.
Read MoreBy Jarred A. Luján — Once and Future is back! One of my favorite monthly comics makes its return with #7 this week. The first arc was incredible with an incredible mixture of amazing characters, scary monsters, intense action sequences, big twists, and some of the best art around. So, there’s a lot to live up to as we set out on a new arc for this book. Also, this has been an incredibly terrible month for, you know — everyone, so there couldn’t have been better timing for this to reappear.
Read MoreBy Jarred A. Luján — I have no idea how I started reading Crowded. Seriously. I think Matthew Rosenberg may have recommended it on Twitter, and I picked it up from there? Regardless, I’ve been around since the book launched. It’s a brilliantly unique book with one of the sharpest character dynamics in comics. Now, we get to look at #12, which in a year-plus is the first time I’ve reviewed the book for some reason!
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