By Zack Quaintance — Orphan Age #1 is a quick read that has a lot going on. It launches a relatively complex world pretty quickly. In this book, all of the adults on the planet died mysteriously 20 years ago, and now the children are running the world. This concept seems like one that could drive the book by itself, making the conflict one of unprepared youths shedding their childhoods…
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Every comic is unique, of course, but Faithless #1 struck me as a singular book from the first pages. It’s written by Brian Azzarello, a veteran comics writer who has had success with a wide range of titles, from hey day Vertigo stuff like 100 Bullets to recent Big 2 works like…
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Fairlady #1 is essentially a hardboiled noir PI story, transposed over a high fantasy setting, with a female lead and a giant cat bodyguard too. This new Image book is written by Brian Schirmer, drawn by Claudia Balboni, colored by Marissa Louise, and lettered by David Bowman, and in terms of its plot, it’s a fairly straightforward affair. Our hero is…
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — A very tardy set of Top Comics to Buy for April 10, 2019 this week, but what can I say? There were a lot of great books, and I wanted to make sure I’d read as many of them as possible before settling on my recommendations. It’s called due dilligence, and I’ll be damned if I don’t...um, do it. Yeah.
Read MoreBy d. emerson eddy — Jakub Rebelka is one of BOOM Studios! secret weapons. Like Dan Mora, he's an artist that always turns in interesting, captivating, and beautiful artwork for the company, deeply enriching whichever project that he's working on with his unique character compositions and approach to color. His shapes, lines, and the appearance of almost a mix….
Read MoreThis piece is the third of a monthly series giving nascent creators a chance to share and document part of their artistic journeys. We’ll be following four individuals—writers, artists, writers/artists—and spotlighting each on a rotating basis throughout 2019. Future installments will take more of a traditional journal format, giving creators a space to share thoughts and comics. For the intro…
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — One thing I’ve noticed often during this re-read is that there are almost two distinct types of Saga issues. The first is a surface level rapidfire burst of action and plot. The second is a slower, more emotional sort of issue that uses a lot of metaphors to get at deep truths about love, family, and relationships. This series is so grandiose (look at its title), that it certainly has room for both…
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — This is one of those great months when the strong majority of our picks for the Top 5 Best Comics are creator-owned. This time around, it’s actually four out of five. And what a fantastic crop of creator-owned titles they are, running the gamut from the start of their runs (Die) to the middle (Wasted Space) to…
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — March 2019 felt like a momentous month for new comics, launching as it did a number of series that seem destined for long runs. We will, of course, discuss all of these books in depth below, but let me just note now that a month is pretty significant when it launches series like Invisible Kingdom, Assassin Nation, and Little Bird, with some of those coming out on the same day! And that’s to say nothing of…
Read MoreBy Allison Senecal — So, uh, there’s a lot of moth imagery throughout the last month or so of Age of X-Man, huh? And that’s not sad or ominous at all….
Anyway, I’m really loving this entire event and how the creators are getting to let loose with some wilder concepts. Now that we’re (mostly) past the opening set-up issues, we’re getting to the meaty stuff. Higher stakes, tauter emotions, deepening plots. Several things are primed to explode over the next month, and then my guess is…
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman and the rest of the War of the Realms main series creative team have a huge job in front of them. Aaron has spent nearly (but not quite) a decade building to this throughout a number of different Thor comics. Now, the writer must…
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — For those of us who have been reading and enjoying Dead Kings, the promise of giant mech-based battling has been looming large since the start of the first issue, which dedicated its second and third pages to a full splash of mechs (one shaped like a bear, another wielding a laser sword…
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Section Zero is one of those comics that I know has been around a while, but it has never found its way to me (or I to it). With some light Googling, however, the book’s history is easy to find. The book—co-created by writer Karl Kesel and artist Tom Grummett—first hit in 2000 as part of …
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — What a weekend. I spent it at WonderCon down in Anaheim (I’m a NorCal resident), soaking in my first show of the new con season. I’m a big fan of WonderCon, which is well organized but far more casual than San Diego, which is…
Read MoreBy d. emerson eddy — I often spotlight a comic starting a new arc, launching with a new #1 issue, standing alone as a contained story, or ranking as the finale of a series. I do this because it's easy to talk about a jumping on point or a finished arc as a whole. It gives you a good amount of material to write about in order to entice readers into the world that the creators are building. It's not as easy to pick …
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — I read the first two issues of White Ash—a Kickstarter-funded comic written by Charlie Stickney with art by Conor Hughes and colors by Fin Cramb—around this time last year. I was intrigued by the concept. On its surface, the book right away deals with a withering coal mining town, named White Ash, thus the title. Its first over-sized issue follows a native son of that town as he tries to say one final goodbye to the place he grew up before heading to college. He goes around town, bidding farewell to the important people in his life, noting all the things he won’t miss, and working to collect on some a debt for yard work he did for the one wealthy family in town.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — The closer we get to the end of this re-read, the more I remember actually reading these past issues. With this one, for example, I can remember the very day and conversation at the cash register I had while purchasing this comic. I know it’s not that interesting...but also I’ve mentioned it twice later in this piece!
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — Writer Zac Thompson (Age of X-Man, The Dregs) has a truly powerful new graphic novella due next month, on April 24, to be precise. The work, which is called The Replacer, is illustrated by Arjuna Susini, colored by Dee Cunniffe, and lettered by Marshall Dillon. Set in the 1990s, it tells a story from Thompson’s childhood tinged with horror genre trappings to accentuate the feelings, fears, and events.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — The Replacer is a different sort of comicbook release for a few reasons. First is the format. This is a 64-page, full color graphic novella. What does that mean? Essentially, it means that you’re getting about three issues worth of comics (for the price of two, btw) all at once, so the story doesn’t have to take breaks. The Replacer is a dense and concentrated read with a streamlined beginning-middle-end, enabling its narrative to move with patience and really build to a crescendo without periodical trappings like obligatory last page cliffhangers, first page recaps, etc.
Read MoreBy Allison Senecal — Welcome to a special spring-time edition of Thirsty Thursday! While Marvel has been busy consummating new series announcements and signing Tini Howard exclusive (!!!), I’ve been diligently keeping track of a very intense type of comicbook art. And now, it is my absolute pleasure to share it with all of you!
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Colorist: Guru-eFX
Uncanny X-Men #14 - My only complaint is that Karma didn’t make this panel, because otherwise *chef kiss*. THE GANG’S ALL HERE. And Havok is the Summers brother with the best hair. Don’t @ me.