Rob's Picks:
This is one of my most anticipated comics of the year. It's been killing me to hear so many of Paul's peers in the industry rave about it, and not get my own copy yet. Tobin's horror chops are well established with Colder, and now he's mixing a detective story with the mythos of the Frankenstein Monster. I honestly don't know anything about the artists involved, but the pages I've seen look amazing. Sharp, dark without being impossible to read, and with a nice amount of blood. This should be a great series you should pick up from the start.
I'm sad to see this series go, as it wraps up with issue 36, but on the other hand, I appreciate that the creators have a definitive end point and don't go on endlessly. I wanted to bring attention to this horror book with a ton of fantasy elements, about kids who get their school transported to a strange world that features danger at every turn, to say nothing about the ordinary cruelty of the schoolyard. Great plot twists, a willingness to harm main characters, and great art have highlighted this one from the start. This is an odd place to pick it up, but peruse it, like it, and go back and get the trades.
Panel Pal Noah Van Sciver teams up with a biographer to tell the story of Johnny Appleseed. Anyone who grew up in Appalachia like me knows the legend of Johnny Appleseed, who helped spread, well, apple seeds. But there's more to him than that, as he's a voice that runs counter to the violence that most American icons bring to the table. Another comic I've been waiting for, and can't wait to read.
James' Picks:
This one might be a little under the radar at the moment, but I think it's one of the best books that Marvel is publishing. I wasn't familiar with Saladin Ahmed's work as an author before, but I really like what he's doing in this book. It helps to have a partner as incredibly talented as Christian Ward (who you might know from Ody-C or Infinite Vacation, where I first encountered his work). His art is weird and psychedelic and exciting and cosmic and suits the alien prison setting of the story perfectly. The storytellers here really bring Black Bolt to life as an interesting and weird character, and they even get me to think about Crusher Creel as sympathetic and complex. It's great work.
The Black Beetle: Kara Bocek, by Francesco Francavilla, published by Dark Horse Comics.
I hope by now you're familiar with the work of Francesco Francavilla. He's an immensely talented illustrator with a highly distinctive pulpy style and wonderfully atmospheric colors. Francavilla writes and draws a pulpy mystery-adventure series and this hardcover collects the latest story. I haven't read this volume but given how much I enjoyed the first volume of the Black Beetle, I'm excited to pick this one up.
Manifest Destiny Vol. 5, by Chris Dingess, Matthew Roberts and Owen Gieni, published by Image Comics.
Manifest Destiny is a "secret history" series all about the *true* purpose of Lewis and Clark's expedition to the west, which was of course, to hunt and destroy monsters. This story functions very well in the realm of political allegory, along with just being a great action-horror series with a high degree of verisimilitude. The art from Matthew Roberts and colorist Owen Gieni is always terrific, this is a fun read.
Extremity Vol. 1, by Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer, published by Image Comics.
I didn't really know Daniel Warren Johnson's art before picking up this book, but I can tell you he's a hell of a storyteller, in art and overall story. Extremity is a tale of war and the toll it plays on the family of one of the warring tribes. It's a fantastical story (floating rocks upon which communities are built) but it feels incredibly grounded and human and sometimes quite brutal. Johnson's a fantastic sequential storyteller, and pays out some pretty remarkable action sequences in this story, and the world feels very detailed and fully realized.
Scott' Picks:
An honest-to-goodness alt comic. I haven't had a chance to read these yet but I picked up most of the series at this year's CAKE and Rilly's got an easy drawing style that conveys a lot. And that cover to issue 5 is just fantastic.
What starts out as a look at glaciers becomes so much more as Yanow uses a trip to see glaciers as an entry point into being able to explore some more personal issues in her comic.
O.k, this was a series that really surprised me. It's like Speed Racer on amphetamines or something. While this creative team established themselves on DC's Batgirl, their work on Motor Crush is a great action, adventure, romance comic.
I really don't know much about this comic but I got it a week or two ago thanks to one of Retrofit's last Kickstarters. But here's another cover that I just can't stop staring at. Great design and I really like the use of the blues here. Chilly and icy. I need to see what the rest of the book is about.
