WHOOPS! I forgot to hit "post" on this--sorry everyone! -Rob
Welcome to Catch it at the Comic Shop, where the Panel Patter team looks at what's coming out at your favorite store or digital device this week. Each one of us that participates picks up to five items due out this week, with a little bit about why we like them. (NOTE: We use solicitation material for this, so if we miss creators, please talk to your publisher!) Sometimes we might only have a few items to share, other weeks, keeping it to five will make for hard choices. Here's what the team wanted to highlight this week...
Welcome to Catch it at the Comic Shop, where the Panel Patter team looks at what's coming out at your favorite store or digital device this week. Each one of us that participates picks up to five items due out this week, with a little bit about why we like them. (NOTE: We use solicitation material for this, so if we miss creators, please talk to your publisher!) Sometimes we might only have a few items to share, other weeks, keeping it to five will make for hard choices. Here's what the team wanted to highlight this week...
James' Picks:
Injection Deluxe Edition HC Vol. 1 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire, published by Image Comics
Injection is an absolutely fantastic comic, and if you're interested in stories about the supernatural and weird technology, and dark mysteries and conspiracies, then this series is a perfect pickup. The creative team is the peerless trio of writer Warren Ellis, artist Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire. They worked together on a memorable arc of Moon Knight, and do similarly high-level work here. This series is about a secret group who's exporing supernatural mysteries, except they're irresponsible and don't necessarily contemplate the weird consequences, of which there are many.
Although this series only concluded in the last year or so, I can already tell you that it is among my all-time favorite comics. Not just all-time favorite Marvel, or superhero, but any comics or stories I've ever read. Why? Because I've never read anything that quite embraced the pure joy and wonder of discovery in the way this series did. Dan Slott really lets himself have a ton of fun here, and it's all big, silver-age cosmic Kirby craziness. The spectacular art team of Mike and Laura Allred bring absolute wonder to the page, with every single page full of crazy, wonderful delights. As I once told Allred himself, he has an incredible way of portraying both joy and sadness in a single image or expression. And this is a very emotional series. You'll run the gamut of emotions reading this book, but mostly the thrill that something with this much pure joy, fun and wonder exists, and I know you'll love it.
So let's be honest, Go-Bots were the Betamax of 80's vehicles that turned into robots. All I really remember was the catchy theme song ("Mighty robots, mighty vehicles, Go-BOTS!"). I do have one of my old Go-Bots (the ambulance one). Anyway, all of this is to say that if it were almost any other comics creator, I probably wouldn't be picking up this comic. But it's Tom Scioli, a singular, spectacular talent, and I am thrilled to pick this up. Scioli first came to prominence with the spectacular Godland, an incredible homage to cosmic Kirby comics (and really so much more). He wowed me with American Barbarian (sort of a Kamandi with lots more drugs). But he really took his art and insane levels of creativity to the next level with the beloved (by me, at least) Transformers vs. GI Joe which is like Jack Kirby was drawing underground cartoons based on a children's toy while insanely high and watching weird TV. That book was fun and weird and felt like action figures and toys brought to life in the most wonderful way. So of course I'm going to check out his Go-Bots comics. It's got robots that turn into vehicles, and they're our friends...or are they? This first issue is a lot of fun, and I highly recommend it to anyone, not just for the nostalgia factor, but for the weird, engaging fun of it.
Sean's Picks:
24 stories. 24 panels. 24 creators tell 24 stories. This anthology comic was created to commemorate and support those who survived and those who suffered from the Grenfell fire in London killing 72 people. PTSD can be a real trouble for a lot of people who have found misfortune and it is because of books like this one that make those tragedies seem temporarily less tragic. If even for the slightest moment through active support of gracious giving, or through the art of storytelling, this book helps transform horrible circumstance of tragedy to collaborative assistance and charity. This world is often quite the shitty place, and when creators come together to make it a tad less shitty.. I’m all in. When this book surfaced on my radar I made sure to include it in my list of must-buy’s.
Donny Cates did a Miley Cyrus and came in like a wrecking ball when Image let him up his game last year with God Country and Redneck. Since his heightened visibility and successes had him with those titles he has managed to pull no punches from his arsenal. Venom continues being perfection. Cosmic Ghost Rider got good again. The Inhumans got... well.. dead. And Thanos was.. well, he really didn’t need to make Thanos any more badass but he did. So.. naturally.. let’s make Carnage a bigger and badder twisted s.o.b. than ever before, right? Seems up Cates’ alley. Ok.. so as the saying goes.. take my money, Donny, I’m all in.
I’ve had my eye on this issue for a few months. The cover alone is worth checking out. It literally reminds me of a Dynamite Boy album cover from 1999, but instead of a deceitful girl and a suburban walkway there’s a demon cloud and fox.. but the broken heart remains. (The broken heart still effing remains.) Skottie Young has written some wildly imaginative stories in the past few years, and here on Middlewest with a collaboration with Jorge Corona on illustrations I see a fun and captivating exploration of the lands between the two coasts. I’m excited to see where this story goes.
This is another heavily anticipated title of mine for the year. These new Vertigo comics have been literally placed on a separate note in my phone as a reminder for specific release dates. American Carnage is drawn by Leandro Fernandez of The Old Guard and written by Bryan Edward Hill. Based on early press releases we are in for one hell of a ride in social commentary on racial tension with this one. I will bite my tongue here and refrain from exposing any specific details.. except that maybe I’ll say that this story is literally about a bi-racial FBI agent who can pass as a white man, and had accidentally shot a young unarmed black man, and not only will he now be forced to infiltrate a white supremacist group, but they may also be responsible for the murder of a fellow FBI agent. Hungry for more? Yea... me too. Take my money.
