Catch It at the Comic Shop August 7th, 2019

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...

Sean's Picks:

 Sea of Stars #2 by Jason Aaron, Dennis Hallum, Stephen Green & Rico Renzi, published by Image Comics
I loved the first issue of this book so much that I nearly read its debut to pieces. Jason & Co. told a vividly simple thesis statement to a character study of a father and son relationship gone bizarrely awry. And that’s not because of their lack of connection, the dialogue actually showed how simple and intimate their bond really was. The visuals told their own story as provided by the imaginative mind of Dennis Hallum. The art is hypnotic and it sweeps you away into the far corners of space. The colors, the paneling, it all fits together so well you may find yourself forgetting to turn the page. As a parent I appreciate creative and new ways storytellers find to tell stories of family and relationships. Throw in space exploration, aliens, smart-witted juvenile one liners and sizable amounts of mystery and you have this comic. I like this one, and I’m pretty sure you will too.

 

Thumbs #3 by Sean Lewis & Hayden Sherman, published by Image Comics

If you aren’t aware of the dynamic duo of Sean and Hayden, then.. how dare you!? The Few was phenomenal and I found it rather underrated but it still managed to gain enough momentum to harness these two fresh faces into different corners of the success within the industry. Both have done well on their own since they’ve completed The Few and reading Thumbs is like cozying up with a warm blanket on a cold winter day (it’s bloody hot out! Why’d I use that metaphor?). This story has just begun. In the last issue we were discovering things alongside Thumbs; his mysteries became our own, and his surprises ours also. The visuals are brilliant with this comic as Hayden himself does the colors with the only color beyond it’s grayscale being a single hue of bright pink to highlight various tech spanning the pages. This is a fast and easy read but it’s definitely one of my favorites right now. Oh.. and not only is each issue supersized at well over 30 pages, but it also features mini shorts at the end. Money well spent.

Absolute Carnage #1 by Donny Cates & Ryan Stegman, published by Marvel Comics
Yea yea yea.. this doesn’t need any hype, I know. But sometimes I write these recommends for me.. so I don’t care. I’m a fanboy to most things that cross paths with Spidey, so this event comes with the territory. Earlier this summer I was first in line to sign up for the “Absolute Train” when I subscribed to *all tie-in’s* of this event. (cough*Literally*cough). Call me a sucker. Call me a target to corporate agendas. Call me whatever you want, because I won’t be hearing you anyway. As an early teen I remember reading Maximum Carnage and now, two and a half decades later, I get to read it’s follow up event in real time. The time is nigh. The time is now.

James' Picks:

Coffin Bound #1 by Dan Watters and Dani, published by Image Comics
I don't know much about this book, but the synopsis sounds like a lot of fun, and I really like what Dan Watters is doing at Vault Comics on books like Deep Roots. So I'm up for checking out something new. This one sounds fun and kinda bonkers.

Thumbs #3 by Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman, published by Image Comics
Lewis and Sherman are a terrific team doing great, depressingly dystopian and realistic-seeming work. Depressing because the work is really good, and they have skill and insight in depicting some depressing possible futures for humanity. This is a great, smart read, and Sherman's artwork keeps getting better and better.

Berserker Unbound #1 by Jeff Lemire and Mike Deodato, published by Dark Horse Entertainment
So, I'm curious because this sounds like a fun premise, and Lemire and Deodato is a very strong creative team But I'm also curious because the premise here is basically "what if Conan the Barbarian went to modern-day America", and it's a fun premise. In fact, it's such a fun premise that Marvel is actually doing that story right now. I know this won't be exactly the same, but I'm curious to see how the stories compare.

Future Foundation #1 by Jeremy Whitley and Will Robson, published by Marvel Comics
So, I'm not loving the current Fantastic Four comic, which is disappointing. However, I am interested in checking out this book because maybe it'll give me the sort of fix that I'm not really getting from the main title. I like Whitley's work as a writer (his Princeless and Wasp books was a lot of fun), and Will Robson is a really fun artist. So this first issue is worth checking out.