James' Picks:
I previously wrote about how much I loved the first volume of November, which was brought together by an incredibly talented crew of creators. It's written by Matt Fraction who's such a gifted storyteller, and has an incredible ear for the way people actually talk to one another. Well, volume II is coming out this week. If you are a fan of crime stories (like Stray Bullets, or Criminal), then I highly recommend November. The first volume followed the interconnected lives of three different women, and the way in which their lives all intersect on a fateful night. Elsa Charretier's art is gorgeous and stylized, and will feel right at home for any fans of Darwyn Cooke or Bruce Timm. And he art pairs perfectly with the atmospheric colors from Matt Hollingsworth and the detailed hand-lettering from Kurt Ankeny. Trust me, there's a lot going on in November and so when you get these first two volumes, you're going to want to read and reread them many times. It's a great story.
Artist Declan Shalvey does absolutely spectacular work. You probably know him from his game-changing six-issue run on Moon Knight with writer Warren Ellis and colorist Jordie Bellaire (if not, go read that now). Or, you might know him from his work on the wonderfully dark and weird sci-fi series Injection (also with Ellis and Bellaire). What you might not know is that in addition to bring a truly outstanding artist, Shalvey is also now a writer, having previously written the graphic novel Savage Town and returning with a new graphic novel called Bog Bodies. I've read the first part of it and it's a highly compelling, tense story. There are people on the run and they're trying to escape various things (including people trying to kill them) and they're making their way through the bogs and forest outside of Dublin. This story feels incredibly authentically Irish - there's definitely a lot of slang I didn't know, but, you get the gist of it as you're reading. And the whole series is brought to terrific life by relative newcomer Gavin Fullerton, who's got a slightly cartoony style but his art is still very squarely depicting a real, gritty, dark, and brutal world. Fullerton’s art is paired seamlessly with dark, atmospheric, powerful coloring from Rebecca Nalty and excellent and appropriate lettering from Clayton Cowles. There’s a lot of great talent involved here, and this feels like an excellent addition to the genre of crime graphic novels.
Rob's Picks:
Rich tourists are often assholes, as anyone who has read the great Jamaica Kinkaid is well aware. The idea of an underground tourism agency taking people places they don't belong, such as the site of the Fukishima disaster, which forms the setup for this first issue. Because this is Joe Harris, there's a supernatural element at play, too, and the promise of various hot spots being explored, probably with gruesome ends for plenty of characters (along with the thoughtful sociopolitical and cultural observations for which Harris is known). This looks like it has a lot of promise, depending on how Harris handles the premise, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens.
Mike Mignola writing a story about Frankenstein's Monster is definitely eye-catching. We all know how well he handles creatures caught between good and evil, and seeing how Mignola skirts this line while staying within the concepts created by Mary Shelley will be interesting. (He also can't just make this Hellboy 2.0, especially since this fits in Hellboy's world.) Long-time collaborators Scott Allie and Ben Stenbeck are along for the ride, and while neither are personal favorites, they have a great understanding of Mignola's style, pacing, and plotting. This series is set to lead into a larger role for the creature in Mignola's universe, and fans of the world definitely need to make sure they keep up on this, while fans of the Monster himself should find a few new twists along the (occult) way.
Anyone who reads this site knows I'm a big fan of sci fi, horror, and writer Cullen Bunn, so his latest creation at Oni Press is a no-brainer pick for me this week. There's space treasure to be had, if you can brave the horrors of a planet lacking a solar system. And someone just might, but the rest of the crew is going to be in deep shit, courtesy of the fertile imagination of Bunn, along with MacDonald and Filardi. It's a fairly quick slow-burn, too, which is nice. This one starts the awful horror right from issue one. MacDonald's figure work is a little stiff so far, but the horrors more than make up for it. Definitely worth grabbing if your taste is anything like mine.