James' Picks:

Golden Rage #1 by Chrissy Williams, Lauren Knight, Sofie Dodgson, and Becca Carey, published by Image Comics
In this story, old people are shipped off to an island. This story tells the story of some of those people. I mean, this is an incredibly rich premise and I'm very excited to check it out. The premise immediately made think of Bitch Planet, where the patriarchal society shipped any non-compliant women off to a space penal colony. From what little I've seen, this story has some of those same vibes, satirically looking at how we treat older people along with telling a compelling story. And what I've seen so far of the art looks really great. This should be a lot of fun.

The Vineyard #1 by Brian Hawkins and Sami Kivela, published by AfterShock Comics
One of the oldest stories is that of attaining success, but having to do terrible things in order to gain that success. Having to pay a very dark price. That's the idea with The Vineyard. There's a vineyard that's been very successful for a very long time, and attaining that level of success has not come without sacrifice - human sacrifice! The patriarch of the family has died, and now it falls onto his wife to be in charge of doing what needs to be done in order for the vineyard to continue to be successful. I love the premise, and I'm thrilled to see more comics work from Sami Kivela, who did terrific work on the Aftershock series Undone by Blood. I'm not familiar with Hawkins, but this sounds like a lot of fun so I'm excited to check it out. And rounding out the creative team are colorist Jason Wordie and letterer Taylor Esposito, two comics veterans whose presence bodes well for the book.

Mind MGMT Bootleg #2 by Matt Kindt, Matt Lesniewski, and Bill Crabtree, published by Dark Horse
This is more Mind MGMT from creator Matt Kindt, so it's always going to be an easy sell for me. Mind MGMT is an amazing series about mind control, espionage, propaganda, and so much more (my detailed review here), and I'm thrilled that the series has come back with a new mini. The first issue was illustrated by Farel Dalrymple, and this issue is illustrated by Matt Lesniewski, with colors by Bill Crabtree. Lesniewski is a very talented artist, with a hyper-detailed, visceral, raw style that effectively conveys action and violence (and is in the school of Geoff Darrow, Frank Quitely, Rafael Grampa et al.).

That Texas Blood #16 by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips, published by Image Comics
That Texas Blood really is one of the very best books on the stands right now. This is an amazing series of stories about a small town in rural Texas, and the Sheriff of that town, and some of the cases he's had to deal with over the years. The first arc took place in present day. The second one took place 40 years earlier (circa 1982), and this current one takes place in the 90's. The current arc involves a grisly series of murders that have come to town, and our Sheriff must take on the most gruesome case yet. These re rich, wonderfully written stories that really tell a specific story about a specific place. Condon has a great handle on dialogue and narration. Thankfully he's got an incredible partner in artist Jacob Phillips, who has started off strong and just keeps getting better. Terrific art that never fails to capture the emotion and humanity of all of the characters.


Setting the stage for Survival Street are a handful of delinquent puppets living among and causing a ruckus in a deregulated America turned upside down as corporations and wealthy businessman pretty much make their own rules. Literally. I’ve seen the debut issue of this fast-moving action social satire folks, and I never knew until now that what I needed were just a handful of Grover stand-ins to take the lead and make some overzealous patriots uncomfortable. This miniseries from Dark Horse is sure to catch some side-eye and I hope it does a bit more than just that because the absurd premise of its story has made me more than just a tad interested. Come for the idiocy and stay for the phenomenal art from newcomer Abylay Kussainov. And with that note, after reading Survival Street I’m hoping to see more sequential work from this upcoming Kazakhstan talent.
What’s not to love about this book! It has a cinematic level of horror charm not many in the genre can do with a comic. Martin Morazzo and W. Maxwell Prince paired with Chris O’Halloran on colors is about as close to a three pitch KO one could ask for if a comic were a series of pitches in the bottom of the third inning. What’s that? Why the top of the third, you ask? Oh, that’s just because I’m hoping this series keeps telling these slice-of-life horror vignettes until the bleachers get cold. This week, the first collected volume in hardcover will be available and it collects the first twelve issues of this modern classic. Get one. Mine’s on its way.