Comics Comics Comics! Catch It for December 7th

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:

Know Your Station #1 by Sarah Gailey, Liana Kangas, and Rebecca Nalty, published by Boom! Studios

One of the best things about genre (particularly sci-fi) is that while the stories are ostensibly about the distant future, or a parallel universe, they're all actually about right here and right now. The placement of the story into genre sometimes makes it easier or more appealing to take on issues of race or class or other economic inequality. But these genres are also just fun places to read a story. Know Your Station is a clever title, in that the story is about how Earth's wealthiest have all abandoned Earth for a sanctuary in space, but now there is a series of murders taking place on this space station, and a worker on the station is somehow involved in the mystery. The only person on the creative team I really know is Liana Kangas, and I'm happy to read a new story from her. I really enjoyed her artwork in the fantasy story She Said Destroy (and she's done a lot of really cool covers for other books as well). This one seems like a really interesting read.  

Heart Eyes #4 by Dennis Hopeless, Victor Ibanez, Addison Duke, and Simon Bowland, published by Vault Comics

Heart Eyes has been a delightful surprise of a series so far. Monsters have arrived and pretty much destroyed civilization. Anyone who's left lives in heavily fortified locations and in constant fear of death. Well, everyone except for Lupe. She just wanders around, a happy, free spirit. She's not afraid and she really seems completely unworried about the monsters. We follow Lupe through the story, as she meets different people who encounter the different monsters, to whom Lupe may have a connection? This is a fun series with a good sense of wit and humor, but it definitely also has a sense of longing and sadness in it as well. Lupe wants to connect with people, but thus far, that's been difficult. Dennis Hopeless is an excellent writer and one who communicates a lot of heart and humor in his stories. And the art in this series from Victor Ibanez and color artist Addison Duke is really great. It's detailed, has a ton of personality, and really brings the world to life.

All Against All by Alex Paknadel and Caspar Wijngaard, published by Image Comics

I've just seen preview pages for All Against All but it looks wild! It's the distant future and humanity has been wiped out. There is a preserve of some sort where alien conquierors raise up, harvest, and fight various Earth predators (bears, etc.), but it seems like there's still one example left of the most dangerous game...you know, people. Mostly here I trust the creative team. Writer Alex Paknadel has done some great books both at independent publishers and at Marvel & DC (Giga, Immortal Hulk, Friendo) and arist Caspar Wijngaard is a terrific artist whose work I have loved recently on Home Sick Pilots, and before that on Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt. This looks like a very fun read from two terrific creators.
 

Kaya #3 by Wes Craig, Jason Wordie, and Andworld Design, published by Image Comics

Kaya is clearly a passion project for writer-artist Wes Craig. Craig is the supremely talented artist behind Deadly Class. That series is coming to a close, so it's exciting to see him heading on to something new. Particularly a story like this, which seems like a real labor of love and a total departure from Deadly Class. I've read the first few issues of Kaya and it is absolutely wonderful. It is a terrific, all-ages, fantasy adventure series that everyone you know should definitely pick up. a is traveling with her younger brother and they are encountering all sorts of danger, allies, enemies, and adventures. It's fun and action-packed and sweet. Craig is an absolute master at big action and wild storytelling, but he is equally adept at small, intimate moments.