James' Picks for February 1, 2023

Here are some comics I'm excited about this week.

Almighty #1 by Edward LaRoche and Brad Simpson, published by Image Comics

I'm excited to pick this one up. I was a big fan of The Warning, the prior comic from Edward LaRoche (also with excellent colors from Brad Simpson). LaRoche has a really great sense of place and pacing as a storyteller, and it looks like that continues in this new comic. Almighty is set in a third-world America where things have really gone to hell (yes, even more than now), and it's a story of a woman on the run, her unlikely savior, and the gang trying to catch her. So far it looks very intriguing, and it looks like LaRoche has changed up his art style some for this comic. His people have a somewhat more "cartoony" exaggerated look to them, and the linework has a more "analog" feel to it, which really suits the post-societal-collapse vibe of the story very well. Simpson's colors are still great, looking very atmospheric. This is shaping up to be a fun read.  

Briar #3 by Christopher Cantwell, German Garcia, and Matheus Lopes, published by Boom! Studios

I've really enjoyed the first few issues of Briar. It's a spin on the Sleeping Beauty story, where there's no princess that wakes up the sleeping princess, but she does wake up 100 years later and everything is different and terrible and her family and kingdom are all forgotten. It's a clever story from Christopher Cantwell, and an absolutely gorgeous one from the amazing team of German Garcia on line art and Mat Lopes on colors. Garcia has a varied art style throughout the series, and Lopes brings wonderfully imaginative, gorgeous colors throughout. 

Children of the Black Sun #2 by Dario Sicchio and Letizia Cadonici, published by Ablaze Comics

I really enjoyed the first issue of this comic! The first issue was something I picked up kind of on a whim. It's a story of a stellar event that has happened a few times before, where there was a "Black Sun" event where the sun literally turned black, and then it went back to normal. All of the children born on that day all look a particular way, and they've been subjected to cruelty and people ostracizing them. But there's also something slightly off about many of these children. And there's certainly a lot more that's going on than it publicly known. The kids appear to have the ability to do unusual things, and well, I'm assuming this is all going somewhere weird and terrifying.