Happy Memorial Day!!

One of my favorite albums of all time is Elephant Shell by Tokyo Police Club. I’ve spun that album about 7,000 times since it came out in 2008 and I’ve yet to get sick of it. Their newest, Champ, just came out and it’s pretty good. It could never live up to Elephant Shell for me, so considering that I think it’s pretty successful. I dunno — can a band ever live up to their one album that dazzled you? I don’t think so, and it’s unfair to expect them to.

So welcome to This Week in Comics, where every day is a comic book and most of them don’t live up to anything.

MONDAY

First Issues

Dust Wars #1 (of 3)

(Christopher “Mink” Morrison/Davide Fabbri/Paolo Parente)

Image Comics

I have no idea what this is, but it’s got a pretty lady and a robot of some sort on the cover. Apparently this Dust thing is an ongoing franchise? Anyway, it’s got World War II feel to it and the art looks good. I’d read this.

TUESDAY

New Manga Day

Library Wars: Love & War Vol. 1

(Kiiro Yumi)

Viz Media

A future where governments ban books and libraries form a military to protect their property. This is the greatest premise I’ve ever heard.

WEDNESDAY

Mainstream Superhero Stuff

Avengers Prime #1 (Of 5)

(Brian Michael Bendis/Alan Davis/Mark Farmer)

Marvel Comics

I know we’ve been laying the Avengers love a bit thick, which I would apologize for except that Avengers and Secret Avengers are really good. Also, I’d feature them less, but then I find out that Alan Davis is drawing an Avengers book and I can’t not talk about it. Because Alan Davis and Mark Farmer are a great art team, so you know Avengers Prime will look good. As for what it’s about, I have no idea. I didn’t bother reading the solicitation copy. But I did notice the word “bi-monthly” in it, which is a shame because I hate waiting.

THURSDAY

Not Quite Friday, but Still Exciting

Serenity: Float Out

(Patton Oswalt/Patric Reynolds)

Dark Horse Comics

Yep, you read that right: alternative comedian/all around awesome guy Patton Oswalt writing a Serenity comic. That gives me all kinds of boners, both as a comedy geek and as a lover of Joss Whedon. To make it even better, it’s exclusively stories about Wash, a.k.a. the best character on the show (besides the rest of them). I’m really excited.

FRIDAY

TGIM(arvel Space Characters, Surprisingly)

Thanos Imperative #1 (of 6)

(Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning/Miguel Angel Sepulveda)

Marvel Comics

Last week I checked out the “Ignition” prequel to Thanos Imperative and loved it. For the past few years Marvel’s been doing stuff with their cosmic characters and I’ve been ignoring because, well, Marvel’s never really made an effort to promote their cosmic characters, so I’ve always favored their earthbound heroes.I love cosmic stuff, so why haven’t I been paying attention? Ignition made me see the error of my ways, so now I can’t wait to read Thanos Imperative.

Also, HOLY SHIT THE SILVER SURFER IS IN IT!!!

SATURDAY

Essential Reading

Final Crisis

(Grant Morrison/J.G. Jones/Carlos Pacheco/Jesus Merino/Doug Mahnke)

DC Comics

Jeez, DC really took a long time to publish this in softcover, huh? Anyway, Final Crisis has the distinction of being one of the few comics I immediately bought in hardcover instead of waiting for soft — the other being League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier. So you know it’s special.

Final Crisis is one of my favorite comics of recent years: an exciting major-scale crossover that’s full of superheroes doing stuff but also has lots of characteristically cosmic ideas from Grant Morrison. I’m not surprised most fans hate it, and I’m also not surprised I love it.

SUNDAY

Last Issues

Existence 3.0 #4 (of 4), $3.50

(Nick Spencer/Ron Salas)

Image Comics

Considering how much I love Nick Spencer’s other series, Forgetless, I really should have checked out his Existence 2.0 and 3.0 miniseries by now. Alas, now it’s over. I hope Image reprints them both in one trade so I can buy it and subsequently love it.

Danny Djeljosevic

Today I found out that Shakira — she of the big booty, funny voice, and nonsensical English lyrics — did a quite rubbish, dance cover of the moody, minimalist “Islands” by The xx but renamed it “Explore.” Now, I have no problem with covers, but goddamn, that song’s less than a year old, and Shakira is much richer than The xx. Can’t she pay some wannabe Bacharach to pen a club hit for her? It’s the same as Rod Stewart covering Tom Waits’ “Downtown Train” four years after the original — that’s not covering, that’s PILLAGING.

So welcome to This Week in Comics, where every day is a comic book and yes I know that record labels pay money to the originators to record cover songs but that doesn’t make it less terrible.

MONDAY

First Issues

Zatanna #1

(Paul Dini/Stephanie Roux/Karl Story)

DC Comics

The Paul Dini “Zatanna” series has been a long time coming. Dini’s clearly got a fetish for her ever since the days of Batman: The Animated Series, and he got to do a one-shot issue for Vertigo which I didn’t really like. But Grant Morrison did a 4-issue Zee miniseries as part of his Seven Soldiers project that was pretty great.

I’m just hoping for a solid superhero fantasy comic here.

TUESDAY

New Manga Day

Saturn Apartments Volume 1

(Hisae Iwaoka)

Viz Media

Didja hear about Viz Media laying off like 40 people? Yikes. You should buy one of their many quality manga to help them out.

Saturn Apartments takes place in a future where people don’t live ON Earth, but live in rings that circle the globe. The protagonist is a young man who takes up his father’s job as a window washer, and thus gets a look at how others live in this space colony thing. It’s slice of life sci-fi — a genre that people don’t explore enough.

WEDNESDAY

Mainstream Superhero Stuff

Avengers #1

(Brian Michael Bendis/John Romita Jr)

Marvel Comics

It would have been career suicide, but it seems like Bendis should have stepped down after the end of Siege, shouldn’t it? His mega-narrative was done, and now with the Heroic Age the Avengers are fighting Kang the Conqueror, which signals a more “classic” kind of Avengers compared to Bendis’ crime comic take on the characters. We’ll see.

THURSDAY

Not Quite Friday, but Still Exciting

Walking Dead #72, $2.99

(Robert Kirkman/Charlie Adlard/Cliff Rathburn)

Image Comics

Last month I checked out the latest Walking Dead on a whim after reading one of the early trades years and years ago because, well, everyone’s gotta start sometime, right? Well, it turns out the book is as good as I remember, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

FRIDAY

TGII(ron Man (still))

Invincible Iron Man #26

(Matt Fraction/Salvador Larroca)

Marvel Comics

Invincible Iron Man #25 really excited me. Even more than the good parts of the new movie did. It was a masterful attempt at catering to every potential reader: people jumping on in the middle of the series, people who are joining in because of the movie, people who have been reading since day one, and — most importantly — people like me, who want MORE out of their superhero comics.

Eventually I’ll overhype myself so much that I will severely backlash against this book. But until then, bang on.

SATURDAY

Essential Reading

X-Men Nation X HC

(Matt Fraction/Greg Land/Terry Dodson/Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa/James Asmus/John Barber/Ivan Brandon/Joe Caramagna/C.B. Cebulski/Becky Cloonan/Tim Fish/Chuck Kim/Corey Lewis/Peter Milligan/Grace Randolph/Scott Snyder/Simon Spurrier/Mike Allred/James Harren/Niko Henrichon/David Lopez/Harvey Talibao/Stephen Thompson/Gabriel Hernandez Walta)

Marvel Comics

Oh, crap. I promised not to go nuts showcasing the creators I like, and what do I do? Profile two Matt Fraction books in one week. Well, get off my back. It’s a slow week. Also, this has people other than Matty Frax working on it because it collects the Nation X anthology miniseries that I dug at times because it had work from creators I love — and I certainly didn’t want to buy the trade of Nation X, so this included with nine Fraction-penned issues of X-Men issues sounds like a winner. Plus, it’ll make the world of Utopia look more like a community with all the side stories. All for 35 bucks!

…I’ll probably still wait for the softcover.

SUNDAY

Last Issues

Devil #4 (of 4)

(Torajiro Kishi/Madhouse Studios)

Dark Horse Comics

For those of you who don’t know, Devil is an original Western-style manga by a manga-ka of some note and an animation studio of great note. The first issue was derivative, but it was fun enough. I lost track, so I don’t know if it improved. But it’s over. Maybe I’ll catch up.

Danny Djeljosevic

Saturday night I saw Everybody Was in the French Resistance… Now at The Casbah in San Diego and it was wonderful. The band is a side project for Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos and Dyan Valdes of The Blood Arm where the two respond to pop songs. For example, they’ve written a hilarious response to Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean” in the form of “Billy’s Genes,” told from the prospective of the illegitimate son in question. Or how about “G.I.R.L.F.R.E.N.,” a response to Avril Lavigne’s kind of mean “Girlfriend”? Yes, we all need this in our lives.

So welcome to This Week in Comics, where every day is a comic book and you can listen to some French Resistance tracks here: http://www.myspace.com/fixingthecharts

MONDAY

First Issues

Garrison #1 of 6

(Jeff Mariotte/Franchesco Francavilla)

Wildstorm/DC Comics

We as a society don’t pay enough attention to Wildstorm’s non-Wildstorm Universe titles. Have you heard of Sparta USA? Because I only heard of it when through compiling titles for this column. We gotta do better, people.

Garrison, about a federal agent’s hunt for the eponymous man in what sounds like an Orwellian future, sounds like a fun espionage book that will inevitably get made into a poor movie. We’ll see.

TUESDAY

Too Tired to Search for Manga, Switching to Ben Templesmiths

Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse Volume 2: It Only Hurts When I Pee

(Ben Templesmith)

IDW Publishing

Believe me when I say I didn’t JUST choose this for the title. I chose Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse Volume 2 because Ben Templesmith is a wonderful creator and clearly an ill man. Having never read Wormwood, I cannot tell you how sick it is. However, I know it features leprechauns something called “Squidmen.” Sold!

WEDNESDAY

Mainstream Superhero Stuff

Ultimate Comics Avengers 2 #1

(Mark Millar/Leinil Francis Yu)

Marvel Comics

Here’s how I know that the tides have changed for superhero comics: I thought the first Ultimate Comics Avengers was boring, mundane and read like an illustrated movie pitch as Mark Millar books (as interesting as they are) often do nowadays. The movies have started to resemble The Ultimates, which was the initial point of The Ultimates (a Hollywood portrayal of The Avengers), so what is the point of this now? Methinks the franchise needs a drastic reinvention.

THURSDAY

Not Quite Friday, but Still Exciting

Gigantic

(Rick Remender/Eric Nguyen/Matthew Wilson)

Dark Horse Comics

Rick Remender is a crazy man. I know this because he made Frank Castle a Frankenstein and he made it work where, in the hands of a lesser writer, it would have just been stupid instead of awesome.

Gigantic, as you know because you read this column and I assume you have taste because I respect you, is about giant robots and aliens and satirizing television and consumer culture. It is, as you might guess, crazy.

FRIDAY

TGI(ron Man)

Invincible Iron Man #25

(Matt Fraction/Salvador Larroca)

Marvel Comics

If you have a friend who likes the Iron Man movies, make him or her read Matt Fraction’s run of Invincible Iron Man, because it is seriously the best superhero comic on the shelves. This one starts off a new story arc: “Resilient,” which follows the conclusion of “Stark: Disassembled” with a new status quo and whatnot. It’s gonna be guuuuud.

SATURDAY

Essential Reading

JLA: Deluxe Edition Volume 3 hardcover

(Grant Morrison/Howard Porter/John Dell/Mark Pajarillo/Walden Wong)

DC Comics

Grant Morrison’s run on JLA is not only the run that made Morrison a comics superstar (and made the franchise a bestseller for the first time in years), but a pillar comic of my formative years. Morrison’s writing was tight and full of beautifully cosmic ideas with busy, wild pencils by Howard Porter that border on bizarrely Kirbyesque. It is, for my money, the last great run of the Justice League franchise, and none of Morrison’s successors have ever been able to stack up to it. (Honorable mentions to Mark Waid and Joe Kelly).

This penultimate volume collects some particularly good stories of Morrison’s run, including a surprising appearance by Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and an epic JLA/JSA team-up in the form of “Crisis Times Five.” I bought every issue of Morrison’s run as it came out, bought a few trades, and now I’m going to buy the hardcover.

SUNDAY

I didn’t pay attention to last issues, so here’s an indie book.

Native Drums #2

(Vince Riley/Chuck Paschall)

IndyPlanet

Searching through some of Indyplanet’s releases this week, I found some seriously horrifying comics that were put together by either children or mental patients. Good for them for putting their work out there. It’s admirable that their parents and handlers nurture their creativity like that.

Native Drums takes place in a future where the wealthy live in space and send “Agents” to Earth (which, as you might expect, is in shambles) to retrieve necessary resources. The art is expressive and fantastic and the writing shows a bit of wit. I imagine the creators will gain some heat if their books are as good as the preview pages suggest.

You can buy Native Drums at IndyPlanet: http://www.indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3573

Danny Djeljosevic

This week I seem to be out to prove that I’m not a pessimist, because I’m picking things that I actually want to read. In fact, I don’t make fun of a single book this week. What the hell is wrong with me?

Don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong with me. Comics just happen to be delightful this week.

Welcome to This Week in Comics, where every day is a comic book, and some weeks, as you’ll find out, are more promising than others.

MONDAY

First Issues. You really should have seen this one coming.

Joe The Barbarian #1 (of
(Grant Morrison/Sean Murphy)
Vertigo/DC Comics

It’s a good thing Grant Morrison treats his superhero comics as serious business or the infrequency of his creator-owned stuff would frustrate. The plot to Joe the Barbarian sounds a bit like a kids’ version of Flex Mentallo: instead of an ODing rock star possibly imagining his comic books are real, it’s a diabetic, insulin-deprived kid who may or may not be visiting a world where all his toys live that he must save from dark forces. While the premise sounds a bit rote, this is Moz we’re talking about.

Also, it’s only $1.00.

TUESDAY

New manga comes out on Tuesday, new comics Wednesday. Clearly they’re two completely different mediums.

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka Volume 7
(Naoki Urasawa/Takashi Nagasaki)
Viz Entertainment

Here’s the rule, Internet: if there’s a Naoki Urasawa book or a new printing of Osamu Tezuka material, then it’ll probably show up here this week. Pluto covers both, so here we go. To get you up to speed, Pluto is Naoki Urasawa’s (with co-plotter Takashi Nagasaki) reinterpretation of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy story arc “The Greatest Robot on Earth” as a murder mystery. I haven’t been keeping up with Pluto, but I read the first few chapters of Volume 1 and they were fantastic. Especially good is when Gesicht has to tell an emotionless robot that her husband has been killed.

P.S. The newest volume of Tezuka’s Black Jack comes out this week, too.

WEDNESDAY

Mainstream superhero stuff, because that can be good, too

Superman/Batman #68
(Joe Casey/Ardian Syaf/Vicente Cifuentes)
DC Comics

Joe Casey had a good early-to-mid ‘00s, writing subversive stuff into high-profile books like Uncanny X-Men and The Adventures of Superman (both of which were unfairly reviled) as well as doing even more subversive work in stuff like Automatic Kafka, The Intimates, and Wildcats Version 3.0. For the rest of the decade he’s been freelancing on various minis for Marvel while working on his creator-owned Gødland, a Jack Kirby-inspired book that’s just looking to endear itself with me. Now 2010 brings a gig writing the ongoing Superman/Batman. Last time he wrote Superman he tried to make him a pacifist, so we’ll see if he continues to explore that. I’m guessing no, but a guy can dream.

THURSDAY

Not Quite Friday, but Still Exciting (for me, at least)

Glamourpuss #11
(Dave Sim)
Aardvark Vanaheim

Y’know what intrigues me? Follow-ups, especially (in comics) those from the indie guys who worked on their projects for YEARS. Eastman and Laird are known for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but little else as far as comic books. Ditto Stan Sakai, who has done Usagi Yojimbo for the past 50 years, or some of the ‘90s Image guys (McFarlane with Spawn, Erik Larsen with Savage Dragon). What if Los Bros Hernandez suddenly stopped doing Love & Rockets and moved on to a new mega-narrative?

Take Dave Sim, who spent 27 years creating Cerebus before moving on to Glamourpuss, which is part fashion magazine satire, part survey of photorealism in comics history, part superhero comic (seriously). Cerebus, by comparison, was about a talking aardvark*.

*Look, I know it’s more complicated than that, but I took a bit of artistic license for the sake of a joke — what do you care, anyway? You don’t read Cerebus.

FRIDAY

TGIBone

RASL #6
(Jeff Smith)
Cartoon Books

See? There’s a reason I didn’t mention Jeff Smith in the previous blurb. I was saving him for his own little section. Jeff Smith spent years doing the wonderful Bone which you can buy in an incredibly thick but affordable one-volume edition. While Bone was a fantasy epic with three cartoon characters (the Bones) as the main protagonists, RASL is a sci-fi noir about an interdimensional art thief. Now THAT is how you do a follow-up.

SATURDAY

Essential Reading

Young Liars Volume 3: Rock Life
(David Lapham)
Vertigo/DC Comics

For a while David Lapham was going to be one of those guys, too. He’s best known for the indie crime book Stray Bullets but has since been scoring mainstream work doing books for DC and Marvel. It’s worth the sacrifice, as it’s afforded him the opportunity to do Young Liars, a brilliant Vertigo book about how the coolest people have completely invented themselves and about how you must protect yourself from the Spiders from Mars (the space-arachnids, not the band). This is the final volume because Vertigo had to cancel the thing after 18 issues when nobody read it, which I take as undeniable proof that people are inherently evil.

SUNDAY

Last Issues

Rapture #6 (of 6)
(Michael Avon Oeming/Taki Soma)
Dark Horse Comics

I love when artists work on their own thing whilst working with writers. It’s like watching a good solo act. Bá and Moon do Casanova, but they also do Daytripper. Ditto Cameron Stewart, who works with Grant Morrison but also does the webcomic Sin Titulo. David Mazzuchelli, artist with Frank Miller on “Born Again” and “Year One,” has got Asterios Polyp, which you’ve heard of if you’ve read any 2009 list of best anything.

Which brings me to Michael Avon Oeming, who people might know best as the artist on Brian Michael Bendis’ Powers. His comic Rapture (with wife Taki Soma) is about humanity dealing with the aftermath of all the superheroes and supervillains disappearing from the face of the Earth, which sounds great because I love high-concept takes on superheroes like that that can’t be done at Marvel or DC. Stuff like Irredeemable and The End League.

Happy New Year, Internet, and welcome to the first 2010 edition of This Week in Comics, where every day is a comic book, but you can’t read them with the corresponding days because they all come out on Wednesday. Oops. To remind you what each day means, I’ve thrown in several subtitles for each day. Because I love you.

Since I ended last year’s edition with a quick “best of the year” list, I feel like I could make some wild prognostications about comics this year.

Dark Horse Comics will continue to live up to its name by publishing proper good comics that I like. This will prove doubly true if The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys comes out this year.

Ditto Image Comics, especially if Casanova returns this year.

With the conclusion of “Siege,” the Marvel Comics universe will see an end to “Dark Reign” and a return to a traditional status quo after the last several years of Bush-era pessimism. In lieu of constant tie-in books, Marvel Comics will be printed with an ink containing a highly addictive drug absorbed through the skin. In this sense, “Dark Reign” won’t end, but simply change forms.

In the next DC Comics crossover, probably written by Geoff Johns, Wonder Woman will get raped by Darkseid to show that the dark god of the planet Apokalips is truly as evil as we think. While the pundits and bloggers will decry this offensive attempt by DC to seem “darker” and more “adult,” the crossover will outsell even “Blackest Night” due to each issue’s inclusion of a small packet of chewable vitamins in the shape of all your favorite DC Comics rape scenes.

This year we may see Geoff Johns really put off his fan-base, and not because of all the rape.

By sheer amount of output alone, it’s inevitable that BOOM! Studios will release a comic book I unabashedly love instead of just really enjoy. This might happen in 2010. I’m not sure.

MONDAY – First Issues, New Beginnings, This Week Might Not Suck After All If Monday’s Any Indication

The Muppet Show Comic Book #1

(Roger Langridge)

BOOM! Studios

Huzzah! The Muppet Show comic proper is back with a new number one, wherein Roger Langridge remains faithful to the sketch comedy format of The Muppet Show while drawing the characters in his distinct style instead of attempting to draw the characters as they appear in real life. It’s a surprising dost of artistic license that I wish more licensed comics would take. Also, I wish more licensed comic books had Muppets. Are you listening, IDW and Dark Horse?

Hint: I grew up with Archie’s Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, which developed its own continuity independent of both the cartoon and the original Mirage Studios comics.

TUESDAY – New Manga Day, Which is Always On Tuesday, Also Sometimes I Choose Two Manga Effectively Making it “Twosday”

Yakitate!! Japan Volume 21

(Takashi Hashiguchi)

Viz Media

Cooking manga! I would buy every cooking manga there is if I had lots of disposable income. Until then, I’ll have to live with reading about them and imagining what could be. Yakitate!! Japan is about a 16-year-old boy who has superhuman baking skills and seeks to put Japan on the map when it comes to bread baking. That sounds delicious. I want to eat this comic. To me, food manga is porn.

AND

Switch Volume 12

(Otoh Saki/Tomomi Nakamura)

Viz Media

Here’s a manga that isn’t about weird transformations, robots, or demon punching. It’s a cop comic about a pair of youthful looking newbie detectives (one of whom has a “violent alter ego”) tracking a drug called Dragon Speed. Dragon Speed! My god.

WEDNESDAY- New Comic Day in the US, Mainstream Superhero Stuff, Middle of the Week

Invincible Iron Man #22

(Matt Fraction/Salvador Larocca)

Marvel Comics

Look, I try not to repeat myself, but this is a slow week. So I’m going to gush about Invincible Iron man and you can’t stop me. Because I’m wrote this in the past and you spacemen are reading it in the future. So suck it, hypothetical descendants.

Invincible Iron Man is better than superhero comics deserve to be in an age where the most popular comics are about the intersection of zombies and rape. What’s even more pleasing is that people are paying attention and reading this book.

Now watch as this issue severely disappoints.

THURSDAY – Not Quite Friday but Still Exciting, Must See Thursdays

Daytripper #2 (of 10)

(Gabriel Bá/Fábio Moon)

Vertigo/DC Comics

How good way Daytripper #1? What? You didn’t read it? Well, you missed the set-up for the whole series, plus some great art from those twins whose names force me to make extra keystrokes to include the accent marks (I live a hard life).

I’ve already made space on my shelf for the trade.

FRIDAY – TGIDinosaurs (still)

Age Of Reptiles: The Journey #2 (of 4)

(Ricardo Delgado)

Dark Horse Comics

Zombies and cowboys are surely tired trends by now. When will dinosaurs be the Big Awesome Thing in comics? When we will have a Devil Dinosaur revival and a DC Comics crossover where Dr. Light rapes a triceratops?

It’s a beautiful, meticulously drawn comic book about dinosaurs doing dinosaur stuff. It has no words, just great art. And this issue has prehistoric alligators in it.

You know you want it.

SATURDAY – Essential Reading, Long Lazy Afternoons, Cleaning the Gutters

Lola: A Ghost Story

(J. Torres/Elbert Or)

Oni Press

Here’s Oni Press’ book description:

“Jesse sees dead people, monsters, demons, and lots of other things that go bump in the night that no one else can see. No one except his ailing grandmother — a woman who used her visions to help those living in her small town. The same rural community in all the scary stories Jesse’s heard as a child. Man-eating ogres in trees. Farmhouses haunted by wraiths. Even pigs possessed by the devil. Upon his grandmother’s passing, Jesse has no choice but to face his demons and whatever else might be awaiting him at grandma’s house.”

Seems like it has cool art and pathos and junk. Oni Press is good for stuff like that.

SUNDAY – Last Issues, Oh Sh!t Tomorrow’s Monday

Absolution #6 (of 6)

(Christos Gage/Roberto Viacava)

Avatar Press

Absolution’s ending already? Granted, I haven’t been keeping up, but that was quick. It seems like only yesterday I was at Comic-Con 2009, pointing out my favorite bits of gore from Issue #0 to the disinterested guy at the Avatar Press booth. How time flies!In all seriousness, Absolution is a good companion to those Warren Ellis “Maybe superheroes aren’t such a good idea” books that Avatar publishes. It’s probably not nearly as twisted as No Hero, but it promises lots of ultra-violence.

Whoops. Last week I forgot to write an introduction so I ended up leaving in something I wrote for the first column.

Now here’s a totally interesting peek at what goes on behind the scenes:

If you pay close attention to Wednesday’s blurb, you’ll notice it was written through gritted teeth, as I wrote this whole thing about Nation X #1 thinking it was that upcoming Ultimate X-Men book. Turned out it was just some short stories about some X-People dealing with the fact that they live on an island off the coast of San Francisco. Maybe what I wrote will surface when Ultimate X comes out next year provided that site founder Monkey T. Tossford doesn’t fire me before then. In which case I’ll spite them by landing a gig at CBR.

Erm, just kidding, guys.

MONDAY – First Issues

Daytripper #1 (of 10)

(Gabriel Bá/Fábio Moon)

Vertigo/DC Comics

This should come as no shock that I go ga-ga over Bá and Moon. I love nearly everything I’ve read of theirs (it helps that they’re written by people like Gerard Way and Matt Fraction), but my exposure to their solo stuff is limited. I do, however have a copy of Pixu somewhere around here that I’ve yet to crack open.

With Daytripper, the brothers tell a quieter story about an obituary writer stuck in his father’s shadow. Apparently there’s a major twist at the end of the first issue. I have no idea what to expect, which bring me to this: Isn’t it more fun to experience non-genre work? I know what to expect out of Uncanny X-Men to a certain extent, but opening up something that doesn’t have a superhero on the cover could be anything. It’s like watching a Coen Brothers movie versus watching Iron Man 2.

I usually trade-wait for Vertigo books, but I feel like I need to buy Daytripper in single issue form for it to survive. It wouldn’t be the first miniseries that DC Comics cancelled before the damn thing ended (that would be the infamous Sonic Disruptors). Let’s all band together and make sure this gets a lot of money.

TUESDAY – New Manga Day

Detroit Metal City Vol. 3

(Kiminori Wakasugi)

Viz Media

If the name weren’t awesome enough, here’s the premise of Detroit Metal City: a nice boy named Soichi who likes fashion and Swedish pop music is also the front man for the eponymous death metal band. His stage name? Krauser II. Let’s be real here, Internet: we need more music manga. Hell, we need more music COMICS.

My favorite thing about Detroit Metal City is that Viz Media doesn’t even provide any plot descriptions after the first volume. Here is the ad copy for Volume 3: “Death metal screams the despair of dying heathens! What the hell kind of song would you sing?!”

SOLD.

WEDNESDAY – Mainstream Superhero Stuff

Invincible Iron Man #21

(Matt Fraction/Salvador Larocca)

Marvel Comics

Internet: I swear I won’t turn this into a weekly Matt Fraction lovefest. I’ve done pretty well at making this column not turn into a weekly Grant Morrison lovefest, haven’t I? If I had my way, I’d be telling you people to read Kill Your Boyfriend and a volume of The Invisibles every day. And my mancrush on Fraction exceeds my ongoing Morriwhoredom. Like Usher says, I got it bad.

That said, Invincible Iron Man is the Truth. The Eisner-winning series has been consistently great since it debuted as part of Marvel’s movie release synergy a couple years ago, but it got really, really, good with #20, the first part of “Stark: Disassembled,” wherein Tony Stark is in a persistent vegetative state and his buddies try to reboot his brain. It’s powerful, exciting stuff, and reads like a mainstream Casanova.

THURSDAY – Not Quite Friday, but Still Exciting

God Complex #1

(Michael Avon Oeming)

Image Comics

Here is the pitch for God Complex: this seemingly normal guy Paul is actually the Greek god Apollo, who is avoiding his family for some reason. As you might expect if you’re familiar with Greek myths, this pisses off said family, so they come after him.

That superhero fiction defensively and pretentiously gets referred to as modern takes on Greek myths makes me think/hope that God Complex is some kind of Merry Marvel version of Greek myth, except because it’s Image Comics I hope it has what Greek myths have but Marvel Comics often lacks: constant backstabbing and fucking.

FRIDAY – TGIS(till Like You, Alan)

Dodgem Logic #1

(Alan Moore/Others)

Knockabout Comics

Dodgem Logic isn’t quite a comic book–it’s more of a fanzine affair–but it’s got comic book elements and it’s written by Alan Moore, so it counts as far as I’m concerned.

In recent years, I’ve talked a lot of shit about Alan Moore. Which is because he’s an old hippie who continues to act a victim, makes broad generalizations about the comics industry, and so much wants to remove himself from American comics that I think he’d only be happy if Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and Marvelman were never made. If he continues to complain to every interviewer that comes his way, I’d be happy if he actually got his wishes. And I LIKE his work, dammit.

That said, his actual work remains brilliant. Did you read League of Extraordinary Gentleman: 1910? He made it a goddamn Brechtian musical! In comic book form! Fantastic. I’m going to buy Dodgem Logic on principle.

SATURDAY – Essential Reading

Crossing the Empty Quarter and Other Stories HC

(Carol Swain)

Dark Horse Comics

Do me a favor, Internet: go to a comic shop and pick up something that could potentially interest you, provided it’s written by someone you’ve never heard of. I guess it’s a bit of a misnomer to call it a favor since I’m not going to do anything for you in return. You won’t mind if you pick up something you like, right?

Maybe something by Carol Swain?

Carol Swain is a British comicker–one of those comickers who you probably haven’t heard of because, while she’s got a few longer works (Foodboy, Invasion of the Mind Sappers, Giraffes in My Hair: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Life with Bruce Paley), she mostly contributes short stories to anthologies. Now Dark Horse has collected 30 or so short stories in one lovely hardcover so you have no excuse.

SUNDAY – Last Issues

Citizen Rex #6 (of 6)

(Mario Hernandez/Gilbert Hernandez)

Dark Horse Comics

Many older indie creators are often famous for one long-running series–Jeff Smith has Bone, Dave Sim has Cerebus, the Hernandez Brothers have Love & Rockets–so it intrigues me when they either finally move on to a new project or do parallel stuff. It seems like of the three brothers Hernandez (including Jaime), Gilbert’s done the most parallel comic book work, having done a few things for Dark Horse and Vertigo. I’m slowly collecting single issues of Gilbert’s Grip: The Strange World of Men miniseries as I find them.

Here’s how much I suck: I haven’t been keeping up with Citizen Rex nor have I read very much Love & Rockets. This will change, but here’s a list of words that should compel you to read Citizen Rex: sci-fi epic, robot celebrities, mob intrigue, Hernandez Brothers.

 Comic books. They’re lovely, aren’t they? The interaction of words and pictures, the way they’re considered sub-literate so reading them is borderline rebellious.

Welcome to This Week in Comics, where every day is a comic book. And only some days are sh*tty.

MONDAY – First Issues

Nola #1

(Chris Gorak/Pierluigi Cothran/Damian Couceiro)

BOOM! Studios

 I read Nola last week and it has the potential to be pretty awesome–a pulpy revenge tale set in post-Katrina New Orleans. If it stops being as decompressed as the first issue and really amps up the revenging upon The Man, then I’ll declare it Comic of the Year. Unless I remember other things I loved more.

TUESDAY – New Manga Day

Oishinbo Volume 6: The Joy Of Rice/Black Jack Volume 8

(Tetsu Kariya/Akira Hanasaki)(Osamu Tezuka)

Viz Entertainment/Vertical

Cooking manga! Why do you appeal to me so? If I had more money I’d buy every volume of Oishinbo as it comes out. Especially this new volume, which is about one of my favorite foods: rice. Stop looking at me like that.

Originally, I was going to cover the new volume of Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, but it turns out an actual Tezuka book is coming out this week (sorry Naoki). Black Jack, research tells me, is a superhumanly talented “medical mercenary” who accomplishes amazing feats of surgery for the highest bidder. If House is a medical mystery, then Black Jack is a medical thriller.

WEDNESDAY – Mainstream Superhero Stuff

The Authority: The Lost Year #3 (Of 12)/The Flash: Rebirth #5 (of 6)

(Keith Giffen/Darick Robkertson/Trevor Scott)/(Geoff Johns/Ethan Van Sciver)

Wildstorm/DC Comics

The theme for superhero books this week is “things we totally forgot about. Grant Morrison and Gene Ha did two pretty good issues of The Authority and gave up after reading the reviews. Keith Giffen and Darick Robertson came in to pick up the slack and now the rest of the series is finally coming out. Three years later. Maybe Wildstorm can hire J.M. Dematteis and Rags Morales to finish up the contemporaneous Grant Morrison/Jim Lee WildC.A.T.S. series that didn’t get past the first issue.

Now for Flash: Rebirth, which was overshadowed by that Blackest Night crossover. Yes, Internet: a Geoff Johns event book managed to overshadow another Geoff Johns event book. That’s what bad timing looks like. How will the quality compare? I dunno. I hated the previous issues of Flash: Rebirth.

THURSDAY - Not Quite Friday, but Still Exciting

Dr. Horrible (one-shot)

(Zack Whedon/Joëlle Jones)

Dark Horse Comics

Who doesn’t love Dr. Horrible? The internet series had geek hero Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris, who continues to subvert any expectation we ever had of him. The music is great, the ending is heartbreaking, and it’s all incredibly funny. Now there’s a comic and Joss Whedon’s brother is writing it. And dig that ultra-exaggerated Fillion on the cover. This one’s a keeper.

FRIDAY – TGICNV 

Cowboy Ninja Viking #2

(AJ Lieverman/Riley Rossmo)

Image Comics

I LOVED the first issue of Cowboy Ninja Viking. It delivers on its ridiculously self-aware premise and has a fine amount of violence and a final page reveal that had me giggling. Hopefully the second issue won’t disappoint. Even if it does, I still have the wonderment of Issue 1 to calm me down.

SATURDAY – Afternoon Reading

Runaways: Homeschooling (hardcover)

(Kathryn Immonen/Sara Pichelli)

Marvel Comics

Oh, Runaways, how you had diminished since Brian K. Vaughan left you. All the tension and surprise that defined you seemed to disappear when Joss Whedon and Terry Moore came in to handle you–which is surprising because both of them are incredibly talented creators. Still, something was missing, and it seemed like Kathryn Immonen was set to revitalize the book, but then it got put on hiatus, presumably coming back in time for the movie. At least you can read the hardcover of the last run of Runaways and see what could have been, or what might continue to be in a year or so.

SUNDAY – Last Issues

Dominic Fortune #4 (of 4)

(Howard Chaykin)

MAX/Marvel Comics

My life also needs more Howard Chaykin in it. So does yours. Just look at it. He’s got a swanky costume and he’s aiming a pistol on every cover. This is a comic I need to catch up on. I’ll have to save up for those American Flagg! Collections, too. You should follow suit.

You know what they say: a comic a day keeps you from being charged for things like arson, indecent exposure, and public urination. Well, nobody says that. I say that. Because it’s my column.

Welcome to This Week in Comics, where every day is a comic book.

MONDAY – First Issues

Supergod #1 (of 5)

(Warren Ellis/Garrie Gastony)

Avatar Press

Supergod is the third installment (with Black Summer and No Hero) of Warren Ellis’ superhero trilogy for Avatar Press. You know what this means: the promise of fucked-up imagery, great ideas, twists, turns, shocks — all rendered in Warren Ellis’ trademark drunken cynical style. This is what happens when you take someone who has no interest in superheroes and subject him to a decade of for-hire superhero work. He’s earned your fandom, and now he will punish you for it.

Fun fact: As a teenager I drew a two-page comic of a superhero being crucified. Warren Ellis stole my idea, but I’m not going to complain because he scares me.

TUESDAY – New Manga Day

Cat Paradise Volume 2/Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit Volume 3

(Yuji Iwahara)/(Motoro Mase)

Yen Press/Viz Media

Cat Paradise has too strange a premise not to feature this week. It’s about a school dorm where kids are allowed to bring their cats, thus creating the titular paradise. Conflict arises, however, when a demonic cat starts stirring up trouble. We can only hope that Iwahara puts equal important on keeping the dorm from smelling.

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit is much darker and probably features less cats. Reminiscent of Battle Royale and Logan’s Run, Ikigami depicts a world where people are chosen at random to die and given 24 hours’ notice to keep them motivated and stress the importance of life. Doesn’t sound as fun as forcing school kids to murder one another, but it’s just as dystopic.

WEDNESDAY – Mainstream Superhero Stuff

Batman/Doc Savage Special

(Brian Azzarello/Phil Noto)

DC Comics

To inaugurate DC Comics’ new line of pulp-inspired superhero books, we’re getting a crossover wherein Batman meets Doc Savage, who I assume most readers don’t really care about. However, the idea of a dual .45-toting Batman excites me mostly because I think it’ll infuriate Batman purists. I was the only fan of Brian Azzarello’s “Broken City” Batman arc from a few years ago, so I’m glad to see him return to the character in an unconventional fashion. Crime! Shooting! These are the themes of most of the books I’m covering this week.

THURSDAY – Not Quite Friday, but Still Exciting

Modern Warfare 2 #1 (of 6)

(David Lapham/Kevin West)

Wildstorm/DC Comics

Okay, I know I made fun of licensed comics in our last video segment, but really, I was just mocking Galactica 1980.

Modern Warfare 2 intrigues me for reasons completely unrelated to the video game. I liked the first game, but it lost lost me when it stopped being about Modern Warfare and just became a big James Bond movie complete with a shootout at the villain’s lair. Anyway, I’m curious about the comic because it’s written by David Lapham, of Stray Bullets and the recently-cancelled/always-brilliant Young Liars. His work tends to be harsh, so I’m curious how he handles a war comic.

FRIDAY – TGIV(iolence)

Punisher MAX #1 (Dave Johnson Regular Cover)

(Jason Aaron/Steve Dillon)

Marvel Comics/Marvel MAX

Jason Aaron, the mastermind behind Vertigo’s Scalped, proved his ability to write the Punisher with last year’s wonderful X-Mas Special, which was mean and unrelenting as only the best Punisher comics can be. Paired with Garth Ennis collaborator Steve Dillon, it’s obvious that Marvel’s hoping to recapture the vigor of the definitive Ennis/Dillon run. I have a feeling that, for Aaron, Wolverine: Weapon X was just practice for this book.

SATURDAY – Spend the Afternoon Reading a Graphic Novel (or two)

Insomnia Cafe/Luna Park

(M.K. Perker)/(Kevin Baker/Danijel Zezelj)

Dark Horse Comics/Vertigo/DC Comics

Yeah, I can cover two graphic novels if I want.

Insomnia Cafe is the solo record of Air artist M.K. Perker, about a rare book expert and a place called the Archives, which holds complete versions of books that aren’t yet finished. It seems like with Insomnia Cafe Perker is drawing with a style distinct from his work with G. Willow Wilson. The book does, however, seem as weird as Air, which is exciting.

Luna Park attracted me because of Danijel Zezelj’s name on the cover–Zezelj being the underrated Croatian artist who does loads of graphic novels I’ve yet to read as well as slightly more mainstream stuff like the last two issues that ever came out of Warren Ellis’ unfinished Desolation Jones (oh, I’ve gone and depressed myself). The story itself sounds epic: the tale of a Russian immigrant who becomes a mob enforcer in Brooklyn that somehow involves a look at New York City in the 1910s.

SUNDAY – Last Issues

BPRD 1947 #5 (Of 5)

(Mike Mignola/Joshua Dysart/Gabriel Bá/Fábio Moon)

Dark Horse Comics

I never got into Hellboy like everyone else (loved the movies though), but this BPRD miniseries is great. Issue #4 heaped on the pathos and made me feel for a character that I didn’t really care for in previous issues, and the series is leading up to a potentially great conclusion. Even if it’s a downer, though, it will still be drawn by Bá and Moon, which is reason enough for me to read this book.

Cowboy Ninja Viking #1

(AJ Lieberman/Riley Rossmo)

Image Comics

We’ve got Northlanders, Viking, and now Cowboy Ninja Viking. Let’s be careful lest we play out vikings the same way we played out zombies and cowboys. Ninjas, however, are an eternal constant that will never go away. Regardless, Cowboy Ninja Viking has such an unpretentious, blunt title that it sounds like it could be fun.

Sugarshock One-Shot

(Joss Whedon/Fábio Moon)

Dark Horse Comics

There’s nothing to dislike about Sugarshock. All you needed to tell me is that Fábio Moon is drawing a comic and I’ll buy it on principle. You don’t even have to tell me that the lovable Joss Whedon wrote it or that it’s about a band with a robot bass player. But knowing that I’m REALLY going to buy it.

Five Fists Of Science (New Printing)

(Matt Fraction/Steven Saunders)

Image Comics

It’s not often that I get to feature a Matt Fraction comic considering most of his work nowadays is for big-name Marvel Comics. So, until Casanova comes back (and you better believe when that happens every installment of The Week in Comics will drop it), I’m going to feature a reprint of something he did back before he was a big name talent. Five Fists of Science follows the bitter rivalry between way-before-his-time-genius Nikola Tesla and lightbulb-inventing jackass Thomas Edison… except this time it involves robots and stuff. Trust me, you need this comic book in your life.

Scalped Volume 5: High Lonesome

(Jason Aaron/RM Guera)

Vertigo/DC Comics

Scalped: how sweet it is. Jason Aaron’s a meaaaaan crime writer (you should get excited for his Punisher run if his Christmas special was any indication) and I hear RM Guera pours actual grit into the art. And it’s set at a place few stories dare to go, featuring a subculture that nobody really talks about: an Indian reservation.

Chew #5

(John Layman)

Image Comics

I can’t help it, Internet: I have to champion books I like every time there’s a new one out. I’ve been doing it for Air, Scalped, and now Chew. To convince you to buy this book, I repeat the premise: it’s about a cop who eats people to gain their memories. He’s enlisted by the FDA to investigate

Enjoy.

20th Century Boys Volume 5

(Naoki Urasawa)

Viz Media

I’ve only read the first chapter of 20^th Century Boys, which was mostly set-up but still funny, dark, and compelling. It starts out as a conspiracy/mystery affair, but I hear it gets absolutely insane in following chapters. I’ve no idea how well this is doing with manga fans but it’s great stuff.

Lockjaw And The Pet Avengers HC

(Chris Eliopoulos/Ig Guara)

Marvel Comics

No, I’m not crazy. This is a really fun book that has nothing to do with Dark Reign or The List or whatever the hell. I dunno if it’s worth buying in hardcover, but if anything it’s more worth buying in hardcover than the Dark Moon Knight miniseries in which Spider-Boy loses some weight and becomes a vigilante even darker than regular Moon Knight.

Rin-Ne Volume 1

(Rumiko Takahashi)

Viz Media

Here is the state of manga today: as a new chapter of Rumiko Takahashi’s Rin-Ne is released in Japan, the English version goes online on Viz’s website. That blows my mind. Shame it seems like Takashashi’s retreading InuYasha territory with all this talk of Japanese spirits and an unlikely pairing of a school girl and a spirity boy. I much preferred Ranma ½ and Urusei Yatsura.

Azrael #1

(Fabian Nicieza/Ramon Bachs)

DC Comics

To repeat something I said during one of our video segments (I forget if it made the cut): AZRAEL is back? Is this DC’s way of doing a Dark Batman? Will he be joining the Dark Justice League (you know, the one that CRIES for Justice)? It’s nice to see they’re still hiring Fabian Nicieza, one of the few 90s Marvel writers that didn’t fall off the face of the Earth.

Gravel #16

(Warren Ellis/Mike Wolfer/)

Avatar Press

Good timing: with the announcement of a film based on Gravel (we can assume Warren Ellis’ first draft screenplay will be rewritten into having absolutely no personality at some point during production) comes a new issue of Gravel. Warren Ellis’ name is on the cover, but Mike Wolfer does most of the heavy lifting scripting the series. So let’s buy it and show support for Mr. Wolfer, who is undoubtedly locked up in one of Ellis’ science torture basements.

Anchor #1

(Phil Hester/Brian Churilla)

BOOM! Studios

“Quirky action horror” is quickly becoming its own subgenre, and we have Hellboy to thank for that. Still, Anchor looks like a fun book about an immortal warrior that the ad copy describes as “God’s own leg-breaker.” Sold!

Batgirl #3

(Bryan Q. Miller/Lee Garbett/Trevor Scott)

DC Comics

Shocking how good this new Batgirl series is. This can be attributed to a number of good decisions being made, such as getting rid of that dreadful S&M gimp suit nightmare she called a costume. I mean, this is BATGIRL we’re talking about, for Christ’s sake. She doesn’t need to be “dark.” 

BPRD 1947 #4 (of 5)

(Mike Mignola/Joshua Dysart/Fábio Moon/Gabriel Bá)

Dark Horse Comics

Child abductors: the best way to lure me into your van is not with candy (though it is tempting), but with a comic drawn by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá. Someone must have told Mike Mignola this. Did I just imply Mike Mignola was a child abductor?

You Are There

(Jacques Tardi/Jean-Claude Forest)

Fantagraphics

Even though I covered it last month, I still haven’t read West Coast Blues. Having no money will do that to you. As if to mock me, Fantagraphics has released another Jacques Tardi comic, this time a collaboration with Barbarella’s Jean-Claude Forrest. The satirical You Are There features a man who inheritance amounts to a wall surrounding what was once his forcing him to make a living patrolling the thing and collecting tolls. The image alone of a man in a suit and bowler hat living on a wall is worth the price of admission–or publicly begging Fantagraphics to send me a review copy.

…is this thing on?

Air TP Vol 2 Flying Machine, $12.99

(G. Willow Wilson/MK Perker)

Vertigo/DC Comics

There’s a new Air trade, out and you’re buying it. There is no debate here.

Act-I-Vate Primer HC, $24.99

(Joe Infurnari/Roger Langridge/Mike Dawson/Nick Bertozzi/Tim Hamilton/Dean Haspiel/Simon Fraser/Molly Crabapple/John Leavitt/Mike Cavallaro/Pedro Camargo/Jim Dougan/Hyeondo Park/Ulises Farinas/Michel Fiffe/Maurice Fontenot/Jennifer Hayden/Leland Purvis)

IDW Publishing

Comics readers: do you ever think “Gee, I don’t know of enough talented creators. I like Brian Michael Bendis and the closest I get to indie is that I’ve heard of American Splendor”? Well, friends, I introduce you to The Act-I-Vate Primer, collecting 16 original, diverse stories from the surprisingly huge webcomics collective. That’s 16 things to get excited about. If you’re not convinced yet, IDW has provided a preview of the primer.

Nomad: Girl Without a World #2 (of 4)

(Sean McKeever/David Baldeon)

Marvel Comics

The first issue of Nomad: Girl Without a World was mostly set-up with a bit too much Buffy the Vampire Slayer “there’s something afoot at the student body election” intrigue, but the writing and art were good enough to warrant a look at the second issue. Hopefully it really picks up, because I’m really into this character and would like to see more of her. Also, I can’t resist a heroine in goggles.

Scalped #32

(Jason Aaron/RM Guera)

Vertigo/DC Comics

We haven’t had a new installment of Scalped since August. This is unacceptable, but slightly infrequent Scalped is better than no Scalped at all. Buy this issue and let’s keep Scalped going. I’m going to say this again next week when the next trade comes out.

Fixer & Other Stories

(Joe Sacco)

Drawn and Quarterly

The Balkans are a surprising source of comics creators, all of whom are underrated. For a period in the early 2000s it seems like the major comic companies were pillaging the place for writers and artists. Alas, still the region is best known for the Bosnian Wars that destabilized the region in the 1990s, covered second-hand by Joe Kubert’s Fax from Sarajevo and first-hand by reporter/cartoonist Joe Sacco. I haven’t read Sacco’s Bosnian War material, but The Fixer and Other Stories compiles it all in a convenient, affordable manner. What was I saying about review copies?

Sleeper Season 2

(Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips)

Wildstorm/DC Comics

The Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips team-up is going to go down as one of the great comic book collaborations in history along with Lee/Kirby, Morrison/Quitely, Bendis/Maleev, and Djeljosevic/Lolos (call me, Vasilis), and Sleeper was one of their earlier works, predating both Criminal and Incognito. Finally we have a collection of the second volume of Sleeper, which I probably read one issue of and remember being awesome. 

Die Hard Year One #1

(Howard Chaykin/Stephen Thompson)

BOOM! Studios

Normally I don’t feature licensed books but this is fucking DIE HARD we’re talking about, and we haven’t had a halfway decent John McClane adventure since the horribly uneven Die Hard with a Vengeance (I’m trying very hard to ignore wickedly bad American propaganda film they disguised as a Die Hard film a couple of years ago). Maybe with Howard Chaykin writing an action comic about John McClane’s early days with hair might be just what we need.

BROADSWORD COMICS

Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose #58

(Jim Balent)

Broadsword Comics

I couldn’t help myself when I saw that a new issue of Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose was coming out — the T&A book by Jim Balent (who drew Catwoman’s breasts in the 1990s) most known for the infamous “Your vagina is haunted!” panel. In other words, I’ve only featured it so I could include the panel in question for you lovely people. You may thank me with sex and/or money.

Usagi Yojimbo #123

(Stan Sakai)

Dark Horse Comics

Here is a friendly reminder that Usagi Yojimbo is still around, and is probably better than most comics out there.

Runaways #14

(Kathryn Immonen/Sara Pichelli)

Marvel Comics

Ever since Brian K. Vaughan left the book he created, Runaways has been in a state of delinquency similar to its characters, falling briefly into the hands of Joss Whedon/Michael Ryan and Terry Moore/Humberto Ramos before finally settling on Kathryn Immonen and Sara Pichelli. Just as they were getting started, the book was put on “hiatus” until next summer — which would say CANCELLED to me in big rubber stamp letters, but they’re working on a movie adaptation, so let’s hope it comes back in a year.

High Moon Volume 1

(David Gallaher/Steve Ellis)

Zuda/DC Comics

Please be a hit, High Moon Volume 1. Please prove that Zuda isn’t just a failed experiment. Please show DC Comics that the online format is a viable medium. Please prove that the comics industry isn’t kept afloat on established properties. Please buy High Moon Volume 1, Internet. It’s got werewolves and shit.

The Unknown: Devil Made Flesh #1

(Mark Waid/Minck Oosterveer)

BOOM! Studios

The best part about Mark Waid being shunned by DC Comics (I guess there’s such a thing as being TOO talented) is that Waid’s forced to work on original stuff, which is great considering he’s too good to waste on corporate-owned superhero titles. With The Unknown, Waid gets to write his very own John Constantine in the form of Catherine Allingham, a detective with six months to live — probably the result of engaging in some DANGEROUS HABITS. Sorry, Mark. I couldn’t resist.

Aya: The Secrets Come Out

(Marguerite Abouet/Clement Oubrerie)

Drawn & Quarterly

Reasons to buy the newest installment of Aya: not only is it a comic not about white people, but it’s currently part of Drawn & Quarterly’s big sale where everything’s like half-off. In the future the latter fact will not be true, but why are you reading a time-sensitive article from September 2009? Silly future people.

Unknown Soldier #12

(Joshua Dysart/Alberto Pontecelli)

Vertigo/DC Comics

And now, a comic about the African experience as written by a white man. Well, that’s not quite true — Unknown Soldier is an action comic about violence and the politics of Uganda, and it’s very good.

Power & Glory TP

(Howard Chaykin)

Dynamite Entertainment

Shock of the week: a forgotten Malibu Comic is finally being collected. This one’s by Howard Chaykin (him again!), which suggests it might be worth checking out. Marvel bought the company Comics–Jesus Christ–15 years ago, but Power & Glory was part of Malibu’s Bravura line, consisting of creator-owned titles. Let’s be thankful for those titles, because probably never see any reprints of Prime or Ultraforce.

Prison Pit Book 1

(Johnny Ryan)

Fantagraphics

Johnny Ryan’s first volume of Prison Pit is not only a sick alt-comics humor book, but a sick alt-comics humor book about Cannibal Fuckface, a Mexican wrestler who is sent into “a barren negative-zone populated by intergalactic, violent monster criminals.” So, a sick alt-comics humor book with a seriously twisted sci-fi bent. This is gonna be guuuuud.

Sky Pirates Of Neo Terra #1 (Of 5), $2.99

(Josh Wagner/Camilla D’Errico)

Image Comics

New rule: we feature licensed comics if they seem cool. That said, Sky Pirates of Neo Terra looks very cool.

Rapture #4

(Michael Avon Oeming/Taki Soma)

Dark Horse Comics

Yes: another post-apocalyptic comic, but this time it’s by the husband-and-wife team of Michael Avon Oeming and Taki Soma. Read Issue #1 for free on Dark Horse’s website and appreciate the complete lack of dreary earth tones in a post-apocalyptic action comic. On that virtue alone I’m deeming Rapture a resounding success.

Mickey Mouse & Friends #296

(Stefano Ambrosio/Lorenzo Pastrovicchio)

BOOM! Studios

Good for BOOM!, scoring that Disney license. I dunno if kids read straight Disney comics (or even Pixar comics), but they should, and BOOM’s acquiring the license should help that matter a bit. That Italian talent are handling all of the Mickey Mouse/Walt Disney comics makes me wonder if these stories aren’t being imported. Regardless, Mickey Mouse. Fun.

What a week for comics: lots of great books are ending this week and one of my favorite series is being collected in trade. Also, I only made fun of two comics this week. We’re making so much progress together. Soon enough these columns will be bright and sunny like an episode of Sesame Street.

Speaking of Muppets…

Muppet Peter Pan #1

(Grace Randolph/Amy Mebberson)

BOOM! Studios

I hope BOOM! Studios is getting all the love it deserves. They publish lots of GOOD kid-friendly books like The Muppet Show Comic Book and their licensed Pixar stuff, which affords them the ability to publish more risky work like Irredeemable and Unthinkable. And some of these books are selling out, which is also exciting (assuming it’s not just due to limited print runs). The Muppet Show Comic Book under Roger Langridge is better than humanity could ever deserve, so here’s to hoping that Muppet Peter Pan, despite the different creative team, will be just as good.

Wasteland #26

(Antony Johnston/Christopher Mitten)

Oni Press

How regrettable is it that I’ve only just discovered Wasteland? Not only is it a fairly long-running (26 issues is a lot to me) post-apocalyptic series, but it’s got covers by the wonderful Ben Templesmith. If that’s not enough, Wasteland #26 starts a new story arc. Want more do you want? For me to pay for your issue?

No Hero #7 (of 7)

(Warren Ellis/Juan Jose Ryp)

Avatar Press

Of the 74 Warren Ellis comics released in a given month, No Hero is the nastiest thanks to Ellis’ sick mind and artist Juan Jose Ryp’s expressively grotesque art. The trick is that Ellis lures you in with his mainstream for-hire work, and then warps your fragile mind with his creator-owned work until you beg for more. For example, Issue 6 ended with our hero (who, as the title indicates, is no hero) ripping out the spine of an enemy and fashioning it into a giant penis.

You’re welcome.

William Shatner Presents Tek War #3, $3.99

(William Shatner/Scott Davis/Erich Owens)

Bluewater Productions

“Well, the kids have to learn about Tek War sooner or later…”

Wednesday Comics #12 (of 12)

(Brian Azzarello/Eduardo Risso/Neil Gaiman/Michael Allred/Walter Simonson/Brian Stelfreeze/Dave Bullock/Vinton Heuck/Dave Bullock/Dave Gibbons/Ryan Sook/Kyle Baker/Adam Kubert/Joe Kubert/Dan DiDio/Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez/Karl Kerschl/Brenden Fletcher/Jimmy Palmiotti/Amanda Conner/Kurt Busiek/Joe Quiñones/John Arcudi/Lee Bermejo/Paul Pope/Ben Caldwell/Eddie Berganza/Sean Galloway)

DC Comics

I can’t believe you haven’t been reading Wednesday comics. This means that you’ve missed Azzarello & Rizzo’s second shot at a noir Batman. You’ve never seen Kamandi’s Prince Valiant-styled adventures as drawn by Ryan Sook. Joe Quiñones’s beautifully-rendered Green Lantern. Gaiman & Allred’s wonderfully POP Metamorpho. The space-grunge pulp of Paul Pope’s Adam Strange. Joe Kubert’s return to Sgt. Rock. The parallel Flash/Iris West pages by Karl Kerschl & Brenden Fletcher. Kyle Baker’s Hawkman. A Supergirl that isn’t muddled in continuity.

Now you’re going to have to wait for the trade and it won’t be nearly as big or beautiful as the single newspaper-styled issues.

Eden: Its an Endless World Vol 12

(Hiroki Endo)

Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse is so underrated when it comes to their manga. It seems like they’ve been doing it the longest–long before manga even became popular–by publishing stuff like Appleed and Ghost in the Shell. They finally brought a decent version of Akira to America and publish not only popular stuff like Trigun and Oh My Goddess!, but also ballsy stuff like GANTZ and essential manga like Lone Wolf & Cub. Eden: It’s an Endless World is a welcome entry in Dark Horse’s manga library, a thoughtful post-apocalyptic manga that draws comparisons to Akira both artistically and thematically. This book looks gorgeous and my wallet suddenly feels very, very empty.

Umbrella Academy Vol 2: Dallas

(Gerard Way/Gabriel Ba)

Dark Horse Comics

I think I’ve mentioned Umbrella Academy in every article I’ve written for this site, but here I mention it again because the trade of the second series is finally out. We were all unsure of a comic written by Gerard Way but I had faith, having read him singing the praises of Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol. Say what you will about his band (I’ll start: The Black Parade is a terrific album), but Way’s a serious comic book talent. The Umbrella Academy is a wonderful superhero comic for the weird and dysfunctional.

Underground #1 (of 4)

(Jeff Parker/Steve Lieber)

Image Comics

Going off Image Comics’ ad copy, I can’t quite tell you what Underground is about except that it involves a cave explorer on an adventure in–guess what–a cave. However, it’s written by Jeff Parker, part of Marvel’s current stable of writers who thankfully also does creator-owned work. Art duties are by Steve Lieber, who drew a different threatening terrain in Greg Rucka’s Whiteout.

Superman Secret Origin #1 (of 6)

(Geoff Johns/Gary Frank/John Sibal)

DC Comics

Just what we asked for: another Superman origin story, because THAT’S not a story told far too often.

Geoff Johns can be a solid superhero writer (see: his original run of The Flash) when he doesn’t resort to continuity porn and “mature” fanboy bloodlust (see: Blackest Night), and Gary Frank is a talented artist who is currently forced on drawing Superman to look like Christopher Reeves. I’d like to see some definitive Gary Frank work, because I think the guy’s great but he hasn’t worked on anything substantial.

I’d like to establish a few rules about Superman:

     1. No more telling his origin unless you’re going to make up a completely different one.

     2. No more referencing Richard Donner’s original film. That thing is over 30 years old and its legacy makes for really boring comics and even more boring movies.  No more Krypton crystals and no more drawing Superman like Christopher Reeve. Let’s all put that silly movie behind us.

I no longer believe a man can fly.

Madman Atomic Comics #17

(Michael Allred)

Image Comics

Has it really been two years since Madman Atomic Comics started? And it’s ending already? The only comforting thing about a Madman book ending is that another one will start up soon enough. This finale features not only Madman and The Atomics, but also Red Rocket 7. Buy it and prepare for true POP bliss.

You got lucky this week, Internet. Fantagraphics doesn’t seem to have released anything this week and DC and Marvel published a few new notable comics that you were probably going to buy anyway. In return for this concession, you have to read about my weird manga interests and my MODOK fetish.

This list was easier to cultivate than the last one, but I don’t think it’s quite as satisfying. What does THAT say?

Pluto Urasawa x Tezuka Volume 5

(Naoki Urasawa/Takashi Nagasaki)

Viz Media

Naoki Urasawa should be as famous in this country as Hayao Miyazaki. So should Osamu Tezuka and Katsuhiro Otomo, but at least their creations precede them here. Alas, the world of Urasawa such as Monster and the wonderful 20^th Century Boys are relegated to the obsessions of those in the know while kids in Borders sit on the floor and read One Piece and Magic Knight Rayearth (do the kids still read that?).

Pluto is Urasawa’s remix (“re-imagining” if you’re into buzzwords) of Tezuka’s beloved Astro Boy into a science fiction detective story. I’ve read a few early chapters, and it’s deadly serious and just a little heartbreaking. It’s also only 8 volumes, so there’s minimal commitment to reading the whole thing — though it’s probably worth reading even if it was 100 volumes.

Vengeance Of The Moon Knight #1

(Gregg Hurwitz/Jeremy Opena)

Marvel Comics

Once again Marvel attempts to resurrect Moon Knight. If someone can explain to me the appeal of Moon Knight I would greatly appreciate it. Outside of his anti-Batman costume he seems to me like another Batman clone only beaten by Night Thrasher on the Derivative Scale. The only argument I’ve ever heard in favor of Moon Knight is that the original run by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz is supposed to be very good.

Vengeance of The Moon Knight #1 has Moon Knight returning to New York City to seek — gasp! — vengeance on Norman Osborn, who has suddenly become the principal villain in every Marvel Comic on the stands. Lex Luthor wasn’t so ubiquitous, and that guy was President. That Norman Osborn is the villain the comic says to me that nobody has any idea what to do to make this character sell and they have to make it a Dark Reign tie-in for anyone to care.

Air #13, $2.99

(G. Willow Wilson/M.K. Perker)

Vertigo/DC Comics

Look, everyone! A comic book not written by a white male for once.

No, there aren’t any superheroes. Or zombies. Or cowboys. Or heaving bosoms.

I see we’re not going to find any common ground here.

Veil #3

(El Torres/Gabriel Hernandez)

IDW Publishing

IDW does so many licensed comics nowadays that it’s become a bit of a surprise to look at the list of releases for the week and see something that isn’t Transformers, Star Trek, Angel, or Doctor Who. This time it’s The Veil, about a down-on-her-luck private eye for the dead named Chris Luna who moves back to her hometown only to unsurprisingly find that there’s ghosty things to deal with there, too. Pray it’s an ongoing book, because it features some great impressionistic art by Gabriel Hernandez.

Blackest Night #3 (of

(Geoff Johns/Ivan Reis/Oclair Albert)

DC COMICS

For many readers Blackest Night #3 is the hotly anticipated book of the week. I cannot tell you why because I’m still having trouble deciding when the book lost me: the convenient “Dead Superhero Day” that starts the book off or the utterly laughable shock value moments, like when Hawkman and Hawkgirl are killed only to be immediately resurrected as DC Zombies. It all sounds like a huge self-parody, but it’s played totally straight.

Considering that, I might be looking forward to future issues of Blackest Night in the same way I look forward to the next Judd Apatow movie.

Galactica 1980 #1

(Marc Guggenheim/Cezar Razek)

Dynamite

This blurb was originally going to be just “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA” and then I would have moved on to something more substantial (like making fun of Blackest Night) but it turns out Dynamite wrangled big-name talent like Marc Guggenheim (whose work I don’t really like, but he’s a name) to, according to the ad-copy, “re-imagine” the maligned Galactica 1980 — a TV show nobody asked to be imagined in the first place. This could be readable, but I don’t see myself reading it.

Bad Girls TP

(Steve Vance/Jennifer Graves/Christine Norrie/Daniel Krall/J. Bone)

DC COMICS

Quick history lesson: In 2003 DC Comics published this six-issue miniseries called Bad Girls, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer-esque affair a new girl in town who finds out that the popular girls at school all have superpowers and are using their powers for evil. DC to canceled the mini due to low sales, forcing the creators to cram two issues of material into the fifth.

Six years later, DC is collecting the miniseries in a trade for reasons unbeknownst to me. Maybe they’re serious about this “reaching new readers” thing. Regardless, Bad Girls sounds like it could be a fun (albeit derivative) read.

MODOK Reign Delay (One Shot)

(Ryan Dunlavey)

Marvel Comics

Of course I’m covering a MODOK comic book. I couldn’t NOT cover a MODOK comic, even if it is a silly humor book. There aren’t enough humor books in comics, anyway, though I think MODOK works better when played (mostly) straight. After all, he’s the Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing. You’re going to have to look elsewhere for the Mobile Organism Designed Only for Comedy.

Regardless of my creepy giant head fetish: MODOK! In a comic!

In a perfect world, there would be a MODOK COMIC (Conquest-Oriented Media-Infiltrating Comic) written by me and drawn by Seth Fisher where we chronicle the absurdist psychedelic adventures of Jack Kirby’s greatest drug-fueled creation, depicting what goes on in his weird interior headspace as he hatches plots and invents things that invariably have weird, unwanted effects on hapless A.I.M. agents.

But alas, Seth Fisher is dead and you people make me sad.

Beasts Of Burden #1 (of 4)

(Evan Dorkin/Jill Thompson)

Dark Horse Comics

Seeing the cover to Beasts of Burden #1, I thought, “Oh, nevermind. It’s a book about animals.” Then I saw the creators: Evan Dorkin of DORK and Jill Thompson of various wonderful Vertigo Books. That said, this looks like a really promising book and I’m going to have to send Dorkin and Thompson each a written apology.

Oishinbo: Vegetables

(Tetsu Kariya/Akira Hanasaki)

Viz Media

Yes, it’s a manga about cooking. Most of us wouldn’t know it (even the ones who do read Japanese comic books), but Japan’s comic book industry publishes a much wider variety than America does, and I don’t just mean “comics for girls.” There’s manga about horse racing and baseball in addition to your Narutos and Fullmetal Alchemists. Oishinbo is one such manga, first published in 1983 and still continuing to this day. Viz Media, ever the bastions of Japanese media in America, began publishing the collections of Oshinbo this year, and Vegetables is the newest volume.

What audience Viz suspects to buy this comic I do not know. Considering it’s published under the “Viz Signature” umbrella with other “unconventional” works like TEKKONKINKREET and everything Naoki Urasawa does, they must be trying to court the sophisticated, open-minded manga reader who doesn’t give a shit about Naruto.

I’m right there with you, Viz.

Ultimate Comics Armor Wars #1 (of 4)

(Warren Ellis/Steve Kurth)

Marvel Comics

I know you’re probably going to buy Ultimate Comics Armor Wars, but I’m going to talk about it anyway because this is Marvel’s big book of the week and, considering Warren Ellis at the helm, it will more likely be worth reading than Blackest Night. Warren Ellis, you see, has read things other than superhero comics and can inject that influence in his superhero comics and create something that stands out amidst the usual crap even if he’s just doing it for a paycheck.

It’s safe to assume that, if the comics industry provided more opportunities to do what he wants that could also help sustain his lifestyle, you couldn’t pay him to write a superhero comic. Until then, here’s an Iron Man comic by Warren Ellis. You’ll read it and you’ll like it.

Batman: Widening Gyre #1

(Kevin Smith/Walter Flanagan)

DC Comics

Glib version: Kevin Smith describes his new comic as having a “backdrop of romance, intrigue, and geek-bait guest stars galore.”

PASS.

Thoughtful version: Batman: Widening Gyre just leaves me with questions. Why wasn’t this publicized more? Do people even care anymore when Kevin Smith writes a comic book? Did he even finish Batman: Cacophony? Will another DC Comics character offer his butthole for the sake of another crude prison rape gag?

King City #1

(Brandon Graham)

Image Comics

King City was an OEL (Original English Language) manga (referred to as COMIC BOOKS by those who aren’t reverse-xenophobes) published by TokyoPop until they realized it was too good to allow to live, so they cancelled it while creator Brandon Graham was working on the second volume. Now Image Comics is releasing it as a serial, first by republishing the first volume in single issue form.

Since I know you haven’t heard of it, there’s a preview up at Image Comics and it looks like a blast. There’s action and cats in buckets.

Scalped #31

(Jason Aaron/RM Guera)

Vertigo/DC Comics

Do me a favor: save your money buying Runman Reborn or whatever stupid superhero book you’re just going to buy and complain about on the Internet. Instead, buy Scalped #31 and keep this series going so us normal people can enjoy a good comic book without it getting canceled prematurely. You people fucking owe us for letting Young Liars get canceled.

You can even read Scalped #31 if you want. You bought it, you can do whatever you want now. If you were to read it, you’d find a badass crime comic with ultragritty art by RM Guera. You’d also see what REAL comics look like.

The Flash: Rebirth #4

(Geoff Johns/Ethan Van Sciver)

DC Comics

I’m only mentioning The Flash: Rebirth because some people care about it. I, however, do not care about it, as a comic book about “The Fastest Man Alive” should not be a morose bore with the pacing of a rotting corpse.

In this issue, one can assume another element of the overarching conspiracy or whatever-the-hell is revealed, we explore some more relationships between Barry Allen and the rest of the DC Universe, and Geoff Johns shows a slavish respect for DC Comics continuity.

If you’re into that sort of thing.

Spin Angels #1 (of 3)

(Jean-Luc Sala/Pierre-Mony Chan)

Marvel Comics

Spin Angels (originally known as the deceptively punny Cross Fire) is a popular French action comic about spies enlisted by the Catholic Church republished by Marvel Comics. It is not only part of their collaboration with French comic publisher Soleil Productions, but also part of a never-ending cycle which goes like this:

1. Marvel acquires the rights to publish comics that have a broader appeal than Wolverine’s Crotch #32 and releases it to little fanfare or promotion.

2. Surprisingly, no one buys this comic book that nobody bothered to promote.

3. Cancelled!

(see also: the abortive DC Comics/Humanoids venture)

I really want to get into French comic books (France and Belgium are up there with Japan in terms of output/lack of exclusively superhero leanings), but I live in a world where you have to know French to read most of them.

So I hope Spin Angels is a hit and we get more comics by luminaries like Jodorowsky and Moebius because having to work to track down the first volume of Jodorowsky’s Incal makes me want to cry.

Gantz TP Vol 6

(Hiroya Oku)

Dark Horse Comics

Gantz is an ultraviolent manga about recently deceased people who, once they die, are enlisted to kill aliens.

I’ll let the summary speak for itself.

28 Days Later #1

(Michael Alan Nelson/Declan Shalvey)

BOOM! Studios

Looking back on the declining zombie craze it seems like a no-brainer to publish a title based on the last great zombie film that wasn’t Shaun of the Dead. BOOM! Studios is a bit late to the party by only JUST publishing a 28 Days Later comic, but it’s still a marketable brand that should draw some attention from casual readers. And if it’s worth reading, who cares how trendy it is?

We’ll know that BOOM! is cashing in when we see a licensed comic based on that old Chris Rock movie Head of State — complete with an Obama cover.

Incredibles #0

(Mark Waid/Marcio Takara)

BOOM! Studios

Before you say, “Oh great, ANOTHER licensed comic from BOOM! Studios,” let it be known that these licensed books probably make more money than their (very good) original work like Unthinkable and Irredeemable.

If their wonderful Muppet Show comic (no, seriously) is any indication, BOOM! is putting real effort into producing quality kids comics based on licensed properties, especially knowing Editor-in-Chief/superhero guru Mark Waid is handling writing duties.

And I bet money the Incredibles comic is better than this month’s Flash Rebirth.

Fantastic Four #570

(Jonathan Hickman/Dale Eaglesham)

Marvel Comics

Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch’s run on Fantastic Four was aces thanks to its winning me over early with its big sci-fi idea of Nu-Earth and Millar’s surprising ability to restrain himself from being completely Millar. Cheers.

But now that’s over and Jonathan Hickman & Dale Eaglesham are taking over the book. Hickman, previously of The Nightly News (which I regrettably have not read) is Marvel’s current It Boy (I believe Joe Quesada called him “the next Alan Moore”), though nothing he’s written for them has really held my attention. I gave up on Secret Warriors as soon as I opened up the first issue. Dale Eaglesham, however, is a solid, underrated artist.

Let’s see how they do.