Wednesday Adventures 4th August

A brief weekly rundown of recommendations of new releases I’m intrigued by, excited for and will be grabbing off the shelves to curl up with every new comics day before delving into them later in the week!

Have you hugged your local comic store owner today?

Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider-Marvel Comics

The last thing I thought I’d find myself doing last year (besides you know, going out) was going to bat for a comic written by one quarter of what is arguably one of the most annoying “groups” bothering the charts in recent years, the Back Eyed Peas. Snobbery aside Taboo taking on the writing duties of the lesser known cult title “werewolf by night” surprised by being low key and without the “flash” one would associate with a pop star. His unique native American viewpoint that he brought to the pages of that book, dealing with weighty issues such as native land rights and community was genuinely authentic and refreshing when paired with the books ridiculous premise.

Originally making her debut in 2016’s “Sorcerer supreme” as the ghost rider of the 1800’s,albeit with the powers of the sorcerer supreme, Kushala now finds herself smack dab in the present of the Marvel 616 to help ensure “a new era of vengeance”. Davidsons artwork strikes a stunning balance between the type of imagery that we’ve seen with Robbie Reyes in the staring role and the classic 70’s Ghost Rider comics with colouring from Veregge that pops with neon blues and pinks that really showcases Kushala and her unique way of ghost riding.

While only a one shot, I hope it actually marks the start of seeing more of the lesser known characters being given the Taboo treatment and hopefully more titles from him in the future.

Wednesday Adventures 26th May

A brief weekly rundown of recommendations of new releases I’m intrigued by, excited for and will be grabbing off the shelves to curl up with every new comics day before delving into them later in the week!

Have you hugged your local comic store owner today?

Beta Ray Bill #3-Marvel Comics

Johnson has currently roped me in with the hugely silly, bonkers pitches for his books, only then to reveal them to be absolute emotional gutpuches, three or four times now. I’m not sure why I expected any differently even when the comic is primarily about a magical asgardian space horse, but the emotional complexity and pathos already crammed in the first two issues alone still blindsided me. I came for the wild pacing and frenetic action (which I got), but have stayed for the story of self discovery and growth.

Each of the cast is battling with their own deep insecurities over their place in the universe, not least Bill who is also struggling with his current appearance and people’s reactions to it. After the destruction of Stormbreaker he has found himself stuck in his more famous form and Johnson has put this front and centre, somehow writing a touching and subtle plot about dysphoria in a cosmic Marvel comic, and to great effect. All his works delve deep into the emotional lives of their characters and this is shaping up to be his strongest one so far. The artwork is unspringingly stunning throughout, filed with punchy, pacy action scenes, onomatopoeia filled  panels and some gorgeous double page spreads that leaves me wondering where they will go with the next issue

Reptil #1-Marvel Comics

With their recent-ish streak of introducing new teenage superheroes that find a lasting and dedicated fanbase as well as broad popularity, it’s surprising that not that long ago Marvel were creating a lot of teen heroes that never quite caught on due to indifference or never really being given a chance by the publisher, going even as far as culling a lot of them in the mean spirited Hunger Games-lite, Avengers Arena.

Reptil was one of the more interesting characters from around this time, being able to turn parts of himself all dino,but bar a few minor appearances here and there has mainly been forgotten and lost in comic book limbo for the last decade. The new series from writer Terry Blas and artist Enid Balam is hopefully aiming to channel the same magic that brought us Kamala Khan and Miles Morales as the young hero gets his first ongoing solo title. The Landscape he is entering in the wake of Kamala’s Law and the recent Outlawed storyline definitely looks like he’ll be jumping straight into the thick of things and I look forward to seeing his eventual interactions with The Champions.

Wednesday Adventures 19th May

A brief weekly rundown of recommendations of new releases I’m intrigued by, excited for and will be grabbing off the shelves to curl up with every new comics day before delving into them later in the week!

Have you hugged your local comic store owner today?

The Immortal Hulk:Time of Monsters

With what will undeniably go down as one of the definitive, all time best runs on the Hulk it’s time to get as much of Ewing’s immortal green goliath as you can before the quickly approaching fiftieth issue and the green door closes for good. That includes the series of rather excellent one shots that have been spread throughout the series. Proving what a flexible concept Ewing has created with his “immortal” version of the big green guy, the title has given rise to a series of one shots, also from a stellar line up and artists such as Jeff Lemire and Declan Shelvey to both satiate the demand from fans and explore the character of the indomitable ‘Devil Hulk’ and his plans to destroy the human world. Even the seemingly dumb sounding ones like “what if the Hulk was in Peter Parker” turned out to be a fascinating look into his relationship with Banner and his green companion.

Alex Paknadel,of Redfork and Arcadia fame is on writing duties and set to introduce what he has called a “menacing and beautiful” original Hulk, set way before Banner came into the picture. Around 1000 years before in fact. Paknadel’s writing is the exact sort of atmospheric and creepy for the Immortal Hulk and thrilling to see one of my favourite writers putting his own mark on the Marvel Universe.

Red Room #1

Having compressed both the entire hip-hop family tree and the byzantine history of the X-Men down so that even idiots like me can grasp it, artist Ed Piskor returns with a new monthly title, Red Room. 

Not only is this his first foray into the gruelling monthly title, it also marks his first work exploring his own ideas, free from the restraints of years of internal history or real life events. Wasting no time at all he’s gone straight in for the good stuff, putting his own unique cartooning talents to work on the most sordid and titillating tales of depravity to be had in the internets darkest corners, the private murder rooms of the tittle. Dubbing it an “outlaw comic” fans of his previous works will already be eager to see what vulgarity and mayhem his imagination will bring in Red Room now that he has the chance to stretch out into his own ideas and deliver the “rivers of gore” that the cover promises.

“You can’t buy what we got here today, a perfect launch”- Howard and Foche get down to business in X-Corp’s debut issue

“I’ve seen what you do here” declares Magneto way, way back in the fourth issue of Hickmans ground-up rebuilding of the X-Men, setting out their new shockingly subtle new plan for survival “We will buy your banks, we will buy your schools, we will buy your media…because you have taught us that everything has a price”. Tini Howard and Albert Foche’s X-Corp feels very much like the writers and indeed, mutantkind starting to make good on Erik’s chilling promise. While Marauders gave us tantalising glimpses of the destabilizing effects the new Krakoan drugs alone were having on the world at large, X-Corp embraces the idea as it’s central premise. 

Reviving the business wing of Xavier’s mutant interests for the Krakoan era is Warren Worthington (Angel) and Monet St Coix (Penance) and this debut issue finds them set to expand those interests beyond the flowers and wonder drugs into every other area possible, but not,unsurprisingly without a fight from the deeply entrenched and monied humans who have been getting their hands dirty a lot longer than the fledgling mutant nation. In fact one of the most wonderful and borderline satirical moments of the issue has businessman Jean-Pierre Koi attempting to derail the mutants pharmaceutical holdings in the most annoyingly petty and oddly believable way possible, threatening X-corp not with overblown villainy or destruction, but with a call to the UN about concerns over the “exploitation of the Savage Lands”. An ironic and inevitable response to Magento’s bluster.

With such an expansive roster of characters across the mutant part of the Marvel universe there is always going to be a perfect fit for any new team that gets assembled to fill a new need on the island and Warren and Monet while being among the feared and hated have always been from a background of wealth and relative influence too, both preparing them for the forthcoming battles not across dimensions but in boardrooms and meeting. While not characters I’ve been fond of in the past it’s strength for me, like a lot of the X-books has been to reintroduce me to characters and win me over with them. God only knows what a herculean feat Hellions is pulling off by making me even like Mr Sinister or the complete 180 Cable managed to pull. Howard definitely makes me want to give Mr Worthington another chance, even after one issue.

Foche’s art is crisp and clean and in line with the corporate angle and does a lot of the heavy lifting in keeping things interesting whenever the book starts to get jargon heavy or complicated. In particular the depictions of X-corps headquarters with it’s glowing spires and open air spaces are simply jaw droppingly gorgeous, none so much than in the finale, which I won’t spoil here. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the eye catching cover by David Aja, an aesthetic fit for the already striking and paired down design pioneered by Tom Muller across the X-men line, showing both Angel and Penance in both their business and superhero guises, emphasising the strange middleground the characters now find themselves in.

Writer Tini Howard fills X-Corp with plenty of action and intrigue for a title concerning itself with the corporate side of mutant affairs and although the start has a lot of initial setup and reintroduction of the mutant drugs concept, by the end it displays it hasn’t forgotten that at it’s hear it is a superhero comic and comes to a tense and action filled finale that sets up the series for the future. Readers expecting a more power filled mutant slug-fest might find the sometimes jargon heavy dialogue or quiet set pieces a bit dry,but that’s the beauty of the X-Men titles under the watchful guidance of Hickman, there is most likely going to be a particular flavour that you like for you to delve into whether it be the classic liberate mutants from harm in Marauders or hack and slash action in X-Force. X-Corp fills an oddly specific niche but a nevertheless fascinating one that gently pushes the boundaries of the entire mutant concept beyond the basic “struggle for survival” that is less important with the foundation of a safe haven in Krakoa. Exploring their impact and place in the world beyond feared and hated outsiders makes for a more nuanced and thought provoking line of books that X-Corp is now a part of.

8/10

Wednesday Adventures 21st August

A brief weekly rundown of recommendations of new releases I’m intrigued by, excited for and will be grabbing off the shelves to curl up with every new comics day before delving into them later in the week!

Have you hugged your local comic store owner today?

 

Powers of X #3- Marvel Comics

Without hyperbole, a handful of issues in and Hickman’s bold new take on Marvel’s Mutants is the most forward thinking and exciting X-Men series I have read in year and has the same visceral,shock to the system that New X-Men did over a decade ago as the writer continues to upend everything we know about Xavier’s misfit group to stunning jaw dropping effect.

Two series entwining with each, House of X and Powers of X takes the concept of Mutants forming it’s own safe haven, a nation of it’s own. While this isn’t new by stretch of the imagination Hickman takes it three steps further with the newly Established Krakoa not only being a hideaway for the mutants, but establishing itself on the worlds stage with trade and economy with three beneficial drugs offered to mankind. Seeing the mutants no longer on the back foot, but confident for the future and like Hickman himself, thinking long term. It’s been an interesting experience seeing these characters in a position of power as a community instead of being hunted and hated and found myself  just for a few moments connecting with how general population of the Marvel Universe sees them and arrives at a place of fear None so evident as cyclops’ encounter with the Fanatic Four who despite their powerful abilities have a palpable sense of dread that permiates the encounter, dread practically oozing of the panels.

Anyone familiar with Hickman knows that he sets up his tenures with long time, far reaching plans that is all over his Fantastic Four and Avengers runs, with one eventually bringing about the end of the world. There’s a tantalisingly bigger picture that we are only seeing glimpses of so far, but it never looses sight of the here and now, delivering a solid story each issue that will have you thinking about it until the next issue comes out

 

Superman’s Pal: Jimmy Olsen #2- DC Comics

Promising to kill Jimmy in 12 issues, it gives the young reporter a hell lot longer than Man of Steel afforded him and instead of being embarrassed by one the many ridiculous element of Superman’s publication history, Fraction dives into Jimmy’s disguise kit and dusts off the Silver Age silliness,producing something that is gloriously fun! It would have been so easy to smooth down the weird edges off Jimmy to a truly modern take on the character in keeping with the rest of the DC Universes love of the gritty and real, which Fraction eschews from the first page, as we see Jimmy undergo an unexpected but trademark transformations. Who doesn’t want to see Superman catching a giant turtle jimmy hurtling towards Metropolis?

While I loved the the first issue of Ruka’s Lois Lane, it wouldn’t have worked for Superman’s pal and would have seemed like a pale imitation. It’s way more fun to think of these two supporting characters going in equally thrilling but radically different adventures when the big blue boy scout isn’t around. Lois is the serious, beating the streets hard journalism, while Fraction frames Olsen more at the buzzfeed, shock value end of the spectrum. Fractions love for Olsen’s silver age portrayal is plainly obvious, but even with the slight modern sensibility, the nods to legal troubles and Jimmy “tilting towards video”, he steadfastly keeps the reporter as the perennially happy, eager superhero pal that makes his character such a delight!

 

Wednesday Adventures 7th August

 

A brief weekly rundown of recommendations of new releases I’m intrigued by, excited for and will be grabbing off the shelves to curl up with every new comics day before delving into them later in the week!

Have you hugged your local comic store owner today?

Future Foundation 1- Marvel Comics

Love them or hate them, the majority of comics fans will at least have some reaction to the news of the latest universe altering, “nothing will ever be the same again” mega events that crop up with alarming frequency. Mine? A little low level panic mostly. While writers bring much needed revamps to characters or a much needed shake-up, it’s also a worry that in concentrating on their big hitters that the newer, smaller supporting casts might get lost or forgotten about the shuffle. At best they could be inactive for a few years and at worst slipping into the realms of curious comic trivia.The recent slew of bonkers announcements from Marvel should have taught me that in this golden age of geek nothing is outside the realm of possibility, I still never in a million years thought that this would be. The Future Foundation are back everybody, and quite frankly I’m surprised as the rest of you are!

The combination of Fraction and the Allred on his first Family spin off Future Foundation that ran alongside the Fantastic Fours looping back into each other towards it’s action filled finale, picking up Ant-Man and She Hulk along the way and had an air of a book that was slipping through editorial unchecked and was able to have some real fun with it’s premise. It was a fun few years with Fraction and the Allred’s and new writer Jeremy Whitley seems to feel the same “I was a huge fan of their runs and had a special place in my heart for Fraction and Allred’s version of the Future Foundation. Seeing so much of what those runs had built taken off the table for a long time was tough” he said in interviews, whilst describing his take on the team as a heart pounding journey across time and space drawn by artist Will Robson from the criminally underrated and quickly cancelled West Coast Avengers a few years ago, bringing his wonderfully exaggerated comic style to the exploits of the teenage geniuses.

Whether or not it captures a larger audience, with a lot of it’s characters having their own long and byzantine histories, as well as what Fraction added most recently still remains to be seen. However as a previous fan of the team it’s Whitley’s commitment to not resetting them that has got me interested, not least in the continuation of Tong’s arc of self discovery. With the Molanoid discovering that, unlike her siblings, she identified as female which was just one of the smaller, personal stories that were the heart of Fraction’s time on the title. I’ve kept it as a book to keep returning to as I hope to once again when they hit the shelves this week.

Coffin Bound 1- Image Comics

Bursting into the comics scene with his neon drenched,scuzzy detective   comic Limbo and the honing his skills on the fantasy horror the the recent Lucifer series, Brad Simpson is deft hand at fleshing out the seemingly tired tropes of detective stories with his own flair for the inventive and a splash of red hot day glo energy. What made his previous image book, limbo so great was setting his colourful cast off into creepily exciting worlds, which seems to returning in Coffin Bound with Izzy Tyburn setting off on a roadtrip across a hellish grindhouse landscape, her Vulture companion in tow.

Simpson writes some fantastic action,as his previous image series Limbo roared off at a breakneck speed with the woozy intensity of two issues rather then six. Visually inventive throwing out new ideas already and now working more collaboratively on this project with 2000AD artists Dani the previews looks like it’s a creative team working in perfect sync to bring their shared vision of a dirty,chaotic world to life,as one that just oozes and spits off the printed page.

 

 

Wednesday Adventures 12th June

 

A brief weekly rundown of recommendations of new releases I’m intrigued by, excited for and will be grabbing off the shelves to curl up with every new comics day before delving into them later in the week!

Have you hugged your local comic store owner today?

 

Silver Surfer Black 1- Marvel Comics

The last, big run on the sentinel of the spaceways was an absolute delight. From the start Slott and the Allred’s acknowledged it’s debt to Doctor Who,citing it as an influence for the series and very quickly it became apparent that it was the guy with the silver surfboard who was giving us the weirdest, most spectacular and quirky sci-fi adventures, rather then the chap with the blue box. It really cemented them as maybe my favourite recent team to work on the character, that is until this week and the release of Silver Surfer black with the talents of super star writer and artist team of Donny Cates and Tradd Moore.

Cates has been quietly writing his way around the entire encyclopedia of the best Marvel characters as well as penning some new creations with Cosmic Ghost Rider and demonstrates a firm grasp on seemingly all of them to this point,leaving me eager to see what his has in mind as the “silver surfer fights for his soul” and returning the character to his more introspective roots after Slott took him on adventures flights of fancy. Moore is the perfect artist to play around with the already weird and wonderful cosmic corners of Marvel, and anyone who enjoyed his work on Ghost Rider and the deeply idiosyncratic and kinetic look he gave to Robbie’s world should check out this series.

 

Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man 6- Marvel Comics

If both the comics and movie versions proved anything, there can never be enough Spider-men,but with Miles Morales now also residing in the Marvel Universe proper, is Spider-byte one webhead too far? Nah!

Even with so many about the writers have excelled in giving them their own distinct personality and tone of stories around them from Silk to Superior to Gwen and while a younger version of Spidey was last seen kicking around an alternate universe with his Uncle Ben during Spider-Geddon,Marvel have been unusually tight lipped about the secret identity of this ensy weensy Spider leaving fans of the web-head theorising and speculating on another Spider character in the Marvel Universe. Tom Taylor and Juann Cabal have been giving us a much more down to Earth Spider-Man returning to his roots as a local hero which should be perfect to explore his relationship to a new member of the Spider family rather then a splashy punch ’em team up. Although, that would be nice too if they can swing it!

 

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 45- Marvel Comics

Ratatoskr is back! As the War of the realms rages across marvel entire line, the squirrel girl team have found themselves with an easy slam dunk, returning to arguably one of the runs best villains and the most organic feeling tie in to the Asgard themed event with the Norse chaos squirrel teaming up with Doreen against the Asgardian hordes.

While I tend to lean towards newer comics or ones still early in their runs in Wednesday Adventures,I’m keenly aware that this weeks 45th issue puts us only five issues away from the end of this hilarious and downright touching series. Squirrel girl has established her appeal as more than just an obscure fan favourite now turning up alongside Ms Marvel in the recent Marvel series and has carved out a unique niche among the rest of the heroes as throughout North’s tenure she has sought to get out of situations through dialogue and compassion. While it’s obviously to stop every story ending with Doreen just punching out the bad guy, it really helped to make her adventures stand out among her more well known peers. Here’s to the last five issues to come!

 

Wednesday Adventures 17th April

 

A brief weekly rundown of recommendations of new releases I’m intrigued by, excited for and will be grabbing off the shelves to curl up with every new comics day before delving into them later in the week!

Have you hugged your local comic store owner today?

 

Little Bird 2- Image Comics

It’s starting to sink in that the next issue of Saga could be anywhere up to two years away, and while you put on a brave face and bunker down, Little Bird is here to help soften the blow a little with gorgeous storytelling and cinematic visuals.

Taking place in a dystopian future, Little Bird follows a young resistance fighter struggling against the forces of the Oppressive American Empire. Even in it’s first issue this book felt like it had a creative team perfect in step with other. It’s writer Darcy Van Poelgeest was, unsurprisingly a movie director before his jump to comics and alongside artwork from Ian Bertram, this comic has the feel of a lush, visually striking movie playing out on the printed page. Like Saga before it, Little Bird doesn’t appear at all interested in fitting into any neat and tidy categories just yet, combining sci-fi and mysticism in a unique, textured and often blood soaked world that is tearing itself apart.

 

NextGen3- Marvel Comics

An exceedingly guilty pleasure that I’ve been rationalising every Wednesday for a week, The Age of X-Men has been solidly entertaining and fun. While it doesn’t quite hit the dramatic heights of War of the Realms is breaking into as we speak, NextGen in particular makes up for this with intriguing character development, making the best of it’s drama filled high school setting with Glob,who beyond the riot at Xavier;s has shied away from conflict being unceremoniously dropped right onto the front lines of the action and finds himself at odds with his own kind.

Old Woman Laura first showed us a refreshing change of scene, settling for a seeming Utopia and Age of X-Man carries on the idea of a broken,mutant anti-utopia which gives a welcome break from the noisy apocalyptic trappings to be had in stories like Age of Apocalypse and proves far more creepy and insidious. Even in this seemingly perfect Utopia that X-Man has created for his mutant kindred, they can’t help but be drawn back into conflict and relationship, resisting the gentle control and gravitating back to their core beliefs. The reptilian Student Anole being close to his unspoken “third strike” as he keep’s getting mindwipped but falling back into the same cycle of rebellion and revolution as he seeks out the underground over and over again, searching for a larger truth to this world.

The Magnificent Ms Marvel 2- Marvel Comics

As if any proof of her popularity and impact on the Marvel Universe over the last few years, the young New Jersey hero has even succeed in making the company add a new adjective into the rotation of their titles. Kamala Khan isn’t infamous, spectacular or sensational, she’s Magnificent as the returns in this new series helmed by Exiles scribe and Eisner Award-winning writer Saladin Ahmed with art from relative newcomer Minkyu Jung who has been building up quite the reputation and fans over at DC with the Batgirl and Nightwing titles.

Out of all her incredible superpowers, longevity is perhaps her strongest and as with Spider-Gwen is forging ahead with a new creative team. Ahmed’s work on the sadly short lived Exiles run demonstrated he knew his way around both exciting action, characterisation and deeply touching character moments all evident once again in last months first issue. Still a must read title!

Wednesday Adventures 3rd April

 

A brief weekly rundown of recommendations of new releases I’m intrigued by, excited for and will be grabbing off the shelves to curl up with every new comics day before delving into them later in the week!

Have you hugged your local comic store owner today?

 

Giant Days 49- Boom Studios

Five years,fifty issues and Allison’s Giant Days is still one of the funniest,laugh out loud comics on the stands. Entering their final year of University, Esther,Daisy and Susan are still as sharply written as ever as they tackle new challenges and changes to their lives and friendships. Issue 49 has Esther finally trying to finish her dissertation “The Liminal Spaces Of The Great American Novel 1959-1980” and finds herself struggling before returning to her own run down home town for some inspiration.

 

Spider-Gwen: Ghost-Spider 7- Marvel Comics

Sometimes a character becomes so entwined with a creative team it’s difficult to imagine them being handled by anyone else. None so more than Spider-Gwen with it’s creators Jason Latour‎ and Robbi Rodriguez who brought her into the pages of Marvel in such a stunning and affectingly simple way that branded them both onto their initial run that even the recent ‘Into the Spiderverse’ movie drew very heavily from the pair in both character and visual look, choosing to have her gracefully dive into the streets of the vibrant streets of her big apple,straight from the page.

So it’s been a weird ride seeing her guided through her adventures by someone new,namely artist Takeshi Miyazawa and writer Seanan Mcguire given the unenviable task of taking Gwen in a new direction. I’m pleased to say they pull this off and Gwen’s title still remains one of the most thrilling on the shelves.

War of the Realms 1- Marvel Comics

The next big event starts here! Nothing will ever be the same again! Yadda yaddda, you know the drill. Sarcasm aside I personally love a huge line wide sprawling event and I can think of no one better to pen such an Thor flavoured crossover than Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman who have been killing it on the Asgardian side of things for around five years now taking the entire cast of characters on wild and unexpected adventures.

As Malekith the Accursed and his forces invade Midgard it’s up to the heroes to do what they do best,band together and fight him the best they can which from tantalizing previews will include some intriguing team ups (She-Hulk, the Punisher, Blade and Ghost Rider anyone?) the usual powered up all out slugfest as well as some war like espionage with another set of seemingly mismatched heroes.

 

Wednesday Adventures 11th April

A brief weekly rundown of recommendations of new releases I’m intrigued by, excited for and will be grabbing off the shelves to curl up with every new comics day before delving into them later in the week! Have you hugged your comics store owner today?

Exiles 1- Marvel Comics

I hope the image book below make up for choosing this in the face of my complaints about Marvels up and coming re-blandening exercise as an event, “Fresh Start”. Barely any of the titles stand out to me. I hadn’t intended to pick any up. I know, What can I say? It’s the X-Men. Everyone has their pull list weak spots and wouldn’t you know it, X-Men is mine. Look, a book about misunderstood misfits will always,always have a space on my shelf and there is none more misfit then the Exiles. Plucked from all manner of mismatching alternate realities to fix the multiverse it was a comic with a delightfully silly mixture of beloved series’ Quantum leap and Sliders. With its comic hitting all the highs that made them such great shows. Larger overarching plots but essentially smaller mini arcs of bizarrely cool and  far fetched “What if” scenarios every issue, ensuring it was anything but boring. I’m hardly surprised that while  looking for a preview I found that new writer Saladin Ahmed (Black Bolt) has said pretty much the same thing in interviews.

All this without even mentioning a new secret star merely two issues away! Peggy Carter: Captain America! All the loud cries of “it’s only an alternative reality version!” that always come up, or the dismissal owing for her apparently unforgivable ties to a video game, don’t care. I’ll take my Carter action wherever and whenever I can get it thank you very much. The other, much more excited half of the Internets enthusiastic reaction upon the reveal makes me feel that this could be an interesting take that will end up informing the character in general going forward.

Dry County 2- Image Comics

When he’s not busy with she wolves and aquatic spy stories, Tommaso has been carving out his own little niche of criminally good neon-noir crime comics with the lies of Dark Corridor. This time around billed as “the everyman crime series”, Dry County finds Lou Rossi in the backdrop of a neon soaked nineties Miami trying to track down a woman he met one night in a laundromat.

Like a lot of Tommasi’s books, this ones taking a while to get up to full speed, and it helps that his past projects has proven he is very much worth sticking to with in this regard.