Hello lovelies. Zaphod here bringing you my second weekly comic blog. Huge shout out to @rileyj for the suggestion of the blog name. It's simple yet is also a double entendre, implying sexy stripping, which I am all in favor of.
Keeping things sexy, my drink of choice tonight is: lemon lime Airborne. I have contracted a minor form of The Death so I decided to get my comics read early so I could turn in and get to feeling better.
This was a relatively big week for me and I had a few issues I needed to catch up on, which added even more to my stack. Most importantly though, I got this:
If you look closely, you'll see that this is the second printing of the fourth printing (fifth printing) of Sex Criminals #1. I fucking love this comic and this cover is just too delightful for words. Even though we ordered it as soon as it was announced, our shop wasn't able to get our hands on the fourth printing but I don't even care (I do however care that Diamond is awful and all of the copies of this we were able to get had big ol' dings in the corners. Goddammit!) If you're not reading this, you're missing out on a lot. I'm really excited because they're both coming up to ECCC and I want to have them sign this and put little thought bubbles over their heads thinking silly things.
Anyway, on to the stack:
As you can see, I have Lazarus on top of my stack so we'll start with that one.
Lazarus #6
I am really digging this comic. This is a word where only a very small fraction of the population lives in wealth and the rest, called serf or waste live in regions owned by the wealthy families and are struggling to get by. Each of the big families has a protector, or Lazarus, who can withstand crazy amounts of damage and have been raised only to protect their family - no matter what. Forever is the Lazarus for the Carlyle family and the focal point of the comic. This issue tells a little more about Forever's childhood as well as introducing a family of Waste, giving insight into how these people live. What Rucka and Lark have going here is pretty great and I am so happy to have picked up this title. If you dig dystopian fiction, a good action story, or a bad ass powerful female lead, this story's for you.
Trillium #6
This is the time-crossing love story by Jeff Lemire. The two main characters, Nika and William, are trapped in the other's time and are trying to get back. This is another issue that flips upside down and back throughout and there's one page where I just read upside down rather than flipping the comic every panel. I am really interested to see where this is going to go in the next two issues, being that it was solicited as "the last love story ever told." I am a big fan of Jeff Lemire, both his writing and his art and this series more than lives up to my expectations. If you like this series, try reading Underwater Welder, also by him or 3 Story by Matt Kindt.
Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #5
Speaking of Matt Kindt, here we have the last issue of his "99 Problems" story where Spider-Man has to face off against 99 of his foes. This issue brings the mini-series to a close and also reveals who orchestrated the whole situation. Matt Kindt is great so it's really nice seeing him over at the Big 2. He's also incredibly nice. I chatted with him last year at ECCC for probably fifteen minutes and he did cool sketches in my books which was great. This book is drawn by Marco Rudy and while I'm not familiar with him on a name basis, I am really quite taken with this. He breaks from the usual panel format and has these crazy psychedelic, panels which reminds me of JH Williams on Batwoman: Elegy. I'm not usually much of a Marvel reader, but this series was quite a lot of fun.
Drumhellar #4
I'm going to be honest with you, this comic is weird. This is the story of a paranormal detective named Drum Hellar who has an weird floating blobby friend that only a few people can see. Riley Rossmo is doing the art as well as co-plotting it with writer Alex Link. This issues sees Drum on the inside of prison trying to break out and help a very, very unusual client. The first few issues were a little hard to follow but things are starting to come together more and with Rossmo's pencils, I am going to let things play out a little more before making any rash decisions like cutting it from my list. This is one of those that I think will be a much more cohesive trade but reading it month-to-month can be a bit confusing. I'm going to pull out the other issues hopefully before issue #5 and read them all together. Rossmo is really firing on all cylinders with the art and that is what makes this trippy comic worth the read.
Detective Comics #28
Picking up right where #27 left off, Detective Comics sees Batman inside Arkham Asylum, which is being run by those previously incarcerated there. This issue continues the Gothtopia storyline and Bruce tries to figure out what is wrong with Gotham. This issue is a solid read and leads into what I think will be an interesting story development.
Invincible Universe #10
It's the wedding of Kid Thor and Knockout and nothing is going according to plan. This issue is very lighthearted for the most part. The issue is seen through the memory of a freelance photographer working at a newspaper run by a very unpleasant man with a stripe of white hair and an alliterative name. Which is like nothing we have ever seen before in comics! Just kidding...
Juice Squeezers #2
To be honest, this is the first I've read of David Lapahm's work. I was initially put off by seeing his work in Crossed but he seems to be a pretty diverse writer. This comic is about a team of pre-teens who, in addition to going to school school, are trained to kill large bugs in the tunnels beneath their town. Juice Squeezers is a four issue mini-series and I am thoroughly enjoying it so far. The new kid in town seems unaware of this town's history with the giant insects but seems to be making some big discoveries of his own.
Apocalypse Al #1
This is part of Straczynski's "Joe's Comics" line along with Ten Grand, which I love. This comic is about Allison, or "Al" who is a private investigator specializing in preventing the end of the world, which seems to happen quite frequently in her world. The art is really charming and expressive and I am immediately taken with the story. This is definitely one to add to your pull list.
Ms. Marvel #1
Like I said, I'm not much of a Marvel person, but I decided to give this one a try. At first, I was a bit put off by what seems to be just general teenage issues and drama, but Kamala Khan is dealing with more than that. She is a US born Muslim, trying to come to terms with her cultural identity in a world where she feels she doesn't fit in. This comic definitely touches on some key issues that are universal growing up and giving her a superhero identity is just another curveball in the craziness that is adolescence. I'm not 100% sold but I'd like to see things play out over the next few issues as the story has promise.
Revelations #2
So, I read this back to back with issue one. This is a six issue series by Paul Jenkins and with art by Humberto Ramos. Ramos' art is really quite great in this series, all of the characters are fairly cartoony but in the best way. There's this little old man with the biggest eyes, it's adorable. The main character is a former Catholic-turned Atheist who is investigating the death of a priest at the Vatican. He is constantly chain smoking, cursing, and it's great. There also seems to be some sort of secret cult within the Vatican which is intriguing.
Anyway, sorry if I didn't go into a bunch of detail with some of the issues, but my bed is calling and boy it is sounding pretty great right now. I think I'm gonna go visit with it for the next ten or so hours. Good night to you all and may all of your comics be great (and without fucking dings in the corners...*grumble*)
