COMIC OF THE WEEK: Dead Eyes #3 is a book about crime that also has a big heart

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By d. emerson eddy — In 2018, Image Comics had launched a new crime thriller about a thief who just up and disappeared one day, after supposedly making a big score. That book was called Dead Rabbit, and it was unfortunately cancelled due to problems with the trademark. Thankfully, it was tweaked and renamed, and for the past few months we've seen it returned as Dead Eyes. The first two issues are already on the stands, reprinting a slightly modified version of the first two installments of the first book. Here in Dead Eyes #3 is where the brand new material hits and, man, it was worth the wait.

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Comic of the Week: King Thor #1, ‘the end has never looked so good’

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By d. emerson eddy — It's been a big year for Thor, both the character and the franchise. The threat that has been building and building under Malekith's hand for years finally came to a head in The War of the Realms, arguably one of the best superhero event series and tie-ins in recent years. He found the inner strength to become worthy again, both of his mantle and of the pride of his father, Odin. The Asgardian side of Marvel has also become a larger viable franchise again, both creatively and financially, with the recent launches of Loki and Valkyrie. And we're coming full circle to end of Jason Aaron's seven years guiding Thor as he reunites with the Thor: God of Thunder team that (nearly*) started it all of Esad Ribić, Ive Svorcina, and Joe Sabino. 

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COMIC OF THE WEEK: Legion of Super-Heroes Millenium is a unique bridge through DC Universe time

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By d. emerson eddy — There were a couple forms of the Legion Super-Heroes that were around at the beginning of DC's New 52 reboot back in 2011, all of which kind of continued on from what had been happening with the team before the reboot. These included one team, Legion Lost, that was thrown back to the present, where they started dealing with the strange time anomalies from Flashpoint in rather oblique ways, never really directly referencing the change. Neither series lasted long, and the franchise virtually disappeared two years into the New 52. After the publisher relaunched its superhero properties in 2016 with Rebirth, writers and artists have dropped some Easter eggs and other hints within the DC Universe, but it's still been almost six years since we've seen a proper Legion of Super-Heroes comic.

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Comic of the Week: Mountainhead #1 is another strong addition to IDW's growing creator-owned catalog

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By d. emerson eddy — This year, in between the licensed material and burgeoning Marvel Action line of friendly all ages superhero tales, IDW has gone back to one of the things that established them in the industry some 20 years ago: idiosyncratic creator-owned supernatural, fantasy, and horror stories. IDW’s creator-owned comics this year have shown an impressive inventiveness and a captivating personal quality. They are stories that seemingly could only be told by these creators, who are often newer voices to the industry. A number of them have been English language editions of series also published by Glénat Editions, but some of my favorites have been IDW originals like Canto, Road of Bones, Night Moves, and Ghost Tree. Mountainhead is the latest comic to join the latter group.

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Comic of the Week: Daredevil #10, ‘comics don’t often get as good as this’

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By d. emerson eddy — The current volume of Daredevil could be considered a masterpiece. Every issue has delved deep into Matt Murdock's soul and lain it bare, while getting to the very heart of the complicated relationship between vigilantism, the police, duty, responsibility, and morality. I don't believe there's been a sheer force of nature driving this series since Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's “Born Again” arc back in 1986. Every single creator who has been working on this volume of Daredevil has been integral to delivering this story and elevating the heights of this series.

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Comic of the Week: Die #6 is the next chapter in one of the best new series in recent memory

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By d. emerson eddy — Die was easily one of the best new series to begin late last year. The series taps into the magic and wonder of roleplaying games, both in terms of the mechanics and experience of playing them, as well as the limitless imagination that goes into constructing them. The world-building that writer Kieron Gillen and artist Stephanie Hans have put into creating this world is practically incomparable to anything else. It's deep, incorporating influences from fantasy and literature, which shows even further in the actual working pen & paper RPG that Gillen is developing to compliment the comic.

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Comic of the Week: Knights Temporal #1 is another strong book from AfterShock

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By d. emerson eddy — For awhile now, AfterShock Comics has been amassing a very solid library of vastly-diverse high-quality genre comics including horror, fantasy, adventure, thriller, science fiction, and more. The strength of the publisher's catalogue is incredible, and it just keeps growing. Contributing to that catalogue in a number of ways has been Cullen Bunn, who with his collaborators, has given us Unholy Grail, Brothers Dracul, and Dark Ark. Each kind of recontextualizing history and folklore into stories somewhat at the periphery of horror, and in the first two a gritty adventure sensibility similar to something like Conan. Knights Temporal #1 shares some of that sensibility, but feels wholly original.

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Comic of the Week: Justice League Dark #13 is a great microcosm of what makes this series work

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By d. emerson eddy — Spinning out of the Justice League: No Justice weekly series and event last summer that redefined crucial elements of the DC Universe's cosmogony and fundamental forces, Justice League Dark has for the past year or so explored DC’s magical corners. Sometimes delicately, sometimes with a giant hammer smashing it to bits in order to forge something new. The series has wonderfully been navigating the connective tissue of the characters filling out DC's “sophisticated suspense” of '80s, the Shadowpact explorations of the '00s, and the weirdness beyond, while building upon a new foundation for whatever comes next. Justice League Dark #13 does…

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Comic of the Week: Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins – Series II #1...phew!

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By d. emerson eddy —  Critical Role could be considered a kind of cultural phenomenon in mainstream appeal of Dungeons & Dragons, helping bring interest and entertainment to the game, both to playing and to watching others, all through the adventures of a group of “nerdy-ass voice actors” every Thursday night. Critial Role started small with a stream on Geek & Sundry's Twitch channel and has now ballooned into a multimedia juggernaut, a growing company with numerous productions, its own merchandise, and one of the largest crowdfunding campaigns to finance an animated series (it was originally just a special and then ballooned with donations and stretch goals) based on the characters from its first campaign. Critical Role also had a comic series in 2017 that served as an introduction to the characters and a gathering of the team.

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