ADVANCED REVIEW: Undiscovered Country #1 is the next mega-hit from Image Comics

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By Zack Quaintance —  The Walking Dead and Wicked + Divine have ended, and Saga is still on an indefinite hiatus, with no new Brian K. Vaughan comic on the horizon just yet. As a result, there’s been talk in fandom and among the comics media lately about what Image Comics will do to fill these large sales gaps. Essentially, readers and critics have been wondering what the next big book will be from Image. Now that question has an answer — it’s Undiscovered Country.

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Top Comics to Buy for October 30, 2019: Giant Days and Vault Comics

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By Zack Quaintance — Ah, the always-odd fifth Wednesday, which often feels like a little bonus at the end of whatever month it shows up in. This fifth Wednesday is no different, and out Top Comics to Buy for October 30, 2019 maybe reflect that a bit, featuring as they do four books from one of our favorite rising indie publishers, Vault Comics.

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GET HYPED: Joker Killer Smile

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By Taylor Pechter — The Joker is one of the most iconic villains, not only in comics, but in mass media overall. The Clown Prince of Crime has been terrorizing Gotham City for almost 80 years and shows no signs of stopping. With that much popularity and malleability in one character, writers have been able to leave their mark on him over the years. 

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REVIEW: Going to the Chapel #2 finds the sweet spot between absurd and dysfunctional

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By Zack Quaintance — Through two issues, Going to the Chapel has been a delight...which feels like an odd thing to write about a comic that’s so heavily predicated on a hostage situation, complete with rubber Elvis masks and shotguns. But this has been a romp of a comic, one that uses a Quintin Tarantino-esque setup to probe the scary (and mildly absurd) feeling of going through a wedding ceremony. There are plenty of jokes in this book, and it’s a breezy read to be sure, but look a little closer—Going to the Chapel is actually a hilarious dive into relationship dynamics, from feeling like you’ve met the one to the baggage we carry with us from past break-ups.

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REVIEW: Money Shot #1 is a smart comic about society plus also sex

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By Zack Quaintance — I read this comic with my tablet on a plane while leaning out into the aisle, and, oh boy, was that a mistake. There are, to be sure, panels and scenes in this book that will make you bashful if you read them in a public setting...although maybe not as many as one might assume going into it. Despite the name and branding and concept, Money Shot #1 is not really all that salacious of a story. Sex (obviously) does play a part in this story, but the main ideas/themes here are more about desperation and greed than they are about anything gratuitous.

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REVIEW: ‘Ahoy, Muties’...Marauders #1 is an unlikely but welcome X-Men comic

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By Zack Quaintance — I’m going to be blunt here, folks — never did I think I’d be reading an X-Men pirate comic written by Gerry Duggan. And I especially didn’t think I’d be excited to read that comic. And I especially especially didn’t think I’d finish the first issue and want to read more issues of that comic. Yet, here we are.

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Top Comics to Buy for October 23, 2019: Immortal Hulk, Criminal, and more!

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By Zack Quaintance — This week really made me take stock of this year, featuring as it does two of the major highlights in comics for 2019: Criminal and Immortal Hulk. It’s really, in many ways, been a very solid year for comics, albeit not an overly flashy one. We’ve gotten some really stellar self-contained superhero stories, thinking here specifically of Immortal Hulk as well as the Superman epic that unfurled at DC and ultimately delivered the return of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

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Comic of the Week: Once and Future #3 and why Dan Mora should be a household name

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By d. emerson eddy — Dan Mora should be a household name. I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating. He has an incredible style that gives you hints of artists like Greg Capullo and Sean Gordon Murphy, an attention to iconic shapes similar to Mike Mignola, Bruce Timm, and Alex Toth, and an approach to shading that reminds me a bit of Gil Kane and Joe Kubert, resulting in a look that is unmistakably his own. A mix of clean-lined iconic characters and a bit of dirt and grit that makes it work for both ordinary humans as well as more fantastical horrors and monsters. This has consistently made him a boon for other BOOM! Studios titles like Klaus, Hexed, Go Go Power Rangers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and now it’s happening again in Once & Future #3. 

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INTERVIEW: Lonnie Nadler, Jenna Cha talk new Vault Comic, BLACK STARS ABOVE

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By Zack Quaintance — I recently had a chance to read a new series from Vault Comics (always a treat) called Black Stars Above, which is written by Lonnie Nadler, illustrated by Jenna Cha, colored by Brad Simpson, and lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. It’s a dense and immersive comic, one that blends elements of both cosmic horror and historical fiction into a dark existential cocktail that feels a bit like Twin Peaks set in the icy Canadian frontier.

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REVIEW: Cult Classic Creature Feature #1 presents a polished vision of dark nostalgia

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By Zack Quaintance — I remember when I first heard about Vault Comics’ shared Cult Classic Universe. It must have been 2017 or so. I was aware of Vault, having read (and loved) Heathen, as well as some of their other early titles, specifically Alien Bounty Hunter, Zojaqan, and Spiritus. It was billed (if I remember correctly) as a shared universe of horror-tinged stories set in the same small town and owing a bit to ‘80s teen genre films (although I can’t remember if that last part is just me projecting).

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REVIEW: X-Men #1 has some fun in the House of X that Hickman built

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By Zack Quaintance — Since Jonathan Hickman launched a new era of X-Men comics back in late July with House of X #1, there have been quite a few surprises in store for fans of Marvel’s mutants. Chief among these surprises is the entire concept of the new era, wherein guided by the lessons learned through Moira McTaggert’s reincarnations (she too is a mutant), Professor X, Magneto, Apocalypse and everyone else (pretty much) have unified, creating a separate mutant state on the living island of Krakoa, where they have also figured out how to revive any mutants that are killed….there is some tension between the newly-empowered mutants and humanity, however, and it is played out through the ongoing development of AI and robots. Phew.

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Top Comics to Buy for October 16, 2019: Superman Smashes the Klan, X-Men, and more!

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By Zack Quaintance — This is somewhat of a lighter week for my individual tastes, although if I look to the New #1s and One Shots section of our Top Comics to Buy for October 16, 2019, I do find some capital B Big books dropping. In fact, while this column generally doesn’t put #1s in our Top 5, there were so many strong debuts this week that we had to make some exceptions.

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Comic of the Week: The Batman’s Grave #1, long-form ambition meets single-issue crunch

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By d. emerson eddy — It pretty much goes without saying that DC Comics, that is “Detective Comics Comics”, publishes a lot of Batman comics. Just this week alone there's something like 16 Batman, Batman-related, and Batman-adjacent titles. It makes sense, Batman is a draw and continues to sell comics. He's one of those characters that lends himself to just about any type of story from action/adventure right on through to zombie horror, and it usually works. I tend to adhere to the belief that it's very hard not to make at the least a good, enjoyable Batman story and that there are many out there that are simply great. In some cases, even the best that the industry can offer. Granted, I am biased. It may not always seem as such, but Batman, like Swamp Thing, was one of the things that cemented my readership in comics. 

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TRADE RATING: Zdarsky, Checchetto’s Dardevil Vol. 1 is ‘unlike anything we’ve seen from this character’

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By Hussein Wasiti —  To be frank, I was surprised when Chip Zdarsky was announced late last year as the writer who would take ol’ hornhead in a brand new direction as the writer of Marvel Comics’ Daredevil. Joining him on this book, is artist Marco Checchetto, who made a name for himself with The Punisher and Old Man Hawkeye, both dynamic and action-oriented comics. It all seems like an unlikely creative mashup, but it works beautifully. 

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A Love Letter to These Savage Shores: A brilliant creative team with a unique cultural perspective

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By Jarred A. Luján — If you’ve been anywhere near me for the past year (or, really, most other folks in comics), you’ve probably heard ranting and raving about a book called These Savage Shores, and now…it’s ending. Yes, the final issue of this great series — These Savage Shores #5 — arrived yesterday, and I think this is the most emotional reaction I’ve ever had to a book finishing up...a strange blend of complete excitement to read it and utter dread knowing there isn’t a #6. I received a review copy in the service of writing this very article and still had to kind of hype myself up to read and finish it. I am, however, glad I did, because it’s a perfect ending, by the way. 

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Why are HOUSE OF X and POWERS OF X two series?

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By Garrett Rooney — House of X and Powers of X, the recently-concluded series that launched a new era of X-Men comics, are a complicated pair of interconnected stories. While they are clearly telling one larger story, Jonathan Hickman has chosen to tell us that story by breaking it into two separate six-issue mini-series that are mostly released on alternating weeks. This is somewhat unusual, because you really can’t appreciate either of these series alone. In fact, in the back of each issue of HoXPoX (for brevity I will be referring to the overall work as HoXPoX going forward, and the individual books as HoX or PoX), you’ll find a reading order that makes it very clear that you are intended to read the issues in a particular intertwined order, “two series that are one” as it says.

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REVIEW: The artists in Detective Comics #1013 steal the show in an action-heavy issue

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By Alex Batts — Detective Comics #1013 pushes the action in this Mr. Freeze-focused arc into overdrive. Writer Peter J. Tomasi is again joined by penciler Doug Mahnke, inkers Keith Champagne and Christian Alamy, colorist David Baron, and letterer Rob Leigh to round out the creative team. This first issue in this arc did a great job at setting the stage, and this issue does a fantastic job at escalation.

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Top Comics to Buy for October 9, 2019: These Savage Shores, Ice Cream Man, and more

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By Zack Quaintance — I just got back from my first trip to New York Comic Con, and boy is my everything exhausted. It was a great show, though. I covered it for ComicsBeat, and I found myself running from panels to the press room to panels and back again. Covering these shows is never easy, but it’s nice to have a challenge within the context of what might otherwise be overwhelming. Also, as a professional journalist by trade, I feel like I’m doing at least a little bit of service to the industry.

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Comic of the Week: Nomen Omen #1 is delivers something unique and challenging

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By d. emerson eddy — We're living in a time where there is a veritable embarrassment of riches when it comes to choice and quality for comics. If you don't particularly like superheroes, that's all right, because there's a huge selection out there. Publishers like Image, Dark Horse, BOOM!, Vault, IDW, Valiant, and more have you covered. Aside from arguably westerns and romance, you're not for want of reading material, high quality reading material, in just about any genre (including superheroes). So, on that landscape, it always surprises me when something raises itself above, strives to do something different, and delivers something unique, something challenging, from seemingly out of nowhere. Nomen Omen #1 is one of those books.

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