Writer(s): Mark Waid
Artist(s): Jean Diaz
Publisher: Boom Studios
Why Pull: Supervillain turns Superhero. That’s just cool. Plus it’s Mark Waid and he’s a pretty good writer, or so I hear.

Muppet King Arthur #2

Image United – Kirkman

Writer(s): Robert Kirkman
Artist(s): ERIK LARSEN, RYAN OTTLEY, & WHILCE PORTACIO, cover ERIK LARSEN & WHILCE PORTACIO
Publisher: Image
Why Pull: It’s Kirkman, doing what seems to be typical superhero fare. Why not? Even if it sucks, it’s bound to be better than most, right? And why not give Image some cash?

Sweet Tooth Written by Jeff Lemire; Art and Cover by Jeff Lemire

Sweet Tooth, by Canadian Jeff Lemire, can be described as ‘The Road’ meets ‘Bambi’ crossed with ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’.  Much like David Lapham (Stray Bullets, Young Liars), Lemire both writes and draws his vision so you know you are getting exactly what the creator intended.  There is a consensus that there are seven stories and twenty basic plots in the world and post-apocalyptic jouney tales are far from sparse, but Lemire’s take on it feels fresh.  Much like Kirkman’s ‘The Walking Dead”, you quickly stop caring about what caused the apocalypse and start caring about the characters.   Here there are two:  Jeppard, a gruff hard ass with a concious and Gus, a bizarre animal human hybrid with antlers, whom Jeppard nicknames ‘Sweet Tooth’ as the deer-boy likes candy.   The juxtaposition of  the road-toughened Jeppard against the naive and innocent Gus makes up most of the first arc as they make their to what Gus hopes is a safe haven.  There are two mysteries at work early on in this series, just what is Gus and who is Jeppard?  The appeal of the book is the slow burn that Lemire allows between the two main protagonists, as they build some trust before the first arc ends, but this is not decompression.  The story moves along and drops clues and informational nuggets at the right times to keep you enthralled. Do not expect to open the book and see a Bendis-like flood of word balloons.  The issues are a quick read, but the artwork begs you to slow down and really look at what Lemire has drawn.  His sketch lines, use of shadow, and somewhat abstract style really work well with this material and it’s quite an achievement the emotional aspects he is able to convey.  Like ‘Chew’, this is an offbeat and well done series that needs to reach an wider audience so we can keep it around.  The first issue of the 2nd arc just came out and is a great jumping on point if you are a fan of this genre.

G.I. Joe Cobra II; Written by Mike Costa and Christos N. Gage;  Art by Antonio Fuso; Variant Covers by Howard Chaykin

For a lot of comic fans in their mid-30’s, Marvel’s G.I. Joe was a gateway book to other titles.  Almost exclusively written by Larry Hama, the original 50 issues are considered classics.  The license has changed hands around 4 times and is now with IDW (Devil’s Due really struggled with their World War Three finale) and while even Hama himself is back on board, the real standout title with the reboot was G.I. Joe Cobra.  Counter to what had come before, the first mini-series went for a realistic, gritty approach and took both Chuckle’s undercover mission and the ruthlessness of Cobra very seriously.  Costa and Gage took advantage of the clean slate and made previously thought of as ridiculous characters like Chuckles, Jinx, and Xamot & Tomax, into hardcore players in this world of espionage and counter-intelligence.  Antonio Fuso also returns on art, and his style is reminiscent of Steve Epting and fits the grimey feel of the book perfectly.  Not to spoil anything, but from the cover of the first issue of the second arc (to the right), you can tell things didn’t work out so well for our boy Chuckles.  Part II begins similar it Part I, with Hawk coldly recruiting some fresh meat for the infiltration grinder, and whose goal is to ‘get Chuckles’.  This time around we also get a Cobra point of view from the assistant of Xamot & Tomax, Erika La Tene.  In another brilliant stroke, Costa and Gage manage to make the Croc Master actually work as a creepy Dr. Doolittle of deadly reptiles.  Any fan of GI Joe who long for a serious take with no black and white, good and evil archetypes, but instead some real gray areas that reflect the world today, this series is a must have.  ’Joe has been real hit or miss (mostly miss) lately, but Cobra really takes chances and deserves to be rewarded for it’s brave and mature reworking of this strip mined material.  And, those Howard Chaykin covers don’t hurt either.

Yesterday resulted in a severe bank breaking visit to my local comic shop, the esteemed Graham Cracker’s Comics of Chicago (who happen to come up 3rd on Google when you search ‘comic books’ btw!). I had not set foot in the store since early December so to say my appetite was voracious was an understatement. I have a steady stream of books that get pulled but I sought out some new titles to accent the already colorful stack. As many readers know, we are a critical bunch but its also our peers’ opinions that help fuel our own about what constitutes a good book. I have put great stock in the recommendations of both Shane and Nick at the Lincoln Park store and must admit half this list exists because of them.

Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill

First up is one of my favorite ongoing “mini-series” and for the life of me I hate that I can’t wait for the hardcover versions of each installment to release. I am speaking of the seemingly endless Dark Tower series based on the half-ton tome by Stephen King. For years, writers Peter David and King’s archivist Robin Furth have created one of the more compelling mythologies along with the incredibly nuanced work of Jae Lee and Richard Isanove. Right now, the series is midway through the Battle of Jericho Hill, which marks the triumphant return of Jae Lee (whose meticulous pace has sometimes crippled the release schedule of the book in the past) . Since the Gunslinger Reborn, this series has been nothing short of a work of art, with appendixes and sketchbooks in the back of nearly every (too short) issue. The lore of Gilead and the sons of Gunslingers is teeming with sinister magic, love and betrayal and moral choices at every turn that you’d think King was writing it himself. In fact, all of these stories stand alone from the novels but are born from his story bible by Ms. Robin Furth and then approved by King. The result is pure visual poetry.

As if one Stephen King book weren’t enough, there is the other epic adaptation of the ultimate apocalypse odyssey: The Stand: Soul Survivors is the third itteration in the maxi series format (again likely in order to fend off shipping deadlines). Having read the 1,100+ page opus, its so satisfying to see wunderkind artist Mike Perkins make all the locations and characters come to life as they were described with an unsettling accuracy. The journey of Larry Underwood, Franny, Mother Abagail and the others to face off with the ever-evil Randall Flagg is one worth taking in either format, but to see it without Gary Sinese chewing up the scenery makes it all the better.

As I stated above, Marvel is certainly making good decisions with its literary adaptations. Adding to that roster is The Marvelous Land of Oz. Right off the heels of the NY Times best-selling “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (now available in hardcover), the aimless quest of Tip, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Animated Saw-Horse is the best all-ages fun in comics today. Every page jumps to life with whimsical art and crisp dialogue. The Marvelous Land of Oz is based on Baum’s second book, which never featured Dorothy, yet keeps the Tin Man and Scarecrow and a few other familar faces in the mix. Oz is written by Eric Shanower (who us vets remember as the incredible artist of The Elsewhere Prince maxi-series based on the strip by Moebius) and is fleshed out by the incredibly talented and stylized Skottie Young. It is a book that must been seen to be believed. If you have any sort of affection for the Wizard of Oz, Baum’s books or even the sinister Return to Oz, this is for you.

And now for something completely different:  When I walked into the store yesterday and asked Nick and Shane what was getting their blood running, they pointed me to the back wall to pick up both trade paperback volumes of Mark Waid and Peter Krause’s Irredeemable. I nearly only bought the first one and am now extremely grateful that I had a second trade to pound through. Waid has proven time and time again that he is deserving of those Eisner Awards on his desk and the tale of the vengeful Plutonian is possibly his best work to date. This vicious, dark and extremely violent book from Boom! Studios gives any of Alan Moore’s  dysfunctional super hero work a run for its money. What happens when an invincible super hero is done being a hero and decides he can do whatever he wants? He keeps you reading. By far my favorite book in a loooong time. You might as well pick these up and wait for Vol. 3 because it has completely disappeared off the shelves.

Until the next pull!  (In which I take on SIEGE, The New Avengers, Blackest Night one shots and why Ulitmate Comics Spider-Man Vol. 2 might be the best Webhead/ X-men book ever…)

What am I looking forward to this week? Well, since I’m putting together lists of upcoming comics, I notice those first. I have a perverse love for Buffy Season 8, the painted covers. The comics have always been, in my opinion, way better than the TV show (though I must admit I’ve only watched the first three seasons), and every week, I see these at the local shop and tend to lose my saving throw against “shiny” purchases. This week, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #32: Twilight part 1 comes out and I may jump back into the series again.

Mass Effect Redemption is another draw, though I’ll probably skip it, even though I’m a big gamer, loved Mass Effect 1, and enjoyed the hell out of the little bit of Mass Effect 2 I got to play at a buddy’s house this past weekend. Game-based comics never really had much draw for me. I like the stories as they’re presented in-game, and tend to steer clear of novelizations and comic-book adaptations.

Doom Patrol #7? Hell yeah. Just the fact that I missed the first 6 books here makes me especially eager to check it out, and see what back issues the local shop has in the longboxes. I was a big Doom Patrol fan back when Grant Morrison picked up the series int eh mid-90s, and the fact that J.M. Matteis is part of this book is the main reason I’ll grab it. Moonshadow forever, right?

There’s no way I’ll miss a new Grant Morrison Batman storyline, especially after the amazing RIP series. Even though this is technically a last week’s release, I’m grabbing it this week. Cameron Stewart is the artist on this one, and as I’ve been folliwing him on Tiwtter, Im gonna have to check this one out. It’s the beginning of a new story, and has Batwoman in it. Can you go wrong there? I think not.

I’ve been a fan of Vertigo books from the way-back as well, and the new team up between Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan, Demo, has me fairly hot and heavy. Reading an interview with Wood, I was excited to learn that the book would have no ads, and would stick to the black and white, single story approach of the earlier indie book they put together. This one is on my must-read list, and you can get a preview of it right here.

On the digital side of things, I’ll continue my read-through of Ultimate Spider-Man over at Marvel Digital Comics. What a great deal that is, even though it’s limited to one publisher’s books, I’m getting a hell of ton of fun out of it.

I’ve also just grabbed the latest Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse off the PSN for my PSPGo – honestly, even if I never play a video game on the handheld console again, the digital comics and video player from the Playstation Network has made me a huge fan of the console and of Sony. While it’s not doing as well as Sony would like, I’m sure, the fact is that the PSP may be the best platform for digital comics I’ve seen, yet (though the iPhone has some serious competition for it, as well). Wormwood is a darkly humorous take on the juxtaposition between the supernatural and the mundane, filtered through the amazing and liquid artwork of Ben Templesmith, who also happens to be the writer. The PSP versions even have author commentary, like a DVD. Great stuff!