Chris’s Pick:

Kick-Ass Premier Hardcover

Kick-Ass has been so well received that it makes me sad to not have a local comic store to support.  Lucky for me issues 1 – 8 are now being published as a hardcover!  Spawned from the greatness that is Mark Millar and John Romita Jr, this takes the super hero genre to a whole new level.  Look for this sweet sweet book this Wednesday!

Mike’s Picks:

Captain America #603

Regardless of the controversy stirred up by last issue’s “Tea Bagger” incident, Captain America has been one of Marvel’s most consistently high quality books (Cap Rebirth non-withstanding) since it was relaunched with Ed Brubaker at the helm a few years back.  Brubaker has found an extremely smart and entertaining way of bringing decades of Cap continuity and characters and bringing them into a realistic modern setting.  This arc is not different with 50′s Cap trying to find a place in the 21st century and picking the wrong crowd.  The art has maintained a consistent feel thanks to the round robin of Steve Epting and Luke Ross, who is on this issue with Butch “Remember when they called me Jackson?” Guice.

Invincible #70

I jumped on this series later in it’s run, but I have to admit, this is some of Robert Kirkman’s best work, second only to The Walking Dead.  Kirkman can be real hit (Invincible, Marvel Zombies) or miss (Wolfman, Ultimate X-Men, Haunt) but when he’s on it’s great fun.  This looks to be the “calm before the storm” issue, with the big Viltrumite war coming in issue #71, so not a bad spot to jump on.  The art on this book is amazing as Ryan Ottley is one of my favorite artists working today and does a great job on this title.

Rob’s Picks:

Joe The Barbarian #2

The second in the amazingly well-received mini-series from Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy. I’m really looking forward to reading through this book, as the first issue had me at “hello.” Says Vertigo: “Formless Deathcoats, Dwarf Pirate Submariners, a Rodent Yojimbo – the wildest imaginings of a young boy become all too real in this breakout epic. Fantasy and reality, death and life, collide in this new must-read series.”

Chase Variant

The cover is what got me on this one. I’m a sucker for Frank Miller-esque females with four arms and a bad attitude. What’s even better? This one’s a one-shot, with no need for me to know ANYTHING about the character or series. Way to go, image – that’s how we get new readers! Continuity is awesome, but I usually wait for the TPB if the story is in the middle when I find a particular book. Make sure to check this one out in the stores this week.

Tyler’s Pick:

Green Lantern #51

It’s time for this gay rainbow flag of cosmic proportions to come to a close and now that the New Guardians (not to be confused with the crummy Marvel title from the 90′s) have gotten their prism of light together and are taking on the Black Lantern behemoth Spectre. Granted, Hal Jordan is being a super space douche again by unleashing Parallax, but its his “Leap before you look” attitude that makes him consistently entertaining- if not groan worthy. I can’t wait to see how the rainbow connection saves the day.

Background:
I’ve been a fan of Grant Morrison since The Invisibles. I bought the entire run of 52 in trade paperback due to his being on the title. Sadly it wasn’t enough to save that series from a big fat “meh.” I’ve been a fan of Vertigo since way the hell back when Neil Gaiman wrote the Books of Magic series, through the Hellblazer by Ennis, and then Ennis’ Preacher series.

So it was with great joy I read that Morrison was writing an 8 issue miniseries called Joe The Barbarian, about a young man who, well, I didn’t know who. Which is part of the joy.

So, for a dollar, I grabbed this book at the shop today, to check it out. The pdf preview up at Vertigo had intrigued me, especially with Sean Murphy’s On The Ledge column about how he had furnished this kid’s room with retro cool stuff like Atari, even though it’s set in the modern world. And, being a fan of MR. Morrison, I figured it would be a wham-bam crazy-fest bursting out of the front cover like a lost psillocybin weekend.

The Story:
Fascinatingly, this first issue is a slow burn full of set up and what I can only assume to be foreshadowing and visual hints at the story to come. The big comics-style Morrison wackiness happens late in the book, and is similarly paced at what I can only describe as a stretched out speed. The book begins with a glimpse into Joe Manson’s life: he draws comic-book looking robots, he’s a nerd being bullied by the jocks at school; the stereotypical surprisingly good looking girl who sees through her social conditioning is interested in him. His mom is really busy at work, but loves him, reminding him to eat his candy bar — which is then stolen from him by the aforementioned jocks, possibly setting up the story of hypoglycemic Joe, I figure. We learn, indirectly and gently, that Joe’s dad is dead and buried at the VA cemetery. We learn that they’re having to move out of the house they’re in now, and that Joe’s pretty bummed out.

There’s a back and forth between reality and not-reality that I found to be extremely compelling. I felt that there was a kinship with some of the better Philip K. Dick short stories, though it’s more me as reader that has to figure out what’s going on, as well as the character of Joe himself. Not knowing what’s happening definitely brings another level of depth to the read-through: every image and background detail could mean something tremendous.

The Artwork:
This is some brilliantly drawn and colored art. The muted tones of the coloring job, along with the crunchy, sketchy look of the pencils and inks, really bring a tone of sadness to the whole book. Honestly, I get the sense of the whole team working at the top of their game – art and words working together as a whole to tell the story. I might even feel comfortable in using the word, “immersive,” for this book. Time and future issues will tell, of course, and we’ll be bringing you the reviews as the books are released right here on Comics Are Evil.