Monthly Archives: January 2015

Big Trouble In Little China #8
Boom! Studios
Words: Eric Powell
Pictures:  Brian Churilla

BigTroubleInLittleChina_008_coverA

Bust out the popcorn and soda (or pizza and beer if you’re so inclined…which I am), dust off the VCR, this is some slam bang good ‘80’s Action Movie action.  And while we’re at it, can we dust off Kurt Russel too?  Remember how awesome Kurt was back in the day?  (I’m not saying he isn’t awesome now, he just happened to be awesome back in the day.)  No?  Then pick this book up and read it.  (Also, I’m not implying he’s currently covered in dust…but I’m not implying he isn’t either.)

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Sundowners #6
Dark Horse
Words: Tim Seeley
Pictures: Jim Terry

Sundowners 6 Cover

Remember those Magic Eye images that were all the rage back in the late ‘90’s?  They were just pictures of random colors and patterns, but if you looked at them just right, you could see amazing 3-D images pop from the page.  (At least that’s what they told me, I never could see those damn things.  Except maybe once or twice.  Pretty sure it was a cow.)  Even if you didn’t see them, the images were pretty mesmerizing and gave you the illusion of movement and I was never quite sure what it was I was looking at.  That’s what reading Sundowners is like for me.

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Colder: The Bad Seed #4
Dark Horse
Words: Paul Tobin
Pictures: Juan Ferreyra

Colder 4 Cover

When I get sick and run a fever, I don’t mess around.  It’s not uncommon for me to run a fever of 101 to 102 on average.  Anything below that is no big deal.  But man, when I do run those higher fevers, my dreams are completely messed up.  Oh, sure, they start out pretty normal; like I’ll be walking through my house to go to the kitchen… The suddenly it’s not my house any more, and I can’t find the kitchen.  Then I’m being followed, and now I’m outside, so I start running, but I have no idea where I’m going and I’m not sure exactly why I’m running but I just can’t seem to stop and I’m not sure how long I’m going to be running but dammit I better keep running because something is back there, and I know I don’t like it but I’m not sure I’m going to like what’s just beyond this next turn either… and then I wake up.  That’s what reading Colder is like; a fever dream on the page.

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Dark Horse Presents #6
Dark Horse
Words:  Matt Kindt, Alex de Campi, Jimmy Palmioti, Justin Gray, Simon Ray, Peter Tomasi, Keith Champagne & Ed Brisson
Pictures:  Scott Kollins, Jerry Ordway, Andy Kuhn, Simon Ray, Leonard Kirk, & Brian Level

DHP 6 Cover

Anthology books can be tricky.  They’re like sampler platters at a restaurant.  They can be a small offering of some of the best things from the main menu.  Or they can be an offering of one or two of the best things from the main menu accompanied by a bunch of other stuff that isn’t selling very well and they want to get rid of it so they pair up the awesome bacon wrapped Asian dumpling with the cherry tomato with a toothpick in it.  With Dark Horse Presents, it truly is some of the tastiest bites from the main menu with no fillers whatsoever.

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X #21
Dark Horse
Words:  Duane Swierczynski
Pictures:  Eric Nguyen

X21 Cover

Reading X is like riding a ride at a county fair.  I don’t mean like the bumper cars or the merry go round.  I mean you climb into some off branded Tilt-a Hurl type contraption and you strap yourself in with what looks like an old dog leash and before you know it you’re launched into some kind of Helter Skelter trajectory as you hurtle forward at speeds that are probably well past the tolerance level for this thing (not that it’s been rated in this decade, or even inspected, gawd, don’t think about the last time it was inspected…) but this thing rockets you nearly off its rails (which is weird, because you didn’t know it had rails) and you’re screaming, your friend can’t help laughing because that’s what your friend does when he’s scared and everyone else on the ride is screaming, and you’re pretty sure the Carny with three teeth and the Motley Crue Theater of Pain T-Shirt is laughing as well, and you’re pretty sure this is the last thing you’re ever going to do in your life ever…  and then it’s over.  And you made it, and you realize, “Damn, that was fun”.  That’s kind of how I feel about reading X.

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Thomas Alsop #8
Boom! Studios
Words:  Chris Miskiewicz
Pictures:  Palle Schmidt

Thomas_Alsop_008_cover

This has been one of the most satisfying story arcs in comics that I’ve encountered in a really long time.  Fun, funny, crazy, bold, edgy, fantastic, honest, human, tragic… I could go on.  Thomas Alsop has become a very real person in just eight issues, and I’m sad to see it end.

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