Curb Stomp #1
Boom! Studios
Words: Ryan Ferrier
Pictures: Devaki Neogi
Take Gem and the Holograms, replace their instruments with baseball bats, knives, and brass knucks, and put them on the wrong side of the tracks, throw in some attitude from The Warriors, and mix it up with a neo classic pop color palette and you get a little peek at Curb Stomp #1. (Or at least a peek inside my bean when I was reading it.)
Colder: The Bad Seed #5
Dark Horse
Words: Paul Tobin
Pictures: Juan Ferreyra
Well, I almost made it through this issue without getting creeped out… Almost. Yeah, there are fingers flying off like some morbid Kayak commercial (have you seen that one? I freakin’ love that commercial… Anyway.) But that’s not what did it. Nope. Two words; Finger Worms. Dammit guys! (Shiver.)
Rocket Salvage #3
Archaia
Words: Yehudi Mercado
Pictures: Bachan
Rocket Salvage is the Hair Band on the Rockin’ Comics stage. It’s loud and flashy with big, bold colors, and it likes to blow things up. But underneath the visual spectacle, there’s a solid rhythm being laid down with some genuine artistry on lead guitar. (That is if the rhythm was the story and the lead guitar was the actual art, then that’s where that analogy comes full circle… and hopefully makes sense.)
Plunder #1
Archaia
Words: Swifty Lang
Pictures: Skuds McKinley
Opening up Plunder #1 is like diving face first into a nightmare…with your eyes open. It’s a trippy, disturbing adventure that stays with you.
Eight #1
Dark Horse
Words: Mike Johnson
Pictures: Rafael Albuquerque
I have to give it up to Rafael and Mike for coming out swinging with a great big awesome-weird stick and just plain hitting out of whatever passes for a park in a game played with a great big awesome-weird stick. I dig time travel stuff. I dig post apoc stories. I dig alt history mash-ups. Eight is all of those and more than all of them all at once.
Cluster #1
Boom! Studios
Words: Ed Brisson
Pictures: Damian Couceiro
Cluster is a bit like OZ meets Starship Troopers: The Movie, but with some Mad Max vibes and minus the silicone of Denise Richards (there’s just something all weird and plasticy about her).
The Woods #10
Boom! Studios
Words: James Tynion IV
Pictures: Michael Dialynas
Reading The Woods continues to be like walking through the woods for the first time. There’s the emergence of light from shadow, the sense of familiar and foreboding all at once, and a sense awe and wonder as you see parts of the woods for the first time. Walking through the woods can make you feel like there really is magic in the world; reading The Woods can give you that same feeling.
Lady Killer #2
Dark Horse
Words: Joelle Jones & Jamie S. Rich
Pictures: Joelle Jones
I can’t be the only one who got a Josie and the Pussycats meet James Bond on this issue am I? If I am, I’m good with that. (OK, that analogy only works if you swap out three piece all girl band for a one woman solo act, but still, she’s dressed up in cat ears and a tail and her name is Josie! I mean, I’m not too far off here.)
The Ghost Fleet #4
Dark Horse
Words: Donny Cates
Pictures: Daniel Warren Johnson
Donny and Daniel remind me of rock’s Toxic Twins, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry; those two make magic. Just like Donny and Daniel do with The Ghost Fleet. They lay down solid art riffs over soaring story vocals that just scream rock.