Evil Empire #10
Boom! Studios
Words: Max Bemis
Pictures: Victor Santos
Man, Max and Victor show just how repulsively attractive (or attractively repulsive) evil can truly be. I’m serious. They show just how seductive even the most whackadoo ideas can be if properly positioned amongst society.
The Ghost Fleet #3
Dark Horse
Words: Donny Cates
Pictures: Daniel Warren Johnson
I’m not sure there’s another book I’m reading right not that is more “rock” than The Ghost Fleet. When you crack the front cover, it’s like turning on a Marshal stack; you can feel the hum and you know this is going to make some noise.
Hellraiser Bestiary #4
Boom! Studios
Words: Lela Gwenn, Christian Francis, Ben Meares & Mark Miller
Pictures: Daniele Serra, Huseyin Ozkan, & Carlos Magno
Anthologies are awesome. Kind of like a sampler case of beer. You get a taste of a couple of different flavors while not having to commit full on to any single one. Well, if you’ve got a taste for horror, then consider this your twelve pack sampler. (Ok, so it’s actually a three pack, but you get the drift.)
The Ghost Fleet #1
Dark Horse
Words: Donny Cates
Pictures: Daniel Warren Johnson
When I was a kid, I got Diary of a Madman by Ozzy Osbourn (vinyl, of course) for Christmas, and it was ridiculously cool. The Ghost Fleet #1 is kind of like finding Diary of a Madman under the tree.
Black Market #4
Boom! Studios
Words: Frank J. Barbiere
Pictures: Victor Santos
Well I didn’t see that coming. Frank J. Barbiere wraps up this first arc (at least I hope it’s just a first arc) and completely changes the dynamic between Ray and Denny with this one issue.
Without giving away too much, Ray is way more on top of things than I ever imagined. Up until now, I’ve pictured Ray as the poor sap who’s just trying to help his girl and save his brother and has found himself in the deep end of the pool while barely treading water. Well, that’s not exactly the case. Ray is kind of the man in this issue. Technically, he’s been the man the whole time, but now we all know it.
The Empty Man #4
Boom! Studios
Words: Cullen Bunn
Pictures: Vanesa R. Del Rey
Jacked up, dark, and weirdly awesome. That, for me, is The Empty Man #4.
Deep Gravity #3
Dark Horse
Words: Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko
Pictures: Fernando Baldo
Back in my days of RPGing (I still do, just not as much as I used to/would like to), one of my GM friends said, when you run a demo of a game, get people rolling dice early and often. Get them into the action. It’s a demo. They want to play so let them. That’s how this issue starts off. (Ok, you don’t actually open up page one and start rolling dice, just roll with me here. I didn’t even realize I did that until I had written it. I have got to stop using parenthesis.) Things are bad, and you get the feeling things are just going to get worse. The station is in a shambles, there are hostile alien life forms aboard, and the group needs to get to the other part of the station, which just so happens to be cut off from them for now. So yeah, not good.
Hexed #2
Boom! Studios
Words: Michael Alan Nelson
Pictures: Dan Mora
Luci! You’ve got some ‘splaining to do! You know, a Ricky Ricardo imitation doesn’t translate well to A) the written page (or screen) and B) 2014. But oh well. But seriously, Luci does have some explaining to do to Val, you know, about why she’s dead now.
Cloaks #1
Boom! Studios
Words: Caleb Monroe
Pictures: Mariano Navarro
Cloaks is a blend of Robin Hood meets Now You See Me. Our very likeable star Adam, aka The Kid, uses magic, the sleight of hand kind (at least, I think that’s all he’s using, there could be a little something more to it) to rob from the rich and give to the poor.
Pop #1
Dark Horse Comics
Words: Curt Pires
Pictures: Jason Copland
Colors: Pete Toms
These days, pop music stars are equally loved and vilified. They are packaged, primed, and presented to the world, not as people, but basically as soulless commodities that are to be used to generate copious amounts of money and then thrown away and replaced with the latest model. Pop takes that conceit, and pushes it further.