So let’s just say you’re going to make a trip to the comic book store this week, to pick up a copy of Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour. Maybe you’ll be there at midnight tonight, to take advantage of 20% off sales at Cosmic Monkey and Bridge City, or to catch Floating World’s Spaced screenings and door prizes (I love our comic book stores); or maybe you’re not in SUCH a nerd frenzy, but you’ll be dropping by tomorrow or later this week. And maybe, while you’re there, you might want to pick up a few more books. Here’s a couple quick suggestions:
Scarlet—I wrote about Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev’s new PDX-based comic here, but quickly: It’s about a young woman who decides to single-handedly take on societal corruption after her boyfriend is killed by a police officers. (Remember that whole “Little Beirut” thing? I think that’s what Bendis is going for.) Come for the local interest, stay for the art, which is ridiculously pretty.
Batwoman Elegy—I’m a tourist when it comes to superhero comics, but Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams’ 7-issue Batwoman collection has me totally hooked so far. (Rachel Maddow’s great, earnest intro to Batwoman, AKA the refreshingly relatable lesbian Kate Kane, honestly sold me from page one.) I’m not very far into the book, so I can’t say much beyond that the panel layouts are brilliant, Dave Stewart’s coloring is intelligent and effective, the doll-like villainess who only speaks in Lewis Carroll quotes is super creepy, and Kate Kane is a badass.
The Unwritten Vol. 1—Still the only comic I can stay organized enough to read monthly, the next trade paperback collection of The Unwritten comes out in August, making now a great time to pick up the first volume. (Smart, literary, fun, about wizards.)
I also just checked out the first two issues of Oni’s The Sixth Gun, which so far read a little bit like the Saint of Killers’ backstory in Preacher, only cartoonier and with more zombies.
Anybody else got any suggestions? What are you guys reading?
Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes (Geoff Johns and Gary Frank)
Hellboy/BPRD
Scarlet, and my usual staples: the always entertaining Fables, a coupla X-Men titles, X-Factor (which I probably look forward to more than anything else) and Conan. The current Conan arc which started with the last issue has started out promising, some classic Howard ancient-island-of-a-doomed-race kind of stuff.
W.E.B.Griffin, David Weber, David Drake, Chris Bunch,John Ringo, and others.
Scalped consistently impresses me. Six volumes in and I don’t think there’s been a misstep yet. The last few issues have been back stories and one-shots. I’m normally not a fan of excessive back stories, especially on supporting characters, but these work really well.
Think Thunder Heart meets the Leonard Peltier story meets Sopranos.
Thinking about picking up Chew, but I read the first ish and I was unsure if I could get past the gimmick.
@Scott
I enjoyed Chew enough to recently pick up the second volume, though I haven’t read it yet. It’s gimmicky, sure, but in a fun way; the telepathy-via-cannibalism angle sold me.
Agreed re: Scalped. Great stuff.
Oh, and I had a dream last night that was an entire new volume of Punisher by Rick Remender, with a Frankencastle annual tacked on at the end. It was pretty good, but sillier than a Punisher story should be. Does that count?