Monday, February 8, 2016

Feb 10 2016 Wanted Comics (aka Pull List)

Going for a bit of a different vibe this month but with the same semi flexible rule set... I try to keep my list to a manageable twenty dollars a week or an average of that across the month and if I'm likely to break that myself I will spotlight here titles I think may get less notice given the sheer number of books out there....

Zodiac Starforce #4 $3.99

My must have book of the week; I have been waiting for for a couple of extra months but the series has been such a treat that I hardly minded the extra time. Kevin Panetta and Paulina Ganucheau's take on the magical girl genre may seem a bit of a departure for Dark Horse but as many of the stories are a kind of horror story often tinged with loss it really does fit in quite well. They made the great storytelling choice to come in late after our heroes first big adventure and hit the ground running as darkness rears its head into their lives again. We have had a spare three issues to get to know these great girls and I'm sad to see the end of this story coming and I hope not vainly looking forward to more. Kim,Emma Molly and Savi have joined the growing list of favorite characters of mine, they make me want to revisit quite a few old Japanese manga and shows and looking again at the cover make me think of more recent books like BKV's weird book PaperGirls which could easily be a non-magical universe version of some of them. One of the finer books from last year and there is a collection on the horizon with some extras coming if this is your kinda thing and you missed it...

 

Jem and the Holograms Valentine Sp. $3.99

I'll be honest I was not sure if the Christmas special was something I was really wanting and it was a honestly touching read that brought the story forward, revealed more about the large cast and did so much in a spare 22 pages. So this time around I'll say you may be making an error passing on a special holiday issue as they are relevant to the ongoing story and this one apparently has some artwork by Jen Bartel who if you have not seen her drawing you are missing out quite honestly. Kelly Thompson has my trust as a writer with the honest emotion she bring out through her stories and the way she has managed to make, well at least in my case, care about all the cast pretty evenly and I for one really want to see more of Pizzaz as well there is more going on there then I once thought. No clue what the story will be but I'm hoping more personal stakes to be raised...

Insexts #3 $3.99

This book is NSFW or for kids as Marguerite Bennett and Ariela Kristantina do not shy from showing the spicer elements of its title characters, from body horror images or from pretty vicious word exchanges. The main characters are a mixed same sex couple with more or less then human qualities about them and a giant chip on their shoulders where it comes to the oppressive pateiarchy they live in. The second issue introduced a relative of the cruel man dispatched in issue one who looks to be the antagonist of the book. Bennett is a history buffs or she knows the ear for sure and Ariela is killing it on the art its blatantly sensual without outright titilation as poses are not sterotypically exaggerated and oddly the book taps into the sexual repression of the era too. Not for everyone for sure hut for unflinching storytelling this is your man.

 

No Mercy #7 $3.99

I love this story as its not as much about the plot as it is about the affects of trauma and violence on these characters and how they live in the aftermath of events. Alex de Campi had a lot to say about her approach to storytelling in the interview she did on the iword podcast; many books focus too much on the events themselves and just move on to the next with little change happening to the players. This isn't a books about latter then life heroes, weird stuff, or actions adventure its story of real life like culled from the experience of traveling and has excerpts of Alex's travel journals. I know I mention the back matter section of many of the books but I like that kind of additional window into the creators of books I'm enjoying as they make the work feel more personal. Pick this up and give it a look Carla Speed McNeil and Jenn Manley Lee have been doing great work on this and where else can you give support to women in the comics induatry on a single book... No Mercy pulls the veil back on how events change people and that is what heroic journeys are really about.

Descender #10 $2.99

Ok I will be honest even if I was not collecting this this cover would make me pick this up and flip through it; I'm kind of a sucker for robots, cyborgs, cyberpunk, science fiction and well I loved LadyTron from the Alan Moore Wildcats and well she's kind of on the cover. Jeff has been telling a pretty great sprawling sci Fi actions adventure with a weird mix of robots aliens involving mercenaries and mysteries and I could say lions oh my but it is packed with lots of great elements and characters. Dustin Nguyen's artistic choice of really toothy paper stock and watercolor coloring leads to a very soft looking page it's surprising how hard and real and sold the affect is. Fans of old Japanese animation like Tetsuwan Atom (the Mighty Atom) and the other sci-Fi work of Tezuka should give this a look.

 

And that gets me to eighteen and a good deal of change. I'm likely to get Injection # 7, and Illuminati #4 also and look for a full review of the New Suicide Squad from this week too as I got an advance look at it and was worth a read too as I'm a long time fan of the originial version of the book from as some say back in the day.

Comment and let me know what your looking forward to...

 

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