The heat was oppressive. Keri thought about the friction between the tire and the sticky hot asphalt. Tread chewing the thick rocks underneath thousands of pounds of pressure. Her mind drifted to something about diamonds. Cold air spat out occasionally from her dashboard, but aside from that, it was just a panel of glass between her and the abusive sun. Even in her glass box, she swore she could smell the city. That garbage and bile that ran through the gutters.
Ether: The Copper Golems #3 (of 5) (Dark Horse)
Matt Kindt (W) David Rubin (A)
This book really sits in a strange place for me. It’s wonderful. Creative, complex, beautiful. Sometimes, though, I feel like the issues drag on a bit. Sometimes I feel lost in the plot. I wonder where it’s going and maybe that’s just the nature of life. That’s fine.
Dry County #5 (Image)
Rich Tommaso (W/A)
This is another strange book. The way it’s paced and the texture of the writing is ethereal. Like a dream painted within the pages. At first I was a little off put by that feeling, but the longer I read it the more I fall in love with it.
Avengers #5 (Marvel)
Jason Aaron (W) Paco Medina/Ed McGuinness (A)
I really dig this book, I do, but I don’t know what the flying fuck is going on. I mean, I get all the stuff that’s happening, don’t get me wrong, I just feel like it’s this weird amalgam of ideas just floating around on the pages and hasn’t fully developed into an idea yet. We’ll see how this arc ends.
Thor #3 (Marvel)
Jason Aaron (W) Michael del Mundo (A)
I feel really weird about having two Aaron books at the top of the list this week. You know I love Aaron, and I love both of these books, believe me. I think it’s more a testament of the crazy amount of quality work coming out of the medium right now.
Runaways #11 (Marvel)
Rainbow Rowell (W) Kris Anka (A)
This is the best family book on shelves until Fantastic Four comes out, and I mean even then, who likes parents that much? This book will probably still be better because, you know, parents suck, amirite?
Analog #4 (Image)
Gerry Duggan (W) David O’Sullivan (A)
Damn, this book is unexpected. I was anticipating a book about the state of the world, a mission gone amok, a world on fire. Okay that last one was just to sound dramatic, but you understand what I’m getting at. Instead I got a wonderful book about living in a lawless world one day at a time.
The Magic Order #2 (of 6) (Image)
Mark Millar (W) Olivier Coipel (A)
Okay, fuck. I’ll admit, I was that asshole who was gonna purposely miss the hype train and take the hype bus, or hype uber instead. I buckled and got the first issue, and damn, it was great. So, here I am, admitting that I was wrong to a bunch of strangers because I have some sort of issue with guilt that is latent in my personality.
Batman #51 (DC)
Tom King (W) Lee Weeks (A)
Hey, you know all of that backlash that happened? Yeah, fuck that noise, issue fifty was great, fight me. It set up a long con that I’m excited to see unfold. That starts here with an angry man, even more angry, wearing a Bat-suit and punching a man who just wants to cure his wife’s disease. What the hell, Bruce?
Justice League #4 (DC)
Scott Snyder (W) Jorge Jimenez (A)
Judging by the cover of this issue, The Joker might be the one to enter/fuck with the source wall. So basically, everyone is fucked. I’m pumped.
The Weatherman #2 (Image)
Jody Leheup (W) Nathan Fox (A)
I loved the first issue of this book, it’s strange and funny and fast-paced. Everything that I love about comics. It will be interesting to see where they try to go with this premise. I am interested. It’s interesting and I am interested. I’m great at writing.
The Wild Storm #15 (WildStorm)
Warren Ellis (W) Jon Davis-Hunt (A)
I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a bunch of times, mostly because I am not all that creative, and finding the words to sum this comic up are difficult as it is an intense and in depth story with a lot of moving parts. Anyway, this book is always a pleasure. I think that’s what I was getting at.
Tony Stark: Iron Man #2 (Marvel)
Dan Slott (W) Valerio Schiti (A)
Fuck. I wanted to pass on this. I wanted to pass on it so fucking hard, but I picked it up anyway and it was god damn amazing. I love this book. If the rest of the series carries the energy that the first issue had, this is going to be one stunning series.
New Challengers #3 (of 6) (DC)
Scott Snyder/Aaron Gillespie (W) Klaus Janson/Andy Kubert (A)
I really love this book. It’s kinda dark, but maintains this family type vibe, that I’m clearly a fan of. I don’t know, this book just hits a weird sweet spot I didn’t know I had.
Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #307 (Marvel)
Chip Zdarsky (W) Andy Kubert (A)
I never knew I’d be in 2018 with two phenomenal Spider-Man books to enjoy. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I never thought I’d make it to 2018, but you know, mistakes happen. This book is really everything I want from a Spider-book and then some. It is sad that this is going to be Kubert’s last issue, at least for a while. Who knows, he may even come back.
The Immortal Hulk #3 (Marvel)
Al Ewing (W) Joe Bennett (A)
This book is seriously like a breath of fresh air. It takes the character and really brings him back to his roots, which may be less impressive for one of these other heroes, but with this dude, it means we get an incredible (no pun intended) horror comic set in the Marvel universe. You should be all over this book right now.
Skyward #4 (Image)
Joe Henderson (W) Lee Garbett (A)
So, surprise, this book is already being adapted into a tv show. I mean, we all saw that coming right? I love the idea, it’s simple, but what works in these types of books is the attention to detail. You can tell this team has spent a lot of time hammering out the practical aspects of this world. Think what the Walking Dead did for the zombie genre, this book is doing for the….no gravity genre…
VS #5 (Image)
Ivan Brandon (W) Esad Ribic (A)
This is a movie that I want turned into a Dredd style epic film. It has the potential to be a visual spectacle, mostly because it already is a visual spectacle. This book is smart, but lets be real, any book Ribic is on ends up being carried by the art, just because.
Deathbed #6 (of 6) (Vertigo)
Joshua Williamson (W) Riley Rossmo (A)
One of my surprise favorites of the year is ending and I feel all sorts of ways about that. I love books with endings though, it reminds me of life, man. Like, you open it, and then, like, there are a buncha words and, like, meaning, and then it’s over, man. Fucking nuts.
Ice Cream Man #5 (Image)
W. Maxwell Prince (W) Martin Morazzo (A)
I cannot explain how happy I am that this book is back. It’s such a mind fuck. I want to classify it as a supernatural horror anthology, but I don’t even know if that would do the wonderful concept and framing devices any justice. Read the book, then explain it to me.
East of West #38 (Image)
Jonathan Hickman (W) Nick Dragotta (A)
wait. I just checked because I’m paranoid, and found a tweet from Dragotta saying the last issue is forty five. What the fuck? How didn’t I know this was coming? Everything I love always leaves me. Oh, and it’s getting a tv show.
Royal City #12 (of 14) (Image)
Jeff Lemire (W/A)
Speaking of things leaving me. This may have been on top of the stack a week or two ago. Whatever, I fucked up, man. It was solicited a few weeks ago. Sue me. I am deflecting. Please don’t leave me.
Infidel #5 (of 5) (Image)
Pornsak Pichetshote (W) Aaron Campbell (A)
Okay, seriously, this is getting ridiculous. I like ending, I know I said that, but I think you’re blowing this whole thing way out of proportion. That doesn’t give you the right to end all of my favorite books. What are you, some sadistic animal. I hate this. This one is gonna be a movie.
Gideon Falls #5 (Image)
Jeff Lemire (W) Andrea Sorrentino (A)
Well, now that I have abandonment issues, I’ll probably just hold on to this book with an obsessive love. Slowly draining the life out of our passion, and rotting the relationship from the inside out. Causing the book to get canceled and maybe causing me to leave a dozen or so desperate Snapchat messages. Oh, also this is getting turned into a show too. Yay.
Last light sunk beneath the horizon. Keri felt like she had been driving for hours. Her mind raced, trying to escape the uncomfortable reality she was living through. Sunburn arms, the salt of an upper lip, the whine of an AC motor in a beater, the smell of fast food grease. There was something better beyond the horizon, she just couldn’t see it.
