Infinite Halloween: May 2013

I haven't posted any comics analysis, or anything about comics in quite some time, it seems. I have still been reading, of course. I dropped all the Marvel comics from my pull list, something i've been thinking about doing for quite some time. That's a hard decision. There are some quality books coming out from Marvel right now, but I think it's the right time to step away. That, and i'm broke. Anyways, there's just a saturation point that i've reached with Marvel where I can definitely wait for the trades. I'd like to support smaller books and jump on some new stuff. Here are some of my current favorites:

Godzilla by James Stokoe. IDW Publishing.

Godzilla + Stokoe= must buy. I've long been a big Godzilla fan, and James Stokoe is an artist of the highest caliber, so I had to see his take on the property. It's great stuff. Stokoe's art is pure eye candy. I'll buy anything he draws.

Nowhere Men by Eric Stephenson & Nate Bellegarde. Image Comics.

This is an interesting book. The writer is the long time publisher for Image, so i had to check it out just based on that. The art is really good too. It's a very interesting post-watchmen take on science fiction. The backstory's of the main characters are all well developed and not revealed in chronological order, as the story skips around key moments of character development. I've heard someone describe this comic as a mixture of the beatles and the fantastic four, and that's kind of what it is. I mentioned watchmen earlier because there's an obvious influence here, with the metafiction and charts, corporate holdings and supplemental material at the end of each issue. I want to see where this is going.

The Manhattan Projects by Jonathan Hickman & Nick Pitarra. Image Comics.

Another great series from Hickman and co. This is one of his best outings yet. I've noticed that Hickman uses a lot of real people in his stories (Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Einstein to name just a few) and it makes me wonder if it's really smart of him to use them, or it's a lack of creativity on his part that he can't come up with fresh characters. A minor criticism, as I enjoy all of his stories unequivocally. Anyways, this one is similiar to his S.H.I.E.L.D. book for Marvel which I wrote about on here a while back, I think. This series is about the Manhattan Projects being a front for another series of super secret black ops shit, or something like that. It's cast features such titans of science as Richard Feynman, Albrecht Einstein, Joseph Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, (Fermi Paradox is named after this guy, a bit of trivia.) and Harry Daghlian. Google the ones you don't know. Hickman always does his homework, and the plot is just crazy. Usually he maps his stories out way in advance, but for this one he's doing the opposite, which is nice to see from him. It's different from his other work in that respect, and it's good to see him have fun with this project. Nick Pitarra's art is a strenghth, and he may be my favorite collaborator of Hickman. His Moebius style art looks better than ever with this series. This is going to be a good one.

Change by Ales Kot, Morgan Jeske, Sloane Leong, Ed Brisson. Image.

The first issue of this four issue series is a stunner. It's a great hook, it's got some seriously weird and trippy characters and dialogue. A plot that doesn't entirely make sense, and they throw in some Cthulhu for good measure. It raises some interesting ideas and there are some great bits of dialogue, but they didn't really stick the landing with the last issue. Still, a good read and Ales Kot is a writer who has a great future in comics. If nothing else, the art by Morgan Jeske is fantastic. Really captures the surreal tone of the story. This is worth checking out.

Clone by David Schulner & Juan Jose Ryp.

First off, Juan Jose Ryp is the man. One of the best artists in the biz. I love his style, it's so detail heavy. The premise of this series may seem pretty passe these days: what if you had a clone? What if somebody made clones? However, this book is totally awesome and rock solid. David Schulner is apparently a TV writer, and his style of writing a comic is that of every page having a cliff hanger. It's wonderful. I love it, and it works. This is a fun book with and the plot has me hooked.

Mara by Brian Wood & Ming Doyle. Image Comics.

I'm mostly here for Ming Doyle, not to say i'm not a fan of Brian Wood. The story is about a megastar athlete in the future, where hyperconnectivity has been taken to the nth degree. She develops super powers and is scouted by the military. This one is worth it for the art alone, in my opinon.

47 Ronin by Mike Richardson & Stan Sakai.

Must buy for me. I am a huge HUGE fan of Sakai. It's nice to see him draw something outside of anthropomorphic animals. I'm also just as interesting in the tale of the loyal retainers. The first couple issues are kind of slow, but the pacing is no problem for me.

So: I worked as a volunteer this year at Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, and I had a blast. I worked Artist Alley Friday morning and all day Sunday, and I couldn't have asked for a better job or schedule. Awesome people and awesome times. I've been to many conventions in my time, I consider myself a veteran of the scene (at least in chicago) and it was quite a cool nerd prom. Working it was an even better experience. Great show, bravo, Reedpop. Here's the photographic evidence: