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So here's some Image Comics that I'm just really enjoying the hell out of that don’t have their own threads:

Satellite Sam is a contender for my favorite comic on the marketplace these days. Matt Fraction, who only a few years ago was someone I’d basically written off, is proving to be one of the best comic book writers in the industry, and his super-smart, funny and damn interesting scripts here are worth the price of admission alone. Add in Howard Chaykin, who is having a renaissance in his career right now, and suddenly it’s chalk full of atmosphere, satire and beautiful looking scenario and people. It’s sexy in all the best ways—at times dirty and at times funny, and always with a little bit of charm.

Pretty Deadly is another series that is really just fall on the floor brilliant. It’s incredibly difficult to define but I’ll try by saying that is combines the mood, tone and sensibilities of spaghetti westerns, colorful fantasy and an almost Gaiman Sandman-type quality to produce some of the most interesting characters and mythology to hit the comics market in a long while. Everyone talks about gender in comics (or so it seems, especially the bleeding hearts who dominate Bleeding Cool), but here we have a grade-A female writer with grade-A female artists writing some of the best new female characters in years. All those people better buck up and put their money where their mouth is, because this is just damn good comics.

Manifest Destiny was a comic I knew I would love and I wasn’t wrong. It’s basically history meets science-fiction / horror, with a heavy dosage of fun and adventure each and every issue. It’s the kind of series the Silver Age Tomahawk might have been if there was no comics code and the writers had their tongues firmly in cheek. “What if Louis & Clark encountered monsters, zombies, killer plants, crazy oddball people and the trail they blazed was more akin to Indiana Jones and Star Wars?” is basically the premise, and it works. The writing / art / coloring fits together nice and tight creating a fun experience you don’t usually get in comics these days.

Five Ghosts may just have the best artwork out of every comic in the market right now. I don’t know where Chris Mooneyham came from, but I will hereafter buy probably every comic he ever draws, because his art is just that exciting. It also helps that the writing is tight and dynamic, and the premise itself is totally awesome.

Sex Criminals is just the best. I’m not sure what else to say about that. Best humor comic ever? Probably. Best romance comic ever? Definitely. Best honest exploration of sexuality in comics ever? You bet it is, and that’s a huge part of the charm. Matt Fraction, man. Who knew? The guy is brilliant.

These five comics, along with those that have their own threads which are also excellent such as Mind the Gap, Velvet, Fatale, Morning Glories, Chew, Walking Dead, Thief of Thieves, Lazarus, Peter Panzerfaust, Saga, East of West and the Manhattan Projects are simply the best thing going on in comics these days. To me it doesn’t make sense to complain about modern comics when all of these brilliant comics are running right now; now is perhaps the greatest era of them all for comics books.

Actually, Velvet doesn't have its own thread yet. And even though I loved the three issues that I read, I grew frustrated with the constant delays and decided to wait for the first trade, which is due in early summer.

I figured the "All Ed Brubaker Thread" would be the catch all for both Velvet and Fatale.

I've been all over the map in my personal life the last few months so my reading schedule has been a mess. In other words, I haven't really noticed because of that. But when I do read an issue: I love it!

Hopefully the trade will give you a more rewarding reading experience. (There are certain comics I much prefer in trades myself).

Ps - did you ever try Pretty Deadly?

I dropped this one because I couldn't keep the characters straight from issue to issue. Even constantly flipping to the character bio page while reading the story wasn't helping. I was like, "was this the guy who did ____ that one time?" However, the last issue I bought (issue 5 maybe?) was the best issue by far. I read it long after I'd made the choice to stop buying. I may go back and catch up at some point because of that and the fact I think it reads better trade-style and not so much monthly.

I will say, however, that the sex, though not usually overly graphic like Black Kiss, feels gratuitous. I can't help but feel Fraction and Chaykin are just filling a sexual depravity quota each month. As you said yourself elsewhere, it's rare to read something by Chaykin which doesn't have a blowjob depiction.



This gets better each issue as what's going on becomes clearer and clearer. In addition to everything else you mention, there's a mythology to it that I enjoy a lot.



I read the first issue and was greatly impressed! I'm more behind on this one than usual because my CBS had serious supply issues with number 2. I've almost gotten to the point where I'll get to that issue in my pile. I have a feeling this one's a keeper based on that first issue, though.



This one provides the perfect pulpy flavor to my pull list. I compare it favorably to the last volume of Iron Fist which launched with the Brubaker/Fraction/Aja team and carried the quality thru a creative change with Duane Swierczynski and Travel Foreman. Mooneyham is a real find with a vibe that reminds me of Tom Mandrake and Paul Gulacy's love child.



Easily, a contender for best overall comic series, right now! It's the freshest thing I've seen since Chew, I'd say. Awesome, funny, and just so relatable at its core. I LOVE Sex Criminals!!!

Does this surprise anyone here?

I haven't read Pretty Deadly yet, but thanks to you guys, I'm getting intrigued. Maybe I'll check out the first trade.

I finally read the first Velvet trade, collecting the first arc. I'll try to spoil as little as possible by saying that while the big reveal is a jaw-dropper, my favorite sequences were actually the ones dealing with Velvet's mentor, Lady Pauline, and her heartbreaking fall from grace. Great writing from Brubaker, and great art from Epting, the latter especially shining on the costumed ball scenes. I'm strictly waiting-on-the-trade for all the comics I buy these days, so I'll make my next Velvet-related post after the second trade comes out.

I also loved it from start to finish. Epting and Bru are at the top of their games and it shows every step of the way.

I also loved Velvet's training sequences and the intro of Pauline. I feel--hope, really--there is a lot to mine there, so they can show further scenes as needed as the story progresses.

Velvet Templeton is one of the best new protagonists in comics!

Agreed 100%, Cobie, especially on your last point.

I was extremely disappointed this week to hear of the cancellation of one of the best under-the-radar Image books going: Five Weapons. Here's my enthusiastic review of the earliest issues:



During its run, Five Weapons always earned a space at or near the top of my read pile for that week. Image and comics in general really needed a book like this that was both all-ages appropriate and just chock-full of creativity, imagination and world-building. As great as Image is, I'd say that the majority of their books aren't even half as good as this book was. I hope some of you take my advice and check out the trades. I guarantee you won't be disappointed--except for the fact that there won't be more of it to read beyond the second trade.

So who's reading BITCH PLANET? I searched for it, to make sure it wasn't being talked about elsewhere. Think Futuristic "Chained Heat". Kelly Sue DeConnick's indie books are becoming must-buy sight unseen. I haven't seen any news on PRETTY DEADLY... I hope the first story arc wasn't *IT*...

It's not. They announced another one as part of the wave of Image's 12 new books.

"Futuristic Chained Heat"? I may give it a try. Thanks, Pov.

So I did read the first two issues of Bitch Planet, and...um...I don't quite know what to make of it.

I also wonder if I'm the only one who found the Tasha Fierce essay in the back of issue 2 more enjoyable than the actual comic?

Yeah. I can see how some might see this as empowering and powerful stuff. But #1 didn't do it for me from a story telling perspective, and my own personal sense of inspiration. More power to those that are loving it, but I just don't think it'll include me.

Thanks, Cobie.

To Kelly's and Tasha's credit, the essay was very educational and gave me hope that future generations of feminists won't be as myopic as the last few generations.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Kelly Sue, and she's one of the few comic book writers I follow on twitter. She's actually responded to me a few times, and favorited and retweeted my tweets. So I *want* to support anything she does...but at the end of the day, will only support the things I'm truly into. Still, I hope Bitch Planet succeeds like crazy, just like I hope Captain Marvel (featuring Carol Danvers) does as well, even though I'm not collecting that either.

I feel more or less the same about Kelly Sue that I do about Gail. They both seem like good people, but their writing just doesn't click with me most of the time.

Descender #1 by Lemire and Nguyen had a fantastic opening issue. I'm glad I picked this one up as on the surface it all seems like a lot of stuff we've seen before in terms of AI driven science fiction. But the artwork is lush, the writing is tight, and I was drawn into the mystery of the series, as well as the main characters. Very good stuff.

Image really screwed up this time.

James Robinson and Greg Hinckle have been doing an Airboy series in a vein similar to Grant Morrison's last issue on Animal Man. The story is literally about Image Comics asking Robinson and Hinckle to due a new take on Airboy, and end up meeting the character.

This is a VERY adult book, and I mean that in the sense that we're shown a lot of NSFW stuff. Robinson on the toilet is the very first page, he gets in a three way with Hinckle and a random woman, and there's a lot of frontal male nudity. The book is supposed to be "semi-autobiographical" in its attempt to look at Robinson's recent stagnation in his writing (specifically his DC stuff) and his alcoholism.

Then came the second issue, which included a lot of dehumanizing transmisogynistic jokes under the Family Guy defense: Robinson apologized for the issue saying him and Hinckle are supposed to be complete assholes. Which included jokes about Airboy receiving oral sex from a trans woman in a public bathroom, and then getting mad when he finds out "That lady had a penis."

You guys all know I hate Robinson with every fiber of my being, but even if I didn't I have to say this: Do not buy this book.

So, Robinson has had to apologise for his writing in a book that's based around the poor quality of his writing. A little irony there.

I was only interested because I thought it was actually going to be an Airboy comic, and I've never really read aviator based comics. Robinson's name alone was enough to stop me looking at it further.

Rumble by John Arcudi, James Herron, Dave Stewart: Just finished the first arc (5 issues); the collected TPB has just been published.

My CBS put this into my order as a recommendation; the first issue was a bit confusing - an ancient warrior god walks into a bar, and all sorts of weird sh*t follows. I'd recommend this as a TPB since it wasn't until issue #3 that the story made sense. Then it became a great read.

Bobby (one of the humans) is a regular nice guy, tends bar and moans about the loss of his girlfriend. His life is disrupted when Rathraq enters his bar, looking for vengeance for an ancient wrong and dropping his sword in the ensuing melée. Bobby picks it up and the trouble really starts, as he gets sucked into helping Rathraq's quest. There's a beautiful chick who can read ancient Phoenician dialects, Bobby's good-hearted, thick-headed pal who's ready for any challenge and, on the other side, lots of monstrous Maurice Sendak style beasties.

It's a horror story that's quite funny at times, but also a hero's quest, a story of honour and of seeking wholeness.

I didn't really read it that way, Airboy freaked out but he's a jerk from an alternate dimension from the past ... I think the whole scene was developed to show Airboy to be scary.

The Robinson character explained it wasn't a big deal to him.

I don't remember many jokes either, it was just the final scene where they go to a bar that happens to have a lot of trans people and people in drag.

I think it was even an awkward teaching moment about trans people.

I suspect this is foreshadowing to Airboy turning into an Irredeemable type psycho character.

Very cool FC! I struggled on getting this one since Arcudi is usually always a great choice and is vastly under appreciated.

Like Thoth, I would love to check out an actual Airboy book, but Robinson's name was enough for a hard pass on this (and anything else he does).

Can't really blame Image though as they aren't like other publishers. They give creators all the freedom they want, and then its on those creators when shit blows up in their faces.