WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best Of The Past Week – Saga #4 – If you want to know why this issue won, go back and look at all the weird and kinky stuff going on in the background of the pleasure planet.  Then read the letters column.  This comic is soooooo good.  The best science fiction is often very relatable and that describes Saga pretty well.  Even though the settings and the characters are weird, we can all wrap out minds around a young couple having a fight about an ex-girlfriend who has never been mentioned before OR a hitman needing to blow off steam in a strip club.

Most Anticipated This Week:

1. American Vampire #28 – New story arc with regular artist Rafael Albuquerque in the saddle again.  This should be golden stuff.  As AV is kinda an allegory for the birth and growth of the United States, it’ll be really interesting to see how Snyder handles things as we get to those fascinating post-WWII years.  This arc supposedly deals with the “red scare” and the rising spectre of communism.  Will there be Soviet vampires?

2. Scalped #59 – Only two issues left!  I’d love to start a little gambling site on which characters don’t make it out of issue #60 alive.  Dash: 3/1 he dies.  Red Crow: 3/1.  Carol: 5/1.  Catcher: 2/1  Sheriff Falls Down: 10/1.  Dino: 20/1  Or would you like to parlay some of those together?

3. Prophet #26 – I love the world-building going on in Brandon Graham’s future-world.  I couldn’t tell you what precisely is going on, but I love learning about any far-future world. And the art has been exceptional the whole way.

4. Fatima the Blood Spinners #1 – A new 4-issue miniseries by Gilbert Hernandez?  Yes, please!

5. The New Deadwardians #4 – The last issue took this series into a new place as we saw that not everything in zombie-besieged London is crisp and clean.  I wasn’t sure that I liked that revelation because it robbed the series of some uniqueness.  Still, the story and character work by Abnett and artist Culbard has been really top-shelf.

Others: Spaceman #7 (not loving this series that much), The Manhattan Projects #4 (fun, wacky, perverse Hickman), Fatale #6 (I want Criminal back), Amazing Spider-Man #688 (always good), FF #19 (Hickman telling done-in-ones and having fun), Hit Girl #1 (VIOLENCE!), Wolverine and the X-Men #12 (AvX tie-in….meh)

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Alex’s Top Picks

Pick Of The Week: The Punisher #12 – Another hauntingly psychological read that both chills and intrigues.  Greg Rucka’s Punisher remains one of the best books at Marvel and if you’re a Marvel fan but haven’t yet given it a chance, you really, really should.  The always excellent Marco Checchetto artwork also certainly does it a lot of favours.

Most Anticipated This Week: Batman Incorporated #2 – I’ll admit that I was a bit non-plussed about the announcement of Batman Inc.’s return.  It felt like with the new 52 and the long hiatus, and the gigantic delays during the previous volume, that some of the steam may have been lost.  Morrison is no longer dictating the direction of the Bat-verse and I worried that this new volume would feel late to the party, a clinging on to the pre-relaunch DCU and a pre-Snyder Bat-verse.

While it may be too early to say whether all of that will end up being true, last month’s first issue was a LOT of fun and Chris Burnham’s artwork is a riot.  It was an incredibly enjoyable read and now, with no delay, we’re getting a second issue and I’m looking forward to whatever madness Morrison and Frank Quitely’s pseudonym have in store.

Other Picks:

Justice League Dark #10:  Another book in the “too early to tell” category, but I remain excited and intrigued about what Jeff Lemire, one of my favourite writers, can do with a magic-based team featuring some of my favourite characters.  Peter Milligan’s run thoroughly disappointed me, so I’m extremely anxious to see Lemire’s approach truly blossom.

Spaceman #7:  I love this book.  Honestly though, the story here is fairly unremarkable, but that’s not what has me addicted to the book.  No, the real star here is the dystopian, urban world that Azzarello and Risso have created.  Every issue is a trip to a fascinating, grimy, and full-imagined future and a truly immersive experience.

Scalped #59:  Scalped has been one of the very best comics on the stands for YEARS.  And now, here we are, the second to last issue.  Second to last issue.  That’s really enough to guarantee a spot on this list.  I can only imagine what gigantic happenings Aaron will pack in these 20 pages with only one more issue to go.

Fatale #6:  This is an extremely interesting book in that it, somehow, is simultaneously Brubaker/Phillips doing what they do best, while also them doing something very different.  It’s a fascinating generic cocktail of noir and horror that, impressively, manages to tease and be mysterious without falling into an unrewarding and/or incomprehensible maze.  Also, with a great sense of setting and history, much like Spaceman, it’s an extremely immersive read that offers a ticket to a different place and a different time.