8.22.12 Releases

You might as well ignore everything else this week because it’s the final issue of Jason Aaron and RM Guera’s long-running treatise on the collapse of The American Dream as seen through the Soprano's style lens of the seedy slice of subcultural crime fiction known as the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation. Yeah, that was a crazy run-on sentence, but it’s not as crazy as my love for this title. It’s Scalped #60 (DC/Vertigo), marking the end of an era for the imprint. With Brian Wood’s DMZ and Northlanders behind us, this is the last of the powerhouse Vertigo titles to sunset. If for some unholy reason you weren’t reading this book, not only is it one of the best Vertigo books ever, not only is it one of the best crime books ever, it’s one of the best comics ever, period. Do yourself a favor and pick that first trade up and run with the whole series. I mean, just look at the juxtaposition of the way that first issue cover bookends so well with the issue 60 cover. Sheesh! Will I ever run out of praise for Scalped? Moving on, Matt Kindt’s Mind MGMT #4 (Dark Horse) is also out this week, and the title is shaping up to be a beautiful and mysterious series that plays with the medium in the process. Lastly, I can wholeheartedly recommend the first collected edition of this Brandon Graham helmed reimaging, with art assists by such luminaries as Simon “Jan’s Atomic Heart” Roy and Giannis “Old City Blues” Milonogiannis. Yes, it’s Prophet Volume 1: Remission (Image) and you should totally buy it if you like your Conan style world-building with a very hard innovative and imaginative European sci-fi spin. It’s a small but potent week.