9.24.14 [#PicksOfTheWeek]

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There’s something for everyone this week, with a slew of hot creator owned titles hitting the stands. There’s the drama of BKV & Fiona Staples’ sales juggernaut Saga #23 continuing its Shakespearean sprawl in the stars, the slow conceptual burn of Joe Casey & Piotr Kowalski’s post-shared superhero universe affair in Sex #16, and the unmistakable magic of Antony Johnston & Christopher Mitten’s dark fantasy series in Umbral #9. If you want to see some of the most inventive lettering, check out Thomas Mauer’s work on this title.

Rick Remender & Greg Tocchini’s series clicked for me with the last issue, so I’m anxious to check out Low #3, Matt Kindt’s opus is always an easy recommendation for reality-altering intellectual espionage, so check out Mind MGMT #26, and Robert Kirkman & Paul Azaceta’s new joint sees its next issue with Outcast #4, which has been an exceptionally easy sell down at the LCS (“Do you like The Exorcist? Ok, read this!”). G.I. Joe #1 offers an impressive new take on the property at the hands of Karen Traviss & Steve Kurth that is modernized, mature, and concerned with relevant realpolitik.

Letter 44 #10 is out from Charles Soule & Alberto Alburquerque, and I’m still loving the high concept of this series (military adventurism justified via ramping up R&D and creating battle-hardened troops to address an impending alien invasion) juxtaposed with contemporary real-world politics in the W and Obama analogues. (SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT: Charles Soule will be signing at my LCS Yesteryear Comics in San Diego this Saturday starting at 10am, so I’ll see you there!)

I’ll also be picking up C.O.W.L. #5, a real sleeper which has been delighting with its retro noir street-level take on unionized supes operating in Chicago, creating all kinds of social upheaval. There’s some great world-building happening in this series and it’s been flying under the radar, so get on board now. I’ll take a peek at Roche Limit #1 by Michael Moreci & Vic Malhotra because of a) their use of a cool scientific term I had to look up, and b) the fact that Malhotra is an artist I’ve had my eye on since his work on Thumbprint at IDW with Joe Hill. I think Malhotra’s going to be a big deal.

I’ve read an advance of the issue, courtesy of creator Larime Taylor, and I’m excited to see the return of A Voice In The Dark: Get Your Gun #1, a subversively dark thriller about college serial killings, which just nails the behavioral science of precipitating incidents acting as catalysts for damaged psyches. This once black and white series uses color well, by positioning foreground objects that really pop against the muted backgrounds to differentiate contextual elements and the main focus for our eyes. This issue sees Zoey rattled and off her game, for once getting a taste of what it’s like to be the one stalked and hunted.

But, my book of the week will be The Massive #27 by Brian Wood & Garry Brown. As the series builds to its crescendo at #30, the escalation of reveals to mysteries put in place dozens of issues ago has dazzled recently with babies, boats, and brave new worlds. John Paul Leon’s cover is eerily beautiful, with a painterly Hudson River School effect that would be at home hanging on the wall in a Fine Art institution. I’ve read an advance of this too, and with the startling moments surrounding the state of Cal’s health, additional hints at the true nature of The Crash, and Mary’s covert Ninth Wave ark, there’s the sense the creators are about to stick the landing in the most unexpected way.