2.25.15 [#PicksOfTheWeek]

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There’s a few sure buys this week, with quite a few maybes thrown in. I’m most excited for Danger Club #7 from Landry Q. Walker and Eric Jones, followed closely by They’re Not Like Us #3 by Eric Stephenson and Simon Gane. Image Comics also has Low #6 by Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini out (growing to be a stalwart buy because it focuses on Remender’s go-to theme of the parent-child dynamic), ODY-C #3 by Matt Fraction and Christian Ward (maybe too ambitious for its own good, this issue will likely either make or break my continued support), Sex #20 by Joe Casey and Piotr Kowalski (this will probably be my last issue, there’s just too much narrative foreplay and not enough of the actual storytelling act itself), and The Wicked + The Divine #8 (I’m more interested in Jamie McKelvie’s confectionary visuals than Kieron Gillen’s pop mythology).

I’ve been picking up copies of all the new Star Wars comics for my cousin who is overseas in Abu Dhabi, so I’ll read his copy of Darth Vader #2 in the new Marvel Comics venture, and chalk it up in the maybe column. For some reason, I could never quite get into Jason Aaron and Ron Garney’s series despite liking both Scalped and Southern Bastards a great deal, so Men of Wrath #5 is a maybe as well. Over at Oni Press, I’ve enjoyed the series, but have been feeling a little ambivalent toward it lately, so ditto the maybe sentiment for The Life After #7 by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Gabo.

I’m even less interested in Sandman: Overture #4, a series that saw the first issue released on October 30th of 2013. Like many in my age group I assume, I credit Neil Gaiman and Sandman with getting me back into comics in my college years, and I’ve loved JH Williams III since I first saw his work at a local con in our hometown around 1992, way before Chase or any of his early work, on a weird little horror title called Demonic Toys, but for some reason this title just leaves me totally cold, and I have a hard time supporting a publishing model that’s managed to only get out an average of two issues per year. I’ll give it a flip, but can’t in good conscience plunk down the money.

Suiciders #1 is another Vertigo offering this week that I’ll give a flip. Honestly, the premise is thin, sounding like a rehash of about three other things mashed together, but with Lee Bermejo art, it’s still a little intriguing. I’m curious about Curb Stomp #1 by Ryan Ferrier and Devaki Neogi (especially with covers by Tula Lotay), so I’ll check out this Boom! Studios debut swirling around the heart of punk. Lastly, I’ll give The Black Hood #1 a flip, this being the Archie Comics debut of their in-house superhero property at the hands of Duane Swierczynski and Michael Gaydos. This artist is always worth a look, and if the recent Afterlife With Archie is any indication of future performance, it could be grand.

On the collected edition front, I’ll recommend G.I. Joe Volume 1:  The Fall of G.I. Joe, IDW’s latest offering of the property, this time featuring an off-type political thriller by Karen Traviss, Steve Kurth, and killer design work on the covers by Jeffrey Veregge, which stays true to the general spirit of the original premise, yet also manages to feel more sophisticated and socially relevant in the post-9/11 age of asymmetrical warfare.