4.08.15 [#PicksOfTheWeek]

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It’s an exceptionally strong week for comics! Rebels #1 (Dark Horse) is finally here from Brian Wood, Andrea Mutti, Jordie Bellaire, and Tula Lotay. I’ve read an advance of the issue, and I can objectively say it’s Wood’s most personal work to date, overlapping circles in the Venn Diagram concerning what it means to be a patriot, rural upbringing in Vermont, and other familial relationships and personality quirks all set amid historical speculative fiction, something this writer knows a thing or two about. Andrea Mutti is also an exceptionally underrated artist, capable of cramming lots of great detail and emotion into the tiniest of spaces with his lean lines. I’m as excited for the masses to get their hands on this as I was the first time I read through it and saw how strong it was. All eyes seem to be on Image at the moment, but let’s not forget that creator owned hits can also be found elsewhere. This will be one of them.

Wasteland #60 (Oni Press) is also finally arriving on the shelves, the bittersweet close to the post-apocalyptic series that’s been a constant presence in my life for the last 9 years. I’ll be sad to see it go, but laud creators Antony Johnston, Christopher Mitten, Justin Greenwood, et al for having the gumption to tell the long-form story they wanted to tell in the manner they wanted to tell it. If you want to read up on the guys and the storytelling journey, check out “Surviving The Big Wet,” my recent Wasteland Retrospective Interview Series. This issue is basically an epilogue to what’s come before, but I’m sure I’ll savor every single word and image all the way to that satisfied turn of the final page.

Speaking of all things creator owned, we have top notch sci-fi in Copperhead #6 (Image Comics), two endings to choose from in the finale of Danger Club #8 (Image Comics), a second installment in Descender #2 (Image Comics), the last part of the trilogy starting up in The Legacy of Luther Strode #1 (Image Comics), Morrison and Burnham’s compelling Nameless #3 (Image Comics), Fraction and Ward’s gender-swapped Homerian adventure in ODY-C #4 (Image Comics), the ever-popular Saga #27 (Image Comics), the follow up of the new Becky Cloonan and Andy Belanger joint in Southern Cross #2 (Image Comics), as well as the reality-breaking debacle of The Surface #2 (Image Comics). I mean, if you can’t find something to enjoy in this impressive array of titles, I don’t even know why you’re reading comics in the first place. You should just put down your copies of Aquaman and Squirrel Girl or whatever it is you’re reading and head back to the mall to eat your Big Mac.

I’ll also be checking out Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson’s latest installment of their grand opus in Astro City #22 (DC/Vertigo), Tom Scioli and John Barber’s severely eclectic and maniacally irreverent 80’s nostalgia romp in Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #6 (IDW Publishing), and the mayhem lurking in Kaijumax #1 (Oni Press) by Zander Cannon. On the collected edition front, I’ll recommend the superb drama in Sheltered: Volume 3 (Image Comics) by Ed Brisson, Johnnie Christmas, Shari Chankhamma, and Ryan K. Lindsay. This is the final volume, collects issues 11 through 15, and even includes a nice shout out to my LCS Yesteryear Comics.