7.22.15 [#PicksOfTheWeek]

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Well, with one big exception this is kind of a dud week for me, with nothing on my regular pull list that I’m terribly excited about. The exception I’ll lead with is Fante Bukowski (Fantagraphics) by Noah Van Sciver. In my mind, Noah is a wunderkind creator (chronicling our inability to reconcile reality with "The Great Wish") who is essentially the R. Crumb of his generation and sits comfortably in my Top 3 Indie Creators arrangement alongside his peers Tom Neely and Julia Gfrorer. Fellow CB’er Daniel Elkin and I already picked up an advance copy of Fante Bukowski at the Fantagraphics booth at SDCC and it’s one of the first things I read from my con haul. It’s a representative sampling of Noah’s strong work, with the added benefit of a more experimental denouement than you’d expect to see from this creator.

Other than that, there’s a few books I’ll probably peek at out of passionate ambivalence that are in the “maybe” category. I’ve been having fun sampling all of the New New 52 offerings from DC, so I’ll probably look at Cyborg #1 (DC), if only to hate-read and point out what I don’t like about it. Unlike most of the New New DC books, I genuinely liked the first issue of this one, so I’ll also look at Prez #2 (DC) to see if it holds. Chuck Dixon and Esteve Polls have Winterworld: Frozen Fleet #3 (IDW) out, and over at Image Comics there’s C.O.W.L. #11 (Image) which I think is one of the last issues, if not the final, along with RUNLOVEKILL #4 (Image) something I initially liked, but have really cooled on with subsequent issues.

I haven’t found this series to be particularly strong or interesting or even really all that necessary if you watch the show and glean the same stuff from it, but my kids enjoy it, so I’ll pick up Kanan: The Last Padawan #4 (Marvel), and I might also check out Book of Death: The Fall of Bloodshot #1 (Valiant). I tuned out of the Valiant Universe a while back out of plain ol’ boredom, but I picked up the initial installment of Book of Death and liked what I saw. There was a certain level of high stakes that felt genuine, which means I’m either falling for a typical crossover event like a sucker, or the gravitas present might actually result in something consequential happening.

If you’re in the mood for a trade, there’s The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest (DC/Vertigo) by Denise Mina and Andrea Mutti. I haven’t paid close attention to these moody Stieg Larsson adaptations, but I like them when I come across them, and you should always promote the work of your collaborators. I believe this is the third and final installment of the international bestseller. There’s also G.I. Joe: The Fall of G. I. Joe Vol. 2 (IDW), a very strong series by Karen Traviss and Steve Kurth (covers by the terrific designer Jeffrey Veregge), which focuses on relevant geopolitics as much as super-spy bang-bang, and unfortunately seems to be getting lost amid some of the other lackluster titles in the franchise.