Comics & Things.

Typically every Wednesday you can find me at a comic shop. I’m a huge fan of variant covers and I often need to be there to pick my favorites out before they get snatched up by others. I love visiting new shops whenever I’m on the road and soaking in their unique character, hoping that maybe I can find that one issue I’m missing from a series or maybe a reasonably priced cover variant that I’ve yet to come across in person. 

I’ve liked comics for as long as I can remember, always reading them in the paper, eventually buying trade paperbacks at Barnes and Noble with my grandfather until we went to our first comic convention together. Our exploits fostered a lifelong love of mine for graphic novels. Sometimes it’s the stories that get me, sometimes it’s the art, but every now and then I find something that strikes an amazing balance of astonishing storytelling and engrossing art. I’m not sure how many titles I’m currently reading and collecting as it seems the list keeps growing every week but I figured I’d mention six titles in this post to start. While I do have opinions on some aspects of publishers (DC has the best covers hands down) I don’t tend to favor one over another although this list is oddly devoid of any Marvel titles.

Animal Castle Xavier Dorison & Felix Delep
It had been a while since  Animal Farm and while the story amused me in my youth, I don’t have the same appreciation for it these days. Animal Castle takes the Orwellian story and amps it up. I was apprehensive to pick it up as thumbing through it I saw several depictions of violence towards animals, but I’m two issues in and the characters really do a number on your heartstrings. I’m going to be honest, issue two having a rat putting on a show on one of the variant covers was a huge motivator in my purchase but I’m really glad I did. The art and the protagonist both remind me of one of my favorite childhood films, Don Bluth’s “The Secret of NIMH”. In Animal Castle we follow a hardworking single mother, Mrs. Bengalore, and see the seeds of unrest being sewn amongst the working classes of the animals on the farm. I didn’t think this would be a story that got me hooked but the denizens of the castle are so charming I am definitely picking up future issues. 

BRZRKR Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt, Ron Garney & Bill Crabtree

So, if you’ve subscribed to my fansite you may have seen a video where I gave topless reviews of comics I was reading at the time, one of them was BRZRKR. BRZRKR is the insanely popular title by Boom comics written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt. As we all know, everyone loves Keanu so of course that’s going to rope a lot of readers in, it’s definitely what got me interested. It’s action-packed and heavy on the gore but it’s more than just some sort of John Wick rip-off, there’s a mysterious science fiction origin story of the main character that gets you out of nowhere if you were to judge this just by its covers. So many questions are raised in the early issues that leave you intrigued and get you hooked but I’m finding it to have lost steam in issue 7. I was initially a huge proponent of this comic but I’m hoping things pick up in the next issue as there are only 5 more and it seems like more side-plots are popping up but with fewer answers to earlier questions. 

Catwoman: Lonely City Cliff Chiang

This is a very fun title from DC’s black label. Initially when it was suggested to me it sounded lame as hell, I can’t remember how it was described to me but I’m going to try my best to do it justice for you. This takes place in a post-Batman Gotham that has been cleaned up and crime free. Old faces are everywhere in this and up to new (and amusing) old tricks. The story follows Selina Kyle after she has been in prison for a decade and needs to put the pieces of her life together. This book nails the humor and realities of aging in a much more deft way than HBO’s And Just Like That attempted. It’s incredibly relatable as none of us are getting any younger and intriguing to see elements of self doubt in characters that are often portrayed as unbeatable and beyond human. This book has a lot of heart and manages to nail the lonely vibe from the art to Selina’s inner monologue. I am really excited to see where this goes. 

Dark Knights of Steel Tom Taylor & Yasmine Putri

When I saw people talking about this title on twitter last year I was so psyched. I love medieval-fantasy settings so I needed to read it (even if the Justice League characters are kinda lame in my opinion). This is an alternate universe story including many of DC’s heavy hitters and imagined in the fantasy setting (Harley Quinn as a court jester? yes please). The art is fantastic and does a lot to keep you absorbed into the story but the story itself is no slouch itself, chock full of intrigue and alliances (think Game of Thrones with less incest). It also boasts a series of variant covers featuring fantastic art by Joshua Middleton which is checking off all of the boxes for me. If you want fun reimaginings of familiar, well-loved, characters and a fantastic story I highly recommend this. An omnibus of the first few issues has recently been released so if you can’t find the individual issues I’d suggest snatching that up. 

Die Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans & Clayton Cowles

I wouldn’t have found this title if a Twitter follower hadn’t sent me the trade paperback for Christmas. I was a little apprehensive because it seemed very dark and heavy but eventually, I found myself on a long flight to Texas with this and some marketing books in my bag and I went for the comic. I’m glad I did because after I finished volume one I went out to find all 20 issues of the comic (and I just completed this side quest). It is dark, heavy, and sad, but also incredibly intoxicating and chock to the brim with interesting cultural references and an expertly fleshed-out cast of characters.The premise is a group of friends who get transported into an RPG game and years later they come back to the real world sans one arm and one member of the party, they eventually go back to try to rescue the missing friend but that of course doesn’t go according to plan. 

JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World Ko Hiratori & J-ta Yamada

I decided to include a manga in here because why not. I picked this up because I’m kind of a sucker for portrayals of sex work in nonviolent media and this seemed goofy and funny more than something grim and gritty. This story follows the protagonist who dies in our world and is reborn in another which is medieval-fantasy based where she finds women have a lot less options and she finds she must work in a tavern as a full-service sex worker. When I first started the book I rolled my eyes but there were a few sections in it that were uncomfortably real which makes me wonder if the writer has any first-hand knowledge. I added volume 2 to my amazon wishlist because it’s the kind of title that I wouldn’t go out of the way to get but if it winds up in my mailbox or I stumble upon it out in the wild I will probably continue reading it. 

If you happen to be interested in titles that I am searching for: 

Batman ’89: 1, 3, 5,6 (cardstock covers only)
Blackwidow: (Thompson Run): 6 (first printing) 

BRZRKR : 1,2 (First printings) 

Dark Knights Death Metal: 2, 3 (cardstock covers)
Elektra Black, White, & Blood: 1

Nubia and the Amazons: 4 (Cardstock cover) 

Stray Dogs: 1,2,3,4 (Preference for covers featuring Sophie the Papillon) 

Also there are plenty of trade paperbacks on my Amazon Wishlist…