Small heroes, big impacts on the MCU.
You know, it feels really good to be able to come here and talk about a Marvel movie and actually feel really happy with the outcome. After a couple real bummer-inos, this new installment of Ant-Man introduced some really great characters, some long-lasting villain implications, and a good bit of depth to a majority of the established heroes. Heck, Marvel, it's almost like you DO know how to make a movie.
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Who doesn't love a good slasher?Monarch #1 (w: Rodney Barnes, a: Alex Lins) Publisher: Image Comics On its surface, this is a story about kids surviving a horrific alien invasion. At its heart, this is a story about the difficulties of finding love and peace in a harsh world full of violence and hate. It's about the things that the world shapes us to be in the face of all that. How refusing to let go of isolated moments in our life can destroy us. Monarch is a story about hope as much as it is a story about the lack thereof. It's a cool book and I'm wary to say too much about the story itself to take away any of the impact. The art is wonderful and shockingly visceral. The characters are sweet and their pain resonates with the reader. Barnes and Lins have hit on some magic with this one. Go pick it up. Harrower #1 (w: Justin Jordan, a: Brahm Revel) Publisher: BOOM! Studios A nice, straight-forward slasher that seems to be setting up some significant beats dealing with PTSD, loss and conviction. Harrower takes place in the town of Barlowe, New York: a town gripped by superstition. Legends in this town tell of the Harrower, an avenging spirit sent to punish the wicked. On Halloween night, as all the adults prepare to attend the Harvest Gala, Jessa and her friends are preparing for a night of high school debauchery. However, this particular Harvest Gala feels especially grim, being the ten year anniversary of a massive tragedy that rocked the town. We don't know much about what occurred, but Jessa lost her brother, and others in the town also lost young family members. As all the preparation builds, we see a police officer attacked by the Harrower himself. The officer admits to wanting to reveal some sort of secret and blaming others in the town for his demise. His son, Carter, discovers the body and decides to take his father's mission into his own hands. As I said, Harrower delivers a nice, recognizable slasher premise. Halloween night, small town, teens out to get murdered. What it provides to enhance the experience are hints of a deep web of corruption among the adults in the town and a very upsetting betrayal toward the end of the book. There is something happening - some secret behind the Harrower that will hopefully provide a very shocking reveal down the line. This is a great book for slasher fans or people who like a good "teens getting picked off one by one" horror story. For people who need more, I feel confident that this can please them too, whether it be for the folklore elements or the general sense of intrigue. The Finder #1 (w: Christos Gage, a: Tomas Giorello)
Publisher: Bad Idea Comics This book is a bit more actiony than what I typically prefer, but I really dig the overall premise. I am an absolute sucker for superheroes with very subtle powers, and the Finder fits the bill. The story follows the eponymous Finder, a woman with the power to find anyone by resonating with something they cherish, as she carries out her duties of finding a kidnapped superhero, First Responder. We learn over the course of their interaction that this world is made up of two types of powered individuals: natural powers like the Finder, and scientifically enhanced powers like First Responder. The first category of hero make up the Ground Crew, a group of heroes who perform less than glamorous duties in order to set the stage for the enhanced heroes, known as Frontliners, to claim their glory or to clean up afterward. The Frontliners themselves are mainly government pawns, enlisted and enhanced by government units to perform bombastic tasks in order to grab media attention and whatnot. It's a really fascinating world, especially for anyone who likes superhero content like The Boys and such. The story itself is a little bland. A lot of cliché action movie badass-ering, silly lines about being too tough for their own good, etc., etc. I did like the characters and the design of the world, just some of the dialogue felt a bit too "Vin Diesel movie" for me. Anyway, cool book overall with some great art. Dialogue choices aside, I highly recommend. You've got to draw a line somewhere. Here's where we draw ours.
We hate to bring in the raincloud, but we really felt this was something that needed to be discussed. There's been a lot of discourse around how to handle loving an IP or a book or movie when it becomes unfortunately connected to someone problematic. In today's Key Issues, we share where we draw the line for our own ethical consumption.
Law & Order: Special Angels UnitBlood Tree #1 (w: Peter J. Tomasi, a: Maxim Simic) Publisher: Image Comics I want to start by saying that the 'A' cover to this book portrays a very different story than what you actually get... That said, the story we do get might be void of giant, night-vision goggle adorned angel murderers, but it is compelling all the same. Grizzled NYC Detective Dario Azzaro is running routine security for big wigs in the St. Patrick's Day parade when something falls from the sky and impacts onto the pavement, narrowly missing the Governor and Mayor, thanks to Dario's snap to action. Once the commotion dies down, Dario and his partner Maria Diaz discover the falling object to be a naked man with wings surgically grafted to his body. They set off to try and discover why this young man would throw himself 50 stories to the pavement below, leaving behind a note that only says "Blood Begets Blood," and they find themselves at a loss for any sort of solution. Then, the second body shows up. This book is a very straight-forward procedural drama, great for fans of Law and Order or True Detective and the like. Where it excels is honestly creating a compelling mystery. The "Wingman," as he gets casually named by Diaz, is a fascinating character with, so far, unclear motivations. I think this tale will be a compelling mystery to watch unfold. As for the characters, they are pretty much what you'd expect from a procedural set in NYC. That said, we have yet to see any instances of debauchery or infidelity or substance abuse in Dario's character, which are things all too common in super-tropey entries in the genre, so I'm hoping it stays that way. Dario seems to have a very stable home life, and that is a nice breath of fresh air in a world full of muck. Where Monsters Lie #1 (w: Kyle Starks, a: Piotr Kowalski) Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Wilmhurst is a peaceful community. They take care of each other here, as long as everyone adheres to easy-to-follow rules. Simple requests like "don't leave your trash cans out" or "maintain a healthy yard" or "no killing your victims within the walls of the community." Oh, right... Wilmhurst is a sanctuary for Serial Killers. This book sees various slasher pastiches, everything from Jason to Jigsaw to John Wayne Gacy, living within the walls of a quaint rural community headed up by a woman named Zel. Here, the killers work together to help plan excursions, recover injured or incapacitated killers, build death traps and weaponry, and much much more. The only requirement is that each member of the community must sew discord and fear in the world while keeping Wilmhurst out of the attention of law enforcement. It's all going according to plan until one killer gets a bit over-zealous. This book is brash and hilarious. It's a wild concept that sees typically cold, ruthless killers reduced to petty neighbor squabbles. It's a fun ride for slasher fans and, honestly, just a funny book for anyone in the mood for a different type of horror comic. Starks and Kowalski have laid the ground work for a really good time and I am here for it. We predicted WAY MORE this time than during X-Men...
Holy heck, James Gunn just dropped a LOT of information on us about where the DCU is headed in a recent social video drop, and we've taken the time to process what it all means, decide what we're most excited about, and most importantly, pinpoint exactly which things we TOTALLY CALLED in our Coverspiracy from last December!
It's a Monster Mash, and maybe even a graveyard smash.Lucky #1 (w: Tim Seeley, a: Troy Dongarra) Publisher: Keenspot Entertainment Tim Seeley returns to his "edgy girl in a skirt kicking monster ass" roots this time with a unique superhero angle. The book follows Lucky, a super-powered cat girl (maybe) with the ability to borrow luck from those around her. She began as part of a super team called the Super Beasts, which included Dracula Man, a ghost, a Frankenstein's monster-kinda guy, and like a rock lady. Anyway, Lucky didn't last long on the team since her ability resulted in her comrades having increasingly frequent stints of bad luck. Eventually, the team disbanded and went their separate ways. For Lucky, this meant barely scraping by as a delivery driver. For Dracula Man, this meant becoming mayor. Super duper fair. After a routine attempted mugging, Lucky eventually uncovers a corrupt political plot and begins her journey to thwart it, all building to her comeback as an official solo superhero. It's a fun romp with an incredibly cartoony art style. The whole adventure is set in a world comprised entirely of Halloween-y/monster-y people (a la Halloweentown in Nightmare Before Christmas, but mixed with more urban sprawl and less Tim Burton). For fans of Tim Seeley, this will be a refreshing story as his roots in Hack / Slash are easily apparent. It's quirky, it's angsty, it's a little silly. It was an overall good time. Zombicide Day One #1 (w: Luca Enoch, Stefano Vietti, a: Alessio Moroni, Marco Itri)
Publisher: Source Point Press Is this the best zombie apocalypse story ever told? No, not really. It's fairly run of the mill, pretty straight forward. However, what it lacks in nuance, it makes up for in being just darn fun. Maybe I'm biased out of my love for the Zombicide board game, but gosh dang it, I love me a zombie story that features a diverse cast each with unique abilities. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is the "large fries" of the comics available this week: it isn't going to sustain you, and yeah, sure there are healthier choices, but it is definitely going to be an enjoyable experience. Okay, so look....The holidays happened and we were travelling a bunch. Then we got sick. Like the BIG sick, the *NINETEEN* sick, y'know. SO, we've missed some reading, but here are some things that have hit shelves recently that we think you should read. Here's to getting back on schedule moving forward. Children of the Black Sun #1 (w: Dario Sicchio, a: Letizia Cadoniei) Publisher: ABLAZE Publishing This book is full of wonderful bait-and-switch moments. Taking place in a world where on two separate occasions the normal sun was replaced by a dark, ominous Black Sun. During the first of these events, millions lost their lives to despair. On the second, billions lost their lives to one another. We enter into a world trying it's hardest to feel hope. Ten years have past since the second event, and a collective paranoia has set over society. People want so hard to feel hope for a future free of more Black Sun events, but every slight negative emotion or chilly breeze is read as a sign of the end of days. People are angry, nervous, tired, and generally trying their hardest to keep it together. Amidst this rising tension live the Children of the Black Sun, kids who were conceived during one of the two events. Though they sport grey skin, red eyes and white hair, science has found that they are genetically identical to normal human beings. Despite this knowledge, they are targeted by the increasing paranoia of their community resulting in discrimination and anger from their neighbors, classmates and even family members. We follow Matthew as he tries his hardest to earn the compassion and respect of his community: speaking in a soft, friendly way, constantly sporting a calm smile, and generally just being a good dude in the face of oppression. It is only when Matthew and his friend Clementine meet two older Children of the Black Sun from the first event that the kids realize what their true potential might be. "Vampires, right?" But like, no. It doesn't seem to be vampires. "So, the kids of the Black Sun are malicious, yeah?" I don't think so, no. Maybe? But it seems more like the world around them is malicious. "Another Black Sun is coming, though, right?" Hard to say. After living through a pandemic, paranoia and societal infighting is scary enough without a big eldritch ball in the sky. This is a nifty book. It's dark, dreary and oddly relatable. It hits on discrimination, specifically how painful it is being a child dealing with discrimination and having little control over it. Is it fantasy, is it horror, is it sci-fi: I honestly don't know. Super unique and fascinating, definitely gonna be a fun one to keep up with. Black Cloak #1 (w: Kelly Thompson, a: Meredith McClaren) Publisher: Image Comics Good gracious, what an insanely cool book. Black Cloak is a procedural crime drama set in a cyberpunk fantasy world full of corrupt elite, class conflicts and discrimination. This thick first issue drips with delightful world building as Thompson and McClaren carefully define the laws and layers of this beautifully dangerous world. We follow detective Phaedra Essex, a member of the law-enforcement agency known as the Black Cloaks, as she investigates the murder of her childhood friend and former lover. The murders pile up as Essex and her partner Pax dig deeper into the case. Eventually, Phaedra's own history is thrown into the mix as she has to meet with the victim's mother, the Elf Queen. We slowly learn about Phaedra's complicated history with her elven kin, namely that for some reason she's been exiled and they don't take very kindly to her presence. This is just such a fantastic book. The story itself feels compelling and mysterious. The pacing through this first issue is spot on, providing enough additional detail to grasp your attention while leaving a strong air of mystery to keep you wanting more. McClaren's art is wonderfully adorable and fun, conflicting with the tone of the narrative in a way that provides a very interesting vibe to the book; one that challenges your initial preconceptions of the style at every twist and turn. Somehow magically, the art style fills the requirement for griminess and darkness expected by crime dramas or cyberpunk stories without dragging the whole tone down with it. It's a wonderfully playful art style and I'm glad I got to experience McClaren's work in such a fun setting. It's a fun book, page after page, an absolute winner. Gangster Ass Bartender #1 (w: Pat Shand, a: Renzo Rodriguez) Publisher: Black Mask Studios Our pal Pat Shand continues making fun stories with fun characters. Spinning out of one of our absolute favorite titles, Destiny NY, comes a story following Trinity, the foul-mouthed, Irish thug who is trying to turn over a new, less violent leaf as a barista. The first issue features illicitly earned money, the struggles of customer service, an annoying coworker, lady bikers, rotisserie chickens and more! It's a stellar, ultra-fun first issue for anyone looking for a character driven story grounded in a completely realistic and relatable world (give or take some details). What I love so much about the Destiny, NY world and more expansively about Pat Shand's writing as a whole is how incredibly detailed all the characters get in just a few panels. It's admittedly been a while since I've read anything Destiny related, but diving in I instantly knew Trinity's motivations, her hopes and dreams, the subtle things that pull her forward, all of it. Destiny, NY, and by extension Gangster Ass Barista, should be taught in creative writing classes as examples of developing fleshed out, real characters quickly and efficiently. It makes these stories so much more endearing and compelling than a lot of the books I've read. 10 out of 10. Moseley #1 (w: Rob Guillory, a: Sam Lotfi)
Publisher: BOOM! Studios I'll admit that I'm getting a little burned out on the techno-dystopian theme in comics. It seems that everywhere you turn, you're hit with a book about a dreary future where people are slaves to technology and our main character is somehow more enlightened than others but that just means the people they care about treat them like a luddite but then they turn out to be right and blah blah technology bad, put down your phones millennials and zoomers. This book was in that category for me and I spent most of the first bits just eye-rolling and "here we go again"-ing. Then the last like 8 pages happen and suddenly I'm enthralled. Possible mysticism or some sort of human spirit, I don't truly know WHAT I'm looking at, but the "I'm enlightened that's why I do everything the hard way and discriminate against the status quo" character is suddenly a lot more neato. It felt reminiscent of the way I felt about "Do A Powerbomb" which went from fun character piece to whacky necromantic thrill ride in it's last two pages. Rob Guillory does a good job keeping interest up in the first few pages with solid character writing and a veil of mystery as to what Moseley's role in the new world order actually is. The bloody knuckles ending of this book just adds to the overall mystery of the world, leaving the reader ever curious as to what makes Moseley so wonderfully special and what his goals will be going forward. I would love to see this book introduce some grey area. Make it so that Moseley's mystical crusade against technology isn't necessarily right or wrong. Make the robot overlords generally benevolent, even if at times misguided. There is a lot of really cool storytelling potential here and it is definitely a book for thrill seekers. Same Munchkin, but with a Dark Knight twist...
There are a LOT of types of Munchkin - some work better than others, for sure, but this one is a pretty solid iteration of the fan-favorite game. With custom art, the traditional playful silliness, and a deep understand of what makes Batman so weird, this is a version definitely worth picking up.
Changing the timeline, one coitus session at a time...
This book, while definitely on the spicier side, is an excellent deviation from the more traditional sci-fi romps we've taken in recent comic titles. It's time travel, it's aliens, it's pocket universes - but also, none of those features feel like they overwhelm what's ultimately a story about love, family, and being honest to oneself. It gets pretty deep, but it's worth it, we promise.
Let's get ready to roll!
If you listened to our end of the year "Best of" episode, you know that Chris's favorite board game of the year was Marvel Dice Throne. Well, now you get to find out why it's so great! From its portability, to its quick pace, to its easy to grasp gameplay, this is one of those games you'll want to pick up for the family ASAP!
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Cover B PodcastChris & Tee host this weekly comic-focused show, providing insight on new comics, entertainment news and more. Archives
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