Honorable Mentions: Summer Break 2021

What you missed while we were away! 

Sometimes you just need a break, but that doesn't mean we wanted to leave you high and dry on great comics that came out during our time away! Here's our choices for the books that came out during our Summer Break!

Honorable Mention Highlights: Summer Break 2021

• Ordinary Gods #1 (w: Kyle Higgins, a: Felipe Watanabe)
• We Don't Kill Spiders #1 (w/a: Joseph Schmalke)
• The Lot #1 (w: Marguerite Bennett, a: Renato Guedes)
• M.O.M. Mother of Madness #1 (w: Emilia Clarke, Marguerite Bennett, a: Leila Leiz)
• Cinnamon #1 (w/a: Victoria Douglas)
• Moon Knight #1 (w: Jed MacKay a: Alessandro Cappuccio)
• Superman and the Authority #1 (w: Grant Morrison, a: Mikel Janin)
• Campisi: The Dragon Incident #1 
• Tales Told in Technihorror #1 (w: Kiyarn Taghan, a: Christian Dibari)
  
• Bermuda #1 (w: John Layman, a: Nick Bradshaw)
  
• Dark Blood #1 (w: Latoya Morgan, a: Walt Barna)
  
• The Last Book You'll Ever Read #1 ( w: Cullen Bunn, a: Leila Leiz)
  

Ordinary Gods #1
Wow, okay, this book is cool. Very fun world building, solid concept. It doesn't break too much ground beyond the "hey, you're a reincarnated hero and I'm here to save you" trope, but the action is intense and shocking and the characters are well done. This is a seriously fun book. It's going to fill the void Sacred Creatures left.

We Don't Kill Spiders #1
A viking murder mystery with necromancy?!? Yes please! These book drips cool, both with Schmalke's interesting use of color pallet and with his very unique Viking character in Bjorn, our investigator. I was super stoked for this to come out and am very pleased with the result!
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The Lot #1
Gee wiz, finally something out of Bad Idea that I can actually recommend. The Lot is exactly my kind of B Horror movie but with a twist: the characters are not actually complete douchebags. A freshly hired CEO for a Hollywood studio, her assistant and her famous actress friend from college unlock the secrets of a haunted and possibly demonic studio lot left shuttered for 50 years. It's black and white, it's wonderfully dark and photo real, and it's just an incredibly good time all around. 
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M.O.M. Mother of Madness #1
MOM is an important book in a lot of ways. For one, it's another product of a celebrity bringing their ideas to the medium, an important trend for better or worse depending on who you talk to. Second, it's steeped in social topics that are important to keep in the forefront of our minds. The struggles of women, the dangers of capitalism, the shakiness of childcare and guardianship programs, and many many more pieces of our culture are on display here. The team does a good job lampooning these things in a way that feels believable and leaves the reader thinking "well, yeah, that's messed up." I really like this book.

Cinnamon #1 
It's a book about a cat imagining it's in a hardcore action/crime thriller. It's cute and funny, especially if you're a cat owner who can absolutely relate to what's going on. #LongLiveCinnamon

Moon Knight #1
This feels like a simultaneous return to form for this character as well as a promised expansion of his mythos. Moon Knight has always had some really cool stories to tell and I am WAY on board with the complex narrative Jed MacKay seems to be weaving at the moment.

Superman and the Authority #1
A unique take on the "alternate Superman" type of story that doesn't see Superman as a broody tyrant or evil unchained bruiser, but rather a pragmatic and altruistic-by-any-means kind of hero a la Batman. Morrison does has a fascinating team story building here. It's definitely worth checking out. 

Campisi: The Dragon Incident #1
I didn't know how to feel about a story pitched as Mafia Messenger vs Dragon, but I gotta say this book is a ton of fun. It fits nicely into the pocket of campy enough while still being creative and I ique. The characters are fun and Campisi is particularly likeable. 

Tales Told in Technihorror #1
This was a really cool concept book with some neat little snippet stories. This is like the comic version of the two-sentence horror stories and I dig it. None of the individual stories where particularly mind bending, but they were fun and fit the whole B-Movie Theater type theme they have going on.

Bermuda #1
Peter Pan meets Land of the Lost. This book I a fun, approachable adventure story for people who like their islands a bit less deserted. The map on the back of the book promises some pretty cool world building, so there is a lot of room for stories here. 

Dark Blood #1
A story knee deep in some of the darkest points of American history, Dark Blood focuses on a WWII vet struggling with racial tensions back home and having to make the choice of living in fear or reflecting that fear outward. Kind of a disjointed 1st issue with a lot of action but not much information or development, but seems like a heavy, intriguing story all the same. 

The Last Book You'll Ever Read #1
I think I would have liked this book better if it were about books or media being blamed for the horrors of society, but alas. I suppose it can still come to that, but at the onset it seems to be about a broody E. L. James by way of Wednesday Addams writing a book that unintentionally (?) send people into a bath salt rampage. Something about her "revealing the darkness" and "people aren't ready to hear that" and whatnot feels a little arrogant, but the concept is still neat enough and Leiz is quickly becoming an artist I'm going to keep my eyes on.