Hope everyone has been checking out Ryan’s weekly Grindhouse Comics column, which is really some of the best writing about comic books there is anywhere online. It’s informative and opinionated and incredibly diverse in the choices of titles he spotlights. (Again, I don’t write that column, so I feel free to be unbiased here.) That said, since by design that column only covers one title a week, I thought it might be fun to check in and let people know what I myself am reading. So that’s what this is going to be, and it isn’t going to be a weekly kind of thing unfortunately, because I don’t get to the store every week. Still, I love comics too, and I can’t let Ryan have all the fun writing about them.
Kevin McCarthy is an unknown entity to me at the moment (unless he’s the guy from INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, writing comics from beyond the grave, in which case — amazing) but for now, the reason I picked up these first two issues is because that’s just what I do with things that are drawn by Kyle Baker.
Grabbed the first three issues of this series because it’s the story of a lady werewolf, and ladies and werewolves are some of my favorite things. Yes, sometimes it really is that simple to get my money. (Probably why I’m not rich.)
The next issue comes out later this week, and like Ryan, I was super-hyped for the first issue and super-disappointed after I read it — three times, just to make sure there wasn’t something I missed — but unlike him, I’m probably going to give it another shot. Black Panther is one of my very favorite comic book characters, and even though I found the story in the first issue somewhat impenetrable and humorless (no offense — I read Between The World And Me just like you did and even though the copy-editor in me chafed at the couple thousand uses of the word “body,” I’m sure Ta-Nehisi Coates has it in him to build up to a memorable Black Panther story), I flat–out loved the artwork. It really displays the sheer mystery, stealth, and awesomeness of the character. Also I really dig that “Black Album”-referencing cover. That’s a fun reference.
Evan Dorkin’s humor comics are the rare few that can make me laugh out loud, but Beasts Of Burden never does. May not be his funniest writing, but this series is amazingly disarming and affecting. It’s about a bunch of animals that investigate supernatural happenings, and no story ever goes the way you might expect. The painted artwork by Jill Thompson is nothing short of incredible.
I’m a fan of Kaare Andrews’ comic book work like Spider-Man: Reign, and also have seen his horror films ALTITUDE and CABIN FEVER: PATIENT ZERO. His entry “V is for Vagitus (The Cry of a Newborn Baby)” from THE ABCs OF DEATH was one of my two favorite segments in that anthology. I didn’t know he had a new creator-owned series coming out, but that’s something I wouldn’t pass up. Ryan dug the hell out of the first issue — I haven’t read it yet, but I can’t wait. Definitely hoping there’s something in there about how a guy has time to create, write, draw, color, own, and promote comic books while directing pretty cool feature films on the side. That’s a secret I need to know.
I didn’t know until I got to the store that Becky Cloonan and Steve Dillon were making a comic book together. Once I knew that, I bought it.
I consider Charles Soule a buddy, but don’t hold that against him. His creator-owned stuff is uncommonly clever and distinctive, and it’s been a pleasure watching him work his way through the established characters at DC and Marvel over the past couple years. Not sure there isn’t a genre he couldn’t take to like a duck to water — or a duck to flying. This is a new series for everybody who saw the Punisher appear on Netflix’s Daredevil series and couldn’t get enough of those two dudes hanging out and debating the intricacies of criminal law. And fighting. There’s fighting in there too.
This is my favorite comic out there right now. Can’t tell you how much it means to me to have a good — no, great — SHAFT comic coming out semi-regularly. Ryan recommends it too. I’ll order it.
Been following this comic for a while, since it combines two of my longest-lasting loves, hip-hop and cartooning, but this cover made me laugh out loud. Does every time I look at it. Gold star.
— JON ZILLA.
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