Comic Review: Wayward #11

• Story by Jim Zub
• Line Art by Steven Cummings
• Colors by Tamra Bonvillain
• Letters by Marshall Dillon
• Back Matter by Zack Davisson
• Cover A by Steven Cummings and Tamra Bonvillain
• Cover B by Nick Bradshaw and Tamra Bonvillain
• Cover C by Danica Brine and Tamra Bonvillain
• Published by Image Comics

The only thing I am more excited for than Wayward is the return of Saga, but that is another story for literally another day. I've been drawn to this from the beginning, loving the way that it legitimately does both manga and western comics without feeling pandering, and I missed it a lot over its hiatus. I can give it no higher compliment than this: I love it, even though it is full of spiders.

Comic Review: The Goddamned #1

• Written by Jason Aaron
• Art by R. M. Guera
• Colors by Giulia Brusco
• Letters and Design by Jared K. Fletcher
• Variant Cover by Jock
• Published by Image Comics

All that this book had to do to hook me was call itself "Biblical Noir". One thing that comes with my religious background is that I really like stories that are based Biblical stories or ideas, but not the sanitized versions that pop up a little more often. I wouldn't quite agree that The Goddamned fits as noir, but it is Biblical and different from most that I see, so it has me from the start.

Comic Review: Limbo #1

• Created by Caspar Wijngaard and Dan Watters
• Writer: Dan Watters
• Artist: Caspar Wijngaard
• Lettering: Jim Campbell
• Published by Image Comics

Limbo is yet another in a larger than expected number of comics about Private Investigators that I've stumbled into recently. No, I don't mean that in the "Really, another one of these?" sense, as Limbo is a very different entry into that genre. It's the kind of thing that shows why this kind of story seems to last forever, since there is always something new that they can do with it.

Interesting Comics This Week (10-28-15)

Marvel Comics:

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 

This comic gave me a hard time even finding it because, as the cover is glad to point out, this is only their second #1 issue this year. It was only reset because of the Secret Wars nonsense, but if it helps get more people reading this again, then we have a very good thing. I reviewed a few issues of this before, and while it sometimes felt a little too much like Ryan North, it was still a lot of fun to read and follow.

Comic Review: Switch #1

• Created, story, and art by Stjepan Sejic

Before reading this, I had no idea that Switch was related to the Witchblade series. It's not the most direct connection, but the Witchblade is in it and the creator worked on Witchblade before, so I'll count it. I've wondered where was a good jumping on point for that series, and this seems as good as any.

Comic Review: I Hate Fairyland #1

• Story and art by Skottie Young
• Colors by Jean-Francois Beaulieu
• Lettering by Nate Piekos of Blambot
• Logo and Design by Rian Hughes
• Published by Image Comics

There are a few creators that I will be interested in anything that they do, and Skottie Young has become one of those for me. I just had so much fun reading his Rocket Raccoon series, and now he has a series, I Hate Fairyland, with Image? No need to convince me further, just let me have the book.

Comic Review: Saints #1

• Writer: Sean Lewis
• Artist: Benjamin Mackey
• Published by Image Comics

Even though I'm spoiling the rest of the review, I did not like Saints. Looking at this week's preview, I liked the premise. Unfortunately, the synopsis almost felt like it was coming from another story, not being inaccurate, but not the way I would have interpreted the story.

Comic Review: Paper Girls #1

• Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
• Artist: Cliff Chiang
• Colors: Matt Wilson
• Letters and Design: Jared K. Fletcher
• Published by Image Comics

The only thing it took to get me to read Paper Girls was the first credit: Brian K. Vaughan. Saga is my favorite currently running comic, and for that alone I will give everything he writes a shot, even here when I'm a bit shakier on the premise of the book.

Comic Review: Dark Corridor #2

This was originally posted as a review for Word of the Nerd. Reposted here with slight modifications.

• Story by Rich Tommaso
• Art by Rich Tommaso
• Cover by Rich Tommaso
• Published by Image Comics
• Release date: September 2, 2015

Last month, I was quite pleasantly surprised by the first issue of Dark Corridor. Many other comics are about crime in dark and depressing worlds, but this one was different. The different style made it stick out from similar comics, something that continues in Dark Corridor #2.

Comic Review: Mythic #4

• Script by Phil Hester
• Art by John McCrea
• Letters by Willie Schubert
• Colors by Michael Spicer
• Logo and Design by Rian Hughes
• Published by Image Comics

I started following this series after picking up the #1 issue randomly. I read just about every #1 from Image, but don't always pick up the issues after it. This comic just hits a very specific spot for what I want to see and feels like a recent theme: comics that decide they're going to throw as many ideas out there as possible and make them work. Somehow, Mythic has kept pulling it off for a number of issues and is showing no sign of stopping.

Comic Review: Tokyo Ghost #1

• Created by Rick Remender and Sean Murphy
• Writer: Rick Remender
• Artist: Sean Murphy
• Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
• Letterer: Rus Wooton
• Publisher: Image Comics

The only comics I've read by Rick Remender are this and Low, and both have given me the impression that I do not like what he writes. He's not the only creator, but there are similarities deeper than just the writing. A lot of people like him, but so far I have not, and Tokyo Ghost does nothing to make me want to come back for another issue.

Comic Review: We Stand on Guard #2

This was originally posted as a review for Word of the Nerd. Reposted here with slight modifications.

• Story: Brian K Vaughan
• Art: Steve Skroce
• Colors: Matt Hollingsworth
• Letters: Fonografiks
• Publisher: Image Comics

When I read the first issue of We Stand on Guard, I was not over the moon about it. I liked it enough that I wanted to keep reading, but I was curious how well it would work as a continuing series. I loved the fact that it was all about the US at war against Canada (something that the creators liked to encourage), but I was having trouble actually being pulled into the characters and storylines. After reading We Stand on Guard #2, I continue not really knowing what I think about the series, but I see enough promise that I don't want to quit yet.

Comic Review: Morning Glories #47

This was originally posted as a review for Word of the Nerd. Reposted here with slight modifications.

• Words: Nick Spencer
• Art: Joe Eisma
• Colors: Paul Little
• Letters: Johnny Lowe
• Study Hall: Matthew Meylikhov
• Design: Tim Daniel
• Cover: Rodin Esquejo
• Publisher: Image Comics

Writing about Morning Glories at this point is a nearly impossible task. This series has been going for almost 5 years at this point, and is unfriendly to new readers to the point of being outright hostile. The storylines are labyrinthine even when they're playing nice, the mythology is still unclear, and it makes Lost look positively straightforward. Still, for all of that, this series is truly great when doing what it does best, and for those who have put their time in, even a slower issue, like Morning Glories #47, is still a good read.

Comic Review: Valhalla Mad #3

This was originally posted as a review for Word of the Nerd. Reposted here with slight modifications.

• Writing: Joe Casey
• Art and colors: Paul Maybury
• Letters: Rus Wooton
• Design: Sonia Harris
• Flats: Chuck Knigge
• Publisher: Image Comics

This is an odd comic series that I'm really not sure what to think about. When I read and reviewed the first issue of the series on my own site, I was in the same spot, but three issues later, I'm still not sure what to think about it. When I first picked up Valhalla Mad, I recognized the writer and artist from Catalyst Comix, a series that I loved despite barely knowing what it was half the time. I'm still trying to work out what I think about this series, but for some reason, I'm compelled to keep reading.

Comic Review: Poseidon IX #1

• Writer: Tini Howard
• Artist: Phillip Sevy
• Colorist: Jeremy Colwell
• Letterer: Troy Peteri
• Publisher: Image Comics

At risk of spoiling my opinion, I am just confused by this comic. I know that Poseidon IX is somehow connected to the Aphrodite IX series, which I am vaguely familiar with buy haven't really read myself. Without that knowledge, this book left me more confused than anything else, and does not make sense as a jumping on point for the rest of the series. From my perspective, little about it really makes sense. 

Comic Review: Plutona #1

• Story by Jeff Lemire and Emi Lenox
• Script by Jeff Lemire
• Art by Emi Lenox
• Colors by Jordie Bellaire
• Letters by Steve Wands
• Published by Image Comics

Plutona is being sold as a comic about superheroes, but it's really only about it using a wide definition of the term. There are superheroes in the world, and they interact with the story, but they're not the main thing that it's about. In the end, none of that really matters, as it's in the areas other than basic premise that this story sticks out.