#i also just really love the weight and feel of the idw art

[heckitall]

if you could transport yourself to the beginning of any tmnt generation and stay in it, BUT you had no memories of how the plot goes, which generation would you pick?

Man, my first instinct was the 03 series but than i forced myself to like. think it thru.

prolly the IDW iteration tbh

i think its got the good mix of found fam and gritty realness that me-me without info on tmnt would enjoy

[chaoxfix]

I think what really draws me to archie more is that, im not quite sure how to put this, the stories and how theyre treated aren't clean cut. The characters make tons of mistakes, missteps and back track because they messed up so a lot of the situations have a sort of weight to it that i think idw doesnt quite nail (no disrespect to idw of course. Its just that ppl get really weird when its criticized)

Also how the characters were drawn in archie, lotsa times with ugly expressions could really sell a moment in a fight or emotional moment.

yeah!!! thats part of what i mean by earnest stories, they have actual consequences and thats not something you often see in sonic media of any sort. it was until extremely recently that any past games mattered to new ones. meanwhile archie's stories come back around and around again, with characters and histories that matter.

and i definitely agree about the mistakes. the mistakes are some of the most compelling moments. not every mistake was treated as a mistake (and sometimes its REALLY funny if youre like 'wait.... but wouldnt that cause X???' but the writers instead are like 'MOVING RIGHT ALONG' and you just kind of have to say lol and continue going too). but the mistakes that DO hold weight are soooo fucking interesting. characters' choices matter, they are allowed to fuck up and that fuck-up is allowed to follow them for a While. and i just think thats neat. its realistic, things dont just get wrapped up in a nice bow all the time, sometimes things haunt the characters for years to come.

i also do like a lot of the art. my favorite archie artist legit might be jon gray. SAY WHAT YOU WILL ABOUT 132 BUT I REMAIN A JON GRAY STAN...!

i will say that i am not an idw hater, and idw DOES also have some storylines that have weight to them... though admittedly i like them in somewhat different ways to archie. for example, the mr tinker storyline seems to be trying to paint sonic as fucking up, too, for trusting eggman/mr tinker and releasing him, and i do like that storyline quite a bit. but at the same time im not quite as sold on it the way i was with a similar archie story, of eggman losing his grasp on reality after sonic soundly defeats him, and sonic showing him mercy but still being conflicted about it. i just preferred that archie characterization, because it seemed like sonic had trouble articulating *why* he felt so wrong about it, compared to idw sonic who seems like he knows exactly how to articulate all of his moral leanings. i prefer archie sonic because "im just living by my own feelings" truly seems to match him, he just does whatever he feels is right in the moment and he doesnt always know why, and sometimes it IS the wrong move. and i love that.

[renapomissing]

Comic Sonic Super Study 6

Not just a study. It's a super study. Because there's another S I could fit in there.

This one's a lot more positive than the last one. This post also features a dead Superman.

Anyway! Onto Issue 20! This is a milestone for us! I think we're gonna get along juuuuust fine for the remaining 600+ issues we're gonna be together, for the rest of the entire Archie continuity, including Mega Man, due to the crossovers, and then when we switch to IDW (Cuz let's face it, IDW's definitely gonna make it to 100 before I finish this). Yep. We're gonna be in this for the long haul, y'all. Maybe after this, we can do Sonic Underground, even though it's not a comic, and TV doesn't rhyme with Sonic.

One thing you may notice about this issue is that Sally is in-character again. You may also notice that this story was not written by Kanterovich and Penders.

Make of that, what you will.

It was written by Angelo DeCesare, for what it's worth, and he's been on a lot of the issues up to this point. Also, the weight jokes are back, which, again, makes sense when you consider that DeCesare comes from that era.

Anyway, when the crew thinks Sonic is dead, they hold a memorial service with a crudely made statue of him.

First off, I love that Tails is their best artist. But also,

A couple of things here. One: I know you're alive, and we're going to avenge your death.

Two: Tails has immaculate handwriting.

Lastly, however, Tails���s unwavering faith that Sonic is alive is very sweet, and surprisingly consistent with what his character would go on to be, considering how little they had to go off of. Somewhere out there, there’s an alternate history where DeCesare was the one who handled the majority of the Sonic comic, instead of Ken Penders, and I feel like that reality has a much calmer, more unified fanbase. The cancellation still happens, because Archie grew to not want Sonic, but hey. Clearly, he can write more serious stories, since this one actually works quite well with the increasingly dramatic tone of the book. He’s also the one writer who seems to have no interest in the Sonic and Sally romantic pairing.

We could have had DeCesare

YO, THEY DID THE ROBIN DEBUT POSE WITH SONIC AND TAILS

I feel kinda bad now, because I neglected to mention the "Death of Superman" homage they did way back, so, uh...

FEAT: SONIC WITH A SINGULAR BLUE ARM!

This one's from the miniseries #2. Not to be confused with the actual second issue, #1. I'm not sure why they started from 0 either.

Anyway, continuing with issue 20, it' i's pretty messed up that Robotnik doesn’t really think much of the Freedom Fighters if they don’t have Sonic. And judging by his reaction when he read Tails’s letter, that might not be too far off from what Sonic thinks. But can you blame him? Their job usually amounts to pointing Sonic to Robotnik, and giving him the opportunity to strike. Yes, I said that the Freedom Fighters are allowed to be competent more than the game characters (at least, in the post-Jason Griffith era), but that’s not a very high bar to pass.

We get to the second story of the issue, and

Penciler Art Mahwinney and inker Rich Koslowski are a fantastic team. I love their art. They’re the same team who did the art on In Your Face, and I want more of them, even if I know this era will eventually end.

It’s also a little funny that the first story from this book features Robotnik, and debatably Sonic doubting the competence of the other Freedom Fighters, and then the very next story opens up with Sally actually being hyper competent. See? I am capable of saying nice things about Kanterovich and Penders.

Issue 21:

EY YO, IT’S AN ISSUE WITH SPAZ ON INTEREIORS! Savor it while you can, cuz this… this comes to a hard stop, if I remember correctly.

This panel is perfection.

Also, I’ll say right now, this is probably some of my favorite Sonic characterization. My ideal mix is this, and the Griffith era. I regret that he was missing his attitude.

Oh, how ya doin', Toei Sonic quills? Didn't expect to see you here.

All right, remember what I said about my ideal Sonic characterization? Maybe not this. This is Sonic treating this like a game, and it’s drawing Sonic’s reasons for doing this into question. Not too into this.

Not you, though, Spaz. You're doin' great. Love the motion blur.

So far, this is my favorite depiction of Sonic's speed in this book. I can feel the drag of the wind, and the whole thing just has this kind of weight to it that I love. It's easy to draw Sonic running fast, but it's another thing to make him feel fast, and for me, this is it.

So, in this book, we see what would happen if Sonic fought Amazo.

Bro, this panel goes so hard. Shoutout to the way Spaz draws Robotnik. Shoutout to Spaz, really.

Well, this post got really long, so that's it for now. Tune in next time, when we talk more about how awesome Spaz is!

[earthstellar]

OK I’m gonna talk for a long time about a character almost nobody but me is interested in, but I love her so please put up with me for a minute here lol 

alright, here we go: 

I feel like Road Rage is absolutely among the least-utilised G1 characters ever, which sucks because I love her so much!!! 

Here’s a summary of her bio from TF Wiki: 

Road Rage is the bodyguard/advisor of Ambassador Crosscut. 

She is well-versed in alien cultures and generally cheerful, making her a very good diplomat. 

However, a chronic short-out in her vehicle mode causes her to live up to her name; in car mode, she is a snarling, swerving speed machine with little regard—if not utter contempt—for anyone else on the road with her.

Which reminds me a lot of how they handled Grimlock as he’s depicted in Cyberverse, where he’s very polite and highly intelligent in root mode, but in alt-mode he’s out there fucking shit up, lmao.

And of course, she’s visually interesting because out of all the G1 femme bots, Road Rage is a big departure from the “typical” femme bot frame type, with a far more heavy-duty feel to her compared to Chromia, Moonracer, Arcee, etc. -- Her original G1 toy was just a re-deco of Tracks. 

I can’t help but wonder how much her aesthetics played a role in her never really getting that much traction in Western/English language media... Sigh. 

Although Road Rage does make an appearance in IDW 2! 

And she does also appear in TFA as well: 

However, in both IDW 2 and TFA, her frame type/model seems to have been adjusted quite a bit, and okay fine, but I feel like the heavy weight and serious look of the original G1 design gets a little lost in the redesigns and she ends up losing a lot of personality as a result, visually speaking.  

Don’t get me wrong, I totally get that adjustments for art style / modernisation to match other character models etc. is a thing that needs to happen as part of natural art evolution and so on! 

No problem with that; There’s a lot of consideration that goes into any character design process, and of course, it’s Transformers so toy models need to be taken into consideration as well, lol. 

But I look at the original G1 Tracks re-deco design of Road Rage, and I think that IDK, making her less brick-like doesn’t really feel quite right to me, personally. (Of course, that’s just my opinion, and the redesigns aren’t inherently bad at all!)

In TFA they also made her a bounty hunter for-justice type character, but personally, I love her original bio. Kick ass diplomatic advisor. That’s so fucking strong!!!! 

It just feels so much more unique and interesting to me, although I get that with TFA they were already working with a fairly large cast of characters with lots going on etc. and you gotta do what you gotta do to make things work for the story that you are trying to tell (or the story you are already in the middle of telling, which is often the case, lmao).

I just really like the idea of this very cordial diplomat’s advisor being a fucking HUGE MASSIVE POWERHOUSE LADY and looking threatening as shit, but actually she’s very chill and is there to help! 

(Until she almost runs you off the road later but hey that’s not 100% her fault, she feels bad about it, she’ll help you get to the hotel so you can get ready for the speaker’s hall event later. No worries. lmao)

But still, IDK, it would be nice to see some more non-”typical” femme bots on a more regular basis. 

I love the hell out of Termagax in IDW 2, Clobber in Cyberverse, etc. and tbh please give me more femme bots who are wide as hell. 

Just, give me some absolutely huge femme bots. 

(If we ever see Termagax animated in anything, I will lose my shit entirely, please give us more Termagax, I love her.) 

I mean, come on, the G1 Road Rage design has that prominent hood torso/chest design that evokes TFA Ratchet’s “beer belly”-- It’s right there!!! Visually, it’s doable!!! 

I feel like TFA Road Rage could have still had a fair enough redesign to match the style of the series but retained a larger / heavier set frame??? 

(Of course, this may not have been done for whatever reasons, but we have so few fat or even just generally big lady bots, and I feel like the G1 design for Road Rage could absolutely be interpreted in subsequent art styles / toy designs as being a wider / heavier frame type???) 

We don’t see a lot of huge, heavy femme bots. The ones we do see are typically neutrals or Decepticons. We could use a few more fat lady Autobots, I’m just saying! But also just more large, strong, boxy, fat, etc. femme bots in general. 

Again, not dunking on the IDW 2 / TFA designs, both art styles generally kick ass, but I love the G1 design for her so much. 

Look at her. She’s so fucking powerful. I feel like the subsequent redesigns don’t really capture that sense of “absolute fucking rectangle of a femme bot”, but of course they also adjusted her character bio a bit for the redesigns too, so IDK. 

In TFA, we already have some big bots like Bulkhead and of course, Ratchet’s got a pretty prominent robo-gut. We know it can be done!! 

And in IDW 2, we do have a bit more frame type diversity, which is always welcome. <3 

It just would have been interesting to see TFA Road Rage’s original hood torso/chest worked into a similar design to Ratchet’s, with a wider set frame, broader limbs, and thicker/bigger door wings to match-- Since her G1 model could already be interpreted as being pretty big, and it might have been a fun little throwback design / nod to the original for those who were already familiar with this character. 

I mean, her original frame type was based on Tracks, and look at how they redesigned Tracks for TFA. Not a super big guy or anything lol, but it’s clear they played around with this frame type redesign concept in at least a couple ways. 

So IDK!!!! I just love the original G1 Road Rage, and while I’m not dunking on the later redesigns of the character, I feel like it would be really cool to see a big lady bot in an interesting role like diplomatic advisor. 

TL;DR: PLEASE GIVE ME THE FAT GOD TIER DIPLOMATIC ADVISOR VERSION OF ROAD RAGE, SHE IS LARGE AND SMART AND I LOVE HER.

[transformers-fan-continuities]

Spotlight: Ties That Bind

This one’s a doozy folks! If you missed the last spotlight you can go read it here, but strap in for The Ties That Bind, an absolutely brilliant take on humanformers. It’s hosted here at @tiesthatbind-tf​ created by @artsy-hobbitses​!

Q) Give us a run down of your cont! What's it about, what's it called, what's it like?

Ties That Bind is a humanformers-based original continuity which is part Science Fiction and part Alternate History where the invasion of Quintessons and introduction of their technology to Earth in 1920 sets the world and humankind on a completely different trajectory. The active narrative spans a period from 1920 to 2070, covering the First and Second Quintesson Wars, the interplanetary Antillan War (leading to the creation of Unicron on Mars) and the Great War which involves the Autobots, Decepticons and Functionist stalwarts, and how it affects the characters.

The cast is pretty sprawling and the narrative is mostly centred around human drama with bits of humor interspaced and a dash of horror (mostly centred around how the previous government often chose to utilize the technology left behind from the Quintesson Wars to create new systems of oppression, which affected many of the characters, in the name of worldwide rebuilding efforts).

Q) What characters take the lead here? Any personal favorites?

I will admit to this continuity being very much heavy on the relationship between Old Bastards  Optimus Prime and Megatron, which is given considerable weight as they were best friends who had known each other since childhood and were deeply intrinsic to each other’s growths as individuals, which makes it all the worse when guilt and betrayal enter the party. Despite being captains in two corners of this battle, there’s a part of them that just cannot let go of their pasts together and they need to reconcile with how this will affect their agenda (Megatron) and how they lead their team (Optimus) who don’t necessarily share their history.

Other characters with significant development include:

Starscream, a Cold Construct in a toxic working relationship with Megatron with whom he is hiding a dark secret, who struggles to balance the underhanded viciousness he believes he needs to gain power and his innate desire from his Senate days to make the world a better place. 

Windblade, a Camien native who fights her government’s apathy concerning the situation on Earth which they see as unsalvageable compared to their more Utopian society. 

Prowl, a Cold Construct raised from childhood to be a cop in a police state, who finds out that he was brainwashed several times  to ensure his obedience and efficacy as a government asset and is now working to reclaim some semblance of the humanity he was never allowed to feel and figure out how much of him is who he really is and how much is programming.

Hound, a sheltered Beastman who joined the fight to ensure that Beastmen the world over would have the same rights he did in his homeland of Shetland Isle, but is forcefully stripped of his humanity and faced with his animal side during the war and has to relearn what personhood means amid his trauma.

Q) Is there a bigger point to this, like a theme or some catharsis? Or is it just fluffy fun?

God with the amount of time I spent sleepless trying to figure out how the logistics of this or the semantics of that were supposed to work in universe, I cannot for the life of me say it’s fluffy fun, but I can’t exactly say it hasn’t been pretty engaging either!

There’s elements of war being messy for everyone involved where there doesn’t seem to be a clear line between friend and foe at times, but I think for most part it prescribes to  Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s belief that people are inherently good, but are corrupted by the evils of society. Despite its dark themes (Including but not limited to child abuse, torture, illegal experimenation  and brainwashing), love and friendships do prevail, kindness does beget kindness, found families are made, even the smallest actions matter, and things do get better because there are people on both sides who genuinely want to, and strive to make it better.

With Cold Constructs and Beastmen, it also delves heavily into what it means to be human; to have agency and personhood.

There’s also a strong undercurrent of taking responsibility for one’s actions, even if they were made with the best of intentions (Avoidance of this is what eats up Starscream and Megatron from the inside, and what Starscream eventually embraces).

Q) How long have you been working on it?

There’s two answers to this!

I’ve had a Humanformers-related universe going all the way back to 2007 around the time the first Bayformers came out---basically I had a choice between learning to draw cars or draw people (I was an anthro artist back then) and I immediately chose people.

The 2007 draft however had no worldbuilding or connective storylines and was mostly a fun little venture into character design and practice which were actually instrumental to me experimenting and learning how to draw humans properly.

I left the fandom for about a decade and when I came back to it in late 2020 around September via the War for Cybertron series on Netflix, I immediately got hooked on the 2005 IDW comics I missed out on and wanted to get around to updating my old designs as well find a way to translate several of the concepts I wanted to explore in a human sense, so the 2020 update became its own full-fledged original continuity with detailed worldbuilding and history.

You can see the artistic evolution of several characters from their original incarnation below!

Q) It’s incredible to see your artistic improvement too! Give us a behind-the-scenes look! Show us a secret ;))

Say hello to my workspace! I’ve been working exclusively on the Ipad Pro since late 2016, which is fantastic because I can basically whip up concepts and sketches on the go anywhere. Nowhere is too out of bounds to work on TTB!

Also, do enjoy this sneak peek at true!form Rung, whose synthezoid human body took years to perfect.

Q) YESSSSS alright I must admit this is one of my favorite Rungs, and certainly my fave within TTB. Amazing. Phew, anyway. Where did you draw inspiration from? What canons, what other fiction, what parts of real life?

TTB was initially conceived as a faithful retelling of the IDW 2005 narrative before it was transformed into its own continuity and as such, it borrows heavily from concepts and mirrored plot lines introduced in that run! I chose to have the series inspired off it specifically for the amount of history and worldbuilding it introduced to the franchise.

Anime like Gunslinger Girl and Beastars inspired the depictions of Cold Constructs, especially the more harrowing aspects of their upbringing as government assets instead of children, and Beastmen (Beastformers) in TTB.

I haven’t depicted the world itself in my art all too much, but the architecture from Tiger and Bunny, which has sort of a futuristic Art Deco feel to it, is what you’d usually see in major cities. There is an in-universe reason for that---with a Point Of Divergence set in 1920 followed by 25 years (an entire generation) of progress basically being kicked to the curb due to the Quintesson wars, mankind was basically in a time-locked bubble until the end of the wars, and by then their heroes were 1920s-style rebellion leaders, which lead to 1920s fashion (especially among the Manual Working Class---Megatron, Jazz and Optimus all rock 1920s fashion at some point of their lives) and architecture being celebrated and retained as sort of a reminder of how things were before The Invasion. This anime’s background design is also where I adopted the tiered system TTB’s major metropolises are often built on (with each tier being designated to a different working class) from.

The main artistic style itself is a love letter to 90s cartoons, in particular Gargoyles’ deep and drama-driven character narratives and designs as well as The Centurions’ take on body armor logistics.

I also take inspiration, especially armor-wise, from the characters’ given heritage and background. As an example, Hotrod who is depicted as Irish has the flames on his armor done up with Celtic knots. Welsh aristocrat Mirage’s armor bears olden knight-style filigree and has his Autobot logo designed as a coat of arms. Indonesian Soundwave’s armor and Decepticon logo takes cues from Batik and Wayang Kulit while their mask is based off the Barong.

Q) They are absolutely gorgeous! Show off something you're really proud of, a particular favorite part of your cont.

The worldbuilding in general! Most Humanformers I’ve seen tend to treat it like a fun exercise which it is and is definitely valid, but I found myself wanting a full-fledged world to lose myself in and I sought to try and make that world myself by drafting a detailed history and timeline of events which would affect ongoing narratives, having indepth worldbuilding to include almost all societal aspects of the universe and  expanding on the concept of Beastmen and Cold Constructs existing in a human setting.

I’m not so secretly proud of the research and diversity included to make the cast look like the multicultural, globally-based team that they were meant to be instead of being locked to a single region! My original draft from 2007 was, to put it simply, quite culturally monolithic and I wanted to improve on that aspect with TTB.

I’m also proud that I’ve kept to it this far! I’m a notoriously flaky person jumping from one idea/fandom to another and to have kept at this continuity for the better part of ten months is honestly a personal feat.

Art-wise, this scene depicting a young Megatron working alongside Terminus and Impactor (cameo by @weapon-up-wallflower​‘s OC Missit!)  is definitely one of my favorites since it helps build up the world they live in and plays to familial bonds and comfort found in one another despite their less than ideal circumstances.

Q) Everything has come together so beautifully, you absolutely should be proud. What other fan canons do you love and why? Would you like to see them interviewed?

I am dying to hear more from @iscaredspider​’s Sparkpulse continuity! Her designs are MIND-BLOWINGLY GORGEOUS and I want to hear more about what inspired her to work on it!

Also YOU. Yes YOU BLURRITO. LET ME HEAR MORE ABOUT SNAP.

Q) [wails and squirms away in the mortifying ordeal of being known but in a very flattered way] I WILL SOMEDAY I PROMISE aflghsdjg thank you QwQ

Well that was fantastic, Oni, thank you muchly! A magnificent continuity with so much to look forward to! Coming up next is another personal fave of mine, the first inspiration for SNAP, so stick around...

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #22- If You Don’t Love Thunderclash, Get Better Soon I Guess

One last issue before we reach Comic Event Hell.

Time to use a dead man to set up the rest of the nonsense that’s got to happen, because apparently 14 issues of setup, including six issues of literal prelude, wasn’t enough.

The first bit of information we’re presented with is the fact that Chromedome and Swerve are on the opposite sides of the camera-shy scale. I guess that’s bound to happen when your spouse has had his video-cam literally connected to his brain for at least several thousand years.

The art may look really gritty and hardcore here, but this is actually due to a filter Rewind has over all his footage that he’s neglected to take off, because it made all the wartime propaganda he would stuff into people’s heads all the more brutal-looking.

No, this is the style of our artist for this issue, James Raiz, who we’ll be seeing a fair bit of over the next several issues. Raiz has worked on the Transformers franchise over the course of multiple license-holders, as well as contributed to both Marvel and DC comics. He also works in special effects, including matte painting and VFX. That’s just neat.

Anyway, the reason Swerve’s completely frozen in place isn’t because Rewind  switched out his head-mounted camera for a gun that goes off if it hears you make a self-deprecating joke, but rather because he’s conducting interviews with everyone in the main cast. We get all their introductions, Cyclonus makes a statement about his political stances, Drift sounds like he’s high as a kite, First Aid strikes a sassy pose while not being bitter in the slightest, and Ultra Magnus makes a move that would get him murdered on any given film set in the universe.

You do NOT use your bare fucking hand to clean a camera lens, mister. Go get a microfiber cloth and try the fuck again, you complete and utter duffel bag of a creature.

We get a quick cut of the speech Rodimus made back in issue #1, with an angle that implies that Rewind was in the front row of the front row, then cut over to Rodimus asking Rewind to document their Capital-Q Quest. This is where we establish that this film doesn’t only contain footage from Rewind’s personal camera, but also that of the Lost Light’s security system.

Which feels like the sort of access you maybe wouldn’t want to give some nosy little film buff, especially when you have a secret giant serial killing sadist living in your basement like a disappointing adult child.

See? He was given the job to record the adventures of the Lost Light not five minutes ago, and he’s already using his powers for evil. Eavesdropping evil. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, Rodimus, and you just handed it to the guy with a massive Dominus Ambus-shaped chip on his shoulder.

So Rewind’s got permission to film just about whatever he wants, and Rodimus figures it’ll be nonstop action from here to the finish line! Fights! Intrigue! Mild hijinks and peril! Explosions aplomb! Oh man, I can’t wait to see what kinds of crazy shit will happen on this absolute roller coaster of a Quest!

Smashcut to Swerve literally falling asleep in the middle of a conversation. Yeah, as it turns out, no quest, capital Q or not, is nonstop action. Which is good, honestly, because that kind of seems like it would be exhausting after the first week or so.

Swerve, Tailgate, and Rewind are discussing cool alt-modes, which seems like an odd topic, seeing as Tailgate and Swerve have basically the same situation going on there, leaving Rewind alone in the camp of “does not have wheels”.

I worry about you sometimes, Rewind. Internalized Functionism is a very real problem. Uh, well, in your universe anyway. Us humans have to deal with regular ol’ classism and racism.

Rung gets brought up, and it’s revealed that the wheel on his back is almost purely cosmetic; it doesn’t even actually attach to his body. The lads decide that they’ve got nothing better to do, and set up a gentlemen’s wager- first one to figure out Rung’s whole deal gets 100 space-dollars.

Throwing shit at people’s heads will be a major plot point in the climax of this comic series.

Swerve’s go at trying to win the bet involved tossing a grenade at Rung to hit him in the neural cluster, which is rumored to be able to force an involuntary mode change if done correctly. Obviously, it didn’t work this go around. Then our narrative focus switches over to the crew’s hobbies.

You were listening to Prince, weren’t you, Magnus? Not even deep space is safe from the Cease and Desist.

Skids’ hobby is meeting new people, because he suffers from the terrible curse of being so fucking good at everything he tries, he always ends up dropping whatever he picked up, because what’s the point? This acts as a segue into another flashback, to even MORE bullshit that the fellas got roped into on Hedonia.

These are the Stentarians. They’re like the Cybertronians, if they were better in every way.

And by “better”, I, of course, mean “more bloodthirsty, warmongering, and driven enough to make their civil war last about as long as the Jurassic Period”. Also, they’re all combiners by default, and Whirl seems a little TOO into their whole situation. So much so, in fact, that when the Imperial Guard of their race show up to kill them, he decides to do them a solid by single-handedly ending their entire war.

You know, in most cases you’re supposed to show and not tell for visual media. This is way funnier, though, so it can be excused.

We jump back into the interviews, and Rewind’s just asked everyone if they’re happy. This might seem like an odd question, until you remember that everyone on-board this ship has crippling depression and PTSD, and Rewind’s married to one of the saddest motherfuckers to ever exist, so he probably has this question loaded into the proverbial chamber at any given moment. We won’t cover all of the answers here, because they’ll be more poignant to reflect back on later in the comic run, but let’s take a gander at the characters who’ve completed the first leg of their character arcs this season.

Drift, is that perhaps… an honest expression of your inner thought processes happening right there? Has Rewind broken through your carefully crafted persona, if even for just a moment, with his question? Perish the thought!

Because Tailgate outed himself as being baby in issue #21, I have zero doubt he’s not exaggerating here. He was a janitor, then he fell in a hole and became Dirt-Nap Supreme for six million years; even the most boring day on the Lost Light’s got to be better than that.

And it’s nice to see Chromedome on a good day for once. Hopefully he reveled in it while he had the chance, because this interview takes place maybe a couple weeks before he fucks everything up big time and has to blow up his husband with a missile strike.

Getting back to the Mystery of the Rungian Alt-Mode plotline, we see Rung using his backpack as a wheelbarrow- no idea what he’s actually pushing in the damned thing- and wearing the most disgruntled face I’ve seen him pull in a hot minute. Someone yells for him to come down the eerily unlit and sinister-looking hallway, which he does. Rung would not do well in a horror film.

He winds up at Swerve’s, where Tailgate, Swerve, Brainstorm, and someone who is most likely Trailcutter, given the colors, are hanging out in their alt-modes. Tailgate’s ploy to find out Rung’s deal is to do what he does best- lie! They’re having an alt-mode party, and wouldn’t Rung like to join in? There are, of course, logistical issues with being a car in a bar, especially when your drink is on the table and your head is tucked up somewhere in your torso, but never mind all that! Let’s get crazy!

This doesn’t work either. Maybe we should cut out the middle man here and just get Rung drunk enough to agree to a wet alt-mode contest.

No, I don’t have any idea how that would work.

In our next vignette, Rodimus comes into the comms room, Rewind trailing behind him like a grim shadow of death, to see what the hell Blaster wants, other than just the hugest glass of water.

Raiz’s work is very detailed, and you really feel the weight of these giant metal space robots, but everyone looks like they’ve been put through a food dehydrator.

We get a lot of build up to the character who’s about to be introduced, with a common opinion being shared amongst everyone- even Tailgate, who hates successful people like his life depends on it.

Lovely readers, put your hands together for the ideal male partner for Autobots, Decepticons, and Neutrals alike:

A man with so much charisma and charm that only Rodimus could hate him, Thuderclash brings to IDW what everyone wishes Optimus Prime would, making our disappointing space dad even more mediocre by comparison. He fights for justice, and freedom, and the good of the universe- and he does it all while having a chronic medical condition that forces him to stay within a certain distance of his ship that is also a life-support machine, otherwise he will die. Despite his handicaps, Thunderclash seemingly brings to others what they need most, even if they don’t even realize that they needed it in the first place.

He also, in this one scene, appeals to Drift’s religious sensibilities, does a secret best-friend dance with Ratchet (who he helped to pass his medical exams- yes, Ratchet), and congratulates Rodimus on his questing so far.

Thunderclash is one of those characters that everyone in-universe is supposed to love, and I completely buy it- because he’s completely genuine and humble about all of this the entire time.

Compare this to the last time Roberts wrote Thunderclash, in Eugenesis.

Where he was an ex-Decepticon.

And kind of an abrasive asshole.

And then he died.

Y’know, now that I think of it, Eugenesis Thunderclash and MTMTE Ambulon being basically the same character makes a whole lot of sense, even without the horrors of Roberts’ Twitter getting involved.

Thunderclash reveals that he, too, is on a quest to find the Knights of Cybertron, much to Rodimus’ chagrin. But first he needs the Lost Light to break out the jumper cables, and then for his second in command to stop threatening his life.

Turns out, not everyone is as obvious as the Cybertronians with their naming conventions. Whirl assassinated the wrong folks; I’m sure the Galactic Council is utterly thrilled. Paddox wants to steal the quantum engine technology for the good of his people, so they can kick the ass of the up-and-coming Terradore leader.

Completely unaware of the situation unfolding here in the lab, Swerve is directing Rung towards the warm, loving aura of Thunderclash for another go at winning the gentlemen’s wager- through the power of lying about having friends, Swerve’s “agreed” to get Rung Thunderclash’s autograph, in exchange for getting to check that Rung’s transformation cog is still working. Then they bump into the nightmare currently unfolding. My, whoever will save us from this dreaded menace, who holds a gun to the head of the Autobots’ greatest warrior, confidant, friend, and perhaps even lover?

How about a bartender and a giant vape pen?

Okay, so Rung doesn’t actually turn into a vape. It turns out that the Mystery of the Rungian Alt-Mode is also a mystery to the man himself. Because Rung is old as shit, the Functionists got to see this bullshit for themselves, and ended up testing him over and over and over trying to figure it out, lest he prove to be a flaw in their fascist ideologies. Fun fact: fascists HATE it when people they’re trying to oppress don’t play to their expectations.

The Functionists were the ones who gave Rung his little wheelie backpack, to make him at least appear useful. This sort of treatment tends to warp one’s head a bit, which would explain why he’s bothered to keep it for so long- internalized functionism’s a real bitch.

At least he’s not giving teenagers nicotine addictions under the guise of being somewhat better than cigarettes.

Back with Rodimus and Cybertron’s Autobot of the Year for 40,000 consecutive years, we get the unfortunate news that jump-starting Thunderclash’s ship is going to make the Quest go a bit slower for the Lost Light, much to Rodimus’ horror, though he does his best to put on a brave face; after all, that’s what heroes do, isn’t it?

It’s at this point that it’s revealed that “Little Victories” was being screened to all the Circle of Light members who didn’t get murdered or turned into Legislators on Luna 1, and man are these guys pissy. What was meant to be a recruitment video turned out to do just the opposite, because none of these guys want anything to do with what the Lost Light’s got going on.

Too bad Rewind didn’t have time for a cleaner cut for showing. Maybe they could have at least snagged a couple of these guys to tag along.

As all of the Circle of Light leave the theatre to go call everyone’s favorite Autobot to see if he needs a more crew members, the film plays on behind Skids, back to the interviews, as everyone promises more adventures just waiting on the horizon.

You’re not even on this trip anymore, you dork.

Chromedome gives us the title drop for the movie and issue, and we cut to Rewind organizing a group photo of all the interviewees.

And then Rewind died horribly like a week later. Thus ends season one of More Than Meets the Eye!

While I’m here, I’d like to take the time to cover a little bit of cut content from this issue, a scene between Drift and Ratchet.

Drift, during his interview, recalls the time that Ratchet called him into his office for a very serious discussion about his/Pharma’s hands.

Yeah, turns out they’re haunted.

Well, no, not really, because this is a prank. But Drift doesn’t know that yet.

Ratchet demonstrates this hand-haunting by punching Drift in the face, as he screams damnation at Pharma’s ghost. Drift, because he is a spiritual man, knows exactly what to do to deal with this possession; he draws his sword and chops Ratchet’s hands off, then throws them out the airlock.

This, too, is a prank, not that Ratchet knows it right away, yelling at Drift that he’s crippled him.

Clearly, these two belong together.

This bit of cut script was lucky enough to have gotten drawn by the colorist for MTMTE Season 1, Josh Burcham. Burcham’s line art is iconic- you won’t mistake him for anyone else. It’s rough and angular, and honestly just very charming. I’m a sucker for this sort of style. If you want to see his adaptation of this chunk of script- and trust me, you do- the link’s right here:

https://dcjosh.tumblr.com/post/107665292031/its-done-the-mtmte-22-deleted-scene-in-all-its

[oosteven-universe]

ROM: Dire Wraiths #1

ROM: Dire Wraiths #1 IDW Publishing 2020 Written by Chris Ryall Illustrated by Luca Pizzari Coloured by Jim Boswell Backup Illustrated by Guy Dorian Sr. & Sal Buscema Coloured by Ross Campbell Lettered by Shawn Lee     “Inhumanauts,” Part 1:     In 1969, two American astronauts became the first humans to set foot on Earth’s moon... but they found something inhuman waiting for them! With Rom the Spaceknight nowhere in sight, can even the Earth Corp help prevent one giant leap for Wraithkind? Plus! Find out where Rom is in a special back-up story with art by Guy Dorian Sr. and Rom legend Sal Buscema!     Okay I love this book! That we are now seeing more stories based on someone's villains or adversaries and getting a better all around look at them it has this amazing effect on the reader. This gives us a chance to really understand how dangerous they are and just how powerful someone like ROM is when dealing with them. The spotlight here shows us more of their nature, how they think and how they interact with one another and this is a very good, strong, powerful thing to see.     The way that this is being told is sensational. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is laid down incredibly well. I am a huge fan of learning alongside the characters that we meet, it keeps the element of surprise as well piquing the curiosity. That Chris understands this and can still set up a confrontation between the Dire Wraiths and the humans but still keep it as simple as possible until that one moment showcases some incredible talent and skill in his writing. The character development here is extraordinary to see. These are brand new folks, even if some of em are historical, so the way we start out seeing them be fleshed out is really nicely done. This allows us to see them change, evolve and grow through the circumstances and situations that they find themselves in. The pacing is superb as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns. All of this works together to create a fabulous ebb & flow to the book that extends into the back-up feature.     Just a note here and that's the fact that while the back-up is intended for a supplemental story it actually ties into the main story in ways that make you feel as if it's just part of the story as a whole. Meaning that you don't notice it's even a back-up at all. That my friends is amazing for me to see and feel considering it may be the first time I have felt that way. The interiors here are utterly, sensationally bloody brilliant! We always judge what we're going to see based on the first page, it's a simple fact that no matter who you are it's going to hold weight. To see the inside of the capsule that the astronauts are in and to see how detailed that space is blew my mind. Would I have liked to see that in those three head shots, you betcha. Regardless this panel alone shows us how limited their space is and how near claustrophobic the setting is.     The linework is phenomenal and the way that varying weights are being utilised to bring out and showcase the attention to detail that we see is genius. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show this masterful eye for storytelling. The composition we see in the panels with the utilisation of backgrounds that bring us depth perception, scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the story is beautifully done. By the way this also includes the illustration in the back-up feature as well. The colour work is beyond sensational and you really see how the understanding of colour is utilised to it's fullest here. The hues and tones within all the colours as the show the shading, highlights and shadow work is extraordinary. ​     This is an exciting, fresh and interesting book based on a race, species or whatnot that we never have known enough about. We know they are dangerous, cunning and bloodthirsty but to see them in action and planning that's a whole new ballgame. You owe it to yourself to check this one out because it'll surely be that surprise hit for you too!

[renaroo]

Wednesday Roundup 5.7.2017

So I think in the year-ish that I’ve been doing the Roundups, this is an actual literal first for me. This is the first time I have one “entry” from all my major publishers at the same time and not more. I mean one’s cheating since Monstress is a collected trade, but yeah, I have one from Dark Horse, DC, IDW, Image, and Marvel. 

I could not have planned this if I tried.

In any case, fascinating coincidences aside, how did this week end up stacking up? How good were any of the issues? Lllllets find out!

Marvel’s All-New Wolverine, Image’s Monstress, DC’s Superman, IDW’s Transformers: Till All Are One, Dark Horse’s Zodiac Starforce: Cries of the Fire Prince

Marvel’s All-New Wolverine (2015-present) #22 Tom Taylor, Leonard Kirk, Cory Hamscher, Erick Arciniega, Michael Garland

I’m not sure how many more times I can compliment this comic without it sounding repetitive but where we are, All-New Wolverine actually is making me, by force, enjoy a deep space story featuring the multitudes of Marvel alien species that I struggle to care about normally but really do here and now because GAAAAABBBY.

The relationship between Gabby and all the people around her is really one of the main driving forces. There’s of course the joy that’s her and Laura interacting and Laura growing into the mentor she never would have thought herself capable of (true daughter of Logan if there’s ever been), but this issue is wise in expanding on that during the first half of the story.

Gabby and Wade basically lampoon it from the start with Wade repeatedly expressing to Laura how special and unique Gabby is, and then Gabby working her magic on Laura, forcing her to grow up and move out of Logan’s old apartment into her very own (so on the nose and yet I love it oh so much). And of course there is the hilarity of bringing Jonathan into space. 

All so that the cliffhanger at the end would leave you as emotionally destroyed as I feel at the moment!

Tom Taylor’s great, and I love how dedicated this comic seemingly is to staying out of Secret Empire and even more so to how dedicated it seemingly is to progress its own greater narrative -- namely with our mysterious hooded watcher who sees the departure of the Wolverines and cryptically moves their plans to Daken. To which I say nooooooooo our siblings were finally getting alonooonnnngggg

Great issue, on the edge of my seat for what’s to come! 

Image’s Monstress (2015-present) Volume Two: The Blood Marjorie Liu, Sana Takeda

So like Descender and a few of the other Indie titles I’ve picked up in the last year, I had Liu and Takeda’s Monstress come to my radar thanks to suggestions from people on tumblr! And what can I say? Those of you who recommend stuff to me really know my tastes it seems like!

This is a beautiful fantasy story with a very dark and unseemly look at the idea of fate and inheritance by blood. There is a weight to everything and the gorgeous style of the world hides the secret of the inner ugliness behind each and every corner. 

To put things even more simply, this book is fascinatingly dark and is not the gentle Chosen One narrative that fantasy so often falls into at least in Western tropes. You can feel the influence of mythologies beyond Western, and really other than inverting the idea of a By Blood Chosen One you could argue that Western fantasy ideas do not really play much of a role within the narrative at all.

I think that’s what’s so fascinating to me. There’s a dense story with a lot to unpack, so those surface elements come off all the stronger and fascinate me into wanting to see even more of them. 

Again just a very good read overall. Much approved. 

DC’s Superman (2016-present) #26 Michael Moreci, Mike Godelwski, HI-FI

This is a very pleasant, very nice one-off read. 

I’m not sure how much impact this issue will have on the greater story being told about our titular Kent family, but it was refreshing to have a look at especially Jon’s character from a different writer. As much as I have enjoyed Jurgens, Tomasi, and Gleason, Jon being naïve and near perfect has been a criticism I’ve thought deserved its dues for sure. And it’s interesting to see him feeling more his age in this issue and being a bit more stubborn and in the wrong and just flawed in the ways that kids are.

I loved that the lesson here was two-fold -- a lesson about Clark learning how to allow children to make their own mistakes and be there to comfort them when they fall, and about Jon learning to, in Clark’s terms, “flex muscles above the neck.”

The art was quite good and while Lois didn’t receive a lot of time here, she was Clark’s rock. I’m hoping that we will get more of the feisty and tenacious Lois who needs Clark holding her back from time to time sooner or later. 

It’s a decent issue, and I’m glad Moreci is proving that people outside the usual team can tackle this new-old take on classic Superman and on the all-new Jon Kent. 

IDW’s Transformers: Till All Are One (2016-present) #11 Mairghread Scott, Sara Pitre-Durocher, Joana Lafuente

I knew we weren’t close to seeing the end of Windblade! And not at all because I cheat and looked at next month’s cover back when the solicits for it came out like forever ago. 

Rather than jumping around POVs which TAAO has made a habit of doing (well might I add!) with its ensemble cast, the continued narrowing of focus down to Starscream, with a short interlude showing Windblade’s internal mental battle, really worked for this issue. It’s so fascinating to get all the facets of Starscream’s perspective that we do here, and especially how the scars of being a Decepticon and being abused by Megatron still affect him greatly.

As the one Cybertronian who seemed the easiest adjusted to the new world of post-world Cybertron, it’s both expected and yet very shocking to see that it was a ruse. He has been as badly effected as nearly all the other Autobots and Decepticons have been by what they’ve lived through.

And I’m usually exhausted of the hallucinations about Bumblebee which I know are going to eventually be revealed to not be that much of a hallucination but it worked to great effect here. Mostly because Bumblebee left lol With that ominous ending silhouette and the subtle parallel between Starscream’s years long hallucinations of Bumblebee with the struggle Windblade is undergoing with two minds at once. 

Reminds me of certain elements of Transformers Prime and Scott is a fan of bringing in elements of the Aligned universe into the IDW fold...

I really loved this issue, and especially loved the art. It breaks my heart knowing this series is coming to an end.

Dark Horse’s Zodiac Starforce: Cries of the Fire Prince (2017-present) #1 Kevin Panetta, Paulina Gancheau, Sarah Stern

Ever since I read the original Zodiac Starforce comic, I was really hoping we would be getting more of a follow up because my love of this genre and my love of how clever this comic was and how good it was with building this complicated world was too much for the tasty treat we got out of the original. And I couldn’t have been happier to hear we were getting just that!

We’re picking up a few months since the ending of the first volume and it’s really interesting to see how much our girls have grown in their various roles since then. I’m also getting the sense that this new storyline is going to be taking the opportunity to focus on the characters who didn’t get so much attention the last go around, like Kim and Molly and Lily. 

Kim’s home life really strikes close to home for a lot of people, I’ve got to say. I’ve seen these situations play out, and I have to really applaud this comic for showing how important and defining it is for a supportive boyfriend/husband/etc. for a young woman in such a bad situation can be. It both helps women in the situation to feel as though they can seek support, and tells young men in the world that they can and should be the type of partner who is this supportive.

It’s interesting to see how the events of last time have played into everyone’s relationships months later, and it’s for better and for worse, especially for the scorned girls and boys who got a taste of the dark powers of Cimmeria. I’m so interested to see where all of this goes!

So this is going to seem incredibly strange but I would almost be willing to call each and every single issue that came out today a tie because I just genuinely enjoyed reading each and every one of them that much. It was such an amazing and unexpected variety this week for me and it just hit all the feelings I needed them to fit. But, as always, twist my arm and I can offer a real answer. 

And that answer is Transformers: Till All Are One. It has so quickly become my favorite Transformers title from the entire IDW line and I just was enraptured in each panel. It’s a definite win from me, even in a week as fantastic and tightly held as this one.

So how was everyone else’s Wednesday pull? Agree with me? Disagree? Think I should be picking up something I’ve missed? Please feel free to let me know!

[markgottliebliteraryagent]

Graphic Novel Creators Kenny Porter & Zach Wilcox

Kenny Porter is a professional writer living in West Michigan. He's most known for content development, writing comics, copy, blogs, and fiction. He graduated from Grand Valley State University with a BA in Writing. The writing program at GVSU allowed him to create his own curriculum, which he used to focus on fiction, writing for the web, genre studies, and manuscript development. He started his career in writing during high school and has since gone on to publish short stories, write articles for online magazines, and has won the first Top Cow Talent Hunt for Writing.

Zach Wilcox is a cartoonist based in Philadelphia. He holds an MFA in Sequential Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design and a BS in Digital media from Drexel University. The goal of his work is to encourage young readers to get excited about art as a narrative tool and inspire future creators. When he isn't working on comics he enjoys time with his dog Finn and his three nephews.

Porter and Wilcox are the co-creators of the forthcoming graphic novel from Scholastic/Graphix, The Fearless Rider, in which a young girl and her pet ferret run away from home on their tricked-out bicycle on the first day of school to find her best friend who moved away and recapture her life before everything went wrong—pitched as a slice-of-life story with tone and setting of a Miyazaki film.

What do you enjoy about the comic book arts medium and what do you feel the graphic novel form of storytelling affords authors and creators?

KP: Comics have always been a part of my life and what I love most about them is that there are no limits to the kinds of visual stories you can tell. The great thing about original graphic novels is it allows you to break away from the single issue format of monthly comics to develop a pace that’s unique to the story. That’s something that Zach Wilcox and I are enjoying a lot with The Fearless Rider.

ZW: Graphic novels afford the reader a sense of control that you don’t get anywhere else. Being able to dwell on a panel or moment, or absorb a whole page at once, is such a unique and intimate experience. When you’re making something like that it’s sort of fun to imagine how the reader is going to interact with the work.

“I wanted to bring that same love of anime, manga, and live-action shows to Kara’s character.”

Have any anime/manga or comic book creators influenced The Fearless Rider, your forthcoming graphic novel? For instance, Hayao Miyazaki and Osamu Tezuka seem to come to mind.

KP: Miyazaki is definitely a huge influence on the tone of The Fearless Rider. I initially pitched it to Zach that way, as if it were a lost Miyazaki film about a girl who sets out to find her missing best friend. There’s also some influence of my love of Super Sentai and tokusatsu shows with the fake magical girl character Shinpi Rider that the main character adores. I grew up in a generation where Toonami was broadcasting these amazing shows from Japan that we had never heard of before, and I wanted to bring that same love of anime, manga, and live-action shows to Kara’s character.

ZW: Absolutely. I’m always finding new inspiration from other artists and people like Miyazaki really ignited my love for visual storytelling when I was young. The expressive nature of his work is something I’ll always be chasing.

“He lets the comic breathe and trusts the reader to immerse themselves in the story.”

The art of The Fearless Rider seems to be a mixture of manga influences, such as the gekiga or "dramatic" style of storytelling, often seen in the work of Tezuka. Your graphic novel also has many western influences, with inklings of ligne claire, the Belgium style of bold line comic illustration, often seen in Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin. How did you arrive at this style of art? Is it simply in vogue right now in comics, or has comic book illustration and storytelling been further globalized?

KP: From the start I wanted The Fearless Rider to have this kind of feel. I read a lot of manga and Franco-Belgian comics, so I’m always using those as an influence in terms of pacing and style. Also, Zach’s artwork completely fit the tone I was going for. I didn’t even consider anyone else for the project and called him right away with the idea.

ZW: The way Kenny addresses pacing and dialogue is something I really love. He lets the comic breathe and trusts the reader to immerse themselves in the story. I don’t know exactly how the style for the comic came about but I’m sure a lot of it has to do with his narrative structure and the world we’re building. Also, I love older comics like Tintin and Little Nemo!

Why a young girl's pet ferret as a character in The Fearless Rider...why not something more common, such as a cat or dog? Is there something more interesting or special there?

KP: I think it honestly has to do with my love of the movie The Beastmaster as a kid. He had a pair of ferrets named Kodo and Podo. I watched a lot of genre movies in elementary school and middle school, so I always thought that ferrets would make great adventure companions.

ZW: I always wanted a ferret when I was younger but that was a no-go from my parents, because apparently they have a bit of a smell. They are just so cute, who could care! I think it also fits Kara as she isn’t the type to have a basic pet. She’s unique in a lot of ways.

“...I’m still learning the ins and outs of the publishing world. It’s been a really exciting journey so far!”

How did you find your current literary agency and go on to get published with Graphix/Scholastic? What was the submissions process like?

KP: I found my current literary agency, Trident Media Group, after doing a Kickstarter for my original graphic novel Barnstormers!, which I created with artist Renny Castellani. I was contacted by you, Mark Gottlieb, during the Kickstarter and started developing a new project for the book market. From there, it was putting together the pitch with Zach and sending it out into the world. Graphix/Scholastic contacted us about the initial pitch and we fine-tuned the project from there.

ZW: I sort of let Kenny take the lead on this. The Fearless Rider will be my first published book, so I’m still learning the ins and outs of the publishing world. It’s been a really exciting journey so far!

Writing a graphic novel is so different from writing a miniseries or ongoing monthly title.

What do you feel the comic book publishing experience has been like with a larger independent book publisher like Scholastic, versus a direct-to-market comic book publisher such as IDW? Is the direct market holding comic books back?

KP: I’d say the pace is what’s mostly different. Writing a graphic novel is so different from writing a miniseries or ongoing monthly title. I enjoy both the traditional comic book publishing side and the larger independent book publishing side. Each has their own challenges and format that let me experiment with comic book storytelling.

ZW: I’m excited to work on a project I'm so passionate about for a long period of time. The struggle of smaller projects is tough because you spend so much time looking for work that you may not get as much done. I can’t wait to really sink my teeth into something more substantial.

“...I always let whoever I’m working with have their input in the storytelling process. It’s collaboration at every stage of the game.”

It is hard enough writing a story. Does also illustrating a story present its own set of challenges, or do you find that it is liberating in some way?

KP: Writing visually is a whole different skill set, so I always try to think like an artist (as best as I can) and I always let whoever I’m working with have their input in the storytelling process. It’s collaboration at every stage of the game. I’m just lucky to be working with someone as talented as Zach.

ZW: Kenny has been a blast to work with. He has a clear vision here and helping him to craft it is easier because of that. It’s always hard to bring a world to life but the back and forth of working with a writer takes a huge weight off my shoulders.

You get to be any comic book/manga/anime/video game character from whichever world of your choosing. Who do you choose to be and why?

KP: I would almost always choose to be a Green Lantern. Having that power ring and being able to fly through space and create insane constructs would just be too much fun. I recently wrote a Guy Gardner story for DC Comics and it was a dream come true to be able to play in that pocket of the DC Universe.

ZW: I’d say Link from The Legend of Zelda. The design of those game worlds are so immersive and surreal. Plus that outfit is tops!

“If you do great work and put yourself into your stories then people will resonate with that and will want to share them as well.”

Might you be able to share any advice with those still hoping to get their graphic novels published?

KP: I would say find a collaborator that you really gel with creatively, put your heart and soul into the book, and worry about making a great comic before worrying about publishing. If you do great work and put yourself into your stories then people will resonate with that and will want to share them as well.

ZW: Just create. As much as you can, as often as you can. Keep putting your creative energy out there and don’t be afraid to make connections. Rejection is a huge part of life so don’t let that stop you! Also, try to keep your stories small at first. Short sixteen page chunks are a great way to work and create a varied portfolio.

What can we expect next from the world of The Fearless Rider?

KP: I definitely have ideas for follow-ups and spin-off stories, even if they don’t directly connect with the main thread. The road is always wide open for more adventures.

ZW: I really want a one-shot of the Shinpi Rider character from the book. A fictional super sentai warrior with over the top action and drama! A guy can dream, can’t he?

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 30 September 2019

Quick Bits:

Absolute Carnage: The Immortal Hulk #1 is an absolute must if you’re reading The Immortal Hulk, even if you’re not following Absolute Carnage. Though it does deal with how Hulk is working with the rest of the gang in the event, here Al Ewing, Felipe Andrade, Chris O’Halloran, and Travis Lanham elaborate on how Bruce’s alters work, including an appearance from a much-missed old friend, and deals with some ongoing plot points like Betty’s change, Ross’ status, and Jones’ recuperation.

| Published by Marvel

Batman #80 starts the turn for the “City of Bane” arc as John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, and Tomeu Morey come aboard for the art duties, and Batman and Catwoman return to Gotham. I really like the stylization here, it fits the overall shift in direction and it’s just nice to see Romita and Janson back together.

| Published by DC Comics

Berserker Unbound #3 is another brilliant issue of this series from Jeff Lemire, Mike Deodato Jr., Frank Martin, and Steve Wands. This one gets to the heart of the existential crisis that the Mongrel King is having in a time that neither he understands or understands him. Though, there are some nice attempts at communication and some great character moments.

| Published by Dark Horse

Birthright #40 is pretty huge as it essentially rounds out the current Mastema arc. Joshua Williamson, Andrei Bressan, Adriano Lucas, and Pat Brosseau make a pretty dramatic turn here, with some interesting ramifications.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Black Cat #5 delivers a fairly funny conclusion to this heist as Felicia and her crew have to overcome Blastaar. Jed MacKay, Travel Foreman, Brian Reber, and Ferran Delgado are consistently giving us an entertaining and compelling story here with an ongoing narrative broken into discrete, separate pieces that can ultimately be enjoyed on their own.

| Published by Marvel

Black Terror #1 features a rather unique take on the character, and on superheroics in general, from Max Bemis, Matt Gaudio, Brittany Pezzillo, and Taylor Esposito. This explores what happens when the Black Terror hangs up his boots, self-medicates for his problems, and begins to suffer withdrawal from the superhero business. It’s all rather...disturbing, but still entertaining.

| Published by Dynamite

Breaklands #2 starts building up the cast as Kasa falls in with a number of other people to help and rescue her brother. Though there are elements of familiar post-apocalypse narratives here, what Justin Jordan, Tyasseta, Sarah Stern, and Rachel Deering are creating here feels incredibly fresh and different.

| Published by Justin Jordan

Canto #5 is fairly action-packed as Canto and crew bring the fight to the Furies. It’s a different change of pace here, but we still get some intriguing symbolism and advancement of the fable narrative in rather inventive ways. David M. Booher, Drew Zucker, Vittorio Astone, and Deron Bennett are driving us towards the end here and I feel like it’s going to be a big one.

| Published by IDW

Contagion #1 is probably going to get some comparisons to Marvel Zombies and DCeased, running through similar horror territories, but it doesn’t really matter. While the elements may familiar, it’s still an entertaining start to this series from Ed Brisson, Rogê Antônio, Veronica Gandini, and Cory Petit.

| Published by Marvel

Copra #1 begins a second volume of Michael Fiffe’s previously self-published series, dropping us into the middle of action, picking up where the last series left off. While it is at least initially a bit confusing, Fiffe does include plenty of information, including an issue-by-issue breakdown of the previous series, to get people up to speed. It’s basically ‘80s-inspired superheroics.

| Published by Image

Daredevil #12 is more magnificence. Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Nolan Woodard, and Clayton Cowles continue “Through Fear” as Matt has an...unfortunate confrontation with crooked cops beating up a Daredevil stand-in and Fisk has a meeting with the rich “elite”. I really quite like the parallels of both of them falling back on old/new tricks.

| Published by Marvel

Dark Ark: After the Flood #1 begins the very welcome next chapter in this story from Cullen Bunn, Juan Doe, and Dave Sharpe, picking up on what’s been going on after landfall. There’s also some really interesting revelations about Kahlee’s past.

| Published by AfterShock

DCeased #5 is the big penultimate issue, giving us hope as two sanctuaries are established. And then... Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo, and Saida Temofonte give us another chilling story here with some very heartbreaking moments.

| Published by DC Comics

Die #8 keeps the pressure on, Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowles continuing to hammer at your emotions as they explore the party even further. This one gives us a bit of a deeper look into our Grief Knight, Matt, and it’s amazing that the bleakness is almost oppressive.

| Published by Image

Doctor Strange #20 is kind of a bizarre end to this series as it transitions over to Doctor Strange, Surgeon Supreme later this year. As he searches out ways to implement his newly recovered dexterity, Strange teams-up with Kanna for what feels like one last adventure with her, against the nefarious Cyb(not equal)rdSmPhp (seriously, those symbols may “look” like Cyberdemon, but that’s not what it means) and his master. Great art from Javier Pina and Brian Reber.

| Published by Marvel

Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds #4 is another weird one as the team travels to Destiny Beach and Flex Mentallo runs into his old crew. Gerard Way, Jeremy Lambert, Nick Pitarra, Tamra Bonvillain, and Simon Bowland give us an interesting tale of magical muscle mystery here as they try to bring magic back to the beach.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

Dungeons & Dragons: A Darkened Wish #3 gets to the heart of what caused Rayonde to turn in the future and shows what changed between the party. It gets pretty dark as the “darkened wish” plays out. Gorgeous artwork from Tess Fowler and Jay Fotos.

| Published by IDW

Everything #2 keeps building the mystery of this story, layering on even more strange events and deaths that keep you guessing. Christopher Cantwell, INJ Culbard, and Steve Wands are crafting a weird horror story here that’s rather unique. There are elements here that feel like Twin Peaks and Fargo, mixed with Vertigo, Love & Rockets, Stray Bullets, and the works of Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns, but at the same time something wholly its own.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Fantastic Four #15 introduces us to Unparalleled, the heroes of the planet Spyre, in this second part of “Point of Origin”. Dan Slott, Paco Medina, Bob Quinn, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Caramagna give us an interesting take on the Fantastic Four here as invading alien monsters, complete with monster dialogue, and it’s neat to see them from a different perspective.

| Published by Marvel

Forgotten Home #1 is a new digital Comixology Original from Erica Schultz, Marika Cresta, Matt Emmons, and Cardinal Rae. It’s a very nice mix of magic and police procedural, hinging on a vast missing persons case, and family drama.

| Published by Vices Press

Ghost Rider #1 is a spot on return for Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch, picking up on the recent rumblings throughout the Marvel Universe (though exactly how it fits in with Robbie Reyes and Avengers is yet to be seen), and veering off into wildly interesting new directions. Ed Brisson, Aaron Kuder, Jason Keith, and Joe Caramagna deliver a first issue that should have old school (and oldish new school, I mean Ketch is a 30 year old character now) fans delighted. Even as Danny’s life is a bit of a mess right now.

| Published by Marvel

The Green Lantern #12 is the fairly impressive “season finale” to this series from Grant Morrison, Liam Sharp, Steve Oliff, and Tom Orzechowski before we get a three-month break with Blackstars and then the start of season 2 next year. Some very big revelations here as we find out what all of the disparate parts of this story have been amounting to. It’s interesting as to how epic all of this feels.

| Published by DC Comics

Grendel: Devil’s Odyssey #1 puts a big goofy grin on my face. Aside from blips here and there and the Grendel vs. The Shadow mini-series featuring the original Grendel, Hunter Rose, it’s been almost two decades since we saw the ongoing adventures set in this universe, even longer a story written and illustrated by Matt Wagner (the last one part of canon, Past Prime, was a novel written by Greg Rucka with spot illustrations by Wagner). Like the recent third chapter to Mage, this is a very welcome return. Matt Wagner, Brennan Wagner, and Dave Lanphear take us in an entirely new direction as Grendel Prime is tasked to find humanity a new home.

| Published by Dark Horse

Immortal Hulk #24 closes out the confrontation with Fortean and looks like it’s setting up the next phase for this series (in a two-fold way, both in the immediate future and in the far-flung end of the universe). Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Belardino Brabo, Marc Deering, Roberto Poggi, Paul Mounts, and Cory Petit continue to work wonders on this series. This issue is horrifying. And perfect.

| Published by Marvel

Joe Golem: Occult Detective - The Conjurors #5 concludes this chapter from Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, Peter Bergting, Michelle Madsen, and Clem Robins. There’s some very nice Lovecraftian fun here and an ending that sets to fully cap off the upheaval of this series’ status quo.

| Published by Dark Horse

Justice League #33 escalates the “Justice/Doom War” from Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Bruno Redondo, Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, Hi-Fi, and Tom Napolitano. The various factions of the League are still fighting across time as Perpetua’s lock on power is looking even more certain. The tension throughout this story is incredible.

| Published DC Comics

Legion of Super-Heroes: Millennium #2 concludes this trek through DC’s future history, stopping in to check on Booster Gold and OMAC, before getting to the main event with the Legion of Super-Heroes themselves. I really hope that the futures seeded here are followed up on. Gorgeous artwork throughout from Nicola Scott, Jim Cheung, rare interior art from Jeff Dekal, leading to Ryan Sook’s Legion.

| Published by DC Comics

Lois Lane #4 continues to move at a fairly slow pace, but it’s allowing for some great character moments like Jon discussing going off to join the Legion and Vic and Renee trying to piece together continuity that doesn’t exist any more. The art from Mike Perkins and Paul Mounts is still worth picking up this series for alone.

| Published by DC Comics

Mountainhead #2 turns things up a notch as everything just gets stranger and a bit more extreme. That odd, not-quite-right atmosphere is perfectly captured by the artwork from Ryan Lee and Doug Garbark.

| Published by IDW

The Necromancer’s Map #2 concludes the bit with the Void Sickness, with some fairly interesting reveals, and throws in some tragic romance while it’s at it. I really quite like how this is pacing along, weaving through details and side bits, while developing Bethany’s larger quest. Beautiful art from Sam Beck and Ellie Wright.

| Published by Vault

No One Left to Fight #4 is stunning. Fico Ossio is delivering the most beautiful art in his career. I mean, just look at it. It’s freaking gorgeous. It also helps that the story from him, Aubrey Sitterson, and Taylor Esposito continues to be incredibly captivating. As we get more old friends and the set up of an old villain’s return.

| Published by Dark Horse

Promethee 13:13 #2 continues this excellent prequel series from Andy Diggle, Shawn Martinbrough, Dave Stewart, and Simon Bowland. The implementation of the conspiracy aspect of the invasion is wonderful to see as the seeds of what’s to come are brought to bear. Gorgeous artwork from Martinbrough and Stewart.

| Published by Delcourt / Soleil

Red Sonja #9 sees Sonja seek out other allies in her quest to defeat Dragan in the form of some rather nasty sorcerers. Mark Russell, Bob Q, Dearbhla Kelly, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou deliver another entertaining chapter here, full of magic and more deceit, that certainly makes things a little bleaker.

| Published by Dynamite

Ruby Falls #1 is a wonderful debut from Ann Nocenti, Flavia Biondi, Lee Loughridge, and Sal Cipriano. This first issue introduces us to Lana, her rather unique dysfunctional family, and the backdrop of the tiny former mining town of Ruby Falls. There’s a mix of fallible memories and a criminal past for the town wanting to be forgotten that is very compelling.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Savage Avengers #6 continues Conan’s trek as he and Frank Castle travel across the Savage Land and through ordinary Antarctica, as they try to bring Frank’s family back to America. Gerry Duggan, Kim Jacinto, Tamra Bonvillain, and Travis Lanham deliver a fairly interesting story here, transitional, but still an interesting look at the similarities between Conan and Frank.

| Published by Marvel

Sea of Stars #4 gives us hints of possibly what happened to Kadyn in order to make him the way that he is, while his father fights for his life on another hostile alien planet. I really quite like how Jason Aaron, Dennis Hallum, Stephen Green, Rico Renzi, and Jared K. Fletcher have been progressing this story, building up the characters, and letting explanations out slowly in what feels like a natural progression.

| Published by Image

Seven Days #1 kicks off this event series from Gail Simone, José Luís, Jonas Trinidade, Michelle Madsen, and Saida Temofonte in grand fashion, developing a new threat to the world behind the “event” that kicked off everyone’s powers and transformation. We get a nice team-up of luminaries Noble, Summit, and Accell before everything goes to hell.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader’s Castle #1 is a welcome return of this Halloween anthology series featuring chillers, thrillers, and horrors around the Star Wars Universe. There’s a framing story illustrated by Francesco Francavilla that sets up the theme and reintroduces a character from the first volume, and a central tale illustrated by Megan Levens and Charlie Kirchoff dealing with post Phantom Menace Maul. Both written and letter by Cavan Scott and AndWorld Design respectively. I quite like this format and these stories are highly entertaining.

| Published by IDW

Strange Skies over East Berlin #1 is a riveting beginning from Jeff Loveness, Lisandro Estherren, Patricio Delpeche, and Steve Wands. It starts off behind the Iron Curtain in the heart of Cold War era Germany, with all of the tension and distrust of Russian-controlled East Germany, and it’s ratcheted up higher as a strange light appears as something crashes behind the Wall. The atmosphere is made even more surreal by the almost impressionistic art from Estherren and Delpeche. A great start to this series.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Young Justice #9 continues the team’s confrontation with their evil Earth-3 counterparts, but also gives us a look at Teen Lantern’s origins. André Lima Araújo’s line art during these sequences is worth it alone, but overall I like how Brian Michael Bendis incorporates this into the overall narrative structure.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Other Highlights: Batman/TMNT III #6, Bettie Page Halloween Special, Bizarre Adventures #1, Bury the Lede, Champions #10, Charlie’s Angels vs. Bionic Woman #4, The Dark, Dead Eyes #1, Deathstroke #48, Deep Breaths, The Dreaming #14, Future Foundation #3, gen:Lock #2, Harley Quinn #66, House of X #6, Manifest Destiny #34, Marvel Action: Black Panther #3, Nomen Omen #1, Old Man Quill #10, The Punisher #16, Runaways #25, She Said Destroy #5, Space Bandits #4, Spider-Verse #1, Star Pig #3, Star Wars #72, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #37, Superman: Up in the Sky #4, Sword Master #4, Thanos: The Infinity Ending, Transformers/Ghostbusters #5, Vengeance of Vampirella #1

Recommended Collections: Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror - Volume 1, Giant Days - Volume 11, Immortal Hulk - Volume 1, The Last Space Race - Volume 1, Major X, Mind MGMT - Volume 3: Eraser & The Immortals, Morning in America, Pathfinder - Volume 3: City of Secrets, Stronghold - Volume 1: Primacy, Superman - Volume 1: The Unity Saga - Phantom Earth, The Wicked + The Divine - Volume 9

d. emerson eddy has been trapped by a cat. Please send pizza.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 22 April 2019

Quick Bits:

A Walk Through Hell #9, like many issues before it, does its damnedest to break your mind. Garth Ennis, Goran Sudžuka, Ive Svorcina, and Rob Steen continue to deliver one of the best horror stories every month that just seems to get stranger and more complex with each subsequent chapter. This issue yanks the rug out from under us.

| Published by AfterShock

Action Comics #1010 raises a million and one more questions as to what’s actually going on with Leviathan and whether some things are supposed to be clues or if Brian Michael Bendis is just changing continuity. Maybe a little of both. Stellar art from Steve Epting and Brad Anderson who continue to deliver a solid mood and atmosphere for this espionage-heavy story.

| Published by DC Comics

Amazing Spider-Man #20 changes the game a bit as Black Ant reveals more of what Kraven has planned. Wonderful art from Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, Edgar Delgado, and Erick Arciniega.

| Published by Marvel

Amber Blake #2 has some incredible artwork from Butch Guice as this action-packed thriller continues. Some interesting twists that ultimately are going to be crushing when they come to light.

| Published by IDW

Ascender #1 is pretty damn great. Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen, and Steve Wands kick-off this follow-up to Descender with what feels like a complete counterpoint to its hard science fiction. This delves deep into a universe taken over by magic and vampires, with technology either gone or kept under strict control. Even the art has shifted tone, from the dark inkiness from before to a greater reliance on white spaces here, to give it a different visual aesthetic. 

| Published by Image

Avengers #18 is a single issue story, tying in to The War of the Realms, spotlighting Coulson’s new Squadron Supreme of America (it’s unclear as to whether these are new versions or existing ones being manipulated, but there’s shadowy shenanigans), from Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales, Justin Ponsor, and Cory Petit. Marvel’s Justice League analogue just got their Max Lord.

| Published by Marvel

Bad Luck Chuck #2 sees Chuck recount some of her cases and a bit of how her “powers” work, while forces around her conspire to bring her down. Nice character building from Lela Gwenn with some great artwork from Matthew Dow Smith and Kelly Fitzpatrick.

| Published by Dark Horse

Batgirl #34 begins “Terrible”, the three-part finale to Mairghread Scott, Paul Pelletier, Norm Rapmund, Jordie Bellaire, and AndWorld Design’s run on the title. Some nice detective work here as the Terrible Trio hatch a new plan.

| Published by DC Comics

Black Panther #11 builds off of last issue’s shock turn and the direct involvement of Bast as we get some answers about the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda and some of the machinations that are unfolding. The art from Kev Walker, Marc Deering, and Java Tartaglia continues to be a highlight.

| Published by Marvel

Coda #11 gears up for next issue’s finale as Murk unveils another stage in her plan and Hum does something incredibly stupid. This has been one of my favourite series over the past year and the build to the conclusion is wonderful. Absolutely phenomenal work from Si Spurrier, Matías Bergara, Michael Doig, and Jim Campbell.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Criminal #4 tells a haunting single issue story of a very messed up day in the life of Ricky Lawless. I love the mosaic that Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Jacob Phillips are crafting out of these different time periods, building something larger out of an already sprawling world.

| Published by Image

Dark Red #2 takes an interesting turn as Chip is given a pitch to become the face of a new American heartland vampire nation. Interesting to see how racism also extends through to vampires. Very entertaining stuff from Tim Seeley, Corin Howell, Mark Englert, and Marshall Dillon.

| Published by AfterShock

Detective Comics #1002 continues “Medieval” with some really great art from Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, and Nathan Fairbairn. There’s a weight and gravity to the art that elevate the story nicely. Also, it’s interesting to see an antagonist who thinks that he’s a hero above Batman, especially as he goes about trying to recruit Damian. It should be interesting to see who Arkham Knight is under the mask.

| Published by DC Comics

Dial H for Hero #2 is probably even better than the first issue, and the first issue was one of the most fun debuts I’ve read in a while. Sam Humphries, Joe Quinones, Jordan Gibson, and Dave Sharpe capture a zany energy amidst the real, emotional drama that the kids are experiencing and it leads to some highly entertaining storytelling. Also, the art is phenomenal. Quinones is really stretching his artistic muscles, throwing in incredible different styles as the heroes emerge. This issue gives us pastiches of Dragonball Z and Gundam Wing and the transformation is amazing, the entire creative team perfectly capturing the style.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Doctor Strange #13 continues to force Galactus into the world of magic, delving further into some familiar faces from Strange’s past, in the second part of “Herald Supreme” from Mark Waid, Barry Kitson, Scott Koblish, Scott Hanna, Brian Reber, and Cory Petit.

| Published by Marvel

Fearscape #5 concludes what has been a highly ambitious, inventive series from Ryan O’Sullivan, Andrea Mutti, Vladimir Popov, and Andworld Design. Sadly, Henry Henry doesn’t get punched in the dick, repeatedly, but there are some tragic twists that change the landscape.

| Published by Vault

The Forgotten Queen #3 delivers more of Vexana’s history, revealing she’s responsible for Dracula in the Valiant universe, along with a few other twists. I’m really liking Amilcar Pinna and Ulises Arreola’s art here. The odd angles adding something unique to the feel of the story.

| Published by Valiant

Invisible Kingdom #2 sees G. Willow Wilson, Christian Ward, and Sal Cipriano continue to build a richly developed, intriguing world essentially founded upon a bedrock of an Amazon analogue, both in support of and opposition to. Gorgeous artwork from Ward.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Justice League Dark #10 outlines the Lords of Order’s plans for the multiverse and magic and why they’re initiating an assault on all of the magic wielders. James Tynion IV is doing some rather impressive world-building and story seeding all throughout his work, but it really comes to a head in this series. Also, the art from Alvaro Martínez Bueno, Raul Fernandez, and Brad Anderson continues to be impeccable.

| Published by DC Comics

KINO #15 begins a new arc, tackling some messy current events throughout Europe in a rather interesting fashion. Alex Paknadel, Diego Galindo, Valentina Pinto, and Jim Campbell did some amazing things reinterpreting KINO in the last arc, delivering an intriguing thriller, and that doesn’t seem to be letting up any with this new arc. The politics and the manipulation are at an all time high and this is something you really don’t want to miss.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

The Lollipop Kids #5 is the final battle between the kids and Morgan Le Fay and her army of monsters for all the lollipops. This has been an imaginative series from Adam Glass, Aidan Glass, Diego Yapur, DC Alonso, and Sal Cipriano with consistently some of the most beautiful art in comics. There’s a hint of what’s to come and I hope we see more of this story in the future.

| Published by AfterShock

Punk Mambo #1 is another great debut of a limited series for Valiant spotlighting one of their less used, but highly interesting characters from Cullen Bunn, Adam Gorham, José Villarrubia, and Dave Sharpe. The set up for supernatural intrigue delving into Voodoo belief is very entertaining, with some impressive artwork from Gorham and Villarrubia.

| Published by Valiant

Queen of Bad Dreams #1 is another highly imaginative, impressive debut for Vault. This time spotlighting a world where dreams can jump from the mind of the dreamer into the real world. Danny Lore, Jordi Pérez, Dearbhla Kelly, and Kim McLean offer up some interesting, fleshed-out characters in Daher and Viv, that elevate this from just a unique take on a police procedural to greater interpersonal drama. Also, a mystery that’s going to hook you immediately.

| Published by Vault

Spawn #296 features some absolutely stunning artwork from Jason Shawn Alexander, FCO Plascencia, and Greg Menzie for this first part of “History of Spawn” as the march to the 300th issue gets closer and the stakes get raised as the powers that loom through Spawn’s life gather to try to put an end to him. 

| Published by Image

Star Trek: Year Five #1 to me feels like it has perfectly captured the spirit of the original series, delving deep into Star Trek lore and pulling forth a captivating story that showcases a lot of what made the television show great. Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Stephen Thompson, Charlie Kirchoff, and Neil Uyetake are off to a great start.

| Published by IDW

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge #1, like Tie Fighter from last week, is a tie-in to some of the new stuff in the broader Star Wars universe with some new characters and locations. In this case it ties in to the new attraction opening at the Disney theme parks. This first issue introduces us to the seedy underbelly of the world shortly before The Force Awakens, from Ethan Sacks, Will Sliney, Dono Sánchez-Almara, Protobunker, and Travis Lanham, weaving in an entertaining flashback with the familiar faces of Han Solo and Chewbacca. 

| Published by Marvel

Stone Star #2 is as impressive as the debut issue, developing a couple more complex characters and spinning forth a political situation that makes the arena world of the Stone Star itself a bit more suspect. Jim Zub, Max Dunbar, Espen Grundetjern, and Marshall Dillon are telling a tale here that really shouldn’t be missed.

| Published by Swords & Sassery

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #93 is part one of “City at War” from Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, Dave Wachter, Ronda Pattison, and Shawn Lee. It’s mostly a gathering storm as the forces prepare for the oncoming onslaught, with an absolutely harrowing spark to kick off the conflict.

| Published by IDW

Thanos #1 begins a new mini from Tini Howard, Ariel Olivetti, Antonio Fabela, and Joe Caramagna that offers up a look at the formative years of Thanos raising Gamora, along with other bits of early history. This first issue paints a rather intriguing picture of Thanos as a deranged serial killer, building his own Winchester House out of his space station, which certainly is a different take.

| Published by Marvel

Wizard Beach #5 brings an end to this fun series from Shaun Simon, Conor Nolan, George Schall, Chad Lewis, Meg Casey, and Mike Fiorentino. It’s wonderful to see Hex learn and grow these past couple of issues and we get an interesting resolution to the nefarious schemes that were popping up on the beach.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Other Highlights: Black Widow #4, Books of Magic #7, Delver #3, Dick Tracy Forever #1, Elvira: The Shape of Elvira #2, Fantastic Four #9, Fight Club 3 #4, Firefly #5, The Flash #69, Freedom Fighters #5, Ghost Tree #1, Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary Special: Extreme, GI Joe: Sierra Muerte #3, Goddess Mode #5, Hardcore #5, Invader Zim #42, Ironheart #5, Jughead: The Hunger vs. Vampironica #1, Little Girls, Mae #12, Marvel Comics Presents #4, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #38, Princeless Book 8: Princesses #1, Punks Not Dead: London Calling #3, The Realm #13, Redneck #19, The Replacer, Rick & Morty #49, Runaways #20, Sex - Volume 6: World Hunger, Sharkey: Bounty Hunter #3, The Silencer #16, Star Trek Waypoint Special 2019, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #31, Star Wars: Vader - Dark Visions #3, Superb #19, Superior Spider-Man #5, Turok #3, Venom #13, The Warning #6, The Wicked + The Divine #43, Wonder Woman #69

Recommended Collections: Aliens: Dead Orbit, Backstagers - Volume 3, Black Order: Warmasters of Thanos, Despicable Deadpool, Dick Tracy: Dead or Alive, Exorsisters - Volume 1, Fissure - Volume 1, Full Bleed - Volume 3, Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter, KINO - Volume 3: The Man in the Iron Mask, Livewire - Volume 1: Fugitive, Marvel Action: Avengers - Book 1, Marvel Knights, Scarlet - Volume 1, Shuri - Volume 1: The Search for Black Panther, Supergirl - Volume 1: The Killers of Krypton, Unstoppable Wasp: Fix Everything, Venom - Volume 2, The Warning - Volume 1

d. emerson eddy likes lemon cranberry muffins.