Year: 2017

Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Tyler Jenkins
Publisher: BOOM! Studios

With its beautifully rendered pastel images and rich world-building, Grass Kings is the kind of comic that hooks readers from the beginning. Though the plot is fairly limited in this first issue, creators Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenkins still kick their rural mystery series off on a high note.

Opening the issue with a brief history of the town in which the story takes place, Kindt and Jenkins then shift to the present where we meet three brothers. The Grass Kings, as they call themselves, rule over a mysterious trailer park kingdom. Much like their own tragic lives, this town is filled with hopelessness and despair. Yet when a newcomer arrives, the eldest brother’s decision to take her in may prove dangerous for the kingdom he’s helped build.

I’ve mostly read Kindt’s Valiant and DC work, so it’s quite fascinating to see him take on an entirely original story. Though the text is mostly comprised of narration, with dialogue here and there, he nonetheless does a fantastic job of immersing us into this overtly grim world. Yet what really makes this such an invigorating read is Jenkins’ illustrations. Perfectly juxtaposing tight frames with gorgeously detailed splash pages, he provides an electrifying and cinematic experience. If you appreciate the brutality and neo-noir aesthetic of books like Southern Bastards and The Fade Out, this is the book for you.

– Kevin Schaefer for Ultimate Comics

Writers: Corey Kalman, Brockton McKinney
Artist: Devin Roth
Publisher: Action Lab Danger Zone

Amerikarate fuses self-deprecating comedy with B-movie action flare in a way that only this creative team can provide. It’s so far been described as a mashup between Footloose and every major action movie hero of the 80s, and rightfully so. Needless to say, it feels right at home with the plethora of other absurdist action comedies from its publisher Action Lab.

The premise of this comic is simple: Sam Kickwell is a US veteran and martial arts expert who stumbles into a town where karate is illegal. This is due to the fact that the town suffered a ninja attack years earlier, and no amount of anti-American villains who swing through town will change their minds. And accompanying Sam is his limbless brother Rick, who is without a doubt one of the book’s major highlights.

NC Comicon Creative Director Brockton McKinney is of course no stranger to the world of B-movies and absurd action comedies, having written comics like the fantastic Ehmm Theory and last year’s Gingerdead Man reboot. Bringing the same kind of kinetic energy and bizarre world-building to Amerikarate, he and co-writer Corey Kalman deliver one heck of a ride. The book is incredibly self-aware of its ridiculousness and in terms of where it draws inspiration from. 80s gurus will no doubt love its nostalgia, while readers who aren’t as well-versed in this era will still find the comic easily accessible and highly entertaining.

Likewise, Devin Roth’s pencils and colors perfectly capture the book’s absurdist feel. Roth executes a flawlessly cartoonish style, merging the aesthetic of a Rob Guillory comic with the flow and pacing of an 80s movie. Creating characters that are either abnormally large or abnormally small, and action violence that’s both unrestrained and overtly ridiculous, Roth is dynamic on all fronts here. If you like anything these creators have done before, get on over to Ultimate and pick this one up, and then get it signed in a few weeks at NC Comicon: Oak City!

-Kevin Schaefer for Ultimate Comics

Created, Written, and Illustrated by Jeff Lemire
Published by Image Comics

Something is wrong in Royal City. It’s not just that the factory is slowing down. It’s not just that Peter Pike had a stroke, right there in the middle of his potato salad. No, there’s something else, something around the edges. Something that’s not supposed to be there. Some… one. Who’s really not supposed to be there. And for the Pike family, things are about to get much, much worse.

This isn’t exactly a horror book, though there are supernatural elements so clever that I gave the book a second read (and yes, the twists all held up the second time). It’s not just a small-town soap opera. It’s… it’s nostalgia, it’s a poignant twist-up of memory and pain. This book is about going back to your home town, and Mom wants everything to stay the same and Dad’s a little clueless and your one sister is working on her stuff and your one brother is NOT working on his stuff and you don’t know if staying around would do any good at all and you sure as Hell don’t want to stay around but there’s nowhere else you can be from. It’s a debate between escaping the ghosts of your past and screwing up your courage to actually listen to those ghosts and maybe grow the Hell up a little bit. It’s that horrible choice where you have to move forward with your life but there is no right answer, not even digging in and investing in the world of your youth.

Jeff Lemire makes me cry with every collection of Descender, a wonderful emotional science fiction adventure. But this week, Lemire got to do a little Cameron Crowe by way of Tim Burton, and I didn’t cry, but I think I’ll call my dad.

-MATT CONNER for Ultimate Comics

Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Leandro Fernández
Publisher: Image

There’s a certain aesthetic that defines The Old Guard, the new Image title from superstar creators Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández. Rucka describes the book in the opening narration as “a fairy tale of blood and bullets” about a group of mostly invincible soldiers. Yet while there are some high fantasy elements that pervade this comic, the overall look and feel resembles that of a hard-edged war story.

Much like Rucka’s other works, he opens with some poetic text in which one of the main protagonists describes her longing to die. It’s similar to how he began his recent Wonder Woman run, in that he’s able to draw readers in with monologues and sharply written prose. It’s subtle enough to where it’s not too wordy, and it provides a nice introduction to this world. From there the action gets going, as the heroes go on a rescue mission in the Middle East.

This is where Fernández’s pencils and Daniela Miwa’s colors merge together so effectively. Whether the issue delivers high-octane action or quiet moments of character development, each panel is a tour de force in and of itself. It’s no doubt a dense and somewhat ambiguous read, but regardless it delivers strong storytelling on all fronts. If you’re a fan of anything either creators have done in the past, I’d highly recommend picking this one up.

Kevin Schaefer for ultimate Comics

Written by Marguerite Bennett and James Tynion IV
Art by Steve Epting
Published by DC Comics

The original Batwoman was a character brought in to date Batman for a few issues back when parents got scared that he was kind of gay. So when DC revived the concept in the 52 series a few years ago, Batwoman became one of the most prominent gay characters in comics. Kate Kane worked the grim vigilante angle like Batman, but her background was military, not detective work. This led to a series uniquely her own and a fascinating character study.

In the new DC Rebirth continuity, Batwoman is a powerful figure on the team in Detective Comics, but after the events of the recent Monster Men crossover, she’ll be taking on a heavy solo mission. This prologue one-shot gets the reader up to speed, racing through plot points like her time at West Point, her run-in with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, her socialite years, and her love story with Renee Montoya. For the density of story beats, the book never feels rushed. Each moment gets a full page or two to breathe, and the dialogue in each scene cleverly dovetails the next one.

Batwoman matters. Batwoman means something huge in a time when national politics put the health of women and of the Queer community in a vulnerable limbo. So it matters that she gets a high-profile story. It matters that she gets a dedicated one-shot prologue. And it matters that some of the industry’s best Queer writers, Marguerite Bennett and James Tynion IV, are working on this together.

Come down to Ultimate Comics and get your copy today. Enjoy the action story, but appreciate the cultural context. And bring your copy to the Love Is Love (Queer Comics) panel at NC Comicon Oak City next month! I am happy to talk more about it with you there.

-MATT CONNER for Ultimate Comics

Writer: Matthew Rosenberg
Artist: Ben Torres
Publisher: Marvel

Marvel’s “Running with the Devil” event kicked off last week with the excellent Bullseye #1, and continues going strong with a new series featuring Daredevil’s greatest nemesis. By the nature of his complex character and tragic backstory, Wilson Fisk, A.K.A the Kingpin, has more than enough merit to star in his own series. He’s just one of those timeless villains who can appeal to readers from multiple generations. He’s big, intimidating and yet there’s so much more to him than his title as the Kingpin of the criminal underworld. This book does a great job of showing the different layers of his character.

What makes this series so promising is that it’s told through the lens of a struggling reporter who gets a job offer from Fisk. While she is reluctant to write stories about a man with such a murderous reputation, Sarah Dewey nonetheless finds herself curious to learn more about who he is. And while Fisk claims that his crime lord days are behind him, the issue leaves readers with questions as to whether or not his turning over a new leaf narrative is true.

It’s true that this one is much more dialogue-heavy and character-driven than the Bullseye comic, but nevertheless writer Matthew Rosenberg does a great job of making it interesting and not come across as overtly dense. By playing on Sarah’s desperation and Fisk’s apparent desire to start fresh, Rosenberg creates both an engaging narrative and some crisp dialogue. Coinciding with the script, Ben Torres’ excellent pencils and Jordan Boyd’s colors give the book a great noir aesthetic. Almost all of it takes place at night, and Torres makes use of a large number of close-ups and shadowy frames to give it a Frank Miller/Klaus Janson feel. There’s also a great splash page at the end which provides a nice cliffhanger. While we’re only two issues into this event, I’m nonetheless excited to see where it’ll go from here with the Elektra solo series and the continuation of Charles Soule’s Daredevil run. If you haven’t yet checked out “Running with the Devil,” get on over and pick up this and Bullseye #1.

-KEVIN SCHAEFER for Ultimate Comics

Written by Steve Orlando
Art by Ivan Reis
Published by DC Comics

One of my favorite parts of team books is that first story where everyone comes together. You get a hint at what holds everyone in the group, what kind of missions to expect, and who’s going to punch a teammate first. And lately, it seems like comics have let that stretch over a few issues, pacing it so that the last team member doesn’t sign up until the trade paperback is ready.

Steve Orlando knows how to make an emphatic point, and he gets everything he needs done in this first issue. And he has assembled a Justice League worth following.

The premise for this team is that Batman was so inspired by Killer Frost’s heroism in the Suicide Squad crossover that he decides to put together a group of people the public can relate to. “The world needs heroes they know, not gods, to inspire them – show them they can be heroes.” Which sounds good.

And yet, the picks for the team are almost all so wrong as to be silly. Two of the heroes, The Ray and The Atom, are new for this book or have one story in the Rebirth line. So the public doesn’t know them. Two of the folks, Lobo and Killer Frost, are former supervillains to carry the redemption theme, and Batman fits the Everyman goal. But Black Canary can scream out a sonic force attack, and Vixen takes on powers based on the animal kingdom.

So the point is, and I think Steve Orlando knows this, that Batman wants to make his own club, no Superman allowed. The group seems to have been assembled with an eye for representation, including an Asian character, a gay man, and a black woman. And over time, he’ll get to connect this team to the public, with dedicated missions to handle high-profile, inspiring challenges.

The book is already fun – Canary hates everybody, Lobo wants more authority, Ray and Atom are preparing to be comedy bros. Orlando’s pacing is deliberate and engaging, and Reis’s art brings a realism to the team in line with the mission statement. This could shape into one of the most memorable eras of the Justice League.

But man, does Batman not get it. And I love seeing that guy when he’s wrong.

-MATT CONNER for Ultimate Comics

Written by Jason Latour
Art by Chris Brunner
Colors by Rico Renzi
Published by Image Comics

Friends of Ultimate Comics Jason Latour and Rico Renzi have been working on this North Carolina crime story for ten years, and this week, it sees the light of day. It’s not for kids, but everyone else is going to love it.

The story follows a drug runner who returns to haunt a crummy Charlotte honky tonk, the tough bartender, and an Afghanistan veteran in trouble in Atlanta. Readers are going to see a lot of smoking, drinking, swearing, fighting, and even some sex. And I’m not a hundred percent convinced I know exactly what happened.

But this book isn’t about what happened, not really. I mean, a lot happens, and it’s not hard to follow. But the characters have murky backstory because we don’t need every detail to engage with their story. And leaving some of it vague lets us map the disgusting drunk obsessed with high school glory days onto the guy we know from high school. We get to map the brave bartender to our friends who marched on Raleigh last weekend. The guy in trouble? He might feel a lot like you.

And even more than what story Latour is telling, this book is original in how that’s told. Brunner’s page layouts play complicated games with timing and position, flipping camera angles and flickering lights around a 15-box grid like a master director. The twists in lettering from traditional word balloons to Saga-like freeform words disorient and pull the reader deeper into the scene. Renzi’s colors have never looked this good, even in Spider-Gwen. The reds and blues riot against one another on the page, illuminating the action but building a fierce tension that makes us as uncomfortable as any of the subject matter could. In three pages, the sun gradually sets to a menacing purple, and the book is full of subtle psychological yanks like that.

Pick up your copy of this book today, and keep it on hand to show Rico Renzi when he comes to NC Comicon Oak City in March. You’re going to love it.

-MATT CONNER for Ultimate Comics

Writer: John Barber
Artist: Fico Ossio
Publisher: IDW

Revolutionaries takes place in the aftermath of the IDW event crossover Revolution, which saw characters like Rom and Optimus Prime join forces. Continuing to capitalize on their partnership with Hasbro, IDW pulls out all their tools for this book to provide a massive world-building experience.

Story-wise, this issue features Action Man, Blackrock, Mayday and Kup responding to a crisis in the country of Kalistan (which plays a big role in the G.I. Joe universe). Rom also makes an appearance here to fight the Oktober guard; and while the first act mostly consists of chaotic action, there’s a nice setup for a larger mystery at play in this series.

Crossover comics are usually hit or miss for me, but here writer John Barber handles the material well, balancing the scope of an expanding universe and multiple characters with a focused story. Likewise, Fico Ossio’s art is more than enough to grab the reader’s attention. The action sequences are particularly stylistic, with a strong sci-fi aesthetic throughout.

And while the book is more geared toward readers who are already immersed in this universe, there is a very helpful timeline at the beginning of the issue which recaps major events from the G.I. Joe/Transformers/Rom books, as well as extensive character bios in the back. Plus, the folks at Ultimate Comics are more than willing to help you find trades and single issues to help you get caught up. All in all, this one’s worth checking out.

-Kevin Schaefer for Ultimate Comics