& now 4 the abbr ver o’ ur fav wkly rundown:

• Hellboy and The B.P.R.D. #5 (Dark Horse)
• Lady Killer #4 (Dark Horse) I&N Demand Has been so very good.  How good?  #1 was our #4 Book of January.  #3 will probably end up in our Top 5 for March, what with that stair-raising page turn and all.  (I love how serpentine Josie looks as she’s about to slither up the stairs.)  With this month’s offering and one more to go, Jones and Rich’s Lady Killer sure is “going somewhere”–straight toward our Top Ten for 2015!  High heels down, it’s been the year’s best mini.

• Neverboy #2 (Dark Horse) I&N Demand I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the first one.  At first I found it kind of annoying; I was really ready to race through it just to get it over with.  When I got to that moment–if you read it, you know the moment–I was like “Wow!” and, wouldn’t you know, not put off by the –ugh!–police force, which reminded–and not in a good way–of the Sex Police from Sex Criminals; and as I ultimately finished–not in a manner that reminded of Sex Criminals, mind you–I felt compelled to give it another go.  That’s right: I read it again, right then and there, displaying a rather impressive rereading refractory period, if I do say so myself.  Yeah, that doesn’t happen often.

• Convergence #0 (DC)
• G.I. Joe #7 (IDW)
• Millennium #3 (IDW)
• The Dying & the Dead #2 (Image) I&N Demand Really liked #1.  It had the potential of collapsing under its own weight–and weighty it was in more ways than one; but it held up well, delivering those heavy Hickman notes that, when they’re right, are as good as it gets.

• Southern Bastards #8 (Image) I&N Demand Aaron and Latour deserve a championship ring for almost every issue of Southern Bastards--but particularly for Coach Boss’s backstory, which has been executed like the perfect game plan.

• No Mercy #1 (Image)
• Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #11 (Marvel) I&N Demand So, whatever Daddy Rand has brought to NYC is clearly the mother of all mistakes.  But what Kaare Andrews has brought Iron Fist–hey. and to comics, in general–is a the most kinetic visual narrative this side of Kindt’s perpetually energetic Mind MGMT.  I mean, come on: in #10, Andrews destroys the staple-bound rules of space and time by having Danny punch his way across six pages–three double-page spreads of strike and follow-through that come together as a bone-and-nut-and-bolt crushing six-page spread–in a striking scene that leaves Danny, despite his best shot, at the mercy of his maniacal–and mechanical–father.  Sure, Iron Fist may be The Living Weapon, but Iron Fist: The Living Weapon is about as close to a living, breathing comic book as you’re gonna get.
  

• Blackcross #2 (Dynamite)
• War Stories #7 (Avatar)
• X-O Manowar #35 (Valiant)

Avery’s Picks of the Week

• My Little Pony: Fiendship Is Magic #1 (IDW)
• Feathers #4 (BOOM!): Avery loves following the adventures of Poe and Bianca!  Aw, heck: so do I!

What are you looking forward to this week?

Turning pages,

Scott