Hey!  Thanks for coming back around.   I hope you enjoy your visit.

First, I’d like to share an important update: I’m all caught up!  That’s right, I&Nmates: I’ve read everything–Every. Flippin’. Floppy. in my possession–including the procrastinative Calexit, issues #2 and #3, which were, in the end, not surprisingly, all right left.

Wow.  I’ve killed the pile, and it feels good. You know what I’m talking about: nothing burdens a comic book nerd quite like being behind a week or a month with his or her reading.

With that load taken off of my desk–a white IKEA secretary for you I&N completists–I’m re-energized and ready to let ‘er rip–so here’s what’s I&N Store this week:

• The New World #1 (Image): I&N Demand  A few years ago, when we were still writing the good write, we celebrated Ales Kot as the writer of the moment: his voice was potent; it was poetry.  He had us hearing things and experiencing things and thinking things in ways that were unexpected.  Compared to the other solid books that populated the shelf and, ultimately, our bags, his books, particularly Zero, were just more.  Speaking of more: one of the reasons I decided to return to writing about what I love is Kot’s own Days of Hate–specifically #5, the near-silent, explosively tri-ing narrative, presented perfectly by Danijel Zezelj and Jordie Bellaire–which has, through six issues, conducted in me the synaptic symphony to which I became addicted when I was deep into Zero–or, more so, when Zero was deep into me.  Deeper still: as a self-proclaimed Always Kot-er, I will gleefully grab the 72-page initial offering of The New World–with art from the Lord of Lines, Tradd Moore–because when it comes to Kot, more is more and, damn, I’m ready to read, ready to explore.

• Redneck #13 (Image)
• Royal City #13 (Image)
• Saga #54 (Image)
• Action Comics #1001 (DC)
• Doomsday Clock #6 (DC)
• Amazing Spider-Man #2 (Marvel)
• Bone Parish #1 (BOOM!): I&N Demand Cullen Bunn kicked my ass with his hell-raising run on Harrow County, issue for issue, the best regular monthly horror book of the last few years.  After having said goodbye to Emmy and having left Harrow in good hands, Bunn’s back with Bone Parish, a drug-laced horror book that, interestingly enough, in a kind of The Prestige vs. The Illusionist-style turf battle, seems to live in the same cemetery as Black Mask’s addictive Gravetrancers, which just so happens to be out this week, too!  Now, that book is bonkers–story-wise and art-wise; and, in that, it’s a good time, man–yeah, it’s an effing trip.  I’m pretty sure, however, that Bunn’s book–with art from Jonas Scharf–is going to be a bit tighter.  Take the underappreciated Unsound, for example: Bunn got gleefully unhinged during that paper plate masquerade, yet the story still felt grounded–even when the ground was the ceiling!  So, will I be comparing Bone Parish to Gravetrancers?  Of course.  Anyone who’s read the latter has an obligation to test the former–to see if it transcends its predecessor or if it falls flat. Hey: my bag ain’t no vacuum, after all: it’s some prime–and responsibly recycled–real estate; and these two death-drug lords, Bunn and Miller, will be throwing down–if only for this one day–to claim the turf.  We’ll soon see who’s got the write stuff white stuff the goods and who’s got the betters.

• Britannia: Lost Eagles of Rome #1 (Valiant)
• Crossed+One Hundred: Mimic #4 (Avatar)
• Gravetrancers #4 (Black Mask)
• Hillbilly #12 (Albatross): I&N Demand It’s all led to this–every step, every story, every swing of Rondel’s cleaver: witches–lots and lots of witches–vs. the Iron Child and his newly-raised army.  Eric Powell has taken us on quite a journey; with each issue and one into the next, he’s crafted an epic for the ages.  I’ll be sad when it’s over, that’s for damn sure; but it ain’t over until the Hillbilly swings–one last time.

• A Walk Through Hell #3 (Aftershock): I&N Demand During the terrifying stretch of road that was #2, Garth Ennis and Goran Sudzuka unloaded with the increasingly uncomfortable self-inflicted Passion of Huzikker, the suicidal centerpiece of a crazy spent-shell game of an issue.  The never-ending barrage of bullets had me emotionally ducking for cover, had me silently begging for the poor guy to die–not unlike the response George Orwell demands with his revolutionary short piece “Shooting an Elephant.”  (Why won’t the effing thing die already!)  Another selling point, of course, is Ennis’s living anew in law enforcement.  (This reads not unlike Red Team with a twist of dread–which would make this, wait for it, Dread Team.)  No one cops cop speak like Ennis; yes, as always, his dialogue is to die for.  And speaking of dying: I’m in no rush–and neither is Ennis, clearly; it is “a walk through hell,” after all.  The terror he’s harnessed is born of the waiting and the wonder; so, yeah, let’s walk.
  

• X-O Manowar #17 (Valiant)

Yay!  A new pile!  You know what I’m talking about: nothing excites a comic book nerd quite like having a new pile of comics on his or her desk.

What are you looking forward to this week?

Turning pages,

Scott