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I&N Store 9/26

26 Wednesday Sep 2018

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This week, I&Nmates, is all about initial offerings.  In that, I’m buying and trying a slew of new books; and I’m hoping to hit on each one.

  • Cold Spots #2 (Image)
  • Maneaters #1 (Image): I&N Demand Holy shit!  I lovelovelove the premise.  Period. Add to that my enduring love for Chelsea Cain’s super-fun and femmly-friendly Mockingbird, and whattaya got?  Love enough to fill a litter box twice over!  Ask me about my parasitic infection, haterrrrrrrrrs!

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  • Redneck #15 (Image)
  • Action Comics #1003 (DC)
  • Detective Comics #989 (DC)
  • Doomsday Clock #7 (DC)
  • Heroes in Crisis #1 (DC): I&N Demand Tom King.  Clay Mann.  More heroes than a deli-catered funeral reception for a friend!  And the word “Crisis.”  That adds up to a must buy in my book bag.

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  • The Amazing Spider-Man #6 (Marvel)
  • The Sentry #4 (Marvel)
  • Bone Parish #3 (BOOM!)
  • Fearscape #1 (Vault): I&N Demand  Sounds good.  Will probably look good, too, considering Andrea Mutti (Rebels) is on art duty.

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  • Friendo #1 (Vault): I&N Demand “What business is it of yours” why I’m interested in this book, Friendo? Playin’, B.  Yet another fun idea from Vault Comics!  I’ve got my good eye on the artist, Martin Simmonds.  (He happens to be working with main-man Monty Nero on Death Sentence: Liberty, which I’ve happily backed on Kickstarter–and which should be out soon!  Yay!  Until then-o, of course, I’ll try-o Friendo.)   Let’s see what kind of magic he’s got goin’ on with Alex Paknadel, who, for me, is an unknown quantity.  But the prospect of a VR BFF goin’ all 5150’s got me giggling back a few decades to the glorious sigh-fi flick Electric Dreams, which sparked my teen-aged imagination in many ways–one of those ways leading to the beautiful topography of a newly-discovered Virginia.  Giggles.

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  • High Heaven #1 (AHOY): I&N Demand AHOY Comics rocked the world a couple of weeks ago with The Wrong Earth; and here’s Tom Peyer, this time teaming up with Greg Scott, ready to hit loftier heights with High Heaven.  Hell, yeah!

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  • Hillbilly: Red-Eyed Witchery From Beyond #2 (Albatross)
  • X-O Manowar #19 (Valiant)

What are you looking forward to this week?

Turning pages,

Scott

I&N Store 9/12

13 Thursday Sep 2018

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Sorry if I don’t hit all of the notes you’ve come to expect.

Bachelor in Paradise–final two episodes of the season–

And I just can’t.

I mean, come on: Kendall and fucking Grocery Store Joe!  I was like Nooooooooooo

And Kevin and Astrid. Goddamn it, Kevin, ya big, dumb dope!  80% this plus 20% that equals 100% stupid.

Am I right?

  • Cemetery Beach #1 (Image): I&N Demand Warren Ellis and another out-of-this-world premise–a sci-fi twist on Papillon, perhaps?–that’s good enough for me.  Plus: any time I see a title that’s Fill-in-the-blank Beach, I’m taken back to Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach,” and I’m filled with a kind of curdled joy, which is burdensome, sure, but is satisfying, too.  The “generations of lunatics,” a phrase borrowed from the Cemetery Beach preview on PreviewsWorld.com reminds–loosely yet lovingly–of the “ignorant armies clash[ing] by night” in Arnold’s lovely yet melancholy lyric poem–an invitation, a commentary, a warning–from 1867.  So, yeah: looking forward to this one–even if “Warren Ellis” is, ultimately, the only legit reason for my forward looking.

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  • Mage: The Hero Denied #12 (Image): I&N Demand Well, look at that: I referenced in my write-up for Batman #54 the glorious green bubbles that caught my eye thirty or so years ago–that drew me to Mage: The Hero Discovered and the adventures of Kevin Matchstick–without having seen the cover to this issue.  Now that’s magic.

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  • The New World #3 (Image): I&N Demand #2 was fun, fun, fun!  Aleš Kot kicked the conflict into high gear; he pushed the peril to the metal: struck by something undefinable while in the midst of a televised takedown, Stella decides to take a risk, trading a seemingly cushy future for, well, a seemingly mushy fugitive.  Isn’t that how all great love stories begin?  Shifting: Now, I’m not an artist, still I find Tradd Moore’s art humbling.  (Heather Moore’s colors are there to rub it in, ain’t they though?  They force the eyes wider, and, along with the mister’s living, breathing lines, create an immersive experience that is absolutely exhilarating!)  See: each page turn is bigger than the next; and there I am, bearing the weight of the lines and the colors, which support gloriously Kot’s big ideas, and I’m just like Wow.  That’s some spinning-in-your-bed while spinning-some-Floyd-vinyl shit going on.  “Legendary,” indeed.  You know what I need?  I need to see this as a cartoon.  A big-screen motherfucking cartoon movie.  Please make this into a cartoon movie.  Thank you.  Next up: a little surgery.  Goin’ to the scalpel of love…

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  • Oblivion Song #7 (Image)
  • The Wicked + The Divine #39 (Image)
  • the seeds #2 (Dark Horse/Berger Books): I&N Demand Loyal readers might remember: I celebrated #1 with a 22 I&N 22; and looking back at the post–proud of that one, for sure!–and at the issue, I’m reminded of the perfection–as seen in the hive, in the perfect-every-time hexagon of the humble honeybee–of the initial offering.  Ann Nocenti’s writing is stinger sharp, piercing the part of us that reads and feels and thinks and looks to connect with another afflicted soul–one driven deeper into the comforting yet conflicting chasm of conspiracy, colored, unfailingly by David Aja, a loud khaki green. Fuck.  I can’t wait to get my hands on this one.

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  • She Could Fly #3 (Dark Horse/Berger Books): I&N Demand She Could Fly #2 moves– it flies at a pace that reflects well Luna’s undeterred descent into madness, her succumbing to the stressors that surround her, including family, mystery, and–ceiling the deal–gravity.  But she’s not the only one falling: oh no: see, everyone around her–and a significant one who was above her–has fallen or is falling in some way, be it morally, mentally, physically, interpersonally.  Yup: lots of falling.   Any surprise that the issue wraps up in a basement?  Christopher Cantwell’s driving home the point–and is driving it down, down, which will make the rise–there’ll be a rise eventually, right?–that much more satisfying, I’m sure.  Add to the mix the discomfort drawn into the narrative by Martin Morazzo’s hectic panel work, and the result is a trap that, even in the freedom of chaos, feels increasingly claustrophobic.  Bill and Luna might “need to talk,” but, damn it, I need to read.  Gimme #3!

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  • Catwoman #3 (DC)
  • Detective Comics #988 (DC)
  • Superman #3 (DC)
  • The Amazing Spider-Man #5 (Marvel)
  • Daredevil #608 (Marvel)
  • Fantastic Four #2 (Marvel)
  • Crossed +100: Mimic #5 (Avatar)
  • Hot Lunch Special #2 (AfterShock): I&N Demand Well, wasn’t Hot Lunch Special #1 just the biggest surprise?  Hell yeah, it was!  I ate that shit up and loved every crumb.  I was moved to write an inspired 22 I&N 22, and I hope pray expect that Eliot Rahal and Jorge Fornés will move me in much the same manner with this second helping of sandwiches and sumbitches, trucks and ho-lee fucks!

hls

  • Moth & Whisper #1 (AfterShock)
  • Volition #2 (AfterShock)

What are you looking forward to this week?

If you were looking forward to Kendall and Grocery Store Joe getting back together–and, why not, while you’re at it, to Astrid and Kevin getting back together–well, then, fellow citizen of Bachelor Nation, you got your wish.

Turning pages,

Scott

I&N Store 8/29

29 Wednesday Aug 2018

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Things are heating up around these parts!  The unbearably hot and humid end of August means that work’s a week away.  However, before I buckle under the oppressive temps of routine and responsibility, I’ve got to give this week’s I&N Demand books their requisite once over.  So, here we go:

  • The New World #2 (Image): I&N Demand The New World is built upon a familiar foundation–it’s “a whole new world,” with “a new fantastic point of view”–with Aleš Kot’s singular perspective, itself an eclectic amalgam of vibrant and vital voices from across ages, genres and mediums.  He’s the real deal; and I, for one, am, as always, excited to have the opportunity to turn the pages of his inimitable imagination–in this case, as brought to the page by Tradd and Heather Moore.  The former’s lines are truly miracles of the medium: they flow and flow and flow, creating a sense of motion, which pushes the narrative pace; the latter’s colors complement perfectly the lines, adding significant depth to Tradd’s artwork and creating a new world worthy of exploration on each page, in each panel.  Very much looking forward to learning how Kot’s kick-ass Stella–a Juliet by another name–deals with the way-chill Kirby, her “only love sprung by her only” having to hunt him the fuck down.  Reality star-crossed lovers, indeed!

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  • Scarlet #1 (DC)
  • Web of Venom: Ve’Nam #1 (Marvel)
  • Bone Parish #2 (BOOM!): I&N Demand Finally: the follow-up to the #1 hit from Bone Drugs-N-Harmony!  (Hmm.  Sounded better in my head.   I mean, I 22 I&N 22-ed the thing to death and was waiting to drop this one-liner and–  Know what?  I blame those guys.  Bunn and Scharf and Guimarães.  Fuckers.  Coming together to create this…this…addictive nightmare!  Been fiending for this for, what, like a month.  Feels like forever.  Twisting.  Haven’t been right in the head since.  Turning.  Gotta get to my dealer.  Gotta go.  Gotta get there.  But.  But what if he’s out?  Fuck.  What if he runs out?  Goddamn it.  I gotta run.  I gotta

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  • Hillbilly: Red-Eyed Witchery from Beyond #1 (Albatross): I&N Demand I loved Hillbilly #12!  Loved.  It.  The final episode in Rondel’s epic journey was huge in scope, but Eric Powell crafted it in such a perfectly compact manner–delivering Hurrah!-worthy Homerian moments (“the last of [his] kind,” indeed!) and taking a wrench to Rondel’s heart–and to mine!–and twisting oh-so-cruelly.  As much as it hurt in the end, we–Rondel and I–have got to cleave that all behind and move on–to more haggish mayhem!

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  • A Walk Through Hell #4 (AfterShock): I&N Demand Garth Ennis is building something truly frightening here–and–in #3, in particular–he’s doing so through dialogue–the masterfully-crafted dialogue for which he is known.  Few comic book writers can keep the tension up while ratcheting up the word count; but Ennis does it effortlessly.   Goran Sudzuka’s subdued art–with taciturn gray and brown tones from colorist Ive Svorcina–allows the aforementioned tension to build; and by laying out every page differently, Sudzuka subtly emphasizes the complex nature of the plot as it continues to develop.  I’m very much looking forward to getting to the bottom of this mystery–though I don’t mind the walk one bit–and can’t wait to get wrapped up in more of Ennis’s demonically-deliberate diealogue.

wth4

  • X-O Manowar #18 (Valiant)

What are you looking forward to this week?

Turning pages,

Scott

I&N Store 8/22

22 Wednesday Aug 2018

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My wife and I have gone to a few concerts over the past few months, including Vertical Horizon/Tonic/Gin Blossoms, the always brilliant Richard Thompson (with G. E. Smith), and The Pixies & Weezer.  If you’re reading this on Wednesday: tonight, we’re headed out to see Counting Crows & Live (honesty: looking forward to the latter); and on Labor Day weekend–right before I return to work (a sorta cross between a fist pump and a “foiled again”)–we’ve got Judas Priest & Deep Purple (it’s all about the former for me!).  And, (big secret: don’t tell) for our anniversary, I’ve scored another go-round with Richard Thompson in November!  (Quick math: that’ll be our eighth time with RT!  Yeah: we’re fans.)  Before we head out to the Live show (see what I did there: shooed away the Crows), hoping against the forecast that lightning, in fact, doesn’t crash, I’ve got to go pick up my comics.  Here’s the big list:

  • Cold Spots #1 (Image): I&N Demand Goddamned Bone Parish was dead-ass intoxicating.  Now, even before that hellishly hot piece of horror’s been bagged and boarded, here’s Cold Spots, which will, if history counts for anything, set the shelves alight.  See: when it comes to horror comics, Cullen Bunn’s kinda cornered the graveyard, hasn’t he?  Fuck yeah, he has.  So this one’s a no-brainer.  And a no-body-er.  You know, cuz of the ghosts.

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  • Days of Hate #7 (Image): I&N Demand Remembering #6: Man, when Aleš Kot gets all poetic and shit, he emerges all politic and shit, and the world spins a bit differently–it slows down to let the images take shape and, as they do, they reshape us.  Kot reshapes us.  He -isms all over us.  The son of a bitch owns us from front to back–even if our politics are polar enemies.  Yes: he’s that good–he’s more, wielding like a poet Danijel Žeželj’s beautifully brooding artwork (those blacks, tho) and Jordie Bellaire’s typically bold palette; and the layouts–the fucking layouts, like visual meth, moving, moving apace–particularly the oh-so-familiar nine-panel pages that are manipulated to such a colorful end, and, wouldn’t you know, encourage us willing voyeurs, cleverly, to watch women as Kot develops at once several crucial relationships (including the one between him and us), and does so organically, oh-so poetically.  Yeah, there’s so much to love about Days of Hate–because there’s so much love in Days of Hate.

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  • Die! Die! Die! #2 (Image)
  • Redneck #14 (Image): I&N Demand Redneck, Redneck, oh, how I offered my throat– twelve times, true!–only to be left wanting, even on the odd but teased to plump carotids; however, it took till thirteen, didn’t it, to break the skin–for Redneck to claim me as its very own, with a neck as red as a good ol’ vampire’s wet dream.  (I just slid said chapter from its bag,  to revisit, and, damn, got a rush–memories of the first time rhythmically kicking my carotids–boom, boom, boom…)  I loved that issue so much, that I celebrated it with a 22 I&N 22.  (Love how that one turned out!)  What I’m trying to say, if it isn’t clear, is that I’m very much looking forward to fourteen–and am hoping that Cates, Estherren, and Cunniffe kill it–and me–again.

redn

  • Royal City #14 (Image)
  • Black Hammer: Age of Doom #4 (Dark Horse): I&N Demand Jeff Lemire is on fire (pronounced fi-ear, obviously)–again; and this particular inferno–spread to other books I&N Store this week–has at its source the Eisner-award winning accelerant that is Black Hammer, now four issues into the Age of Doom, which has been just as beautiful (thanks to the passively moody pairing of Dean Ormston and Dave Stewart) and engaging–thanks to the gloriously nostalgic nods (many in the knowingly-named “Land of Nod,” for God’s sake!) to which I–like you, I’m sure–look forward.  #3 was a terrific trip with some subplots taking odd turns, throwing characters off, throwing us readers off–and Lemire puts words–“Wait. What?” or for the saltier of us an incredulous “What the fuck just happened […]?”–in the mouths of those bound to the pages and of those who hover just above them.  In the end, a weird “Uh oh” pretty well sets the stage for all hell to break Lucy–or for Lucy to take her fucking hammer and smash it all to embers.  Now, that’s hot.

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  • Action Comics #1002 (DC)
  • The Amazing Spider-Man #4 (Marvel): I&N Demand I can’t believe I typed it.  The Amazing Effing Spider-Man–I&N Demand.  I can’t believe I typed it again!  What can I say: it took til #3, but see: Nick Spencer’s caught me in his web of radioactively witty dialogue, which reminded me of being happily trapped by Ant-Man and The Astonishing Ant-Man; and Ryan Ottley’s style is well-spun fun that pops perfectly–thanks to Cliff Rathburn’s sharp inks and Laura Martin’s crisp colors.   I’m sure I’m not a clone in this: I’m buying  Spencer’s Split Spider angle–I sense a comPeteition coming on!–and the poisonous potential of mixing power and irresponsibility.  Come on: that is pretty amazing–and, doubtless, deserves the coveted I&N Demand designation.

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  • Daredevil #607 (Marvel)
  • The Sentry #3 (Marvel)
  • Venom #5 (Marvel)
  • Britannia: Lost Eagles of Rome #2 (Valiant)
  • Oblivi8n #1 (Scout)
  • Twelve Devils Dancing #2 (Action Lab/Danger Zone)

What are you looking forward to this week?

Turning pages,

Scott

Listening: Live–“Secret Samadhi”

Drinking: Blue Point Prop Stopper Seaweed IPA

I&N Store 7/25

24 Tuesday Jul 2018

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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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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