Four days in the hot-spot money pit that is Montauk have me hoping I’m not going to miss some of this week’s big books.  With apologies to Van Halen:

Ain’t Montaukin’ ’bout love

Vacay will keep me from the store

Ain’t Montaukin’ ’bout love

Cash-only shopping–I’m poor, yeah, I’m poor!

Doesn’t mean I won’t get out to Android’s to pick up these books, some semi-good lookin’ and some–mostly from the increasingly impressive Avatar Press–downright I&N Demand.

• Harrow County #4 (Dark Horse)
• Rebels #5 (Dark Horse)
• String Divers #1 (IDW)
• The Beauty #1 (Image)
• The Fade Out #8 (Image)
• Injection #4 (Image)
• Phonogram: The Immaterial Girl #1 (Image): Just I&N and I&N Demand The team of Gillen, McKelvie, and Wilson–I think they’re OK.  (OK: more than OK, really.  OK?)  If you don’t give them proper credit, you better just walk away–or I’ll slap you upside the head with a copy–I’ll make you pick your own copy, too; there’s a switch!–of The Wicked + The Divine to set your damn head straight.  Oh, baby: I’m mad–on a roll, right?  And to think: I missed the original Phonogram series; so I’m coming to this kinda like a virgin, no?
  

• Starve #3 (Image): I&N Demand Through two: Starve is full of bold, assertive notes–it’s a massive success!  When Gavin–Starve‘s Top Chef–tells Sheldon, “I’m going to show you my city,” I hear Brian Wood himself, who’s so very good at cooking up deliciously diverse worlds with depth of flavor; and his art team of Danijel Zezelj and Dave Stewart (a 2015 Innie nominee for Best Colorist) are the perfect sous chefs, plating–er, paneling–with brash black lines and shadows amplified by alternating–and often blended for a striking contrast–warm and cool tones.  Hungry for more?  I sure am!
  

• Velvet #11 (Image)
• 18 Days #2 (Graphic India)
• Americatown #1 (BOOM!)
• Bloodshot: Reborn #5 (Valiant)
• Crossed +100 #7 (Avatar) I&N Demand Alan Moore’s set the stage for Si Spurrier with a sick six issue arc that relied on obsessively intricate world building and long-fuse storytelling; but, damn, did it explode in the end.  What an effing payoff!  Man, Moore didn’t have to cross the Crossed line to be affective–he just went and redrew the brown out of it.  Now, Spurrier’s no stranger to Crossed.  In this case, however, he’s working off of Moore’s notes, which puts him in an odd position: he’s sort of a filter, right?  One that might miss the mark tone-wise; hell, he might languish a bit with the oft-awkward language Moore’s crafted.  It’s a risky proposition, for sure.  Spurrier–the winner of the 2014 Innie Award for Best Writer–is pretty damn great, but he’s not Moore.  Here’s hoping that he’s not much less, either.
  

• Death Sentence: London #3 (Titan)
• Mercury Heat #2 (Avatar)
• Providence #3 (Avatar): I&N Demand Patient, potent: Providence is only two issues in, but Moore’s in deep–basement deep–and we’re right there with him.  His commitment to the book is palpable, and he demands one from us; he demands our full attention–and Cthulhu knows he’s going to take advantage of it!

• Über #27 (Avatar): I&N Demand Kieron Gillen’s delivered some strong issues along the way, but none as powerful as #26.  Leah’s deployment was “everything [I] could have hoped for”–and more.  Sure, the German Battleships may have gotten the best of the Brits in this, “the largest enhanced confrontation on the Western Front,” but I was emotionally destroyed by the relationship between HMHs Churchill and Dunkirk.  Goddammit, Gillen’s killin’ it!
  

• X-O Manowar #39 (Valiant)

Avery’s Pick of the Week

• Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? #60 (DC):  Zoinks!

What are you looking forward to this week?

Turning pages,

Scott