Part and parcel of being a writer is complaining about how hard it is to start writing something. Most writers agonize over writing their social media posts, about how difficult it is to start their NaNoWriMo novel before even putting word to paper or screen. Many hours are also lost to getting that perfect photo of their moleskin notebook and Mont Blanc pen that will let their friends and family know that their creative genius is afoot.
Personally, I prefer to waste a reader’s time with a meditation on how difficult it is to start something rather than doing my job and writing about comics.
Today we’re going to mix things up. I’ve got a couple comics that I’ll be looking forward to reading today and a couple that I’ve already read and have given my stamp of approval to. Gotta keep things fresh here in the comics mines…
Green Lantern Season 2 #1
Grant Morrison (W)
Liam Sharp (A)
DC Comics
“Space cop Hal Jordan leads the search for the NEXT generation of COSMIC IMMORTALS!”
As longtime readers of this column know, I love anything and everything Grant Morrison does. To me, his run on New X-Men has been the definitive run on the book and made the current Hickman run possible. It’s too soon to say if Hickman’s run will eclipse Morrison’s but I’m excited to find out.
I was excited when DC announced that Morrison was teaming up with artist Liam Sharp on a Green Lantern book. A lot of that has to do with DC letting Morrison do whatever the hell he wants for the last few decades which usually amounts to going completely bonkers with their big-name characters. Often times it doesn’t land for some readers but, for me, it’s exciting as hell. I can’t wait to see what kind of high-concept space rigamarole Hal Jordan gets up to this time.
Transformers Valentines Day Special
Sara Pitre-Durocher, Patrick Ehlers (W)
Jack Lawrence, Sara Pitre-Durocher (A)
IDW Publishing
I’ll be completely honest with you…it didn’t take much more than the title to get me on board with this book.
If you find yourself wondering what Transformers could possibly do with the romance genre, then I’ll gently remind you that the Rewind and Chromedome relationship from the More Than Meets The Eye series was a romance for the ages. You WILL believe two robots can love!
Pretty sure that last sentence got me put on a watchlist.
Anyways. Hooray for love and hooray for robots!
LOUD
Maria Llovet (W/A)
Black Mask Studios
It’s always a joy getting review stuff from Black Mask Studios because they publish quality books and LOUD is no exception. It’s been a while since I encountered a graphic novel that was such an experience to take in and LOUD is just that: an experience.
I made the mistake of reading the cover blurbs on the book from some pretty impressive creators so my expectation was set pretty damn high. Subconsciously I started to try and ape the style of the cover blurbs so I could get on their level and effectively communicate what a blast this book is. “LOUD is a flaming middle finger that’s also a muscle car engine…on cocaine” was the closest thing I could come up with.
LOUD is a highly visual and visceral reading experience. It’s a book that happens to you.
It’s also out TODAY.
Tartarus #1
Johnnie Christmas (W)
Jack Cole (A)
Image Comics
Tartarus was one of those books I knew I HAD to check out when I saw the advance solicitations and it did NOT disappoint. I may have mentioned above that I harbour a certain weakness for high-concept space rigamarole and Tartarus brings that to the table and so much more.
It’s always great to see a sci-fi concept that comes so fully formed that it feels new and exciting, and alien all that the same time. The world that Christmas and Cole have created is up there with some of the best sci-fi that I’ve read in recent memory. It’s not that middle of the road dystopia nonsense that’s seemingly omnipresent these days.
The first issue, on stands today, is an absolutely massive 45 pages of comics and it’s well worth it to check it out.
