Hey comic readers! After years of Secret-Infinite-Civil-Siege-X-Final Crises of Brightest Day and the like, aren’t you a little tired of giant events and superhero stories that go nowhere and change nothing? Surely your comic-book-reading palate is getting a little bored and dry by now. Well fear not, my friends, because have I got some kick-ass books for you to check out.
1. Chew – This is a book about Tony Chu, an FDA agent, ex-cop and “cibopath” who can get psychic “imprints” from anything he eats. He can tell you where this apple was grown and what pesticides were used on it, or he can tell you how the cow died when he eats a steak. When solving crimes and murders, this ability comes in quite handy, but it’s also a burden, as it works on anything he ingests, except canned beets.
In this world, the FDA is the most powerful law enforcement agency, because of chicken being outlawed as a result of bird flu. The first arc just sets things up for you, tracking illegal chickens and introducing the potential love interest and maybe a vampire. The second arc largely deals with alien fruit, and maybe a vampire. It’s funny, it’s clever, there’s plenty of action, and the characters are all interesting and compelling. There’s nothing else like Chew on the shelves right now. It’s the best comic I’ve read in a year, hands down. By John Layman and Rob Guillory, published by Image.
2. Freakangels – This is a free webcomic by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield. Tagline: “23 years ago, 12 strange children were born in England at exactly the same moment. 6 years ago, the world ended. This is the story of what happened next.” Basically, the story is: what would happen if the Midwich cuckoos punched a hole in the world and destroyed most of England by flooding it? This comic comes out every Friday, at noon (U.K. time), and is published 6 pages at a time online. So far, three volumes of the comic have been collected in trade paperback, with a fourth soon on the way. Published by Avatar Press.
4. Crossed – If something like Daytripper is too heavy for you right now, give Crossed a try. A zombie-style book without zombies, but exploring the worst in degrading, savage, violent human behavior by way of a zombie-like infection, Crossed is easily one of the most brutal, shocking, and doom-laden comics out there, next to The Walking Dead. And like the best zombie-ish stories, this one is about the horror, love, and desperate survival of the uninfected people. And the Crossed are devilishly clever, too. I dare you to look at the last page spread of issue 1 and not be horrified. Gruesome and excellent. By Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows, published by Avatar Press.
Other Shakespearean characters will soon join the cast of the book, in what is sure to be a meta-fiction extravaganza: Juliet, Othello, Falstaff, Romeo, Puck, Lady Macbeth and Iago, to name a few. The language of the book is a blend of Elizabethan and modern English, so it shouldn’t put off those of you who aren’t huge fans of The Bard. The art could be a little better, in my opinion, but the story is compelling enough that it deserves to be checked out. By Conor McCreery, Anthony Del Col, and Andy Belanger. Published by IDW.
What are you still doing here? There are comics to be read. Off you go.
Comments
Spec
May 4th, 2010 - 9:19:46 PM
You forgot to add kick-ass
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Mexican Smarmy Biker
May 5th, 2010 - 11:07:33 PM
Excellent reviews sir. Chew is ESSENTIAL reading right now. Can't get into Freak Angels at all, and Crossed I'm finding to be just ok. But still some great writing.
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