ON THE STUMP #1 Writer: Chuck Brown Artist: Prenzy Letterer: Clayton Cowles Publisher: Image Rating: 8.5/10 When this book was first announced, I knew it was gonna be right up my alley. I was already a fan of Chuck Brown because of his work on BITTER ROOT, and the premise for this one was really appealing. "In this story, history diverged in 1868 when a pivotal presidential debate turned violent. Today, elections are decided by highly publicized hand-to-hand combat in arenas

NOVEMBER VOL 1. : THE GIRL ON THE ROOF Writer: Matt Fraction Artist: Elsa Charretier Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth Letterer: Kurt Ankeny Publisher: Image Rating: 7/10 November seems to take inspiration from Frank Miller, Brian Azzarello with a pinch of Warren Ellis. The story itself is comprised of short interconnected stories following three different women on the same night in the same city. The structure very much reminds me of the "yarns" that make up Frank Miller's Sin Ci

OLD GUARD: FORCE MULTIPLIED #2 Writer: Greg Rucka Artist: Leandro Fernandez Colorist: Daniela Miwa Letterer: Jodi Wynne Publisher: Image Score: 9/10 I'm so glad this series is back as I feel like this is really the first issue to kick things off. The first issue served to introduce any new readers to our main cast and to reintroduce previous readers to the series as I felt it didn't really offer much outside of a random adventure for Andy and Nile but with this second issue,

DEAD EYES #4 Writer: Gerry Duggan Artist: John McCrea Colorist: Mike Spicer Letterer: Joe Sabino Publisher: Image Score: 7/10 I had a very different impression of how this series would play out when it originally appeared as Dead Rabbit about a year ago. The first couple of issues really gave me the same kind of vibe that I get from other crime fiction series from the likes of Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka but with Duggan's own unique flavor. Unfortunately now that the third and

SPAWN #304 Script: Todd McFarlane Art: Jason Shawn Alexander Plot: Todd McFarlane and Jon Goff Colors: Peter Steigerwald Lettering: Tom Orzechowski Publisher: Image Score: 6.5/10 As a massive fan of Spawn, I've been really curious as to what McFarlane would do with the character after issue #300 and with Spawn's energy meter finally hitting zero. Unfortunately the story, post issue #300, was unfolded in a bit of a convoluted mess. Given the attention the milestone would garne

THE CLOCK #1 Writer: Matt Hawkins Artist: Colleen Doran Colorist: Bryan Valenza Letterer: Troy Peteri Publisher: Image/Top Cow Rating: 8/10 Here we go with another limited series, hellbent on destroying your feels and all of humanity. In the miniseries The Clock, humans are dying at exponential rates from a form of a rapidly progressing cancer and no one knows why or where it came from. Right off the bat we are introduced to our main character Jack, a Dr. and cancer researche

BATTLEPUG #5 Writer/Artist: Mike Norton Colorist: Allen Passalaqua Letterer: CRANK! Publisher: Image Rating: 9/10 Song: Battle by Gang Starr You know, every now again I get burned out by stories about heroes with capes. It seems there’s an over-saturation of publishers putting out universe-wide, large-scale, extinction-level events. Literally. Ever. Year. I’m not saying they’re all bad. I’m not saying they’re all good either. What I am saying is that sometimes, it tends to be

CRIMINAL #11 Writer: Ed Brubaker Artist: Sean Phillips Colorist: Jacob Phillips Publisher: Image Rating: 10/10 The penultimate issue of the "Cruel Summer" arc is here. The heist that Teeg has been planning, the one that will be the biggest score he's ever seen, is all going down in this issue. But we all know this arc is supposed to be the final days of Teeg Lawless, so what could possibly go wrong for this infamous criminal? Guess you'll just have to read to find out. Yet ag

SPAWN #303 Script: Todd McFarlane Plot: Todd McFarlane & Jon Goff Artists: Todd McFarlane & Jason Shawn Alexander Letterer: Tom Orzechowski Colorist: Peter Steigerwald Publisher: Image Comics Rating: 8/10 Song: Hell on Earth by Mobb Deep We’re a good 3 issues after the big 300th issue of Todd McFarlane’s creator-owned, Spawn. The past 2 issues were decent enough keep people interested but truth be told, this one felt like it shifted down a gear. Shifting down gears isn’t nece

PAPER GIRLS VOL. 6 Writer: Brian K. Vaughan Artist: Cliff Chiang Colorist: Matt Wilson Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher Publisher: Image Comics Rating: 10/10 Song: Supersonic by J.J. Fad It’s bittersweet. This series felt like a long and awesome summer. A summer where you invested completely in the story that was happening and knowing that since those summer days were finite, you lived it hard and lived it fast. This series holds a special place in my heart and like an awesome ado

20XX #1 Writers: Jonathan Luna & Lauren Keely Artist: Jonathan Luna Letterer: Jonathan Luna Publisher: Image Comics Rating: 9/10 At first glance I wasn't really sure what to think of this book, the cover doesn't give away much, in terms of what you can expect when you open up the book. But the little details that you can see, should be enough for anyone to want to give this a try. I'm really happy I did. While I haven't read anything from Jonathan Luna, or his brother, (I kno

Last week, Rodney Barnes and artist Jason Shawn Alexander had their new book, Killadelphia, hit the stands. It was absolutely amazing. It was the perfect mix of crime/noir and supernatural. It was one of my favorite new Image books and I had to find out more about this great new book. I immediately reached out to Rodney to get the scoop on where the idea cam from and what we can expect form the book going forward. Luckily for me, he was more than happy to oblige. I hope you g

YES!!!! Brubaker and Phillips are at it again. They're finally doing a Western story and I couldn't be more stoked. This is the best news and it feels like Christmas has come early. This is unlike any of their previous work and is sure to be yet another hit from these Eisner Award winning creators. The official Press Release is below ED BRUBAKER & SEAN PHILLIPS SPIN TALE OF ’30S ERA CRIME IN ORIGINAL GRAPHIC NOVEL HARDCOVER PULP THIS MAY PORTLAND, Ore. 12/03/2019 — The multip

KILLADELPHIA #1 Writer: Rodney Barnes Artist: Jason Shawn Alexander Colorist: Luis NCT Letterer: Marshall Dillon Publisher: Image Comics Rating: 9/10 In this debut issue, Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander perfectly meld a dark noir tale with a touch of the supernatural. It's like a David Fincher film meets "Blade". Barnes quick witted dialogue and gripping story mixed with the sublime and gritty realism of Alexander's art makes this one of the best debuts this year. Yet

CRIMINAL #10 Writer: Ed Brubaker Artist: Sean Phillips Colorist: Jacob Phillips Publisher: Image Rating: 10/10 Song: "God's Gonna Cut You Down" - Johnny Cash Every time there's a new issue of CRIMINAL, I know it's a great week in comics. If I read nothing else but this book, I would be completely satisfied. There is no other series that gives as much bang for it's buck as any Brubaker/Phillips book does. Not only are the writing and art superb, but you get all that back matte

SEX CRIMINALS VOL. 1 Writer: Matt Fraction Artist: Chip Zdarsky Colorists: Becka Kinzie & Christopher Sebela Publisher: Image Comics Rating: 9.5/10 WARNING!!! EXPLICIT CONTENT!! Orgasms….one of humanity’s greatest pleasures and weakness. We all experience them differently. They manifest in special ways for everyone and they mean something different to everyone who experiences them. But what if your experience was so unique that it was unlike ANYONE else in the world… or so yo

MONSTRESS VOL.4 Writer: by Marjorie Liu Artist: Sana Takeda Letterer: Rus Wooton Publisher: Image Comics Rating: 10/10 Foxtails Song: Jean Grae - A-alikes Monstress. The Eisner Award winning powerhouse. There are countless reviews of this series and all of them give high praise to this masterfully crafted world of magic, halflings, and old gods. Volume 4 collects issues 19-24 and quite possibly the most exciting issues thus far. From key characters going missing to introducti

OLYMPIA #1 Writers: Curt & Tony Pires Artist: Alex Diotto Colorist: Dee Cunniffe Letterer: Micha Myers Publisher: Image Comics Rating: 8/10 I love when I pick up a new book, have know idea what it's about and then absolutely love it. That was the case for OLYMPIA. Somehow I completely missed it when I was looking through the November solicits. But when I saw this cover I knew I had to learn more. It's not often a cover grabs me that quickly, but there was just something about

SEA OF STARS #5 Story: Jason Aaron & Dennis Hallum Artist: Stephen Green Colorist: Rico Renzi Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher Publisher: Image Comics Rating: 9/10 Asteshrooms Song: Day ‘n’ Night (Nightmare) by Kid Cudi Fathers and sons have had it rough in the history of comics. Origin stories are littered with tragedy surrounding the death of a father figure. You know the guys, no need to say who. But this father and son origin story plays out a bit different. What starts out as

FAMILY TREE #1 Writer: Jeff Lemire Artist: Phil Hester Publisher: Image Comics Rating: 9/10 To say I'm a Jeff Lemire fan would be putting it mildly, he's in my top favorite writers working in comics today. Having been responsible for some of my g=favorite books, I'm always excited when he announces a new project. So when he announced this book I was absolutely thrilled. Not only was he launching a new series but he was collaborating with an artist that holds a special place i