COOL SHIT 1-16-14

GRAVEL: COMBAT MAGICIAN #0: FUCK YES! The return of William Gravel! I’ve been a fan of this book since I stumbled upon the first issue of STRANGE KISS at the Graham Crackers in Wheaton. Hot off the fucking press. I only wish that Warren Ellis was still writing it. Don’t get me wrong, I like Mike Wolfer, but Ellis brought a harder edge (and a darker humor) to Gravel. In this one, Gravel expounds on the history of combat magic in Britain, and of course he has to go up against a French combat magician. This is a bit of an odd #0, though. Usually, when Avatar Press does a #0, it’s a smaller book, maybe 99-cents, with a black and white preview, or maybe the first five pages of the first issue with a bunch of artist sketches. This one is fucking massive and comes in at $4.99 with a story of its own, which looks a lot to me like an issue one. There is a great combat log in the back of the book, giving readers Gravel’s history, starting with STRANGE KISS and going through to the final issue of GRAVEL. (Although the order is kind of off, and I can’t figure out why.)

CRYPTOZOIC MAN #3: This is an odd book for me. I can read any comic book with shitty art, just so long as the story is good. I’ve been fond of saying the opposite is not true. No matter how good the art, if the story sucks, I can’t get through it. I’m not saying the story of this book sucks. I just can’t get into it. However, the art is so mindblowingly amazing, I can’t ignore this book. There are so many great images, I found it really hard to settle on the one I wanted to sample for Cool Shit. I think I made the right choice, though.

GOD IS DEAD #5: OK, the gods are still kicking the shit out of each other. That’s not the cool part about this book. You know how the geniuses are trying to create gods of their own to fight the real gods? Well . . . they succeeded with this issue, and not in a good way. That last panel will make you clench your asshole.

NEXT TESTAMENT #7: This is probably my favorite miniseries going on right now, and Clive Barker and Mark Miller have upped the ante big time with this issue. God demands that his new followers fucking BUILD HIM A PYRAMID. When they fuck it up, he gets rid of them all. Next on the agenda? Blacking out the sun and raising a plague of locusts. And he’s acting like he just did everyone a favor. It’s unreal how good this book is.

COOL SHIT 10-27-11

THE WALKING DEAD #90: Yeah, we’re still in the lull between story arcs, but that doesn’t mean nothing is happening. Rick finally resolves his dispute with Nicholas in a rather unexpected way (for him, anyway). Maggie’s breaking down. Carl is fucked up because he’s starting to remember things from before he got shot in the head. And Rick and Andrea . . . well, I won’t say anything more on that subject, but we’ve seen this coming for a while now. It’s about time it happened.

CAPTAIN SWING AND THE ELECTRICAL PIRATES OF CINDERY ISLAND #4: Huh. Would you look at that. Avatar finally got off their asses and finished this book. How long has it been? Perhaps this means we’ll eventually get the end of DOKTOR SLEEPLESS, too. All right, it’s no MINISTRY OF SPACE, but still. This book goes out with a bang and perhaps one of the most disgusting steampunk creatures ever. You should see his dick spout. No. You should. Get the book and see what I mean. Anyway, Warren Ellis gives us a final dose of philosophy, and Raulo Caceres makes it look impossibly beautiful. Seriously, is there any artist working now as good as this guy? (By the way, remember when Ellis made a DOK SLEEPLESS reference earlier in this series? In this issue, we get a GRAVEL reference.)

STITCHED #1: Almost made it without mentioning Garth Ennis. Remember when I reviewed his movie, STITCHED? Well, this is the comic book continuation of that. Kind of. It’s actually a comic book form of what happened in the movie, right up until the “to be continued” ending. And I was right: the horribly mutilated bodies look far cooler in comic book form than on film. It’s really some grim shit, there. Cool shit, indeed.

COOL SHIT 10-28-10

GRAVEL #21: I hope this isn’t the last issue, I really do. This is Avatar’s only monthly, and it’s a hell of a fine book. I’ve been a fan of William Gravel since his first appearance in STRANGE KISSES #1, and I’d hate to see the last of him. You see, this reads like a last issue. There are a few loose ends, but a lot of major storylines are tied up and . . . well, Avatar hasn’t been advertising future issues. In this book, Gravel meets his match (kind of) in Bible Jack as the magical fate of London hangs in the balance. If you haven’t read of Gravel’s adventures in the past, you might be too late. If not, buy this book! Save it! Please!

INCOGNITO: BAD INFLUENCES #1: Yes, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips have returned with another pulpy superhero/crime adventure! In case you don’t know, Zack is formerly a super-powered villain, but when his twin brother was killed during a job, he was put in a witness protection program. But staying on the straight and narrow didn’t sit well with him. These events were covered in the first series. Now, Zack works for the people who once protected him, and he enjoys taking down villains like Dark Leopold and his Nuclear Nazis and Zhing Fu, the Asian underlord. But when he’s living his cover-life, he’s bored titless . . . until the day an old man tries to ambush and kill him. Why? Read the book.