I am back!

Hello all, I am back. If you were wondering where I was, well I needed some time off. That time off ended up being a lot longer then I thought due to some unforeseen watery disasters. The result of which left me in a new apartment very suddenly.  That is why the break was so long, the reason for the break was something else entirely.

I had to take a break because honestly I was bored. I was getting bored of picking up my pull list week after week and not really being interested in what I was reading. It’s not that I was picking up boring books or that my list needed to change, I was just done with comic books. I was a little worried I may be done for good, but then 3 series reminded me of why I read comics.

Those three books are 1) the Luther Strode series, 2) Chrononauts and finally 3) The Humans. These books are all very different books, with different art, stories, worlds and even companies. But at the end of the day it was these books, 2 of which are currently not putting out issues, which brought me back.

Image and Justin Jordan’s Luther Strode series, which is about to release it’s final issue in a few weeks, is a hyper violent, nerd to hero story. It revolves around the titular character going from zero to hero (thanks Hercules) with the thanks of a mail order kit, much like the Tony Atlas kits you see in the back of old comics. Only this time it works and Luther gains extraordinary powers, find out there are others with these powers who basically have shown up around time and killed dozens. As the series progress Luther decides to go back to the source and is about to fight the creator of the Path. The hyper graphic violence and truly twisting story showed me that overpowered people can be well written and that comics can be graphic and gorgeous at the same time. The art, by Tradd Moore, is stunning in this series and they way they capture movement on the page is truly outstanding.

Image also puts out a series entitled The Humans, by Keenan Marshall Keller, with art by Tom Neely. This comic takes place in a world where Primates are the dominant species. Imagine Sons of Anarchy in the seventies with chimps, gorilla’s and other primates instead of people. This comic is about a motorcycle gang and drugs and PTSD, Johnny, the main character, suffering from PTSD caused by being a P.O.W. in Vietnam. This book reminded me of the breadth of stories in comics. It’s not all super heroes or TV/Movie series, but a legitimate medium to tell a story, no matter what genre.

Finally yet another Image title, this time it’s Chrononauts, from Mark Millar with art by Sean Gordon Murphy, is a series that explores what happens when 2 genius scientists develop time travel and decide to change their lives and lead better lives. This story really was the nail in the coffin in my renewed love of comics because it reminded me of how the visuals of a book can sell the story as much as the writing. In Chrononauts its the art, not the story, that really shines and is a great of example of how the visuals of a book can compliment and build on the story.

These three books are seriously some of the best stories currently in print. Do yourself a favor and read these thee books, all of which are modern day classics.  And I will see you next week with a new review.