Variant Covers. A look at the comic books that I’m buying/interested in this week.

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you how crazy I was during the semester. Or maybe you would. White-knuckles, ripped on caffeine. Oscillating between “this is totally doable” and “I need pills and a shack in the woods.” What gets me through it? Funny books. Narrative and drawings. Well, that, and really weird audio files of white noise to write to. With that in mind, writing this column every week is a relaxation technique. Stack it on top of my psychiatrist, therapist, and girlfriend, and I’m almost functional.

Let’s dance.

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Casanova: Gula #2.
The Casanova series is one of those titles that has to benefit from reading in a collected manner. I read this title monthly, and by the time the next issue is coming out, my frazzled stem can’t compute what I read before. The issues are stuffed to the brim with madness. This is a good thing. But trying to keep track of everything that’s going on, with thirty-day breaks? Not so hot.

Let’s see: Last month, Casanova Quinn disappeared from the timestream, and now it’s of grave importance that he’s tracked down. This march into absurdity (I mean this positively) is headed up by Sasa Lisi, a blue babe with a good amount of arms. Meanwhile Cass’ sister has just been hired to kill some peeps, including their father. Gulp and stuff!

Slather this on top of some really weird meta-fiction, endless references to awesome, and gorgeous artwork, and you have madness in a can. Or uh, a binding. It’s enjoyable mind-rape, but goddamn if the side-effect don’t include loss of memory and sudden confusion.

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Incognito: Bad Influences #3.
Zack Overkill has just gotten out of his life of crime. Sure, he was ripped out of it and then thrown into working for The Man, but he was out. Now thrown back into it the underworld he was wrested from, he operate undercover while holding onto his tenuous set of new-found morals. That is, if you believe he’s reformed. My guess? Somewhere in the middle.

Last issue saw Overkill galavanting about with an old buddy, only to have the guy sell him out. Son of a bitch! Apparently you can’t go home again. Even if that home is prostitutes and death scenes.

I love this series, specifically for the themes presented. The notion of attempting to clean yourself up, and what that entails, calls out to the mess that is my collected consciousness. Overkill is a man trying to turn a new leaf, but can he resist the temptation? In this case, can he resist punching motherfuckers’ heads off and banging whores? There’s the axio, that if you want to quit an addiction, you need to gut your entire life. Escape from the hedonistic tendencies of those you partook with. Overkill is doing the exact opposite – being thrown back into the madness.

Can the dude make it? Dunno.

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Interlude: Shit I’m Loving.
This column is a weekly conduit of the bullshit that’s coming out on any given week. As such, while I generally recommend shit that I’m humping on hard, I don’t often pause to drop what I’m infatuated with. An atemporal exploration of the dope shit I want to marry. So I figured I’d throw one out there.

I’m madly, madly obsessed with Cowboy Ninja Viking. The title has it fucking all. The grand slam of tropes and bonerficiations that sell me hard. It’s got mental illness. It’s got ridiculously gorgeous artwork. It’s got meditations on modern life and the existential ennui we all are subject to. It’s got action sequences and ultra violence. But more than that, it’s fucking hilarious.

This is a title that has me giggling outloud in the middle of the night like the retard I am. The dialogue  is equal measures witty and profane. Childish and acerbic.  I’ve rocked through a trade and a half of the title, and I’m edging like woah. Don’t want to finish it. If you haven’t checked this shit out, I’d recommend it. Madly. In love.

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Abandon hope all ye who enter! This is Variant Covers, the column where I tell you what’s coming out in comic book land this week.  I’m penning this from what I previously thought was the Boston area in the United Empire. It has come to attention now that I have been living a lie, that I am actually firmly  ensconced  in Hoth. What can you do? I’m killing time in this world of continual snowfall through copious amounts of caffeine, and funny books.

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Daytripper TP.
The ten-issue series by Fábio Moon & Gabriel Bá caught my eyes on the racks while it was still coming out. Of course, I hadn’t heard about it until it was six issues deep, and I faced a financial decision: spend the money to catch up, or wait on my ass for several months and grab it as collected. What’d I do? Well, I’m picking it up tomorrow, so there’s that. Still though, I have a good suspicion that the thing is going to be fantastic. The twins’ artwork is always gorgeous, and I’m hard pressed to pass up anything they do. The premise is a bit on the surreal tip, but can be described as a work that “tells the life story of an obituary writer and the many potential paths (and deaths) that could color his existence.” It’s a roll of the dice to recommend something that a) I haven’t read, and b) isn’t cheap, but it’s a ten-dollar or so gamble. Take a risk! And if you hate it? Uh, kindly forget that I pimped it.

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Sweet Tooth #18. [Jeff Lemire Title #1 of the Week]
In a less propserous time, Sweet Tooth would be my favorite monthly. Easily. These days, it’s fucking complicated. It’s a great time for comic books. But whether or not it’s my favorite title, it’s fucking  excellent. The title began as a somber trip through a post-apocalyptic world, and its followed that with some bizarre shared collective unconscious between a couple of characters, and eerie biblical references. Jeff Lemire, I love you. The last issue hit with the emotional impact of nothing less than a fucking atomic bomb with the wrapping up of the  Animal Armies storyline.

This month our cadre of characters begin a long march, towards a world of snow and answers, and I’m interested to see where Lemire continues to take the storyline. It continues to open up, and the oddness and complexity that once was, continually is surpassed by what he thinks up next.

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And a good afternoon to you all. Provided, of course, you’re reading this when I post it. This is Variant Covers, the column where I give the rundown on this week’s comic book releases. As all the women who have seen me disrobe have muttered, let’s get this over with.

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King Of The Flies Vol. 2: The Origin Of The World.
Did you miss out on the first volume of King Of The Flies, or am I the only dumb one? While perusing (far superior) columns today on what’s dropping tomorrow, Douglas Wolk  recommended this son of a bitch. Intrigued, I followed the various hypertextual references until I found a preview of the new volume. In short? It’s weird, man. Real weird. Wolk had me at “its look owes rather a lot to Charles Burns’  Black Hole, but it’s also got a sick, surreal vibe of its own.”

Sold.

(And if you haven’t checked out Burns’ latest, X’ed Out, get on it. My favorite graphic novel of last year.)

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Action Comics #897.
Don’t let the cover fool you, Action Comics is some of the most fun I get in my funny books diet today. Quick editorializing: Fuck misleading covers. I understand that some angsty David Finch cover probably grabs the nuts of the average fanboy, but it may also dissuade others. Action Comics is funny, intelligent, and relatively XTREME free. You wouldn’t know it by the cover, though.

This month’s issue has Lex Luthor rolling up into Arkham Asylum and soliciting the help of the Joker. I don’t know where it’s going to go from there, but I’ll find myself rooting for the bastard. A megalomaniacal sociopath on a quest for the Black Lantern energy, penciled by Pete Woods?

Pick it up.

Also In DC:
Detective Comics #837 is dropping, and as I said in my recommendation of #836, the artwork alone may be worth it. It’s Jock, yo!

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Welcome to Variant Covers. I like comic books. Sometimes I really like them. And every week, I write in this column about the comic books that are dropping this week that I’m interested in. If you’re so inclined, hit up the comments section with what you’re throwing down some ducets on. My ears. They’re open.

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Northlanders #36.
Those who follow this column know that I have an unapologetic butt-crush on Brian Wood. His work hits me on a variety of levels, from fucking awesome! to fucking inspirational. The second and final issue of “The Girl in The Issue” drops this week, and I’m expecting the latter. The storyline follows a weathered old man trying to solve the murder of a girl he found frozen in time. The first issue garnered serious love here, and I’m expecting the same from the finale. Its a quiet, almost Hemingway-esque march through the final tolling of a man’s life, cognizant of his small and dwindling station in the world.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that Becky Cloonan’s artwork is stunning, and issue #35 provided three of the most gorgeous panels (its three panels, right?) I can recall in recent time.

Outstanding.

Also Dropping: Wood’s DMZ #61. I’m waiting on the sixth trade to arrive in my mail, for I desperately need to catch up before it ends.

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Scarlet #4.
Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev’s post-modern metatextual affair continues this week. Still featuring a sexy redhead with guns. Still featuring her directly engaging the reader every issue. Still getting me very, very excited every time it drops. The last issue ended (if I recall, the long breaks between issues is killing me) with her capping a cop, and I imagine the title is only going to get more violent. I mean, fuck, she’s trying to encourage the reader to join her in a cultural uprising.

Not exactly for the faint of heart.

I don’t think the title gets as much love from others as I give but, I can understand why. The tropes themselves aren’t new: V for Vendetta with a vixen, mix in some teenage uproar, et cetera. But it’s done well, and Maleev’s artwork is stunning. Some of the stuff he’s doing with paneling is fresh to a guy like me. Bearing in mind that I mean a guy who doesn’t have much in the way of technical knowledge when it comes to art. I’m a lit dork, leave me alone.

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Hello good souls, and welcome to Variant Covers. I am your pilot on this trip of stupidity. ‘Tis a trip where I tell you the comic books I’m excited and/or curious about that are coming out tomorrow. Your job, should you choose to partake, is to hit the comments box with your own pull list.

It’s my favorite game: show me yours and I’ll show you mine. The elementary school principal down the street isn’t too cool on it, but I hope you are.

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Thor: The Mighty Avenger #8.
This week sees the final issue of Roger Landridge and Chris Samnee’s Thor: The Mighty Avenger. The title has been felled by something that not even Mjöllnir can beat into submission: poor sales. The title is suffering an unjust fate, as yet another part of an inexplicable comic book market. One of the best, most heartwarming titles on the shelf is being served a Viking’s funeral while other dreck continues to march onward.

If you haven’t picked up this title, I fart in your general direction. Actually, that’s unfair. I miss countless good stuff dropping every month. Budget constraints, et cetera. Even the local comic book shop dude couldn’t believe it when I told him it was one of my favorite monthlies. Isn’t it a kid’s book?, he asked quizzically. Naw dude, not even.

At the root of it, its a growing-up tale. The story of a dude forced to leave home, and cut out his own place in the world. You can’t go home again, even if the road that leads back there is the Rainbow Bridge. The storyline is complimented by humor, romance, and gorgeous pencils and coloring. It’s a shame that the title is ending, but there’s always a chance the bitch is blasted with a scroll of resurrection somewhere down the line.

To Landridge, Samnee, and everyone who worked on the title: you boys rock. Please snag this final issue, and help the argument towards bringing the title back.

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Infinite Vacation #1.
This title was brought to my attention over at Robot 6 yesterday, and it sounds like something straight-up my nerd pipes. The comic, helmed by writer Nick Spencer (Morning Glories) and Christian Ward, takes the concept of augmented reality to the nth degree. Let’s blockquote the premise for great fucking justice!

Billed as a sci-fi love story, the book stars Mark, who lives in a world where alternate realities are up for sale, and buying and trading your way through unlimited variations of yourself is as commonplace as checking your email or updating your status. But then Mark’s other selves start dying.

Awesome! In a world where we’re constantly opting out of reality through a variety of apps; comic books (yup!), television, reality television and computer games where we don whatever identity we want, the premise is both sexily absurd and homegrown. I’m sold. I like my digital persona, I ignore reality while plowing through thousands of pages of fiction, and who the fuck wouldn’t want to escape into our own world? More than we already do.

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Good afternoon, internet populace! This is Variant Covers, the column that throws an unedited and poorly written eye at the comic books I’m checking out this week. Per usual, hit me up with your pull-list for the week, and let’s ring in this new year with some fucking funny books!

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Choker #5
The fifth issue of McCool and Templesmith’s jaunt through a futuristic mindfuck noir drops this week. The series has come out sporadically, but every time that it arrives I greet it with a smile. I’m a total slut for profanity, and dystopian futures, so McCool and Templesmith are really just lobbing fastballs down the lane towards me. I’ll eat it up!

This second to last issue sees protagonist Johnny Jackson throwing down with the psychopathic drug-dealing ex-con who has a dickcrush for Jackson’s death. It promises all the violence and profanity I’ve come to love. Oh! And there’s vampires. Buy it for your fourteen year old cousin and show her what sort of shit the real dudes start.

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Who Is Jake Ellis #1
This miniseries starting tomorrow by Nathan Edmonson and Tonci Zonjic is the raging hotness. Want to be the cool kid in your comic shop tomorrow? Either pick this shit up, or act beyond indignant when they say they didn’t order it or sold out. You’re going to gain some credit, duders. I promise. You can’t stop there though. Wear your Lantern Corp ring of choice. You know, the one you got from Free Comic Day. Tie that shit together with your t-shirt of choice (I’m thinking the Alex Ross Obama shirt that’s super unique!) and you’re the pimp now, fanboy!

Seriously though.

The good news is that the comic itself sounds bizarre. Which is, as always, plus-forty points in my book. The premise? It’s centered around Jon Moore who “is the most sought after spy-for-hire in Europe’s criminal world. This is because of Jake Ellis, a psychic man who is invisible to everyone except Moore. When a deal goes bad, the only one who can protect Moore from Europe’s most dangerous criminals is Jake Ellis. No one but Moore can see Jake Ellis. But Jake Ellis can see everything.”

Odd, odd shit. Intrigued? Edmonson spoke with Tim O’Shea over at Robot 6, and its an interesting read.

Color me stoked.

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Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman. My name is Caffeine Powered, and I will be guiding you through the final Variant Covers of the year. 2010? Done already. Jesus Fuck. Herein you’ll find the comics I’m digging this week. And with taste so remarkably suspect, I encourage you to drop what you’re checking out in the comments box. I’ll try anything. My therapist tells me its probably to my detriment.

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S.H.I.E.L.D #5
It’s fitting that an issue of my favorite comic of the year is dropping on the final week. If you haven’t been checking this comic book out, you’re missing a god damn adventure. Hickman and Weaver have journeyed through time and narrative technique to give us the finest Marvel has to offer. Taking something as rote as S.H.I.E.L.D and reworking it into a secret society designed to govern humanity’s destiny? Fantastic.

Hickman has weaved together enormous philosophical ideas and epic action sequences in a way that makes my nuts hurt. One minute he has Leonard Da Vinci and Isaac Newton talking in algorithms and symbols, the next he has goddamn Galactus storming the planet.

I love my wonderment and intellectual ideas strewn through epic. I can’t help it. I love my capes, but I love them even more when they’re getting the rusty cogs turning.

Read this fucking comic book.

Also In Marvel:
Captain America #613 is coming out, following Bucky as he heads to trial for his crimes as the Winter Soldier. Now that Daredevil’s massive run is done, Cap remains the book that quietly goes about its business. It’s solid every month. Also, Avengers #8 is droppin’, and it features the fucking Infinity Gauntlet. I don’t get pumped for many Avengers titles anymore, but this throwback to my childhood has it gleeful. Nostalgia a-go-go!
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Action Comics #896
Since I’m being introretrospective and shit, I should point out that 2010 was the year my appetite for the unexplored kicked into overdrive. I wanted to check out anything and everything people were ranting about. Comic book wise. Maybe fetish wise too. I figured if I was writing a comic book column, I needed to check shit out. So I snagged a copy of Action Comics based on praise alone, and I was pleasantly surprised. I never (ever) would have figured that a comic book starring Lex Luthor would have been dope. Mea culpa. Mea culpa. I started up with the issue following Luthor’s metaphysical rant with Death, and I’ve been engaged since.

Cornell makes Luthor at once sexy and diabolical. The douchebag you root for, the asshole you love. Also, as I’ve mentioned, the Jimmy Olsen serial in the back of the comics is hilarious and almost worth the price of admission alone.

Fair warning: This is a crossover issue, bleeding into Secret Six #29. [Which I’ll probably skip and read a synopsis of.]

Also In DC:
If I had enough money, I’d be checking out the current run on Detective Comics. Jock’s artwork is worthy of purchase enough. If you know, I didn’t have a caffeine addiction to fuel, and an already bulging pull list. Detective Comics #872 drops this week, and if you’re looking for something to snag that you usually don’t, you probably can’t go wrong here.

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Happy holidays, ya’ll! May the deity of your choice smile upon you. May your stockings be stuffed. This is Variant Covers, where I run down what comic books I’m checking out this week. ‘Tis the season for some funny books. Especially with the snow, wind, and overall suckitude of the tangible environment these days in my neck of the woods.

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Neonomicon #3
Alan Moore’s Lovecraftian nightmare conjured into reality continues this week with the third issue. The phrase “mind fuck” is bandied about these days to the point of uselessness. But friends, I can’t resist. This comic book is a mind fuck of the strongest order.

Last issue saw a bathhouse orgy rape scene turn into the grandest of conjurations to summon some sort of reptilian creature seeking a fucking. I can’t remember a comic book so creepy that it gave me the chills. But Moore is crazy like a fox, and has chosen this venue to pontificate on the ability to write reality as a narrative, and other rather weighty topics. It’s the only comic that could be featured in a graduate course, and also be used to get fetish pornography thrown into a whole new venue.

Definitely not for everyone. But if you’re into horror, steam house orgies, or meditations on narrative, I think you’ll enjoyed this shit. As much as you’ll be horrified. You don’t see mythical creature cocks ejaculating into a woman’s mouth and not be changed. Just a little. (Lot.)

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December, and the winter smiles upon us. Its dark bitter smile. Unless you’re one of those fuckers blessed with place of residence that keeps the climate balmy. For the rest of us? Let us escape into the panels, dialogue bubbles, and yes, even the occasional splash page to escape. Ah, escape. Much like I’m escaping into this list of comics that caught my eye this week, to abstain from writing a term paper.

Grab my hand and let’s fly.

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Strange Tales #3
The final issue of the second volume of Strange Tales comes out this week. Just buy this comic book, okay? It’s a collection of indie artists spinning their own unique take on the Marvel characters you’ve come to know. And love. And probably, to an extent, become apathetic to. I don’t usually say this, but even if it’s shitty, it’s probably worth buying. Show some love, so Marvel continues to allow some outside voices to spout off on the characters.

Consider it a dorky political move.

It doesn’t hurt that the comics themselves are generally well done. Some clunkers, but even then, they’re trying. I sound like a little league coach.

Onwards.

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Variant Covers. Sometimes it’s a love affair. Sometimes it’s an apathetic union. And sometimes its a ruthless hate fuck. Today is the latter. Pressed up against a deadline, I am inspired to do nothing. Refresh the same websites. Pound caffeine. Ignore my schoolwork. But I’m here, you’re here, and there are comics coming out tomorrow. Here’s the shit that may grease your underwear with excitement.

Per usual, hit the comments box with your pull list for tomorrow.

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Lady Mechanika #1
This new comic from Joe Benitez caught my eye when wandering through the various release lists for tomorrow’s loot. G’damn! Sometimes something sneaks up on you, and you want to kiss the gaping asshole of whatever force pushed you in its direction. I’m hoping this a dope find. A gorgeously illustrated steampunk release starring a vixen? Had me at vixen. But here, check out the plot description, “the tabloids dubbed her “LADY MECHANIKA”, the sole survivor of a psychotic serial killer’s three-year rampage through London. Found locked in an abandoned laboratory amidst countless corpses and body parts, with her own limbs amputated and replaced with mechanical components, her life began anew.”

C’mon! Tell me that isn’t worth at least a glance at the introduction. Sold.

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A Collection of Collections.
There’s a collection of collections coming out this week that caught my eye. ‘Tis the season and shit! Gift a comic book nerd you know with one of these bad boys. First up is the second collection of Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth. As someone who is following this in trades, I’m excited to dive back into this series. Think The Road meets fantasy meets familiar tropes of responsibility for society’s future, et cetera. It’s one of my favorite releases of the past year or so.

Speaking of Jeff Lemire, his Superboy #2 is coming out, and if you read the first issue you understand: this title has promise. I don’t give a shit about Superboy, or Smallville for that matter. Or rather, I didn’t. Then Lemire stepped up. God, the dude has writing chops. Jealousy +500.

As well, tomorrow carries the first collection of James Stokoe’s Orc Stain. I can’t find this motherfucker at any comic book shop near me. Trust me, I’ve looked. As my local comic shop continues its depressing slide into bankruptcy, my comic book shop love has become polyamorous. So I’ve slutted around in my search. Now’s a chance to snag it all up and collected from my buddy, Mr. Amazon. I have a good feeling Stokoe is going to be someone we’re all going to be hearing a shitload from in the next couple of years. He’s talented, eccentric, off-kilter, and bizarre. Something of a kindred spirit for my demented brain.

Also last week hee did the world an enormous solid and released an entire unreleased comic book over on his website. Murderbullets. It’s fantastic, and I’m actually saddened I couldn’t spend money to support the effort.

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