Come one, come all. My name is Caffeine Powered. I am a slave to the various fixtures of modern civilization. Certain chemicals, namely trimethylxanthine. I have my infofeeds jacked into my skull. If not physically yet, they are essentially there. I like paper-based products that feature images and words. A lot. In fact, they may be my favorite medium. Spandex, speculations on the gravity of possessing great powers, marveling at the universe, narrative structures out the ass. They’re all here, in comic books.

In fact, I love them so much that I (keyboard) pen a weekly column. In this column, I give you the run down on the comic books that I plan on buying. But!, but there’s a tweak of the column’s nipple this week. I’m not giving you an entire rundown. I gotta keep this shit fresh for myself. If I don’t, laziness sets in. The mind numbs. The voices, they no longer speak to me. This week, I’m pruning the entire list to the three comic books I absolutely have to buy. You will note, readers the following: my taste is poor. This is not indicative of the most important comic books of the week, nor the best ones.

It is up to you to hit the comments box if you’re so inclined, with the three comic books you’d recommend. Do it. I dare you.

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Baltimore: The Plague Ships #5
The tale of Lord Baltimore wraps up this week, and I’ll be sad to see it go. Mike Mignola, Chris Golden, and Ben Stenbeck have teamed up to give us fools a tight, light romp through a universe where World War I was interrupted by vampires and zombies. Yeah, I suppose that makes regular war’s horror seem mild at most, right? This fifth issue is the final, and I’m going to miss my monthly romp through the darkness with ole Peg Leg Baltimore and his busty female companion.

As I’ve blathered about previously in this column, there’s something to the simplicity of the storyline. There’s more than enough familiar tropes to crack open if you’re willing. Baltimore is a man plagued by a deep guilt at hurting a loved one, and sets about an errant quest to do the impossible – make it right. You can get into all the complexities of one’s desire to cleanse themselves of past sins. But if you’re like me? If you’re like me, you just want to see a guy stab vampires and wield a sweet ass bayonet. It works on a simple level. Kick up your feet after a long ass day and decompress to this comic.

If you like decompressing to rot and blood and pain and plague.

Like me.

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Vertigo Resurrected: Winter’s Edge #1
So what if DC killed off the Wildstorm universe and folded stalwart Vertigo characters like Swamp Thing and Death back into their primary universe? They are not entirely without their dope maneuvers. On the top of the list of good ideas? DC’s decision to launch Vertigo Resurrected. It’s a line of one-shots that is driven at giving new readers the ability to indulge in classic, rare, or unpublished tales but a collection of heavy, heavy talent. They kicked things of in Vertigo Resurrected #1

Winter’s Edge brings tales from Gaiman, Ennis, and Brian K. Vaughn. If that isn’t enough to sell you, the artwork is being provided by Dave Gibbons, Sean Phillips, and Paul fucking Pope. It seems impossible for me to pass on. I only got three titles this week? This has got to be one of them. A collection of works by a bevy of my favorite talents in the industry? Sold. Sold, sold, sold.

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This is Variant Covers. Keep your fucking fingers off the cover. Mind the spine, yo. The comic book column where I spit with vitriol, glee, and mostly confusion about the books dropping this week. Hit the comments section with derisive, witty, or contributory recommendations and comments.

Shazam.

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Thor: The Mighty Avenger #6
My friends, we have failed. As comic book reading collective, we have failed. Failed hard. Last weekend news leaked out that Thor: The Mighty Avenger was getting axed. This is nothing sort of a calamitous disregard for one of the most wondrous, beautiful mainstream titles hitting shelves. Canned, canned, canned. While other titles are hitting the shelves, depleted of quality, offering nothing new to existing mythos. I am significantly bummed out about this. Half of me wants to recommend nothing more than this title. A militant stance. But alas, there’s other worthwhile shit dropping, and that would be unfair to them.

But!, please, check this shit out tomorrow. The good news is that apparently they’ve been given the ability to wrap up the storyline by the final installment in January. You’re only six issues behind. It’ll cost you nothing more than something like twenty-four Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers. It’s a refreshing take on an existing origin. The dialogue is great, the artwork is gorgeous. Both of these creators, Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee will assuredly continue on doing dope work somewhere else.

But still. Hit this while you can.

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Elsewhere In the Marvel Universe:
Thankfully, I don’t think we’re failing in regard to following Hickman’s current work on the Fantastic Four. Tomorrow sees the release of Fantastic Four #585, which promises to work towards the conclusion of the “Three” storyline. I have a good idea that someone is going to die. I think maybe the storyline’s name gives that away. Hickman’s continues Reed Richard’s desire to solve everything while grounding it with a thunderous round of heart and humor. Last month when Ben Grimm got his one-week of humanity back, and went to see Alicia? I teared up. I know, fuck me.

Also dropping is Captain America #612 which follows Bucky as he goes on trial for his crimes as the Winter Soldier. While I like the story, and generally everything Brubaker does, I’m wondering how long he’s going to examine Bucky’s guilt over his past. Fair enough it’s been introspective to this point, and now he’s dealing with the public outrage regarding it. As I said, I still dig it. And finally, Invincible Iron Man #32 promises to be a slobberknocker, as Iron Man throws down with Detroit Steel. Fraction penned action scenes being realized by Salvador Larroca? I’m there.

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Thunder and lightning and gods seek revenge! This is the Covers Variant, your weekly destination to hear one comic book near blather. Blather incessantly about the titles he’s excited about picking up tomorrow. It’s a stacked week for me, as my diminishing insanity has increased my interest in the funny books tenfold. How else to escape from an army of due dates and end of the semester papers? Forwards! Backwards! Everywhere, through time.

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Northlanders #34
Brian Wood’s latest storyline wraps up this month in the conclusion of Metal. I’ll be sad to see it go. It’s been my go-to comic book every week that it’s come out. Kick back, crack the shit out of this one’s spine, and drift back into an age of Viking fury, axe wounds, and commentary on the power of faith. Fair thee well, Erik. You were a good dumb son of a bitch Viking, raging against the Christian machine. But I’m pretty sure you’re not going to make it out of this alive.

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Harlan Ellison’s Phoenix Without Ashes #4
The final issue of Harlan Ellison’s failed TV pilot turned graphic novel mindfuck comes out this week, and what a sweet embrace it shall be. It’s been a favorite comic of mine since it debuted, and the four issues have been taut and action packed. It isn’t so much that I lament the story ending because there is so much more to do with it, but rather out of an appreciate for the ride I’ve been taken on. Listen, it’s simple: science-fiction god is spinning a final tale that reeks of prescient tropes (he wrote this thing back in the day), and familiar narratives.

It’s easy to let this one slide past, particularly since it seems to have gone without being noticed by the Grand Hype Machine. Do yourself a solid and see a master explain through panel and pacing why he is a geek pillar.

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Batman Incorporated #1
Last week, without the majority of the comic book world noticing it, Grant Morrison turned Batman into a God. Literally.This week, Wayne undertakes the much more pedestrian task of turning Batman into a corporation. A globe trotting assemblage of Batmen and Batwomen, kicking ass and taking names as a collection of vigilantes. It stems off the recent reveal by Brucey not that he is Batman, but rather that he funds him.

Alright Morrison, I’ll give it to you, I’m intrigued. My main concern is how sustainable this storyline is; how long can a legion of Flying Rodents deal out justice before it comes crashing down around him. I’m a battered spouse, and I’ve been promised status quos being rearranged too many times to think something as drastic as this will persist. Maybe that’s just me.

Every week we’re promised something insane. This week it was the Death of Spider-Man, which will change the Ultimate universe forever! Yawn. Can’t trick me again. Actually, you can. I’m a sucker. Also dropping this week is nineteen other Batman titles, including Batman: The Return, a one-shot which will probably do nothing more than serve as table-setting for everything else in the Bat-universe.

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Superior #2
Mark Millar used to be a favorite writer of mine. These days, I find him far too obviously lusting for shock. We are not best friends any longer. That said, the first issue of Superior was decent to me, and I found that to be more than I could say for his other works, like Nemesis, Kick-Ass 2, or Ultimate Avengers. While it still served up the paste that used to be the trope of the Average Kid Desiring the Incredible that he’s beaten into paste, it dared to bring with it something that had been missing from his works: heart. Maybe I’m a sucker, but the starry-eyed kid with a disability getting the ability to be fantastic tugs on strings of empathy that bleed within my crusty dork heart.

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Welcome to Variant Covers! God damn I love comic books. If I don’t make that clear throughout my columns, I want to stamp it across your dome-piece right now. Not only do I love comic books as medium, but lately I’ve been rubbing a wild assortment of them across my groin in glee. There’s a lot of good shit out there to be reading. The comic industry may be declining, tangible products may be dying, but we still have a good amount of amusing funny books to leaf through. This is a slower week (for me), but I’m inclined to not complain. Nothing coming out that’s going to catch your eye? Go crack open an old book and try and look at it in a different light.

Lately I’ve been trying to examine the the effect of panel structure and panel choice on a narrative. I don’t usually pay attention that much to the art, as a disinclined literature nerd. But it can make things really interesting, really fast.

Per usual, hit the comments box with the titles you’re snagging (or not snagging) this week.

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Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6
This week, we get the climax to Mr. Wayne’s gallivanting across the Time Stream. Which is funny, because last week he was alive and well in Batman and Robin #16. Alive, well, and dropping Bat-Reveals with a stunning calm. I know I bitched about it last week, but it irks me to no end that publishers like DC and Marvel can’t organize their releases to have characters’ return stories finish before they arrive in other titles completely fucking alive. I know those corporations are leviathans, and its easier said than done. But still.

This storyline has been a mind-warping alteration of the entire Batman mythos. And I’ve dug it a lot. I know that Morrison’s modus operandi isn’t for everyone. Non-linear romps through the timestream with one of the world’s more prominent comic book characters is sure to turn people off. Perhaps you’re asking, “Why isn’t he throwing batarangs off the dumb faces of the Joker and Killer Croc? Fuck the Heat Death of the universe!”

To which I say, pshaw.

I don’t know how they’re going to wrap this storyline up in one more issue, but I’m interested to see it unfold. Others, I’m sure, will be wiping their hands and saying they’re glad its over.

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Variant Covers. Your one-stop shop for the comic books I’m excited about dropping this Wednesday. Your chance to comment, and recommend titles you’re reading not only this week, but in general. A brothel of pathetic attempts at intellectual dialogues, and more glaringly, juvenile jokes. Welcome, I’m excited you’re here.

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Scarlet #3
In recent weeks, I’ve tried to ease up on my bashing of writers. Well, ignoring the fact that I took Mark Millar behind the woodshed. Particularly writers that I like, and respect. So whereas I used to bemoan Brian Michael Bendis’ decline, I’ve tried to rationalize it under the idea that he carries an enormous work load for Marvel. Far too many pages for me to fathom churning out every month. I know he’s a talented writer. I know it.

Scarlet is case-in-point.

My brother and I are big fans of Scarlet, Bendis and Maleev’s creator-owned title being published through Marvel’s Icon label. As I’ve detailed before, the time that has been put into this book bleeds through in oodles of quality. Oodles, guys and gals, oodles. The title’s distinguishing feature is the smashing and tearing of the fourth-wall, with Scarlet talking directly to the audience throughout the book. Juxtapose that son of a bitch with Maleev’s creative use of paneling, and you have something that snags you by the nipples right away.

Scarlet’s recruiting a revolution, and she wants you to join in. Trust me, when a sexy femme fatale is talking to you, the loins surge.

It’s a solid title, with tropes that aren’t particularly new, but as I said, they’re executed well. Bendis’ wit shines through, and Maleev is fucking gorgeous as ever. The dude could pencil two pigeons fucking and I’d be on-board. The sort of artwork that could carry a title, but with the writing, simply compliments it.

Grab this son of a bitch.

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Baltimore: The Plague Ships #4
It seems like every time I turn around, a new issue of The Plague Ships is flying its way onto shelves. Get it, cause it stars vampires? Flying? I’m a fucking dunce? I concur. And that’s absolutely fine with me. While it isn’t righteous enough to command my full attention with every issue, the title entertains me in a mindless sort of way that I sometimes need. You should seem me when I’m reading an issue of S.H.I.E.L.D by Hickman. I got a pad of paper, and a pen. I’m scribbling notes and asking rhetorical questions like the grad school lit major loser that I am.

The Plague Ships is a way to decompress. I want to emphasize that this is no fucking knock on Mignola. The title is tight, entertaining, and extremely sexy in the artwork department. It operates on a level that I can definitely feel. Sometimes it’s perfectly fine to be nothing more than fun. For the burgeoning intellectual who is going to give some brilliant reading of Plague Ships in the comments box, let me stop you: you’re probably right, but I’m turning my fucking brain off for this title, and riding the wind. Get it? Like a vampire? Yeah, fuck me.

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Superboy #1
Lest you think I’m packed to the gills with dookie when I say I’ll read anything you recommend to me, consider this: prior to about six months ago, I had never heard of Jeff Lemire. A reader with good taste recommended that I snag up Sweet Tooth and I did so. Since then, my ass crush for the dude has been immeasurable. Love him. I’ll admit I’ve only ingested seven issues or so of his work, as I can only grab Sweet Tooth in TPB around these parts, but I dig him.

So with that said, his name alone is enough to push the relaunch of Superboy onto me. What’s it going to be about? Damned if I know. The synopsis promises wonder and the beginning of the next great epic in the DC universe, but I mean, c’mon. That’s cream puff bullshit. All I know is that it’s a very talented writer getting a crack at an up-and-down icon within the stretched parameters of Metropolis.

Sometimes the author is enough for me to check something out. Actually an author I like is always enough for me to give something a try.

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Hellboy does it doggy style? Jesus Christ, I’m not even trying anymore. And I have the gall to attack Mark Millar! Whatever, fuck me. Welcome to this week’s rundown of the comic books I’m most likely pulling tomorrow. Bringing home, covered in a brown paper bag. Then, more than likely, reading under a pile of Cheez-It crumbs, my body slathered in euphoria. Get some!

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Captain America #611
Shit stays real for Bucky this week! After getting exposed as the Communist son of a bitch, the Winter Soldier, by Baron Zemo, Jimmy has to stand trial. Does it matter that he was brainwashed? I suppose we’ll find out in the forthcoming storyline. Captain America seems to always be about an the struggle to make amends with the past. Whether we have Stevey helming the shield or Bucky, both of them seem continuously consumed by a past they either never experienced, or sinned upon.

Of course, in true comic book fashion, this sort of relatable internal struggle is made super-external through various comic tropes. Falling into an ocean and being frozen alive, or being the pawn of a nefarious agency. I’m hoping that at some point in his run as Captain America, Bucky gets to more than juggle his anxiety at owning a title that was previously his mentor’s, and his guilt at his actions as the Winter Soldier. Is that his defining point as a Captain America?

It’s not that I mind it, but rather I’m interested in seeing Brubaker carve out a legacy for Bucky as Captain America outside of those two extentuating circumstances. Dude has a robot arm, and wields a gun. I mean, that’s a hell of a start to a legacy. Let’s get a smidge past the brooding, before the Captain America movie (presumably) forces the position back to default.

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Fantastic Four #584
Benjamin Grimm and Henry McCoy both suffer under the same continual cocktease: that of being able to regain their human form. Whether it’s sloughing off a body cast of shitty orange stone, or ditching the claws and feline attributes for something a bit more hairless, the two poor dudes are perpetually enticed by this possibility. Well, tomorrow it seems that Ben is going to get the ability to push the flesh. Detailed a couple of issues back, Reed’s little think tank of young geniuses found a way for Grimm to regain human form for a week a year.

It’s only going to end in tears, folks. Tears.

Hickman’s F4 is continuously fantastic – puns a-fucking-hoy! But seriously. It’s as wondrous as it is insightful, and as epic as it is rooted in heart. As both a dork, a philosophy nerd, and a fan of narrative, it milks all my important glands.

Also from Marvel: New issues of Secret Avengers and Avengers to munch on. As much as I malign Bendis’ recent work, Scarlet aside, I’ve enjoyed his time-bending introductory arc to the relaunched Avengers.

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Beasts of Burden/Hellboy
I caught onto Beasts of Burden via a strong push by the peoples over at Comics Alliance. I’ve yet to read it, though it’s been safely ensconced in my bookmarks folder for a while now. Good lord, and e’gads! I only have so much god damn time/money/concentration left in these faulting synapses of mine. But this week, I’m snapping up the Beasts of Burden/Hellboy crossover. I’m hoping my virgin Beasts experience won’t be tainted by lack of knowledge pertaining to the universe, but we’ll see.

I’ve been on a huge Mignola kick lately, with Baltimore: Plague Ships being about as much carefree fun as you can get in a comic book. So here’s hoping his teaming up with Beasts writer Evan Dorkin can continue the run. The artwork is courtesy of Beasts penciler Jill Thompson, and from what I’ve seen from the previews of Beasts of Burden and this issue, it appears both tasty and delicious. That’s my utterly depthless insight into this title.

File under: hopeful, moderately-blind buy.

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From the moment I awake, there is no reprieve from the Beast. He chases me on my way to work, his hot breath burning the hairs off the back of my neck. All day he skulks about my place of business, steaming up my glass door and flexing his gargantuan muscles. He drools all over the floor and the janitor gets a second degree burn trying to mop it up. My co-workers lock themselves in their offices and bolt for the exit when they think he’s not looking.

Most of them make it out alive.

Finally, I clock out for the day. I pack my bags and grab my wallet. Walking to my car, I have no fear for I know I shall defeat the Beast.

His name is Comics and we battle every Wednesday.

Welcome to Variant Covers!

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Alright my friends, here’s the deal. It’s a goddamn insane week in the world of funny books. The sort of pull-list enormity that threatens to bum rush my wallet and leave it groaning in a corner somewhere. Pleased, but exhausted. And slightly stretched. So instead of my usual jibjab where I blather on and on and on about one or two titles, I’m giving you the rundown on everything I’m going to check out. Each little description will be condensed, but oh my the quantity! And the cute little pictures to go with them! Buckle up, and gaze into the abyss that is my theoretical pull list.

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Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #5
The second to last issue of Grant Morrison’s mind-raping exploration of Bruce Wayne throughout the time stream ships tomorrow. It feels like forever since we last saw Brucey tripping the light fantastic through the various eras of Gotham’s history. Morrison has sewn the Batman inextricably into the fabric of the last five-hundred years or whatever of Gotham, as his time-traveling self set up the exact events that will make him don the cowl all those years later.

This issue gives us Batman the noir detective, which makes almost too much sense. Here’s hoping we’re shown more of Wayne as the Bioorganic Archivist at the imminent heat death of the universe that we saw a couple of issues ago. Yup, I don’t know what that means, but I sure fucking like it!

Northlanders #33
Brian Wood’s epic storyline, Metal, continues to lumber on, soaked in blood and social commentary. As our mentally-deficient but admirably violent protagonist Erik continues to purge his land of Christians, it seems that there’s nothing but a bad ending coming for the dudebro. I mean, I’m not a historian, but I’m pretty sure the Christians win. Still though, the clash of cultures quite literally has been righteous to watch. One of my favorite comic books every month, because it mixes two of my favorite things: violence and social philosophy in such a clean manner.

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Casanova #4
Time-space manipulation seems firmly stapled into the collective unconscious of this generation’s creators. And I’m cool with it. The fourth part of the reissuing of Matt Fraction’s first crack at comic books apparates from a different realm onto stands this week. Again, another comic book that I look forward to each and every week. This shit is dense, but rewarding. The sort of work that I have to read only after I’ve beaten down by caffeine-fueled attention deficiency, lest I miss some of the more complicated and/or confusing plot mechanisms.

Incestuously-overtoned James Bond skipping across dimensions? Sold.

As well, Fraction’s musing at the back of every issue are worth the price of admission for me. Last issue showed us an open Fraction spouting off on his past addictions, and the anxiety of learning to write whilst refraining for indulging in some mind-alteration. Since Fraction is a writer that I not only enjoy, but look up to, I appreciate getting a mainline into something resembling his more intimate thoughts.

Harlan Ellison’s Phoenix Without Ashes #3
Make no mistake about it, Harlan Ellison is the man. The gentleman who has literally sculpted science fiction through his life is dying, and the world is about to become a lesser place in some respects. Phoenix Without Ashes is coming out as his life swoons, as he mentioned back in September that he was suffering, and it wasn’t long until he would shed the mortal coil. Dude still rolled up to MadCon, declaring that he was going to go out like a motherfucker.

Spine-tingling respect for a creator who I have never indulged much in directly, but whose works have shaped many creators I have a raging passion for.

I need to get into more Ellison, and Phoenix Without Ashes is my introductory experience. The main character flees the constrictive society he was born into, only to discover the town is secretly housed within some sort of orbiting space station. Last issue’s ending was the sort of pants-shitting that I got at the end of Dark City, where a fleeing character stares into the deep abyss of space.

Keep Reading »

What a fantastic week in the world of funny books. There’s a good amount of shit dropping that I’m digging and/or have been anticipating for a while now. Some weeks it’s bare bones, other weeks it’s a raping and pillaging of my wallet. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground, which is cool, because what is the internet for! If not for bitching and moaning?

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S.H.I.E.L.D #4
Whenever S.H.I.E.L.D drops, it’s my favorite book of the week. Easily, and without contention. Hickman and Weaver are combining their powers like fucking Captain Planet to give me a mind-raping that I welcome with open uh, mind-anus? Whatever. Seriously though, it’s a combination of epic Marvel action during the days of DaVinci, humanist philosophy, and really, really, really gorgeous artwork. It’s raged from being unknown and underneath the radar to one of the dopest and most acclaimed titles of the year, and if you haven’t hitched yourself to its Icarus wings yet, it’s about time that you got on board.

Last episode was Sir Isaac Newton copulating with an alien, and enslaving Nostradamus to help him guide the trajectory of human history. This episode? Apparently there’s a fetus of god being born, as well as a throwdown with a Celestial. This son of a bitch is hitting on so many cylinders, it’s scary. Well worth your $3.

Also In The Marvel Universe:
Sometimes I kick it around the horn in a Universe when there’s a particularly large deluge rocketing down the pipe, and this week seems fitting. There’s a huge heaping of Thor dropping this week. The aforementioned scribe superior, Hickman is debuting his Ultimate Thor this week, and like a moaning fanboy of his, I’ll be checking it out. Not content, more Thor for you? Even though he’s becoming the Asgardian equivalent of Deadpool when it comes to over-exposure? Hit up Thor: For Asgard. The artwork by Bianchi sells it by itself. Uncanny X-Force #1 debuts this week, and yeah? I don’t know man. At one point in my life, the word “Uncanny” meant a shitload to me. Know it just bums me out, and makes me which I was still running the Australian outback with Claremont and Silvestri.

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Welcome to the world of Variant Covers. A world filled with spandex, and word-bubbles, and juvenile-escape for overgrown children. (Namely, me.) Here are the things I’ll be checking out this week, including a couple of titles I’m looking to add to my list.

Casanova #3
To try and explain Matt Fraction’s Casanova is an effort in futility. The third issue of the series’ reprinting on the Marvel label Icon drops this week, and I’m pumped. I never got to read the first fourteen issues of the comic as they were released back in the day, so the whole universe is new to me. The comic is nothing short of mind-warping. The sort of comic that demands you read it with care, which is an effort for someone with a dwindling attention span like myself. But the pay-off is worth it. It’s James Bond meets Interdimensional Espionage Meets Really Awkward Erotic moments featuring your sister from another dimension?

In some of the more uncomfortable moments in recent comic books reading for me, Casanova gets macked on by his sister…from another dimension. What exactly is the protocol on this one? Like, she’s the sister of the you from a different dimension, so it’s not really you, is it? I have no idea. I wish I was still in school, I’d love to have been able to bring this up to my Social Ethics professor.

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Action Comics #893
I was one of the dudes who wrote off Action Comics back when Lex Luthor became character motivating the title. No Clark Kent? Why even fucking bother? It makes sense, right? Well apparently, the comic book is good. Really good. Naturally. Like in all aspects of my life, I should isolate my initial response, and do the exact opposite. Paul Cornell takes the Bald Headed Wunder into combat with a giant ape this month, apparently. And if that isn’t enough for me to jump aboard, what the fuck is?

Wait! I have the answer to that. It was rhetorical.

Action Comics features a back-up story featuring Jimmy Olsen. Now, I normally wouldn’t think much of that either. I’ve never had much love for the guy. Not that I despise him. Just a calm, persistent apathy that manifests itself in barely remembering he exists. But over at Comics Alliance, they reviewed the back-up, and they loved it. Now I’m beginning to pay attention.

But wait, there’s more!

You see, this back-up story features none other than Chloe Sullivan. Yeah, the chick Clark grew up with on the show Smallville. It’s some weird intermedia exchange going on. Jimmy Olsen was created on the Superman radio show. Now he’s starring in a comic book, with a character who was created in a Superman television show. Maybe that isn’t as impressive to you as it is to me. But I’m easily amused.

So I’m jumpin’ aboard the Action Comics train this week. We’ll see how it goes.

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Secret Warriors #20
The new storyline kicks off this week in Secret Warriors, and god dammit I’m grabbing on to the train this time. I don’t know how I have put off checking out this comic book for so long. It’s got the god damn Jonathan Hickman penning it, for Christ’s sake! More than likely? More than likely I didn’t know who the dude was, prior to finding his work on Fantastic Four to be skull-blasting. But between F4 and S.H.I.E.L.D, the dude is penning two of my favorite titles right now.

Why not roll the dice on Secret Warriors? I foresee only awesome in my future, should I chose to do so.

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What are you guys checking out this week?