[images & words is the comic book pick-of-the-week at OL. equal parts review and diatribe, the post highlights the most memorable/infuriating/entertaining book released that wednesday]

Have you ever loved a series? Not enjoyed or flirted with, but truly loved a series? If you have, you’ll know it.

When you’re enamored of a narrative, the viewing of every episode isn’t just a desire, but a gahddamn need. After all, if the L-word’s being tossed around then you’ve become personally invested. Characters are no longer the fabrications of creators, but representatives of your own struggles. As symbols that have entrenched themselves within your own imagination, the characters are not caricatures, but as archetypal placeholders.

At that point, it’s not just about entertainment. It’s also about self-discovery.

What brings about this rumination? A cold brew and the realization that I’m in love with Sweet Tooth.

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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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