Welcome to “Five and Three”, your home for a visual review of the best things comics has to offer this week. Long time readers will know that big weeks like this week mean the field is full of favorite moments. I may not have picked yours. If I didn’t, don’t forget to sound off in the comments section on the bottom of the page. Without further ado, here are my favorite moments from this week in comics.
Let’s start off with a cover to a book I want everyone to go out and pick up. Zenescope and Comixology have made it easy for everyone to read “Vikings” issue 1. How did they make it easy to pick up you ask? Simple, the issue is free! If you have a web browser you have the ability to read this digital short on the Comixology website. I’m sure it’s available in other areas, and will probably be in print in the near future, but why not give it a go now? Look at how bad arse those Vikings are!
Next up is a fun one by Andy Hirsch. The cover to issue 10 of “Regular Show” from Kaboom! is light-hearted, a great cover gag, and some excellent cartooning.
The next two covers playoff off of a similar concept. Each one focuses attention on the center face/skull and has faces/skulls on either side of the center for artistic impact. The first one I’d like you to take a look at is “Dead Boy Detective” issue 3 from Vertigo. The cover artist is none other than the enigmatic Mark Buckingham. The cover is obviously going to be of a high caliber when Buckingham is the artist, but to get a surreal and spine tingling start to a story set in the world of Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” is a real treat.
Eduardo Risso brings us a more colorful cover with a similar theme to “Dead Boy Detective” issue 3. The theme may be similar but the Candy skull decoration of Lono’s face isn’t spine tingling, it is hair raising. The difference between the two may be subtle but it’s basically that detectives help people and Lono rarely helps anyone but himself. When Lono does aide others, like he has throughout “100 Bullets: Brother Lono”, people get hurt and people get dead.
My final choice for the covers section this week is “Nemo: The Roses of Berlin” by comic book legend Alan Moore. The art for this story, set in the world of “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”, is by Kevin O’Neil. The magnificent pencils and colors stand out like a war poster from World War II but with a touch of the pop-art style found in the burlesque advertisements of the 30’s that would later morph into the style used for pin-ups during the war. O’Neil’s colors are a picture perfect balance of cool and contrasting warm colors. They help to make the story elements in the cover sell the story inside. We’re told not to judge a book by its cover but sometimes you jump in when a cover is as well done as the one for “Nemo” is.
Onto the panels! So many comic books, so many panels and so many balloons! How’s about I just choose some that made me giggle and end with Batman?
First up is this little joke found in the pages of “Rat Queens” issue 5. You will not find a page in “Rat Queens” where something isn’t funny. If you’re a fan of “Superior Foes of Spiderman”, “Quantum and Woody“, or on of the Deadpool books by either Bunn or Duggan and Posehn, I suggest you give this one a go. Kurtis J Weibe and John “Roc” Upchurch make a deadly combination if you’re allergic to laughter.
Do I just choose Hawkeye because I’m a fanboy, bro? How dare you ask that of me bro?! Bro, Hawkeye is amazing. Fraction is amazing. Aja is amazing. Hollingsworth is amazing. OK, maybe I’m a fanbro, but what are you going to do about it bro? If you ask the magic word of me on Twitter Bro, I’ll skip picking a Hawkeye book just for you…. If you don’t Tweet me bro, expect more Hawkeye picks in the future.
I’ve picked “Batman Superman” this week because I like Jae Lee’s art and I loved how Bruce is uncomfortable being a normal human. Being normal is outside his comfort zone. Instinctiviley trusting someone he’s just met is not something Batman does, but he lets himself go with it because she’s family. Also, I picked this because you’ve got to see how beautiful Helena and Kara are in this book. Lee’s busy style is very sensual when it needs to be. In this book, The World’s Finest are the essence of that sensuality.
That’s it for this week bro! If you’ve got some comments that you feel are better understood in under 140 characters, find me on Twitter @MarkAvo. If you want more 5 and 3 picks from previous weeks you can start with last week here. If you’ve already seen those a few times now don’t worry, I’ll be back next week with more bro moments in comic books – same bro time, same bro channel.*
*Big Shiny Robot is a website and not a channel. If you’re unable to tune in it’s because I’ve overused Fraction’s bro joke in this article and your TV isn’t web enabled. – Also, ARTICLE 100 BRO!