New Comics Wednesday: December 16th Edition 

Happy Wednesday, comics fans!

Great news from Project-Nerd—the Barrens Kickstarter has ended and the book exceeded its initial goal by 73%! That’s amazing, and it really goes a long way towards allowing us to keep the series going beyond our original intention. Look for more Barrens-related news in the coming weeks.

Additionally, Project-Nerd Publishing has also announced the release of its first graphic novel, Ben Gilboa’s Blue Moon, and, although I have yet to read it, it looks amazing. Ben is an incredibly talented artist from Tel Aviv, and I’m really excited to see what he’s got in store for us. You can check out some of his work here.

Oh, also, I read a bunch of comics. Here’s what I liked.


pinocchio

Pinocchio Vampire Slayer vs The Vampire Zoo (Top Shelf)
created by Dusty Higgins and Van Jensen

How on earth have I not been reading a comic about a Pinocchio who grows his nose, breaks it off, and uses it to skewer vampires? Why is Jiminy Cricket on fire all the time? I have no idea, but it’s totally badass.

This “one-and-done” tale was a pretty solid introduction to Pinocchio Vampire SlayerIt left me with some knowledge gaps, since I’ve never read a single issue, but the questions raised only made me want to seek out more.

Higgins and Jensen’s Pinocchio is a fearless kid who has banded together with a bunch of other sentient puppets that travel around in a horse-drawn carriage ridding the world of vampires. It’s wonderfully drawn in black and white by Higgins, whose characters move with a fluidity belying their puppet nature. It makes for an exciting read, and feels like a genuine marriage between script—Jensen has a natural talent for dialogue—and artwork.

The humor is on point (“How much farther to Napoli? This wooden seat is killing my butt.” “Your butt, which is *also* made of wood…”), there’s lots of adventure, the heroes feel like heroes, and it’s got a ton of heart. I highly recommend adding this to your pull list and ordering every back issue you can.


Boom!Box

Boom! Box 2015 Mix Tape (Boom!Box)
various creators

So, this was a pleasant surprise. All of the Boom! Box creators banded together to bring us this awesome anthology, and it’s a great mix of stories from the imprint’s series and outside content from creators like Cyanide and Happiness’s Rob DenBleyker, Dave McElfatrick, and Kris Wilson.

Particularly enjoyable are the self explanatory Narwhal Janitor (by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell) and The Return of the Misunderstood Haunted House (by Kelly Thompson and Savanna Ganucheau)—both of which are as amazing as they sound. That said, there’s literally not a bad story in the bunch, and all of them have an air of light-hearted humor that reminded me of a simple fact: comics don’t have to be so serious all the time.

One other very cool thing this comic does by collecting all of the Boom! Box talent in one place is that it shows off a very particular aesthetic that Boom! Studios creator-driven imprint is going for—fun, quirky, open-minded, diverse comics that are meant to attract a new comic book reader. If you’re looking for something that’ll put you in a good mood or make you laugh, then I don’t think you can do any better than this.


Lumberjanes

Lumberjanes #21 (Boom!Box)
written by Shannon Watters and Kat Leyh; Illustrated by Carey Pietsch; colored by Maarta Laiho

It didn’t take long for this series to find its stride after the departure of Noelle Stevenson. In this issue, the girls are on a mission to help Seafarin’ Karen get her vessel back from the Selkies (shape-changing seal people). It’s a testament to how they coalesced as a team of problem solvers, and the truth is that they’re often more effective at it than the adults in the book.

Seafarin’ Karen is a great addition to the series—she’s tough on the girls, but it gives them something to aim for rather than the laissez-faire camp direction they’re used to. It’ll be fun to see how their relationship with her shapes up.

This series, at its best, is proof positive that you can’t go around making assumptions about people, and this issue has that going on every chance it gets.


Judge Dredd

Judge Dredd #1 (IDW)
written by Ulises Farinas & Erick Freitas; art by Dan McDaid; colors by Ryan Hill

“Cool” is the only way to describe this book.

Dredd has to solve a crime on a scale like he’s never seen before, he’s all by himself, and he’s got no idea where the hell he is. What used to be Megacity is now overgrown and populated by all kinds of weird creatures and caveman kids. It’s like Judge Dredd meets Road Warrior meets Planet of the Apes. 

It’s a really well executed, strange, new direction for Judge Dredd—the script by Farinas and Freitas is like a non-stop action adventure sci-fi movie that leaves you with this enjoyably satisfying “what the hell did I just read?” feeling.

Dan McDaid and Ryan Hill provide some clutch artwork here. While the frenetic look of it sometimes makes for a little confusing storytelling, it really works for the book as a whole.

I loved IDW’s last Judge Dredd series, and this one is looking to up the ante a bit. Can’t wait.


Also available this week:

Dark Horse – BPRD Hell On Earth #138, Dark Horse Presents Vol 3 #17, Death Head #5, Dragon Age: Magekiller #1, EVE Valkyrie #3, Plants vs. Zombies #7: Petal to the Metal, Rook #3, Steam Man #3

Dynamite – Aliens/Vampirella #4, Deen Koontz’s Frankenstein: Storm Surge #3, Doc Savage: The Spider’s Web #1, Looking For Group #9

IDW – Classic Popeye #41, Jem and the Holograms Holiday Special, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #37, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy #1, Transformers: Robots in Disguise Animated #5, Uncle Scrooge #9

Boom! Studios – Adventure Time with Fionna & Cake: Card Wars #6, Big Trouble in Little China #19, Cognetic #3, Hacktivist #6, Klaus #2, Power Up #6, The Spire #5


Project-Nerd is a press partner of BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, and IDW Publishing. If you would like to see your studios’ content included in our weekly release article, please contact our editors.

BRAND PARTNERS
Recent Posts