New Year, new comics and we're already looking ahead to February. Look with us past this dreary wet January, and let's take a look at what upcoming books Sloane, Selena, and Nick have found for you.

New Series Reviews

January and February tend to be a bit on the slow side, comics and new series wise, but we still managed to find a few that looked really interesting and fun. Check them out below!

Local Man

Image

By Time Seeley & Tony Fleecs

Evoking memes of Florida Man style antics with a comic book style twist, Local Man is a dark, meta AF mystery, drawing on the 90s style really heavily to present the feel of a world that so many of the original Image founders were famous for. Super heroes live the life of fame and glory with facial buttresses, pouches, giant guns, oddly non-specific powers, pouches, lazer claws, and more even more pouches.

And then it drops that facade and gives you a much more down-to-earth story about a former hero driven from the fame and fortune of his super-hero life by some form of controversy back to his parents’ basement. I think if you’re a fan of books and series like She-Hulk, Crossover, or Public Domain you’ll certainly enjoy this book.

- Nick

Where Monsters Lie

Dark Horse

By Kyle Starks (writer) and Piotr Kowalski (artist)

Where do slasher movie villains go between films? What does Jason Vorhees do between summers terrorizing kids at Camp Crystal Lake? According to writer Kyle Starks, they all live together in a gated community called Wilmhurst in the middle of nowhere, getting some much needed R&R between violent murder sprees. When special agent Connor Hayes, a survivor of multiple slasher villains, discovers the existence of Wilmhurst, he begins preparing for war.

It’s clear that Starks is bringing his trademark sense of humor to this book. The villain designs are all classic horror – a girl with a possessed doll, an evil clown – but act like petulant children just as often as they do cold killers. Like Stark’s previous work, store-favorite I Hate This Place, or The Cabin in the Woods, the goal seems to be making fun of horror tropes just as much as actually scaring anyone. I’m excited to see where this new mini-series goes.

– Sloane

Blue Book

Dark Horse Comics

By James Tynion IV (writer) and Michael Avon Oeming (artist)

From 1952 until 1969, the United States Air Force carried out Project Blue Book, in which they transcribed and cataloged reports of unidentified flying objects spotted all across the United States. After the analysis of over 12,000 reports, the majority were dismissed as misinterpretations of natural phenomenon or conventional aircraft. However, as easily as most sightings were explained away, hundreds remained unexplained. Declassified under the Freedom of Information Act, these accounts by real people of encounters with the unexplainable have inspired science fiction such as Twin Peaks and The X-Files for decades.

In this new mini-series, horror comics powerhouse James Tynion IV adapts some of the most popular of these accounts into comic form. One of my personal favorite comics writers right now, his knack for writing ordinary people in extraordinary situations seems like a perfect fit for these tales of what he calls the “True Weird.” Complemented by minimalist, monochromatic art by Michael Avon Oeming, this five issue series promises spine-chilling “true stories” that will be sure to keep you looking to the skies.

– Sloane

Blood Tree

Image Comics

By: Peter J. Tomasi (Writer) and Maxim Šimić (artist)

For those of you that have been craving a good cat-and-mouse thriller to sink your teeth into, Blood Tree may just be the book for you! Writer Peter J. Tomasi (Batman and Robin, Superman, Black Adam, Super Sons, Detective Comics) says of the new series, “I always wanted to take a shot at writing a taut and haunting crime drama in the tradition of Silence of the Lambs meets Seven.” To me, that sounds like the perfect recipe for an exciting story. 

In Blood Tree two fanatical NYPD detectives race against the clock to find a serial killer called the Angel Killer, a sociopath who targets the innocent family members of known murderers. In this way, the concept of nature vs. nurture is called into question and asks us to consider how current and future  generations are tainted by the actions of those that came before. Can we really hold our parents accountable for our actions, and if so, do they deserve to be punished? 

- Selena

Bloodline Daughter of Blade

Marvel Comics

By Danny Lore (writer) and Karen S Darboe (artist)

Here we go! A few years ago there was a rumored series about a reimagined female Blade. I think this is what that idea eventually turned into. I don’t have hugely epic expectations here. This is a five issue mini-series, and the art I’ve seen looks pretty solid. My expectations are Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the Marvel Style with a Wesley Snipes-esque blade as the watcher/mentor figure. Could be a lot of fun!

- Nick

Fun One-Shots and Nice-to-Haves

If you're looking some things to add to the subscription file without committing to a long series, we have a few nice one-shots and graphic novels this time around. There's a few goodies here, whether you want some body positivity, a peak into the little things we do to get ready for the world, or just a straight up silly retelling of an old epic!

Rituals

Silver Sprocket 

By Nicole Goux

Usually I decide what comics I want to read based on the writers, but Goux is one of the few comics artists whose name alone is enough to get me to pick up a book. Her art perfectly straddles the boundary between messy and refined, feeling often like the highest possible form of a doodle in a highschool notebook. Her use of color and texture especially elevate simple line work into something more. 

This one-shot art book collects a series of illustrations capturing the private rituals people have before going out, the quiet moments before a party or a date. In addition to being gorgeous and colorful, the book is appealing because I’m not used to seeing women in small, private moments like these in media, comics or otherwise. So often we’re only shown at our most put together, hyper feminine and in full make-up. It’s refreshing to see people half-put together, not presenting to anyone in any particular way but by themselves, simply existing. I know an art book maybe doesn’t have as wide an appeal as a lot of other books I recommend, but if this sounds at all appealing to you, I encourage you to check it out when it comes into the store. More of Goux’s art can be found on her website.

– Sloane

Dear Body

Fair Square Publishing

Written and Curated by Lea Bordier

Scheduled for the top of February, Dear Body gives us 12 stories of body positivity, beautifully illustrated by a team of women and nonbinary artists. These stories are the culmination of over seventy years of interviews that Lea has worked with her team to adapt into this lovely trade. I’m putting this in here because I know that for me personally, reading stories and hearing about other people’s journeys really helps me define my own. It’s reassuring to find out that yeah, someone else has also had those same body feels. So hey, if you’ve been having a case of the genders or if your body just doesn’t feel right, give this a read - maybe you’ll find a story that helps you too!

- Nick

Bea Wolf 

First Second Books

By Zach Weinersmith (writer) and Boulet (Artist)

You can thank Sloane for pointing out that the writer and artist for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is writing a young reader version of Beowolf. Hear the story of a group of kids defending their tree house from their fun-hating neighbor Grindle. In need of aid, they call out for a warrior who’s mastery of mischief can defeat this mirthless gloombringer. They call for Bea Wolf.

- Nick

And that's it for this February! We hope you find these reviews useful. They're fun to do, and we enjoy them! Check back in just a couple of weeks, and we should have March's books ready for your perusal. Saw something you liked? You can always check out our subscription page to add / remove titles or start a new subscription. It's as easy as filling out a google form!