Jen's Pick of the Month

Northlanders The Cross and The Hammer TP

The second NORTHLANDERS collection, featuring issues #11-16, takes place during the tail end of Viking rule in Ireland. A series of mysterious murders and arsons against wealthy citizens leaves the Viking occupiers worried that a potential uprising might ignite. When surprising details involving the crimes are revealed, though, their jobs become much harder! Once again, writer Brian Wood teams with artist Ryan Kelly (Local) for an intriguing, gorgeously rendered peek at the inner workings of society.

One of the many great things about Northlanders is how each trade paperback includes a stand-alone story so you can pick up one and read it in any order you would like. Brian Wood is one of the best newer writers in the industry and shows it with the historically researched Northlanders. While it may not be for kids, the adults are sure to enjoy it!

Titles of the Week

X-23 #1

After the events of Second Coming and the stunning conclusion to X-Force, X-23 strikes out on her own in this all-new ongoing series, written by best-selling author MARJORIE LIU, spinning out of the events of Wolverine #1! X-23 has never had an easy relationship with the rest of the X-Men, but when she learns someone has taken down Wolverine, she must step up to fill his shoes.
40 PGS./Parental Advisory

Morning Glories #2

It's the Glories' first day of school, and they've already landed themselves in detention! Now anywhere else that might just mean the start of a bad year, but they're about to find out when you're enrolled at Morning Glory Academy, corporal punishment takes on a whole new- and deadly - meaning!

  

Thunderbolts #148

The Thunderbolts crossover with Shadowland begins here! Luke Cage heads into Hell's Kitchen to pull his old friend back from the brink of madness. And if swarming ninjas aren't enough, he's become aware of other forces that will make his task even harder. Going against the Warden and the government itself, Cage sends the T-Bolts in to level the playing field. But without his direct guidance, will this squad of killers and criminals make the situation even worse? Find out in the book IGN.com calls "Impressive...not to be missed."
32 PGS./Rated T+

    

World building has always been a staple for the fantasy genre.  Each invented world can be vast and expansive, so engaging them as the reader can be overwhelming without the right character to explore with.  Today, Laughing Ogre tips our hats at a few (there are many more) inspired pairings between world building and characters who serve as more than a gateway.

1. Conan the Cimmerian and Hyperborea
The most impressive part of Robert E. Howard's work is their detail and apparent attention to chronology. The precision of Horward's tales seem as if he is more of a historian than a writer.  The world of Hyperborea has diversity in climate, culture, terrain, and ethnicity that can only be rivaled by the real world.  Conan's wanderlust, brute strength, and surprising ingenuity land him a spot at the top of my list.  While "barbarians" are thought to be uncivilized savages, Conan has a worldliness about him that can only be the product of his travels and varying occupational interests.  A quick peek at Conan's resume reveals him to have experience (and success) as a thief, a reaver, a slayer, an outlaw, a mercenary, a pirate, and a king.



2. Monkey D. Luffy and the world of One Piece

Eichiro Oda's masterful creation of Luffy's world feels bigger than Earth.  The vast expanses of water, all populated with various islands (both civilized and wild), continents, pirate ships, marine bases, and various seamonsters.  There are so many characters in this series, the world feels truly alive.  On top of that, there are so many connections and so much history between them, you have to wonder how Oda stays sane.  No character is left undeveloped as the careless Luffy ventures from location to location.  He is fun-loving and an eternal optimitist.  While this may sound off-putting to some, Luffy manages to come off as charasmatic and inspiring rather than insipid and annoying.  The interesting thing about the character is how much pain he hides behind his smile, but it remains a genuine smile nonetheless.  Rather than letting tragedy and opposition bring him down, Luffy uses it to drive him forward in his quest to become King of the Pirates.

3. Thor Odinson and the Nine Realms

When most people think of the Marvel Universe Thor, they picture the Avenger fighting Ultron alongside Captain America and Iron Man.  That is only 1/9th of the equation.  Thor has battled through all nine of the realms borrowed from Norse mythology.  While you might knock some points off Stan Lee's scorecard (and his brother, Larry Lieber) for borrowing so heavily from mythology, Jack Kirby gets extra points for his visual revamp of the world.  Anyone who has ever enjoyed any fantasy-based RPG of any kind, should be reading Thor stories.  He quests for mystical objects, battles trolls, dark elves, frost giants, spirits, evil gods, and more.  Magic and myth are everyday things in a lot of comics, but while you will find most of them in one plane of existence, Thor does reigns lighting and blunt strikes on his enemies in nine realms.

4. Jace Beleren and the Multiverse

The world of Magic the Gathering is much more vast than most realize.  Every time a new set comes out, a new world is created in the MtG multiverse.  Planeswalkers are powerful wizards with the ability to traverse the various worlds, called planes.  Operating on the premise that gamers are planeswalkers, the game of Magic allows players to explore these various realms.  The amazing thing about it is Wizards of the Coast (makers of MtG) manage to create new kinds of magic for every set.  That means they have created a multiverse with limitless potential to expand.  This would have been enough for gamers to be satisfied, but WotC went a step further, creating additional planeswalkers within their storyline (yes, there is one for Magic).  While Urza is arguably the greatest planeswalker of all time, Jace is the current face of the game.  He teeters on the edge of moral darkness and wields potent mind magic expertly.  Take the time to explore the worlds of Magic the Gathering either through playing the game or reading the books.  Either way, you will find a rich and rewarding experience.

5.Spider Jerusalem and The City

Warren Ellis is a pretty twisted guy.  Incredibly gifted, but twisted. In Transmetropolitan, Ellis gives us a gonzo journalist's exploits through a futuristic dystopian world.  The setting itself is considerably smaller than the others on this list(it's a city known as... er, the City), but so rich and detailed, you'll never notice. Think about how detail-oriented and inquisitive a journalist has to be to succeed in their work.  If you were asked to write up two articles; one about a political cessation and a second detailing police brutality, how would you do?  Now, if you were told to do it in an entirely fabricated world, it might be a little harder.  Ellis does that and so much more.  Spider Jerusalem is a truly unique and unforgettable character.  The adventures he embarks on as part of his everyday job give us brutally honest insight into life in the City.


- Ryan

This Week's Picks

New Avengers #4

The chaos in Marvel Manhattan continues as the New Avengers battle the demons pouring a trans-dimensional rift in the sky.  The man responsible?  Dr. Strange's mentor, the Ancient One.  It seems the good doctor's recent missteps have earned him the a spanking even Odin would wince at.




Irredeemable #17

A confrontation between Qubit and Survivor over Qubit's previous decision to spare the Plutonian's life isn't even the major selling point of this issue.  It's an up-close glimpse at the relationship between Plutonian and Modeus that makes this a must-read. It's hard to give your reader an "oh @#$*!" moment, but it's here.  Open it up and be amazed.


Batman and Robin #14

We've got vicious beatings with crowbars, creepy sado-masochism, an exploding batmobile, the Black Mask, the Joker, Pyg, and Botox.  Is there room in all of this chaos for Batman and Robin?  How do they fit so much in a single issue?  Seriously, this is the build up with a bang.  We normally look for this kind of action at the climax of a story, but Morrison leaves us with a feeling this is just an appetizer for what lies ahead.  Read this for the darkest and most riveting challenge the new Batman and Robin have ever faced.

Lucid #1

It's a comic about a magician spy, what more do you need to know?  The concept alone is worth picking it up, but story is intriguing as well.  It's an interesting mix of James Bond and John Constantine, but entirely fresh.  The art is dynamic enough, I almost felt I was watching Lucid rather than reading it.  This book is something special. Be sure to snag one before they are sold out. 

 





- Ryan

Out Now: Stitches

Though autobiographical comics have been around for decades, the more recent phenomenon of the "graphic memoir" is a slightly different animal: rather than a running chronicle of the artist's existence, it seeks to distill some broader truth about that existence into a novel-length story.  Which isn't to say that the former is in some way less literary or meaningful; the distinction between Harvey Pekar's American Splendor and Alison Bechdel's Fun Home isn't one of quality, but simply one of approach.  In his memoir Stitches, out now in trade paperback, David Small looks back on his unhappy childhood for a compelling exercise in the latter.

The narrative is driven by family secrets and unspoken resentment.  Small divides the greater part of it between his six-, 14-, and 15-year-old self; he pieces together the lies and coming tragedies gradually, so the reader really gets a sense of what it was like to grow up without knowing what was so deeply wrong but without any doubt that something was.  The somber ink-wash artwork suits the tone perfectly and the writing is stoic and restrained, often letting the pictures speak for themselves.  Stitches comes highly recommended from your friends at the Laughing Ogre; though it's not exactly the sunniest comic on the block, it's brilliantly executed, and there are glimmers of hope and redemption in the end.  Give it a look!

No Mystery to Magic

The Information Age has brought about many changes in our lives, even in the most unexpected areas.  Magic the Gathering is no exception and the Internet has deeply affected the experience of playing the game.  No, I'm not referring to the handful of digitized versions of MTG out there, I mean the collectible card game available at your favorite local comic shop. ;p

In the early days of Magic, a casual player (Planeswalker in the MTG mythos) would buy decks or packs of cards not always knowing what to expect.  Sure, there were a few things you heard about from a friend and were hoping to get, but in large part, each set of card pack held a bit more mystery than today.  With the advent of Internet spoilers, every card is exposed ahead of time.  It's a bit like peeking into your parents' closet to see your presents.  You can pretend to be surprised when you open them, but you've still robbed them of the chance to witness the real thing.

Why does this matter?  Well, if you decide to try out the "sealed deck" or "draft" formats of Magic, the difference is obvious.  The idea behind playing the aforementioned game types is to highlight strategy and adaptability.  When you have a "preview" of the full set, you get to make plans and contingency plans ahead of time.  Not only that, but it makes some players dissatisfied with the contents of their pack simply because they didnt' pull the hottest card in the set.  If they didn't see what they don't have, they might appreciate what they do and learn to use it.  Rather than facing variations of the same combos, we might see more creativity out there. I'm not saying it makes Magic any worse, but like peeking at presents, it dampens the experience.

Imagine the pulling this card without prior knowledge of it re-emerging from the previous Mirrodin block.  Now imagine your opponents' faces when you play it.  Don't get me wrong, I'm one of the multitudes of players scouring the Internet for the earliest clues of what's coming down the pipeline.  I know it's impossible to put the genie back in the bottle, but it's still nice to think of a time when people had to really think on their feet.

That being said, Scars of Mirrodin, the newest set of Magic is due out on October 1 and looks to be a dynamic and fresh set.  With new mechanics infect, metalwork, and proliferate, there are too many reasons to give this set a try.







- Ryan

Indie Feature: Shadoweyes

For a few years now Ross Campbell has been quietly cranking out unique stories of young women, horror, and general weirdness.  His singular artwork and deceptively understated writing style has been showcased in the zombie GN the Abandoned, Minx's YA title Water Baby, and the Twin-Peaks-by-way-of-art-school Wet Moon, as well as guest spots on a number of Image and Oni Press titles .  His newest work, the dystopic superhero series Shadoweyes, is out now on Slave Labor Graphics!

It's an unspecified year in the future, and the city of Dranac is a grubby, overcrowded, labyrinthine metropolis populated by people for whom genetic anomalies and health issues are the norm.  Mopey teen Scout and her best friend Kyesha have responded to the moral and environmental squalor by developing strong social consciences; unsatisfied with the level of crime prevention their neighborhood watch group is providing, they resolve to start their own task force.  Their first effort ends badly, however: Scout is hospitalized with a head injury, which becomes the catalyst for her transformation into something much much stranger. 

One apparent Shadoweyes influence is Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where because of their inhuman appearances the heroes are separated from the very society they've sworn to protect.  Campbell approaches this conflict, as well as trickier questions about morality and responsibility, with a certain fearlessness- there aren't many easy answers here.  It's also nice to see a cast that's both predominantly female and predominantly non-white, without any semblance of tokenism, and refreshing that our heroine's character design deliberately avoids the oversexualization to which many distaff superhero titles unfortunately fall prey. 

A sequel, Shadoweyes in Love, is already in the works- get on board with this great new series today!