by Paul
Brethren, as the wet maltipoo barks at the blow dryer, so shall we bark at THIS WEEK’S COMICS! ARF ARF ARF ARF ARF
SPOTLIGHT TITLES
Barnstormers #1 (Dark Horse) by Tula Lotay and Scott Snyder: After 128 years of near-misses, the elusive four-quadrant Paul comic book has been achieved, casting the wide net that captures my four favorite things and combines them into a Pinnacle of Comics. Until now, no one comic could contain between its covers:
- Robots
- Neon
- Old-timey Preston Sturges-style Americana
- Tula Lotay
It also has biplanes, Pinkertons, and Fabergé eggs. And it’s double-sized for only $4.99. I really loved Barnstormers. I wish the second issue came out tomorrow. Strong, strong recommend.
Also available: Barnstormers #1 Cover B Dave Johnson | Barnstormers #1 Cover C Tula Lotay | Barnstormers #1 Cover D Massimo Carnevale | Barnstormers #1 Cover E Foil Tula Lotay
Knight Terrors: The Joker #1 [Of 2] (DC) by Stefano Raffaele and Matthew Rosenberg: Ever since The Dark Knight, you can practically see writers of Joker stories rolling up their sleeves and saying “Okay! Time to make my mark!” before hunkering down at the keyboard to deliver 22 pages of sphincter-tightening torture porn and graphic Harley Quinn abuse that aim to shine a light on the dark heart of a rotting social order but read like some incel paid a professional cartoonist to illustrate his collected Facebook status updates. Happily, for me, Matthew Rosenberg steers clear of this sort of thing in Knight Terrors: The Joker #1, sparing us the Joker’s hoary break-your-one-rule shtick by letting him dispatch with Batman on page 3 and then seek fulfillment by leaping feet-first into the true mouth of modern madness: the office. There’s some good bits with the Joker getting pushed to the edge by his chirpy colleagues in his busywork Wayne Enterprises department (“What is our office even called?” he asks in disbelief). I would have been happy starting in media res with the Joker already established at his desk, but there’s still enough of it for my taste, and Stefano Raffaele wrings as much comedy out of it as a DC artist can.
Also available: Joker The Man Who Stopped Laughing #9.1 Knight Terrors #1 Cover B Francesco Mattina Card Stock Variant (Of 2) | Joker The Man Who Stopped Laughing #9.1 Knight Terrors #1 Cover C Simone Bianchi Card Stock Variant (Of 2)
Delphinium, Part One (Strangers Publishing) by Pat Aulisio: This is a boutique sort of zine concerning an astronaut who finds himself marooned on an uninhabited planet called Delphinium. He strolls around, meets a space bug, eats an alien mushroom, and that’s about it. Look, not everything has to be pulse-pounding, okay? You’ll wear out the edge of your seat sitting on it like that all the time. This comic is soothing and agreeable, and I enjoyed exploring Aulisio’s dense alien landscape alongside my new astronaut buddy. Aulisio draws in a scratchy, primitive style that brings to mind Gary Panter, and the black-and-white astronaut really pops against the blue and purple surface of the planet. This is a nice graphic package all around. Delphinium isn’t a book for everyone, but if you’re a fan of comix-with-an-x, you should check it out.
AT A GLANCE
In the spirit of our age, here are some books I haven’t yet read but on which I will offer some opinions nevertheless.
Weird Work #1 (Image) by Shaky Kane and Jordan Thomas: I’ve always wanted to check out Shaky Kane’s work but, what with all the hurlyburly of modern life, have never quite managed it, so I’m looking forward to this chance. Weird Work bills itself as cross between L.A. Confidential and Futurama.
eJunky #1 (Scout) by Kyle Faehnrich and Nicholas Tana: If you like hardcore dystopian sci-fi with weird drugs, sinister corporations, and a hell of a lot of jargon, this book has your name on it. If your name is Nicholas Tana or Kyle Faenhrich, anyway. This is one of these Nonstop books Scout puts out now where they publish a first issue and then publish the whole series in one volume a few months later, sparing retailers the headache of having to analyze another sales trend. Good looking out, Scout Comics. This one has a nice Darick Robertson cover, too.
Gene Simmons’ Dominatrix #1 (Opus) by S.L. Gallant, Gene Simmons, and Holly Interlandi: Yes, this is a real comic. Yes, we did order it, and yes, we do have it in stock for purchase. Indeed, it turns out, this is actually a revival of an old series, as I was bowled over to discover recently while generating inventory for our ComicHub store. “When one of her sessions is interrupted by mysterious agents who seem to have hyper-strength,” reads the solicitation for this new series, “Dom’s narrow escape leads her down the rabbit hole of a global conspiracy.” I scoffed at this at first. How could Dominatrix’s skill set lend itself to unmasking and toppling a global conspiracy? I wondered. But then I remembered all the Garth Ennis comics I’ve read and thought, I guess there probably is always some demand for a good dominatrix amongst the secret chiefs of the global order. I’ll tell you this, though: Gene Simmons’ Dominatrix is going to have to network like no superheroine has networked before. Build that brand, girl.
