Beginnings
If there’s a possible theme to this week’s comic book selections, it’s that all of them are still fairly new. In other words, if you were so inclined, it would be pretty easy for you to jump on board without feeling completely lost. I point this out because you should do exactly that.
The longest tenured book on this list is the Sixth Gun, which sees the release of #22 this week. The majority of this series has been collected in trade paperback editions which should be pretty easy to find. Sixth Gun has become one of the centerpieces of the current push of creator owned titles that are slowly but surely getting more attention. If you are reading any of Cullen Bunn’s other work, you are doing yourself (and the industry) a great disservice by not checking this book out.
It would be impossible for Saga to maintain the level of excitement that was generated by its debut. It was just too big of a story. But I think the series itself is coming along nicely. The characters are as interesting as you’d expect from Brian K. Vaughan and there’s enough going on beyond the main storyline to create a full universe. It’s also a fairly dense book, so if you’re looking for a comic that takes more than two minutes to read, you should be getting Saga.
While Saga plays with some of the grander aspects of traditional science fiction, Atomic Robo: Real Science Adventures plays with the crazier bits. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you love comics and you’re not reading Atomic Robo, then you don’t really love comics. I would actually recommend picking up one of the collections of an earlier series of Robo, as this one is an anthology book that might not hook a new reader. It’s still awesome, though.
Lost in the crowd of Image’s other fantastic new books, was Danger Club. While the idea of the teen sidekicks of a bunch of adult superheroes ending up as the only heroes left on earth isn’t a particularly mind blowing one, the execution in the first issue was fantastic. All we know after one issue is that the superheroes are gone and the kids are left to mind the store, but we don’t know any of the details. It’s actually really nice, because now that can be revealed over time. It’s a smart book that doesn’t talk down to its readers. And the art is absolutely stunning. The second issue is out this week.
For those looking to get in on a book from the very start, this week sees the arrival of Batman volume 1: Court of Owls. I’ve enjoyed this series so far, but I have to admit that it seems to be dragging things out. After all, this collection of the first seven issues doesn’t include anything from the big “Night of the Owls” crossover – it’s all prologue to it. That’s right, seven issues of prologue. But it is interesting on its own, particularly the first issue’s interactions between the current male members of the Bat-Family.
Endings
This week brings us the season finale of Community, spread out over an hour and a half worth of television (with an episode of 30 Rock thrown into the middle). Community is a wonderful show. Even when it’s not laugh out loud fun, it’s incredibly entertaining. It’s also really smart, pack with pop culture references, but not beholden to them. It’s a really layered show and I’m glad this is only the season finale, not the series finale.
Supernatural also brings its current season to an end this week, and I’m really curious to see how it plays out. It’s been a really uneven show for the last few months, kind of floundering around in a way that this show has managed to avoid for years. They’ve made nice strides by bringing back a lot of the show’s mythology over the last few weeks, so it’s entirely possible that they could pull out a winner. I just hope they’ve learned from their missteps and the next (8th!) season will have more focus.