Weekly Round-Up 2 With Lauren and Joe!
- FriendlyNBHDBi
- Nov 6, 2021
- 6 min read
For new releases 11/03/21!
Hi there everyone, Your Friendly Neighborhood Bi, Lauren, and your friend JoeLovesComics are BACK with our Weekly Round-Up of this week’s BEST comics, for your reading pleasure!! What publishers killed it this week? What shocked us this week?! Let's get into it!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Bi, Lauren's, Picks!
DC Comics
Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Amancay Nahuelpan
Colors: Tamra Bonvillain & Nick Filardi
Letterer: Ariana Maher
One of the most underrated limited series out right now, Crush & Lobo has been the most unexpected delight! I’ve never known much about Lobo, much less his daughter Crush, but you can call me a Crush fan after reading this run! She’s a mess just like all of us humans are and I love having a character who is “good” but is relatable. She’s not perfectly noble like Superman. She’s not a villain. She’s a mess of a being just like we all are. Oh, and GAY CONTENT my friends! Pick this run up if you aren’t already, it’s worth it!
DC Comics
Writer: Ram V
Artist: Mike Perkins
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Guess what?? This series just got picked up for 6 more issues, starting in March 2022!! Hell Yeah! So… if you were holding out on reading this because you were worried it was just going to be one or done, hold out no longer! This line is going to be the new origin basis for Swamp Thing, mark my words, and you don’t want to miss out on one of the greatest DC books out right now!
Vault Comics
Writers: Jim Zub, Danny Lore, Tim Seeley, Tini Howard and Blake Howard,
Artist: Julius Ohta
Colors: Addison Duke
Letterer: Andworld
If you’re into the gruesomeness of vampires and werewolves and all the supernatural beings related to them, you NEED to be reading this event. You also should read Vampire: The Masquerade, but that’s another story for after you read this event. It is brutal, amazingly drawn, and I absolutely love how it focuses on the politics of all these supernatural beings. Every time any issue comes out in this universe it’s always towards the top of my list. Pick up this BANGER STAT!
DC Comics
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist and Colorist: Yasmine Putri
Letterer: Wes Abbot
Honestly, I really thought this was going to be a miss from Tom Taylor. I really did. Not because I wanted it to be, but because this man is writing EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. And now he’s made another whole new universe with another great creator, Yasmine Putri??? Well, I’m here to tell you this is NOT a miss. It’s just as great as you could hope it to be! Taylor absolutely rocks at creating universes and finding the best creators to join him in this task, and Dark Knights of Steel is perfect evidence of that. The art and colors from Yasmine Putri absolutely hit the mark for the fantasy DC Universe and Wes Abbot makes Taylor’s words shine magnificently. This universe is a triumph already in issue 1 and I sure hope we don’t lose this universe after this line’s run of 12 issues!
Joe’s Picks!
Image Comics
Writer: Kyle Higgins
Artist: Eduardo Ferigato
Colorist: Marcelo Costa
Letterer: Becca Carey
Man. The fact that this book is #4 on my list speaks to the strength of the books out this week, because I loved this issue. Once I finished it I knew it deserved a place on this list, it was easily almost my favourite issue of the series so far, second only to #4, yes, that issue. I talked about this a bit in my advance review, but to me that made sense. This felt like the proper sequel to that issue that we’re only just getting, between a few issues of action and the origin of Radiant Red it felt good to finally address what happened, and the way it leads into what’s sure to be a spectacular #10? Perfect. Always love domestic more character-focused issues as they make me that much more invested in the story and the book and this was such a great well done one. You need to be reading this series, it's a lot of fun.
Marvel Comics
Writer: Skottie Young
Artist: Mike Del Mundo
Colorists: Mike Del Mundo & Marco D’Alfonso
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Speaking of character-focused issues, this was another great one. But what really made it an absolute treat and a half was the Mike Del Mundo artwork. I was hesitant to get this. I’ve been enjoying Strange Academy, but not been reading Death of Doctor Strange so I was wary of a) paying an extra $4.99 for a tie in to an event I’m not reading, b) getting suckered into reading Death of Doctor Strange, and c) knowing the issue wasn’t drawn by Humberto Ramos and Edgar Delgado like normal. That was before I found out that it was Mike Del Mundo doing the art, of course, his Kang the Conqueror covers have been nothing short of amazing so I knew I had to get this. There were hardly any ties to the main series other than literally his death, which made for a nice satisfying standalone read. I loved the focus on Iric and Alvi and Enchantress, plus the extra pages at the end of the issue each focusing on different characters definitely made this a worthwhile spend. And did I mention the gorgeously magnificent artwork by Mike Del Mundo?? Haha.
DC Comics
Writer: Tom King
Artist and Colorist: Greg Smallwood
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Tom King can be a very polarising writer. I loved his Mister Miracle, his Vision, and even his Batman run, though admittedly to this day I haven’t read the Knightmares arc. As someone who enjoyed both Mister Miracle and Vision I was excited to read Strange Adventures from the start, month to month, but unfortunately, I had to drop those 5 issues in to make room for something else on my pull. This was going to be another trade wait, but I saw so many positive reviews for this first issue I had to read it myself. And I’m so glad I did. I loved the setup of the mystery, the introduction of the character, and the art oh man the art was simply gorgeous.
Some limited series I feel read better in trade, as month to month they can have the feeling of an original graphic novel split into a certain number of issues, but others can feel like each issue is a satisfying and worthwhile read in its own right that still contributes to an overall story across say 12 issues. While Strange Adventures was easier to drop to make room for something else due to it feeling like the former, I’m hoping that the structure introduced in this issue will make this series feel like the latter. It’s an interesting structural idea that could be simple but effective and make for a compelling read month to month if done well.
But we’ll see. For now, this was a great first issue, with a nice story setup and some spectacularly gorgeous art, that overall makes this worth a read, check it out.
DC Comics
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist and Colorist: Yasmine Putri
Letterer: Wes Abbot
Yeah, I’m going to have to agree with Lauren on this one. I don’t know how often our #1 picks will be the same, but this week I think it was definitely well deserved. I really should know by now with Tom Taylor, but I never learn. Whenever he announces a new book, I never seem to be sold on the concept. But every single time, I end up absolutely loving it. Taylor manages to infuse everything he writes with a particular energy, a particular joy, and passion, masterfully brought to life by some of the most fantastic artists, creating a story that is almost impossible to not read and fall in love with.
I'm not generally the biggest fantasy fan, but after seeing the preview pages for this issue I just could not resist. The medieval aesthetic by Yasmine Putri is simply glorious, it's so soft, so smooth, and the colours have a magnificent royal glow to them that makes them endlessly captivating to soak in as you're reading the issue. Despite the talent on this book and being originally unsure about the premise, I tend to try and trade wait limited series, for reasons mentioned above and a couple others. But something about this makes me feel that reading through it over a short period of time in a collected edition would be doing it a disservice. I want to find out more and more about this world month to month as it unfolds. There’s so much potential here, it feels like the start of something really special and I can’t wait to see what happens in this new world that has been created. Highly recommend checking it out.
Holy smokes, it looks like DC REALLY did it this week for us, and we were twinsies with our #1 picks! DC is firing on all cylinders, much like some of our fav indie publishers like Image and Vault are! What were your top picks this week? Let us know what we missed! You never know; your recommendation could end up on our lists in the future!
Come find us both on Twitter and let's talk comics and good times :)
You can find Lauren, Your Friendly Neighborhood Bi, at all her links here: beacons.ai/friendlynbhdbi
You can follow JoeLovesComics over on Twitter for (albeit shorter) thoughts on comics he loves.
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