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This Month in Comics: October 2013

By | November 6th, 2013
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Is it just me or did October feel like it was ten years long? I mean really, it felt like it was a beast of a month, with New York Comic Con coming and going (thanks to everyone for coming to our party and to all of the creators we talked to!), five weeks of comic releases and much, much more. It was a lot to take in, but that’s why I’m here: to tell you what’s up in the world of comics.

And trust me when I tell you, my friends, there was a lot that was up in comics in October.

Best Book: Sex Criminals #2

I’ve already said on our video podcast 4 Color News and Brews that Sex Criminals #1 wasn’t just my favorite comic of the year, it was one of my favorite issues in…hell, ever. I loved that thing. It was amazing. So to expect Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky maybe not wowing at the same level in the second issue was pretty fair. There’s no way they could keep things up to the same level.

Then I read this issue and dammmmmnnnn…they did just that. While I still would argue that I liked the first issue slightly more, at the level I’m talking about, what’s the point in even suggesting that either are anything besides amazing? This issue more deeply introduced us to Jon, Suzie’s partner in sexy crime, and I really connected with this guy. I could see a lot of me in his experiences (minus the E.T. penis and the stoppage of time), and what I couldn’t, I loved all the more. The relationship between Jon and Suzie is never not astonishingly organic, and it’s pretty much impossible not to fall in love with them. This book is all love, all awesome, all magic by the team of Fraction and Zdarsky. This is just straight up comic book awesomeness, and I couldn’t be happier each and every time I read it.

Runner Up: Saga #15, The Private Eye #4, ZERO #2, Velvet #1

Best Writer: Brian K. Vaughan

The writer of my second and third favorites books this month, Brian K. Vaughan earns my favorite writer of this month because, well, he’s my favorite writer of comics all-time, and when he’s on, he’s ON. There’s just something about the way he writes characters that I connect with deeply, where it doesn’t really feel like I’m reading a story, but I’m peaking into a world he’s built himself. There’s nothing about the world’s of Saga and The Private Eye I don’t love, and much of that is because of the genius of Vaughan. Keep on keepin’ on, BKV, you magic man, you.

Runner Up: Matt Fraction, Ales Kot

Best Art Team: Duncan Fegredo with Dave Stewart

Did you read Hellboy: The Midnight Circus? I mean really, did you? This was one of the most beautiful comics I have ever read, as Duncan Fegredo and colorist Dave Stewart managed to take us into a series of off-realities on a journey of nightmarish and dreamlike wonders with Hellboy. This was a situation of two artists working together in lockstep to create a comic that for 57 pages existed in the world of comics, but almost completely unlike anything we’d ever read because it was just so damn good. But, I mean, come on. It’s Duncan Fegredo and Dave Stewart. What did you expect?

Runner Up: Fiona Staples, Jordie Bellaire (she colors like…all of my favorite comics)

Best Cover: Fables #134

I have no idea why Mark Buckingham provided the cover for this rather than series cover artist Joao Ruas, but I can guarantee you this: if he keeps providing covers like this, you’ll never hear me complain. This thing is an absolute beauty, with gorgeous renditions of Boy Blue and Bigby meshing with the unreality they’re in floating away. It hits all the marks I want a cover to hit – stand out on the racks, represent the story and be an individually brilliant piece of art – and then some.

Runner Up: Zero #2

Continued below

Biggest Disappointment: Battle of the Atom

It is VERY rare that I don’t like an X-Event. Very rare, as in, I’ve never disliked an X-Event.

Until now.

Battle of the Atom did nothing for me, at least partially because it never seemed to do much for itself. It felt rushed, undercooked and ultimately pointless. This was an event that felt like it didn’t need to exist, and didn’t even have any individually great moments that made it temporarily feel worthwhile. A huge bummer for me as an X-Fan, that much is certain.

Best Digital Comic: Amazing Forest #1

99 cents! Four different stories! Incredibly unique art and writing! Unconventional concepts! 30+ pages! The team of Gamma! The Tank! Weird birder stories! BONE ROBOT MAN!

This comic was fucking rad. If you check out one 99 cent comic with a story about a lost werewolf boy, make sure its this one.

Best Debut: Velvet #1

We’ve been getting a lot of crazy good debuts lately (seriously, how lucky are we right now?), but the one at the top of the list for me had to be Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting’s Velvet #1. While I love their work together on Captain America and I really enjoy Fatale, this really feels like two creators dropping the hammer. Incredibly assured, engaging storytelling, beautiful art, full use of all production value opportunities, Jess Nevins essays, you name it. This book was a total package. Plus, Velvet Templeton? One of the best new characters of the year. Brilliant stuff right here, and well worth the anticipation leading up to it.


//TAGS | This Month In Comics

David Harper

EMAIL | ARTICLES


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