Article originally written by Ryan Closs
After taking a week off we’re back with another look at the best new digital comics of the week. This week saw a bunch of Image books go Same Day on both Comixology and Graphicly. Apparently between DC, Marvel, Image and others there were about 40% of the books that came out this week that also came out digitally. Now that it’s so many I’m going to stop listing them here. When it comes to the DC #2s most of them maintained quality, OMAC and Action Comics were even better than #1 and remain some of my favourite books in the relaunch. There’s no shortage of good books to talk about so lets jump right in.
Essex County ($14.99/Top Shelf, Comixology): 501 pages for $15? That’s a price point that’s hard to beat. This is the story that put Jeff Lemire (current wunderkind at DC comics) on the map. Taking place in small town Ontario it tells 3 separate (but connected) stories of different characters in Essex County. It’s a fantastic story that has built up a well-earned reputation for making people cry. I’m a big fan of Lemire’s art but I can understand how it’s wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Check out the free preview and if you like the art dive in with the rest.
Detective Comics #871-881 ($1.99 each/DC, Comixology): Scott Snyder’s run on Detective is magnificent. There’s great art by Jock and Francesco Francavilla and spotlights Commissioner Gordon and Dick Grayson (the Batman at the time) dealing with Gordon’s, possibly formerly, sociopathic son. If you liked what you read in the recent Batman #1 you owe it to yourself to check this out.
Lovestruck ($9.99/Image, Comixology): Brought to you by the up-and-comer creative team of Dennis Hopeless (X-Men: Season One) and Kevin Mellon (Heart w/ Blair Butler) is this story about a corporation of cupids run by (capital C) Cupid to spread love around. Business is apparently booming. I picked this up but haven’t had the time to read the whole thing yet. So far it’s not my favourite Mellon art (I preferred his stuff in This is a Souvenir and SHIELD) but it’s still good, he does some great expressions. I’m enjoying Hopeless’ writing so far and between him and McKelvie I think X-Men: Season One is going to be fantastic. Unfortunately there’s no free preview in the app but there are some previews online.
The Strange Talent of Luther Strode ($2.99/Image, Comixology): I didn’t know anything about this other than it was violent and that it was from Image. Image seem to be a pretty good arbiter of quality these days so I gave this #1 a shot and it was fantastic! I hadn’t heard of any of the creators before this but it’s a ridiculous and silly violent romp. Luther Strode is a scrawny nerd until he starts taking some bodybuilding course found in the back of a comic book. Is there some wish-fulfillment in this? Sure. That doesn’t hurt one bit though. Tradd Moore did a great job on art and I can’t wait to see more from him.
There was a lot of stuff, including the first 14 issues of Bryan Q Miller’s fantastic Batgirl run and obviously the first wave of DC #2s. There were also some digital trades of books I talked about previously like Green Wake and Bulletproof Coffin that are must buys as well.
As always here’s the full lists of what’s came out so you can see everything that came out this week:
Comixology: http://www.comixology.com/digital
Dark Horse: http://digital.darkhorse.com/blog/2011/new-releases-digital-store-10-5-11/
