Article originally written by Ryan Closs
Welcome back to your weekly look at the cream of the crop of digital releases. Last week I neglected to cover the Same-Day Digital (non Archie) releases, currently these are only from Comixology and here’s the list: Amazing Spider-Man #667 (Marvel), American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #3 (Vertigo), Elric #2 (Boom), Ultimate Fallout #5 (Marvel), DC Retroactive: Superman, GL and JLA — The 80s (DC), Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #1 (Marvel). Now, on to my picks of the week.
Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer Volume 2 ($4.99, Graphicly/SLG): Dusty Higgins and Van Jensen bring us another installment of sentient puppet vampire killing. The first volume was a pleasant surprise when I read it and this is surely no different. The first volume did a great job straddling the line between comedy and horror and at $5 I’m can’t not recommend it. It’s a ton of fun and a great idea. This isn’t Disney’s Pinocchio so don’t go in expecting any singing and dancing.
Hellboy: The Crooked Man ($4.99 bundle, Dark Horse): Hellboy is always good, but when Richard Corben is involved it’s great. He’s been involved in some of the absolute best background Hellboy stories and The Crooked Man is no exception. One of the creepiest Mignola stories and he’s a man known for creepy. As much as I love the big over-arching story in Hellboy it’s these random stories highlighting adventures in Hellboy’s past that keep me coming back for more. This one takes place in 1950s Appalachia and deals with a witched girl and the eponymous Crooked Man.
Hybrid Bastards #1 (Free, Comixology/Archaia): This is the first issue in a mini-series from Archaia. The elevator pitch is one day Zeus was drugged so that he found inanimate objects attractive, he slept with walls, apple tarts and other things and this story is about the offspring of those encounters. The art is very strange and honestly I’m not a huge fan, it seems to be unlinked pens and very sketchy so I had a hard time making out what was happening sometimes. I still enjoyed the concept enough to finish and at free it’s absolutely worth checking out.
Redball 6 Vol 1 ($5.99 w/ free preview, Comixology/Arcana): I read the preview of this and it’s a really fun idea. It’s a police procedural taking place in a realm adjacent to hell. The preview brought up enough ideas and showcased enough of the interesting art that I’m definitely going to be reading more. I’ve never read any Arcana books before and I probably wouldn’t have checked this out without the free preview. Like with Hybrid Bastards, at the price of free there’s no reason not to try broadening your (and my) horizons a little bit and try something new.
Resurrection Man #1 (1.99, Comixology/DC): I bought the #1 of the original Resurrection Man series because a) I’m intrigued by the premise of a man who gets new powers and is reborn every time he’s killed, b) it’s by DnA and Butch Guice and c) there’s going to be a new Resurrection Man series in the DC Relaunch. I’m glad I did. Butch Guice is as good as always and DnA show some of their high concept ideas that would later be showcased in their amazing Marvel Cosmic run. The first issue gives a good introduction to the series and sets up some of the other characters. Comixology has the first 13 issues available and if the new series is going to be anything like the old one I’m really excited.
Now for some honorable mentions, stuff that looks good that I either haven’t checked out yet or doesn’t interest me personally but might interest someone else: Spider-Island: Cloak & Dagger (Comixology), Mouse Guard — Fall 1152 (Comixology), Lady Robotika (Comixology) and Fraggle Rock Vol 2 #1 (Comixology & Graphicly).
Here are the full lists of comics that came out this week so you can see, and pick, for yourself (Graphicly not available)
Comixology: http://www.comixology.com/digital
Dark Horse: http://digital.darkhorse.com/blog/2011/new-digital-releases-8-10/
