Article originally written by Ryan Closs
It’s no secret that I’m a big proponent of digital comics. You can usually save a bunch of money buying them and I love having an iPad full of new and old stuff I haven’t read before. I’m also sick and tired of storing books in long boxes never to be read again. There are countless “Try out these books in your LCS this Wednesday” articles all over the Internet, but where are the recommendations for digital comics every week? Right here. Right now. I’m planning on doing this every Friday after I’ve looked at what’s come out from Comixology, iVerse, Graphic.ly and Dark Horse, and come up with some of the highlights of the week.
First up – Rocketeer Adventures #2 ($1.99, IDW/Comics+): You aren’t going to be able to beat the creative talent on this book with anything else that came out this week, digitally or physically: Mark Waid (Daredevil, Irredeemable), Chris Weston (The Twelve, The Filth), Darwyn Cooke (No references needed), Lowell Francis (Flashpoint: Project Superman) and Gene Ha (Top 10). There are 3 awesome, fun adventure stories that don’t need any continuity and are absolutely stunning to look at. While you’re at it, go read #1 also available in the same apps.
Speak of the Devil ($5.99 bundle, Dark Horse): I don’t think I need to talk about Gilbert Hernandez of Love and Rockets fame here, so I won’t. In case you haven’t done the math, that’s less than $1 an issue of this series by a seminal indie comics creator – you can’t really beat that price. I haven’t personally checked this out yet; I know it’s gorgeous and I’ve heard some solid reviews, so I bought it. It’s a great way to give one of the Hernandez brothers a shot basically risk free.
Stuff of Legend volumes 1 & 2 (Graphicly/Th3rd World Studios): Mike Racht, Brian Smith and Charles Paul Wilson III bring us this creative and interesting tale described as “Fables meets Toy Story.” It’s a beautiful book and while there’s unfortunately no digital collected edition you can buy the issues individually at $0.99-1.99 a pop.
Elephantmen #33 ($1.99, Comixology/Image): Richard Starking’s Elephantmen has been an artistic showcase since #1 featuring Moritat, Chris Burnham, Tom Scioli and dozens of other fantastic atists. The writing I’ve always found a bit weak but it’s always good enough to keep me reading, if only to enjoy the amazing artists. This week is no exception: the brilliant Shaky Kane (as seen in Bulletproof Coffin, also available digitally and absolutely fantastic) draws this completely messed up story about a plastic surgeon and his most extreme patient (also his wife). I don’t want to spoil anything but this is an accessible and awesome one-shot so give it a chance.
Hulk: Gray ($1.99 x 6, Comixology/Marvel): Jeph Loeb is definitely not as well-respected as he once was, but all of his colour books with Tim Sale are something special. Like the rest of the colour books this tells an early Hulk story. Even if you aren’t a Jeph Loeb fan this would be worth it for the Tim Sale art.
Sam & Twitch #1 (Free, Comixology/Image): This is very much a Bendis book – lots of talking heads, lots of quick dialogue and also from 1999, back in the days when he was mostly writing street-level stuff. I can’t unreservedly recommend this book; there are too many double page spreads and the lettering makes those hard to read on a tablet, but it’s still an absolutely STUNNING looking book. Angel Medina is absolutely amazing and I’m going to check out more from him for sure. The reason this is making the list is it’s got a really interesting premise, and at Free it’s worth giving a shot so you can see if this is for you.
Spontaneous #1 (Free, Comixology/Oni): I gave this a shot because it was free, and I’m really glad I did. Joe Harris & Brett Weldele bring us a really interesting story about a man investigating Spontaneous Human Combustion. He’s developed a predictive system to find SHCs before they happen and is investigating them to try and find how it’s caused. Big ideas, solid art, and can’t be beat at that price point.
Perhapanauts: Dark Days ($12.99, Comixology/Image): I was a little hesitant to include this because $12.99 might scare some people off. While it appears expensive, that’s for 241 pages of story. The premise is similar to Proof with it’s cryptozoology adventures (complete with Bigfoot and Chupacabra), but the tone is much more like Atomic Robo. It’s big, bright and fun. Heartily recommended.
Those are my cream of the crop, but here are some other things you might want to check out that either were released entirely this week or just wrapped up an arc that looked interesting: Universe X (Comixology), Marineman (Comixology), BPRD: The Warning (Dark Horse), Atomic Robo Vol 5 (Comixology), Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man, Infinite #1.
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-store-8-3-11/
iVerse: http://comicspl.us/new-releases-for-august-3-2011-2/
