The Tomorrows #1

The Tomorrows is making brave new waves in a sea of science fiction hellbent on sitting in the horror genre and space. A breath of fresh air against all the dystopian stories, this one focus' on the elimination of creative thought. A world where art is treated like a controlled substance. I got to interview Curt Pires about it earlier this year. Check out what he has to say about this mini series here!

I was delighted to know that resident Canadian Jason Copland (POP) was illustrating the first issue. Each issue, of which there will be four, is illustrated by a different artist. Issue two is illustrated by Alex Zirit (Space Riders) who I am also a big fan of.

Jason Copland's contribution to this series is phenomenal and colorist Adam Metcalfe suits the illustrations perfectly. I've said it before but I'll say it again - I feel like Jason's work has this vintage, timelessness to it. Sounds like a bit of a conundrum but I feel like a lot of that 1950s feel has stepped into timelessness. Maybe it's just the lack of cellphones lol! JOKING. But it really is gorgeous. I'm so thrilled Dark Horse has such good taste.

The story is centering around a group known as The Tomorrows who are militantly fighting for freedom of creativity and thought. They fight against giant corporations who now run everything. With corporations like Facebook, they've used our identities against us and thus can monitor our creative output. That, and the head-hauncho is a sadistic, hedonist apparently. I kinda like him.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this beginning. It's solid, intriguing and full of witty references to things from well- our century (who is apparently also to blame for the theft of the creativity in the future i.e. fucking around on social media). So in the end, with all things considered I give it a solid five stars. Great art and lots of action and adventure.

Exclusive Interview with Juan Ferreyra on Colder: Toss the Bones!

I really enjoy the Colder series and I got really excited when I learned there would be a third story arc! Juan Ferreyra has been haunting the pages of the comic book, bringing nightmare to substance in these chilling tales. He's created unique, creepy ghouls that keep me coming back for more. Whether it be finger monsters or straight-up gore, I know I'm never going to be disappointed by a single issue. I got to ask Juan a few questions about the upcoming story arc, slated to debut this fall (September to be precise!).

TFQ: In the last story arc, Colder: Bad Seed the reader followed Declan into an unseen world. Can you give me any hints on where the next chapter of Colder will take us?

Juan: Colder will take us deeper into the Hungry world, they seem to return to that damn place all the time, This time Declan will try to find a way to stop the traveling , even if means to let himself die.

TFQ: How many issues should we expect from the third installment?

Juan: Is another 5 issues and the last issues, the story finished in this third volume. One of the things I love about Colder are the crazy ghouls! 

TFQ: What sort of ghouls are we going to be seeing this time around!

Juan: Nimble Jack in the first issue has a new horrific friend that likes to travel with him around. And probably a some new monsters that I haven’t designed yet! 

TFQ: Can you tell me a bit about what inspires the physical appearance of the devilish creatures and demons of Colder?

Juan: I tried to have normal things, relatable things and mixed them up to come up with weird twisted creatures.. In Colder vol 1, I took arms and use them in different ways, I took eyes and used them as well, in Vol 2 I sued fingers to create creatures, in Vol 3 we’ll see pigeons, fingers, arms, eyes, bones, legs, teeth, dogs, all mixing up!

TFQ: Can I ask you what your upcoming projects are?

Juan: I'm working On Gotham By midnight right now, for DC comics, with Ray Fawkes writing, my first issue #6 came out this past WednesdayI'm also doing cover for New Suicide squad for DC and finishing COLDER:Toss the Bones. After that I still don't know what will I do. I'll be doing some concept art for a couple of movies and a TV series too.

E is for Extinction #1

I'm trying to recall if I have actually read anything written by Chris Burnham. Actual scripting, I'm familiar with his artwork but have I actually read anything he's written? This can't be his first is it? Yet when I search for relevant work I can only find pieces he's been accredited as illustrator. At any rate, I actually liked his writing style. It was kinda loose and wild. It had the appropriate silliness of any insane X-story and wasn't wrought with drama and panels of concerned looks. You know what I'm talking about.

Actually speaking of the artwork, I love it. It's so not your typical X-comic with perfect bodies. The fact that Scott Summer and Emma Frost are aged is actually pretty awesome while none of the new mutants are bodacious super models, also pretty awesome. In fact, in this world you almost get more attention by wearing your muty face proudly. It's like the more mutated you are on the outside, the more popular you are. Kinda. Getting back to the point, I really love this art. I haven't really seen his work before but he apparently had done a run of Young Avengers around this time last year. I'm putting Ramon Villalobos on my radar as someone to watch.

I dug into the limited reaches of the Marvel website to see if they would tell me how many issues this mini series is supposed to be. All I could dig up was that the second issue is out July 8th. I sort of feel like this is just a two parter although if it ends up being a bit longer, I won't mind ;)

FOUR STARS

Neverboy #5

This is such a strange story but it feels so familiar. It reminds me a lot of some old Sandman stories. Partially due to Tyler Jenkins artwork which has this timeless quality that I feel when I'm reading old Sandman stories. It's actually how Jenkins draws his characters that remind me of a couple sandman stories actually, it's not at all the content of THIS particular story which yes granted would fit well in the Sandman universe considering imaginary characters are entering the real world...

So this issue of Neverboy is out July 1st. I read it last night and I really feel like this issue is the best of them yet. You get a much clearer picture of what is going on, not to mention the motivations of crazy artist Julian Drag as he destroys the world of imagination. Also, it should be mentioned that Fantasy Girl is adorable and I would cosplay her if she wasn't already, kind of a character in cosplay.

Sadly Neverboy ends next month with the final issue. I hate when I fall in love with something and it ends so quickly but it's better than carrying on forever and becoming unreadable...*coughTheWalkingDeadcough* (sorry about that, there's a reason I'm two issues behind..). I really want to get my hands on more of Jenkin's work. I hope his next project is as pleasing to me as this one.

Royal Jelly: June 24th 2015

Floppies:
Annihilator #6
E is for Extinction #1
Fade Out #7
Rasputin #6
Spread #8
The Walking Dead 143
UFOlogy #3

TP:
Rumble Vol 1

HC:
Russian Olive to Red King

We finally get to read the end of Annihilator. It feels like it's been months since I read issue five. When I look back, it has been months! Whole shit Grant Morrison? What you're issue with this issue? Oh well... I guess you're kinda busy. All is forgiven but not forgotten and just like that, another mini series comes to an end. Yet, where one disappears from the comic book limelight and lives on mostly through the minds of people who actually read the singles as they were released, another series pops up...

This week's new recommended series is E for Extinction. You probably remember the original from 2001 (??is memory serves, I'm too lazy to google that). It featured Grant Morrison and the amazing Frank Quitely (I'm amazing we're not still waiting on the end of that feature). This rendition is told by Chris Burnham who has been quite busy recently with Grant Morrison on the Image title Nameless.

Ramon Villalobos' artwork is what made this climb into my pull list. This story promises to tell us what the X-Men have to face in a reality where being an a mutant is admired and not feared. In fact, it's something to aspire to. Sounds like my reality really. I could go for some muty powers. 

Riley Rossmo's beautiful Image series Rasputin returns. It's probably one of the most beautiful mythic-fictional stories out there. It took a brief hiatus when the Trade Paper came out last month and Riley has been super busy illustrating the new Hellblazer series but he's assured me that he has time for everything and no project will be back-burnered! I'm really happy Resputin is back so soon! That guy just won't die.

Speaking of awesome Image comics, Spread continues to tell the tale of soft spoken hero No as he attempts to flee the red alien threat known only as The Spread. Until recently the series was illustrated fully by Kyle Strahm but now Felipe Sobreiro has taken up the gig and I'm actually really happy about this despite how much I really liked Strahm's work. It's actually a pretty kickass change. The last issue was intense and I can't wait to see where this is going. 

Let me not forget to announce the release of my favorite series FIRST TRADE! Volume 1 of Rumble is available today! GO GET IT! 

Age of Reptiles: Ancient Egyptians #2

Writer and illustrator Ricardo Delgado started Age of Reptiles a few years back. Darkhorse put it out and it due to it's success they've subsequently released a few more titles under the series. The latest of which is Ancient Egyptians. This story available July 1st follows a Spinosaurus as it navigates a swamp full of hidden dangers.

I really enjoy Ricardo's artwork. He's one of those heavy dash- pencillers but that's just a word I made up. I'm sure there is actually some kind of term that describes this style of illustration, but I dunno what it is. I even tried to google is but couldn't come up with anything. I suppose taking art history might have been useful.. maybe... Anyway, I really like his artwork and it reminds me of the sort of stuff you would see from the Prophet series... which is currently.. on hiatus I believe. Interestingly enough Ricardo's previous experiences includes some movies. He worked on Men In Black and The Incredibles which is kinda crazy.

So this book is a wordless journey and fit for all ages. In fact, I think a lot of children will love absolutely love this because what children isn't completely fascinated with dinosaurs..okay maybe not the creationists but that's only because their parents probably said that dino's were a lie created by satan... or flat out called them demons.

Ricardo also has a pretty well kept blog which you should check out because he does post a lot of his work. Always nice to get that insider look: http://ricardodelgadoart.blogspot.com/

For me this is a solid four stars. The only reason I didn't give it five, is because I would have preferred a little more action. Still, it's fantastic and has that rawness I like in my artwork.

The Fiction #1

I really loved the cover of this issue. It drew my eyes in immediately. The reason I read it was because I noticed it was written by Curt Pires and I really loved his collaboration POP, which came out last year from Darkhorse. The Fiction is illustrated by David Rubin who received praise from Paul Pope, which is kind of a big deal to me. To my (perhaps limited) knowledge, Pope doesn't just throw his praise around willy nilly. That being said he also employed the man to do Rise of Aurora West.

So the story follows four children who are transported to a new world after having read from a few mysterious books. The children full grown fifteen years later are struggling with news that two of their childhood friends have disappeared. Each leaving behind only one piece of evidence that points to their whereabouts, a volume of those strange books. Nothing brings childhood friends back together like tragedy.

I just love this panel.

It almost reminded me Chronicles of Narnia, or The Neverending Story but then felt somewhat sinister with the Epilogue (yeah there is an epilogue at the end of the issue). I think the Epilogue might have been my favorite part simply because it's so bizarre and beautiful. Anyway I got this Steven King's IT vibe just because the story is about children witness to something crazy and dealing with it as not-so-secure-and-stable grown ups.

All that said, it was a really lovely read. The artwork is beautiful throughout the entire issue which a special emphasis on this page I posted to the right. It does feel like its intended for all ages but I can't say just yet. The Fiction has all the mystery and wonder you need in a book with such a title and possess the timelessness required to make it memorable.

I intended to do an early review of the book but whilst reading it digitally, three pages in on my phablet, I decided it was too pretty not to read on paper and promptly waited for the hardcopy. Sadness that this is a rather brief story with only three more issues to go. At least you can always count on a mini series to have a proper ending. Well, most of the time and you haven't been reading forever building up to nothing. But I will get into disappointing endings some other day. FIVE STARS.

Upcoming Posts and such.

I haven't felt much like reviewing this week and I took a short break from interviews. Sometimes you need to step back and just absorb. I hate when my blog begins to feel like work so I decided to take a step back, catch up on some back reading and not worry so much about pushing out content. That being said, I have a lot planned for this upcoming release week. I will be focusing more on new releases with an emphasis on books that are coming out in the near future. There are also many books which have already been released that I intend to solidly review.

I will of course be bringing more interviews but for a while I was delivering two to three interviews a week and just running out of steam trying to keep track of them all, time their posting and make sure I heard back from all the artists I contacted. It's summer now and I'm swamped at my day job, steadily trying to keep up with comic news and trying to enjoy a little of the summer in between that. So keep reading ! I will have a lot of articles coming! :D

Royal Jelly: June 17th 2015

Floppies:
Alex & Ada #15
Archie vs Predator #3
Empty Zone #1
The Fiction #1 (of 4)
The Kitchen #8 (of 8)
Lazarus #17
Low #7
Manifest Destiny #15
Revival #30
Run Love Kill #3
Space Riders #3
Thors #1

HC:

COMPLETE EIGHTBALL HC BOX SET ISSUES 1 – 18

Alright lots of sad news here in my city. Long time favorite comic shop closed down. Basically there are too many damn comic stores in this fucking city. At first we had three. Three great shops you could kinda go around to and find lots of different stuff. It even seemed like they helped each other out. Then in the last couple years FOUR more shops opened up in our tiny city. Not to mention the all the game shops which took business away from the comic shops and well, Quantum Frontier has closed. Big sadness.

So just a couple things I'll mention here today. Low is back! I'm a huge fan and super excited to see how things take off from here. It really left us with a big bang! Manifest Destiny is also back after a short break. It's still one of my favorite adventure & monster stories. I'm super excited to read the ending of The Kitchen. The series has been 100% entertaining from issue one.

Finally, looking forward to another awesome mini series from Boom Studios. This one is called The Fiction. Curt Pires (You may remember him from the awesome mini series with Jason Copland last year called POP) writes this four part mini. Here's the rundown from Previews World because I'm lazy : 

"Four childhood friends discover a box of strange books that, when read aloud, can transport them to the beautiful, imaginary worlds described within. But when one of them goes missing, the others vow never to reveal where they've been and what they've seen. Years later, when one of the remaining kids, now an adult, also mysteriously disappears, it's up to the last two of the group to dig up their dusty books to find him and finally figure out what happened to their friend all those years ago."

Constantine the Hellblazer #1

I love Hellblazer. If you're just tuning in, you may not know that so I'm telling you... I love Hellblazer. Favorite Hellblazer writers include Mike Carey, Peter Milligan and Garth Ennis. Yet I pretty much love everything that came out.. with a few exceptions. Wasn't big on the whole Highwater nazi thing. Anyway, when I heard that Hellblazer was coming back and DC was finally ending their horrible title Constantine with the New 52, I was thrilled. Thrilled because Riley Rossmo was announced as illustrator with Ming Doyle and James Tynion IV as writers. So let me tell you what I thought eh?

Initially, I love it. I mean, John is a his regular smart ass self. He's perhaps a little more confident rather than reckless but there's still a good shot of recklessness in there that I've always loved about Constantine. With Rossmo drawing him he's quite possible the most handsome John has ever been. I for one have always appreciated the stories written around John and not so much as thought of him as handsome as some would believe. He's someone I would have dated in my 20s but probably someone I'd punch in the face if I met him now. Nonetheless, John is basically back to being written the way he should be. Keep in mind he's young. So we're starting all fresh and new and leaving, at least Peter Milligan's old man Constantine in the dust.

We don't know what year it is. Could be modern day, might not be. I can't tell. I'm not going to spoil the plot for you, but this issue feels more like a reintroduction than an intro and segway into a whole story arc. A contained story within one issue and that feels right.

All in all, I'm really happy John is back and not being written by Ray Fawkes. I'm glad he looks and sounds familiar. His inner monologue though definitely unique from the Johns so long ago, still feels like a John Constantine. Oh and did I mention the book is beautiful? I'm in love with the colorist they chose Ivan Plascensia who has also made Riley Rossmo's book Rasputin one of the most gorgeous books of the year. Ivan's coloring is unmistakably his and seeing it in this issue made me very happy. It really is a beauitul issue.

Royal Jelly: June 10th 2015

I wish today was New Comic Book Day! The wait it terrible. So many things I want in my hands right now. 

1602 WITCH HUNTER ANGELA #1
21ST CENTURY TANK GIRL #1 (OF 3)
CHRONONAUTS #4
CONSTANTINE THE HELLBLAZER #1
DEATH SENTENCE LONDON #1
DISCIPLES #1
DESCENDER #4
HARROW COUNTY #2
SAGA #29
SPIDER-GWEN #5
STARVE #1
WALKING DEAD #142
WE CAN NEVER GO HOME #3 (OF 5)
WEIRDWORLD #1
TP
BATGIRL HC VOL 1 THE BATGIRL OF BURNSIDE (N52)
IT WILL ALL HURT #1

HC
BPRD 1946 – 1948 HC
JACK KIRBY KAMANDI ARTIST ED HC VOL 1

A few very important things this week by some of my all time favorite artists and writers! Firstly, I have to insist that everyone put a new Marvel title on their list! I KNOW RIGHT!!?? Since when, besides the Silver Surfer, do I ever tell anyone that they NEED a Marvel titles?! Well now is the time! Wonderful French artist Marguerite Sauvage is illustrating a new new series 1602: Witch Hunter Angela and of course, it looks amazing. I'm a huge fan of hers. You may recognize her work on the cover of Hinterkind and that lovely Wonder Woman short she did for Sensation Comics. 

Another big title to grab this week is Farel Dalrymple's It Will All Hurt #1. This is Farel's Eisner Award nominated comic strip that published previously online on Study Group. Alternative Comics is putting it out on paper just for me... I mean, us. Just for us. If you are unfamiliar with Farel by name, you would recognize his work from the recent series Prophet, his award winning graphic novel The Wrenchies from First Second Books and Omega the Unknown (a favorite from about ten years back). Plenty of other things as well, but those are the first that pop into my mind. 

An obvious biggie for me is Constantine the Hellblazer  #1 which promises to be much better than Ray Fawkes' interpretation with the New 52. We all know how big of a Hellblazer fan I am and with Riley Rossmo and Ming Doyle on the list of credits, I hope this proves to be a better incarnation for John Constantine. 

It's also worth mentioning that there are a couple good books this week from Black Mask Comics. Steve Niles (30 Days of Night, The October Faction) is back with a new series on this young label which he happens to co-own. I was very impressed with his new science fiction book The Disciples and I think you will be too. Matthew Rosenburge's super power charge teen runaway story continues with We Can Never Go Home #3. I really enjoyed this third issue and I really think this is a book you should take a look at. It's not your typical super power story. 

Obviously a whole bunch of other big titles continue tomorrow with Saga leading sales again, I'm sure. I'm especially excited about Harrow County #2, Descender and the new Tank Girl, 21st Century Tank Girl which will only be three issues long. 

Disciples #1

I'm a Steve Niles fan. Let's just get that out of the way. I've been accused in the past of being too loyal to creators (as if that was a bad thing). By being too loyal, I believe people are claiming that my eyes are bias to their work. I like to think that I'm able to calmly criticize creators I love when I see something that doesn't live up to what I've seen in the past, as their best work. Now, it ain't easy but I think I am honest.

So let's get down to it. I really liked this one from Steve Niles and let me explain why. Firstly, it's a science fiction story that brings it's characters near Europa. Europa is fucking cool. In case you weren't aware, its one of Jupiter's many moons and possesses on the higher possibilities in our solar system to being home to life. It's fucking cool. In this story, the crew of the ship Frankenstein (lol just joking, the ship isn't called Frankenstein), are traveling to this part of our solar system to find a chick who's been taken in by some cultist.

Firstly, I really enjoyed this issue as an introduction. For these reasons: 1. It contained enough information about the setting to let me know that I actually care. One thing I hate about a lot of science fiction and fantasy books, is when the first issue doesn't give you a good run down of where the characters are and what era they are in. What future? What past? What planet? We have answers here and that's important.
2. I received a good sense of who the characters are, what kind of attitudes they have and how they interact with each other. A brief look at their relationships with one another. This is just enough to get me interested.
3. Beautiful panels of space. Need I saw more? Really?
4. An exciting and surprising development that left me with questions and wonder at the very end of the issue which is a MUST in monthly serials.

These are the basics needed to push out a successful first issue. We've achieved that here. Requirements made! So art-wise, I'm pretty happy. Illustrator Christopher Mitten has created some beautiful panels of space. Kinda fell in love with them. You might recognize Mitten's work from Wasteland which is an on-going series from Oni Press.  It's a post apocalyptic story which started back in 2006 written by Antony Johnson who I've actually interviewed before about his series Umbral.  I have yet to read Wasteland. It's on my list.

Black Mask Comics has been making me really happy lately. I love current series We Can Never Go Home and Space Riders. Now I can add Disciples to the list of monthly purchases.

Feathers #6

My favorite all ages fantasy adventure has come to an end with issue six. This is Corona's first limited series which he both illustrated and wrote. It's a huge accomplishment when an author takes on a story and ends up with one as strong as this one right from the get go. I see a lot of artists attempting this and very few have this original and striking voice. I was lucky to have an interview with him in January. Please check it out if you haven't because it has some awesome insight into our little feathered friend Poe.

As you probably know if you've been reading this blog for more than a month, I  had taken an interest in Feathers since I saw the first preview six months back. At the time I had named it one of the Top Ten Picks for 2015 and now I know this will make my list on Jan 1st 2016 as one of the best books of the year.

Feathers has ended perfectly set for a second story arc. Although the immediate issues of the missing mice has been solved and a villain identified, we still wonder where Poe has come from and who he is. How he came to have these mysterious feathers. Corona ends the books with the dialogue between two unidentified characters (I have my suspicions on who the owners of the voices are) cryptically discussing the Poe's origins.

I really hope we don't have to wait TOO long for a second story arc but with the success of this first one, I can't imagine label Archaia/Boom NOT signing Corona on for another run. I am certain we'll see a lovely trade released soon which solves the question of what I get for my nieces for their Birthday this year.

If you are missing Jorge's fantastic art before the next story arc of Feathers is delivered, then you can be sure to catch some over at DC with series We Are Robin.

Amazing Spiderman: Renew Your Vows #1 *SPOILERS*

So I read Renew Your Vows last night and there are a lot of strong opinions on this story. A LOT of strong opinions on Dan Slott's ability to write Spiderman. To be sure, my opinion isn't THAT strong but I do have a few things on my chest, besides the boobs.

First, let me get a few things out of the way : let me remind you that I'm not super passionate about Spiderman as I am now an adult. Since I'm no longer ten, Spiderman doesn't really appeal to me and I've read Amazing Spiderman and other incarnations over the years just for fun. Also, One More Day didn't ruin my life. It barely impacted me at all. I had to go back and read it fairly recently after a discussion with my friend Nev's because I couldn't remember it. Then I said, oh yes I remember this now. What I had completely forgotten also, was how OTHER people were so impacted by the story and had not forgiven Joe Quesada.  Yet I personally don't think that writers/creators decisions are a slight against readers but you can't tell that to die hard comic book fans. You just can't.

So I guess a lot of people were expecting Dan Slott to just carry on the story as if One More Day never happened. I read a few different reviews to this extent. Why are we as fans so entitled to think that creators should just give us any crummy story we want just because we're fans and we think we deserve to see it? There's been a lot of that lately in the community. This weird sense of entitlement because you spent 3.99 on a Marvel comic (that by the way is on the cheapest f'n paper.. I kinda HATE buying Marvel comics but I've complained about this before).

On top of this, people are upset that Spidey got all killy. OMG Spiderman killed someone? It's an alternate universe... what's saying that Spidey couldn't kill someone? I kinda feel like once our Superheroes have babies, they're suppose to go all kill-la-kill. He's protecting his spawn. That's conceivably to me, why THIS Spidey killed, in fact I think protecting his little drool machine is the only way one could write Spidey actually killing Venom. Of course, we don't have any proof he's even dead. Sure a burning building fell on him, but come on... it's a comic book.

Bottom line, I think Slott is amazing writer and after every one of his issues I am happy because I escaped my mundane reality and became absorbed in a different world. That comic made me forget my lame existence which means I was super entertained. That's fucking success as a writer right there. And screw you, I liked how Silk was introduced.

Broken World #1

The cover sucked me into this one. Boom studios has done this to me a few times this year. So what is Broken World? It's a new take on the asteroid-hits-Earth-Armageddon thing WITHOUT Liv Tyler and that awful Aerosmith song. In this story, Earth has calculated the time to asteroid impact right down to the minute and the governments (of the entire world?) has done it's homework and decided who gets to stay and be blown up on Earth and who gets to travel on into the cosmos. Apparently the powers that be, have devised an escape plan. Neat eh? I think we've all heard the story about saving the Best & Brightest. Simpsons did it. Treehouse of Horrors X.

What I liked most about the story were the smaller things like the publics reaction to doom. Of course many people decided to jump ship early rather than be blown to bits so there are government sanctioned suicide kits. Then there are people who don't think there's a doomsday at all, and the people who think that the government is lying about saving the best and brightest.

What I was kinda meh about was the artwork. It seemed slightly inconsistent. I'd love one page and the coloring but be less taken with following pages. Artist Chris Peterson was a  Shuster Award nominee and I definitely appreciate his pencilling. For those of you who don't know, that also makes him Canadian. Shuster Awards are for Canadian comic book creators.

I'm surprised to see an asteroid Armageddon story out right now. Remember there were tons in the 90s? All that crazy prophecy stuff that was supposed to happen in like 1996, 1998.. Y2K and then  2012... At least this story hasn't presented some ridiculous belief in ancient prophecy or The Amazing Criswell...

I will read the next issue because this one left one quite the cliff hanger and I want to see where it's going. I want some explanation on this whole bit. Writer Frank J. Barbiere has cut out a good name for himself with the success of titles like Five Ghosts and of course his work for Marvel. I think this will be a good story.

Royal Jelly: June 3rd 2015

Floppies
Amazing Spiderman Renew Your Vows #1
Bat mite #1 (of 6)
Feathers #6
Groot #1
Jupiter's Circle #3
The Humans #5
Neverboy #4
No Mercy #3

GN
Island of Memory Vol 1
Borb GN

Hey All,

 I'm a little lazy today so I've copy and pasted the summaries of a few key titles from PreviewsWorld.com which, may or may not be accurate (because you know, it's previews world). First I have to remind you that this Wednesday marks the release of the final chapter for Feathers! The exciting all-ages series comes to an end and we hope they are picked up for a second story arc!

I'm most excited about the continuation of Humans, Neverboy and No Mercy! Great week for comics. Here's a little from PreviewsWorld in italics.

Borb - Borb by Jason Little (Shutterbug Follies, Motel Art Improvement Service) is the story of Borb, a severely alcoholic homeless man. Borb is a downtrodden urban Candide whose misfortunes pile up at an alarming rate. The narrative is presented as a series of daily newspaper strips as the author draws on the long and complex tradition of the comic strip slapstick vagabond archetype. At once hilarious, horrifying, and full or heart, Borb depicts the real horrors specific to present-day urban homelessness. Borb is Little's most complex and challenging work.



Groot #1 -  (W) Jeff Loveness (A) Brian Kesinger (CA) Declan Shalvey
• For the first time ever, the most famous talking-tree-thing in the Marvel Universe is starring in his own series! You might recognize him from Guardians of the Galaxy, the biggest movie of 2014.

Airboy #1

From Wikipedia:  Airboy is a fictional aviator hero of an American comic book series initially published by Hillman Periodicals during the World War II-era time period fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books. He was created by writers Charles Biro and Dick Wood and artist Al Camy. 

My first impression, Airboy is a pretty ballsy move. Normally, I really appreciate ballsy but in this case I wasn't as impressed. So allow me to descend into a myriad of issues while attempting not to spoil the story's happenings, whatsoever.

I appreciate the struggle of the modern writer, I'm not so certain I care all that much about the struggle of the modern male writer. You get this glimpse of the THEN devoted wife and the implication that she's supporting her husband. Some of us know how that story goes all too well, supporting the dream chaser as they walk all over you... carelessly. But of course from this angle, the angle of the narrator, she's cold hearted, cruel and unsupportive rather than fet-up, used and overlooked.

I feel like the narrator is trying to be self deprecating in that charming way, presenting all his gritty faults but it continually struck me as egotistical and smarmy. Maybe that was the intent? Whether Robinson is actually anything like the coke fueled, alcoholic he's translated himself into for this series, I don't personally know. Perhaps he is the image of self control, celibacy and abstinence.

They say people love the asshole but the older I get, the less I care about the David Duchovny attitudes of the 90's. The less I want to know alcoholics full of self-imposed tortures. These sort of characters worry me. We don't need another Hight Fidelity. Nick Hornby's book High Fidelity (turned cult music movie) followed a complete elitist asshole who worked in a record store. His stormy discontent, self loathing, laziness and shit attitude caused him to be unsuccessful in love, and career. The movie created an entire generation of music elitists who treated women as horribly as the main character simply because the viewers were too stupid to realize that John Cusack's character was fucking prick and not someone to aspire to. Incidentally, although the American movie with John Cusack is how most people remember the book, Nick Hornby is actually British, as is the author of this comic, James Robinson.

If you are unfamiliar with his work, James Robinson has been around for a couple decades, best known for his work Starman (reiterated in this issue). You will most remember Robinson for his work with DC including up to 2013 with his bits for the New 52 and Earth 2. Robinson expresses his deep lack of fulfillment working for DC in Airboy leading this reboot to be less of an actual reboot and more of an exercise in some Grant Morrison-type-Reality-meets-Fictional Character- from Story Book Universe. Image describes is as "Worlds and minds explode in a brand-new series!" Whatever. Maybe it's just supposed to be really funny, that um.. "hipster indie ironic" that Robinson pokes fun of. I suspect that he's poking fun at himself although I don't really consider this type of story to be new. Kind of reminds me of Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry but with the crashing of reality by a fictional character that wasn't created by the author (and main character).

I think one of the things I found even more incredulous about the issue was the quotes at the end. They were all from the new comic elite. Jeff Lemire, Brian K Vaughan, etc who all must be close personal friends. Unsurprisingly, none of them female. Ultimately, I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me. I know a lot of people are going to love this book and I know that a lot of them (if not all of them) are going to be men. Who was the book written for? I think it was written for James Robinson.

Airboy is available at a comic shop near you this Wednesday, June 3rd.