As always, “Five & Three” brings you my favorite things in comics this week. Every week I pick my five favorite covers and three favorite panels to create “Five & Three”. I like to talk about why I picked the covers and panels and welcome hecklers and trend setters alike.
After a long weekend at the Salt Lake Comic Con FanX I have returned to bring you the best of covers and panels in comics last week. This episode of “Five and Three” will thrill and delight with homage covers like our first book, “Deadpool #41” and a Mad Max “The Road Warrior” homage.
The next book is a lovely indie title and Eisner nominated “High Crimes”. Issue #9 has a tiled cover with a paneled look that I’m a big fan of.
Why oh why is Marvel and Jason Aaron dragging this out! As long as odd moments like the one just below continue popping up in the book I’ll be on board. The covers have been terrific too, just take a look at this week’s cover to “Thor #4” Russell Dauterman.
Without having to wait for the panels, here’s what I’m talking about for “odd” moments in “Thor #4”. The book is action packed, full of girl power and packs a punch to the gut that will leave you laughing. “Thor” is a mighty good time.
The fact that Grant Morrison released a guidebook to his wild “Multiversity” run is absolute perfection in the making. So many fans appreciate Morrison but have a hard time grasping his eccentric and often psychedelic and metaphysically charged storylines. This guidebook is a full addition to the “Multiversity” story as well as being a literal guidebook to 52 separate earths.
My favorite cover of the week is a variant to Zenescope’s “Jungle Book: Fall of the Wild #2” by Carlos Granda and Ross Campbell. If you’ve been shy to pickup any of Zenescope’s books you’re doing yourself a disservice. The often titillating cover art is just flashy dressing around meaty comic book storytelling on par with many of the adventure titles coming out of BOOM! Studios or even Image and Vertigo.
Vertigo’s “Vertigo Quarterly: CMYK” issues have been some of my favorite books. After issue 1 I have anticipated the lovely color themed stories by comic book industry pro’s and issue #4 was worth the wait. There is a wonderful story by “Five and Three” favorite Francesco Francavilla but the extra “Sweet Tooth” short story was a treat for me. If you’re a fan of Lemire’s “Sweet Tooth” series you’ll want to beg, borrow, or steal “Vertigo Quarterly: CMYK Black” to read “Sweet Tooth Black”.
What can I say about Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s “Batman” run that hasn’t already been said? What could I possibly add to do it any justice? That’s what every comic book journalist thinks to themselves every time a new issue comes out. To call their work fantastic is nothing short of a writer grasping for words of praise that simply do not exist. I do not care if you’re not a DC Comics fan or a Batman fan, you will love their run on Batman and the “Court of Owl’s” story line that kicked their entire run off back with issue #1 teases a return in what is another in a long run of perfect comic books under the helm of their creative team.
That’s all for this week. If you disagree with a pick, let me know in the comments or on Twitter @MarkAvo or on Instagram @TheMarkAvo. If you think I should’ve picked something else or if you have a pick in mind for next week, give me a shout out and let me know. If you’d like to check out more “Five and Three” comic book moments start with “Five and Three” from last week. It’s Groundhog Day… again!