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.
With a busy week full of great material and a slew of upcoming reviews, I have to make this week’s “Five and Three” as short as possible. Consider this the Hobbit issue of “Five and Three” and we’ll start off with some Norse fantasy courtesy of “Ragnarok #2”. Written and drawn by the living legend Walt Simonson, “Ragnarok” isn’t your typical Thor story. The golden age of Norse mythology has come and past. This is a tale of the post ragnarok AKA the Viking apocalypse. If you haven’t yet picked this book up you’re doing yourself a disservice.
The next book I wanted to feature was “in Sanity, AZ Vol. 1” from Quad Shot. It is a horror anthology from an entire backfield worth of creative talents. I picked this cover because it’s something I’ve never seen before and I’ll probably never see again. If you’re horrified by my choice than the creators of “in Sanity, AZ” are doing their jobs correctly. It is October after all so “grab a beer or have some fear” is my motto and with that in mind I’m gifting this cover to you.
More horror on the horizon and it’s from one of the best talents in Horror, Scott Snyder. Yes, the Scott Snyder of “Batman” is a wonderful master of the horror genre. If you only know of Snyder from Batman buckle up, because “Wytches #1” is an amazing ride. The content at the back will raise the hair on the back of your neck while the interior art by Jock will make you crap your pants. This book is terrifying and I can’t wait for more.
With horror being the topic of the last few paragraphs, let this variant cover to the new Archie Comics series “Sabrina #1” spook you good. The green colors over the inked witches by Robert Hack set a tone that continues through the book. This is not your grandad’s Sabrina, this is in the vein of the new “Afterlife with Archie” series. It is completely adult, it is very contemporary, and it is entirely crazy.
Now I’d like to quickly turn to a fun variant cover to “The Amazing Spider-Man #7” by Michael Golden for the Deadpool 75th variant series. This one gets me chuckling every time I see it.
Last cover for the week is a bonus one because I’m very happy with the tone change and the art direction DC Comics is embracing as of late. Babs Tarr got big from her fan art of DC characters and now her interpretation of the Barbara Gordan Batgirl for “Batgirl” has arrived with Babs’ wonderful rendition. We’ll cover her wonderful interiors immediately following this final cover but for now, enjoy Cameron Stewart’s wonderful cover to “Batgirl #35”.
I promised some Babs Tarr “Batgirl #35” Interiors and here I am to deliver like a knee to the face.
Following up after “Batgirl” is some amazing “Batman”. I am not a big fan of the “Batman Eternal” books. I like it but if I have to pick a weekly series I’ll take “New 52: Futures End”. I was worried about the possible tone shift in the main “Batman” title from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo because of the Batman Eternal. I couldn’t have been more wrong as “Batman #35” is one of my favorite issues of Batman from Snyder and Capullo’s run. Read our review of it here and then go grab one for yourself from your local comic book shop.
Everyone who has read this article for any amount of time knows that Skottie Young is one of my favorite contemporary comic book artists and illustrators. Despite that, I’m still excited for Jake Parker’s pencils and inks in next month’s “Rocket Raccoon” because rumor has it, Rocket will be wielding a sword that would make “Final Fantasy’s” Cloud jealous.
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. Until next week, let’s just pretend this was shorter than it turned out to be ok?!