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. 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.
This week I’ve included a bonus. You can scroll to the end to see it now or read the rest of the article. I suggest taking your time and really enjoying each pick this week because everything was fantastic. It’s always a good week when the fresh ink from the books can be smelled through the digitizer in my tablet.
To start us off strong let’s go with a quirky one from Wood Jin Clark. Kaboom!’s “Adventure Time: The Flip Side” #5 of 6 is a wonderful cover. It captures the essence of the TV show sublimely in a humorous comic book cover.
Sam Kieth has taken care of the covers for “Maxx Maxximized” and he continues to do so with issue #7. His covers for this series are a happy reminder of Kieth’s talent and impact on the comic book medium every time I see one.
With a number of great covers from Marvel this week I went with something I don’t recall seeing the likes of before with “Black Widow” #6. Sure it’s a tad bit S&M, but that’s one of the best parts of Wonder Woman so a tied up Natasha is only extra credit for an already cool cover by Phil Noto.
I’ve loved the Mike Norton art on “Revival” and I’m eagerly anticipating the cross over with Rob Guillory on “Chew”. Jesus jumping for joy made this cover a favorite this week though. It’s probably because of my fondness for Kevin Smith’s Buddy Christ.
My final pick this week is a great perspective cover from Dan Panosian of “Batwing” for the cover of issue #31. The bright yellow creates the perfect contrast to a typically boring concrete residential building. This book gets a pick because I’ve always thought seeing a Bat figure jumping from a building in downtown Salt Lake City would be an insane spectacle. This cover is excellent. Maybe “The Salt City Strangers” team member The Gull will one day leap from the Walker Center and I can check a box on my bucket list?
For panels this week I’m going to lead with “Rat Queens” issue #6 by Kurtis J. Wiebe and art by Roc Upchurch. Roc can draw some very beautiful women and in this issue that was on full display. The emotions that he draws out of the characters are terrific and make the comedic wordplay from Wiebe really hit home. “Rat Queens” really makes me laugh and I love it.
I want Andrea Sorrentino to draw “Green Arrow” for as many issues as Greg Capullo is going to draw “Batman”. The standoff in this panel between Katana and the leader of the Fist clan is simple and so samurai I picked it over panels of Oliver & Diggle.
This next set of panels takes some reading so strap in. This scene is a wonderful conversation in a café between Thor, Captain America, Wolverine, Black Widow and of course, Nick Fury. They’re all talking about the best steak they’ve ever had and Nick really brings it home. There’s a bit about a bear that you’ll have to go get the book to read. That’s just one part of a massively entertaining first issue to the Marvel summer event “Original Sin” written by Jason Aaron with art by Mike Deodato Jr.
That’s it for this week. If you’re wondering who or what the “Salt City Strangers” are, they’re an all Utah super-hero team that patrols the mean streets of Salt Lake City. Go check them out over here. If you’re hankering for more “Five and Three” you can view last week’s issue here and if you’re all caught up there’s always the deviantArt Podcast for a Mark Avo art review fix. The podcast is a 12 minute adventure through the galleries of artists on deviantArt. I hope to see you back here next week but until then, I recall promising a bonus panel. The bonus this week comes from the crazy cool first issue of DC’s summer event, “Futures End”. In honor of the passing of the voice of Alfred from “Batman: The Animated Series” Efrem Zimbalist Jr., I present to you A.L.F.R.E.D. chatting to Terry McGinnis in the style of J.A.R.V.I.S. from the Iron Man movies. Personally I’d take Alfred over Jarvis every time.
