Each and every week, I, “The Henchman of Earth 21!” Henchman 21 and “Empress of Earth 53!” Empress Eve read a lot of comics. Seriously you guys, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. I mean, it is possible”¦ theoretically. Naturally, we look forward to some more than others. I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of our pull lists, grab some comics, and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of August 20, 2014. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

This is a week of comics that is dominated by one big release that everyone is going to be talking about, which is why we’re here. This is the perfect chance to talk about books that may get lost in the shuffle of a giant release, and that’s just what we’re going to do. Of course, I can’t just ignore that giant release either, so I’m going to get into that shortly. It’s a week of dreams, dreamers, and crazy worlds which sounds like just the kind of thing we like here on The GoD List!

Henchman 21

Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland #1 (IDW Publishing – $3.99) Little Nemo is one of those things I am only vaguely aware of as being a thing. I know it’s an old and much revered comic strip by Windsor McKay. I seem to remember it was a NES game at some point in my childhood. That’s about all I know, however I have been wildly anticipating Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland #1 since it was announced based on the artist that is working on the book; Gabriel Rodriguez. Rodriguez was the artist on one of my favorite series of the last decade, Locke & Key and his ability to morph different art styles was one of the highlights of the series. The writer for the series, Eric Shanower, is no slouch himself, especially when it comes to adapting beloved children’s stories. He did stellar work translating the Oz books into comics, and he’ll use a lot of those same skills working on this series. I don’t know if the story is going to connect with me 100%, but I’ll at least marvel at the visuals, and sometimes that is enough for me.

The Multiversity #1 (DC Comics – $4.99) Ahhh, Multiversity, the long gestating brain-child of writer Grant Morrison finally sees print this week with the release of The Multiversity #1. If I’m being totally honest, I’m not as excited about this as I probably should be. I’m certainly not as excited as the many fans of Morrison out there. I mean, this should have me excited; Grant Morrison telling a story about the many realities of the DC Universe in a story that harkens back to his own work on Seven Soldiers and Final Crisis, bringing in new and old characters, and generally going crazy with the DCU. There are things about this series that should have me seven different shades of hyped, but Grant Morrison has always been a writer that I am hit or miss on. I can see the intelligence behind the writing, but his work rarely connects with me on a personal level. However, I’m always willing to give this a shot because Morrison IS a great writer, and also because it has art by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, and that will at least mean it will look pretty. My hope is this will be one of the Morrison stories I do connect with, but part of me worries that it will not be.

Steampunk Battlestar Galactica #1 (of 4) (Dynamite Entertainment – $3.99) I include this on the list purely to have a title with three words that my spell check doesn’t recognize, also because this is just crazy enough to work. Much like Dynamite’s other steampunk book, Legenderry, this series takes the 80’s Battlestar Galactica and adds clockwork Cylons and sky pirates. It’s a little goofy, but then again I like goofy.

Ms. Marvel #7 (Marvel Comics – $2.99) Let me list a couple of things to note about Ms. Marvel that are impressive. One: There are reports out there that Ms. Marvel is that rare book that sells more copies digitally than in print, which is awesome because that means this is series is reaching non-traditional comic fans, which seems to be the ideal market for it. Two: Aside from issue 7 coming out this week, there are also second printings of issues 4 and 5, and an impressive SIXTH printing of issue #1, which means word of mouth on the series keeps building and new fans keep finding the series every month. Both of these facts are even more impressive when you consider this is a new female superhero comic featuring a Muslim character. Traditional wisdom would say that the series has roughly 12 strikes against it and that it shouldn’t sell at all but fortunately traditional wisdom is dumb. Basically, this is just a bog old congratulations to the creative team for making a great book, Marvel for supporting it, and to fans for getting the word out about it. Good on all of you.