The Creators
Part One
Written and drawn by Michael S Bracco
Spaghetti Kiss
Release Date: September 2012
Cover Price: $9.99

Dude, straight up, this comic is pretty awesome. The pitch: A la The X-Men, every one in a million people will be blessed and cursed with a power that will develop in their awkward, pubescent teen years, but rather then popping claws or mastering magnetism or whatever-the-hell-it-is-Cable-does these kids get one specific power – to bring anything they imagine come to life through drawing. And just like that, you got a lovely set up for a meta story about comic book storytelling, the process of making comics itself, and disgruntled youth.

More to the point, The Creators inaugural issue focuses on Maya, a typical 16-year-old whose into fairy tales, art class, and whose begun showing signs that she’ll be gifted with this power and her parents as they react, quite reasonably, to balancing their new obligations of registering their daughter to the government which will ship her off to their Creator Academy and being loving parents.

The Stereotypical Freaks
Written by Howard Shapiro
Art by Joe Pekar
Letters by Ed Brisson
Supersonic Storybook Production
Release Date: November 14, 2012
Cover Price: $11.95

Pro tip – The right rock and roll makes reading awesome comics more awesome. I discovered this when, as a much younger man and without thinking much about it, I happened to rock Pink Floyd’s The Wall while reading Batman vs. Predator. The drama heightened, the pacing slowed and then sped, and the violence got, in my mind, gorier. I swear, by the end I felt right in the middle of that climactic battle. For the next 5 years after that I had my disc-man blasting every time I thumbed through a book.

It’s a delicate alchemy, though – getting the right tunes to the right book – but when you get an experience as transplendent as listening to Green Day’s Insomniac with X-Men 2099 #21-25 with being 13 years old, then you know that it’s something you must explore.

Hell Yeah Vol. 1: Last Day On Earths
Written by Joe Keatinge
Pencilled by Andre Szymanowicz
Inked by Andre Szymanowicz & Fabio Redivo
Colored by Jason Lewis
Lettered by Dougles E. Sherwood
Edited by Ron Richards
Book Design by Vincent Kukua
Ceated by Keatinge & Szymanowicz
Image Comics
Release Date: Oct. 3, 2012
Cover Price: $9.99

Joe Keatinge‘s new Image Comics series Hell Yeah has been described as a sort of “Sequel to the 90s.” That strange period in cape books when Superman could for-real-no-kidding die (just kidding), characters like Cable could pop-up out of nowhere to lead a teenage gang and it was every artists duty to top their last issue big issue with something bigger and weirder.

In contrast to many of today’s comics, which are dedicated to examining and re-examining old characters and storytelling tropes – a.k.a. post- modernity, the 90s were about conjuring the new and unfamiliar, finding what’s cool and sexy today (and, yes, I’m totally generalizing, get over it).

Memorial
Written by Chris Roberson
Art by Rich Ellis
Colors by Grace Allison
Letters by Neil Uyetake, Robbie Robbins, and Shawn Lee
Edits by Mariah Heuhner
Cover by Michael WM Kaluta
Collection Edits by Justin Eisinger & Alonzo Simon
Design by Neil Uyetake & Robbie Robbins
Introduction by Bill Willingham
IDW Publishing
Release Date: September 26, 2012
Cover Price: $24.99

It’s always a safe bet to trust your gut. Way back in February I wrote a lukewarm review of the new Fantasy book from Chris Roberson (Superman, co-publisher of Monkey Brain Comics) Memorial #3. I said, in essence:

What I just read is the middle of a larger story. It was ok, but it’s too early to say if the bigger book will be any good just yet.

I suspected it would deliver, but I’m kind of a coward sometimes. Add to that, for whatever personal reasons Fantasy is not a genre I’m usually drawn to. I have massive respect for your Elf Quests and Conan The Barbarians for their craftsmanship, but for as far back as I can remember it’s never been my bag, y’know?

Womanthology: Space #1
Written by Bonnie Burton, Sandy King Carpenter, Alison Ross, Ming Doyle
Story by Alison Ross and Stephanie Hans
Art by Jessica Hickman, Tanja Wooten, Stephanie Hans, Ming Doyle
Letters by Rachel Deering
Colors by Jordie Bellaire
Strips by Stacie Ponder
IDW Publishing
Release Date: September 19, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Well, this is what happens when a comic Kickstarter project makes a hundred grand. Back in August of last year artist Renae De Liz (IDW’s The Last Unicorn) put out her proposed Womanthology book, featuring a wide array of female writers and artists. Working off the theme of Heroic, it managed to make over four times its goal of $25,000, sending the message that there’s a strong demand for more venues where women can showcase their work in the field. IDW got the message loud and clear.

The sequel, Womanthology: Space, features stories about filling empty rooms with furniture and accutrements.

Wow, what a terrible joke… sorry – it’s a smorgasbord of rockets, alien planets, and journeys to the stars. Jumping from sub-genre to sub-genre (space drama to space parody to space horror, etc.) and art styles, this first issue shares a playfulness akin to your average Heavy Metal, with, naturally, the testosterone notched down a bit. Editor Mariah Huehner has curated a book showcasing women doing so much of what really talented men do well in comics.