Usagi Yojimbo, Vol. 26: Traitors of The Earth
Created Written and Illustrated by Stan Sakai
Introduction by Walter Simonson
Editor Diana Schutz
Assistant Editor: Brendan Wright
Design & Digital Production: Cary Grazzini
Publisher: Mike Richardson
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: June 27, 2012
Cover Price: $16.99

Well, that’s it. Zombies have officially taken over. First that Walking Dead Stuff, then the Marvel Zombies. Before I knew it they were skulking about the bridge of the USS Enterprise and then that Blackest Night thing, but if they can make it all the way into the pages of Usagi Yojimbo then where else is there to go? Eightball?

Seriously, though, for better or for worse, in spite of the kick-ass cover, the living dead have not infected Stan Sakai‘s Talking-Animals/Feudal-Era-Japan, his samurai rabbit heroes’ morals do not get tested when he has to decide to hack off the head of a bitten loved one; in fact, it takes up a relatively small portion of this volume. As anyone who’s been following this book for years will tell you, anything goes here. Usagi Yojimbo Volume 26 has zombies, hidden fortresses, assassination plots, dudes getting stabbed to death, water spirits, former allys seeking vengece, and an evil wizard that reminded me of a Skeksie from the Dark Crystal. So, yeah, it’s not just ‘Usagi Fights The Zombies’ here. But, by the way, it is there. And it’s awesome.

Champions of The Wild Weird West
Written and Created by Michael David Nelson and Erik Hendrix
Artwork and Color by George Kambadais
Lettering by Erik Hendrix and Amanda Hendrix
Edited by Amanda Hendrix
Arcana Comics
Cover Price $14.95

It’s tricky pulling off a team story. Does every character get equal time to shine, like in The Avengers? Is it actually a story about a team or is that a smokescreen and it’s really about a single protagonist who learns to be a part of a team, like every single 3 Musketeers/D’Artagnan movie I’ve ever seen? Champions of The Wild Weird West features an old western posse of seven distinct, interesting characters – just about any of whom could lead in a compelling series on their own – in a story pitting them against an equally varied mish-mash of foes with art that I’ll gush over below because I really, really dig it. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t quite enjoy the story itself, but like I said, team stories are tricky.

The five-issue mini-series from Arcana opens with a saloon fight between a samurai and bounty hunters. Let that last part sink in for a second. It’s a kick-ass action sequence that quickly proclaims this book to be a Sergio Leone-esque spaghetti western by way of Samurai Jack. The whole first third of the book involves train robberies, zombies, introducing the squad of odd-balls, and generally topping absurdity upon absurdity. Bandits accidentally let loose a plague of the living dead on a train going over a Native American burial ground infecting both the passengers and the corpses below. The Samurai Taro, the dashing and well to do adventurer New York Jack and his posse, Polikwaptaqwast, a young Native American shaman, and a masked supernatural figure named The Grey Gun converge at the scene with their own missions in mind. The newly formed Champions forge an alliance against the well to-do villains they quickly deduce were behind the attack.

Locke & Key, Vol. 5: Clockworks
Written by Joe Hill
Art by Gabriel Rodriguez
Colors by Jay Fotos
Letters by Robbie Robbins
Series Edited by Chris Ryall
Collection Edited by Justin Eisinger
Collection Designed by Robbie Robbins
IDW Publishing
Release Date: July 24, 2012
Cover Price: $24.99

Right off the bat I’m putting a light spoiler warning at the top for Locke & Key Volumes 1 – 4. If you haven’t read them yet, get on it.

Remember reading that issue of Locke & Key where they play with the head key for the first time? The key that goes into the back of anyone’s neck, makes the top of your cranium disappear like you’re the Kool-Aid Man and allows you to remove memories and emotions and oddly allows you to peer into your own mind? And that, best of all it’s a magic that only kids can see? It’s one of my fondest memories reading the series so far. It cemented that while the book would also feature edge-of-your-seat terror with truly warm characters you feel like you know, there’d also be space for a particular form of magic: an enchanted, childlike sense of magic. If you’re like me and you wait to read the book in those handsome trades, well, ta-da, Locke & Key Volume 5 Clockworks is here.

The Trials and Tribulations of Miss Tilney #1
Story by David Doub
Art by Sarah Elkins
Colors and Flashback Art by Danielle Alexis St. Pierre
Letteres by Joamette Gil
Front Cover Line Art by Tony Parker
Back Cover Line Art by Charles Holbert
Additional Illustrations by Kyle Lawler
Dusk Comics
Release Date: April 30, 2012
Cover Price: $4.99

I’ll say this about The Trials and Tribulations of Miss Tilney, it wears its influences thoroughly on its sleeve. Specifically this is heavily inspired by the early volumes of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the latest slew of Guy Ritchie-directed Sherlock Holmes movies, and probably just about any fun, Victorian-era, quasi-steampunkish movie or comic that’s come out in the past ten or twelve years. Is it a good read? Eh, you know exactly what you’re getting in this. Oh, and it moves fast. Possibly too fast, it’s hard to say.

There doesn’t appear to be a straightforward pitch for the series’ premise, but to sum up the first issue: the titular character, a newspaper columnist longing to do real journalism, gets the opportunity to do so. Her editor is looking for someone to investigate The Harwood Murders. Lord Beowolf Harwood, a renowned hunter, was at a party in his honor when he suddenly shot up the guests. After a very Silence of The Lambs-esque build-up, Miss Tilney gets an interview with him only to discover that he’s no Hannibal Lecter. Locked up with his accomplice, Dr. Plum, he manages to convince her of his innocence and suggests that there’s a more sinister plot afoot. Escape plans are quickly enacted and before we know it, the three are secluded in Harwoods Manner where things quickly go violent and grim.

The Monolith
Written and created by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
Artwork and Cover by Phil Winslade
Introduction by Jim Steranko
Coloring by Chris Chuckry
Lettering by Nick Napolitano & Phil Balsman
Designed by Bill Tortolini
Edited by Joey Cavalieri & Harvey Richards
Image Comics
Release Date: July 25, 2012
Cover Price: $17.99

It’s odd when DC attempts to ground their weird and exciting fictional universe, full of Kryptonians, Lantern Corps, and Ambush Bugs, in some sort of “˜real’ world. How one defines what’s ‘realistic’ is subjective, of course, and has led to approaches like Batman: Year One and Identity Crisis. As you can see, the typical story involves the same line-up of characters in their same fictional locations. There’s a new direction in The Monolith that writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray took. They created a new character, based not-so-loosely on the Jewish legend of The Golem, and the action in the book is smack-dab in the actual New York City (with Depression-era history attached to boot!).

So how does this stack up? It’s got some good qualities and some bad. And how is this an actual DC book and not, say, a Vertigo title? Well, it’s subtle and shows up around the edges, but I’ll get to that in a bit.