Fame: Jennifer Lawrence
Written by Michael Troy
Illustrated by Ben Eargle
Bluewater Comics
Release Date: January 15, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

Jennifer Lawrence is on fire right now. The star of American Hustle and of course, Katniss Everdeen herself from The Hunger Games, Lawrence has that special quality that virtually guarantees superstardom. If Bluewater’s Fame: Jennifer Lawrence comic were capable in any way of impacting her career, she’d be in serious trouble. It is horrible.

Not a single one of the inconsistent drawings of Lawrence looks even remotely like her. You’d think with all the varying depictions of her facial features, artist Ben Eargle might’ve gotten at least one correct. Who told him she had a chiseled, square jaw? Has he seen any of her movies? Looked at a picture of her? The “baby picture” drawing of Lawrence makes her look like some alien creature. Jaw-dropping, hilariously bad. I showed it to my wife and we both had a good laugh.

DayBlack #1
Written & Illustrated by Keef Cross
Rosarium Publishing
Release Date: January 7, 2014
Cover Price: $1.99

DayBlack is a new kind of comics reading experience. It’s more like an art book than a traditional comic book, containing many full-page, striking illustrations, each worthy of framing. A couple of pages contain collages of images/logos from hip-hop culture (MF Doom!), adding to the already unique nature of how creator Keef Cross is telling us this story.

The artwork is super-cool. Thirty-two pages of high-contrast black and white illustrations that reminded me Damion Scott and Jim Mahfood, Jose Munoz, and even Rick Geary in some spots. But make no mistake, Keef Cross has a unique style all his own.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Directed by Ben Stiller
Written by Steve Conrad
Starring Ben Stiller, Kristin Wiig, Adam Scott, Sean Penn, and Shirley MacLaine
Release date: December 25, 2013

Ben Stiller‘s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a common, oft-heard message masquerading as an insight.

To be fair, the message is a sound one “” one we’ve all heard countless times “” but one that few of us heed: Live. Live your life. Get out there and experience it. In order to remind us of that message, superimposed text graphics that feel like they’re from a “Just Do It” Nike commercial, are peppered throughout.

Again, while the sentiment is worthy, I fretted our culture has cultivated an audience for material that feels pithy, but is anything but. In short, the suggestion that they’ve experienced something deep and enriching is enough to make them believe they actually have.

Ghost #1
Volume 4
Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Chris Sebela
Penciled by Ryan Sook
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: December 17, 2013
Cover Price: $2.99

Although I’ve long been aware of the character, this is the first Ghost story (heh) I’ve ever read. And it’s a good one.

Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Chris Sebela, and penciled by the stellar Ryan Sook, Ghost #1 introduces the character to new readers in a way that won’t bore long-time ones.

Ghost’s (aka Elisa Cameron) mission is to purge demons from their human hosts, and then dispense with them. Unfortunately, this means that the human hosts also perish, a fact which while troubling for Elisa, was also something she could work through. Until now.

The Illegitimates #1
Written by Mark Andreyko and Taran Killam
Penciled by Kevin Sharpe
Inked by Diana Greenhalgh
IDW Publishing
Release Date: December 17, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Created by Saturday Night Live star Taran Killam, who co-wrote this first issue with Mark Andreyko, The Illegitimates is an interesting premise in need of a better story and artist.

It’s somewhat similar to the current Velvet series, in that both are concepts spun out of a James Bond-ish world. With Velvet, the concept is “What if Moneypenny were the most dangerous one of them all?”, while The Illegitimates posits that a Bond-like spy, a badass who bedded countless women, inevitably spawned some little badasses along the way.