Last Day in Vietnam
Written by Will Eisner
Art by Will Eisner
Cover by Will Eisner
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: March 19, 2013
Cover Price: $17.99

Will Eisner is the man who literally wrote the book on creating comics. His Comics and Sequential Art has influenced comic creators since its original publication in 1985 and was my introduction to Eisner’s work. Last Day in Vietnam is the first non-technical Eisner book that I have ever read and I now fully understand why Wizard Magazine named him the “Most Influential Comic Artist of All Time.”

Following World War II, the military contracted Will Eisner for many years to create a monthly equipment maintenance manual called PS Magazine. His work took him on-site to both the Korean War and the Vietnam War to gather maintenance stories from military personnel. Last Day in Vietnam is a collection of his encounters during this stage of Eisner’s career. The graphic novel consists of six shorts, not in any apparent order.

Jericho, Season 4 #2
Created by Dan Shotz, Robert Levine & Kalindra Vazquez
Written by Kalindra Vazquez
Art by Andrew Currie
Colors by Hi-Fi
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Cover by Tim Bradstreet
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 20, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

The city of Jericho is now unwittingly hosting the terrorist mastermind behind the nuclear attacks that splintered the United States. In the first issue, Jake Green and Robert Hawkins suppressed their vengeful instincts to work with John Smith, who is likely the only man who can help the resistance overthrow the Allied States (A.S.A.) government. Jericho, Season 4 #2 makes bold moves with the storyline that will evoke warm memories of the post-apocalyptic, political intrigue that hooked fans on the short-lived television series.

John Smith is now fully embedded in Jericho society. He takes an unassuming cover as an engaging teacher who just happens to work closely with Emily. Jake is uncomfortable with the most wanted man by both sides working hand-in-hand with his girlfriend. She invites John over for dinner with them where John subtly taunts Jake about being out of the loop while divulging the details of his latest plan.

Super Corporate Heroes #3
Written by Suzy Dias & Miguel Guerra
Art by Miguel Guerra
Letters by Suzy Dias
7 Robots
Release Date: February 13, 2013
Cover Price: 99¢

Super Corporate Heroes is Miguel Guerra and Suzy Dias’ brilliant and entertaining metaphor for the perpetual debate on public healthcare built around an early, ’80s style, comic world. In this unique political satire, superheroes are forced to obtain a license and serve under the monopolistic SuperHeroes Inc. Ordinary citizens must be insured to receive a rescue in times of need and, if they don’t have coverage, they are either subjected to an exorbitant fee or left to fend for themselves.

It’s survival of the fittest in this Candyland of Ayn Randian objectivism. Principled superheroes who long for the days of compassion and selflessness are driven out of the business and branded as commies by mouth-breathing talking heads and greedy politicians. Does this all sound vaguely familiar?

Evil Ernie #4
Written by Jesse Snider
Art by Jason Craig
Colors by Maxflan Araujo
Letters by Troy Peteri
Covers by Ardian Syaf, Dan Brereton, Kyle Hotz, Stephen Segovia
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: February 13, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Evil Ernie is shaping up to be more than just a splatterhouse comic. Oh, don’t worry, there’s plenty of delicious limb cleaving and ball eating. Yes, ball eating. This series is sick. But, Evil Ernie is displaying much more character development and meticulous plotting than you’d ever expect from the comic subgenre of gratuitous violence.

In the last issue, Ernie ran into Uriel the archangel who told him that his true destiny was to lead Heaven’s war against Hell. Uriel was right in the middle of trying to save Ernie’s soul when Smiley revealed himself as a demonic, facehugging parasite and stabbed him in the head. Evil Ernie #4 was all teed up for a huge showdown between Smiley and Ernie. However, after a little sitdown, Ernie shelves his moral crises and instead focuses on his missing arm and surviving the chaos unleashed at the Widmark maximum security prison.

Red Team #1
Written by Garth Ennis
Pencils by Craig Cemak
Colors by Adriano Lucas
Letters by Rob Steen
Covers by Ryan Sook, Howard Chaykin, & Russ Braun
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: February 6, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Dynamite Comics’ new series, Red Team, is a classic “dirty cop” mini-series that focuses on a team of elite detectives. The Red Team was formed to deal with the worst of the worst criminals. Which eventually brings them to Clinton Days, a drug dealing, pimping, child pornograph-ing murderer. Days eluded and frustrated the team for almost two years with a mix of clean crimes and fancy lawyering. He finally pushes them too far by killing a cop. The group decides the only way to get Days off the streets is with some vigilante justice.

Writer Garth Ennis takes the Red Team down a slippery-slope storyline. The concept is a proven winner spawning well-regarded and highly rewatchable television series such as The Shield and movies like Training Day. Cops are bound by the law to bring criminals to justice, not justice to the criminals. But once this group crosses that line, they realize that they are phenomenally good at it and it won’t be the last time they murder somebody. However, we already know that the team screws up somewhere along the line: the core of the story occurs in an interrogation room.