Incognegro: Renaissance #1
Written by Mat Johnson
Art by Warren Pleece
Letters by Clem Robins
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 7, 2018
Cover Price: $3.99

Of all the things I have written for this site, none have ever made me hesitate so much or so often. In today’s racially charged climate, it takes little to pit people against one another. Regardless of your position or stance in the political arena, this fact cannot be ignored. And while this comic book series is set almost a hundred years ago, it seems even more relevant today than it did even ten years ago. Incognegro: Renaissance #1 is, first and foremost, a murder mystery. But it being set in 1920’s New York serves to show the reader far more than just a homicide.

John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction: Vortex #4
Written by Mike Sizemore
Pencils and Inks by Dave Kennedy
Colors by Pete Kennedy
Lettering by Janice Chiang
Edited by Sandy King
Cover Art by Tim Bradstreet
Storm King Comics
Release date: January 31, 2018
Price: $3.99

“Yesterday upon the stair, I met a man who wasn’t there.” – Hughes Mearns

Another historic poetic verse puts in motion issue 4 of Vortex, the second story arc in John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction, a monthly anthology series from Storm King Comics. The verse opens Mearns’ 1899 poem “Antigonish” and has been referenced for everything from ghost stories to Lil Wayne rap songs. Here the “man who wasn’t there” could be the haunting presence on both the deep space mining colony and the Space Station Benson on the other side of the galaxy.

Time & Vine TPB
Story and Art by Thomas F. Zahler
Colors by Luigi Anderson
IDW Publishing
Release Date: January 24, 2018
Cover Price: $24.99

In a medium that is overrun with super powered entities and horrifying monsters, it is a breath of fresh air to get a small taste of the mundane. But, lest it seem common or stale to the reader, this particular tale weaves a bit of magic through the almost two hundred pages of which Time & Vine is comprises.

John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction: Vortex #3
Written by Mike Sizemore
Pencils and Inks by Dave Kennedy
Colors by Pete Kennedy
Lettering by Janice Chiang
Edited by Sandy King
Cover Art by Tim Bradstreet
Storm King Comics
Release date: January 3, 2018
Price: $3.99

Vortex is the second story from Storm King Comics’ new monthly anthology series, John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction, developed by the Horror Master himself with his wife and collaborator Sandy King Carpenter. Vortex is an 8-issue story harkening back to genre classics like Aliens, dealing with a mining station in space in which the crew disappears forcing Captain Jake Dixon and crew to lead the rescue mission. As is the tradition now, writer Mike Sizemore gives our introduction highlighted by a classical poet, this time William Blake: “In the universe there are things that are known and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.”

Klaus and the Crisis in Xmasville #1
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Dan Mora
Letters by Ed Dukeshire
Cover by Dan Mora, John Cassady and Laura Martin, Frank Quitely
Boom! Studios
Release Date: December 6, 2017
Cover Price: $7.99

Now here is a comic that breathes all new life into the lyrical line “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” In Klaus and the Crisis in Xmasville #1, our hero is determined to right wrongs by kicking the most ass possible. If you have read the previous comic then you know he is a stubborn immortal with a penchant for getting what he wants.

Klaus has no vested interest in the mortal world, for the most part. But when one of his favors is called in, he is forced to see that a century old enmity has been revived and that which he thought was finished, is in actuality not. But this is a can of worms that he is not quite initially prepared for, though that changes quickly.