Each week, MK2Fac3 and Henchman21 read a lot of comics. Seriously, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. They look forward to some more than others, I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of their pull list, grab some issues and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of May 25, 2011. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

MK2FAC3

ISSUES

There are a lot of great comics coming out this week, as usual, with some titles like Butcher Baker: The Righteous Maker, The Tattered Man one-shot from Palmiotti and Gray, The Mighty Thor, the flawless Snyder/JOCK Detective Comics, and a Strange Adventures anthology that features some of Vertigo’s best talent, but listed here below are some of the books I’m most interested in.

The Amory Wars: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 #11 (Boom! Studios – $3.99): In its penultimate issue, the story inspired by Coheed and Cambria’s second full-length album comes to a head as the final chapter of this epic sci-fi adventure written by Coheed singer Claudio Sanchez and Peter David. The title centers around the growth of a young man into his role as the savior of the universe, and these last few issues will certainly set up the next exciting chapter of this incredible story. I’ve enjoyed every aspect of this series, and my excitement has reached its pinnacle. It’s a bit of a long mini-series, and there was an artist change, but so much happens in this book, and the difference between Burnham and Kuder is minimal, and in my opinion, worked out for the better on The Amory Wars. This is a personal favorite of mine, and I simply can’t wait to see how it all turns out.

The Amory Wars
In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 #9 (of 12)
Created by Claudio Sanchez
Written by Claudio Sanchez and Peter David
Art by Aaron Kuder
Colors by Zac Atkinson
Letters by Johnny Lowe
Cover by Chris Burnham
Evil Ink Comics/Boom! Studios
Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 30, 2011

The Amory Wars – In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 starts to move into its last leg and you can tell. Claudio Sanchez and Peter David turn up the excitement in this issue, while beginning to wrap up the 12-issue miniseries in the best way possible.

The issue starts as all others have with the narration by main protagonist Claudio Kilgannon explaining the events of the book to Apollo, the dog of former girlfriend Newo Ikkin. But in this issue, you can tell there is something different. Something has changed within our hero. And that something is Claudio finally realizing and confronting his fear, and his necessary acceptance of his growth into the protector against the ultimate villain, The Supreme Tri-Mage Wilhelm Ryan. While the turning point for action was a couple of issues ago, issue #9 is the turning point for the characters.

Children of the Fence, please welcome new artist Aaron Kuder to The Amory Wars: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3!

Evil Ink Comics, in association with Boom! Studios, recently announced through TheAmoryWars.com that Kuder comes in, hand-picked from the ongoing artist, Chris Burnham, who, as evidenced by a post by Kuder himself at Tenton Studios forum, is moving on to do more work on a Batman title, probably solidified by his awesome work from Batman & Robin #16.

I’ve been a fan of The Amory Wars since The Second Stage Turbine Blade, and the art for IKSSE:3 has been awesome, and I’ve really grown to love Burnham’s work, but fear not! I’ve done a little digging, and I don’t think fans of the series will have anything to worry about. Like I said previously stated, Chris Burnham hand-picked Aaron Kuder, and after exploring his work a little bit from his official art site, and a couple of other sites, and I absolutely love what I’ve seen.

The Amory Wars: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 #2
Writers: Claudio Sanchez and Peter David
Artist: Chris Burnham
Colorist: Zac Atkinson
Letterer: Johnny Lowe
Published By: Boom! Studios/Evil Ink Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: June 23, 2010

The science fiction epic The Amory Wars: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3 really takes off in this second issue of the series. After the introductions to the cast we get a little more back story regarding the characters, and the action starts when we see the characters of Inferno and his children, and get more of a look at the villains of the story, General Mayo Deftinwolf, and the Supreme Tri-Mage Wilhelm Ryan. Claudio Sanchez and Peter David take this issue to set up the conflicts in the story and provide a refresher in the motivations for each of the characters, and they do a fantastic job in doing so.

Issue #2 starts where we left off, with our hero, Claudio Kilgannon, explaining to his former girlfriend’s dog where he has been and all of the reasons for his absence in their lives. Sanchez and David use this conversation as a device to explain more of the history of the series, which is very complex and has previously had an entire series that takes place before In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3. Also, we experience the trials and tribulations of those that oppose the Supreme Tri-Mage, and get a real look at the rebel forces through the descriptions of Kilgannon’s experiences off-planet, and Inferno growing his forces to fight this evil empire.

The Amory Wars: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
Creator: Claudio Sanchez
Writers: Claudio Sanchez & Peter David
Artist: Chris Burnham
Boom! Studios
Release date: May 26, 2010

You had me from “Hello Apollo, where should I begin.”

Pardon me while I fanboy…

First, I’d like to state that I am, indeed, a huge fan of Coheed and Cambria, and their album In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 (henceforth to be referred to as IKSSE:3), so it’s pretty much a given that I will love this comic book if it stays anywhere near what the album did for me.

Coheed and Cambria, the band, has a series of five albums, each telling an integral part to an overall science fiction story about the destruction of these characters’ universe (The Keywork) and the rise of its rightful hero, Claudio Kilgannon. All of this is done through the glory of prog rock. There have been previous interpretations of Coheed’s work including a novel adaptation of the first chapter, Year of the Black Rainbow, and an original graphic novel based on Chapter IV: Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star: IV, which is now considered out of continuity. But IKSSE:3 picks up from the latest comic interpretation of Chapter II: The Second Stage Turbine Blade. I’ve keep up with pretty much all of this, so I was definitely excited for the release of this story.