By Lucid Crash

Choker, Vol. 1
Story by Ben McCool
Art by Ben Templesmith
Letters by Tom B. Long
Image Comics
Release Date: May 16, 2012
Cover Price: $16.99

In Choker, Johnny Jackson is a hard-boiled Private Investigator or Gumshoe and he has the cigarettes, trenchcoat, cramped messy office, surly demeanor, and the contempt for the police force that canned him to prove it. What the reader is supposed to assume is he now leads a life of obscurity blurred by booze (even if the first scene finds him spying on the mayor’s dalliances), but is about to get his one shot at public redemption when the cops call upon him to catch the drug dealer “Hunt Cassidy” he locked up years earlier.

Jackson is surely an antihero with a vulgar mouth and skeletons in the closet, but he is not without his charms. At his most human we see him caring for his kind and nerdy assistant Seaton Price. With a backstory that is highlighted by the Shotgun Police Force forcing him to take an experimental drug called “Man Plus” which is supposed to turn ordinary civil servants into robocops, Jackson evokes sympathy after being left with a serious side effect that comes to define him. A vise-like gripping hand that has a mind of its own earns him the unfortunate moniker “Choker,” and robs him of his badge and dignity after being deemed a danger to others.

Each and every week “Heel Heat” MK2Fac3 and “No Show” Henchman21 read a lot of comics. Seriously you guys, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. I mean, it is possible”¦ theoretically. 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 lists, grab some comics, and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of March 28, 2012. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

My Henchman is on sabbatical this week, so I’ve decided to go solo. If H21 were here, though, I’m sure he’d ramble on about a variety of comics, but he’s not. So, get over it! But enough of all that! I wanted to address to important items that are on my radar this week. Firstly, it’s the week after my birthday and none of you got me anything! I’m so incredibly disappointed in each and every one of you. I spend my time giving you something entertaining to read and this is how you repay me!? In the words of the legendary The Iron Sheik, “::expletive deleted::!” Goodness gracious alive, folks! Anyway, on to the next item on the docket, it’s Wrestlemania week! Everyone celebrate! YAY! CM Punk is going to beat Chris Jericho and that’s a fact, Jack! Oh yeah, this feature is about comics…. Here’s this week’s The GoD List!

Choker #1
Written by Ben McCool
Art by Ben Templesmith
Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Released date: February 24, 2010

If you’ve been longing for the return of Warren Ellis’ Fell this is probably the closest thing that will fill that hole until the long fabled tenth issue comes out. This is of course largely due to artist Ben Templesmith, who puts his always moody style to work here. Of course, saying that Chocker is similar to Fell does it a disservice. Outside of the visual style, the story is very different.

Johnny Jackson is your typical down on his luck private eye, until he is given the chance to rejoin the police force by capturing an escaped criminal he helped put in jail. The first issue is largely concerned with setting up the futuristic world and the main character, and it does that very well. I didn’t know much about the series coming into this issue, but enjoyed what was here, and I hope there will be more story in the next issue. New writer Ben McCool has a good handle on how to introduce the characters and even though there’s a lot of things to introduce — the futuristic setting, the background of the main character, and even an odd twist ending to the issue — I never felt confused by what was going on.