Translucid #6
Written by Claudio Sanchez & Chondra Echert
Art by Daniel Bayliss
Colors by Adam Metcalfe
Letters by Ed Dukeshire
Covers by Jeff Stokely
Evil Ink!/BOOM! Studios
Release Date: September 17, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

The first superhero story from the creative team of Claudio Sanchez and Chondra Echert (Key of Z, Kill Audio) wraps up this week with the final issue of Translucid, a story that deconstructs the relationship between hero and villain as we see the final showdown between The Navigator and The Horse. And let me tell you, it doesn’t go down the way you would think.

Essentially, Translucid asks the question, “What would happen if Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s Batman: The Killing Joke had gone a different way?” And that’s exactly what this comic is… with a twist. Whereas Moore looks at the possible origin of The Joker, Team Sanchez explore the origins of their hero The Navigator. This is all established in previous issues, but reading it as a whole with issues 1-6, it not only becomes an homage to one of the most critically acclaimed comic book works, but it also becomes a companion piece.

Key of Z #4
Written by Claudio Sanchez and Chondra Echert
Art by Aaron Kuder
Colors by Charlie Kirchoff
Letters by Johnny Lowe
Cover by Nathan Fox and Jeromy Cox
Evil Ink Comics/BOOM! Studios
Release Date: January 25, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

I’ve read a lot of zombie-themed comic books, but I can honestly say that I’ve never read one quite like Key of Z, and I’m going to tell you right now, from the first issue to the last issue, this series is fantastic.

I’ve been following the creation of the series since 2010 when creators Claudio Sanchez and Chondra Echert first announced that they would be working on a zombie comic that would take place in New York City and encompass a lot of specifics from the area under the working title Subway Seriez, which is still used as the subtitle for Key of Z, as evidenced by the cover of issue three.

Each and every week “Let’s Go Red Wings!” MK2Fac3 and “Clap! Clap! Clap, Clap, Clap!” 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 January 25, 2012. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

The other day, I was staring down the barrel of a 30-issue stack of comics with wide eyes and a full heart. By the time I got halfway through, the fact of the matter is that my eyes were starting to squint and my heart shrunk 10 sizes. I’m kind of the reverse-Grinch after he stole Christmas. But only with comics. And really, it’s tough to get excited about comics, because honestly… they let you down a lot of times. So, it’s always a good thing when you find a couple of people that can give you guidance on what are safe bets for things that don’t suck. Hopefully we are those people for you, and when we’re not certain on what’s going to be good or not, we tell you honestly. If there’s one thing you can trust, we’re not here to promote companies, we’re here to promote comics that we enjoy and that we think that you will enjoy.

So, enjoy this, The GoD List, your place for weekly comics and collections!

Key of Z #1
Written by Claudio Sanchez, Chondra Echert
Art by Aaron Kuder
Colors by Charlie Kirchoff
Letters by Johnny Lowe
Covers by Nathan Fox, Tony Moore (Variant), Declan Shalvey (NYCC Exclusive Variant)
Evil Ink! Comics/BOOM! Studios
Release Date: October 19, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

It’s always a little difficult for me to write a review on something where I feel a little emotionally attached. For those who haven’t been paying attention to this site, we’ve covered Key of Z pretty much since its inception when we interviewed both Claudio Sanchez and Chondra Echert at last year’s New York Comic-Con when it was still known as Subway Seriez up to this past month when we interviewed the writers again to revisit the series and see what else was coming up. They’ve always been super generous, kind, and open to me. So, that makes viewing the comic objectively extremely hard. It’s because of this, and the fact that Sanchez’s band Coheed and Cambria is my favorite band of all time, that I am extremely hard on their books when I read them. That said, I adored the team’s previous work Kill Audio and I love Key of Z #1.

Most everyone in the geek world knows that New York Comic-Con is going on this weekend and it just so happens that one of my favorite comic book companies, Evil Ink!, is here to sell merch and sling comics!

Luckily, I got a chance to catch up with Claudio Sanchez (of Coheed and Cambria) and Chondra Echert on their upcoming book Key of Z on the convention floor at Booth 1345 about the new comic, what they’re looking forward to seeing at the convention, and what they’ve got coming up. You can watch my video interview here below. Now, the audio quality on the video is a little off, so before you take to the comments section to tell me that I should have been looking at the camera or using a mic, I totally agree with you. My bad, it will never happen again.

So, to save you the ear strain, I wanted to tell you about some of the high points from the interview, and they are listed here below.