The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures
By Dave Stevens
Coloring by Laura Martin
Lettering by Carrie Spiegle
Volume 1 art assist by Jaimie Hernandez
Co-writers of Volume 2, chapters 2 & 3: Danny Bilson & Paul Demeo
Volume 2 art assist by: Art Adams, Geof Darrow, Gary Gianni, Mike Kaluta, Stan Manoukian, Sandy Plunkett, and Vince Roucher
Volume 2, chapters 2 & 3 covers by: Dave Stevens and painted by Dave Dorman and Paul Chadwick
Edited by Scott Dunbier
Collected Edition by: Justin Eisinger and Alonzo Simon
Cover by Dave Stevens
IDW Publishing
Release Date: March 18, 2015
Cover Price: $19.99

The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures is essential to your comic book collection. Reviewing a book like this is super hard. It’s all classic material, every bit of it. But, I’ll do my best.

Dave Stevens is a talented writer. He was a HUGE fan of this era of history, and it shows. Even though this material was written decades ago, it still applies and connects with the reader today. In this age where people watch movies and television shows and basically live their lives on their phones, it’s nice to visit a simpler time. One where the world was a lot bigger. People actually used their mouths to talk to other people, having conversations that lasted an afternoon, and were not limited to 140 characters. These adventures of Cliff Secord and the mysterious jetpack that he found will make take you from the edge of your seat, put you through the full gambit of emotions and give you the greatest gift that a story can give you: Hope.

God Hates Astronauts #1
Written by Ryan Browne
Art by Ryan Browne
Colors by Jordan Boyd
Letters by Chris Crank & Ryan Browne
Designs by Thomas Quinn
Covers by Ryan Browne & Geof Darrow & Ryan Browne
Image Comics
Release Date: September 3, 2014
Cover Price: $3.50

Hot off the heels of his MEGA-successful Kickstarter campaign, Ryan Browne didn’t just sit around smoking cigars and counting money! NO! He got hard at work on what we all wanted — God Hates Astronauts #1!!! Was it worth the wait? Let’s take a look……

Ryan Browne starts you laughing from the inside front cover and keeps you laughing until the very back. I’m not kidding here, folks. This is literally cover-to-cover funny. We get an awesome space battle/disaster and that goes right into a man’s love affair with a chicken. Yes, you read that right. A chicken. And if you haven’t read the first volume of GHA (shame on you!), don’t worry! There’s a great character that comes along to recap what’s come before so that you are not lost or confused at all. I don’t want to go into story details because honestly, if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. I can’t stress enough that this is one of the funniest and most entertaining comics that I’ve read in ages.

Shaolin Cowboy #1
Written and illustrated by Geof Darrow
Colors by Dave Stewart
Variant Cover by Walt Simonson
Pinups by Simon Roy, Aaron Conley, and Damon Gentry
Letters by Peter Doherty
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: October 9, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

This isn’t really a number one, but rather part of an ongoing tale, the last issue of Shaolin Cowboy having come out six years ago. With a schedule this spotty, I suppose it seemed smarter to renumber it as a first issue. Because of its sparse text, those picking it up for the first time won’t necessarily be lost, so it’s suitable as an introduction to the character/series.

As noted, the previous issue is six years old, so I can’t really remember the plot (such as it was), and can’t be bothered do dig through my short boxes. I can tell you that the art was insanely detailed and über-violent. And that’s why you buy this comic. For the inventive ways Geof Darrow figures out how to kill people, and for his exquisite renderings illustrating those depictions.

Each and every week “Easy Peasy” MK2Fac3 and “Livin’ Greasy” 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 April 18, 2012. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

Man, comics are pretty expensive, huh? I’m sitting here looking at my pull list this week, and I’m not seeing a lot of books that fall under the price of three dollars. See, while comics for the most part are less than a gallon of gasoline in some regions, others are more, which is just flat out insane. So, when we’re stuck in an economy such as this, with an unemployment rate as high as it, we need an escape. And if you’re reading this, I’m assuming that you’re escape is the same as ours, comic books. Comic books get a lot of flack for a lot of different reasons, but there’s something about even the super hero books that everyone complains about that offer something that no other form of entertainment offers. So, it’s with this idea that we present The GoD List, a list full of comics that we are looking forward to that should help you, if not solve these real-life situation, then at least provide away to temporarily relieve them by letting you know what’s worth your time and why.

Dark Horse Presents #8
Stories by Mike Mignola and John Arcudi, Evan Dorkin, Tony Puryear, Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin, Alan Gordon, Brian Wood, Martin Conaghan, Rich Johnston, M. J. Butler

Back Cover and Spot Illustrations by Geof Darrow
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 1, 2012
Cover Price: $7.99

Dark Horse brings out their best and brightest talent for the 8th installment of their legendary anthology Dark Horse Presents. For anyone new to Dark Horse’s line of titles this anthology is a perfect jumping-on point. Dark Horse Presents #8 collects both new and old titles that accurately showcase the publisher’s diverse line of comics. Not every comic featured in the anthology is a hit, though. However, with stories from Mike Mignola and Brain Wood, Dark Horse Presents #8 is a collection worth picking up.