Recollection #1
Written by Rodney Roger
Art by Ferry Ickhwano
Color by Warnia Sahadewa
R-Comics
Release Date: April 10, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Eddie Lawrence is a former member of a spook organization called the Delta Pack that rained down some holy terror during the Iraq War. How does a hardened killer and adrenaline junkie make a living in the real world? By killing for profit, of course.

Recollection #1 quickly establishes the meaning behind its title, but it’s not what or from whom you might think. As a first issue, you figure that this book is all about Eddie Lawrence and his adventures in assassination, but it’s just as much about his latest customer, Skyler Jean. Her contract seems like easy money. She’s an exotic dancer who simply wants a pervert stalker to disappear. Eddie’s spider sense tingles on this Skyler Jean “” he feels like there’s much more to this story. However, he ignores his instincts and gets wrapped up in the Skyler’s delusional world.

Seduction #1
Created and written by Rodney Roger
Art and Lettering by Laura Kjoge
Coloring by Hernane Lopez Chavez Jr
Cover Art by Aurora Tida
R-Comics
Publication Date: December 23, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Coming from R-Comics, Seduction #1 is a hell of an inaugural issue for a new story, with writing that will pique your interest. The artwork is absolutely stunning, a beautiful result that is just a treat to soak in – and it will most certainly get you curious about this new series. It has a lot of action for an initiation into a new universe, with a sexy lead character who can kick your ass, and has no time for your bullshit.

Seduction shadows Sara Remini, a woman who seems to be searching for a peaceful place to live and exist after having dealt with some as-of-yet-unexplained traumatic experience. Coupled with her girlfriend Madison, Sara pursues solace, tranquility, and safety; a place away from her past. She’s running away from something, and it isn’t a cuddly teddy bear. And now, her past is about to catch up on her – as she is pulled back into some kind of clandestine, covert group she was once associated with – enlisted in a mission we’ve yet to learn about.

The Stereotypical Freaks
Written by Howard Shapiro
Art by Joe Pekar
Letters by Ed Brisson
Supersonic Storybook Production
Release Date: November 14, 2012
Cover Price: $11.95

Pro tip – The right rock and roll makes reading awesome comics more awesome. I discovered this when, as a much younger man and without thinking much about it, I happened to rock Pink Floyd’s The Wall while reading Batman vs. Predator. The drama heightened, the pacing slowed and then sped, and the violence got, in my mind, gorier. I swear, by the end I felt right in the middle of that climactic battle. For the next 5 years after that I had my disc-man blasting every time I thumbed through a book.

It’s a delicate alchemy, though – getting the right tunes to the right book – but when you get an experience as transplendent as listening to Green Day’s Insomniac with X-Men 2099 #21-25 with being 13 years old, then you know that it’s something you must explore.

HIDE #1
Written by Vernon Smith
Art by Vernon Smith
El MacFearsome Comic Squares
Cover Price: $10.00

“Growing up is hard”¦especially when every adult in the world is trying to KILL you!”

Life is good for Kevin. He has a loving little sister, a house, soccer practice, he’s about to learn how to drive, and his parents are the bestest parents ever. He lives the paradisiacal suburban life. One morning while in the shower, his father starts pounding on the bathroom door. Startled, Kevin quickly opens the door. His dad, rocking the Crocs, tries to bash Kevin’s skull with a baseball bat.

HIDE #1 collects the first 20 pages of Vernon Smith‘s webcomic. The story is an interesting twist on the uber-popular zombie genre. Kevin is unwittingly thrust into the middle of a horror story where everyone over the age of 18 just snaps and obsessively hunts down kids. What makes the story even more frightening is that the adults are fully cognizant. They can talk; they can run; they can drive cars. In fact, they can even seem downright normal until they see a kid. Then they go batshit crazy and murderous.

In a world permeated by social media and mobile communication, it seems impossible to ignore the persistent thoughts inside your own head long enough to really focus on a concept like gift giving — a single act of generosity tailored to a specific person for the sole purpose of making them ridiculously, tear-inducingly happy.

I’d like to believe most people would enjoy being able to come up with a gift of that caliber on an annual basis for every single person in their lives. Realistically, only those closest to you will be afforded thoughtful presents while the bulk of others will get something for the sake of giving them something. Giving a thoughtful gift to someone you don’t know very well can prove to be a difficult task.

That is, unless you are one of the more than 17,000 Reddit users in 90 different countries who participated in the site’s second Secret Santa gift exchange, which generated over $600,000 (and counting) in purchases and set a new world record, according to a post by Hueypriest on the Reddit blog.