Morning Glories, Volume 3
Written by Nick Spencer
Art by Joe Eisma
Colors by Rodin Esquejo
Covers by Alex Sollazzo
Letters by Johnny Lowe
Image Comics
Release Date: June 27, 2012
Cover Price: $14.99

Morning Glories bears more than a passing resemblance to Lost. It’s not a straight rip-off, but the plot structure is undeniably derivative. So what? True originality in fiction is incredibly rare. Originality is also completely unrelated to entertainment value, which is how I judge my comics. And that’s where Morning Glories shines: this series is a true page-turner. At the end of each issue you can sense a collective “d’oh!” from the thousands of fans devouring the issue on release day. Morning Glories is a sure bet to end on a shocking cliffhanger will hang, unelaborated, for several issues. The ever-deepening mystery cannot sustain itself indefinitely, however. Fans demand answers. How much longer can writer Nick Spencer slab layers on to his mystery cake before fans start tuning out?

Forgetless
Written by Nick Spencer
Cover by W. Scott Forbes
Art by W. Scott Forbes, Marley Zarcone, Jorge Coelho
Colors by W. Scott Forbes, Eric Skillman, Marley Zarcone
Letters by Johnny Lowe
Image Comics
Release Date: May 09, 2012
Cover Price: $14.99

At first I was nervous to jump into Forgetless, the new trade paperback from Nick Spencer, of Morning Glories fame, about a New York City dance party that he has said in interviews is openly influenced by the films Go! and Igby Goes Down. On the one hand I’m a big fan of his work on Morning Glories, and on the other hand I really hated those movies. What I ended up with was an interesting comic about uncompelling New Yorkers which, if you stick with it, has a surprisingly rewarding ending.

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.

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.

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.