Axe Cop, Vol. 3 TPB
Written by Malachai Nicolle
Drawn by Ethan Nicolle
Colors by Dirk Erik Shulz
Designer Kat Larson
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: March 28, 2012
Cover Price: $14.99

There will never be a comic quite like Calvin and Hobbes. For ten years Bill Watterson worked on an extraordinary ode to the trials and tribulations and joy that comes with being an imaginative 6 year old. It was arguably the greatest newspaper comic strip this side of the twentieth century. In part that’s because its main character was allowed to be as selfish and destructive as he was sweet and imaginative, in other words, he was allowed to feel like an actual 6 year old.

Then one day the strip was gone and comics have been trying to fill that void ever since. Other artists and storytellers have tackled friendship and growing pains, but one comic, Axe Cop, has emerged that really captures the sense of play that kids have. The make-the-story-up-as-you-go-along sensibility where dinosaurs, robots, and aliens are casually thrown into a plot. And unlike Watterson who would usually pull back to his real world in the last panel, Axe Cop digs deeper and deeper into its world of make-believe.

By QuestKid32

Ragemoor #1 (of 4)
Story by Jan Strnad
Art by Richard Corben
Letters by Nate Piekos
Design by Tina Alessi
Release date: March 14, 2012
Cover Price: $3.50

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a horror comic! I have long been searching for a horror comic that not only delivers a few good chills, but also maintains a fun, yet serious tone, and I have finally found it in Ragemoor!

Ragemoor #1 tells the story of a castle built 3,000 years before Christ, on the blood, sweat, and tears of Pagans, and the family, or rather, remaining member of the family, who resides in it. But when a distant Uncle comes to claim the castle for his own with dubious intent, we quickly learn that the castle has a mind of its own!

Star Wars: Crimson Empire III – Empire Lost #4
Written by Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley
Pencils by Paul Gulacy
Colors by Michael Bartolo
Cover Art by Dave Dorman
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 08, 2012
Cover Price: $3.50

Now past the halfway mark, Star Wars: Crimson Empire III launches its acceleration to the incoming conclusion of the series. The fourth issue of Empire Lost finds Kir Kanos determined to stop the planned attack of Devian, warlord of a splinter element of the Imperial Remnant fixed on bringing both the New Republic and Grand Admiral Pellaeon’s Empire into his own demented grasp.

Empire Lost #4 kicks off in space, with a New Republic naval force under command of General Han Solo. We’re introduced to a subplot involving a character named Ndigo who is tasked with investigating the disappearance of the New Republic ship Endor, seen at the beginning of the first issue. Trailing this, Kir Kanos – surprisingly – ends up landing on Coruscant, surrendering to the authorities, and demanding to see Mirith Sinn to warn her of Devian’s impending attack.

Usagi Yojimbo #143
Created, Written and Illustrated by Stan Sakai
Cover Colors by Stan Luth
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: January 25, 2012
Cover Price: $3.50

For going on 25 years Stan Sakai‘s Usagi Yojimbo has been taking its anthropomorphized rabbit Samurai protagonist on adventure after adventure through Edo-era Japan while maintaining a steady rhythm of excellence in both storytelling and cartooning. Usagi Yojimbo #143 is no exception.

We find our hero in a new town and quickly embroidered in a new exploit defending the poor and defenseless against the powerful and bullying. It’s pretty standard fare for many samurai stories, or westerns for that matter. Sakai, of course, makes it worth our while with his richly detailed recreation of feudal Japan. When he sets the plot aside for a number of pages to take us on tour of a soy sauce brewery, showing us the process from soy bean to fermentation, it’s not tangential, it’s part of the fun.

Star Wars: Crimson Empire III – Empire Lost #3
Written by Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley
Pencils by Paul Gulacy
Colors by Michael Bartolo
Cover Art by Dave Dorman
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: December 28, 2011
Cover Price: $3.50

The ongoing Crimson Empire III saga continues, now in its third issue, opening with a surprise appearance by Han Solo – with a story that finally progresses with more action and decision by our main character, former Imperial Guard Kir Kanos, swept and maneuvered into actions that are (perhaps) beyond his control.

Following the previous issue, which was mildly disappointing due to the lack of Kanos, the third issue quickly rectifies this with a great deal of interaction with (and action taken by) our main character. Detained by Boba Fett and delivered into the hands of a rogue Imperial operation (unsanctioned by Admiral Pellaeon), Kanos discovers that the man in charge of the hidden base is a man called Devian.