Think Tank: Creative Destruction #1
Written by Matt Hawkins
Art by Rahsan Ekedal
Cover by Rahsan Ekedal
Top Cow
Release Date: April 6, 2016
Cover Price: $3.99

Think Tank: Creative Destruction #1 lives up to its name: heavy on smarts, and slow moving. Like any well-crafted, complex but believable sci-fi book or movie, this comic doesn’t stop to explain itself. The reader is expected to keep up with overflowing technical dialogue, while the plot slowly lumbers forward.

This first issue establishes a cast of characters and threads the web of motivations that connects them, but there’s no real action until the final frames, when a mysterious event establishes a mystery that needs solving. Did we need an entire issue of set-up? The Think Tank context deserves explanation, but we get that in the two-page black and white introduction. The next twenty-five pages would have benefited from a few more plot points.

Witchblade #185
Chapter One:
Written by Ron Marz
Art by Abhishek Malsuni
Inked by Zsolt H. Garisa
Colors by Neeraj Menon, Nanjan Jamberi
Letters by Troy Peteri

Cover A by Michael Turner & Brian Haberlin
Cover B by Keu Cha, D-Tron, & Steve Firchow
Covers C & D by Stjepan Sejic
Top Cow Productions, Inc.
Release Date: November 25, 2015
Cover Price: $5.99

NOOOOOOOOO!!!! That was my first reaction upon hearing the news that one of my longest-running addictions was coming to an end. And during its twentieth anniversary year, no less. What horrible thing did I do to earn such a cruel punishment?! How can Witchblade #185 be the end?

Matt Hawkins, President of Top Cow Comics and mega-badass, has been kind enough to offer up a few signed goodies for us to give away our readers. The contest is pretty simple: you vote on your favorite Witchblade cover and if it matches mine, you get a prize! No, wait…that’s not the rule. Sorry, my bad. The real rules are that I will randomly pick two contestants, regardless of their choice of cover (mainly because all of the covers are awesome)! But additionally, one of the folks who votes for the most popular cover will get the third prize. So, pick your favorite cover out of the three dozen shown here below, and send us your vote via Twitter. Three awesome Witchblade prints signed by none other than Marc Silvestri are available, folks…so take a shot!

Entry details below!

Sunstone, Vol. 3
Writing, Art, and Cover by Stjepan Šejić
Top Cow Productions, Inc.
Release Date: August 26, 2015
Cover Price: $14.99

If you haven’t heard of Stjepan Å ejić yet then I am ecstatic to be able to introduce you to his work today. If you have, then you know that Sunstone Volume 3 will be just as amazing as everything else he has done prior. I must however, before I go any further, mention that this particular item is very adult oriented. I mean that in the strictest sense of the term, it deals with adult situations, what some consider to be alternative lifestyles and in its most basic constructs it also contains a significant amount of nudity. Pervy, fun, kinky nudity to be precise.

This being the third volume of the Sunstone graphic novels, it should be obvious to even the uninitiated that the storyline has progressed and evolved after almost three hundred pages between the last two volumes. But the first thing you’ll notice while reading this series is that it is first and foremost a story about two people falling in love. Regardless of everything else, these characters embody love in its earliest days; not to say there isn’t an amazing amount of latex clothing coupled with collars and gags. However, BDSM toys aside, the fact that we are dealing with two women in a sexual relationship would be enough to keep most publishers at bay. Therefore, before I forget, I must applaud Top Cow for their open-mindedness and tolerant attitude, as it’s refreshing to see that in a publisher.

Athena IX #1
Written by Ryan Cady
Art by Phillip Sevy
Colors by Jeremy Colwell
Letters by Troy Peteri
Covers by Phillip Sevy & Jeremy Colwell, Atilio Rojo
Top Cow | Image Comics
Release Date: July 1, 2015
Cover Price: $3.99

The days of Aphrodite IX are a distant memory. Seven centuries have come and gone since the success of the Aphrodite Protocol, the primary goal of which was to save mankind. But that world is gone, replaced by a seemingly more violent and harsh reality. From their deep slumber arose Nine who would rule this planet, each in its own way. This is a story of but one of those fated to be a god amongst men. This tale is known as Athena IX #1.

The time of the Ascension is here; few would recognize that term, however. For the most part, it seems that people living are unaware of anything other than oppression. Of course, Athena herself calls it order. Located in the far north of the Old World, the less than hospitable region has been transformed into an industrial city-state where every citizen is given a task, a purpose. Every single person is a cog in the proverbial wheel that keeps their world contained and self sufficient.