Top 10 Comics for the Week of 5/12/2021

Hey everyone out there, Dan here, aka the Comic

Concierge, and welcome to my top 10 comic book

video countdown. This is where I go through all

the new comics I read this past week and countdown

my top 10 picks for my favorite books. And it's

pretty self -explanatory. I'll let you know what

books I read, why I like them, and don't worry,

no spoilers here, just a general idea. But if

you're worried at all, check down below because

I will have some timestamps for you if you want

to skip around and make sure that you're not

getting spoiled. any way, shape, and form about

the books I'll be talking about this week. So

without any further ado, let's start the countdown.

Starting off at number 10, I have Hailstone,

number one. Starting off with a brand new series.

This series is coming from the world of comixology.

This is one of their original published books.

So if you want to pick it up, you will have to

get it digitally. Although, maybe there'll be

a physical release. They have had some physical

releases in the past. For example, like Afterlift

was published by Dark Horse. So maybe if there's

enough acclaim for this book, enough interest,

It'll actually be in a physical comic book store

later down the road But for now, I'm just looking

at the digital version of it and this is written

by Raphael Scavone with art by Raphael de la

Tour and colors by Westlily Monorail and I again

apologize if I pronounce any of those names incorrectly

and this is it's a Western but it doesn't necessarily

fit Into all the similar categories you would

typically get with a Western starting off with

a really small choice I think that has a big

impact and that's simply by putting this into

winter This takes place in Montana in a small

Montana town This is right during the Civil War

and there's some issues going on with this town

as kids and people are disappearing and people

don't necessarily know why that is and you have

the sheriff who's kind of our main character

trying to battle with two worlds where the fact

that he's a lawman he's trying to keep his citizens

those people of his town kind of calm and feeling

like they Can you be feel safe at the fact that

it is winter? So they're running low on supplies

also in this town though There is a factory that

is run by the US government the United States

the Union at this point and they have a lot of

power over this town and he's trying to kind

of Utilize them and get their help to help deal

with their issues, but they're you know at the

same time not all that concern with Overall goings

of the small town they have the things they have

to focus on although the civil war is winding

down Still, you know dealing with the heat of

battle and all those challenges So there's kind

of a combination of all those conflicts in the

middle You have our main character who's trying

to balance this act So unlike we've got other

westerns which are all about the shootouts I

think this is all about kind of dealing with

the the politics and the complications of the

time But what I love about this book, it does

have a great atmosphere and some of the choices,

like I mentioned with it being in the wintertime

doesn't automatically give it a different feel.

And I just, I love the look of this book. I thought

when it came to the art, a lot of small choices

go a long way. Like one of the biggest scenes

in this issue is a conversation between the leader

of the union army and the sheriff. And they're

having this back and forth. He's trying to basically

play the politics game of trying to get their

help, trying to explain why why they should help

him and also, you know, kind of make him feel

good. But I thought the art did a good job of

making that seem exciting. And it's a little

small details like, for example, how it would

position them on the page where when the sheriff

was talking, he was always shown on the right.

And when it would when you get some zoom in pages

of the union leader of the army leader. he would

always kind of be leaning towards the left. And

I thought that did a good job of just always

making sure that you had a good understanding

of where they were within the room. And it's

one of those things where I think can be overlooked.

There's those small choices that I think go a

long way where you're having a panel and you're

having a conversation and where people kind of

are all over the page. So they don't necessarily

make sense where they fall on the page. It's

like, why? I thought he was over here and he's

over there. But also just the choice of camera

shots, a good choice of angles, there's a lot

of wide angle shots in this, a lot of wide panels,

which is typical for Westerns, and that was camera

choices drawn forward, those types of directors,

you're dealing with the frontier, that was often

the choice there, but with this, it wasn't an

open landscape, and a lot of times it was in

the woods, or it was in a crowded grouping of

people. but still utilizing those similar shots.

So I think that the disposition of classic storytelling

techniques you would expect with a Western, but

in a setting that was different, ran throughout

this book from beginning to end. When it came

to the actual events of the book, they're pretty

straightforward, but it did a good job of kind

of establishing the mystery and then leaving

us at a pretty exciting spot at the end. There

is potentially maybe something supernatural.

It's not fully clear. I'm not, I don't. You don't

see like a ghost or anything But the threat of

what is actually taking these kids or taking

these people is not determined yet But it gives

you a lot of hints that it whatever it is is

beyond human or not human. Is it an animal? Who

knows but I'm excited. I like the book I like

I thought it a good job of establishing characters

giving you a sense of what the conflict is And

then just feeling different. I also really love

westerns, and we don't get a lot of western comics

all that much, so maybe that's also why it really

struck my fancy as much as it did. But if you

do want to check out this book, like I said,

it is available on Comixology Unlimited, and

I believe it's going to be a five -issue series.

I'm not sure, but I thought the first issue did

a really good job of establishing self as another

one of the... better examples of what comic oncology

is doing with comics right now. At number nine

this week, I have Nottingham number three. And

this might be a little bit of a cheat, because

I actually caught up with all of Nottingham this

week, one, two, and three. But I'm really liking

this series, Nottingham. If you're wondering,

well, is that about the sheriff of Nottingham?

It is. It's kind of retelling a different look

at the classic Robin Hood mythos. But your main

character in this, your main focus is that of

the sheriff of Nottingham. This is written by

David. Azan with art by Shane Connery -Vilk,

colors by Luca Romano, and lettered by Jonathan

Gill, and is published by Mad Cave Studios. So,

Mad Cave is one of those publishers where I don't

necessarily read nearly enough. I've read some

of their books, but haven't really caught up

with this one. I heard a lot of great things

with it, and I think I unfairly dismissed it,

which is something I try never to do, is dismiss

something based upon concept, but that's kind

of what I did, and this is why I don't do that,

because when I actually end up reading it...

I quite liked it. I enjoyed it a good amount

and I love how it is taking the the nonningham

of this mythos Connecting it to things like the

crusade because that is a big party those things

were going on concurrently with robin hood and

that time period and getting more back story

of nodding ham and this friar tuck plays a key

role you kind of have a back and forth between

them it's i love the reimagining of this and

i do like it when people do that take classic

tales if you can take a classic hill but better

than robin hood and see it through an entirely

different lens and one that. It's not like it's

trying to make everything dark and gritty, although

it is a little bit more mature. There's more

meaning to it. I feel like it's almost like the

quote -unquote wheel story of what happened.

Unlike that really bad Russell Crowe movie that

came out about Robin Hood, this one actually

is entertaining. It's well told. I do like the

art style. I do sometimes have issues. I love

the character designs. They're very big and bulky,

and they look like folk heroes in that way. If

there's any challenges with it, I do feel like

when you do have the interactions with them,

when you're trying to force between two individuals,

sometimes the anatomy gets a bit wonky at times.

It's not necessarily perfect, but I do like the

general look of the book outside of those key

moments, mostly because the characters are very,

the e -anatomy is not designed at all to be realistic,

and that makes sense, but I just like the...

The way that it makes like the sheriff of non

I can't feel like this opposing figure and then

when you get little John You're like, oh man,

that guy is a all types of neck. And so that

was kind of cool to see I don't know if this

would be my favorite issue of the moss though

far but if you are a fan of taking kind of classic

stories and reimagining them in new ways if you

are a huge fan of the Robin Hood mythos and haven't

kind of been not liking the fact that we haven't

got anything new in there, you might want to

give it a shot. So it's my number nine for this

week. My number eight this week is A Thousand

Storms, number one. And this is published by

Magnetic Press. And Magnetic Press is actually,

I think, a rather underrated publisher. And I

think a big reason it's overlooked is because

what they do is they translate a lot of foreign

comics, European comics, Korean comics, South

America. I mean South American comics really

all over the world and I think they do a really

good job of within those translations uh and

at least from my experience of what I've read

from them in the sense of like the the lettering

is still pretty strong and you don't feel like

things are being overly wordy the in the sense

of sometimes I've read translations and it's

like there's not a word for that. So let me throw

all the words to make something fit but I never

get the sense with this. And this is written

and drawn by Tony Sandoval and it's about this

lonely girl Lisa who enjoys watching nature and

collecting old boxes and pebbles and of course

being lonely other kids kind of think she's weird

but she discovers this patches that allows her

to go through parallel worlds. And she finds

herself being accused of basically being a witch

due to kind of her abilities and things like

that. A bit hard to understand at first, I'll

be honest, because there's a lot of moving pieces

here, but I think what does a really good job

of helping you understand the story are the art

styles. And I say art styles, even though this

is written and drawn by Tony Sandoval. He really

shifts up his art styles a lot in this series,

in this endless issue. And it's really a sight

to see. Sometimes it has a very watercolor look,

especially when it opens up. But then it gets

really almost animated in a way, almost looking

like a 3D texture. It varies a lot. And you have

these parallel worlds going on. And some of the

characters seem to have awareness of it. So I

didn't necessarily get every small detail. But

I did really enjoy the experience of like, Seeing

this art change being able to go through the

same perspective of this young girl and just

kind of the magical world You're you are brought

to you. It's a really feast for the eyes If there's

another downside to this issue that I would say

like with magnetic press What they often do is

they'll get a graphic novel and they'll chop

it up into individual issues and release it that

way The downside is when you get an issue like

this, it doesn't necessarily have the pacing

you would expect with a normal Everyday issue

where you know beginning middle and it kind of

just you have a beginning and middle and then

the ending tends to be a little bit abrupt but

Outside of that if I just look at the you know

minus that piecing if it was probably reading

the entire thing at once I would probably be

much higher, but those little those little small

details. I think Hindered a little bit. That's

also why I'm a little bit more forgiving with

not necessarily understanding every small detail

since it's not Originally designed to be consumed

in this manner. It's more you know designed to

be one large meal So despite the fact that maybe

I had some comprehension issues with some of

the details I feel like that will help most likely

be ironed out in future issues But if I'm not

I'll maybe talk about that as well, but I just

was really impressed with the art design And

it was something that kind of just I took a chance

on because I've liked other magnetic press books

this year thus far. And it's trying to do this

less. I'm trying to think of bringing books that

aren't necessarily the ones everyone's talking

about. Tried some and they didn't hit me with

this one. I was actually I enjoyed quite a bit.

Tony Sandoval is a very accomplished creator.

He's had something like seven Eisner nominations

or something like that. So it's not. all that

new that he's writing a good book but if you

are a fan of him and weren't aware this is out

it's now available digitally and it should be

available physical form as well although i know

a lot of comic book stores don't necessarily

carry magnetic presses so you'd probably want

to you know ask them to pick it up directly or

seeing if you can get a trade someplace number

seven for me this week is black hammer visions

number four and black hammer visions has been

a series that you've had different creators come

on board and tell their tale in the black hammer

universe in this case we have mario tamaki on

writing duties and she's telling Tale and a half.

This book was a journey Also, you have on art

duties art by Diego Olotago Colors by Dave Stewart.

I feel like if it's a dork horse book, you can

just assume it's Dave Stewart He does all their

books, but it was a really good -looking book

and similar with the last issue. I talked about

You kind of had different dimensions. This is

a book that's kind of hard to describe without

ruining the surprises. So I apologize if I kind

of talk in coding messaging, but I'll just say

this in a sense of this was kind of focused on

the character of Colonel Weird. And if you know

Colonel Weird, he traverses different, basically

the multiverse of the Black Hammer universe.

And when this book opens up it's like this serious

raw drama like old school like pbs drama you

would see if you know the british doubt doubt

and abby or something like that where you have

every character is playing a different role.

Abraham slam is like the monarch of the family

and he's being protective of his daughter. It's

all kinds of weird, all kinds of awesome, but

things change drastically. And by the end of

it, you're not necessarily sure what was real,

what wasn't. There's a element of things being

a TV show that come into play and how it, how

it adjusts throughout. And then I thought as

a Colonel real weird exploration and getting

you in this sense of what he sees, I thought

it did a pretty cool job. I just like the. the

commitment that it had to this idea. And it,

you know, this book was a journey, but it was

a journey for the reader almost more so than

the characters themselves. I just thought I found

it a lot of fun. And some of the vision books

I've liked more than others. I really liked the

first issue. And I really last two have not been

trying to think. I know my second issue was not

a fan of it. I think Jeff Johns did an issue

and I was assigned to be this kind of like. A

slasher type of story and it was rather unimpressed

by it. But this issue, I just thought Mariko

Tamaki, as a writer, took the open world along

with the artist and did a really good job of

kind of getting it established. And I liked the

little details of how, especially when it came

to coloring, Dave Stewart, I think is a big part

of this and how you differentiate all the different

kind of universes that come through. And also

Dave Stewart doing what he does best when he

emphasizes emotions. One specific panel that

really stood out to me where you have. Abraham

Slam I forget what his actual name in this because

he's playing a different world basically and

he's just he's got a drink in his hand and he's

saying something with with so so much vigor but

and you have this popping yellow behind him I

think that really hammers at home and I think

that's just a good example of Dave Stewart being

one of the best colorist in the sense of understanding

theme and emotion and how that can really cause

something to pop and he's done a lot of the Dark

Horse books as I mentioned One of the best colorists

in the business and I think to me colors come

into play in two main roles like how do they

Empathize theme and how do they? Allow your eye

to know where to read next and it's not necessarily

just about having bright and beautiful colors

because sometimes a book that's necessarily need

that I think Dee Stewart has all those all those

skills and you know, he's probably most one of

the most acclaimed colors in general I'm pretty

sure he probably has an army of eyes and rewards.

I'm assuming I really don't know but ultimately

If his name is on the book, you're most likely

going to get some great colors. And that was

the case with this issue. So if you're a huge

Black Hammer fan, I don't necessarily think it'd

be nearly as fun if you've never read any Black

Hammer books, because part of the coolest of

it was just seeing these characters that you

know in unexpected roles. So if you're coming

in fresh knowing nothing, it wouldn't seem all

that different. You'd be like, I don't get what's

going on here a little bit. So outside of that,

though, Outside of that small issue, I think

for fans of the universe, it was a nice little

exercise. For number six, I have Scouts Honor

number five, and this brings the series to an

end. And we've had a number of books this week

that actually see series ending and, you know,

endings are I think just as hard as beginnings

sometimes because you have a lot of threads you're

trying to put together. Can you have a satisfying

conclusion to everything you've been building

up in this case in the last four issues? And

I think this did a really good job of accomplishing

just that. This story has been about a dystopian

future in which a group of individuals have created

a religion in a way based upon the Scouts, utilizing

their methodology to kind of become a community.

And our main character was a Scout leader. She

really believed in this cause, and I say she.

because she is a she, but she was hiding who

she really was and pretending to be a boy because

girls were not accepted in it, going back to

the idea that boy scouts are always supposed

to be boys. And that idea, identity, becoming

who you truly are, despite the odds, despite

what society may say, I think is a running theme

throughout, and I think you see that. really

in the final moments of this book, which were

some of my favorite moments of any book I read

this week. And I thought this did a good job

of kind of concluding all the major themes that

it was pursuing and as a story itself felt like

a good place to end it. A lot of action. I mean,

when you have someone riding a giant spider,

despite the fact that I'm not a huge fan of spiders.

I actually was a fan of that spider and then

I was actually, I don't want to spoil anything,

but there were some touching moments in this.

And so this is not, if this is a book that you

have not checked out yet, you know, with it being

issue number five, not necessarily the place

you want to jump in, but most likely we'll be

hitting trade relatively soon. Aftershock is

usually pretty good at getting their books out

of trade. So probably in the next few months

or so, maybe even sooner, check out the, my video

of on Mondays. starting points where I talk about

all the graphic novels and trade paperbacks coming

out. So once it does, I'll make sure to mention

it because I do think it's really worth your

time. It's been one of those books this past

year that I've really been looking forward to

every time it came out. And again, it's a stopian

future book. Don't dismiss it just because of

that. I think the premise here was strong enough.

It had a good idea. But despite the fact that,

you know, it's got the Kyle Scout's honor, it

had things like mirror badges, what really drove

it were the characters, especially our main character.

And also the relationship she has with another

character who is the son of the leader. And I

thought the relationship, the way it ended was

both appropriate and very emotionally satisfying.

And I think that's the term I would use for this

book. It was emotionally satisfying outside of

just being entertaining. so yeah kudos to them.

My number five is also a book that is coming

to an end unfortunately but I guess fortunately

because clearly it was a good ending because

I'm listening in here with CSR was number five

and this is written by Rich Doik, art by Alex

Cormack and this comes from us from the world

of IDW. This is the same team that did Road of

Bones was it last year or two years ago? Time

has no meaning but I really like that series

and it was a series that took place in iberia

and those people trying to escape a prison i

love that book it was a lot of i don't i want

to say fine it was brutal and that's the case

with csrs number five the one word i would use

to describe this book is visceral because this

was one hell of a visceral experience and one

thing i really appreciate about alex cormax Art

is that he knows how to use the atmosphere He

knows the use the world and location that he's

in to provide a lot of energy for the art on

his page For example with CSR os it's you know

on Taking place in the middle of the ocean. They're

waving raging water. You just feel frightened

because it feels like there's danger everywhere

around you, whether it be humans or just the

waves that can come crashing in at any moment.

And I feel like you really get that energy in

each and every page, especially in this issue,

which is, man, it's a brutal issue. And I felt

the same way with Row Out of Bones, although...

That of course being in Siberia was just the

unforgiving elements of the winter and how just

like it just felt desolate and In that I think

did a good job of kind of having that feeling

throughout and I was impressed in a very two

different locations, but I love how Location

setting played a key role and really the feeling

of both of those books So maybe next book maybe

if they want to do a happy book It'll be something

like in you know, the tropics or something like

that more of it, you know, of course your your

horror type of tale but almost with a almost

like a twisted fairy tale element with this issue

it deals with individuals that went on a deep

diving exploration in hopes of finding gold and

as often is the case trying to find gold and

bad things happen in this case a lot of death

a lot a lot of death but i do actually want to

go back and try to reread the first issue because

i feel like the way this ended Ties into the

way it began in a very cyclical manner. So I'm

curious if my memory is serving correctly over

its paying tricks It's been a while since I've

read the first issue and as we know right now

time has no meaning but beyond that I just thought

as a final issue of This utter enjoyment it gets

enjoyment twisted enjoyment in a way really good

succeeded in that manner and It kind of fell

follow through this was been a little bit of

a slow burn I wouldn't say slow burn, but it's

been building to this final issue since issue

one and it was this explosion of chaos and i

was i was here for it so if you want to check

it out like i said it's the last issue so it

should be in trade shortly or check out your

local store or comicsology all right well i had

a lot of books that have been ending let's get

to a book that's just beginning with time before

time number one and if you saw my starting points

video i mentioned how this was one of the Books

this week I was most looking forward to because

of the creative team and I ended up really liking

it. Obviously as it's my number four this week

and. Within that video I mentioned how it connected

itself to that movie looper and actually feel

that is a very apt comparison It's not necessarily

the same story when it come narratively But just

the way it utilizes time travel as a kind of

a tool rather than like this magical thing It's

just this tool. It's like a utility like you

would with power or what -have -you as there

Using time travel to hide people basically they

use the the mob or just crimes to get to You

get into time machines go to specific time and

hide from whoever is trying to find them Sometimes

it's just normal people and sometimes as people

that are relatively evil and we have our main

character That's trying to break free, but he's

having difficulty because he's kind of become

an indentured servant due to like just the system

they have. It's a system that seems like you

can't get out of because once you're actually

paying off your debt, something new will pop

up. Surprisingly, it's like, oh, now you owe

more money because the thing you were using broke

and we're going to blame you. So you can't get

out of it. And he feels stuck in this in this

rut. And he's having this. ideas, these dreams

of stealing one of these time machines and just

going to where he needs to go and forgetting

it all. And time travel is a challenging thing

to do because especially in comics can get complicated

and you can get lost in it. I thought little

details of kind of using big time dates to establish

where we are each time, did a good job with just

kind of setting you a specific time and place.

And it doesn't necessarily try to get into the

explorations of Time travel and the butterfly

effect and things like that. Just this is the

thing that happens and it happens and you're

not going we're not going to As I said in looper

sit here and do diagrams with straws time travel

exists you deal with it and we'll move from there

So I like that piece and it does make you feel

like you know when you look into this future

Despite the fact that you can go any place at

any time problems are not solved It's just it's

another thing that exists, but you still have

the fact that like you you don't have resources

you even though that you can travel to the future,

maybe the future doesn't want you or future might

not be better than where you are right now. So,

and then there's this big thing that happens

in this issue where you just see how, when you

have time travel, how it can completely mess

up your relationships with individuals or your

friends or colleagues and how, you know, when

you can travel to any time at any place, maybe

the person you knew today is going to be completely

someone else very tomorrow. When you can go back

80 years you see them again maybe they're a different

person with a different age. Maybe that's my

choice maybe it's not and then the way this ends

you think you have an idea of where it's going

with it as a nice little wrinkle into that mix

which i think has me even more excited if it

went the direction we thought was going to go

i'd still find it captivating but. the additional

piece to mess things up because it's time travel

and things can never go as they're supposed to.

Now we're having even more little fun dynamic

to deal with next issue. Leaves you with a lot

of good questions. I like the main character

here too. I think his plight was sympathetic.

I love the way it built its world without feeling

like you're getting mountains of exploration.

And we just are well executed, a well told story

in the fact that it trusts you to understand

things. And I'm always appreciative of that.

I was actually very apt, if you do like the movie

Looper, I think you're really gonna dig this,

at least this first issue. My top three this

week are actually quite close. It's not one of

those weeks where I feel like my number one is

far and above the rest. Really in one, two, three.

The difference between them is is slight. It's

like 1a 1b 1c but my number 3 is ice cream man

number 24 and This is considered series continues

to be a bit of a delight a twisted delight a

delight nonetheless this issue all about a telethon

a telethon that you actually become an active

participant in without even realizing it it's

this idea of you have this guy who's kind of

just going through his life it almost felt like

an issue of ha ha as much of an issue of Ice

cream man, they feel like blending those worlds

because haha is all about kind of dealing with

people better and very stressful and depressing

situations This doesn't have a clown theme, but

you just have this guy who's just out of luck.

He seems to Everywhere he turns things are not

going for him and then people keep stopping him

saying hey, man I'm hoping someone's gonna call

in for you. I think someone's gonna call in for

you And he's like, I don't know what you're talking

about and you find out there's actually this

telephone That's going on trying to save his

life And somehow, in some way, the reasoning

behind it, we don't know. It's not told to us.

It's not necessarily important. Again, like with

time before time, this is the world. These are

the rules. Accept it. or don't, but if you accept

it, you can kind of move on with that. I appreciate

the fact that they didn't try to explain it,

because if they did, it'd probably be awful.

Anyways, but the most important part, you just

see this concurrently going on. It was a fun

experience, and I love the way they turned it

on the reader. And it's hard to explain what

happens without ruining it, but let's just say,

imagine she's your own adventurer in the vein

of an ice cream man, and that's how the issue

ends. There's one thing that stopped me from

putting this at one and two is that I do feel

like it ended with this joke, which I thought

was a funny joke, but then at the same time completely

undercut the entire issue because of that. I'm

like, well, that just makes everything that came

before a bit pointless in a way. I went from

thinking, oh, that's funny to, oh, that's okay.

Well, now this seems kind of pointless in a way.

I don't want to ruin it, but if you read the

issue, you'll know that. It's kind of it turns

everything on its head a little bit and it's

a funny gag But then if that's the case then

what exactly was the point of this issue? In

the sense of outside of just being that experience.

Maybe that's the idea maybe the choose your own

adventure part was really All it was about in

everything else and the sense of what it says

about people in general wasn't as important.

I don't know Generally, um, I don't say minor

issue, but it was the one issue that kind of

kept me from rank can get higher than the other

two issues, which I did not have as big of a

take back from compared to it. But still, Ice

Cream Man is still being one of those books that

will always excite you every week it comes out.

Speaking of books that always excite me when

they come out, my number two this week with Rorschach,

number eight. This is written by Tom King with

Art by Jorge Farnes. And actually, as I'm doing

this list, I realize this is my only big two

book this entire week, although I really just

stopped calling them the big two because Marvel

and DC are no longer the two biggest publishers.

Whatever. It's not important. Ultimately, this

book, I love this series. I unabashedly enjoy

this series. on all levels and I know there are

many people that have issues with the fact that

they exist. I get that. I'm not going to dive

any deeper into that and do another entire video

about it, but I think those those complaints

have legitimacy to them. Anyway, it's most important

thing looking at this book itself. I do think

this is an issue or probably a series that's

not going to work with a lot of people because

it is relatively slowly paced. I know surprise

surprise with Tom King. But I thought the craftsmanship

in it, especially from Horry Farnes is second

to none I guess I guess second to my number one

but in this he's not necessarily trying to evoke

what Dave Gibbons did in any way which I feel

like you know, we got a lot of that with Doomsday

Clock, of course using the nine panel grid here

though. You have the entire crux of this story

has been about this murder investigation and

here we have the lead detective interviewing

three individuals are tied to the main suspect

in it, which is basically a Steve Dicot stand

-in. And yes, it utilizes a lot of comic book

creators. I mean, Frank Miller is actually in

this and it's a bold move. It may be a move that

feels a little bit gimmicky, but I feel like

it kind of works and it makes sense considering

the context of the story and the context of utilizing

what Watchmen means to the comic book medium

in general. But what I loved about this is that

you get those three stories. Basically each page

is split up the three sections. for the most

part, some pages aren't. But I just thought the

way it went about it, it is very wordy issue.

There's a lot of words on the page. I guess it

makes sense because that's how Washman was in

a way, but. I just felt the exploration, the

craftsmanship that changes with each and every

issue. Like, not every issue has been like this.

There's been all different takes and different

styles and how each issue has felt like a complete

chapter within this story. Like, I feel like

you could read this without reading any of the

other issues and still feel like you've gotten

something complete here. Some of the pieces of

where things tie to may not completely make sense,

but the general premise of this chapter and it

is, I think Tom King even mentioned he is Approaching

this like a chapter book like it like a novel

I mean that is the world he originally comes

from and When you have our teaming yourself up

with something like Korea for an ass who's storytelling

is becoming second to none. Oh Like there will

be pages in which they incorporate how they incorporate

the lettering within the panel itself There are

just designs here like i've never seen before

and maybe they exist because you know Sometimes

never seen before it's because you've read like

eight comics But in this case, you know, I just

I just found myself turning each page and wondering

like what are they going to do next? And so I

was not just excited about the fact that you

know, what is this story happening? But how are

they going to tell me this story? I was excited

about both of those equally which does not happen

very often rarely ever so That's really why I've

been liking this book again. I do think it'll

be one of those books It does not necessarily

work for everyone, but it's working for me. So

it's why it's my number two All right. Well now

we're down to my number one What was my favorite

book of the week and my number one actually has

some similar qualities to some of the books that

we talked about Already with it being a foreign

book that's been translated It's a book that

was originally designed to be released as a graphic

novel But is now being separated and it's a gorgeous

looking book and it's Carmen number three and

this was i think i believe spanish i'm not exactly

sure where it originates but it's written and

drawn by gillian march and man it's a You talk

about luscious and i say i'm saying luscious

not just because there's a naked woman throughout

the entire series but the background the world

and when i read this book and i read other other

books and one thing i was taken back by the fact

is i feel transported into an entirely different

world because just the tape details you see within

the backgrounds and within this world like everything

feels lived in and i get other books where it's

just like a blank square half the time, and it

just doesn't have the same type of depth. And

you don't need elaborate backgrounds all the

time, but when you do see them there, and you

see the work and technique that goes into them,

you're like... oh, these are the effects that

you can have if done well, or at least do these

establishing shots every so often to give you

a sense of this world. And I think it's important

with this issue because this entire series is

predicated on the fact that you have this woman

who killed herself, and now she's stuck between,

or potentially stuck between, or at least in

the afterlife, or a part of the afterlife before

she moves on to the next step. And you have her

within this book kind of pontificating about

her life, what happened to her, and what she

did, the choices she made. And I thought this

issue, why it really hit me, was it challenged

the main characters in ways that were, I thought,

where I was like, wow, I was waiting for this

to happen. And the idea of the selfishness of

her actions and not allowing her to feel sorry

for herself. But I just thought the, what it's

going through, what the topic is touching on,

life, death. Mental health all those pieces To

me like hit me in it in a way that the other

books did it like yes I appreciated the craftsmanship

the workshop, but Emotionally, I didn't have

that type of connection. It was, if anything,

a bit cold. And Ice Cream Man was fun. It was

twisted. But this to me had all that. I had the

craftsmanship. It had an emotional resonance.

It had themes that were present, like I said,

about looking especially at life and the way

we approach the idea of self -pity in a way.

inability to us to think through our actions

the way they can act especially with people that

you know not appreciating those that are in our

lives when we should and not realizing how the

actions we take can have consequences outside

of ourselves and sometimes we get very internally

focused about what we do and how things impact

us and then forgetting that oh there are other

individuals that will be just as impacted and

I thought this issue kind of looked just at that

inside the fact that you have ghosts basically

talking about this so it's the first issue of

this I wasn't sure about the series I was like

I don't know about this I don't know what exactly

is happening here but Obviously by the third

issue. I'm completely won over and it's one of

the now one of those books I've been really looking

forward to a second issue. It's really good.

I don't know if this is the best issue I feel

like it's one of those Reading experiences where

I'm reading it and I'm kind of putting everything

into one So it's hard for me to separate it by

issue by issue But it's a complete reading experience.

It's a complete story so far this year It's one

of those books. It's going to be one of the ones

I first recommend as I'm looking at my favorite

books of the year It's certainly up there And

not surprising considering the talent behind

it. Anyways, that's it for me for this week.

I appreciate you taking the time to check out

my channel. I know there are a lot of comic book

YouTube channels out there. What were your favorite

picks of the week? What were your top 10, top

5? Let me know down below. Let me know what you

thought of my picks. And ultimately though, just

remember, comics are for everyone. The key is

finding the right one. Until next time, keep

reading.