June 22nd, 2022

Caroline's Picks:

Marvel Voices Pride #1 - Marvel celebrates Pride month with this year's new anthology series, not only are the covers for this stunning but the stories inside are just as beautiful, visually and emotionally. The Guardians of the Galaxy’s watching a movie about the Dragons vs the Marvels might be my favorite story in this anthology. I’m also a little biased towards The Warriors homage that Cantwell threw into the story was too much fun. After all, who doesn’t love a good leaders of the biker gang’s rivalry turned co-protesters into lovers romance? I thought this issue did a great job of highlighting the less mainstream characters as well as giving enough the draw in a casual reader. And the character profiles at the end of the issue giving us detailed life stories of some of their queer characters was a nice way to include something about people favorites like Viv from the Young Avengers.
  
Beware the Eye of Odin #1 - The crown prince Helgi thinks he’s cursed, bad things have always happened to or around him. His own mother passed during his birth and the town has never fully let him forget it. His father always used to tell him stories of monsters and giants, the Norse gods and goddesses and the feats humanity has had with them. Never before did Helgi think they could be true but now he’s staring down one of his fathers most terrifying stories directly. Helgi knows what he has to do to save the town, the world really, and with some assistance from the local ‘retired’ warrior, Stigr, and a local crazy girl who calls herself a Valkyrie named Kadlin he’s off to return Odin’s eye to its rightful owner before he’s truly cursed and dies himself. But just how many of his fathers stories were true? What’s really waiting for Helgi and his makeshift crew on their journey? How many other people and beings know about Odin’s Eye, and what will they be willing to do to obtain it?
  
Illusion Witch #1 - I’m getting some Zatanna vibes from this story and I’m definitely interested in getting to know this character and her world much more. As a little girl Aadya was taught the magic of illusions by her father and as she grew so did her illusions. She began to make a name for herself constantly finding new tricks to wow the crowd, but simple magic tricks can’t fix everything in life. Aadya has a bit of a bad habit of running when the going gets tough, she can’t handle when those she cares about are hurt or sick and in turn she hurts herself to numb the pain a little more each day. But she’s still got shows to perform and money to make so Aadya is going to put on a smile and wow the crowd. Insert one magical little ferret/badger thing and Aadya is bound to be the one who’s about to be wowed herself. Turns out there really is real magic, do you think her father knew too?
  
Miles Morales Spider-Man and Moon Girl #1 - This is such a fun introduction to Moon Girl if you aren't already obsessed with her. And incredibly well timed too since she's got an animated series coming soon on Disney+. For those of you that down already know she’s a super genius child who shares a telepathic connection with a giant red dinosaur called Devil Dinosaur and together they kick ass, after school of course. So after DD goes missing one day on a mission Lunella fakes an interest in a local school to get Brooklyn to start her search closer to Brooklyn since that's DD's last known location. Unsurprisingly she just happens to run into Miles, and then later that night Spider-Man. Interesting how that happens, isn’t it. I’m really enjoying their dynamic, she’s just as sharp and quick with her wit as Spidey but significantly more underestimated. Lunella’s gadgets are easily on par with something Tony Stark would make and i can't wait to see what she comes up with to bring Devil Dinosaur back to her.
  

Diarra's Picks:

The Lonesome Hunter #1 - From his work on the horror series Harrow County to his work on BPRD, Tyler Cook has made a name for himself in the sci-fi/thriller world! This series may be about an old man, but after seeing his family murdered by demons he doesn’t get too close to others. When a teenage girl who lives in his building asks for his help, he assumes it’s her abusive father, but once he sees the magpie on his head he knows dark magic is in play. Now this old man has to remember how to get rid of demons after 50 years out of practice. Can’t wait to see where this goes!!
  
Moon Girl & Miles Morales #1 - This is def will be a series going on my pull! Moon Girl and her Devil Dinosaur are out busting a thief when DD bails mid-take down. Moon Girl returns home to chew out her Dino partner, but he isn’t there either. After tracking news reports of dinosaur sightings, but in order to narrow down the search she has to get into a local tech schools computer lab. She besides being a child prodigy, she is a serious hacker and getting a meeting with the school was easy. Ditching her parents was the hard part. She tracks down the Dino on the loose, and that’s when Miles swings in with an assist. Unfortunately, it’s just a clone and Moon Girl knows she needs to find Devil Dinosaur before they make more!
  
Perry White #1 - We all love a story featuring the well intentioned hijinks of Jimmy Olson. He is constantly, though accidentally, foiling Superman, but can you imagine being his boss? Perry White has been with Daily Planet for 26 years and I’m sure he’s filled out many an incident report with Jimmy’s name on it. Since the man of steel stepped on the scene, that’s the only thing making front page news, but stories like Matt Fraction’s “Metropolis Saves Superman” reminds Perry why he started at the Bugle. This book is jam packed with 6 awesome stories about the antics that follow Perry White!

 

K's Picks:

The Lonesome Hunters #1 - A surprisingly daring and surreal experience from this comic. Tyler Crook dropped a bombshell with this first issue, everything down to the line art, watercolors, and overall aesthetic choice was excellent all around! We follow this kid, some hundred years ago, who's wielding this strange black sword, one that's grants its holder immortality. Why is that? We don't know yet, but we do know that Howard is spineless. He lacks confidence but that doesn't change the fact that he was chosen to slay a evil deer demon summoned by a strange masked cult! Now as one would guess, he failed, and this followed him for hundreds of years as it appears now that he's keeping a low profile. I'm getting big Hellboy nostalgia from this first issue and I'm here for the demon slaying geezer to get down!
  
DUO #2 - Finally! I'm so happy we are back with this series because I was stoked to see how this weird, merged consciousness would be tackled. Happily, Greg Pak hit every mark. Previously on DUO, David and Kelly were super scientists credited with creating highly advanced nano machines. Their efforts to better the world then be torn asunder as they are both killed in a fire. This was believed to be the case until Kelly used her very own DNA to revive and save her husband giving him a nanite powered body! This is were things take a turn as Kelly shares David's experiences, including pain and visuals This makes reading his thoughts the next move.. This is the angle that I love and the pacing has slowed down but not to its deficit by any means. Now I wonder what's going on in David's head and what can this duo pull off with this new body?
  
Black Adam #1 - Black Adam is back and this time with intentions to pass on the mantle? Black Adam and Shazam have always been characters I had a soft spot for so I was already here for the nonsense, but this time it's a lot darker than I expected. Now that's not a bad thing of by no means but the concept of Adam experiencing necrosis the more he uses his power is a good way to play with the idea of a new Adam to take the role. We learn that there are many descendants who take up this title but one young Malik Tebbs could very be the man to become conduit for this amazing power! All around awesome concept and I love some good build and nicely timed action scenes so what more can you ask for, pick this one!