I read a bunch more stuff but this is what stood out as the best:
DAYTRIPPER #6 of 10 by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon. This limited series has one recurring gag: Every issue the lead character, a Brazilian obituary writer named Bras, dies at a different point in his life. I thought it would get tiresome after a few issues but instead the message of how completely on the bubble of mortality we all live has come though loud and clear. It’s disturbing to dwell on the fact that any day or moment could be our last, but while reading DAYTRIPPER you are safely detached from that truth, secure in the knowledge that, for a few pages a month at least, some other guy gets it instead of you. Beautiful art and rich characters help draw you into each issue even though we now know how it ends.
REPUGLICANS by Steve Tatham and Pete Von Sholly. This is a guilty pleasure with an emphasis on Pleasure. Basically the artist, Von Sholly, draws demonic caricatures of some of the worst members of the current political far-right and author Tatham writes a brief blurb outlining their offenses against god and man. You learn a little and laugh a lot at people who deserve it. And yes, I would support a similar, equally well-crafted graphic indictment of some of the knaves of the Democratic establishment and its fellow travelers. Sadly, I know of very few humorists on the right with the chops to pull it off and none of them work in comics. Oh well…
Finally, stuff I await eagerly this coming week includes AMERICAN VAMPIRE #3, EX MACHINA #49, THE EXECUTOR graphic novel, GARTH ENNIS BATTLEFIELDS #6, SCALPED, VOL. 6: THE GNAWING in trade paperback, and WALKING DEAD #72.
Life is good.
