What really caught my attention was that at the beginning of the pandemic, they said that they were giving 50% of the proceeds from your purchase to a local comic book shop of your choosing. I thought this was an amazing and very generous idea. For those that don't know, the comic book industry has razor thin margins, so something like a pandemic will absolutely wreck havoc with the comic book shops, which are all independent.
I looked at the talent that they gathered for these books and saw that I legitimately wanted to get over 80% of them, so I took the plunge and purchased a few, while also making sure it was going to help some of my favorite comic book shops. What further interested me, was the diversity and inclusion I saw with the titles, whether it was in the art team or the stories themselves. Over the years I have gravitated towards more normal comic books that are minus the super heroics. I just want good stories, so I don't always need someone flying around in a cape. Comic books have evolved to have more choices out there. This is why I'm glad a company like this exists and they can be successful to lure more talent and provide more offerings.
The other thing I want to call out and I didn't fully realize this until I got the books, but they are larger than the normal comic book size. They are sized more like magazines. I think this gives you a chance to really take in the wonderful artwork that you will see.
Anyways, let's talk about the books I read and my personal takes on them. These are just my opinions, so you can take them with a grain of salt.
One thing about me. Whenever I read comics, I always read them in the order of what seems the most interesting to me. So I always start with what I consider "good" and then work my way to the bottom of the stack. This isn't an exact science because some times something on the bottom of the stack is better than what is on top.
Away we go:
Writer: Roxanne Gay
Artist: Ming Doyle
There were many reasons this book went to the top of my stack. I like Roxanne Gay as a writer (World of Wakanda) and a person, having read some of her work and seen her in interviews. I really like Ming Doyle as an artist (Mara), so seeing these two combined was really intriguing. Also, it was a story about three generations of black female bank robbers. So this checked a lot of boxes for me. With a lesbian and black writer creating the story, I knew there would be an air of authenticity. It was not going to feel pandering because it comes from someone that truly knows.
Now the real question is, was it good? I would say a resounding yes. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is essentially a heist film and it layers in the history and family dynamics of the groups involved. There were not any world ending stakes and it did not end exactly like I thought it would, but I think it sticks the landing for the story it was trying to tell. The dialogue is all really good. The art is fantastic. It is a well put together package and I can say without a doubt that it was my favorite of the rest of these books I will talk about.
Writer: Tze Chun
Artist: Artyom Trakhanov
I honestly had high hopes for this book. I saw that the main character was a black guy and it was taking place in the old West. Also, calling it "7 Deadly Sins" made me think of the Magnificent Seven, so I attached some pretty high hopes to this. What I found out is that I was severely underwhelmed and I can honestly say this book was my least favorite of the books I read. So that theory I had above about the best books not always being at the top of my stack and vice versa is proven out by this book. It is not what I thought it was going to be. They do try to spend time saying that our main characters are different personifications of the 7 Deadly Sins, but I just don't like the way the story unfolds. It does a great job of making the cast pretty diverse and the art is actually pretty good. I like the style. It's just the writing does not match the story. Some of these characters are terrible people and they just don't get any better. Others are almost TOO good, so it's a weird balance to try and strike. I just think this book misses the mark. I am a sucker for team books and this group never really feel like they gel as a team. You can argue that, "What do you expect? They don't know each other!". That's not the book I want. I want them to figure it out. Again, this is just my opinion.
Writer: Natalie Chaidez
Artist: Andy Belanger
This book was well done. The art was great and the story was pretty good. It was not a ground breaking revenge story, but I did like the cast. Dani Libra was a strong, female character that was grappling with her own demons. I liked that it focused a little on the world of MMA. It wasn't a huge focus, but it did give a tangible reason for why she was kind of a bad ass. It had more twists and turns than I expected, but I thought it went well.
I also want to add that this is another book that felt like it had an authentic voice. Diversity matters in comics, so I was glad to read this and it Natalie Chaidez's dialogue did not feel force. I don't know who Andy Belanger is, but his art was really good here. There was some good action sequences here that were handled very well.
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Steve Epting
This is a phenomenal creative team on this book. Ennis is a master of war stories and Epting is one of the best artists in comics today. He is a name that makes me jump onto a book if he is on art duties. So that is why I gave this book a chance.
I'll be honest, this book is technically great, but I can't say that I really enjoyed it a lot. I'm not that into comics dealing with World War II or wars in general, so that was already an uphill battle. I am into bad ass female characters and that is essentially what the titular character, Sara is. Past experiences have left her cold. The art is great, but the problem is the way the ladies of this special forces unit are drawn, they all look the same. They even sound mostly the same, so it is really hard to tear them apart.
The story does a good job of showing how snipers acted in this war and some of the technical aspects of it, which are great. It just didn't blow me away like I thought it would. That is not to distract from how good it is, it's just not for me.
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Gabriel Walta
This is the book that has gotten Eisner Award buzz. I can say that buzz is well deserved. This is a very good book. Some strong sci-fi, but with a human touch. This is a very good concept. I was totally engrossed, waiting to see what would happen next. It moved at a good pace and I'm glad it didn't overstay it's welcome. This is the kind of story I would love turned into a movie, provided you have some good child actors. The art is also very good.
I want to say a whole lot more about this book, but I feel like I would give away some big moments that you have to experience for yourselves. It is very heartfelt. I wish I could lavish more praise on this book, but it wouldn't do it justice. Out of all these books, it is my favorite, second only to "The Banks". This is a book I would gladly recommend to just about anyone.
Writer: Tze Chun, Mike Weiss
Artist: Dan McDaid
Rounding out my initial list is this book. I bought it because I liked the appeal of a pulpish, noir book. This is definitely that book. It reads like a good old fashioned pulp novel. I haven't read them, but I've read enough comics modeled after pulp fiction to get the idea. It is more diverse than I thought. Given the time period this takes place in, it's no small matter that a white guy, a white woman and a Chinese man would work together and bring different skill sets to the table. Quite honestly, this book was a lot of fun.
It follows the well worn trope of enemies becoming friends. It works here to make for some tension and then a growing respect with each other. I also really loved the art in this book. The coloring combined with that to give it an old 30's feel. The action was really good and well paced. The story kept moving and didn't get bogged down in too much exposition. It was also pretty straight forward without any convoluted twists and turns for the most part. I can appreciate that. This is definitely another book I would recommend, provided you like pulp noir.
