I first came across Roger Langridge’s work with his previous kaBOOM! title, Abigail and the Snowman, a children’s series about a young girl who befriends an invisible, friendly yeti. It was charming, fun, and polite. There is nothing even remotely offensive about Langridge’s work, but, on the other hand, there isn’t a lot for adults to sink their teeth into. It’s more Muppet Babies than Tiny Toons. Charming children’s stories to the end.

I’ve given average reviews to the first two issues of Lone Wolf 2100, and yet I keep coming back. First, I think Eric Heisserer is a great writer. He’s currently the guy helping bring the Valiant universe to the big screen. Second, even though it’s basically name only from the original Lone Wolf and Cub – more in homage as our heroes run from their pursuers - it has a certain charm unto itself that isn’t just growing on me, but becoming more a part of the book.

Somewhere between Joseph Campbell and Lone Wolf and Cub, Ben Haggarty and Adam Broadbank’s inspired world of folklore, fairytales, and myth comes to life with a feverish clarity. Mezolith: Stone Age Dreams and Nightmares is like stepping into a world fueled with significance, the power of stories that have been passed down over the ages brought to life with that almost otherworldly feel of ancient cave paintings.

It’s difficult for me to believe that the next issue will be the final issue of Rick Loverd and Huang Danlan’s Venus. There are layers and layers of world building happening. You can feel the breadth of the universe they’ve created expand little by little with every passing issue, all seen through the eyes of the remaining crew of astronauts who find themselves stuck on the hostile planet, Venus.

There’s something to be said about the level of insight in a political satire when the most level-headed character in the political spectrum of campaign managers, news casters, and politicians is not human at all, but a talking dolphin.

This I know: Zodiac Starforce #4, the final issue in this first story arc, has taken its time coming out. And the best thing about it is that it promises more. I don’t care how long it takes for each issue to come out, Kevin Panetta and Paulina Ganucheau have filled a void in the comic world that is necessary. Starforce is a subtly progressive, all-inclusive girl power comic book. It pays homage to all the magical girl genre books before it, like Sailor Moon, and incorporates recognizable contemporary teenage tropes, but roots it all in the fertile soil of acceptance within our modern culture that continues to expand outward that young people (and old people, it seems) need to see put into action. Sailor Moon welcomed and loved everyone no matter who they were, Panetta and Ganucheau, as creators, have incorporated that spirit into their book without drawing attention to itself. It just is because that’s how it should be. They don’t preach, they allow it to exist.

This is probably my favorite book out there by Cullen Bunn. There’s more heart in this horror story than most any of his Marvel books (though Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars put my tear ducts to work). He’s at his best when the air is tinged with something bittersweet, lonely, or even tragic. Harrow County is like a child’s fairy tale, at least how they were before Disney got hold of them. Tip toeing around the darkest edges of humanity with the joy and curiosity of a child.

Alex Paknadel and Eric Scott Pfeiffer, having organically stuffed more ideas into a story than most people do in ten, bring their eight-issue series, Arcadia, to an end, albeit a bittersweet one. And, surprisingly, what started out as a sci-fi series about an artificial society laced with all the political and societal allegories that go along with it, ended up pulling a fast one as it zeroed in on what was actually the family drama at its core. The pitch: Humanity faced a pandemic and uploaded most all of the population into a simulated world known as Arcadia, leaving the few who were immune to the disease in what is known as the Meat, or the real world. This creates divisions on all levels in incredibly inventive ways, and the family at the center of it has to go through some pretty trippy, mind-bending, reality-subverting things to become as whole as they can be in the end.

There’s a cadence to Caitlin R. Kiernan’s handling of language that lulls one into a dreamlike calm. Her words sooth the brain as they blanket over that part of us that has to listen to crappy pop lyrics, and political sound bites, and promises that everything will be okay. To a world becoming more akin to the one imagined in Orwell’s 1984, Kiernan’s poetry is a welcome return to emotional resonance through rhythm of speech – akin to some of the greatest writers. 

Wow.

I seriously hope they use that as a pull quote, because it sums up my feelings reading the first issue of Mirror by Emma Rios and Hwei Lim perfectly. It’s a four-part spin off from Image’s other series, 8House, which I have not been following, but now feel like I must! The idea I suppose is to fill in the world of 8House and bring it to life, but Mirror is full of so much life of its own that it probably does its job too well.