Greetings heroes and heroines, and welcome to Comic Book Quick Hits! Every week I’ll be writing a “Quick Hits” review piece to give some brief highlights to a handful of great comic books that have come out in the last week or two, so you can swing by your local shop and snag an issue or two while they are still hot on the shelf. I’ll also be writing “Comic Cluster” reviews, which will be focused on 3-6 consecutive issues of one specific title, so that you can get a more in-depth feel for an over-arching storyline, art, etc., to see if you’d like to commit to a specific series for a longer haul. Here are your Quick Hits for the week of June 22!
Lucas Stand #1
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Release Date: June 22, 2016
Physical Cover Price: $3.99
Digital Price: $3.99
Quick Hit: Boom! is really living up to their company name with this release – the first original comic book created by Kurt Sutter, who also created a little TV show you may have heard of named ‘Sons of Anarchy.’ In ‘Lucas Stand,’ the titular character is a military veteran who finds himself back in civilian life and having a tough time readjusting to it. In a moment of extreme vulnerability, he makes a deal with the Devil – literally. But this isn’t your average contract with the Dark Overlord: Satan needs help catching demons that are escaping from Hell and throwing off the balance of good and evil in the world, so it becomes Lucas’ job to bring the rogue spirits back to the underworld. With the demons able to enter reality in any time period, the story will take on a variety of looks and scenarios, and it should be very interesting to see how Lucas adapts to not only his new job, but how to effectively do that job in wildly different eras. This is definitely a series to keep a close eye on.
Penny Dreadful #1 (2nd Printing)
Publisher: Titan Comics
Release Date: June 22, 2016
Physical Cover Price: $3.99
Digital Price: $2.99 (at time of posting)
Quick Hit: So nice they had to print it twice! Titan brings the hit TV series to the comic pages in these all-new, original tales. The series is on its fourth issue currently, but back issues have sold so well that Titan has elected to reproduce the fantastic first issue. Whether you’re familiar with the televised horror series or not, you’ll be able to jump into this prequel tale very easily; the book tells the story of Vanessa as she tries to locate a childhood friend, all the while working to expose the vampire-like creatures that inhabit London’s underground scene. A great read for the horror-minded comic fan!
Independence Day #5
Publisher: Titan Comics
Release Date: June 15, 2016
Physical Cover Price: $3.99
Digital Price: $3.99
Quick Hit: Bringing the five-issue miniseries to an end just in time for the new film, ‘Independence Day: Resurgence,’ to hit theaters, this tale has worked effectively to attempt to “bridge the gap” a bit between the two films. Sidebar: 20th Century Fox has also created a nifty website, Warof1996.com, to help fill in some of the story between the movies as well. It’s been great here in this miniseries, however, to more effectively jump back into the tale of the aliens and how the human’s “victory” over the invading species may not truly be as decisive as we had hoped.
Aloha, Hawaiian Dick #3
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: June 22, 2016
Physical Cover Price: $3.99
Digital Price: $3.99
Quick Hit: Aside from the title that might send juvenile readers all a-titter (I may have snickered a bit as well, to be honest), Image has created a fun series so far based on an already-existing property of a very classic detective noir-ish vibe – and being set in paradise certainly doesn’t hurt. Taking place in the groovy past of decades gone by, the art evokes the feel of a very “classic” story that stays strong with modern storytelling abilities worked in. It’s fun to visit the world of Byrd and company once again, and if this is your first exposure to this world, feel free to jump in; you’ll likely pick things up very easily, and you’ll probably want to go back and check out the other tales from this universe as well.
Tony Schaab yearns to see the deleted scene from the ‘Thundercats’ cartoon in which Snarf is forced to do his monthly cleaning of the giant litterbox behind the Cat’s Lair. A lover of most things sci-fi and horror, Tony is an author by day and a DJ by night. Come hang out with Tony on Facebook and Twitter to hear him spew semi-funny nonsense and get your opportunity to finally put him in his place.
