Wednesday comics aren't always super-people wearing variegated bodysuits. No, sometimes they're filled with crazed cannibals who'd love to don your skull as a codpiece. If gut-churning horror is your fancy, rejoice.
This week has been big for Garth Ennis' sentient zombie survivalist series. At C2E2, Ennis revealed that he's been writing a screen treatment of Crossed for Kickstart Productions, and a new Crossed miniseries - Crossed: Family Values - kicks off this week with David Lapham steering this crazy train of a conceit off the rails. A family in North Carolina must contend with the Crossed outbreak, and the results aren't pretty.
Lapham can pen bracing violence (the castration scene from his Vertigo series Young Liars was so shudder-worthy I had to stop reading), so get pumped. Or hey, don't get pumped - the Crossed universe is definitely an acquired taste, like steak tartare.
What other comics this week won't trigger your gag reflex? Let's take a look!
- Green Lantern 53 (DC): Looks like the Rainbow Gang (Larfleeze, Sinestro, etc.) isn't breaking up just yet.
- Gravel 18 (Avatar): More escapades from England's premiere combat magician.
- Joe The Barbarian 4 (DC/Vertigo): Grant Morrison's swords and sorcery and kid with low blood sugar fable continues.
- Transformers Spotlight Prowl 1 (IDW): A series starring everyone's favorite sentient police cruiser.
- American Vampire 2 (DC Vertigo): Stephen King and Scott Snyder's vampire western continues.
- Iron Manual Mark III 1 (Marvel): A new guidebook to Tony Stark and friends' business attire.
- Spirit 1 (DC): The classic hero returns in a new ongoing (without Samuel L. Jackson in tow).
- Do Anything Vol 1, Jack Kirby Ripped My Flesh (Avatar): Not so much a comic as a collection of Warren Ellis' columns about the robotic head of Jack Kirby (who happens to live on Ellis' desk).
And what trades do we have? A trade paperback of Green Lantern: Rebirth (sweet Ethan Van Scriver art), a classic Dial H For Hero trade by Dave Wood (who wouldn't want to turn into the Human Solar Mirror or Sphinx Man?), and Love and Rockets: New Stories Volumes 1 & 2. Love and Rockets delved into science fiction during its run, but this is a straight-up L&R superhero tale.
What's MY PICK OF THE WEEK? Paul Pope's cyberpunk gem, 100% (DC/Vertigo)! Pope's 2002 series has been out-of-print in trade form for a while, so its great to see this alternate reality fable (complete with sexy Gastro Clubs, where patrons ogle dancers' organs) back in print. Also, intrepid readers will remember that this was one of io9's best comics of the Aughts.
Need to find the rest of this week's releases or your local comic store? Click here for the former and here for the latter. Happy reading, gang!