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Lost Colony Vol. 1: The Snodgrass Conspiracy

By Grady Klein
128 pages, color
Published by First Second Books

With most books, you can tell pretty quickly if it’s the sort of thing you’re going to love or hate. Be it the plot, or the style of storytelling, the author’s work just falls into place in such a way that you quickly grasp where you stand. I think that’s ultimately what’s so intriguing for me with Grady Klein’s The Lost Colony Vol. 1: The Snodgrass Conspiracy; by the time I was done with the book I still wasn’t entirely sure what I thought of it.

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Pirates of Coney Island #1

Written by Rick Spears
Art by Vasilis Lolos
32 pages, color
Published by Image Comics

There are some titles that just grab me the second I hear them. The Pirates of Coney Island was definitely one of them; the mixing of a familiar genre phrase (“The Pirates of…”) with the part of Brooklyn known for its boardwalks, beaches, and amusement parks. I actually laughed out loud when I first saw the title and figured I knew exactly what I was getting in for, with such a funny, silly name. And boy, was I wrong on all counts.

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Drifting Classroom Vol. 1-2

By Kazuo Umezu
192 pages, black and white
Published by Viz

When Viz released Kazuo Umezu’s Orochi: Blood back in 2002, I’d hoped it was the start of a long line of releases by the noted Japanese master of horror. It’s taken a few years, but Umezu’s works are now appearing in English again, both in Dark Horse’s Scary Book series of Umezu short works, and Viz’s The Drifting Classroom. With The Drifting Classroom two of its eleven volumes are now translated, and I can’t help but wonder if publishing the other nine books could somehow result in a worldwide shortage of exclamation points thanks to its relentless intensity.

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Dungeon Twilight Vol. 1-2

Written by Lewis Trondheim and Joann Sfar
Art by Joann Sfar and Kerascoet
96 pages, color
Published by NBM

Up until now, reading Lewis Trondheim and Joann Sfar’s Dungeon books has been nothing but a great deal of fun. Their “present day” Dungeon Zenith is a wonderful parody of sword and sorcery stories while still having a strong backbone of its own, and the “prequel” Dungeon Early Years installments have been an entertaining mix of intrigue and swashbuckling. Now that we’re seeing the “in the future” books of Dungeon Twilight, we’re getting something slightly different. The series is still full of the brilliant and over-the-top ideas, and it holds the reader’s interest just as tightly. The big difference is that if I had to sum up Dungeon Twilight in one word, it would probably be “bleak.”

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110 Per¢

By Tony Consiglio
136 pages, black and white
Published by Top Shelf Productions

There are some targets that are easy to pick on. Take the whole “boy band” phenomenon, with its endless (and interchangeable) series of generic line-ups of young men trotted out to the sound of thousands of shrieking teenagers. On that level alone, Tony Consiglio’s 110 Per¢ succeeds in its sarcastic look at the whole movement. What makes the book really work, though, is that Consiglio’s greater target isn’t the latest fad, but rather the people who develop obsessions around them.

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12 Reasons Why I Love Her

Written by Jamie S. Rich
Art by Joëlle Jones
152 pages, black and white
Published by Oni Press

There’s no such thing as a perfect relationship. Popular culture likes to insist that there is, be it in books, comics, movies, or some other form of media. The reality, of course, is that relationships do have conflicts sooner or later; the real question isn’t so much how long until one hits that conflict, but rather how the people involved then deal with its resolution. I think that’s what hit me so much about Jamie S. Rich and Joëlle Jones’s 12 Reasons Why I Love Her; it’s a book that is as much about the good times as the bad times, but even more so it’s about how each of those extremes shift into the other.

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Polly and the Pirates Vol. 1

By Ted Naifeh
176 pages, black and white
Published by Oni Press

When a creator is attached to a specific franchise or character, it can be difficult for fans to see the creator try something different. I can’t help but think that must have been a large hurdle for some readers when Ted Naifeh announced Polly and the Pirates. While Naifeh’s never limited himself to a single project (writing-but-not-drawing Unearthly, drawing-but-not-writing Death Jr.), this the first all-by-Naifeh comic in a while that isn’t a new Courtney Crumrin story. And those who are expecting Courtney Crumrin II might be in for a bit of a shock upon meeting Polly.

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Sam Noir: Samurai Detective #1

Written by Manny Trembley and Eric A. Anderson
Art by Manny Trembley
24 pages, black and white
Published by Image Comics

With a title like Sam Noir: Samurai Detective one would almost automatically assume that the comic is going to be a comedy. The merging of samurai culture with pulp detective fiction, after all, seems like something you can’t succeed with unless there’s a touch of humor involved. The more I read of Sam Noir: Samurai Detective, I began to have a nagging doubt. Could it be that Manny Trembley and Eric A. Anderson are taking the concept 100% seriously?

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Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Vol. 1

Written by Eiji Otsuka
Art by Housui Yamazaki
216 pages, black and white
Published by Dark Horse

One of the easiest way to get a new reader’s attention is with a good title for your comic, or a good cover design. In the case of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Vol. 1, both are provided. From the schematic design on how all the pieces of a body fit together, to the brown paper wrapper style cover paper stock, to the different colored inks to make up the logo, this is a book whose appeal has been carefully thought out and executed by all involved parties. And if the outside is that good, well, it’s hard to imagine that the inside won’t be as well.

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Criminal #1

Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
32 pages, color
Published by Marvel Comics

Protagonists don’t always have to be bound by the traditional “good guy” definition. It’s something that Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips understood in their series Sleeper, about a government agent trapped in an undercover role as a villain. With their new series, Criminal, they remind us that compelling fiction can star the sort of person you wouldn’t necessarily want to associate with.

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