Comics: At least 20% cooler
by Dee. 5/22/2014
The Empty Man (Boom! Studios): This comic is... unsettling. It definitely intrigues you from the first panel, and still leaves you wondering at the end of the issue about the nature of "The Empty Man". Writer Cullen Bunn (The Sixth Gun, Magneto) has done some phenomenal work, so I'm prepared to give this a chance. Vanesa R. Del Rey (HIT) (whose website is NSFW, by the way) doesn't go for the hyper-detail of Walking Dead, but has a sharp, dynamic style that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Thankfully, you are not counting the vertebrae in a beheaded corpse, nor exactly sure what happens to some of the victims.If you are a fan of CSI, X-Files, and similar entertainment, this should be on your wavelength. Don't get me wrong: I love Bones, Dexter, Sixth Sense, Walking Dead, Angel, Jericho, Jeremiah and similar suspenseful, dystopic horror (at times supernatural) that shows just as much about humanity as it does about mortality.
In this book, the FBI and CDC are teamed up to identify the cause of "The Empty Man", a disease with uncertain origin, and terrifying symptoms. The storyline follows the mystery of two missing children, whose parents have succumbed to "The Empty Man". Are they witnesses? Have they been kidnapped by the "church", or worse?
"The Empty Man" #1 is scheduled to release on June 11, coming to a comic shop near you...
The Woods (Boom! Studios): Artist Michael Dialynas (Amala's Blade) and writer James Tynion IV (Batman Eternal) brought us the title that really stopped me in my tracks. An entire high school is teleported to a densely wooded land, and the tone quickly turns deadly. School officials are bewildered by the turn of events, so at least it's not a "fight the militant authority figures out to kill you" sort of story. They quickly dismiss and disassemble the pro-active student council members, so they are at best irrationally holding onto their rapidly diminishing power/ utility. The aliens are definitely not all cute and friendly, but there is some "adopting of a small alien friend" shtick that is funny and poignant. I did not expect to be drawn in to this story quite this early, and I find myself wanting to subscribe to this title already, as this looks like the beginning of some epic storytelling.
Issue #1 was released on May 7, issue #2 is to be released on June 4, and issue #3 is expected on July 2.
So, same bat time, same bat channel,
Dee