Cowboy Baby

This is a really great miniseries that wrapped up a few weeks ago. Written and drawn by Geof Darrow, Shaolin Cowboy is one of the best-looking comicbooks to come out in a long time. The first issue of this miniseries has about (I can go look it up, but won't) two pages of prose in very very small type (which is hilarious) and the rest of the series barely has any words at all. In fact, not much happens in the four issues of this series. Decompression is something that I usually complain about, but the art in this is so detailed and the story is presented in such a unique way that I really enjoyed and loved every panel. If you missed it, it shouldn't be too hard to find. Check it out.

Recommended Reading

Severed
This just came out last Wednesday, and I was totally floored. It's the first part of a seven-issue miniseries by Scott Snyder, Scott Tuft, and Atilla Futaki. I know it's still early for a statement like this, but if the quality holds in subsequent issues, this could be Snyder's best work yet. Now you know I don't like talking about plot too much, so I'll say it's a dark atmospheric American Gothic horror story involving hobos. What more do you need?

Also, there have been a few other series that started up in recent months I've been meaning to mention, but just never got around to it. But you're going to want to pick these up too:

Butcher Baker, The Righteous Maker
This is without a doubt the BEST comicbook on the shelves right now. In fact, that's an understatement. It's Joe Casey's and Mike Huddleston's ongoing superhero book that's a cross between Captain America and Smokey and the Bandit. It's what Disney and Warner Brothers comics would be like if they had any balls and didn't just publish stories aimed at little kids to generate supplementary sales for their big budget summer garbage. It's kind of reminiscent of Automatic Kafka (which I thought I was the only person who knew of its existence; although in a recent discussion at a comic shop, I leaned it now has a kind of legendary cult status). Anyway, issue five recently came out, so there's probably a trade on the way soon. But definitely, one way or another, catch up.

Sergio Aragines Funnies
The title says it all. An anthology of color and B&W shorts. Some are funnies. Some are autobiographical. This series a no-brainer. Not sure why it took so long for its inception.

Dark Horse Presents
The new volume may surpass the original. 80 full-color pages filled with new stories by Howard Chaykin, Richard Corben, Neal Adams, and many others. The price may be a little steep, but add up any other comics and see how much 80 pages cost you, even with DC "holding the line." The best anthology on the shelves.

Recommended Reading

If you read my piece on The Goon from a couple weeks back and still aren't reading, all I have to say is, "What the Fuck!?" I'm not going to say anymore. I'll just leave you a fine piece of dialogue from this gem:


Goon: I'm not calm. I'm bored. Let's go smash somethin' with a pipe. Studebakers. Let's go smash some Studebakes.

Franky: Okay. But it would be more fun if we was drunk. Holy crud, Goon. Look! It's one of those circus dogs what walks on two legs!

Goon: That's a werewolf, idiot! Let's smash him with a pipe!

He's Back!

After about a year since the last Goon story, nearly two years since an issue was released, and close to two and a half years since there was a regular schedule, The Goon made its return yesterday with an issue devoted to beating on sparkly vampires and tween girls.

Anyway, The Goon is one of my favorite comics so I just wanted to give you all a heads up in case you missed this. If you're not reading, pick it up. It's new-reader friendly. If you want to go back, the beginning's a fine place to start (actually I started at the beginning of the Dark Horse series, I've never read the early stuff reprinted in vol 0-1), but the absolute best stories are the Chinatown Hardcover, and the 12-issue arc from Goon Year in 2008 (all of those are collected in vol 6-9).

Oddly enough, Criminal Macabre recently returned from a two year hiatus. A few months back, Steve Niles self published the Cal MacDonald prose short The Y Incision and brought the character back to comics in the Free Comic Book Day Criminal Macabre/Baltimore split.

Where am I going with this? Well two years ago these were two of my favorite books, and I'm hoping 2011 brings these titles back to their former glory. Next month the two characters share a one-shot. I know those things are never as awesome as you imagine. But fuck. I'm looking forward to it.