Five Comics That Will Make You Recall Lost Glories This Week

If you’re here in the Panel Discussion programming block, you might be a lapsed comics reader, trying to find a way back to the JLA Satellite. Or you might someone killing time until you pick up your weekly Wednesday pull list. Or maybe you’ve said goodbye to dozens of longboxes to embrace the promise of digital comics. Whichever it is, you’re still interested in the good stuff.

Welcome, then, to the Panel Discussion Dozen Quintet, where I pick out just-released or out-soon comics that I think are worth paying attention to. Ready? Then, let’s meet the sequential art that’ll be draining your wallet this week.

Deadenders

Today’s readers might know Ed Brubaker more for his superhero work like Captain America or for his suite of noir comics like Sleeper, Criminal or Fatale. But one of the first things that caught folks’ attention was this sci-fi coming-of-age tale that originally saw print more than ten years ago. It’s got great covers by Philip Bond and great interior art from Warren Pleece. Pick it up to see a different side of Brubaker’s talents.

Saga #3

Only three issues in, this series already boasts a world that feels rich with history and tension. The young parents at the story’s center squabble, connect and worry just like real-world couples, even if they’re in the middles of a long-running magic-vs-science war. But this cover—and what it might mean for Marko, Alana and their baby girl—just guts me with its hypnotically terrifying composition.

Hardcore Pilot Season #1
Robert Kirkman may be the master of the high concept for this generation of comics creators. His uncanny ability to boil down genre conventions and recombine them has generated classics like Invincible and The Walking Dead. This new comic—about assassins who can telemetrically placeshift their consciousness—features a espionage action hook that should also set up decent character dynamics, too.

Avengers #26

So a bunch of y’all saw The Avengers, right? Consider this an order from Nick Fury, then: go buy this issue of the comic whence the blockbuster movie came. It’s being drawn by master artist Walt Simonson, who wrote and drew all-time classic runs of Thor and Fantastic Four, among others. Simonson’s a born visual storyteller and it’ll be interesting to see how his art style and Bendis’ dialogue-heavy execution mesh.

Fantastic Four #605.1

At this point, I’m pre-emptively signing on for whatever Jonathan Hickman’s got planned for the Fantastic Four. He’s displayed a deft skill at laying out the personal stakes and the cosmic repercussions face by the family of adventurers, focusing on the futures that the Richards/Storm family could possibly inherit. The story arc that starts here looks back into the past, teasing readers with a secret history of the Fantastic Four. Whatever it is I’m sure it’s going to be great.