NEW COMIC BOOK WEDNESDAY - PART ONE

Hello Again Everybody!

Today and every Wednesday is new comic book day at your local comic shop. This is when the Big companies like Marvel and DC release all of the titles that you've come to know, either through your love of collecting and reading or through the recent glut of highly successful movies.

What some of you may not know is that there are a lot of other publishers out there that are producing very high quality books of highly original material and many extremely nostalgic titles as well. These are your craft beers to Marvel's Budweiser.

As it is Wednesday and I do have a penchant for all things nerdy, I to have a haul of new comic books that I would like to show off to you. Granted these haven't been read yet so all commentary is going to be based on past issues or hearsay.

First Up We'll Start With Our Independents!

These covers are Awesome!

Transformers: Unicron issues 1 & 2

by IDW Publishing
So this will actually mark my first foray into the comic book world of Transformers. This is one of those nostalgia books I was referring to earlier. While the Michael Bay movies have been extremely popular I think it is safe to say that anyone old enough to have been around for the 80s cartoon and some of those original toy runs knows just how awesome Transformers can be. I am looking forward to this!

IDW has been very successful with their Transformers books and has compiled them into two separate sets of deluxe hardcover volumes. I think each set has 7 or 8 volumes. These are very nice and very expensive and usually sold out and out of print very quickly. I want them!

Sometimes Simple is Better.

Sword Daughter issue 2

by Dark Horse Comics
I've always loved Dark Horse Comics. They were one of my go to companies in the 90s. They've had some great runs of Aliens/Predator and held the Star Wars publishing rights for a long long time. Sword Daughter is not these things. It is essentially a spin on Lone Wolf and Cub but set in the Viking Age. The Lone Wolf story is great and I absolutely love all things Viking but there is something about this book that just doesn't do it for me.

Some of the coolest covers going right now.....

Isola issue 4

by Image Comics
Coming to the image game pretty late I haven't had a lot of experience with them. I did know when I see issue 1 of this book that I had to have it. These covers and interior art are absolutely gorgeous. Lush and rich. Isola is the story of a queen transformed into a tiger wandering a mystic land in hopes of being restored to her former glory. With her is a young soldier that seems extremely guilt ridden and will do anything to protect her queen and see out the mission. So far it has been pretty cool. The story itself could use a little fleshing out, honestly, but this vivid art keeps bringing me back!

Also, this might be a contender for my #colorchallenge pic on Sunday if I do't come up with anything better. That purple is rich.

Only issue 3 and this has been a trip!

Coda issue 3

by BOOM! Studios
BOOM! is a smaller fish among small fish. However, that doesn't lessen anything they do. They do Adventure Time and Power Ranger(great!) books as well as David Petersen's Mouseguard which you should absolutely check out if given the chance. Coda is something altogether different. The art inside is a very different vivid and bright than what is found in Isola. It somewhat chaotic nature lends itself to the, so far, wild story. Set in a world of goblins and elves, magical society has collapsed in the wake of a Dark Lords terror leaving the land in quite a Mad Maxian state. it seems as if its part farce at first, while playing it all to serious. Can't wait to keep reading.

AND LASTLY

TURTLE POWER!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue 84

by IDW Publishing
Late starter for me again here. I've picked up a random issue or two here and there along the way but never got into it. About a month ago I kind of had a falling out with Marvel/DC and picked up a few issues of this I think 79-81 all at once and gave it a go. I really fell in love with it but being so far into the series.....well, I wanted to start from the beginning. So that is what I did.

Remember those fancy deluxe hardcover volumes that I mentioned in the Transformers piece? Turns out that IDW is really really good at that. I bought volumes 1-6 and jumped right in, only 5 and 6 remain to be read. These are some serious Turtles with some serious characterization to them. I really love the thought and development put into the story. It doesn't hurt that Turtle creator Kevin Eastman is still heading the project. pick one of the up if you can and give it a go. You wont be disappointed. Cowabunga Dude!

Thanks again for your time and attention everybody. Be on the look out for PART 2 where I'll cover the Marvel purchases of the day. No DC books to report.

Shout out to @stevecronin for the motivation to write this post.