Tales from the Batcave

Not a whole lot to be excited about this week, but there were a couple of things I felt like were worth mentioning. These light weeks are sometimes a breath of fresh air, especially if I get behind on reading the previous week's stuff, as I did this time. Between a big pull week and Free Comic Book Day stuff, I only got about 3/4 of my books read.

The next exciting arc of The Walking Dead, titled Something To Fear started with issue 97. It looks like it's going to kick things into high gear again after a couple of snoozer arcs. Book one of Ed Brubaker's phenomenal Lovecraftian Crime-Noir comic Fatale concludes with issue 5, and it is nothing short of fantastic. I'm also looking forward to what should be a fun two-parter in Resurrection Man and Suicide Squad, which puts the Squad hot on the heels of Mitch Shelley. Can't help myself, both of these books are just fun reads, the crossover should be DOUBLE the fun. Let's get to the highlights though...

Frankenstein Alive, Alive #1 - I mentioned last week when talking about 30 Days of Night that I'm a Steve Niles-oholic. The man is a horror comics writing beast. He hasn't let me down yet. He's also been fortunate enough to have collaborated with horror comic artistic LEGEND Bernie Wrightson on several projects. When I say legend, I mean that in every sense of the word. The man is one of the most brilliant artists on the planet, and thankfully he's a fan of the creepy stuff. Frankenstein Alive, Alive is one of those books that was announced, and then I waited VERY impatiently for the solicit to hit Previews so I could sign up, then begin the painful process of waiting very impatiently for it to ship. Thankfully that day has finally arrived, and I'm happy to report that it more than delivered. It's basically a little bit of set-up, the Monster is currently part of a traveling circus' freak show act, followed by him narrating how he ended up there. Not sure if the entire story will be told through flashback this way, but to say that I can't wait for the next issue would be a gross understatement. This one is going to be special.

Alabaster: Wolves #2 - I had absolutely no idea who Caitlin R. Kiernan was before I read the Alabaster Wolves preview in Dark Horse Presents. I signed up for the series based off of it. Turns out she's some sort of world famous writer of dark fantasy and such, turns out she was also born and raised not far from my Batcave in Leeds, Alabama, and it also turns out she's a transsexual Wiccan. That last part isn't important, it's just amazing what you can learn about people on Wikipedia. Alabaster is about a teenage girl named Dancy Flammarion who has an angel that hovers over her shoulder, speaking to her about her purpose of carrying out God's will by hunting and killing monsters. This first series has her hunting werewolves in Georgia. If that doesn't sell the book for you, then don't even talk to me. Steve Lieber is handling the art, and this book is very pretty. Yet another great horror series from Dark Horse, I am really digging it so far.

There ya go, what's fresh on the racks this week. There's also undoubtedly 27 or so Avengers related books available for purchase, but I don't read that shit. Well, other than Secret Avengers, which I only read because Rick Remender writes it. But anyway, there ya go, COMICS!