I finally pulled the trigger. I went to my (semi) local comic shop and decided to open a box there. A lot of this is new once again so it’s riveting to rediscover what once was a huge past-time for me in my teens. I haven’t been a regular frequenter of comics since I moved to Seattle back when I was 21. I continued to go to the random comic shop here and there but I had altogether stopped becoming a regular.

That stopped about a month ago when I went to Cumming’s comic shop in Georgia called “Kapow Comics”. It’s a cool little shop where I was able to reminisce about the good ole days of talking comics with like-minded people. I’m excited to see where this takes me.

The following were the comics I had picked up in June.

Rat City: #1 – 2

I am not much of a Spawn reader. I had initially begun my venture into the Spawn world, as every child did back in the 90’s, with surface level takes. I was in 3rd grade playing four square (annihilating the casuals with my patented techniques) and pretending to be the Violator. It was easy to like spawn at this age because he simply looked cool enough to be cool.

Come the high school years and the apathy sets in along with it intense obstenince. It wasn’t enough to be cool anymore. In fact, cool was merely annoying and a new traditional mind-set came to being. Now I liked Superman because he just was. And Spawn was a try-hard.

I digress long and hard and all of this is to say that I had no clue what the fuck was going on that lead toward Rat City. I know that Al Simmons (our titular hero, Spawn) had done something that rippled through time to effect a chain of events that somehow lead to the future, which is Rat City itself. A new character emerged, one who was a merc vet who had his legs blown off in his last mission. He had undergone nano-tech surgery that, in conjunction with what Spawn had done to ripple through time, turned him into this new futuristic Spawn.

It isn’t heavily grabbing, but it’s intriguing enough for me to see where this rabbit hole leads.

Saga – Volume 1 & 2

What is it with Brian K Vaughn that continually holds me from start to finish? Whether it be Runaways or Y: The Last Man, everything this guy makes has me. He gives me an Ennis lite vibe but the enjoyment is always as high as possible. This holds true with Saga, which is a comic I slept on for far too long. Now, each month, I relish in going to the shop and picking up another volume of this series.

I have now read volume I and II and they have been a delight. A pseudo space-fairing futuristic mixed with old magicks and a dash of Romeo & Juliet is how I would best describe this journey, and I’m here for every second of it.

Cyberfrog: Blood Honey

Not obtained at the comic but I read this in June.

Say what one will about Ethan Van Sciver, the man has had many ups and downs, but he certainly knows how to draw in a way that engages to the nth degree. Blood Honey was a welcome surprise. I had recently read some of the 90s Cyberfrog and this seems to retcon a lot of that, which is probably for the best since those definitely had a lot of the 90s pitfall without the vision of a modern comic to back it, lore-wise.

Trikk Rann’s main purpose has finally been called upon and the failure is upon him in a very real way. From there, we have the fallout to deal with. It’s a solid first issue in a brand new series that I wait with abaited breath for the next entry for.

The story is essentially answers the age old what if the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had been blasted into the future and had to deal with their 90s sensibilities in a time where the 90s are far and away over? The answer promises to be a fun one, albeit it takes far too long to wait for the next installment, which is something I feel needs to be addressed in the future (it’s incredibly difficult to wait three years for two issues of story.

Outlaw Nights: #1

One can check out my review for this here. Needless to say it’s a promising start to a series that hopefully gains traction in order to allow the writer to continue pushing this forth.

Geiger: Volume 1

A post-apocalyptic romp that features a heavy emphasis on radiation with a theme on familial bonds written by one of my favorite authors who was my largest introduction into DC, Geoff Johns, as well as one of my favorite comic book artists who is largely responsible for my love of Incredible Hulk and Supergirl, Gary Frank.

The plot is fun, with a unique and compelling protagonist that has promises of a much larger world strewn throughout the timeline. Unfortunately, at this moment, Geiger is the only mythical being in Geoff Johns’ new world that holds any interest over me, so I hope he can delve deeper into this character so that it stands apart from the larger whole. This is the one thing I find lacking about Ge iger as a story, the “not enough butter scraped over too much bread” syndrome. I will be checking out the new Geiger monthly, so I’ll have a review of that up in July’s pickups.

Ultimate Spider-Man: #3 & #5

Who knew ANOTHER reboot could be so much fun! This one takes the premise of Spiderman having never gotten powers until MUCH later in life. I guess that’s what this whole series is all about. I’m guessing all of the heroes didn’t exist until far later in life. And there is a mysterious reason behind it. I’m enjoying the hell out of it. It’s my first Hickman read as well, which is making me want to read his earlier works.

The Mythicals #1 – 2

Check out my full review of the first issue for this comic here.