By Dustin Cabeal

What continues to be amazing about Prison School is how it rotates the gags throughout the series. In some volumes, the gags are all sex related or themed like the S&M volume. There is of course always multiple themes and layers to the story, but in this particular volume one gag/theme stood out… urine.

By Dustin Cabeal

Umami is one of the most delightful comics I’ve read all year. The storytelling has a strong manga influence, but not so much that a non-manga reader would be turned away from the structure and style. Because it’s embracing both styles though, there is something incredibly pure about it. Something that resonates because it’s a comic, trying to be a comic and nothing more.

By Jonathan Edwards

Though far from perfect, I got a fair amount of personal enjoyment out of Sean Lewis’s first book, Saints. His second, The Few, failed to hook me, and I stopped reading after the second issue. Now, he returns to contemporary fantasy with Coyotes, and its first issue falls somewhere in-between those of his previous two books. That is to say, it gets going a lot faster than The Few, but its premise still requires more elaborate exposition to set up than the likes of Saints. That being said, I could easily see Coyotes having the greatest overall appeal of Lewis’s books so far.    

By Daniel Vlasaty

I want to be completely honest here. Until very recently I had not read a single issue of Redlands. I’m not sure why this is. It’s been on my list. I own all the issues. Just never got around to reading them. So immediately before reading issue #4, I read all the previous issues. Had to catch up. And I am glad I did. Glad I finally got my head out of my ass and read this thing. Because the book’s fucking great. It’s easily the best horror book coming out right now.

By Justin McCarty

Mitch and Tom continue to elevate comics to the high art we all know it can be. They continue to provide a superb example of literature as comics. Issue four maintains the pace of the previous issues, mostly due to that continuous nine-panel grid. If you aren’t on this comic by now you then it probably isn’t for you. That’s okay. If you have any interest at all in this comic you should be reading it. This is a comic that will be referred to again and again, like Watchmen, as an inspiration for many comics to come.

By Patrick Wolf

Backways is a new age, gothic, horror-romance that features a pair of feisty teens out to find their missing girlfriend. While the series’ artwork is wonderful and the characters are charming, the story suffers from too much jargon and hidden exposition to be as fluid as it needs to be. At the moment, the franchise does seem to have a lot of potential, but it still needs more time to get off the ground. Until then, I’ll give it a pass.

By Cat Wyatt

The Secret History of Task Force X Part Three picks up from where we left off in issue #28, with our anti-heroes heading towards the moon. In a surprisingly Meta twist, it turns out that there’s a vault under the Apollo Moon Landing site which is where dangerous extraterrestrials are stored. All I can say is that I certainly hope Waller isn’t in charge of keeping them in place! We all know what she would do with them, given half a chance.

There a very few books right now that are just flat out fun and enjoyable; forgoing major political or social commentary and the necessity of setting up an expanded universe. 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank is one of these instances and it is an absolute and total success. While extremely funny, what truly allows this book to work is the heartfelt characters, specifically Paige. Paige is an incredibly well designed and written character, and propels the story to a satisfying if not inevitable conclusion.

By Jonathan Edwards

Ugh. I realize that it was naïve for me to think that maybe, just maybe, since the last issue ended up being somewhat decent, this one would follow suit. Nope. Admittedly, the premise here isn’t an inherently awful one, but it’s one that requires some nuance and careful execution to work. And, therein lies the problem. Neither of those traits are among those that Orlando’s run on JLA exhibits, let alone excels at. What’s more, you can actually see the internal logic try to be established, start falling apart and eventually completely break down throughout the first few pages. So, by the time the “conflict” really starts, you’re already ahead of it and bored waiting for the story to catch up.

By Cat Wyatt

Harley Quinn #31 picks up where the last issue left us off, continuing the Vote Harley plot started in issue #28. Everything kicks off with a reminder that Mason has been kidnapped (again) and that Harley must quit her race for Mayor in order to ensure his safety. Now I’ll be the first to admit that Harley probably wouldn’t make the best mayor (bright side: the animal shelters funding would absolutely be increased), but she probably couldn’t do any worse than Mayor DePerpo.