What TV shows are you watching this season and some reviews: Update

My Buddy Steve Roman at http://www.starwarpconcepts.com/ is holding an online comicon where you can enjoy the same specials online that he’s offering at NYCC this weekend. SO if you want to read some snazzy books go check out his site

Currently I’m watching Supernatural, Once Upon a Time, Fringe, Grim, and Boardwalk Empire, plus various MMA fights that pop up. So what are you watching and what would you recommend I watch?

My Kickstarter is also still running and if you haven’t gone to check it yet, go and see what’s being offered and pick up an Oswald book and help the dream stay alive

Fracture by Gabborin and Cicconi

This book has an interesting premise of a man who is a super being who has a split personality. He’s the world’s greatest hero and its greatest villain. This a fun book with an interesting concept and some great art to go with it. I’m looking forward to seeing the second volume.

Carbone Grey

This is a great looking book with a convoluted plot that is both sprawling and slow to reveal itself. Which may not be a bad thing since I want to get my hands on the second volume to see what’s going to happen to these characters and to see how the author unfolds the rest of the story.

Atomic Robo vol. 6 by Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener

I’ve been enjoying this series for some time now and this volume continues that trend and again moves Atomic Robo away from the shadow of being Hellboy light. The creative team has moved well away from horror themes and into the world of strange science which is really cool and I hope they keep it going. I’m looking forward to the next volume and the many weird adventures that are going to be in it.

Starman Omnibus vol. 1 by James Robinson, Tony Harris, Wade Von Grawbadger

This is one of those books I’ve been hearing about for years about how great it is and I have to say I remember buying the first volume trade paperback years ago and not really caring for it. I decided to give it a shot when I saw the Omnibus came up and I have to say I’m happy I did the story of the new Starman taking the place of his brother who was killed in the role is intriguing and fun. This is another one where I’m looking forward to getting the next volume.

Amulet vol. 5 by Kazu Kibuishi

The story is progressing along with new evils arising and the hero is being tested. Good stuff, my only concern with this series is how long will the series run and whether it has a definitive ending. It does feel like it does and I’m looking forward to reading it. This is a wonderful series with great art and a fun story, you could do worse than checking this one out.

House of Mystery by Matthew Sturges, Luca Rossi and Jose Marzan Jr.

I remember reviewing this series and saying how it felt it had jumped the shark and how the series just felt like it was going on too long. Apparently someone was listening and this was the final volume and what sucks about it is how good this volume was, but the current storyline had run its course and it’s a shame they didn’t decide to go into an entirely new direction with the series. The thing I enjoyed the most about the series were the individual stories that were told by the people traveling through the house telling their individual tales and that’s the part I will miss the most and with any luck Matt Sturges and co will get another shot at another series soon.

Grendel Omnibus vol. 1 Matt Wagner and various

Hunter Rose the star and the original Grendel is an evil, charming, genius who was bored with life. Things were simple for him and reading this volume it is fascinating to read how this man went through his life while cutting a bloody swath through NYC’s underworld. I probably don’t credit Matt Wagner enough with being a huge influence on myself and my writing when I should, his bravado at trying new styles of writing to tell the tale of Hunter Rose’s life is inspirational to me. Great stuff and I’m looking forward to reading the future volumes, some of them will be rereads for me and I know others will be new since I lost touch with the series somewhere in the middle, great stuff.

Blacksad A Silent Hell by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido

What can I say that hasn’t already been said about Blacksad? It looks great Juanjo Guarnido is perhaps one of the greatest comic artists of our time and his work with water color and shadow and lighting is incredible to say the least. If you love great art and a good story you’re going to want to check this series out and it’ll probably be a few years before we see another one but it’s going to be worth the wait.

The Absolute Sandman vol. 4 by Neil Gaiman and various

There are 5 of these books and I was determined to only have 4 of them but after reading this volume I had to run out and get the fifth. There’s a reason why Neil Gaiman has such a huge and rabid fan base and it’s because of this series that he has it and he earned it. The work is by far some of the best comic work I’ve ever had the privilege to read and it’s fantastic that he’s coming back to the character he helped create so many years ago and do another limited series. This is the sort of series that I will be reading and rereading for many years to come, you should too.

Essential Warlock by Jim Starlin and various

This book has many great creators in it but the only reason I picked it up and the only reason I think anyone should pick it up is to see Jim Starlin’s run on the book. You can see how he’s trying to break and shrug off editorial edicts of always letting the reader know what happened before by using a one or two page intro to tell the story to new readers quickly so he can move on with the story at hand. The story of Warlock fighting his future self and being aided by Thanos is a grand one with some serious time travel loopiness that works. Jim also shows us the tortured life of Adam Warlock and his eventual demise, it was Jim who showed me so many years ago that a character can die and it’s okay, because life goes on.

That’s it for this week and thank you all for checking in and please remember to vote for Oswald on topwebcomics.com and go check out the kickstarter campaign and pledge what you can if you want to see this webcomic go on.

Best

JD Calderon