Other titles to check out
WRITER Jonathan Hickman unleashes his meticulous storytelling style on an alternate WWII history where the Manhattan Project was a backyard for more esoteric science fiction ideas.
If you ever wondered what it’s like to have a team filled with some of the world’s greatest ever geniuses – including Albert Einstein, Joseph Oppenheimer (aka “father of the atomic bomb”), Wernher von Braun (“father of rocket science”), and theoretical physicists Richard Feynman and Enrico Fermi – then look no further. Also, if you’ve ever wondered how Einstein would look chopping up aliens with a chainsaw, then this is the book for you.
Oh, and you should also check out Hickman’s other Image title, East Of West, about a dystopian America where Death is a pale white cowboy riding a mechanical horse with a cannon for a head.
John Layman’s Chew is set in a world where all chicken and other bird meats are illegal, no thanks to a catastrophic outbreak of bird flu; Tony Chu is a US Food & Drug Administration agent who solves crimes with the abilities of a “cibopath”, which allows him to get psychic impressions of any food he eats. The title made its debut in 2009, and only ended its run last November, making it one of Image’s longest-running titles ever.
Although it is no longer being published under Image Comics (it’s now under DC’s Vertigo imprint), the spirit of “Marvels” lives on in this anthology series by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and Alex Ross, which focuses on the POV of ordinary people and metahumans. If you need a strong reason to convince your parents not to send you to boarding school, just let them read this mystery thriller by Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma. More like the New Mutants gone awry! Creators Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, and Matt Wilson, offer this wickedly subversive title about a pantheon of gods who are revered like pop stars. They are reincarnated every 90 years but are only given two years to live each time. The latest winner of the Eisner for Best Ongoing Series, Jason Aaron’s series is about the residents of a town called Craw County, home of Boss BBQ, the state champion Runnin’ Rebs football team ... and more bastards than you’ve ever seen gathered in one place.
One of the few Rick Remenderpenned titles under Image, this wildly fantastical journey through time and space is about Grant McKay, who invents technology that allows him to travel between dimensions.
But when the “pillar” is sabotaged, the team is stranded and the only way they can get home is to jump through random dimensions, each more dangerous than the last.
Another Remender title, Deadly Class, is also worth checking out. This one is about a school that specialises in training young assassins. Think of it as Harry Potter but with more violent and murderous kids.
Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, with art by Emma Rios, this multiple-Eisner nominated series is about Death’s daughter, who bears the skull marks of her father on her face, and “rides the wind on a horse made of smoke”.
DeConnick is also the writer of Bitch Planet with artist Valentine De Landro, which takes place on a prison planet where “non-compliant women” are sent.
Cheang
– Michael