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We want to thank you for your readership over the past year we’ve been running this site. And while this one is shutting down, we have a new home over at culturesnaps.com. Come say hi and check out the new digs. We really hope you like it and can’t wait to show you what we have in store.

For a little under a year now, Tim and I have taken this website that we created and have put our name out there by doing reviews of every possible comic we could get our hands on. We’ve kind of reached a point with it where we both have grown tired of not only the rating system, but also the lack of ability to talk about some of our favorite parts about a comic until the first volume is released.

Most people take drugs to escape their reality, but for Neverboy drugs are the only way he can make it into the real word. A kid named Sam created Neverboy with his imagination and, having found a loophole that allows him to have a normal life with a family, Neverboy has to keep taking the drugs lest he be forced to return from where he came; losing his son Ben and his wife Rachel in the process. Waiting for him are the people that guard the borders between imagination and reality, and they can’t wait to bring Neverboy back.

I love the originality of this title. It’s hard to deliver a story that hasn’t been done to death, and this one is a lot of fun to read. Shaun Simon (Killjoys) does a great job at setting up Neverboy’s life and keeping the pace of the first issue quick while also allowing the characters to breathe. The tension is raised as you’re watching the family he created out of thin air begin to question why no one sees them or hears them anymore. They look to Neverboy for answers, but he can’t tell them the truth out of fear of sacrificing the facade he has created. All he wants to do is exist, to matter, and isn’t that what we all want?

Gorgeous artwork from Tyler Jenkins (Peter Panzerfaust) and colors from Kelly Fitzpatrick (Archie, Dark Horse, Image). The design of the characters and their reality slightly out of focus, slightly distorted, letting you know that everything you’re seeing could immediately vanish from existence at any time. Fitzpatrick’s colors really elevate the look of this book and her choices are vibrant and bold. There’s not one panel that doesn’t pop off the page and when the art doesn’t call for much color, Jenkins thickens up his line work, causing what’s in focus to keep the visuals from getting stale.

Neverboy doesn’t try to be too much, and it doesn’t have to. An enjoyable journey into another world that blends seamlessly with our own that is sure to excite readers.

Thor Annual #1 is a lot of fun.

Three completely different stories, but all work well within the world of Thor. In the first chapter, Jason Aaron and Timothy Truman take us to Thor’s garden: earth. Having been destroyed, Thor tries tirelessly to bring it back to life. With the help of his three granddaughters, he just might succeed. In chapter two, Noelle Stevenson and Marguerite Sauvage show us a little lighter side to Thor. How Odin’s son’s friends test her to see if she truly is worthy of holding Mjolnir. In the final chapter, CM Punk and Rob Guillory take us into a world where drinking is the game, Thor is the name. He’s outdone everyone who has gone up against him but his final test is the devil himself.

I love collections like this. Especially when each chapter is as strong as these three are. Go out and get this annual. You won’t regret it.

So here it is, folks. Everything you’ve been waiting for. The grand finale of this grand book. Each story gets finished, although not in the way you expect. The truth is much simpler than we were lead to believe; much more noble. It’s an ending that beautifully ties this tale together and caused me to want to go back and start from the beginning. I will honestly miss these characters so much, even the bad ones. As I neared the end of this issue, I kept thinking, “Please don’t end, please don’t end” but all good things must.

A while back, Si joked about the ending being all a dream and his art was going to finish off this series; stick figures acting out the story. That’s not exactly what came to be, but the ending is exactly what it needs to be. Spencer does not make everything abundantly clear, which is perfect. Reading this series, you should have never thought that by the end you’d understand everything, but in his own way Si makes sure you do.

Hats off to everyone who worked on this book. Si, Meghan, Tula, Dean, Phil, Dezi and Taylor (who did not letter this last issue), of course the amazing work of Loughridge to color all of these stories and give them their own feel, and editor Shelly Bond who made sure this title was perfect. These people have come into my house once a month for the last eight, and I’m sad to be letting them all go at the same time. Wonderful work, ladies and gentleman. Kudos to all of you, and thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for this story.

It is with a heavy heart I end my last review for this series. What a wonderful story, wonderful artwork, a wonderful experience.

Know you are loved. 

Philadelphia police officer, Greg Hettinger, reacts to a call that there’s a crime taking place near a grade school. When he gets there, things don’t go as planned as one of the gangster’s shots hits Greg in the face, forever changing the way he looks and the way he looks at himself. Disoriented and trying to protect himself, Hettinger fires off a round of his own yet hits a hooded character that was not his attacker. Hailed as a hero, Greg sees himself as a coldblooded killer; no better than the people he was trying to stop. What once was a man with a charming smile, Greg only sees a monster whose actions shouldn’t be celebrated. And so begins the story of The Black Hood. A study on the human psyche that blurs the line between right and wrong.

Breathing life into this series is writer Duane Swiercyznski and artist Michael Gaydos. What they have on their hands is a complicated character whose story is more interesting than most origin stories that have come before, and one that will get readers to invest immediately. Perfect pacing, realistic dialogue and situations, mixed with gritty artwork that makes this story feel authentic. Greg doesn’t just go from being a good cop to a confused one, it’s a gradual slide and you watch in horror as you see the steps he’s taking. Addicted to pills, afraid of the outside world. His calling was being a police officer, now it’s something else entirely.

I love characters that aren’t meant to be one thing. Aren’t meant to be just good or just bad. That’s not realistic. Life is much more complicated than that; people are much more complicated than that. It should be a blast seeing where these creators take this character. At the moment, it’s a strong showing from Dark Circle Comics as they bring the goods immediately.

Don’t take my word for it: I defy you to watch the trailer below and not want to read this book immediately:

Locked up for 30 days, Teeg Lawless is just trying to keep his head down. Before he got put away, he made an easy 50k dollars and he’d really like to get back to it. Laying low proves harder than expected though when an unknown benefactor puts a hit out on Teeg’s life. While trying to escape the reality of his world in an adult comic, Teeg will also have to watch his back to make sure someone doesn’t stick a shiv in it.

This is my first time in the “Criminal” world and it couldn’t have been a better experience. Brubaker and Phillips are a perfect team and seem to hit the nail on the head with every project they tackle. I love their stories because they let the characters, rather than the action, carry the heavy load. They take you back to another time and, much like Jim Thompson before them, allow their character to push the narrative forward while the action is just an added bonus.

Phillips knows how to create these gritty looking worlds and characters and I always find myself mesmerized by what he packs into every panel. With the wonderful Elizabeth Breitweiser on colors, Criminal has that vintage feel with a modern twist.

A great one-shot that will no doubt throw you into the same place I’m in: wanting to get all of the other issues immediately.

Now that Nettie has found her daughter, she doesn’t want to let her go again. Problem is, her daughter doesn’t know who she is and would appreciate it if Nettie stopped treating her like a child. She is the leader of a gang, after all. That gang, by the way, gets questioned by Hemingway, seeing as how he’s been in a real war and seen what it really does to people. They put an end to his uprising real quick. The question they have to ask now is how do they get out. When they figure that out, who knows where they’ll end up.

There’s not too much I can say about this title that I haven’t already put in the other six reviews. This title continuously ups its game every single issue. The writing continues to be funny and the artwork is still magnificent. These creators are giving us gold with every single issue and it has to be one of the more enjoyable comics to read at the moment.

Scenes that were inspired by Star Wars, a character that can remain in the shadows despite the room he’s in being fully lit, horrific scenes of death, and murder. Fialkov and Gabo take all of these things and weave them into a terrific book that I never want to end.

D4ve is a robot. Everyone, actually, is a robot now ( we’ll get to that in just a bit), but he used to be important. He used to be known as a defense bot that fought humans, monsters, aliens, etc. and now he’s just… a dude. Now that all of mankind has been wiped from existence, the robots don’t know what to do with themselves so they start living as people did. He has a family, a boring job that he hates, a boss he hates even more, and a propensity to drink too much. His days are often interrupted by memories of the past. Memories of when he meant something. He tries to find those glory days hidden at the bottom of a bottle of oil, or inside of a strip club, but soon he’ll have to decide if the life he hates so much is actually something worth saving.

Ryan Ferrier brings D4ve to life and with him the fascinating world he lives in, showing how anything that inhabits earth will fall into the same routine; working, drinking, creating families, begging for money. While most of the issue is centered around what they’ve been up to since humans became extinct, Ferrier also works in a problem for them to deal with, and the problem looks pretty big.

Valentin Ramon delivers the goods when it comes to the art. Hilarious panels mixed with brilliant visuals keep your eyes fixed onto the page. One of my favorite pages is the one of D4ve standing outside in the early hours of the morning with his cup of coffee (most likely just hot oil) and the steam from his cup drifts to D4ve’s left and blends in with the clouds that hover over the city. It was a lot of fun to scour the pages looking for anything that is familiar to us from every day life but seeing how Ramon tweaked it just a bit to fit the Robot lifestyle (like the box of cereal that says “Iron Loops”). There’s a strip club scene and the look on one of the robots’ face that’s closest to center stage made me laugh for quite a while.

Both creators fill these pages with comedy, drama, and the mundane stuff that makes up every day of our lives. D4ve should not be missed. I’m already wishing it was longer than five issues, but I can’t wait to see what these guys have in store for this character.

Let me start off by saying I appreciate what they’re going for in this book. An interesting idea, an old character everyone loves, and a horde of vampires to fight off. This book just didn’t connect with me in the way that would make me excited to grab a copy off the shelf and own. The main character complains too much, the vampires are a little dumb, and we get so much information so fast that it comes off feeling cliche. The young boy whose life is a total mess, bouncing from foster home to foster home, gets found by Frankenstein’s monster only to find out he’s blood-related to the infamous Dr. Frankenstein. While the action is exciting, the narrative comes off a bit clunky.

While it promises an evil villain that could wreak all kinds of havoc, the first issue didn’t do much to really get me invested and root for the hero of the story. That doesn’t mean it won’t pick up. The last line of the issue gets you excited to see what will happen next, I’m just wondering if it’s enough to get readers to come back for more.

Nolan’s art is enjoyable to look at. Almost a noir feel to the whole thing. Pretty cool to see Frankenstein’s monster (creation, if you ask him) kicking back in a limo with shades on, and to see guys that sexualize the female characters get attacked and/or thrown a great distance.

I’m going to read the second issue to see where things go after this, but for 3.99 I’m not sure this story is worth the cover price.

The Fever: a group made up of five bad ass women who are just trying to survive in the town they’ve always known. When a rival gang steps foot in their territory, one of the women lets her anger get the better of her and begins a war none of them wanted to wage.

Youtube “Worriers” and blast their music while listening to this comic that fits perfectly in the punk rock world. I love that the characters in this story don’t make apologies for the things they’ve done. They’re who they are and they embrace it fully. If you run into them, try to not get in their way. Ferrier once again builds this world around his story that makes you want to move there and live among everyone in this book. Try to rob them, get your teeth knocked out. Try to threaten one of them, keep an eye out for the other four looking to get even. There not invincible, they’re just determined.

Love love love the artwork on this book. Neogi’s thick line work is enhanced beautifully by the bold and exciting color choices made by Lalonde. Every panel makes sure your eyes cannot take a break from the action and start this series off looking impeccable. Punk and pop influences spray paint their way across the pages as Curb Stomp provides us with explosive visuals that remind us why we love comics.

Along with D4ve, Ferrier is creating interesting stories and finding great artists to bring his visions to life. This is the reason I read comics. I would write more but I’m going back for another reading. Do yourself the favor and pick this up on Wednesday.

Syd is finding herself growing more comfortable in the house, and closer to one of its residents. The Voice feels it’s time to take her out into the world and see what she can do. Meanwhile, her parents find out that she’s not in the hospital where they believed her to be. It’s hard to decipher if they’re angry she’s gone because they love her or because they feel like they’ve lost a possession that the hospital was taking care of. Either way, for better or worse, Syd is in a better place.

I love how ambiguous this title is. You see what’s happening with your own eyes, but you also have to realize these characters have a way of making us see what they want. While they say someone deserves what’s coming to them and showing you why, the complete opposite could also be happening. It’s a fantastic way of keeping the reader on edge, keeping them questioning the truthfulness of the narrators. No one’s perfect yet we always seem to think our main protagonist(s) are. I like not knowing. I like that they could end up being the villains, or could be exactly what they say they are. They’re Not Like Us is allowing you to make up your own mind on these people without pointing you in one direction or the other. They’re letting you join in on the fun of storytelling.

While Stephenson’s writing keeps me on the edge of my seat and always looking for clues, Gane’s artwork puts me at ease. He has a way of creating these incredibly beautiful pages that are calming and seem to oppose the mood of the dialogue. It’s yet another way to lull you into this story and it’s effective. A lot of that has to do with Bellaire’s colors as well. I love her choices on every title she works on. She brings the most out of the work while giving it its own signature style.

Storytelling that appeals to a wide audience yet makes me feel like I’m a part of something special. This title is a blast.

Wow. This title. This title makes me say “Wow” a lot. In the best way possible. It messes with my mind to the point that when I’m done with it reality seems a little shifted. These characters are stuck in a nightmare, yet for a few panels in this issue our heads reach the surface. We’re able to see how things were, or are, or weren’t at all, but what is clear is it’s them in a simpler time. Despite that simpler time being a crossroads in a relationship that was threatened by truly knowing one another.

Lucky has caught up. He has a message. If you can hear him, it’s already begun.

“I could never leave you. I would die.” 

These words get repeated throughout the text. These words bounce off the walls of this alternate reality. These words will get to you one way or another.

The world Fawkes has created inside Intersect is everything you’ve ever wanted and everything you’ve always protected yourself against. The walls have been broken down as hope and chaos now live among one another.

Brilliantly executed, this title is magnificent in ways I didn’t even know were possible.

Silk #1 is a fun journey into Cindy Moon’s “normal” life and superhero life. Having been locked away in a bunker with nothing more than prerecorded tapes to keep her company, she has finally come back home only to find out that her family is gone, and she doesn’t know what happened. She’s still trying to her find her place, still trying to come up with superhero quips as she punches bad guys, still trying to figure out what Spider-Man means to her.

The best part about this series is she’s a newer character, meaning she hasn’t been written to death, doesn’t have a convoluted backstory, and Robbie Thompson is pretty much able to take this narrative in whatever direction he sees fit. That’s a lot of pressure, but if the first issue is any indication, he’ll be able to handle it. He keeps the story light, while also throwing in some heavier dramatic issues for our main character to deal with. Silk seems to tackle a lot of her problems with comedy, but her biggest issue may have to be met head-on in all seriousness. She already has a nemesis, which is important for a character to survive; his name is Dragonclaw but Silk likes to refer to him as “Pokemon”.

Stacey Lee keeps the artwork looking good as it fits this story and its tone perfectly. Fun superhero action mixes with scenes from her past as she remember the horrific thing she last said to her mother, and revisits memories of her boyfriend at the time. Ian Herring’s colors make the drawings pop. Bright, vivid colors that draw the eye’s attention.

While this story is lighter in tone at the moment, it looks as though it could head down some dark paths sooner than later. It will be interesting to see where these creators take Silk as it could go in any possible direction right now. For a first issue, it’s good. Got me rooting for the main character, made the villain’s story interesting as well (that appears to be a pretty dark story), and didn’t overburden the dialogue by trying to be too funny all the time. Let’s see if Silk becomes a long-lived character at Marvel.

First thing’s first: best cover ever? I think it is.

Natasha is closer to CHAOS than anyone has ever been. The closer you get to them, however, the more danger you find yourself in. It’s going to take some help in order to bring this group down.

This group CHAOS…wow. Dangerous. Not only are they dangerous and seemingly have many tricks up their sleeves, they seem to be able to slip their way out of any trouble. They suck! Natasha is so close and all you want her to do is make these people pay. I got that same feeling I get when I’m playing a really hard video game and finally get to the last boss: hands sweaty, pulse racing, curse words being mumbled. Edmondson really knows how to rev up the tension and, while it makes it more stressful to read, he’s creating one hell of a story.

Phil Noto. Brilliant. This man can do no wrong in my eyes. Even when the panel is something as simple as an explosion, I’m left in awe at how he manages to make it look. I watched one episode of Downton Abbey and couldn’t watch anymore because it was so boring, but maybe if Noto animated it. This guy can take anything and make it look amazing.

There are some titles that manage to slip through the fingers of readers. It’s happened to me. I’ve missed out on something that I know I shouldn’t have, wishing I could go back in time and follow it since the beginning. This is a series you do not want to be missing out on. One of the strongest titles Marvel has going right now.

Whenever I see a story based on pirates, I’m more apt to not enjoy it. Pirates weren’t something I cared much about when I was a kid, for some reason they just didn’t capture my imagination. They’re such rich characters though and, if done right, they can be highly entertaining. The problem is I’ve never seen a story done right, until now. Pirate Eye: Exiled From Exile #1 is a pirate noir that immediately hooked me in and kept me interested throughout the entire issue. I haven’t read the Pirate Eyes that came before it, and you don’t need to. This appears to be a standalone series and one you should run out and grab on Wednesday.

On the run from a man named “Parrot”, Smitty is stowed away in a boat that sails slowly to shore. He’s met by an old acquaintance, Simon, and the two quickly work out a deal to keep Smitty safe. Not only is he paying Simon to protect him, he’s also asking him to do him a few favors before he goes back into hiding. With so many eyes watching out for him, Smitty must be extremely careful. It’s only a matter of time until his past catches up to him.

Grahn creates these characters that you are immediately invested in. He doesn’t bog down the dialogue by being “too pirate-y”, instead they speak like you and me. That helped a lot in allowing me to enjoy a pirate story for the first time. Also, in a short amount of time, Grahn is able to set the story for you, get introduced to the main players, all the while never letting his story slip into boring description.

Yonder’s artwork is perfect for this story. Keeping it dark and, at the same time, light. Just from the looks of the characters you know immediately who you’ll be rooting for and who you’ll be rooting against. Instead of trying to mesmerize with over-detailing, Yonder keeps the look simple while using interesting techniques to get the most out of certain situations.

A strong title that I’m glad I read. Can’t wait to see what’s next.

Burning Fields is not your typical horror story. There aren’t a lot of “scary” moments, at least not the ones you’d be expecting. What this story does, instead, is crawl under your skin and slowly creeps you out. The further you go down this tunnel, the less likely you are to keep your bravery about you. At the beginning of the issue, horrific visuals haunt the panels, and then the story begins its natural progression as our main characters try to unravel the thread of the mystery in front of them.

As you follow Dana and Fasad on their quest for the truth, you already know what lies ahead of them and it’s meant to unsettle you. You’re meant to know that what they’re in store for is nothing any of us would want to encounter in our reality. The interesting thing with this title though is how we don’t really know a lot about these two characters we feel safe with. They both have troubled pasts that have yet to come to light. Like Dana being referred to as “Desert Queen”. She doesn’t like to talk about it, tries to brush it off as nothing more than a nickname, but Fasad has heard it twice from two different sources, so it must hold a weight she’s not bringing up.

A strong series that Moreci and Daniel are giving us. With Lorimer and Lafuente keeping the look dark and eerie, every issue is a treat.