Variant Covers: Cyclops and Wolverine’s Unresolved Sexual Tension. Just Kiss, Dudes.
My friends, it is far past the witching hour. Having been awake for 21 hours, my brain frizzled and pops. It shudders under heavy thought – and if you know me, you know heavy for me is nothing much special. Yeah here is a column I vomit up out of my shivering skull pipes and into the Pressing of Word. This is Variant Covers, the column where I tell you what intrigues me in comics this week. It’s generally poor and verbose, this week it’s going to be exceptionally poor and succinct.
Share your pull-list at the beep.
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Jeff Lemire Bonerjam Love Fest.
I’ve known that Jeff Lemire was awesome since Sweet Tooth a couple of years ago. More astute comic denizens have known he was awesome since Essex County. Try as I might, I cannot pierce the skein of time and space and fix my lateness there. I have tried. What I can tell you is that Animal Man #2 comes out this week. If you are searching the skies and seas for justification for the New 52 – much as I am on a saddened nightly basis – look no further than Lemire and Travel Foreman’s new Animal Man run. Goodness me. Animal Man goes gorgeous, haunting horror story? Hell yeah. Also dropping this week for those of us who are rampant and unabashed Lemirites is Sweet Tooth #26. Guest drawn by Matt Kindt of Revolver and Super Spy fame. Lemire smashes, defies, and lovingly carresses genre conventions well enough on his own. (Re)teaming with Kindt for an issue has me particularly pumped. We’re talking groin-pulling high-kicking pumped.
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Supernatural #1.
What fresh Hell is this? Brian Wood is writing a Supernatural comic book? I’ve never watched the show. I don’t have high standards, I just have a huge collection of shows I should probably watch prior to checking it out. Even if I had heard it sucked (I generally hear it’s campy but enjoyable), I’d still be intrigued by this comic. It’s Wood. The Wood. Of the Brian. DMZ, Northlanders, Demo. That Brian Wood. I don’t know what draws him to this project, but regardless of impetus!, it’s him. Will I buy it? Hard to say. Am I tempted? Highly.
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Casanova: Avaritia #2.
Anyone who has read this column for more than a couple of weeks (you sorry sons-a-bitches) knows that I’m a huge fan of Sir Fraction. So it’s not particularly exciting to hear me say the new Casanova is good. However how about this! Put your bow tie on, suck down some lemonade and prepare! I thought that Avaritia #1 was the best issue of Casanova yet. Oh yeah. Drink it down. Come at me, bros! It contained all of the glorious metatextual madness of the first two series with a cohesiveness to the madness that wasn’t there prior. It doesn’t hurt that Gabriel Bá’s artwork is utterly gorgeous, either. Casanova is a gem for anyone into insanity, intriguing explorations of daddy-sister-family issues, gorgeous artwork, metahypersupertexts, and spy novels.*
*Jesus Christ if you don’t like one of those c’mon.
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Action Comics #2.
Oh hey! The rebooted Batma…I mean Superman title written by Grant Morrison is dropping this week. Drawn by Rags Morales! In the first issue Batm…I mean Superman is totally running around a dark and depressing city of tomorrow – more like a condemned representation of modernity – and is making his own rules, man! He’s jaded! Who can blame Bru…Clark, I mean his family was shot down by…died in a planetary explosion, rather.
I didn’t like the first issue of Action Comics, as my relentless and annoying cheap shots may have conveyed. Kent cast as transmitter of righteous indignation isn’t my speed. The darkness, the gloom, you can save all of that for the Dude In The Cowl. At least for me. I know a lot of people who really dug the issue, so I’m feeling a bit alone on the topic.
It is Morrison, and I am a fanboy of his, so who knows. The Omni-Dimensional Purveyor Of All, maybe. Motherfucker is always knowing. Everything. ‘Sides It? Not me at least. Not me.
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X-Men: Schism #2.
Wolverine and Cyclops are finally coming to blows. Strong, strong blows. After years of having Jean Grey act as the safety valve for their obvious hankering for one another, they’ve gone critical mass without being able to defer their utter sexual tension! Violence and sex, man. Violence and sex. They call it an ideological falling out, I’m calling it Cyclops obviously yearning for some Canadian bacon. That’s all I’m saying! That’s all I’m saying. It does seem a bit obvious, doesn’t it?
Anyhoo- this release of *whatever* kind of tension you want to call it is climaxing (ha!) in this final issue of Schism. After this issue Logan and Scott totally break up and go about forming their own X-clans. Splitting up the family. Schism hasn’t been bad, and I’m looking forward to Aaron’s forthcoming run on Wolverine And The Kids In His Custody #1, coming out next month.
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Anyways. I’m done. I’m out! Deuces. What are you reading this week? Hit me.