Pulp Fiction Comics & Games

It’s not a crime story, it’s a love story.  Just a really, really messed up one.

J. Michael Straczynski returns to his Cup of Joe imprint, this time through Image Comics, for his first new ongoing series, Ten Grand.  JMS brings Ben Templesmith (Fell, Choker, 30 Days of Night) with him on art duties, with Templesmith lending his normal gloomy, hazy, atmospheric quality to the tale.  And this is a tale that cries for it.  Former mob muscle Joe Fitzgerald lost his beloved wife during his “last job” many years ago.  However, on that same night, Joe himself lost his life, but also received a special deal on his entrance into hell.  Joe was allowed to return to Earth, in order to complete assignments from below, with the benefit that each time he dies in the line of duty, he gets to spend five minutes in heaven with his wife.  A noir burnt to a crisp, fans of Fell who’ve been aching for more since the series ended years ago need to pick up a copy of Ten Grand #1.

Tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street #1!

For all the kids in the audience, all your favorite friends are showing up at the comic store next Wednesday.  That’s Big Bird, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Elmo, Bert, and Ernie, all in one special issue.  And because it’s a comic book you’ve got to have a superhero story.  But when it’s Elmo, who has no superpowers, trying to be the hero, there may be trouble.  Don’t worry, though, because he’s got all his friends and imagination on his side.  Any parent looking to get their kid into comics, need look no further than Sesame Street #1.

With last week’s Jupiter’s Legacy we saw the birth of an alternate world’s super beings.  This week we see the origins of our world’s superhumans with Suicide Risk.  Set in San Diego during the arrival of the world’s first wave of super beings, Suicide Risk focuses on a police officer out-of-his-depth as these new arrivals being to discover their powers in bad ways.  Because, of course, in our world, when you’re given the ability to shoot lasers out of your eyes you use it to melt your obnoxious boss’ car.  With the world going to hell around him, officer Leo Winters is left to wrangle up the madness with a bulletproof vest, a shotgun, and some stamina.  From Unwitten, X-Men Legacy, and Lucifer writer Mike Carey, Suicide Risk #1 is a taught cop thriller laced with capes and cowls.

Gail Simone funnels her recent “firing” by “The Man” into a new series from DC called The Movement.  The series will focus on the underprivileged of the superhero community.  These super-poor are out to take down the social elite, the 1%, protecting the other disadvantaged in the process.  And in a world where Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen are the equivalent of Bernie Madoff, you can expect some major fisticuffs as the series progresses.  And who better to draw some shenanigans than local artist Freddie Williams III (JSA All Stars, Captain Atom, Green Arrow).  Given that Gail Simone has been killing it on Batgirl lately, and wrote one of DC‘s best series of the last ten years, Secret Six, The Movement is on my must-read radar.