JUSTIN’S PICK :: DIESEL SWEETIES: I’M A ROCKER I ROCK OUT: Being a child of the 80s, 8-bit graphics appeal to my lizard brain. I am quite susceptible to their charms, charms that clearly have antecedents in 50s ad mascots, the work of Ernie Bushmiller, and so on. Richard Stevens’ strip Diesel Sweeties only compounds that appeal with a heavy dose of postmodern irony and self-deprecation. This volume – titled I’m a Rocker I Rock Out – is a best-of sampling of the long-running webcomic. For those of you who think “webcomic” is a dirty word…I count myself among you, but we must bear in mind: print is the final trial. It separates the men from the boys.

JUSTIN’S PICK :: SAVAGE DRAGON #190: Periodically, I am honor-bound to pick Savage Dragon, because it is my favorite superhero comic. I think it’s a truly underappreciated and misunderstood book, still mired in a reputation hewn from the abysmally embossed 90s. What most people fail to see is that series perpetrator Erik Larsen is a dedicated craftsman who takes plenty of chances when he could just coast by on the fumes of nostalgia. He consistently pushes himself as a writer and an artist, from the book’s driving real time concept (i.e. the characters age with the rest of the world) to stunts like he’s pulling with issue #190. You can opt for the standard sized issue, but Larsen has also reformatted the book’s contents into a 64 page digest edition, wholly as an exercise in the versatility of print media. This is another example of Larsen’s willingness and ability to take chances, and take full advantage of the potential Image Comics engendered at its outset. If you needed any more persuading, Dragon also battles one of his more vicious baddies, the shark-man Mako, amid a prison full of supercrooks. A must!