STAFF PICKS :: THE SPIRE #1 :: JULY 1, 2015
SETH’S PICK :: THE SPIRE #1: Start July on a good note this week with the latest collaboration between Si Spurrier and Jeff Stokely. You may remember their post apocalyptic sci-fi western Six Gun Gorilla from a few years ago. That book won a lot of deserved critical acclaim, and I enjoyed it immensely. The Spire features a similar apocalyptic scenario, but trades the western motifs for fantasy this time around. It also adds a murder mystery into the mix, and a protagonist who must solve the crimes as she navigates a racist and xenophobic society. Spurrier telling a fantasy story with plenty of modern societal parallels, plus an array of monsters, strange machines and characters rendered as only Stokely can? That’s enough to sell me (and you) on this new series. 
Bonus Pick: Autumnlands vol. 1 TP: Tooth and Claw: This affordable debut collection (just $9.99) by Kurt Busiek and Benjamin Dewey features some of my favorite anthropomorphic fantasy storytelling in years. Dewey’s depictions of endless humanoid animal creatures is remarkable, and Busiek does a fine job of building an accessible narrative for a new world in this excellent first volume.
ANDY’S PICK :: ASTRO CITY #2: This is unofficially, the 61st issue of ASTRO CITY– the Kurt Busiek (writer) and Brent Anderson (artist) and Alex Ross (Covers and Design) love letter to mainstream super-hero concepts. Others have tried to offer an homage/pastiche to heroes from an earlier era, but more often than not, they end up as either a parody (Tom Strong) or a blatant rip-off (Supreme) Where others have failed, Astro City succeeds because the creative team love comic books, they love their characters and above all they love their fictional town. You will feel the tingle of nostalgia and the joy that comes when you read a well crafted and (on its own terms) believable super-hero comic book. You owe it to yourself to give this book a try–especially if you were once at home on the mainstream side of Heroes and have since moved across to the other side of the store.
