Super Bowl weekend, and no superheroes in sight! Pick Of The Week goes to Jeff Lemire for Sweet Tooth #30 (Vertigo)! Fast Five picks include O.M.A.C. #6 (DC), Locke & Key: Clockworks #4 (IDW), Animal Man #6 (DC), The Strange Talent of Luther Strode #5 (Image), and Swamp Thing #6 (DC).

Let’s go Giants!

The First Annual Prestigious Cammy Awards! I give you the nominees in the following categories: Best Writer, Best Artist, Best Cover Artist, Best Series, Best Miniseries, Best Single Issue, and Best Graphic Novel.

Tune in January 4th, 2012 for the results!

I’m sick this week! Hopefully you won’t catch what I have from listening to this episode. Pick Of The Week goes to Jason Aaron & R.M. Guera for Scalped #54 (Vertigo). Fast Five picks include Secret Avengers #19 (Marvel), Locke & Key: Guide To The Known Keys (IDW), Fantastic Four #600 (Marvel), Invincible #85 (Image), and Captain America & Bucky #624 (Marvel).

This episode has been brought to you by, Zombie Outlaw.

Tons of comics this week, only so many slots available. Pick Of The Week goes to Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez for Locke & Key: Keys To The Kingdom #6 (IDW)! Fast Five picks include Detective Comics #876 (DC), FF #2 (Marvel), The Walking Dead #84 (Image), Justice League: Generation Lost #24 (DC), and Avengers #12.1 (Marvel).

This episode has been brought to you by Valkyrie Squadron.

In this episode I switch things up slightly; I only talk about three titles. The three that really stood out to me this week are Annihilators #1 (Marvel), Locke & Key: Keys To The Kingdom #5 (IDW), and Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1 (Dark Horse).

Like the new jacket? I do too.

Independent titles rule supreme! Pick Of The Week goes to Ben McCool & Nikki Cook for Memoir #1 (Image). Fast Five picks include G.I. JOE: Cobra #12 (IDW), Hellblazer #275 (Vertigo), Doctor Who #1 (IDW), The Boys #50 (Dynamite), and Locke & Key: Keys To The Kingdom #4 (IDW).

Also, none of the titles this week are under $3!

G.I. JOE: Cobra #12 by Antonio Fuso

First of all, that is one pink cover. And what does a shade of hot pink do? Why, attract your attention of course! After being seduced by the colors, your eyes slowly wander to the top of the comic and see G.I. JOE: Cobra, and instantly you’re intrigued like a young boy seeing a nude woman for the first time. All the main characters in crosshairs with the promise that “and one shall surely die!”, and you start guessing which one. The use of circles in the space provided is just wonderful.

Northlanders #36 by Massimo Carnevale

Every time I see a Northlanders cover by the wonderful Massimo Carnevale, I fall to my knees and weep tears of joy. The man has the kind of talent that you see in modern day museums, and yet, here he is providing covers for comic books and it seems beneath him. He’s like James Jean on the Fables covers; truly spectacular work, and yet, he belongs in the pantheon of artists tiers above what is seen in comics. This cover in particular captures the feeling of dread of the old man in the foreground, as the savage behind him is about the strike. The story inside is actually reflected here on the cover, so that’s a huge plus for not teasing the audience with false promises. Brian Wood better woo the pants off Mr. Carnevale, because he is meant for much greater things.

The Boys #50 by Darick Robertson

Look at the cover of issue one, then look back to issue fifty. Issue one again, then back to issue fifty. What do you notice is missing? Are you serious? Are you as smart as a box of hair?! The obvious answer is Mother’s Milk has a booger sticking out of his left nostril. Kidding. The real answer is that old man in the bottom-right corner ain’t Wee Hughie. For the past fifty issues (if you’ve been following since it began at WildStorm), we’ve known that there was someone on the team before Hughie entered the picture, and something bad happened to him when shit went down with The Seven. Now that his story is finally being revealed, we can easily connect the dots while at the same time enjoy the homage to the first issue of this series. Darick Robertson has done just a kick-ass job on the covers for these past fifty issues, that I raise my pint of Sierra Nevada to him, and tell him to keep going forth and rocking!

Locke & Key: Keys To The Kingdom #4 by Gabriel Rodriguez

Upon examining this cover before reading its contents, you get a sense of dread. Obviously, someone is not going to live to see the next issue! The main thing I like about this cover, as silly as it sounds, is the correct anatomy for the G.I. JOE action figure. Growing up, I personally didn’t own any G.I. JOE toys, but my cousin had a ton of the little buggers, and sure enough there were casualties and sure enough, they looked exactly like the poor guy on this cover when split in half. I also appreciate the key incorporated on the cover, because it usually tells which key is going to make an appearance. Does it always? No, but it sure is cool to mentally catalog another key that’s introduced. It’s all over in fifteen issues, and that makes me a sad panda.

Hellblazer #275 by Simon Bisley

Hellblazer has been such an enjoyable read these past two-hundred and seventy-five issues (Note: I have not read anywhere close to that number), but the cherry on top is definitely Simon Bisley’s covers. If you know the character of John Constantine, you know he’s gritty, foul, and a complete wanker. What better to set the tone for the reader than Bisley’s art? This issue (if you couldn’t guess) focuses on John’s wedding to Epiphany, and it’s no way going to be pretty. Knowing the company John keeps; booze, cigarettes, and other ungodly creeps will be running amok for sure. The decorations seen on the cake are beautiful in their own twisted manner, and definitely deliver the mood of how the reader should be expecting this wedding to turn out. It screams “John doesn’t deserve a girl like Epiphany“, followed by “That prick deserves whatever is thrown at him this issue!” Absolute eye-candy.

In this 2010 wrap-up, I discuss my favorite writers, artists, series, story arc, single issue, and graphic novel.

Best Writers - Robert Kirkman, Scott Snyder, Gabriel Ba & Fabio Moon, Geoff Johns, Bryan Q. Miller Best

Artists - Amanda Conner, Gabriel Ba & Fabio Moon, Gabriel Hardman, Tommy Lee Edwards, Gabriel Rodriguez

Best Series - Green Lantern (DC), Scalped (Vertigo), Strange Tales II (Marvel), CHEW (Image), Daytripper (Vertigo)

Single Issue - Hellboy in Mexico (Dark Horse)

Story Arc - The Flash #1-6 “The Dastardly Death of the Rogues”

Graphic Novel - Super F*ckers

Don’t agree with my picks? Complain about how wrong I am on the forum!

Audio Best of 2010 version

In this special episode, I’m joined by Art & Freddie (The Fourth Wall Comics Podcast) to discuss the best writers, artists, series, and much much more of 2010.

Spoilers?

In this special episode, Cammy the elf helps you with some gift suggestions for that special geek in your life.