I’m back! Convention season is over for me (for now), so let’s get right back to the weekly reviews! Pick Of The Week goes to Dan Slott and Stefano Caselli for Amazing Spider-Man #683 (Marvel)! Fast Five picks include Swamp Thing #8 (DC), Invincible #90 (Image), Avengers Academy #28 (Marvel), Sweet Tooth #32 (Vertigo), and CHEW #25 (Image). Spoilers!

What a beautiful weekend for comics! Pick Of The Week goes to Robert Kirkman & Ryan Ottley for Invincible #89 (Image)! Fast Five picks include Avengers #23 (Marvel), Scalped #56 (Vertigo), The Twelve #10 (Marvel), The Walking Dead #94 (Image), and Moon Knight #10 (Marvel). Spoilers!

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.

Quite the batch of different selections this week! Pick Of The Week goes to Blair Butler & Kevin Mellon for Heart #1 (Image). Fast Five picks include American Vampire #20 (Vertigo), Witch Doctor #4 (Image), O.M.A.C. #3 (DC), Sweet Tooth #27 (Vertigo), and Invincible #84 (Image).

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

Happy Father’s Day! Pick Of The Week goes to Rob Williams, Matteo Buffagni & Riley Rossmo for Daken: Dark Wolverine #10 (Marvel)! Fast Five picks include 28 Days Later #24 (BOOM! Studios), Invincible #80 (Image), Cinderella: Fables Are Forever #5 (Vertigo), Batgirl #22 (DC), and Darkwing Duck #13 (Kaboom!).

This episode has been brought to you by THE SQUEEG!

Lots of T-Rex’s in this weeks picks, I’ve noticed. Pick Of The Week goes to Christos Gage & Tom Raney for Avengers Academy #12 (Marvel). Fast Five picks include Invincible #79 (Image), Uncanny X-Force #8 (Marvel), Green Lantern #65 (DC), Super Dinosaur #1 (Image), and Avengers #12 (Marvel).

The upcoming episodes for May could very well be brought to you by…you! Tune-in at the end and find out how.

While there wasn’t a Pick Of The Week, we do have a delightful Fast Five! Picks include Secret Six #30 (DC), Hulk #29 (Marvel), Invincible #77 (Image), Amazing Spider-Man #653 (Marvel), and Sweet Tooth #18 (Vertigo).

Get your Comic-Con tickets yet?

Invincible – The Ultimate Collection Vol. 1

Written by Robert Kirkman

Art by Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley

Image Comics

The past decade has been kind to superhero comic books. Not since the early 90’s comic boom have people been so interested in the medium; stopping by their local comic shops every Wednesday, sharing them with friends, and bragging at parties that they’re up to date on their Green Lantern or X-Men books (well, I brag anyways). Thanks to the help of Hollywood developing many of these properties for the silver screen, John Q. Public thinks Spider-Man is one cool dude, and they didn’t even have to read a comic!

As for the rest of us loyal readers, we’ve seen our favorite superheroes tackle every foe in every event for the past couple of decades, and still don’t seem to get bored by the same rehashed stories. Okay, well that might not be entirely true; I for one tend to tire of Hulk proving that he’s the strongest there is, or Superman never being able to kill anyone who deserves it, like Lex Luthor. However, once in a blue moon a new superhero will come along and capture the imagination of comic book fans all over the world. The best part? It’s not from the DC or Marvel universe.

Enter Invincible from Image Comics, created by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker. Now independent comics don’t tend to sell as well as superheroes from the Big Two, let alone independent superheroes. But there’s something extremely special about Invincible; it has all the elements of why we love superhero comics, only the stories and characters are completely new and fun. With this gargantuan Ultimate Collection collecting the first 13 issues, you don’t have to worry about any continuity because this new universe is all explained to you within the first few issues.

We follow Mark Grayson, your run-of-the-mill high schooler dealing with the usual issues; girls, graduation, and a crappy job flipping burgers. His dad is a well-known author, but secretly fights crime as Omni-Man, the Superman archetype of this universe. Mark is half-Viltrumite, an alien race so advanced that they travelled the universe exploring new galaxies. Omni-Man fell in love with Earth, so he decided to settle-down and become its protector and work with the already established superhero community. Mark finally gets his powers, and is introduced to the crime-fighting lifestyle, and all the perks and disadvantages that come with it. New costumes, secret identities, and romance hits Mark at warp-speed, and yet he’s still able to adjust. Kinda.

Invincible, like Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, is one of those books that people get in trades instead of the monthly floppies. Because of this, it’s considered sacrilegious in the comic book community to spoil any of the events that happen in the current issues of either titles. Just for my own safety, I won’t give away the huge twist that grabs you by the balls and doesn’t let go, but I will say that things get bloody, dark, and unsettling. The best part is that you don’t even see it coming because you’re enjoying a superhero book as if it was approved by the comic code authority. That, with humor mixed in with the action, makes this title consistently enjoyable.

Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley’s art is wonderful to look at, as the action sequences are a combination of thrilling and jaw-dropping. You got your spandex of every color, costumes so tight that you can tell what religion the character is, and tons of hot superheroines. You’ll discover in the pages homage’s to certain DC and Marvel characters and villains, but in no way does it read as copyright infringement. I’m just blown away by the names of certain characters, and how they haven’t been scooped-up by the Big Two after all these years (Rex Splode, DupliKate, Atom Eve).

So yes, you can go and read another X-Men versus Magneto story for the fifteenth time in a row, or you can treat yourself to something original, fun, and still relatively new in the comics industry. It has something for everyone, so there’s no excuse. Plus you feel good for helping out the little guy.

See why Image Comics loves Robert Kirkman so much, that they made him Editor-In-Chief, and pick-up Invincible today!

Book Of The Month – June – LOCAL

Book Of The Month – July – Sub-Mariner: The Depths

Book Of The Month – August – Superman: Secret Identity

Book Of The Month – October – Welcome To Hoxford

Book Of The Month – November – The Nightly News

Book Of The Month – December – CLA$$WAR

Book Of The Month – January – The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite

Book Of The Month – February – Locke & Key: Welcome To Lovecraft

Book Of The Month – March – Mini Marvels Ultimate Collection

Book Of The Month – April – Asterios Polyp

Book Of The Month – May – Green Lantern: Secret Origin

Book Of The Month – June – Titanium Rain: Book One

Book Of The Month – July – Irredeemable Vol. 1

Book Of The Month – August – Marsh Rocket

Something a little different this episode. Since I couldn’t find one or five comics to talk about this week, I narrowed it down to three comics that came out from Image, all written by the same man; Robert Kirkman. I talk about Guarding The Globe #1 (Image), Invincible #74 (Image), and Science Dog Special #1 (Image).

More Kirkman than you can shake a Kirkman at!

In this episode, the Pick of the Week goes to Geoff Johns & Ethan Van Sciver for The Flash: Rebirth #5 (DC). Fast Five picks include Amazing Spider-Man #612 (Marvel), Irredeemable #8 (BOOM! Studios), Air #15 (Vertigo), Dr. Horrible #1 (Dark Horse), and Invincible #68 (Image).

I demand a Dr. Horrible ongoing!