Thursday Threesome: Three Comics I'm Really Into Right Now

I know we haven't talked as much about comics lately as we used to, so I figured I'd use my Thursday Threesome this cycle to talk about some comics I'm loving. Come on down!

Sex Criminals is the newest series from the generally-always-awesome Matt Fraction. It's definitely not one for the kids, and that's okay - the conceit behind it is pretty simple: a woman, when she has an orgasm, can stop time until she feels the need to be sexually active again. She thinks she's the only one until she starts sleeping with a guy who has the same ability. It's a silly plot point, really, and, on the surface, sounds like it belongs on late-night pay cable rather than on the comic rack.

Why this works is that it's almost as if Fraction and company know this is a completely juvenile, hilarious idea and just completely embrace it. It starts being more about the relationship between the two, yes, but quickly evolves into a question of right and wrong as the two take advantage of their power, and also about their powers themselves as they learn that they aren't alone in this world.

The first trade volume came out in the States earlier this week. You should absolutely take a look.

Revival, at first glance, is another entry into a crowded zombie market. I somewhat felt like I was done with the whole zombie thing for a while, Walking Dead notwithstanding, but I was able to get a copy of Revival and it was pretty solid.

This isn't really a zombie tale, but it's close enough. Dead people are coming back to life, they are attacking the living, and no one knows why. The story is exploring more the why than the how, which is a nice change of pace, but it does result in a strange sort of situation where there are a lot of little minor mysteries peppering the landscape, and not all of them feel important from the start.

Overall, a solid enough start where I'll be seeking out the next volumes.

The Manhattan Projects is Jonathan Hickman's ongoing series, and we're three trades in. I struggled a bit with the first two trades of this series, an alternate history/sci-fi tale of the world's great scientists and alternate dimensions and future technology. It took a long time for me to get on board, because it's very League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but with a lot of darker tones to it, and a lot of complexities that I don't often enjoy. It, far too often, left me at a loss, but considering how much I enjoy most of Hickman's work, I kept powering through with this. With the third book, my patience was rewarded to a point, as this is finally what I was expecting from this series. Part origin stories, part plot development, it's as if the first ten issues were all a prelude to things that are happening now.

If you want something basically unlike anything you've been reading so far, this one is worth some of your energy.