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1) Wanted by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones. Top Cow Comics
Wesley Gibson suffers a million little humiliations every day. His job sucks, his co-workers hate him, his girlfriend is sleeping with his best friend and he's bullied every day on the way home by the neighborhood toughs. All this changes when he finds out that he's the sole heir of a superhuman assassin, and he's been recruited to carry on the family business.
This is the avatar of adolescent escapist fantasy. It's violent, juvenile and amoral. It's also some of the best comic writing of late, with a premise to die for. Mark Millar's tale was inspired by his bigger brother, who one day told the younger Mark that all his favourite comic book hero's once existed in real life, but the were all killed by the supervillans. The sheer nihilism presented in this book proves that sibling trauma makes fertile ground for future writers. This book is the logical extension of the media changing concepts introduced in Alan Moore's The Watchmen and Frank Millar's The Dark Knight Returns. The ending, which consists of the main character breaking the fourth wall, is a doozy.
Suggested for (Jenni or Eric?): Neither, actually. It's a good book, but I'm not taking any responsibility for recommending this book to anybody. They're going to have to approach this one on their own.
PS: The movie version of Wanted was released this weekend with Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy. Slate.com reviews highly recommend the movie for S&M aficionados. Something tells me that this ain't no "date movie".
2) Y:The Last Man Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. Vertigo Comics
Brilliant end to a brilliant miniseries. The best road adventure since the Wizard of Oz. I've been waiting for this book to come out for a long while and although I have some minor problems with the plotting and pacing of some of the last issues, overall the reading experience was quite satisfactory.
Suggested for: Jenni, although I am betting she already got herself a copy by now.
3) Path of the Assassin by Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima
It took me a while to get into this book. A somewhat fictionalized historic account of the rise of Japan's Tokugawa empire, this series is another entry into Koike's and Kojima's Edo period books (i.e., Lone Wolf and Cub and Samurai Assassin). Full of political intrigue and suspense. Don't confuse this one for a kids book. It deals with adult situations and the depictions of violence and sex may not be appropriate for everybody. But think of it as a full-blooded presentation of The Art of War.Suggested for: Eric. He'll appreciate the details.
4) Planet Hulk by Greg Pak. Marvel Comics
I'm having so much fun with this title. Basically a retelling of Spartacus, except with the Hulk. Each issue gets better and better. The writing is top notch. Hulk titles haven't been this good since Todd McFarlane took the reins way back in the late 80's.
Recommended for: Both Jenni and Eric. Because HULK SMASH!!!
5) Secret Invasion by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Yu. Marvel Comics
Ever since the days of Crisis on the Infinite Earths, both DC and Marvel have presented an annual summer cross-over event that shakes up their individual universes. Last year Marvel had the lackluster Civil War storyline, that didn't do much other than to piss of fans. This year's Secret Invasion totally makes up for the previous crap.
The synopsis: A race of shape-shifting aliens called the Skrulls have infiltrated all of Earths defenses and has initiated a hostile takeover of our planet. They mean to wipe out all humans and repopulate Earth as their new throne-world. Normally Earth's Mightiest Superheroes would nip this in the bud, except, some of them are Skrulls in disguise. These sleeper agents have successfully reaped the seeds of doubt sown amongst the heroes during the Civil War crisis, and now nobody knows who to trust.
Usually these summer cross-over events are just a marketing ploy to get fans to buy all the associated titles. But this time around, the core Secret Invasion title is creepily suspenseful and very satisfying. You don't need to buy all the cross-overs to make this one work.
Suggested for: Both Jenni and Eric. Because it's just that good!
