FLCBS Trip of the Week

Once a week I try to hit my FLCBS in Flemington (Comics Fusion, if you want to know...they're excellent, and the owners treat me like absolute gold, so I'm always pleased to go back there) to pick up my week's pulls or requests.  Sometimes, like when I'm sick, it gets put off, but I still try to make it a once a week thing.  It's like of like a little Christmas every week for me :-)

Here's this week's pulls/issues:

THE SPIRE (Issue 4 of 8).  This is a very cool book, kind of SF meets western (in a way) somewhere on the Weird Highway.  What is it?  I'll let the pull sheet tell you:

The Spire is a mountain of metal and stone that rises from the toxic nowherelands; a city of twisting tunnels, grinding elevators, ancient machinery, and over one million human and non-human residents. Shå, the only citizen of her species, is Commander of the Watch: responsible for keeping order despite the racist views of those around her. When a string of grisly murders occurs on the eve of the new Baroness's coronation, Shå is tasked with bringing the killer to justice... and picking apart the wider mysteries tangled around the crime. But the city's new ruler seems sets to usher in a more xenophobic age, and Shå swiftly finds she has far more than one enemy at her back…

What is it to me?  The very first book I picked up when I started getting back into comics again, along with The Infinite Loop and 8house: Arclight.  Shå is amazing, the story is dense with loads of layers and subterfuge, and the artwork is to die for.

That's Shå.  I kinda have a massive girlcrush on her :-)

ANGELA: QUEEN OF HEL (1 of a continuing series)  I've always been intrigued by how Marvel handled the underworld...I used to read Hellstrom way back in the day, from it's cool beginning, muddled middle, and amazing conclusion with Warren Ellis on stories.  And here we have Angela, Assassin of Asgard, now Queen of Hel.  Haven't read yet, but I have leafed through...the art is sumptuous and lush...

...and I can't wait to dig in.  This looks to satisfy my Norse sweet tooth nicely without going all Thor and Loki.

BATMAN (#44)  I had to pick up this issue.  Considering it is essentially a roman a clef of modern society, complete with economic and racial inequality, violence between the underprivileged and the police, and the slow, sudden realisation from Bruce Wayne that he might just have had a hand in a part of this as one of the 1%...this is a book that should honestly be getting taught in schools.  Great writing, great inking and art...this one should be talked about for a long time.