1: American Caper #1 - Dark Horse

            American Caper is a four issue mini-series from Dan Houser, one of the co-founders of Rockstar Games, and the writer of games like Grand Theft Auto, Bully, and Red Dead Redemption. Tonally, this comic is most similar to the campaign mode Grand Theft Auto, so if you were a fan of that – this one is for you. Assisting with the art is David Lapham of Stray Bullets fame (another series you should check out if you haven’t already.

 

            It’s been over a decade since I last played through Grand Theft Auto V and I missed the in-your-face type of satire that’s so closely associated with Rockstar Games, but American Caper has that in spades; It even has a fake ad in it for a product mentioned early on in the issue. The story follows a less than ethical lawyer who hates his life, his family and his perfect neighbors as he gets brought further into a life of crime. I’m intentionally not trying to say much about the story other than what it is tonally because I went in blind and I think that’s the best way to go about it.

 

This comic is the closest thing that you can come to reading a GTA campaign, so to put it very simply, if you like that crass caricature of American culture, then this is the book for you. If you aren’t into video games but maybe want to see what all of the hype is about when it comes to Grand Theft Auto, give this a shot. There’s still some free ashcans at Time Warp if you want to get a feel for it before you buy it.

 

2: Superman: the Kryptonite Spectrum #4 - DC

            Superman the Kryptonite Spectrum has been following Batman and Superman (along with a few guest appearances from other heroes in #2 and #3) as they test what effects the different colors of kryptonite have on the Man of Steel. Written by W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo from Ice Cream Man, this series has been an out of continuity homage to silver age comics while still having a little bit of that Ice Cream Man flavor.

 

Most of this one surrounds Superman’s adventures in the fifth dimension and the kryptonite story takes a bit of a backseat, but it’s a good change of pace before the last issue to keep it from feeling repetitive. It even has a couple overt William Faulkner references, for a lot of people, these references are going to be a net neutral, but I like Faulkner more than most and felt compelled to bring it up here.

 

This is the second time I’ve chosen this series as one of my picks and to be completely honest, it’s probably not going to be the last. I love Ice Cream Man and Superman in very different ways, so seeing them married in a successful way is great for me.

 

3: Spider-Man and Wolverine #7 - Marvel

This series by Marc Guggenheim and Kaare Andrews is exactly what it sounds like, two of Marvel’s most popular and morally opposed heroes teaming up. It’s kind of the definition of all style and no substance, but sometimes you’re craving potato chips and not a five course meal.

 

            After being off the book for a few issues Kaare Andrews is back (and is also the reason why I started picking this one up in the first place). The story in this is one that I would normally dislike if it wasn’t an homage to popular storylines of the 90s, so I can live with it because Andrews art takes me back to a lot of the Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man issues that I grew up reading and made me fall in love with the character in the first place.

 

            If you’re a fan of 90s excess (I say this in a loving manner), then you’ll love this book. Kaare Andrews doing a McFarlane/Larsen impression scratches something deep within my brain and while it may feel like shallow praise, it can only be described as ‘cool’.