Weekly Process Roundup 9/16/11

The Weekly Process Roundup, which hits every Friday, is dedicated to showcasing everything other than finished product from The Long And Shortbox Of It's favorite creators. Sometimes, we have weeks that are both slow and hungry.

• This isn't technically process, but its exciting anyway: enter Brubaker and Phillips new project, FATALE!
• Ba shares some sketches and strips!
• JH WILLIAMS III finishes his BATWOMAN countdown!
• JILL THOMPSON has some things in the oven (literally)! (above)

LATE UPDATE:

• FRANCIS MANAPUL penciled a graphic album a while ago, and now its being translated into English and he's sharing some of his work!

The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side...

So. I wrote up a review recently of "Flashpoint" #1, written by Geoff Johns (@geoffjohns).

Note the specificity in that sentence. A REVIEW of FLASHPOINT NUMERO UNO. I didn't review the whole "Flashpoint" event (after all, it's not over yet) and I didn't review Geoff Johns' entire career (it's not ending anytime soon either) and I didn't review every comic in the fictional DC Universe. And I reviewed the issue in question fairly negatively.

But I just read "The Flash" #12, the last issue of the current series and the end of a four-part story titled "The Road to Flashpoint", and goddammit if it doesn't give the story more emotional weight for our central hero Barry Allen! The truth is the story is stronger for being in a few parts. Spread over several examples of what writer Tom DeFalco once called "a complete unit of entertainment" (MARVEL Podcast, "The Amazing Spider-Girl", 4/28/2oo7), i.e. one comic-book, not two or three.

In this separate comic-book (also written by Johns), Barry mentions that the birthday of his long-gone mother is the next day and asks his wife Iris to "just give me tomorrow", for "one more day" (I know, very weird considering what Spider-Man's been through for the past few years) to think his life through, all quite wonderfully drawn by Francis Manapul (@FrancisManapul), and well, just look...
...

In the comic I reviewed, Barry wakes up on his mother's birthday, everything is different, she's alive, he's not the Flash, some of his allies are enemies to the world at large, and Iris is in love with someone else. OUCH. Not the "tomorrow" Barry Allen expected he'd be waking up to.

Johns set us up in the end of "The Flash" #12 and knocked us down in "Flashpoint" #1. IF you read both. (Mind you, "FP" #1 also has a huge amount of very obvious set-up for more to come.) Could it all have fit into one comic, one "unit of entertainment"? Probably. But if it was, it definitely wouldn't have had the space for all the other characters' story-lines, most of which I made it clear I found uninteresting. But something dramatic with a splash of traumatic has happened to Barry Allen and this particular thread is a wonderful surprise! The weirdest part? Neither are excellent comic-books. But they are excellent together.

This is what I love about American superhero comics, really. This is why I fell in love with comics in the first place. I was given a copy of "Spider-Man" #35 in 1993 or '94, read it lying down on the couch in my parent's living room, and I realized that because it was labeled "Maximum Carnage" Part 4 of 14, something came before it and something came after it. I HAD to know what. (There's a page devoted to the issue on The Amazing Spider-Man Gallery that gives you a good feeling for the flow of continuity.)

Et voila:
Shared universe ongoing stories. It doesn't end. As Adrian Veidt says "Nothing never ends." Something came before and something comes after. Like... life.

But it's problematic. Most people's brains don't seem to work like mine does apparently. "This is only part of a story? I'm not going to buy this. It's not complete."

So what's a mainstream American superhero comics publisher to do? For that matter, what's a review of mainstream American superhero comics to do? Can you see the dilemma here? You, the consumer, should not have to buy multiple items to get a complete story. I stand by that. But I know stories can become richer, fuller, and more life-like when expanded over multiple items. Several 'units of entertainment'. I stand by that.

I guess a quick and dirty solution is to do just what I did. I wrote a review of "Flashpoint" #1 with a side note alerting all of you, my readers, to consider that ramifications affecting perception of the story might be sitting in recent issues of "The Flash" and/or upcoming issues of "Flashpoint". As part of a larger, shared-universe, semi-mythological, 80-year story something did come before it and something will come after it.

Continuity flows:

*Superman was alive, then dead, then alive. Then "Dead Again", I believe. Since? Alive again.

*Spider-Man was single, then he got married, then he was a widower, then he was married again, then he was magically never married at all.

*Batman was alive, then his spine was broken, then he got better, then he was dead, then suddenly he was just trapped in a repeating pattern through time itself. Now he is back.

*Then there's Brás de Oliva Domingos, main character of the brilliant "Daytripper" by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Bá. In just about each of the ten issues of the series he's alive and then suddenly and tragically he's dead. Slowly, a picture of a life emerges across those ten comic-books.


But each issue stands alone, a cohesive unit. Of entertainment-- or art depending on the eye of the beholder.

Writer Grant Morrison once said at New York Comic-Con, that it occurred to him one day: When you pick up any issue of Superman, what you're looking at is a piece of a life. And what if some god was doing that with his life or my life right now? Picking up and reading it, a slice at a time.

This is actually the exact structure of the late Harvey Pekar's ongoing autobiographical stories. The first series "American Splendor" combined with the mini-series that followed and various graphic novels along the way, the latest of which was published quite recently: "Huntington, West Virginia 'On the Fly' ". And it's not the last. "Harvey Pekar's Cleveland" is yet to come out. Harvey's been gone for over a year and the output of stories still isn't quite over yet. All of them together tell the story of his life. I'm far from the first to point this out. He's made us all like gods who can peer into the memory of his imagination.

I wrote in my recent review "I don't believe we should encourage this one-comic-is-needed-to-understand-another storytelling structure" but you know what? I also really do. That's what first made me fall in love with comics and it's STILL a big part of what I love about comics. Barry Allen, Spider-Man, Brás, and Harvey included. A multitude of short incomplete stories that add up to more than merely the sum of the parts.

Part x of ∞

And so the monkey has swallowed its own tale, this linear-publishing model of life becomes a circle of death and resurrection, and I am back where I started all those years ago on my parent's living room couch. It's exciting. It's about life and death and the tension inherent in moving forward.

So I'll continue to review these units by themselves, while taking into account the traditions and ongoing stories as ever-expanding structures, of which each each comic is a single brick.

Long live the serial narrative.

~ @JonGorga

2/2

Two bits of Fraction-related news:

1. There's a preview of the new Casanova series (words by Fraction, art by Ba) over at ComicsAlliance; go and check it out, hopefully you think it's as exciting as I do. (One day, I'm going to complete my collection of the original two series, and then I'm going to read the whole damn thing through. Maybe I'll just buy the collections of the reprinted and recolored editions in the meantime).

2.Ok, this is only vaguely Fraction related but, via BleedingCool, I hope Rich is right and that this is a new Iron Fist series; there are only three characters that I would say that I have gone to the dark side for, and one of those is Danny Rand. It would be even better if Fraction or Brubaker were writing it, but I'm not getting my hopes up about that.

Well, here's hoping anyway.

Weekly Process Roundup 3/11/11

The weekly process roundup is a collection of sketches, pencils, inks, thumbnails, everything other than finished product, from The Long and Shortbox of It's favorite artists and illustrators, hitting every Friday.

• Ba inks some Casanova.
• Skottie Young sketches Batman at ECCC.
• Sean Phillips shows us a couple of steps from a new project. Criminally, he doesn't tell us what it is.
• Chris Samnee shares all his con sketches from Emerald City.
• Francesco Francavilla has an idea for a Batman from a different time. Another design from this set is above.

Weekly Process Roundup 2/18/11

The weekly process roundup is a collection of sketches, pencils, inks, thumbnails, everything other than finished product, from The Long and Shortbox of It's favorite artists and illustrators, hitting every Friday.

• Moon finishes up a sketchbook, and Ba does a Casanova scene study.
• Terry Dodson gives a step by step guide to his cover process for X-Men #7 (some idea thumbnails are above).
• Anders Nilsen shares some corrections and some new drawings he's making for the upcoming collected edition of Big Questions.
• Gabriel Hardman sketches Mockingbird.
• Skottie Young warms up in the morning.
  
• Finally, Chris Samnee gives an update on a different kind of work in progress- congratulations, Chris!

Friday Double Feature Comics Show: Superspy Edition

Welcome to the first of a new feature here at The Long And Shortbox Of It- The Friday Double Feature! As a tribute to one of the greatest methods of consuming the grittiest, grimiest, pulpiest fiction ever conceived, we're going to bring to you- every Friday!- two reviews of comics that we, for whatever reason, see as heirs to that legacy. As a result, you're more likely to see Criminal here than Avengers, but anything that smells of pulp has a shot of making it into the column. These reviews won't always be exclusive to stuff that came out the previous new comic book day (although I'm certainly going to try to write about as many new comics as possible), but this week we had a killer first issue two-fer: Steve Rogers: Super Soldier #1 and Casanova #1.

It's fitting that we're starting out with Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction, since the two of them are responsible for what I think is the greatest superhero pulp in recent memory- the much missed (around these parts, anyway) Immortal Iron Fist. These comics, though they share the same sort of narrative aesthetic, belong to a much different genre than that kung-fu masterpiece*. Indeed, Casanova and Super-Soldier both feature characters equally as concerned with focus and tradition, but in a much different sort of way. What we have here are two spy comics- and they're both brilliant.

Let's start with the superhero formerly known as Captain America: ever since his return in the pages of Reborn, what Steve Rogers' precise role was to be in the Marvel universe has been a little unclear. We knew he was the country's top cop. Or maybe Secretary of Superheroes- whatever his official title is, it's clear he's running the show these days. What hasn't been clear is what role he's going to play in the places where he does appear- what kind of figure is Steve going to cut out in the field? Although I'm sure that Brian Bendis would love to write a comic called Steve Rogers: Secretary of State, Ed Brubaker had a much more interesting idea: turn the original Super Soldier into 007. This new role has come through with varying degrees of success in his Secret Avengers title (and, for the record, I think Brubaker may have gone too big too fast on that one, but we'll see what happens), but is clear as day in Super Soldier.

In fact, it's the structure of the book that makes this work, because Brubaker isn't trying to be too fancy with anything inside. While it's true that the issue's narrative is a pretty traditional one, I think that's the key to understanding exactly how Steve sees himself these days- and how we're supposed to see him. Way back when, we never would have caught this man out of uniform (that's part of what makes Captain America so powerful) but here he looks right at home shmoozing around a cocktail party in a tuxedo, to the point where it's not so hard to see Daniel Craig playing this version of Steve in a movie, ordering a drink that's shaken, not stirred.

Dale Eaglesham's art here has exactly the right feel, too: while there are some moments when it feels a little too stiff, most of the action sequences are incredibly fluid and he makes the spy scenes feel just right. It's hard to explain, but Eaglesham's Steve Rogers is dashing, suave and, most importantly, subtle. It was a hard trick to pull off, I'm sure, but the penciller does a killer job here.

Speaking of killer jobs, let's talk about the coloring on Casanova #1. Some of us were more fond of the idea than others when the news broke that Matt Fraction's inter-temporal super spy Casanova Quinn (originally published by Image in a two color, sixteen page format) was going to reappear in full color and, for the record, I like the original slim two-colored versions too (to the point where I'm on something of a mad quest to track down issue #4 so I can complete my collection and read the damn thing all the way through). With that said, though, this new coloring job is killer. I wish I had a scanner so I could show you why, but when you hit the page of Cass falling through the space time continuum, believe me you'll know exactly what I mean.

I'm not sure what I can add about the comic itself that hasn't already been said (it is basically a reprint, after all), but I can tell you that the new material in the back (drawn by Fabio Moon) is brilliant as well as being enlightening and confusing- it sheds some light on stuff we already knew, while making everything just a little bit more confusing too. Whatever it is that's going on (and this is true for both comics- Super Soldier had some really killer twists too) I can't wait for more and that, more than anything else, is the mark of a good, pulpy piece of serial fiction.

------------------------

*Incidentally, this demonstrates precisely what I mean when I say "pulp"- sure it's true that all comics are descended from the pulps, but the Avengers or the X-Men are, on their own, too shiny to be considered true inheritors of the pulp tradition. At the same time, I'm not going to shut out comics simply because they feature superheroes, or because they don't belong to a more specific kind of genre. This week we're talking about spies. Next week, maybe crime comics. Or westerns. Or war comics. We'll just have to see what I find.

2oo9 in a Shortbox!! Best of the Year

My marathon reading and re-reading of the comics of last year is finally over!! And as last night was Oscar night, here's my Personal Best Comics of 2oo9 List.

Quick important notes: To qualify, a work must be comics and must have been published in its entirety, in English, and for the first time either in print or on the web, between 1/1/o9 and 12/31/o9. The selections are presented by category, but not in any ascending or descending order.

BEST MINIS
"Luke Cage Noir" #1, #2, #3, #4
written by Adam Glass and Mike Benson; drawn by Shawn Martinbrough
One that flew under most people's radar as far as I can tell. Racism is just one of the many themes among class, crime, betrayal, legends, hearsay, and hope at play in this mini-series.
Collected edition has also become available in 2o1o.

"The Life and Times of Savior 28" #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 and the collection.
written by J.M. DeMatteis; drawn by Mike Cavallaro
Possibly the most important work done in the superhero genre in a decade, this mini-series challenges one of the long-standing, most-odious elements of the genre: violence.

BEST GRAPHIC NOVELS
"Asterios Polyp"
written and drawn by David Mazzucchelli
A torturously beautiful narrative of love and loss and realizing how much love it was you really did lose. Mazzucchelli broke the mold on utilizing style in visual narrative here. Brilliant. Although it is, in this writer's opinion, almost made a mess by a sudden and inappropriate shock ending. Making it the polar opposite of the following work...

"365 Samurai and a Few Bowls of Rice"
written and drawn by J. P. Kalonji
379 pages of splash-pages drawn by a Swiss man actually make this surprising graphic novel like a steady rhythm of blood pounding in your ears slowly building toward a fittingly beautiful surprise ending. The end result is a beautiful work of art about life, love, and enlightenment.

BEST GRAPHIC NOVELLA
"The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" Vol. 3 "Century: 1910"
An amazing continuation of Alan Moore's crazy work of historical/fictional fantasy. Characters narrate their own story in period songs they sing as they go about their work. The background items in the League's headquarters get even more outrageous. Horrifying and beautiful.

BEST STORY-ARC IN AN ONGOING SERIES
"Red-Headed Stranger" Prelude in "Amazing Spider-Man" #601, Parts 1 through 3 in #602, #603, #604, and (epilogue) #605
written by Mark Waid, Fred Van Lente, and Brian Reed; drawn by Mario Alberti, Barry Kitson, Robert Atkins, Javier Pulido, Luke Ross, and Yanick Paquette
Issue #601 by Mark Waid and Mario Alberti gets special mention for being funny, action-packed, romantic, working as a stand-alone story, and being gorgeously drawn by Alberti to boot! The prelude and epilogue material by Mark Waid, Fred Van Lante, and Brian Reed is excellent humorous/romantic stuff that connects thematically to Van Lente's main drama/action story in the three issues between them. Mary Jane returns from a long hiatus from Peter's life and Spider-Man's first supervillain, The Chameleon, gets a fantastically creepy overhaul that allowed Van Lente to examine the role of fear in how we shape our identity.

BEST INDIVIDUAL ISSUES
"Counting Up From Zero" from "Invincible Iron Man" #20 and "Digging In The Dirt" from "Invincible Iron Man" #21
ongoing series issues written by Matt Fraction; drawn by Salvador Larroca
My god. If you told me six years ago that "Iron Man" would be one of the best series Marvel was doing, that it would be the MUST HAVE, the book that had you most excited about comics... I would have laughed in your face. Along came Fraction and Salva (although a great debt is owed to the work done a few years ago by Warren Ellis and Adi Granov, too) and completely blew my socks off with these issues. Following on the heels of some great issues in the "World's Most Wanted" story-arc.

"Sandman: The Dream Hunters" #3, #4 and the collection.
mini-series issues written and drawn by P. Craig Russell; adapted from a short story by Neil Gaimen
This mini was mind-blowing, most-especially for someone, such as myself, who has never been fully immersed in the world of Neil Gaimen's "Sandman". I gave the collection to Clare for Christmas and it turned out to be the best Christmas gift I ever gave US.

"Blackest Night" #1
mini-series issue written by Geoff Johns; drawn by Ivan Reis
Strange, I know, to include the first issue of a mini-series and none of those that followed. Never before in a superhero comic-book had I seen so many characters in such a quick succession of pages be re-introduced, re-invigorated, and made respectably realistic. Johns is a master storyteller on an epic scale.

"Ring Out The Old" Conclusion from "Ex Machina" #44
ongoing series issue written by Brian K. Vaughan; drawn by Tony Harris
On a equally epic scale, if with a smaller number of characters, Brian K. Vaughan continues to bring new dimensions to the story of his ex-superhero mayor of New York City. This issue blew my mind with its kooky SF creations mixed with religious terminology.

"The Great Silence" from "Jonah Hex" #50
ongoing series issue written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti; drawn by Darwyn Cooke
A smart, fast, heart-breaking story by Gray and Palmiotti breathtakingly realized by Darwyn Cooke, the sequential art master of our times. One of the only western genre titles out there today, and a damn good one.

"A Battle Within" from "Batman" #687
ongoing series issue written by Judd Winick; drawn by Ed Benes
Batman stories narrated even partially by Alfred have ended up being my very favorite Batman stories. When asked if he's okay after Bruce Wayne's death, he replies: I'm not okay. My son is dead.

"Saviour" from "Atomika" #8
mini-series issue written by Andrew Dabb; drawn by Sal Abbinanti
After four years of publishing, we finally see Atomika turn that moral corner, realize he is a monster and become a mature... god. It is at this point he embarks on the road to heroism that we will see him complete when the last, twelfth issue comes out.

"That Which Does Not Kill Us" from "The Infinite Horizon" #4 of 6
mini-series issue written by Gerry Duggan; drawn by Phil Noto
Excellent adaptation of "The Odyssey" recounting a soldier's moments of weakness. Circe's magic is replaced by a morphine addiction. Tough choices are made, as the road back home can only continue if the Captain breaks his own leg so that the previous unsuccessful bone setting can be re-done. Holy jesus.

"Planetary" #27
ooooooongoing series' final issue written by Warren Ellis; drawn by John Cassaday
The major work in the superhero genre in the past fifteen years come to a close. The final hurrah was worth the wait. Science fiction at the intersection of hope and history.

"32" from "Daytripper" #1
mini-series issue written and drawn by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Bá
This extremely talented team of twin brothers present their first mini-series. And it is a very auspicious start. We are introduced to their main character, Bras, at 32 years old.

"Comic Book Comics" #3
mini-series issue written by Fred Van Lente; drawn by Ryan Dunlavey
The men behind this comic are the unsung heroes of the comic-book medium right now, because they are attempting to create a history of the comics medium in the comics medium and they're having fun doing it! Honestly, they deserve props for the concept of the comics industry's self-infantilization (which they label the "Logan's Run Effect") alone.

BEST SHORTS
"Photograph"
mini-comic written and drawn by Nicholas Breutzman
A simple story in simple xeroxed pages without so much as a staple between them. A boy and a girl wake up in bed next to each other and through narration from the fella's point-of-view we slowly get a picture of who these people are and how they ended up in so intimate a position.

"...And Call My Lover MODOK!" from "Strange Tales" #1
short graphic anthology story written and drawn by Nick Bertozzi
Awkward, ridiculous, yet moving portrayal of a supervillain and his... concubine? Done in FOUR PAGES. Amazing.

"The Black Widow" from "Strange Tales" #2
short graphic anthology story written and drawn by Matt Kindt
A great, quick spy story set against the Marvel universe. Apparently, superheroes get in the way of your job when your job is being a secret agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. Great use of text, great characterization, all in so few pages!

"Martha" from "MySpace Dark Horse Presents" online Issue 19
webcomic written and drawn by Dave Chisholm
A remarkable little tale of highway violence and familial re-connection. The surprise ending makes this the best thing I read on the web last year.

Here's hoping 2o1o is as good a year! Or better!

[2oo9: The best to the right, the rest to the left! Not quite a shortbox, is it?]

and finally...
The Comics I Would Probably Have Put On The List Had I Bought Them and Read All Of Them
"Stiches" graphic novel written and drawn by David Small
"3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man" graphic novel written and drawn by Matt Kindt
"I Kill Giants" #7 of 7 mini-series final issue written by Joe Kelly; drawn by J. M. Ken Niimura

Casanova!

I'm really ill, but seeing this article about the return of Casanova totally made my morning.

I haven't read the whole series yet, my search for the elusive issue #11 is as yet unsuccessful, but the issues that I have read totally blew my mind. Presumably, it'll be published by Marvel's Icon imprint, but I guess we'll just need to wait for an official announcement that is probably months off.

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 12/9/2oo9

My thoughts on the comics that interest moi this week!

BIG week:

"the Amazing Spider-Man" #614 (definitely)
Still only beginning to catch up with this book...

"Spider-Man and the Secret Wars" #1 of 4 (probably)

The "Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars" was one of my favorite comics to dig through boxes for in comic shops (sometimes all around the world) when I was a kid, so the idea of dropping in at the BEST moment of the series (the opening of issue #4) and depicting it from my favorite character's POV? I don't even care if this turns out to be out-of-continuity I think I will buy all four!

"Web of Spider-Man" #3 (maybe)

So far I didn't buy #1 and then I bought #2, but mainly only because it was a sale weekend at St. Mark's Comics... Spider-Man never seems to actually show up in these, but I get the feeling they really need to be read to follow the story-line "The Gauntlet" currently going through "Amazing".

"New Avengers Annual" #3 (maybe)
I loved the first annual from a few years ago, felt kind of lukewarm about the second one. Depends on whether the Web-Head shows up. We shall see.

"the Invincible Iron Man" #21 (probably)

Well, the first part of "Stark: Disassembled" in last issue was great (as can be seen in Josh's review here), so we'll see how things move along here. Considering the connections this story should have to the upcoming 'events' from Marvel I should read all of it just to best appreciate "Siege" and whatever the hell "The Heroic Age" will be.

"Daytripper" #1 (probably)
A completely original work from the remarkable team of twins Fabio Moon and Gabriel Bá? Why wouldn't I pick this up?

"Ghostbusters: Past Present Future" (maybe)
The Ghostbusters take on the mythical ghosts of Charles Dickens' classic story "A Christmas Carol"! Deeeeee-lightful!

"God Complex" #1 (maybe)

This looks pretty good to me. Fun, cool, smart.

UPDATE: 12/10/2oo9

So Spidey appears in the "New Avengers Annual". Also? It looks like Bendis is finally going to make sense of the muck he has made out of the character of Hawkeye in this issue. Exciting!

"Web of Spider-Man" by comparison looked okay, but had no Spidey... His name is in the title, right?

"Invincible Iron Man" is really about as excellent as superhero comics get.

"Daytripper" is equally excellent. I can't wait for this series to be complete! It could be truly brilliant.

"God Complex" and the Ghostbusters one-shot? Well, they just seemed a bit too rote, you know? Standard choices being made.

I also took a long and hard look at "Wolverine: Under the Boardwalk" and seriously considered it. Looked very good, but I have TOO MANY COMICS. I passed on it.

"Spider-Man and the Secret Wars" #1? I bought it. I make no apologies.

Already Tired of Tuesday- Daytripper #1

So, I've decided to try a new format for Already Tired of Tuesday, and that format is this- I'm going to pick one book each week, talk about why I'm going to pull it in excruciating detail, and then just list everything else I'm going to take a look at. The old format was getting boring, and it was actually pretty difficult to write, which is why I've been kind of lax about this lately. So, we're going to start this new format with....


Gabriel Ba's and Fabio Moon's Daytripper #1, which I'm almost hysterically excited about. Two of the best artists in comics today, artists who have worked with both rising stars like Matt Fraction and industry stalwarts like Mike Mignola, Bá and Moon do work that is distinctive, moody, smooth and, most importantly, consistently awesome. I have no idea what their abilities as writers are, although they certainly seem to be pretty good from the Daytripper previews I've seen, but I think that the concept (the life of Brazilian obit writer Brás de Oliva Domingos, told non-linearly but in a presumably illuminating way) is interesting enough to support the book even if the writing isn't all there. Make no mistake, though- if you're buying this book, you're buying it for that art. I'm hoping to pleasantly surprised by the writing- Vertigo seems pretty high on it, anyway- but I'll be disappointed if the drawing doesn't blow me away. Did I mention it's set in the twins' home country of Brazil? Beautiful Brazil drawn by artists with bountiful brilliance? What could be better?

Other Things Worth A Peek This Week:
S.W.O.R.D #2
Invincible Iron Man #21

Paperback Writer

There's an interview with Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon over at CBR- if you're interested in their work, particularly their upcoming series Daytripper, you should give it a look.