• Shows
  • Support/Membership
  • About
  • Contact
Menu

ESN - Electric Shadow Network

  • Shows
  • Support/Membership
  • About
  • Contact

Giant Size

Reading recommendations and discussion designed for new, long-time, and just plain curious comics readers.

Subscribe iTunes | RSS

35: Slap-in-the-Mouth Guarantee

May 20, 2015

In the first installment of a new recurring series, we recommend great, currently running reads that we've never discussed on the show. Expect another installment of this sooner than later.

Brought to you by

  • IDW: with a wide array of great new releases this week, among others...
    • Locke & Key Master Edition Hardcover Vol 1
    • Donald Duck #1
    • Mark Waid’s Insufferable #1 and Empire: Uprising #2
    • Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective Agency #1
    • Transformers: Treasury Edition
    • Jem and the Holograms #3

Reading List

  • The Autumnlands (formerly Tooth and Claw)
    • written by Kurt Busiek
    • pencils and ink by Benjamin Dewey
    • color by Jordie Bellaire
    • lettering by Comicraft
    • 5 issues in, ongoing, TPB available for preorder (available July 2015)

In a world of wizards and floating cities, anthropomorphic animal-people summon a "chosen one" from the past. the first human any of them has seen . The Autumnlands is a character-driven, plot-driven, "big epic narrative" that is great for fans of books like Saga who are looking for more to read.

  • Birthright
    • written by Joshua Williamson
    • pencils and ink by Andrei Bressan
    • color by Adriano Lucas
    • lettering by Pat Brousseau
    • 7 issues in, ongoing, first TPB now available

A young boy disappears through a portal and lands in a strange fantasy world. As just one year passes "back home", he lives a life in "Terrenos" through to adulthood, becoming a hulking barbarian hero. Then he comes back home.

  • Chrononauts
    • written by Mark Millar
    • pencils and ink by Sean Murphy
    • color by Matt Hollingsworth
    • lettering by Chris Eliopoulos
    • 4-part miniseries currently on issue 3/4, TPB up for preorder (available July 2015)

Time travel technology is perfected, but one of the two guys trusted and trained how to use it goes rogue. A tight, four-issue miniseries in the now-typical "Millar action movie" style.

  • King: Jungle Jim
    • written by Paul Tobin
    • art by Sandy Jarrell
    • lettering by Marshall Dillon
    • 4-part miniseries currently on issue 3/4

The most surprising, absolutely perfect new book on the stands features the King Features Syndicate character least likely to already be a fan favorite or big buzz title. This comic introduces our soon-to-trademark, titular "slap-in-the-mouth guarantee". I dare say fellows, if you no love of this book, you may not enjoy fun, as it were.

  • Copperhead
    • written by Jay Faerber
    • pencils and ink by Scott Godlewski
    • color by Ron Riley
    • lettering by Thomas Mauer
    • 7 issues in, ongoing, TPB available

"Frontier/western in spaaaaace" with a single mother sheriff taking her son to a new post that is full of strife, graft, and mysterious characters.

  • Southern Cross
    • written by Becky Cloonan
    • pencils and ink by Andy Belanger
    • color by Lee Loughridge
    • 3 issues in, ongoing

A woman goes on a mission (so far, a "long western train ride through spaaaaace") to find out the real reasons and events that led to her sister's death.

  • They're Not Like Us
    • written by Eric Stephenson
    • pencils and ink by Simon Gane
    • color by Jordie Bellaire
    • lettering by Fonografiks
    • 5 issues in, ongoing, TPB up for preorder (available July 2015)

A mentor brings powered humans together, but with much more complexity than you might associate with something like the X-Men. In fact, John finds it to be "much more complex than just an alternate take on the X-Men".

  • Rat Queens
    • story by Kurtis J. Wiebe
    • art by Stjepan Šejić
    • lettering by Ed Brisson
    • 10 issues in, ongoing, TPBs available for volume 1 and volume 2

Four female friends drink, get stoned, fight, and go after bounties in this "sword and sorcery" story that you don't have to consider yourself a fantasy fan to enjoy. A fan favorite coming back after a hiatus and change in artist.

Download MP3

← 36: T-Shirt and Jeans Look34: Reading Orders →

John Gholson & Moisés Chiullán
art by Chip Zdarsky

© 2012-2020 Montecristo, LLC