Get In on the Ground Floor: 8 New Comics Series with Real Potential

There have been a number of interesting first issues recently, and this is my attempt at recommending the ones I most liked. My only rule is that the series is on its first or second issue at most. Comics at #3 you should nevertheless check out include Memorial, Fatale, Winter Soldier and believe it or not, Scarlet Spider.

Adventure Time (Kaboom)
I really didn't know anything about this cartoon series but the name, but if the comics series is anything to go by, I've got to become a fan. A series like this is just what the doctor ordered in these final months of Tiny Titans. It has the same whismical, anything-can-happen feeling, and gives its writers and artists enormous leeway (there's no actual "house style") in experimenting within the all-ages format (and I mean it, it's not just for kiddies). There's a continuing story about the Lich sucking up the Land of Ooo in his bag, but various charming back-up tales in each issue as well.

Conan the Barbarian (Dark Horse)
I'll come clean. I'm not as big a fan of Conan comics as I ought to be. Every time a new series crops up, I might look at it, but it never quite captures my imagination. Until now. Brian Wood's credit drew me in, and he's making use of Howard's original texts beautifully. The colorful type-written captions have less to do with the Age of Hyborea than with paying tribute to Conan's creator. And Becky Cloonan's art! Her Conan looks younger than most, but has a lot of charm. What I've seen of hers before was more cartoony, but here approaches Paul Pope's fluidity, and her action is always well choreographed.

Kirby Genesis: Dragonsbane (Dynamite)
Of all the Kirby Genesis projects, the youngest but most promising is Dragonsbane, a riff on Thor that uses the popular idea of merging all possible worlds into a fun mash-up universe. The veils between the different pantheons' dimensions have lifted and now Sigurd - he of the impressive helmet - goes on a journey across all myths to help a ghostly princess. All that and Kirby designs too!

The Manhattan Projects (Image)
In the same bold, high-concept way Jonathan Hickman is writing the Fantastic Four and SHIELD, he now brings us an original series that puts the Manhattan Project in the plural, because apparently, the atomic bomb was the least of their projects. The book features real-life scientists, including an Oppenheimer that is not at all what he seems, working in an Area 51-type facility and squaring off against the weird science of other WWII powers. The first issue features Kamikaze killing machines sent by death-powered zen Buddhists. So there.

Saga (Image)
It may be a bit early to tell, but Brian K. Vaughan's newest series efficiently creates a world that is half-space opera, half-myth & magic, using the narration of a character that has yet to be born to tell a story of forbidden love and the assassins sent to squelch it. Fiona Staples' expressive art finds the right balance between fantasy and science fiction, and is rather more spare than most SF art, which tends towards the technical and thus, the highly detailed. If the jury's still out for me, it's because Vaughan makes an effort to create an R-rated story, but none of the "R" elements seem necessary. I think he might have done better to aim for a wider audience, because his canvas deserves it.

Saucer Country (Vertigo)
Paul Cornell's newest project can be summed up thus: The West Wing meets The X-Files. We follow Arcadia Alvarado, present governor of New Mexico and candidate for the presidency of the United States. She also happens to be the daughter of illegal aliens, and have come out of an abusive marriage. And by illegal aliens, I mean people from Mexico, but Cornell may just mean aliens from outer space! That's a great comic book hook, but I'm really reading for the political story, which Cornell writes quite well.

Superbia (Boom! - is it me, or are there a lot of comic book companies with explosive names?)
Grace Randolph's Superbia has been called the Real Wives of Hollywood of the superhero set, with good reason. We've got analogs of the Justice League - through a deconstructionist lens not unlike Watchmen's, which is mildly disappointing - but the focus is on their girlfriends and spouses (of both sexes). Randolph has given us a good mix - the new wife not yet used to staying at home while her husband risks his life, the former villain who seems to have corrupted her boyfriend, the wife-as-business-partner, the stay-at-home dad. If we're going by potential, I've got to include this series in the list. Don't get put off by the Image-y cover, the interiors have a more cartoony charm.

Thief of Thieves (Image)
Robert Kirkman's newest project (but written by Nick Spencer, and there's nothing wrong with that) is the perfect comic for fans of Ocean's Eleven or Hustle. Redmond is a master thief, perhaps the world's best, and he's looking to get out of the life. Of course, there's always one more heist... Through his apprentice, the daring-do and flim-flam are mixed in with procedural elements, like how to steal a car with a minimum of risk. It's the comic book equivalent of hanging out with the wrong crowd and it exudes charm.

So get reading! And I wouldn't mind hearing your recommendations for new series *I* should check out.