Some comic recommendations. None of these are superhero, all of these are off the beaten path, as it were. Most of them are horror or horror-ish.
LOCKE & KEY. Written by novelist Joel Hill (son of Stephen King), this is the story of the Locke family, who've moved to Keyhouse in the sleepy town of Lovecraft to start a new life after the patriarch of the family was murdered. There the children discover a series of magical keys, each with a different power. What they don't realize is that the spectre of of evil that caused their father's death remains at Keyhouse, and will do anything to get those keys.
This is tied with the next entry for my favorite series currently running. The first volume is dark and slightly off-putting (but necessary), but the horror-fantasy finds its tonal footing quickly in the second volume and takes flight with a terrific high concept, heartbreaking turns, and characters so well-written you’ll feel they’re part of your own family. Highest possible recommendation.
ATOMIC ROBO. Nikola Tesla built the first true artificial intelligence in 1923 and put it into a robot of his own design. Robo has spent the last hundred years leading Tesladyne’s Action Scientist brigade, responding to paranormal and supernatural events.
On that simple premise hangs one of the most purely joyful comics reads you’ll ever find. Take “Ghostbusters,” “Indiana Jones,” and “The Rocketeer,” mix ‘em together, and you have Atomic Robo.
WITCH DOCTOR. “House, M.D.” meets “Doctor Strange.” This series takes the concept of a monster-filled macroverse and filters it through a medical drama. Dr. Vincent Morrow and his assistants, nurse Eric Gast and Penny Dreadful, a possessed girl, specialize in supernatural medicine, dealing with creatures such as vampires, demons, faeries, and Lovecraftian horrors with a physician’s eye and a longsword-as-scalpel. I love this one. Highly recommended.
MORNING GLORIES. “Lost” meets “Runaways” meets Paul Dini’s short-lived TV series “Tower Prep.” Six “brilliant but troubled” teenagers are recruited to Morning Glory Academy, outwardly a prestigious prep school. They quickly realize they must try to survive as the dark forces who run the school engage in outright murder and torture of its students to a mysterious occult end.
The series clearly has better, more concrete planning than its spiritual predecessor, “Lost,” and while none of the characters are as endearing or well-written as Brian K. Vaughn’s Runaways were, the tightly-plotted mysteries of the school result in a page-turner. This is one that looks to be shaping up as something special. Highly recommended.
CHEW. Detective Tony Chu lives in a world where the federal government has placed a ban on chicken and other bird meats after a deadly outbreak of bird flu killed 23 million Americans. The FDA has been empowered to carry out the law with extreme prejudice, and Tony is forcibly recruited into the agency when it’s discovered that he’s a cibopath, someone who can take a bite from anything and get a psychic sensation of what happened to it. Unfortunately...that also means human flesh.
The alternate-world setting is rife with satire and the artwork and writing keep the mood light in this book, which (given its subject matter) could easily drift into some dark, disgusting territory. And it does, don’t misunderstand, but it’s always handled with a light touch that keeps the story flowing along without stopping to smell the vomit. Recommended.