Welcome to The A.V. Club‘s monthly comics preview, where we recommend new books to check out over the next few weeks. This month, we’ve got five noteworthy picks, including a Steampunk Santa story, the return of Criminal, and a wartime thriller imported from Italy.
Petra Chérie by Attilio Micheluzzi and Jamie Richards (December 2)
Italian cartoonist Attili Micheluzzi had a fascinating path on his way to comics, training as an architect and working across Africa before returning to Naples after the Libyan revolution of 1969. His international experiences shape his comic-book stories, taking readers on adventures to foreign locales that are depicted with impeccable detail and striking graphic design. Translated by Jamie Richards, Petra Chérie follows the titular female spy across Europe at the end of World War I, delivering spectacular action and suspenseful political intrigue as Petra inserts herself in the middle of global conflicts. The first Micheluzzi book published by Fantagraphics, The Farewell Song Of Marcel Labrume, highlighted the artist’s mastery of black-and-white imagery. This new edition of Petra Chérie presents these stories in color for the first time, heightening the atmosphere and intensifying the drama while maintaining the bold impact of his linework. Micheluzzi’s use of sound effects is particularly powerful, making them an integral part of his panel composition and page layouts to inform the mood, amplify movement, and vary pacing.
Petra Chérie cover (Image: Fantagraphics)
Giant-Size Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (December 3)
In preparation for the upcoming Criminal TV series adaptation on Prime Video—featuring a starry cast that includes Charlie Hunnam, Richard Harris, Adria Arjona, and Emilia Clarke—writer Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips reunite for Giant-Size Criminal #1 (Image Comics). This jam-packed one-shot features a new story spotlighting Ricky Lawless, whose death is a major inciting incident in the Criminal mythos, flashing back to Ricky on a solo heist that inevitably takes a turn for the worse. It also includes a Criminal tabletop RPG module written by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Phillips, a peek behind the scenes of the TV show from Brubaker (who serves as showrunner), and a guide to the sprawling world of this series and its characters, providing an easy entry into the 10 volumes of Criminal that have recently been republished. Brubaker and Phillips have done remarkable work with the crime genre over nearly 20 years, and given Prime Video’s success with adaptations like The Boys and Invincible, there’s a strong likelihood that the Criminal comics will reach a much wider audience in the new year.
Giant-Size Criminal cover (Image: Image Comics)
Our Soot Stained Heart by Joni Hägg, Stipan Morian, and Ropemann (December 10)
As the U.S. enters a holiday season plagued by rising prices and unemployment rates, it’s a fitting time for a new take on the Santa Claus myth that focuses on the working class uniting against oppression. Our Soot Stained Heart #1 (Vault Comics) draws from the signifying elements of Santa—a white-haired lead, coal, the naughty/nice binary—to create something new rooted in the Finnish and Balkan heritages of co-writers Joni Hägg and Stipan Morian, respectively. The virtuous Peggy Stones is a factory worker in The Coalition, a city run by corrupt leaders that provide extra coal as an incentive for bad behavior, and her exile sends her on an extraordinary journey to save her people. Morian also provides the interior artwork with colorist Ropemann and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, and it’s stunning work from one of the industry’s most exciting talents. Morian’s work on Image Comics’ 20th Century Men was an astounding display of versatility, specificity, and personality, and Our Soot Stained Heart is the product of three years of labor that gives Morian the opportunity to pay tribute to his culture while pushing his art in a more fantasy-inspired direction.
When it comes to carving out your own specific niche, it’s hard to top artist Suzushiro. He achieved viral success on social media with his drawings of skateboarding maids, a bizarre fusion of aesthetics that is full of charm and narrative potential. The contrasts of flowing frilly skirts with skater shoes, of delicate maid demeanor with the raw physicality of skateboard tricks—it’s all so inherently silly but at the same time makes you wonder who these people are and how they became part of the skater world. Readers get their answer in Maid To Skate (Viz Media), which introduces a young maid, Benihana (named after the skateboarding trick), and her domestic worker colleagues that all share a passion for shredding. This isn’t a book you pick up for the character dynamics or the plot machinations, but for the sheer pleasure of watching an artist do exactly what he wants to do with the passion and skill to make it exciting and compelling. He knows what his audience wants and gives it to them with aplomb, building on his illustrations to create full action sequences that emphasize his dynamic storytelling ability.
Maid To Skate cover (Image: Viz Media)
Ultimate Endgame by Deniz Camp, Terry Dodson, and Jonas Scharf (December 31)
December is a big month for Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. Jonathan Hickman and Marco Chechetto end their acclaimed run on Ultimate Spider-Man with issue #24, a new crop of characters (including Daredevil) make their debut in Ultimate Universe: Two Years In, and most importantly, the stage is set for the line’s end in Ultimate Endgame #1 (Marvel Comics), which sees the villainous Maker finally unleashed after two years of imprisonment. Written by Deniz Camp with art by Terry Dodson and Jonas Scharf, Ultimate Endgame brings together characters who have been largely siloed in their respective titles, and Camp’s work on The Ultimates and Ultimate Spider-Man: Incursion has made him the driving force of the line’s larger narrative. It’s strange to see the Ultimate Universe ending considering the line’s commercial and critical success, but while it’s very possible that this is merely setting up a new phase, it’s also refreshing to see a story reach its conclusion without dragging it out (see: the Krakoa-era X-Men line after Hickman’s departure).
Ultimate Endgame cover (Image: Marvel)
Join the discussion...
GET A.V.CLUB RIGHT IN YOUR INBOX
Pop culture obsessives writing for the pop culture obsessed.
