Written by Angela Rairden
I recently picked up four new comic series and found all of them to be unique, interesting, and intriguing. Dealing with subject matters ranging from magic to religion to PTSD, these are four not-to-be-missed comics that you should run, not walk, to your local comic book store to gobble up the first issues of before they sell out!
EIGHT BILLION GENIES (Image) – Written by Charles Soule, Art by Ryan Browne
In issue one of Eight Billion Genies, every person on Earth is unexpectedly gifted a genie of their own and told that their genie will grant them one wish, and that that wish can be anything that they want. Once the wish is made and granted, the genie disappears and the consequences of that wish play out. Much in the same vein as Soule’s last hit comic, Curse Words, Eight Billion Genies is a mix of the modern world meeting a magical world, and the ramifications that can come from such a pairing. Ultimately, it asks the tantalizing question - what would you wish for???
THE VINEYARD (Aftershock) – Written by Brian Hawkins, Art by Sami Kivela
Set in modern times, The Vineyard is another series that examines the unpredictability of magic. This is an ancient magic from the Greek god of old, Dionysus. The Vines family made a pact with the god of wine and pleasure decades ago – he would bless their grape harvest and thereby ensure the fruitfulness of their vineyard and, in return, the family would be tasked with making four sacrifices to him every year. This is a duty that Didache, the devout patriarch of the family, has faithfully fulfilled every year. Except now Didache finds himself wheelchair bound and unable to complete the necessary sacrifices himself. This means that the task must fall to someone else, or risk not only the future of the The Vineyard but the wrath of a god, as well.
SACRAMENT (AWA Upshot) – Written by Peter Milligan, Art by Marcelo Frusin
The year is 2999 and the future is bleak, especially for Catholicism. In this timeline, humans have discovered non-Newtonian sub-gravitational travel and fled Earth, creating new homes on new planets where religion is banned, and anyone found practicing it faces dire consequences. Enter Father Vass, one of the few priests left who travel from planet to planet to conduct both mass and exorcisms in secret to the covertly devout. Having lost his own faith in God, Vass hides his own misgivings and follows his mission to spread the word of God. Until the day that he’s finally caught by the authorities. Expecting the worse, Vass is instead shipped to a planet where is his ordered to help solve a mysterious and violent problem of Biblical proportions.
THE DEAD LUCKY (Image) – Written by Melissa Flores, Art by French Carlomagno
In another futuristic timeline, 33-year-old honorably discharged Army veteran Bibiana (Bibi) Lopez-Yang struggles to come to terms with both her survivor’s guilt and the fact that she has electrifying superpowers. Having just returned home to San Francisco, the city she grew up in looks quite different from when she left. Tech company Morrow has made the city a test case by releasing bots and cybernetics intended to battle crime. With the deadly Salvation Gang planning to move in and overthrow the city, the police have relinquished control of the city to the Morrow bots and, in the process, initiated a turf war that Bibi and everyone she cares about risk getting caught in the middle of. Knowing that she can use her hidden powers to help, Bibi must overcome her PTSD to save what’s important to her.
Angela “LaLa” Rairden is an avid fan of comic books, Star Wars, and most things nerdy. A cosplayer, she loves to attend comic cons dressed as her favorite fictional characters, particularly Harley Quinn. Although her day job is at a grocery store, writing has always been her true calling. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she is currently writing her first novel.