Hey crunk-masters and stereo blasters. You ready for another hot, sweaty week of reading comics? I know I am. But before we get to the new business, let’s take care of the old business. It’s time to hand out some awards for the comics that tickled our whoosits and whatsits from last week.

PARENTS JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND

I just watched the movie adaptation of Morning Glories and I gotta say, they got it completely wrong. I mean look, I like Rachel McAdams and her fake sounding last name just as much as the next lady (do ladies actually like her? Ah, whatever, she’s super pretty.) Also, it was amusing to see Indiana Jones hosting a morning TV show. Ha ha, man could you imagine what the animal day would look like on that show? Like with snakes and shit? Because he’s… because he’s… wait, I’m sorry that movie is what? And it’s not actually… hmm. You know, I thought the whole movie was a little short on patricide.

Regardless, this week’s issue of Morning Glories is another barn burner - though ironically (for this book) nothing was burned to the ground. While the past five issues focused on the newest batch of recruits into the ranks of the Morning Glories Academy, this one focuses on the faculty. Specifically a member we have yet to really see.

Miss Hodge is a bit of an anomaly at the academy. Beloved by the children and treated with disdain by her colleagues, she really seems like she just… wants to be a good teacher. But of course, being a good teacher at Morning Glory Academy is a bit different than most places, which is probably why she ends up handing at least one kid the keys to their very own mega murder spree. By the book’s end yet another twist is put into place, and the landscape of the next arc has changed once again.

The closest analogy for this book, that I can think of, has to do with watching artists sketch. If you’ve ever been to a convention or just had the pleasure of watching some artists concoct pictures out of nowhere, you know that sometimes you can’t even wrap your head around the images that they are laying down. Some guys, without a single guiding line, will start going off on a page, a fully form character springing to life out of what originally looked like a mess of lines and scratches. When I read Morning Glories, I feel like I’m watching this process. Nick Spencer, Joe Eisma and Rodin Esquejo keep putting down lines, and… while the picture hasn’t quite formed yet, the craft is still stunning, and I can’t wait to see what it all looks like by the series end. So far, it looks great - and so we award this book the Get a Grip on Your Faculties Award - for obvious reasons.(B)

JAMES LOVES THAT ONE MAGIC BOOK

Yesterday, Brandon told me that Mystic is only getting an initial four issues, like the rest of the relaunched CrossGen titles, and I did not exactly take it well. I might have even threatened to send certain things in the mail. It wasn’t a proud moment. In my defense, I honestly thought the series was getting more than these four issues to start, in part because the cover doesn’t say it’s Number Two of Four and also because the series is just so utterly, wonderfully fantastic. I mean, why wouldn’t you want this series to keep going on for years and years and years?

Mystic #2 takes just about everything I loved about the first issue and deepens it. David López, Álvaro López & Nathan Fairbairn‘s art? Still just as stunning as before, but with an increased variety that comes from the new settings the issue introduces. Watching Giselle control a sphere of aether for the first time is lovely to behold because the art team sells not only the magic of the aether, but Giselle’s genuine wonder at it. It’s the first time she really lets her guard down, and the art sells it completely.

What Wilson is doing with the characters is fun to read. As Giselle grows and appreciates things she refused to before despite Genevieve’s urging, Genevieve - cast out and filled with anger at the loss of her lifelong dream - takes on Giselle’s rage at the unfair world of Hyperion. And, like so many teens before her, she falls in with the revolutionary political ideas of a charismatic man. What surprised me is how badly I wanted to learn more about the entire world Wilson has created. There isn’t a single part of it that doesn’t feel bigger than the comic itself, that doesn’t make me wish I could split the pages and find out the rest that has to be somewhere in between. And it’s a comic that you can hand to just about anyone of any age! For that, it’s obviously earned the Glowing Purple Everything Award. (J)

Look, if any of you have spent any kind of time at our site, you already know our pick for this week’s best. Casanova: Avaritia #1 was by far and away the book we were most excited about, and the book that rewarded our off kilter sensibilities the most. That said, we’ve already plied a considerable amount of pixels toward telling you how awesome the book is - so we figured we’d just give the book an Anthony Michael Hall of Fame nod and mosey onwards with another super rad book.

Jeff Lemire is a son of a bitch. The man is too damn talented for this world, and I, for one, won’t have it. Oh sorry wait, did I say won’t? I meant “will”. I always do that. Like… like, have you ever been talking to your friends, and you say “where there’s a won’t, there’s a way” and everyone just stares at you awkwardly, and coughs lightly while you smile and tell yourself that, no, this isn’t an awkward silence. This is the sound of friendship growning, into a friendspaceship. PSHEW PSHEW PSHEW!

…where was I? Oooh right, Animal Man.

Honestly, the best part of this launch has to be the fact that the attention is giving books like this a solid shake at surviving the turbulent market. Honestly, had DC not gone all in with this project - had they just launched a bunch of books and, say, kept the numbering of Action and Detective and Batman and Wonder Woman and the other books going forward, I’d suspect that sales on this, and other “lower tier” books wouldn’t have hit as hard. But man. Man! Not only was this book stunning, but it’s probably going to stick around for some time. Which will be nice.

The book follows Buddy Baker and his family, after Buddy has sort of put his life as Animal Man on the back burner. The relationship that Buddy has with his family is absolutely charming, and true to life, and so in short order, you grow a fondness for all involved. Oh, and also, there’s a part where Buddy goes off to talk down a gunman who has just lost his daughter to cancer, and is holding cancer kids hostage and there’s a trippy ass dream sequence that pushes the book towards quite a stunning finish. All of this is done with a light touch and a deft hand, and in no part of the book do you feel like you’re being manipulated in a cheap way - which is quite the feat considering… you know… cancer kids.

I think the book ended up hitting so well and doing so well critically and commercially because it’s not cheap. Every emotion in the book is real, just plied to a situation that involves a bit more spandex. I mean… okay, so, a few years back, I had a cousin who passed away from cancer. She was pretty young. Would’ve been eighteen this year probably? And… no, it’s not the same as losing a daughter. I mean, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what that would be like. I have a sister and a half sister, and my parents that… if anything were to happen to them… uh, yeah. That would… that would be a bad period of time for me. But… but you kid? Your child? Someone that’s you, that’s part of you, that you made? The mind reels. I can’t comprehend it. So, uh… the reactions here, I get. They’re strong, they’re present, in the relationship between Buddy and his family, and the one gunman who lost his.

…um, okay. Not really sure how to pull up out of this line of thought, so. Animal Man by Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman (who does some stunning work on the art). It’s a book that you want to read. You can buy it right now on Comixology, or at shops that still (somehow) have copies. More print copies will be on their way, thank goodness.