After his continued success on a certain CW show, Cisco Ramone’s comics counterpart Paco Ramone (also known as Vibe) began to grow jealous of Cisco’s role on The Flash. The CW character has been able to take on some of the best material of the show serving as both the comedic relief and mad scientist. Wanting a piece of the action, Paco decided to hatch a plot for revenge via some of his best friends — the men and woman of the Beat Manor. First, we made Paco give us his staff picks, so we could deliver this fantastical article to the comics public, then we listened as Paco hatched one of the most sinister plans that several of the Beat Staff have ever heard. He decided to put a whoopee cushion on every single surface of S.T.A.R. Labs, and then replace Cisco with Paco for the day. He convinced several Beat Staffers to join him in his nonsensical farce. Unfortunately, The Reverse-Flash caught Paco (most of the Beat Staffers got out alive) and he was never heard from again. Disregard that story as you read about our top comics picks of the week.
Alex’s Picks:
Injection #1
Writer: Warren Ellis Artist: Declan Shalvey Colorist: Jordie Bellaire Publisher: Image Comics
INJECTION explores how loud and strange the world is becoming, and the sense that it’s all bubbling into chaos—a chaos poised to become the Next New Normal—and that we did this to ourselves without thinking for a second about how we were ever going to live inside it.
Relatively little has been announced regarding Injection’s plot. Which doesn’t matter, as the creative team of Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey have already cemented their names in the comics public as a great team. Shalvey has spent a lot of time getting the art up to the standards of Moon Knight, and spoken publicly about wanting experiment further in his main psychedelic style. This is going to be a red hot title this week even with the amount of crossovers shipping from Marvel and DC.
The Mantle #1
Writer: Ed Brisson Artist: Brian Level Publisher: Image
THE MANTLE follows Robbie—just your average, run-of-the-mill guy—as he drunkenly stumbles out of a punk show one evening. On his way home he’s hit with lightning and wakes to find that he’s been chosen as the new host for The Mantle, a power set of unimaginable scope. Despite his lack of interest, he’s forced into action. The Plague, a being who has spent 50 years killing every previous host of The Mantle, is already coming for him.
Sheltered author Ed Brisson is jumping on The Mantle, a comic with the intention of deconstructing superheroes. The title features the art of Brian Level, who previously worked on a title called In the Dark from IDW and assisted with art for Lazarus from Image is joining Brisson for the series. Watching the military-rooted writer jump onto a title with Punk Rock themes and superhero aesthetics is something that has captured my interest.
Dave’s Pick:
Southern Cross #3 (Image Comics)
(W) Becky Cloonan (A) Andy Belanger (CA) Becky CloonanThe Southern Cross begins to give up its secrets, and Braith finds that the more she learns about her sister’s death, the less she actually knows her.
