It will take far more than Tom and Jerry cartoon style violence to get me to try Usagi Yojimbo.

BAH!

He hasn't got the stones or the heat vision to do that.

I'm torn between two right now and they're both from Oni (surprise)



The Bunker Vol. 1

On their way to bury a time capsule, five friends - Grady, Heidi, Natasha, Daniel, and Billy - uncover a metal bunker buried deep in the woods. Inside, they find letters addressed to each of them... from their future selves. Told they will destroy the world in the very near future, the friends find, over the next few days, growing further and further apart. Though they've been warned against making the wrong choices, how do they know what the right ones are? Can the future really be changed, or will an even darker fate engulf the world? Collects the first four issues of the ongoing series.

Written by Joshua Hale Fialkov (The Devilers, I Vampire) and illustrated completely by Joe Infurnari (Jersey Gods, The Sixth Gun, Wasteland), this is high drama and sci-fi at their best.

Another in that same vein with some politics thrown in by Charles Soule (All-New Inhumans, Dardevil, Swamp Thing) and Alberto Jiminez Albuquerque (Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword, The Auteur : Sister Bambi)



Letter 44

On Inauguration Day, newly elected President Stephen Blades hoped to tackle the most critical issues facing the nation: war, the economy, and a failing health care system. But in a letter penned by the outgoing President, Blades learns the truth that redefines "critical": seven years ago, NASA discovered alien presence in the asteroid belt, and kept it a secret from the world. A stealth mission crewed by nine astronauts was sent to make contact, and they're getting close - assuming they survive the long journey to reach their destination.

Today, President-elect Blades has become the most powerful man on the planet. This planet.

Shout out to Saga as well. Really a great series by BKV and Fiona Staples

I was excited for Letter 44 when it came out (I really liked Soule's 27 and wanted to see more creator-owned rather than work for hire stuff from him), and thought it was a great premise, but I ended up dropping the book after 8-9 issues for 2 reasons, 1) as a monthly (not a binge read in trade or digital) the pacing was terrible and 2) the artist has one of those styles where all the faces look the same and when a lot of characters are in suits or similarly dressed distinguishing who was who was difficult and when Soule had several characters also have similar speech patterns it became a hot mess for me. Maybe it's gotten better, maybe it reads better in long form than as monthly installments, maybe it kicked into gear when some of the building mysteries over the first 8-9 months that felt they were going nowhere finally had some sort of payoffs, but I wasn't willing to keep plunking money down to find out.

-M