The Nice House by the Sea and the Dangerous Arrogance of Expertise
Comic Pilot Season 2024: July Week 4 New Comic Book Roundup
It’s SDCC week, so everyone in comics is in San Diego and there’s news coming out every 10 seconds or so. Marvel is supposedly going to announce details for their new X-Men movie, DC is talking more about this fall’s DC All-In, and basically every comics house out there is posting about their booths. I on the other hand, am holding down the fort in the Midwest, reading the excellent set of new books that came out yesterday. I’m also working on doing individual reviews for the books that release in any week, though I won’t be sending those out individually — I don’t want to spam your inboxes. They’ll be collected at the top of each roundup, like my review for last week’s Witchblade #1.
This week I made the decision to drop DC’s Absolute Power: Origins and all future event tie-in books from the roundup — I figure that unless you’re already reading the event book, you’re unlikely to care about the tie-ins. I may cover them individually or as part of event most-mortems. Even without these, this week has 9 new series across lots of publishers — always a good sign in my book, when it’s not mostly Marvel. Nothing against them, it just ends up being a lot. The Book of the Week has instantly entered into my top 10 of the year (so far), and is probably the best looking book of the year. Enjoy this week’s comics, and as always, let me know what books you picked up!
Book of the Week: The Nice House by the Sea #1
This is a sequel to 2021’s The Nice House on the Lake, but delightfully, this sequel series does not require you to have read the first. Writer James Tynion IV, artist Álvaro Martínez Bueno, and colorist Jordie Bellaire craft a story of a house at the end of the world filled with 10 of the most successful people humanity has to offer, and asks the question, “is that enough?” Where movies like 2012 and Don’t Look Up posit that the final survivors of humanity will certainly be the rich, and thereby are virtually guaranteed to fail as a society, Tynion’s residents are experts in their fields, represneting the best of the humanities and sciences. Their failure then, feels more poingant than the “rich are stupid” stories that pervaded the late 2010’s, as they aren’t evil, but vapid, arrogant, short-sighted, and selfish. They are, invetivaly, human.
Martínez Bueno and Bellaire continues to deliver some of the most beautiful pages of modern comics. The panels here are painterly, evoking a sense of reminiscence, as though you are watching a melancholy documentary of the failures of the house. In contrast, the landscapes are bright and tranquil, be it the still reflective Meditteranean water or a shaft of sunlight breaking through the rolling clouds. The Nice House by the Sea looks like nothing else in comics, and that alone is reason to grab the series.
Recommendation: Series Pickup. You should subscribe to the entirety of this series as soon as you can.
Other books out this week:
The Big Burn #1 — Recommendation: Pilot Pickup. The pacing is a bit breathless thanks to how much story they are shoving into these pages, but the core relationship is romantic and intriguing, and the plot conceit strong.
Epitaphs From the Abyss #1 — Recommendation: Pilot Pickup. There are some intriguing stories, but I wanted more given how much marketing and excitement went into the relaunch of a brand as storied as EC comics. The art and stories are tamer than I was expecting, with the exception of Stephanie Phillips’. Nonetheless, anthologies remain some of the best value you can get in comics, and if you’re a fan of horror, it’s worth checking out.
Flash Gordon #1 — Recommendation: Pilot Pickup for fans of pulpy sci-fi. This was a ton of fun, and very accessible for someone who has never engaged with Flash Gordon previously. It’s got a fantastic sense of genre silliness, and leans in without ever winking.
Greaser: Gemini Blues #1 — Recommendation: Pilot Pickup for sci-fi/western/romance fans. I’m still getting a sense for what Magma Comix is all about as I can’t quite pin down the tone, and that includes this book. It’s partly a dystopian small town story, while also hinting at a much larger science fiction world, all surrounding a romantic core of two young lovers who could never be.
Hello Darkness #1 — Recommendation: Series Pickup. This is a fantastic horror anthology, with a wide range of subgenres and art styles at play. The stories vary of course, but as a whole, they represent swinging for the fences and staking claims.
NYX #1 — Recommendation: Pilot Pickup if you’re an existing fan of Ms. Marvel or the X books. If not, I think this may be a bit inaccessible, but especially in comparison to the other books in the X line of late, it’s a fairly easy starting point. The relationship work is the strongest feature, but I find myself wishing the larger plot would follow suit.
Ramgod #1 — Recommendation: Pass unless you really enjoy cyberpunk and action-heavy books. It’s not bad, just overly conventional. I get the sense this is a testing ground for an adaptation, which I’m never a fan of as a core concept for a comic (I’d be happy to be wrong). All that said, the action layouts from artist Canaan White were enjoyable — I’ll be on the lookout for more from them.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 — Recommendation: Pilot Pickup if you’re a fan of the turtles. They’ve done it again folks. It’s a bitter story and feels appropriately isolated, while the action is sharp and exhilarating. Artist Joëlle Jones and colorist Ronda Pattison knocked it out of the park.
Want to talk comics?
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Other Cool Stuff:
EC Comics is adding sci-fi and fantasy anthologies to their lineup after a mega-successful launch.
SDCC has a ton of announcements, here's an easy place to find them!
I hope you enjoyed this week’s Pilot Season Comics Weekly Roundup. If you do pick up any of these books, definitely let me know what you think in the comments.
If you’ve enjoyed these roundups thus far, I would love it if you could share with friends who also enjoy comics, or maybe those who have yet to try their first book and are looking for somewhere to start.
Enjoy your weekend, and see you next NCBD (New Comic Book Day)!