Wednesday...No wait, Thursday Is New Comics Day

Every Wednesday we run down the 5 most interesting comics or graphic novels coming out for the week. Except this week the new comics hit on Thursday thanks to Thanksgiving. Since I've still got Triptofphan in my system I'm going to have to keep it short this week.

5. MARVELS EYE OF CAMERA #1
Written by Kurt Busiek; art by Jay Anacleto
Marvel
$3.99

For a book that's been this long in the making you'd think there would be a little more fanfare for it's release this week. It is, after all, a sequel to Marvels, the highly popular Kurt Busiek/Alex Ross "realistic" look at Marvel's Silver Age. You wouldn't know that from the title. Or the absence of Ross from the book. But it's got Busiek, man-on-the-street POV character Phil Sheldon, and photo-realistic artwork by newcomer Jay Anacleto.

The original Marvels book was not really my cup of tea but you can't deny it's popularity so it will be interesting to see if it's sequel takes off without Mr. Ross involved.

4. HAUNTED TANK #1
Written by Frank Marraffino; Art by Henry Flint;
DC Vertigo
$2.99 | 32 pgs

Back when we were kids war was a blast. Sgt. Rock, The Unknown Soldier, G.I. Joe. Those guys were just having fun. No one was getting hurt. But these days, war is not something we take too lightly so DC has been reinventing some of their goofy war properties as grittier reflections on today's wars. We had the Unknown Soldier relaunch a few weeks ago and now a new Haunted Tank mini-series. It's actually not too far from the original concept. We still have the ghost of Civil War general J.E.B. Stuart hanging out with one of his descendants in a tank but this time it's in Iraq. And this time his descendant is an African American soldier.

3. FIGHT OR RUN #1
By Kevin Huizenga
Buenaventura Press
$3.95 | 32 pgs

Indie cartooonist Kevin Huizenga, known for his thoughtful, existential mini-comics about life in suburbia, is not someone you'd expect to be a closet video game fanatic. But in the second issue of his Ignatz book Ganges, he revealed his penchant for first-person shooter games. Now, he takes that interest to a new, experimental art book full of minimalist abstractions of the aesthetic of such games as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter.

2. SUPERGIRL: COSMIC ADVENTURES IN THE EIGHTH GRADE #1
Written by Landry Walker; Art and Cover by Eric Jones
DC
$2.50 | 32 pgs

For years, DC has been giving us a Supergirl that is drawn like a cast member of The Hills, rather than anything that might be appropriately deemed a "girl". Finally, through their kid-friendly Johnny DC imprint, they're trying out a Supergirl book that you'd feel comfortable giving your daughter to read. This Supergirl is in eighth grade and is drawn in a Nickelodeon-friendly style like the recent Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam book. It's a new monthly series that will have little Supergirl facing extra-terrestrial-related threats as well as middle-school related threats.

1. X-MEN NOIR #1
Written by Fred Van Lente; art by Dennis Calero
Marvel
$3.99

Here's something new that will either be really neat or kind of goofy. Or both. Marvel is trying out a new series of noir versions of their characters. Murder, sexy babes, hard-boiled dialogue. How is this different than a non-noir version of their books, you say? I don't know but the premise of this book sounds promising. A couple of homicide detectives investigate a body that has been slashed up, seemingly by claws, and has a tattoo of an X on the shoulder blade. All signs point to an upstate reform school that they proceed to check out.