MY WEEK IN COMICS - - - July 13, 2025

MY WEEK IN COMICS  - - -  for week ending July 13, 2025

#425-#426  =  DEATH RATTLE, VOLUME 3 #1 (Kitchen Sink Press, October 1995) Digging through my collection, I found another copy of this 20th century effort (1995) to pay homage to the social and psychological horror of the old EC Comics. This debut issue of the third and final volume from Kitchen Sink Press features five diverse and interesting stories. 

    “The Probability Chamber” by Mark Schultz and Roger Petersen does the best job of recreating the look and feel of old EC. Some gangsters on the run, looking for a place to hide out, break into the lab of a scientist working alone at night. 

    The scientist is researching the nature of probability, and seems cooperative with the gangsters, until they ask to see his underground probability chamber which turns out to be a gateway to a spiral galaxy.

     “The Day I Lost My Head” by Tim Eldred is a story of the Vietnam war, where a soldier escapes a Vietcong ambush and survives a helicopter crash. He has a memory of losing the top part of his head, exposing his brain, but seems well enough when he’s discovered, revived, and checked over by army doctors. But, some hidden potential within him has been unlocked. Unfortunately, no one else can see that. 

      Brian Bigg’s “Cut-Up” features a strange encounter, all started by a married couple simply reading the morning newspaper and drinking coffee.

   “The Alcoholic Janitor” by Zane Campbell is a short text piece with full-page illustrations showing the dangers of old demon alcohol.   

 

   My favorite this issue is “The Kiss” by Mark Nelson, a gorgeous detailed story without text or dialogue. A woman wanders into a strange museum and the odd exhibits prompt her to discard some clothing and kill some fossilized bones of a prehistoric lizard, which creates an exchange of sorts. Chilling. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS overall.

#427-#440 =  SPECTATORS graphic novel by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon (Image Comics, expected release date September 10, 2025)

Before I comment on SPECTATORS there are two matters of significance I wish to point out:

1) This is mature, adult-oriented content with explicit sex scenes and extreme depictions of violence. If that material is too sensitive to some, please don't read the book.

2) If he never writes anything again, Brian K. Vaughan has already established himself as a legend among comics creators. A visionary. A master story-teller. Crafting tales that are always thoughtful and often provocative. Prime examples of that, and my favorites by him, are Y THE LAST MAN, EX MACHINA, and SAGA. If you need more evidence of that, also check out RUNAWAYS, PRIDE OF BAGHDAD, and PAPER GIRLS.

Granted, there has often been a fair amount of sex and violence in Vaughan's previous works - - but never to this extent. As I read, I often thought that there was more than necessary. This graphic novel could easily be 100 pages shorter and still make its points. However, it appears that sex and violence are a vital part of the points that Vaughan wants to make or hint at. 

In short, this is the story of two unlikely-to-become-friends (but they do), individuals who experience the afterlife and share their observations and reflections on the human condition - eventually experiencing the end of the world. 

Throughout my reading, I kept hearing the opening lines of the song that begins every episode of television's animated FAMILY GUY sit-com: "It seems today . . . that all you see . . . is violence in movies . . . and sex on t.v." Perhaps that is Vaughan's underlying theme - - we have become a country/planet of voyeurs, obsessed with observing violent behavior and sex acts. Is the rise of the film industry a catalyst for this? It might seem so.

Read this, if my warnings don't scare you off, and judge for yourself. I'm planning to return to this and do an even deeper dive and look for those scenes that drive these points home. Or, maybe have an entirely different opinion - since I've over the shock and awe from the first reading.

Keep watching this space.  FOUR STARS.

P.S. . . Thanks to Image Comics and Captain Blue Hen Comics (Newark, Delaware) for sharing an advance review copy with me, without obligation.