Staff Picks of the Week - January 27th, 2017 ⋆

Staff Picks of the Week – January 27th, 2017

Friday is here and I am back, and so are the Staff Picks of the Week! I didn’t win millions of dollars while I was away so I had no choice but to return. I want to thank Amelia for stepping in and doing an awesome job with the Staff Picks last week! So you know how this works, each week I share with you some of the things that has kept our staff entertained for the week. But as always before I jump into the picks, I share with you a little of what is going on this week at Rogues Portal! Check out comic reviews for The Dregs #1, Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire, Biff to the Future #1, Curiosity Shop #1, and Reborn #4 just to name a few. Also check out our Wecbcomic Spotlight! This week we look at Folklore , Heat, and our own Sunny and Owl Girl. We have you covered with game news! Check out the announcements for The Avengers Project and The EVO 2017 Lineup. Television and film are your drugs of choice, you say? Check out the review for Voltron Legendary Defender Season 1, the recap for Face Off All Stars, and a recap of the 2017 Oscar Nominations. Stephanie Cooke continues the Know Her Name series, this week she lists her Essential Comic Colorists. And don’t forget our stable of podcasts! Take a listen to new episode of Comicsbound, Scooby Dos or Scooby Don’ts, and The Comics Agenda. There is always a lot going on at Rogues Portal, stay awhile and enjoy! Now it is time for the Staff Picks of the Week!

Anelise’s Pick of the Week – One of my favorite comic books I’ve read recently is Snow Blind, written by Ollie Masters with art by Tyler Jenkins and letters by Colin Bell. Snow Blind centers on a teenager named Teddy, who is probably the coolest loner ever—who gets in trouble for sneaking into a library? Answer: my kind of guy. Any who, after Teddy posts a picture of his dad to social media, the FBI show up, and long story short, Teddy finds out that his family is in the witness protection program and now they’re in danger. I don’t read a lot of crime comics, but this is so much more than that: it’s a really affecting coming of age story that has ridiculously beautiful art and fantastic lettering. This is one to read again and again.

Chris’s Pick of the Week – “It’s morphin time!” This week I am picking the Mighty Morphin Power Ranger comics series by BOOM! Studios. The series debuted in January last year but back then I wasn’t really convinced. Now, one year later, BOOM! has joined forces with DC to bring us the ultimate Justice League and Power Rangers crossover. The story is not just funny (I mean, come on, Batman fights against some teenage wannabes in bright coloured tights! – yeah, I see the irony), but also captures the essence of each character, the artwork is just brilliant with it’s bright colours, and the entire story arc is a thrilling experience. It questions not only the loyalty of the Green Ranger, you, the reader will have to ask yourself what is real and what’s a trick of Rita Repulsa. If you read a bunch of those crossovers (i.e. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), there is one big downside to them all. It seems the heroes always have to fight each other first, before they can work together against an evil bastard. Nevertheless, the crossover works very well and I am excited about what sort of danger they will have to face.

Adrian’s Pick of the Week – I had to check back through all the recent SPOTW to make sure this hadn’t already been recommended. This week I finished watching the Netflix series The OA. I know that online it has had a mixed reception but I genuinely believe that this show is special. It is unlike anything else on television. It is brilliantly written, shot, directed, and performed. More than that though it is truly unique in its themes and subject matter. I’m going to keep this super vague to avoid spoiling the show for anyone. The show’s central mystery slowly unwinds as you go along and I was hooked from episode 1. You and the cast of characters are slowly drip fed OA’s story until the finale where I personally was left speechless and wanting more. My advice is, avoid any spoilers or descriptions and just go in BLIND (pun intended) you wont regret it.

Ryan’s Pick of the Week – After finally catching Rogue One a second time last week, I dove right into the prequel book, Catalyst, detailing the relationship between Galen Erso and Orsen Krennic, and boy are there some great little details thrown in. The plot revolves around Galen and his incredibly anti-military stance on his work, and how he ended up alone on a farm far away from all conflict. Other cool details include Krennic renegotiating the alliance of the Geonosians to get them to build the Death Star for the then Republic, and that the Empire not only killed the Jedi, but harvested the kyber crystals from their lightsabers to help power the Death Star. I am hoping to finish it early next week!

Hafsa’s Pick of the Week – My pick of the week is Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming. Family is complicated and more complications are added when you are famous. Nothing is really private and Alan Cumming doesn’t hide. He knows the press will find any skeletons he leaves in his closet and opts to be honest. This book is a discovery of family history and an unraveling of paternal abuse, which includes both physical and psychological pains. The story is a melodic interaction between past and present and he specifically explores paternal figures, both his and his mother’s. It reflects how we can’t really choose our family, but our love is inherent towards those who raise us and our hatred is learned through treatment. We tend to forget or be blind to who our family members are outside of one-dimensional figures we cast them as; so we are surprised when traits appear that have been repressed or misrepresented. As adults, we end up choosing our family by selecting from our pre-existing lot or creating our own from our group of friends (or raising them if we choose to have children). I would go further and recommend hearing the audiobook narrated by Alan Cumming because it adds a level of engagement that is reminiscent of a confessional conversation.