The Beef—Now in a Meaty Trade Paperback
The critically acclaimed series by Richard Starkings, Tyler Shainline, Shaky Kane, and John Roshell titled, The Beef will be collected into trade paperback and available this July.
The Beef brings readers the story of Meat Men. Chuck is a mild-mannered meat factory worker who is a little in love with a strawberry picker named Mary Lynn. But everything changes when Mary Lynn falls victim to the Vodino Brothers…
The Beef trade paperback (ISBN: 978-1-5343-0802-2, Diamond Code MAY180050) will hit stores on Wednesday, July 18th and bookstores on Tuesday, July 24th.
“Year Three” of the Eleventh Doctor in comics features the two-part arc The Memory Feast, which takes place over issues #3.6 and #3.7 of Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor. In the story, Eleven, his human companion Alice Obifune and their, uhm, progeny?, a creature called “the Sapling”. The three find themselves on an impossible ship in deep space, chased by hooded figures through portal after portal of an alternate reality. The Doctor soon determines that the ship is a memory ark for an extinct species called the Xerzes. The species only exists now in the memories stored by the ship. Immediately, he empathizes and encourages his companions to help him eradicate the hooded baddies called the Thrake.
Welcome to the Vortex Butterflies story line, featuring the Tenth Doctor and his comic-exclusive companions Gabby Gonzalez and Cindy Wu. #3.7 is the second issue in the Vortex Butterflies arc, so I recommend picking up 3.6 before diving in. However, the arc so far is a wonderful entry point into the Doctor Who comics. Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor #3.7 starts with the Doctor at a space junkyard, picking up a machine that will help him record temporal waves and register “vortex leaks”. He left his companions at a safe house in London, and their travel buddy Noob on the Xenopsychology planet of the Zokadyll. All three stories unfold simultaneously, and their narratives are well-balanced and easy to follow. There are answers to some questions (what do Gabby’s new powers actually DO? What is Noob up to on that giant library planet?) while others are left open-ended, meaning I’m now anxiously awaiting 3.8!
The book has appeal for both die-hard Whovians, and those new to the series. Most importantly, it adapts the show into the comics format seamlessly. There is plenty of timey-wimey talk, but the elements that matter get a closer examination, making the rest the familiar background noise of our favorite show-off timelord.
Rachael Smith’s bonus comic at the end of the book took me by surprise. It’s a breath of goofy fresh air at the end of a high stakes adventure-in-progress. I don’t think I stopped smiling from the first panel to the last. Bringing Rose back to Ten’s side in such a realistically teenage way while kicking the comedy up to eleven (no pun intended). I hope this is a tradition we will see continued in future issues.
