Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy read more comics than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling short reviews from the staff of the comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full review for. Given the lack of new comics, expect this weekly update to begin featuring comics that we think you’ll enjoy while you can’t get anything new to read – only new to you.

These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.

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Logan

Planet-Sized X-Men #1 (Marvel)– Gerry Duggan continues to kill it on his chapters of “Hellfire Gala” as he, Pepe Larraz, and Marte Gracia tear things wide open and show the Krakoan terraforming of Mars to give Arakko its own home planet. The omega mutant power combination thread that’s been running through the X-Books pays off big time as we get to see different mutants like Magneto, Storm, this cool axolotl Arakki one, and even Jamie Braddock put their own touches on Planet Arakko at the planet formerly known as Mars. Gracia uses gorgeous palettes and filters while Larraz’s art is truly wide-screen and deserves a Gustav Holst soundtrack as they depict the transformation. And it’s safe to say that this event will have a huge effect on the X-Book status quo moving forward with the concluding data pages hinting at things to come. Overall: 8.8 Verdict: Buy

The Silver Coin #3 (Image)– The Silver Coin anthology series continues with Ed Brisson taking over scripting duties as he and Michael Walsh tell a chilling story of possession, arson, cannibalism, and especially death rattles. This story is a catastrophe in motion as teens go from trying to cover up a dead body and steal some stuff to a full-out supernatural tinged car chase. Walsh uses topsy turvy layouts and bold flat colors to make the story even more unsettling and hopeless in the end with gruesome finish a la the other bearers of The Silver Coin. Overall: 8.3 Verdict: Buy

New Mutants #19 (Marvel)– Vita Ayala’s run on New Mutants is starting to come into their own as they, Alex Lins, and Matt Milla expertly weave together the happenings of the Hellfire Gala with the Shadow King plotline. Ayala uses the Gala setting to have the older cast of the book split into groups and pairs and talk about their feelings with Warlock feeling lonely since his “Self friend” Doug Ramsey got married. Just like he’s been written in the data pages, Warpath ends up being a listening ear to Warlock’s issues, and Ayala’s insightful pairs well with Lins’ almost-montage style art of everyone having a good time while Warlock feels out of place. But this is just one thread in New Mutants #19 as there is also a focus on Gabby Kinney as one of the younger mutants and why she is missing from the Gala. Alex Lins’ facial expressions convey Gabby’s sadness and fear about Shadow King, and he and Vita Ayala also take time to show how Laura Kinney aka Wolverine is reacting to this situation. And I just realized that I forgot to mention that this comic is funny as well as emotional thanks to an extended sequence where the women of the New Mutants plus Warlock tell off a creepy artist, who is negging and objectifying Karma. It’s a rich read, and I’m definitely onboard with this series even though I’m not super-connecting to the Wolfsbane/child resurrection subplot. Overall: 8.7 Verdict: Buy

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Well, there you have it, folks. The reviews we didn’t quite get a chance to write. See you next week!

Please note that with some of the above comics, Graphic Policy was provided FREE copies for review. Where we purchased the comics, you’ll see an asterisk (*). If you don’t see that, you can infer the comic was a review copy. In cases where we were provided a review copy and we also purchased the comic you’ll see two asterisks (**).