Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a splurge item.

Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.



Chris Mautner

If I had $15, I'd get Remake 3xtra, the latest comic in Lamar Abrams' occasional superhero/manga satire. I'd also get Batman Inc. #5 to get another glimpse into the Gotham City of the future, where Damian has taken on his father's superhero role.

If I had $30, I'd check out Dante's Inferno, Kevin Jackson and Hunt Emerson's adaptation of the classic poem. The British Emerson has been around since the days of the underground, but he hasn't gotten much attention, at least on these shores, which seems odd given what a funny and facile cartoonist he is. He tends to fire on all cylinders when riffing on classic literature, too, so I imagine this will be a pretty great book.

Splurge: I don't own the hardcover edition, so the new paperback collection of the Complete Calvin and Hobbes seems like a no-brainer to me. On the other hand, Humanoids is releasing the Technopriests Supreme Collection, an omnibus, epic sci-fi story that is yet another spin off of Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius' Incal. This particular series features art by Zoran Janjetov.



Graeme McMillan

If I had $15 this week, I'd immediately pick up Masks #1 (Dynamite, $3.99), Chris Roberson's new pulp series teaming up the various masked heroes that Dynamite has been published over the last few years (the Green Hornet, the Shadow, Zorro, etc.). Roberson's got the right kind of tone for this kind of book, and the Alex Ross pages that I've seen in previews are just downright lovely. I'd also grab the second issue of Brandon Graham's Multiple Warheads: Alphabet to Infinity (Image, $2.99) to see if it can live up to the outstanding quality of the first (I don't doubt that it will, to be honest), and then the first issue of the new series of Witch Doctor, Malpractice (Image, $2.99). I came late to this first time around, but ended up really enjoying it. Hoping that this second mini will win over a lot more fans.

If I had $30, I'd likely grab a bunch of Marvel NOW! follow-ups: All-New X-Men #2, A Plus X #2 and Uncanny Avengers #2 (all Marvel, $3.99). I didn't really love any of these the first time around, but hope springs eternal and I'm curious enough about the two team books to close out the first arc, at least. A Plus X? I'm just hoping for some fun, really.

Were I to splurge, I'd splurge on the fourth collection of Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt's The Sixth Gun (Oni Press, $19.99). Again, I was a latecomer to this book, and again, I ended up loving it a lot. One of those things I follow in collected editions because that's how I discovered it, but this is the real deal; if you've not picked it up yet, you should grab the first collection and get sucked in.



Michael May

If I had $15, I'd make a beeline for FF #1 ($2.99). Even if it didn't have She-Hulk and Medusa (two of my favorite Marvel characters), I'd have to try out any book with a Ben Grimm-inspired superhero named Miss Thing. After that, I'd get Ghost #2 ($3.99), Phantom Lady #4 ($2.99), and Thun'da #4 ($3.99), because I'm enjoying buying those.

With $30, I'd check out Uncanny Avengers #2 ($3.99) and Godzilla #7 ($3.99) to keep up with those series, but then I'd also look into Masks #1 ($3.99). I agree with Graeme that Chris Roberson is the perfect writer for that comic. That leaves me under budget for the week, so maybe I'll spend the rest on food.

Like Chris, I'm awfully tempted by the softcover Complete Calvin and Hobbes ($100.00), but that price is still steep enough that it makes me think I should just splurge all the way and get the hardcover. So instead of the softcover, this week's splurge pick is Titan's Tarzan: A Century of Lord Greystoke ($39.95). It's not technically comics, but there are chapters in it about Tarzan comics and I've seen the book. It's big and gorgeous and exactly the way I want to celebrate 100 years of Tarzan.