Punisher, The Bunker, Dreamland, The Nowhere Man: This Week in Comics #16

Today’s the release of Captain America: Civil War and the reviews are glowing. While it’s nice to think that a rising tide raises all ships, one has to wonder what effects these huge-budget Marvel movies have on smaller, indie comics. Are fans rushing to the comic shop and Comixology to read everything in sight? Or are they honing in on their favorite heroes (like this author… who finds himself obsessed with The Vision) and giving the rest of the comic world the cold shoulder? This week looks at three smaller comics and a big, moody, issue #1 re-tread of Marvel’s The Punisher. So while Captain America and Iron Man punch each other’s muscles, it may be worth checking out a comic like The Nowhere Man, about a man wandering in a sort of limbo until he’s beset upon by bees with ugly human heads. Remember people: there’s more variety than ever—even if, at first glance at the box office, it doesn’t feel like it.

While their newest blockbuster explodes onto screens, Marvel also releases Punisher #1 on comic store shelves: A reworking of one of the nastiest, most grim comics in their stable. Frank Castle, a decorated Marine, was a good man until his family was gunned down by the mob. Now he’s gone revenge-crazy, tracking and killing crooks and criminals. He’s often considered a villain by heroes like Spider-Man and Captain America, but in his own comics he comes off like a dour killing machine. Fair warning: this is a very bloody comic, a nasty comic, a gory comic (it even has a parental advisory on the cover that clearly states “Not For Kids”)… but structurally, it’s also a bit subversive. Our titular hero does a lot of punishing, but he doesn’t speak a single word. The DEA chats amongst themselves about a big drug bust they’re planning the next day, and Punisher stomps over in that night, guns blazing. Will this comic continue to grow, and call to attention issues of gun violence? It’s hard to say from issue #1, but there’s certainly plenty of fertile ground for it, and if any major comic company is going to tackle an issue of that scale, it’s Marvel.

Written by Joshua Hale Fialkov, art by Joe Infurnari.

The Bunker is the story of five friends who, on their way to bury a time capsule in the woods, find a huge bunker. Inside the bunker are letters addressed to each of them… from themselves in the future. The letters warn of an impending apocalypse that they cause, and the series shows them struggling to save the world without enough information to go on. This issue sees them all scattered, hurt, in trouble with the cops, and so on. Readers not caught up on the story will feel very lost, but it’s worth leafing through for Joe Infurnari’s scratchy, hazy artwork. There’s a depth of emotion in his work that’s more interesting than most of what’s being done in the “sci-fi” realm (although The Bunker, for its wild premise, is starkly grounded in reality).

Written by Jason Miller, artwork by James Guy Hill.

Dreamland is the kind of indie comic that begs to be read. With a stark, black-and-white, blocky art style by Hill, it follows a group of government agents on the hunt for missing aliens in a small town. The nice twist on this familiar premise, aside from the catchy art, is that these agents are, for lack of a better term, a bunch of jerks. There seems, under the surface of Miller’s writing, a nasty sense of humor. And that melds nicely into this waking nightmare of a story.

Created by Jonny Bloozit.

Richard is a wandering man in a sort of timeless limbo, where he encounters all sorts of mixed mythology and trouble. In this issue, his guide Anansi takes him to meet Ernie, the used-god salesman. Ernie takes bits and pieces of broken down gods and repurposes them. (This is why Satan looks like Pan, for instance.) After a nasty shift through space/time, Richard and Anansi meet the Dream Eaters, those ugly bumble bee monsters from the cover. Some of the best indie comics are one-man shows, and The Nowhere Man is an example of why. There's clearly a spring bubbling from Jonny Bloozit’s mind, and it’s best that he captures it, in all its detail.

What were you reading this week? Let us know on Twitter or in the comments section below.

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