Welcome back True Believers! You know coffee and comics are two of our favorite things—they go together so well! Thus, each week in this space we offer the top five comics we are enjoying with a cup of our coffee. We also love our community and want to know what you are reading and what Coffee 'n' Capes coffee you are drinking. Share your reading and drinking choices with us at supers@coffeencapes.com.
And. here. we. go:
FEATURED COFFEE:
This week's featured coffee is our newest roast, S.I.B.T.C. — Someone is Brewing the Coffee.
Sometimes there are things in the dark that require a little help in order to face them. That's why we created the S.I.B.T.C. Italian roast. This is our darkest roast yet. You might even say it is the new reigning champion of the dark. This Fair Trade-certified, single origin dark roast made from South American beans is fantastically smooth and bold. Someone Is Brewing The Coffee is best for dealing with those scary things in the dark—including rampaging gods intent on casting a thunder bolt your way (see this week’s number 1 comic with coffee for more on this)! Or, you know, just getting your morning going on the right foot. Also the perfect coffee for a bold café Americano, cappuccino, or latte.
Now, on to the comics!
5. Star Wars: The Mandalorian #2 (2022)
Issue #2? Why #2? First, this issue is a lot of fun: Jawas! Battle with bounty hunters! Battle with Jawas! The Kid in action! Battle with…that big beast for its egg. And the delightful, “I have spoken.” Second, we get The Kid for the whole issue instead of just a singular panel. This comic book series is an adaptation of the TV show, so it is rather familiar. Still, writer Rodney Barnes and artists Georges Jeanty, Karl Story, and Rachelle Rosenberg do a good job presenting the story in a way that keeps it fresh. Pick up this book and enjoy. (Mandalorian #2 is available from us right here!)
4. DCeased War of the Undead Gods #1 (2022)
If you are a regular reader of this blog — first, thank you! Next, you know I’m a fan of Tom Taylor’s writing. (Nightwing; All New Wolverine; Hellblazer: Rise and Fall; Superman: Son of Kal-El; and Injustice: Gods Among Us. Goodness! I actually didn’t realize I’d featured him so much in this space.) So it likely is no surprise that I’m recommending his work here on DCeased War of the Undead Gods too. Taylor teams with artists Trevor Hairsine and Andy Lanning to bring us a truly enjoyable horror-esque book. Sure, this series is the fourth in the DCeased universe, but I don’t think you need to read all the previous series in order to follow this one and find it fun. What makes me say that? Well, me. I haven’t read any of the other DCeased books and I thoroughly enjoyed this one and didn’t feel lost. (Thought I do have questions!) Now that I’m hooked by War of the Undead Gods, I could totally see myself going back to read the previous series—but I wouldn’t have to, is my point. Sometimes it is nice not to have homework, amiright? As it happens, this book is also available from us right here.
3. Ant-Man #1 (2020)
The new Ant-Man and Wasp movie is almost here! Just a few more days to wait. While you’re waiting, why not see what Scott Lang and Cassie are up to (down to?) these days. With a story from Zeb Wells and art by Dylan Burnett, this book is a mix of silliness, parent and teen interaction, and, well, grotesquerie. Scott and his daughter Cassie, aka Stinger, go on patrol together and try to find some missing bees. At the very least Scott wants to impress Cassie, especially considering how much she was weirded out by him living in an ant hill. As if that wasn’t bad enough, what until you see the disgusting new villains Scott runs into! Ewwww…
2. The Unstoppable Wasp #1 (2017)
The new Ant-Man and Wasp movie is almost here! Just a few more days to wait. While you’re waiting, why not see what Wasp is up to (down to?) these days. Sorry, is this cheating? Too bad, I’m doing it anyway! Also, this book isn’t about Janet or Hope Van Dyne. Rather, Jermey Whitley writes and Elsa Charretier provides the art as we get to know Nadia Van Dyne, the Unstoppable Wasp! She’s Hank Pym’s daughter from a previous marriage who grew up in the Red Room but now she’s free to be the super-scientist she was always meant to be. (So how is her last name Van Dyne?? You’ll find out, just go with it for now, ok?) This is a very fun book as it combines a fish-out-of-water story with a coming-of-age story with a girl power story with help from Ms. Marvel and Mockingbird. Nadia (a name we’re told means, ahem, ‘hope’) is incredibly smart and supremely sweet and kind. And she knows all of Bobbi Morse’s story. Like, all of it all of it. This is a well-written feel good story drawn in just the right way and I’m here for it all.
1. Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons #1 (2021)
This book has the most intricately detailed art I’ve ever seen. I know I don’t get all the meaning and inference in the art. All? I doubt I get half of it. What I do know for absolute certain is that Phil Jimenez created an astoundingly beautiful book. The story by Kelly Sue DeConnick tells of the deep origin of the Amazons. There is not even a hint of the woman we would come to know as Diana. It doesn’t matter, this story is affecting—especially in its depiction of the injustices women have faced from time immemorial. We are introduced to eight Greek goddesses, each with her own distinctive look based on her godly attributes. Hecate is terrifying. Athena is aloof. Aphrodite embodies fertility. Artemis is wild. Hera is all-knowing and regal. It continues like that throughout. We meet Hippolyta as a young woman who is already fierce, determined, and strong. And she’s not even an Amazon yet! This huge tome is brilliant, mind-bending, brutally honest, galactic in scale, and straight up gorgeous to look at. I’ve never seen a comic book like it. Get yourself a copy and dive in; you’ll be so glad you did.