Image Comics poll week 24 - Burying Minotaurs in the Winnebago Graveyard

[TotalSnorefest]

Welcome back to the weekly Image poll y'all!

Last week got a lot of votes spread over many different series, always neat to see. Ultimately though the win was seized by Stray Bullets: Sunshine & Roses, nabbing its 2nd win of the year.

Let's see how it shakes out this week: Birthright hits that coveted number 25 to finish up its latest storyline. Some other storylines end too, such as Copperhead's and Green Valley (also wraps up that entire series). Oh and Regression immediately reprints its debut issue, nice going. That's about it for noteworthy releases, so on to new stuff!

That new stuff is no less than 3 noteworthy titles.

First up is Kill The Minotaur, a retelling of the Ancient Greek story of Theseus in the Labyrinth. The creative team of this has worked on Witch Doctor and Red Dead Redemption before, and they're promising every issue to be 30 pages which is nice.

Secondly we're getting Winnebago Graveyard, the start of a new mini-series with striking artwork. This is about a family who somehow wind up trapped in a village with possibly Satanic cultists? And not the nice kind, either.

Thirdly we're seeing the release of Bitch Planet: Triple Feature this week. DeConnick & De Landro are spinning this out of the main Bitch Planet series. Triple Feature contains three stories that are billed as sharply satirical and probably expand the world some more. Includes all the usual essays, letter columns etc. too. I imagine this'll hold over BP fans whilst we wait for the main series to pick back up.

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[Anduinel]

Manifest Destiny and Kill the Minotaur for me.

Manifest Destiny was a solid chapter, but the cliffhanger was more interesting than the actual issue, so Kill the Minotaur got the vote. It was a decent set-up and I liked the art quite a bit, but I don't know if I'll stick with it. One of the appeals of the old Greek myths had for me were that the "heroes" were so often deeply flawed, with very little glossing over it. Much like in The King Must Die, I get the feeling there's going to be a little too much gloss - if not outright modern notions of heroism - applied to Theseus, which takes some of the anticipation out of the reading (and at least The King Must Die had the benefit of an unreliable narrator to put a spin on things). I also feel like KtM is walking the fine line between being a reimagining of the myth and taking enough liberties to come across as a bit generic fantasy. But we'll see how it turns out. Like I said, I liked the art, and the writers do a good job establishing the characters' voices (though, given his role and too-early appearance in Theseus' life as his BFF, I already suspect Pirithous is going to be killed off for angst) and showing the oppressive fear of life lived under a king in thrall to what he sees as divine sacrifice to be paid at any price. I'll give it another issue, at least.

[sven]

Birthright #25
Copperhead #14
Kill the Minotaur #1
Manifest Destiny #29


Birthright is a top 5 book for me. Sadly for it's voting chances Manifest Destiny is by far my favorite book so that is where my vote goes.

[ParkerB]

Birthright #25
Copperhead #14
Kill the Minotaur #1
Manifest Destiny #29


Birthright is a top 5 book for me. Sadly for it's voting chances Manifest Destiny is by far my favorite book so that is where my vote goes.

I really should be reading both of those books - but as i'm not I voted for Copperhead.

[TotalSnorefest]

Bitch Planet's Triple Feature was pretty good! Turns out it was 3 separate stories from different creative teams, so a bit more anthology-leaning maybe, although tonally it's very consistent with the main series. The 2nd and 3rd stories were the best imo, the Invisible Woman one in particular worked nicely with the main character slowly almost fading into the background art. Sometimes I think Bitch Planet should be a bit funnier to really work as satire; there's an undeniable anger palpable in these stories, and the 2nd one manages to capture hypocrisy in a pretty clever way. But it's a little bleak overall maybe.

[matt levin]

I voted for Green Valley, not so much for this (final) issue, as really for the whole series which has been beautiful to look at, engaging to read, and for upsetting expectations for direction for at least six of its nine issues. The ending is a happy one, a wee bit contrived (but then, most time-travel/time altering stories wind up that way), but given the characters, nonetheless satisfying. I hope Image and fantasy fans check out the trade when it comes out.

[capuga]

Birthright and Manifest Destiny were both excellent, but giving the nod to Green Valley for a satisfying conclusion.

[cc008]

Was FINALLY able to read Kill the Minotaur #1. I loved it. I thought it was very good and I have high hopes for a new spin on my favorite Greek myth.