A Descent into Dullness

Mouse Guard: the Black Axe returns with its 5th issue, opening with the explanation behind Em's death and then having a return boat trip to the Mouse lands...

Marceline and the Scream Queens has the band touring with Princess Bubblegum as their band manager. And I get to see what Guy the Keyboardist is since he couldn't be human. And a back up story by Faith Erin Hicks...

The Massive manages to escape from the pirates and heads to one of the few safe ports they know of...

I'm much pleased to see Becky Cloonan back on art for Conan the Barbarian, as Conan and Belit visit his homeland to deal with a matter of honor...

And finally a Daredevil annual written and penciled by Alan Davis with appearances by members of Davis' Clan Destine characters...

The War at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks

Faith Erin Hicks has been doing comics for over a decade now. At first online with the superb Demonology 101 and of late in regular print. She started with a light book about zombies and then moved on to something harder, teenage girls...

The War at Ellsmere has the normal tropes for a high school story. The new student. The evil clique. The clueless parents of the evil clique leader. And of course the administrators and teachers who seem unable or unwilling to notice how the evil clique scams them to the detriment of other students. Which actually really bugs me. I've got to find a work of fiction (book, movie, other) where the adults supposedly in charge just shut down the plots of cruel kids. 1st season Boston Public maybe? ANYWAY, back on topic...

There isn't much thats truly NEW here, but Erin Hicks is a gifted writer and so you invest in the characters. You care about the New Girl and her friend, Shy Girl. You hate Evil Girl and her Helpers of Evil. An excellent book all around and I remain hopeful that F.E.H's online works will be collected for print one day as well...