Presents

Christmas is a time of giving and being the kind-hearted loon I am, here are two comics that should give your holidays that extra added warmth.

First up is the long awaited conclusion to John Paul Leon and Brett Lewis’ The Winter Men. A fantastic mini-series throwing the reader head long into modern Russia and all its complexities through the journey of three former Soviet super-soldiers who have become ‘other things’. Though there is the smallest nod to superheroes in The Winter Men it is merely in passing, an affectation to couch the story initially on familiar ground for the reader, before shredding it amongst the intrigue and double-dealing the story sets up. The dialogue is nothing short of superb, the characters three dimensional in a way very few comics manage to achieve, particularly in such a short space of time and Lewis’s ideas shine through the script. Equally Leon’s artwork is gritty and harsh, a fitting mirror for the world being portrayed and the quality ensures you’ll quickly become engrossed. Unfortunately the series ground to a halt at #5 two years ago, so getting your hands on copies may be difficult. Hopefully with this concluding special either a trade or a re-printing will happen. Try to find them, The Winter Men is several levels above good, verging on classic under the radar.


My second secret santa tip to you is Incognito. The unstoppable duo of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips temporarily put Criminal on hold to bring us an unusual slant on a superhero story – an ex-super villain hiding out in Witness Protection, living an average, mundane life. Or in Brubaker’s own words from a September Newsarama interview:

Incognito is a dark exploration into the nature of good, if that makes any sense. It's about a completely amoral guy with super-powers forced to pretend he's a normal law-abiding citizen, because he's in Witness Protection, and how that shapes what he becomes. It's also a brutal noir twist on the super-hero/super-villain genre that delves more into their roots in the pulps, and it's going to be pretty over-the-top and action-packed.

Not only does this seem like a really interesting idea with an incredible creative team, but just the simple mention of Sleeper should be enough to raise expectations. Sleeper, in some respects like The Winter Men, was a fingertip burning espionage tale that just happened to involve superheroes and villains. If Incognito is anything close to as good, it may blow your stockings off :)