News! "Superman back on top as Action Comics #1 sells for record $1.5 million"

I mean I guess Supes deserves the top spot, really. Although I bet Bruce cracks a couple of skulls extra tonight.

The Associated Press provides the initial report with some additional bits at Robot 6 & lehighvalleylive.com.

Conan the Cimmerian #19

Linsner's cover kills. The blood-red coloring & heads on a stick are pretty hallucinatory. And Conan has a way cool shield. And the book only gets better. Giorello's art with Villarrubia's colors make the cover price worth your while. Especially when you get to the nudey pages. Boobies!

Truman's script kicks off the three-part "Kozaki" arc here, and he begins to fill in some of the story gaps from "Free Companions." Conan's starved & suffering from some nasty food poisoning delirium - uncooked rats! - when he runs into the ghost of Amalric, former captain of the Companions. Being dead probably pisses him off enough as it is, but finding out that his army has disintegrated under Conan's command kind of pushes Amalric over the edge. So Conan tells him a tale.

Conan's flashback runs the bulk of the issue. It's a good one. The Companions head East, raiding Turan territory as they go, until they are spied by Sergius, "Scourge of the Vilayet and the master of the Red Brotherhood," who has of course has unfinished business with Conan. Meanwhile, further east in Akif, naughty Amurath, "favored Shah of King Yildiz," works his deviant charm on buxom Olivia, the captured daughter of Ophir's king. She's hot. Amurath notices. Bad Shah!

Sweet Tooth #7

I think I'm actually more interested in Jepperd's past than I am in Gus' future. And I'm way curious to see what the fuck happens to Gus. The reveal on the last page isn't a total shock, but it works, and it definitely makes shit more interesting. Also Gus is about to get ravaged by the nefarious Dr. Singh. Tray of cutting tools gets me every time.

Art-wise, this is Lemire's strongest issue yet. The emotional subtlety of his close-ups, the haunted washed-out landscapes, the gutshot splash pages - all awesome. And that pig-boy is fucking creepy.

Jonah Hex #53

Surprisingly violent issue. I mean, Jonah Hex isn't exactly hugs & kisses every other month, but this one stands out. I'm not complaining, just saying. Lots of carnage.

Billy Tucci steps in on art, and he draws a mean fucking death-by-gunshot. Many, many times over. His Hex is different, more Two-Face than I'm used to. His is not the generally grizzled & bloodshot Hex whose scar is quite fitting considering the rest of him, but rather a half pretty-boy, a Bat Lash on the left & a Freddy Krueger on the right. I like it.

Palmiotti & Gray just keep banging out righteous Western slaughter. "Dance Hall Girl" isn't one of their best efforts, but it's still head & spurs over most anything else on the stands. Hex charms a bodacious dancer into helping him snag the Hager Brothers, and about seventeen double-crosses later, you've got buckets of blood and a crippled whore. Unforgiving & hellishly raw. Get some.