In an ever-so-slightly truncated Weekly Treats post here are the books to be aware of this week:
I should imagine that to Jonathan Hickman, doing science"revision"means something rather different to, say, a student. Manhattan Projects vol. 2 (Image) shows us what famous scientists, practical and theoretical, were really getting up to during WWII - think League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by way of Bulletproof Coffin and you're ready for take off. I like Hickman for bringing hard-science fiction to comics - Warren Ellis is is another name that springs to mind - and he doesn't even dilute it at Marvel as displayed in (thanks to a great piece of release scheduling) Hickman's Avengers vol. 1 Avengers World (Marvel) is also out today featuring an outrageously cerebral take on such a populist team book. Manhattan Projects is illustrated by Nick Pitarra and Avengers features art by Jerome Opena and Adam Kubert.
On its initial release, the first issue of Grant Morrison's new series Happy (Image) began as something of a surprise as it featured the sort violence and swearing usually served up by Garth Ennis and Mark Millar. But with a few pages to the end our corrupt, ex-cop hit man lead character begins to see a small blue horse and suddenly we're back with Morrison subversions. From there we're on a balanced journey through something like an 18-rated version of It's a Wonderful Life.
Is Morrison using Happy to have a pop at Millar/Ennis-style titles? Well the association is helped by the fact that the art is by his Transmetroploitan co-pilot Darick Robertson who's fresh off from illustrating the equally adult The Boys and it would explain the origins of this rather un-Morrison-like tale but I don't think there's anything particularly lacking from the story to make this reading of it important. But then, ironically, it wouldn't really be a Grant Morrison book if it didn't come with a hint of ambiguity...
For the full list of comics and graphic novels out this week check out the tab at the top of the page.