When I started rambling about Warren Ellis leaving Thunderbolts, one of the guys from my local shop gave me a really great piece of advice that I've since given great consideration:

"Don't follow titles. Follow the writer."

Lately, with that in mind, I find myself wandering from some of the more mainstream titles I normally pick up and venturing into the more independent titles written by people like Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis. This lead me to Black Summer, a title written by Ellis and penciled by Juan Jose Ryp.

The main story circles around a group of heroes who call themselves the Seven Guns. This group, deciding that the standard human form just didn't cut it, expands their minds, bodies and abilities by using their own newly developed Gun technology. This technology enables each member of the Seven Guns to, using their own custom keyword, access their superhuman abilities that are unique to them. When we meet up with the team at the beginning of issue #0, they've been somewhat disbanded after a mission gone wrong but are brought together once again after one of their own teammates kills the President of the United States. In the issues that follow, the team struggles to stay alive with the army hot on their tail as they also attempt to bring down their former friend.

As you can guess from the synopsis I threw together above, this comic is a much darker title than most superhero books out there. That goes for both the writing, which is extremely bleak and apocalyptic, as well as the artwork, which is both detailed and dirty. The two aspects work really well together to deliver what is honestly one of the better comics I've read in a while. The book has hints of Ellis' Thunderbolts style of work splashed throughout the issues but also stands out very nicely by introducing a cast of characters that we've never seen before and even a change to the general idea of superheroes. Their powers are activated by keywords and are based on man-made technology which is quite an interesting concept and makes for great reading.

This comic has been on a hiatus for whatever reason since February but should be returning to some form of normality soon enough. There are currently 6 issues in the series (#0-5) with 2 more (#6-7) scheduled for release at some point. If you're looking for something a little different than your typical superhero book and don't mind a little bit of violence and gore, do yourself a favor and get your hands on Avatar's Black Summer. You definitely won't regret it.

Don't blame me if you do.

I'm kidding! They're great comics.