Sentient by Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Walta

I read a lot of comics and graphics, and thoroughly enjoy them all, they're one of my means of escape, comics are my bag, I love 'em. Though occasionally I come across one's that stand out, which just grab you, real gems, 'Sentient' by Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Walta is one of those gems. Ostensibly a simple story, though really much more, very cleverly written by Jeff Lemire, well, he's got form for great writing, hasn’t he. I don't want to give too much away, so simply, it's a story of children on a ship carrying families to an outer colony, and their interaction with the ships AI. As I say, it's cleverly written, leading you to think you understand what's going on and what's going to happen, before showing you, you don't. This illustrations too by Gabriel Walta are beautifully executed, very nice lines, expressive faces and the measured use of subtle colours are perfect for conveying the story. I consumed all 163 pages with gusto, and was left wanting more. A recommended read.

https://www.comicextra.com/comic/sentient

Moon Knight 'Lunatic'

What's Khonshu up to? Has Marc Spector lost his mind...again? Master writer Jeff Lemire puts the Moon Knight through the mangle, reuniting him with friends, and taking the character on a nightmare journey through his various persona’s and the fractured worlds of his mind and of Khonshu's creation, where what's real and what's fantasy merge, putting his life and sanity on the line. Greg Smallwood's lines do Lemire's words justice and as always Jordie Bellaire's colours are the cherry on top of the glorious cake. Lunatic is great reading. If you like Moon Knight then you'll love this, more so if you're versed in his history as there are character references that go well back, if you don't know the character or his background then this might be a touch confusing...though, maybe not, I'm lending my copy to a friend to read who hasn't read Moon Knight before, so I'll find out.

Hawkeye Vol: 5 All-New Hawkeye

I've been enjoying Marvels current Hawkeye run, now even more so. In Hawkeye Vol: 5 All-New Hawkeye,  Jeff Lemire (Writer) and Ramón Pérez (Artist) have taken the tale of the understated Avenger to a new level. Jeff Lemire's writing first class, as he weaves past and present seamlessly.  In part a Hawkeye origins story, a story of Hawkeye's troubled childhood with brother Barney, getting the Hawkeye name and of choosing his path, and then in the present the Hawkeyes (Clint and Kate) current mission to retrieve a weapon from Hydra which turns out not to be that simple and throws up some conflicts of ideas. As is the way, nothing is straight forward, not even the motives of Shield. Clint and Kate find themselves at odds with their enemy, their employer and each other. Moving between past and present we see connections, not in events, but of choices and lost childhoods. Though for me the real highlight is Ramón Pérez's artwork. For the past segments of the story Pérez delivers some stunning water colour panels, which are beautifully coloured by Ian Herring, and for the present does a pretty good facsimile (using his own style) of Aja's work on the first four volumes, with Herring using simple block colours, as Matt Hollingsworth does for Aja. The art is really so good. If you like the Hawkeye character, you'll love this volume, if you're not really sure what his shtick is or who he is, this volume would be a nice introduction to his origins. I look to vol: 6 Hawkeyes, which is by the same creative team.