4. Rover Red Charlie #1 by Garth Ennis and Michael Dipascale (Avatar)
Comics legend Garth Ennis, writer of Preacher, The Boys, The Punisher, and many, many more excellent books, returns with an original new series from Avatar: Rover Red Charlie. If you've read his other Avatar series, Crossed, it's basically the same story but told from the perspective of sentient dogs, which takes the whole thing to another level. Our three heroes, Rover (a Basset Hound), Red (an Irish Setter) and Charlie (a Border Collie), are canine pals trying to make sense of the apocalypse happening around them. The comic opens with Charlie's leash still attached to his owner who's burned alive on the floor of the subway station and with the inferno around them, Charlie is about to be reunited with his owner! Red and Rover to the rescue! If you're rolling your eyes at the dogs talking like humans thing, don't because it really works in this story. Ennis writes it completely straight and the horror and drama coupled with the tone means you totally buy these dogs are protagonists. The three of them really do talk to one another like mates and their speech is modified just enough to distinguish it as other from humans, calling humans feeders and minds are thinks. Ennis also does an incredible job of establishing individual characters to the dogs so we know Charlie is the idealistic hero, Rover is the clever, funny one, and Red is the slow but strong and totally pure of spirit one. Together, they're a wonderful group of friends and long before the issue was even half over I was in love with them all, rooting them on through this insane world. And it is insane - if you've read Crossed you'll know what I mean, but if you haven't, it's kind of like the zombie apocalypse except people aren't eating one another, they're just killing indiscriminately. There's a lot of violence, a lot of blood, and you do see a dog get brutally killed (not one of our heroes) so it's definitely a disturbing book, especially if you're a dog owner like me. But the story is solid gold and the concept, written on paper, must've seemed impossibly silly, except Ennis is one of the greatest comics writers of all time and he more than pulls it off. Rover Red Charlie #1 is a brilliant start to an inspired and thrilling new series that's well worth a look.