3. Letter 44 #3 by Charles Soule and Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque (Oni)
If I had any doubts about the series after the second issue, Letter 44 #3 reassures me that Charles Soule's got this. Despite a start that had me rolling my eyes at how similar it is to the start of that awful movie Olympus Has Fallen, with the President boxing to keep fit/prove how manly he is, there's a lot of great stuff going on in this issue. We get to know more about the crew of the spaceship Clarke and their new society as the ratio of women to men puts some extra pressure on the guys not getting any, and they explore a suspicious asteroid. Meanwhile back on Earth, a frustrated President Blades instructs his Chief of Staff to investigate the possibility of revealing to the people of Earth that a massive alien vessel is in their solar system and is the reason why the US has pushed their militaristic agenda so heavily these last few years. In this third issue the series is hitting its stride with its two storylines clicking nicely together, both interesting in their own way so the reader is never bored when the action switches from space to Earth and back again. I like how Soule is continuing to keep the aliens off of the page and withholding any clear indications of their aims - are they hostile or peaceful? We still don't know. Plus the final few pages are a complete shocker that came out of nowhere, but is amazing and foreshadowed earlier in a subtle panel I didn't notice reading it the first time around. Terrific stuff! Alberto Alburquerque's art is, forgive the pun, stellar, especially the space stuff. His interiors on the Clarke are realistic but futuristic at the same time - not too sleek, but not too clunky either. It's an environment you could easily imagine existing today. The character designs have the perfect look to them too, being cartoony but also totally human in a manga-ish way. But whether he's drawing office scenes with two characters talking, or the lurve-making scene in space, the technical spaceship stuff, or that crazy final scene, he's absolutely killing it and the comic looks completely beautiful throughout. Letter 44 #3 reclaims the energy and potential of the first issue and pushes our cast towards dangerous, exciting territory in the next - great issue, great series, definitely give Letter 44 a read if you haven't already!