A look at some of this week’s highs & lows, courtesy of Katherine Dacey and Ernie Estrella.

PICK: 100 Bullets #87

We’ve had to wait a little longer for this book to roll towards its end, but it is soooo worth it. If you’ve been staying tuned for the past nine years, the Trust and the Minutemen have been building towards the mother of all mexican stand-offs. Graves has been able to take out three of the thirteen heads of the Trust while trying to keep his volatile bunch of brutes alive. But in this issue, the story shifts back to Chicago—high atop the city and behind the red booths of Italian mainstay, Club Lago—where the Trust finally get some muscle on their side. Is this a guy readers will fall in love with, or will he be the one readers will dread? The man is motivated, that’s for sure and that makes a man dangerous. Without ever seeing the guy in action, I’m horrified by him and yet find everything about him honorable. No wasted space, no wasted words. Another flawless stand-alone story but in no way a small piece in the giant jigsaw.

Shock Value: A -Ernie

PICK: DMZ #27

The vignettes of the citizens of the DMZ are like punches to the gut coming from multiple angles, stinging at each strike. This month stars Random Fire, a resident DJ of the DMZ about to headline for the first time, however, even in the youthful hearts of the of a club can the stolen by politics and greed. I’m enjoying these self-contained stories which I could have seen in other series present in a mini-series but I think by staying in the actual title itself, it resonates more. The DMZ is much bigger that Matty Roth, and The Hidden War (Issues #23-28) widens the horizon of life in this civil war. Most Americans are disconnected from the wars and genocides in other worlds, but it’s important the DMZ puts the conflict in our backyard. Would people care? Would people pay attention if such a war broke out on our homeland, between states, hell, between neighbors? These are nightmares set through the urban sprawl of Manhattan, but the lowest common denominator is survival, and herever you’re from this book applies to you. The DMZ is like Children of Men on speed, but whose natives are more authentic, more genuine. You can taste the salt from their tears, the sting from their shrapnel, the despair in their words. And though most would want to escape a place like this, I can’t help but want to stay.

Shock Value: A- -Ernie

PICK: Gyo, Vol. 2

For those of us who learned to swim in the 1970s—when memories of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws were still fresh—the first volume of Gyo tapped into our most irrational fear, that a great white shark might actually climb out of the water in pursuit of a swimmer. But the sharks in Junji Ito’s J-Horror classic don’t limit themselves to the beach: equipped with biomechanical legs, they roam the streets of Okinawa looking for prey.

Volume two finds the fish menace abating and a new one beginning, as the virus that caused thousands of fish to walk out of the sea has jumped the species barrier and begun infecting mammals. This development gives Ito an excuse to draw some truly icky animal-machine hybrids, but it also robs the story of its shock value; after all, bears, elephants, and people are land-dwelling creatures. The other problem with volume two is that Tadashi remains steadfastly loyal to his wretched girlfriend Kaori, repeatedly risking infection or death to save someone who, thanks to the virus, now looks as grotesque on the outside as she is on the inside. By the end of the story, I’d run out of patience with the lead couple, and found Ito’s last-ditch effort to find pathos in Kaori’s situation laughable.

Volume two also includes two short stories, “The Sad Tale of the Principal Post” and “The Enigma of Amigara Fault.” Both showcase what Ito can do when he’s less fixated on ick and more focused on scaring us with the power of suggestion.

Shock Value: B -Kate

PAN: Manga Bible

The Manga Bible is the latest attempt to tailor the Good Book to contemporary tastes, this time aiming for the hearts and minds of Naruto nation. I feel a little uncomfortable giving this manga a bad grade—is it blasphemous to pan the best-selling book of all time, even if it’s been rendered as an action comic?—but the poor editorial decisions and rough, unfinished artwork don’t do these iconic stories justice. The book’’s emphasis falls squarely on high-speed camel chases and battle scenes, leaving precious little space to contemplate the actual teachings of the Bible. An ill-advised attempt to illustrate one of the Psalms demonstrates why the pow-n-splat approach to this material doesn’t work: the verses of Psalm 18 (”The Lord is my rock and my fortress”?) are accompanied by tiny, literal-minded drawings that capture the poem’s imagery without evoking the feeling or meaning of the words.

My final verdict: if the Good Book has survived the indignities heaped upon it by Cecil B. DeMille, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Mel Gibson, it will also survive mangafication.

Shock Value: C- -Kate

PICK: The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite #5

If you like Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas or know someone who does, Gerard Way’s dark universe and his super-powered Addams family is an easy recommendation. The characters he’s come up with are pugnacious and definitive and he’s not afraid to be unpredictable. There’s a delicious fright and excitement in that. Gabriel Ba takes you on a one-way ticket to this world where cowls and argyle co-exist, chimpanzees fly and talk, and albino skin is chic. His rendering of the diner aftermath is just one of a few “Oh, Shit!” moments in the issue. I adore how Dave Stewart colors the waitress’ recollection of the blood-slaughter and cleverly shows what a gray and rainy day looks like from the interior of a car. This is the art team you want to depict the end of the world. Cover to cover, this comic tickles the brain. James Jean paints an foreboding attention-grabber on the racks, while Tony Ong designs an inside cover that rivals the front. The inside cover lists Pogo’s diary entries and in the back, an excerpt from the Encyclopedia Umbrellica expands Way’s vast world. Like an almanac, this issue is crammed with facts and minute details that construct a complete experience. The deeper I got in this issue, the more I could feel that the end was near–wanting to postpone it at every cost.

Shock Value: A -Ernie