I don’t understand why we don’t have more anthology comics out there.  Comics grew up on anthologies.  Some of the most prominent characters in comics appeared first in anthologies.  I do like regular ongoings, too, don’t get me wrong, but a good anthology allows creators to try small, wild stuff and allows readers to try out a bunch of creators.

Dark Horse Presents #16 is a sterling example of what an anthology comic ought to be.

The eponymous character in Ghost has been around for a bit – nearly twenty years – and this issue marks the beginning of a new monthly series featuring the character.  This zero issue collects a three-part story originally serialized in Dark Horse Presents #13-15 earlier in the year.

I always have a good deal of fun with Super Dinosaur.  Kirkman's all-ages series about a kid and his genetically-altered T-rex best friend and their struggles against various villainous forces is good for both its lighthearted action adventure and, for me, its nostalgia factor.  As a child of the '80s and '90s, I grew up on cartoons that originated the tradition to which Super Dinosaur belongs – though the comic is a little less restrained by censors and stuff.

SPOILERS BELOW (for the first few issues)

Nick Sax is a great detective turned hitman.  If popular crime fiction is any way to judge, that must happen to most detectives eventually.  Despite its name, Happy! is very much the opposite: a bleak, brutal, cynical tale of mobsters and mayhem, and for all that the setup is formulaic and it doesn't thrive.  I think maybe because the script is written from the "criminals curse every other word they say for no particular reason" school of dialogue.