This week’s must-read digital comics include a prequel to a Marvel blockbuster in Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite, a new instalment of BKV’s outstanding The Private Eye as well as a great new indie series, The Tellurian, which takes dedication in creating a comic to new levels. There’s also a great indie showcase from aspiring writer Jesse Young.

Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite (Marvel Comics)

Marvel’s latest Infinite comic is a prequel to the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie and introduces new fans to one of it’s main characters, Gamora – the galaxy’s most dangerous woman! This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the Guardians in the Infinite format (there were a series of prequel one-shots last year) but it is designed deliberately to tie in with the movies continuity. Starting with a faithful recreation of the post-credits sequence from Thor: The Dark World  and introduces us to the Collector as well the Infinity gems which seem set to be a major part of the next series of Marvel movies. With a story from regular Guardians writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning we are in safe hands as this book does a great job of setting up the characters and scenarios without going off into flights of fancy. Although not the most ground-breaking of Infinite titles, it definitely does it’s job, and does it well, as we’re even more excited about the movie than we were before we read it!
Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite is available from ComiXology and the Marvel Comics app for £1.99/$2.99

The Private Eye #6 (Panel Syndicate)

Brian K Vaughan and Marcus Martin’s ‘pay-what’you-want’ sci-fi noir returns and continues the high standard we have come to expect from this most under-rated of digital comics series. Following their break-in at Goodhue, Patrick and Raveena might have escaped but young Melanie was left hospitalised and attempting to cover their tracks. As they continue their investigation into Taj’s death it takes them into the depths of the city and crosses paths with a cult who are looking to restart the internet. Vaughan’s script takes pertinent issues like privacy and the spread of personal information in this post-Wikileaks/NSA spying world and wraps it all up in a perfect psychedelic bundle thanks to Martin’s stunning artwork. Never pretentious, but always insightful The Private Eye is comic story-telling of the very best kind and in our eyes, and may well be a better overall book than Vaughan’s more well-known work on Saga. If this is your first exposure to The Private Eye there is also a collected edition of parts 1-5 now available from the Panel Syndicate website.
You can purchase The Private Eye #6 from Panel Syndicate for a price of your choice.

The Tellurian #1 (Sorcerer’s Rock Sequential)

We’ve seen some innovative and unique approaches to story-telling here on Pipedream Comics, but Bryan Swartz’s The Tellurian takes things to a whole new level. Swartz sculpts each page in clay before assembling it and photographing it. He then digitally colours it in Photoshop before lettering the final artwork. “I was originally working on a technique that would basically use stop-motion animation puppets and sets assembled for still photography but, it was really taking a long time just for production. I then stumbled upon some bas relief artwork in a mythos calendar and a light went off in my head. The bas relief method was much faster and it still satisfied my need to try and do something a little different than what’s already out there.” Bryan told us when we asked about his unique technique. It really is a labour of love and takes Bryan up to two weeks to create each page so we felt he deserved a bit of recognition for his labours as you have to admire his dedication to his craft and his willingness to go that extra mile to create something unique.
You can purchase The Tellurian #1 from ComiXology for £0.60/$0.99

Write Jesse Write

Although not a commercially available comic, the work of aspiring comics writer Jesse Young is as worth a read as anything on the digital storefronts this week. His portfolio of comic work on his website is second to none with a superb mix of ideas and short stories. With the intention of creating a portfolio to show off his work via his website it features a collection of short stories in a variety of genres from westerns to sci-fi with artwork from a variety of artists. Each story features an exceptionally high level of production value, (especially in the lettering from Thomas Mauer) and is much more than just another portfolio it is closer in feel to a weekly digital site like Thrillbent or Aces Weekly. Our highlights are The Daring Adventures of Android Jones (a 2000AD style sci-fi adventure) and recent addition Forbidden Love (a western love story with stunning artwork and colouring from  Artyom Trakhanov). With another title to come later this month  this is a website we will be keeping a very close eye on as it is only a matter of time before Jesse hits the big time!
Visit Jesse’s website WriteJesseWrite to read his collection of short comic stories