The new Melrose Place falls somewhere between the yawn-fest the original started out as, and the backstab-fest it turned into after the network realized being pretty wasn’t enough to propel a show.

The title of Tasty Bullet refers to a product, an addictive energy drink in a bullet-shaped can, for which the protagonist is a pitch girl/stuntwoman. It would probably make a great movie. Hot girls, short skirts, dangerous love, corrupt corporations, and action aplenty. But I’m not sure it makes for a great comic.

While it may not be the only way, one manner in which great songs are created is necessity. In other words, the songwriter is compelled to write a song or songs, not by their record company or market forces, but inspired by a new love or heartbreak, or sometimes tragedy. Peter Silberman’s songs that populate The Antler’s Hospice are just such a batch.

Perhaps it’s best to think of Dungen and Woods as jam bands for people with higher standards—they both hit the same ‘60’s-inspired notes as many jammy Bonnaroo mainstays, but back it up with substance and a sense of history.

Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth, a new ongoing series from Vertigo, focuses on Gus. He’s a sweet-natured young boy who’s grown up in isolation, living off the land in a small cabin, with only his father for company. Gus happens to be a human-animal hybrid. He’s part deer.

The most striking aspect of Things to Come is the intricate interplay between the Pakistani-American guitarist and saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa. The duo dances tightly throughout the record, working in tandem, Mahanthappa smoothing Abbasi’s prickly licks, even when they sound like they’re both making it all up on the spot.

To paraphrase its creator, Sweet Tooth is a mix of Bambi and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, an unrelentingly tale of fathers and sons in the wake of an apocalyptic disaster.

British singer/songwriter Jack Peñate knows a thing or two about starting over. At the age of 24, with his 2007 debut album Matinee already having snagged him a spot on the U.K. charts and a cover of NME, Peñate headed back to the studio, ready to try something different. He emerged with Everything Is New, an album that expands his radio-friendly sound to include Brazilian, Afrobeat, and lo-fi hip-hop influences without sacrificing any of his trademark every-man likeability. Grouped into the “Estuary English” pack of U.K. pop-performers who sing without altering their English accent, a category that includes the likes of Lily Allen, Kate Nash, and Adele, Peñate’s sophomore effort represents a major step forward, demonstrating that he might just have the chops to outstrip the lot of ‘em.

The Danish trio Mew (who are a five-piece live) took the Troubadour stage for a sold-out show and launched right into “New Terrain,” the opening track to the band’s lengthily titled new album, No more stories/Are told today/I’m sorry/They washed away/No more stories/The world is grey/I’m tired/Let’s wash away. On record the song is awash with backwards vocals and, live, singer Jonas Bjerre seemed to warp his pipes in a similar fashion. Guitarist Bo Madsen started “New Terrain” playing bongo drums, before switching to the guitar. The song was loud—its bass and drums tickling at the ears and making the $2 earplugs sold at the bar briefly tempting.