Click here for a full list of this week’s new releases
Alexander Lucard
FYI, the Black Library releases are way off. All of those came out weeks to months ago. I reviewed The Return of Nagash back in…August?
Very low week for me. Only two books this time around.
- Ninjak #1 – I used to have a subscription to the original Ninjak in the 90s. I’ve loved what Valiant 3.0 has done with the character and this is a series I have been waiting for since X-O Manowar was in single digits.. I have high hopes for this one.
- Unity #16 – Eternal Warrior Spotlight. Might be neat, might be filler. We will see.
Chris Weidow
- Adventure Time: Marceline Goes Adrift #3: Probably not too many people reading this are into Adventure Time, but I love the show. Also, have a bit of a cartoon crush on Marceline – anyway, I’ve enjoyed the first two issues, and will stick with this miniseries.
- Southern Cross #1: A mystery in space. Sounds good to me. I like checking out new comics from Image, and I’m willing to give this one a chance. My last Image pick up, “The Empty” turned out to be a winner.
- Amazing Spider-Man #16. In between mega events Spider-Verse and Secret Wars, I’m hoping to get a few issues of more traditional Spidey stories. While I’m not too excited about Peter Parker running a company, it will be interesting to see if his newfound self-confidence carries over from the last issue.
- Howard the Duck #1. This will be the first time I’ve ever picked up a Howard the Duck comic! I have no idea what to expect, but I’m actually kind of excited to check this out.
- Spider-Gwen #2. The first issue was decent, and I loved the art, but not sure if I’ll stick around for too long here. It’s going to take something more than the novelty of seeing Gwen Stacey webslinging to keep me coming back, especially with the excellent start to Silk’s series.
- Star Wars #3. Marvel hasn’t quite hit a homerun with its three Star Wars comics, but it’s definitely a stand-up triple! Can’t wait to read this one.
John Babos
7 books this week.
- Detective Comics Endgame #1 – Anarky vs. Jokerized Gotham? Hmm.
- Earth 2 World’s End #23 & New 52 Futures End #45 – The road to Convergence continues!
- Justice League United #10 – I hope Jeff Lemire gets to do a LOSH mini or ongoing soon. I like his take on these teen heroes from the 31st century.
- New Suicide Squad #8 – Interesting to see how the eventual team roster gels.
- Ninjak #1 – Curious how Valiant cyber-Ninja does headlining his own title. We’ll, CSI: Cyber did 10 million viewers last week for the debut. I imagine Valiant will take a fraction of those numbers.
- Worlds’ Finest #32 – Earth 2 pre-history on the road to Convergence.
I’m really going to take the opportunity with Marvel’s Secret Wars and DC’s Convergence to right-size my monthly reads.
I’m happy with my Valiant reads, but I think my DC is being culled for me with many books I read cancelled to allow for almost 1/2 of DC’s core publishing line being replaced. Books like Robin, Son of Batman and a new JLA book appeal to me, and replace books I read now, but am not sure about rest. Am curious what the JLA rosters means for Justice League which seems to have the same roster. Perhaps big changes ahead for Geoff Johns’ JL for Bryan Hitch’s JLA.
I was enjoying All-New X-Men until Black Vortex. This forced connection with the Guardians of the Galaxy is not compelling. In addition, the whole “time displaced X-men” thing has no real stature in the book. They’re just another x-team now. So, I’m done with the book as Black Vortex begins and I understand Bendis is done writing the book with Black Vortex too. I was also reading All-New Invaders. That is being cancelled by Marvel. That book I wasn’t tiring of, but I hope writer James Robinson has more work coming up for the 616; I’ll sample at least any of his comics work.
Beyond that, I only read the G.I. Joe reboot from IDW, so once I get down to an average of 5-6 books per weeks, I’ll see if I have room to try more non-DC/Marvel books. However, I’m starting to have an aversion to paying the price many of these books that are over $2.99 cost.
Mike Maillaro
It is a large and crazy week of comics for me. Hopefully it will make up for last week, which was a little lackluster.
- Guardians Team-Up #2 – I almost didn’t even pick up the first issue of this, and it was the last comic I read this week. I just didn’t see the need for another Guardians series. But I like the characters, so I figured I would give it a shot anyway. I am glad I did. It ended up being the best comic I read last week. The Guardians and Avengers characters were all really well done, and it made for a very entertaining comic. I ended up laughing loudly several times throughout this issue
- Vampirella #10 – I actually had never read a Vampirella comic before, but Dynamite sent me over a trade of the first 6 issues and issue 10 to check out. I read the trade and loved it so much I immediately bought 7, 8, and 9 so I could be caught up. I have already read issue 10, and even as a new Vampirella reader, the ending was pretty exciting. I think veteran Vampirella fans will really be surprised!
- Justice League United #10 – LLTL! Jeff Lemire has done a great job with the Legion of Superheroes in the last few issues. They really need to give him a Legion book immediately!!
- Detective Comics Endgame #1 – I actually would have preferred Endgame stay a little more centralized in Batman. Death of the Family and Zero Year kind of became a mess when other titles and other writers got involved. Endgame has been great so far, presenting us with some crazy ideas about what the Joker is, and I will probably pick this up.
- Spawn Resurrection #1 – I like Spawn a lot and I’m glad Al Simmons is back. It’s kind of strange that the new creative team isn’t doing this issue, but I still am looking forward to this.
- Bill And Ted’s Most Triumphant Return #1 – I have no idea if this comic is a good idea or not, but I will definitely check it out. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is a true classic and a major part of my childhood.
- Howard the Duck #1 – Like Bill and Ted, this is a “why not” book for me. Again, I have no idea if this comic is going to be any good, but I plan on giving it a fair shot.
- Sonic Boom #5 – My daughter’s favorite comic! Sonic Boom is a bit goofy, but a lot of fun. Best all ages comic out there in my opinion.
- Spider-Man 2099 #10 – Last issue was huge with Spider-Man 2099 finding himself facing off against Maestro. And the return of Strange 2099! Easily one of Marvel’s best books. It might be the best Spider-title right now, and that is saying a lot because all the Spider-titles have been good lately.
- Ninjak #1 – Ninjak is a character that I’ve always thought should be so much cooler than he’s actually been done. He typically works better as a guest-star, kind of like Wolverine. But, I will still give this book a try. Valiant hasn’t released a bad comic yet!
James Fulton
There are a lot of new series debuting this week, which makes it a pretty exciting Wednesday.
- Howard the Duck #1 – Now, normally, I would totally ignore a comic like this, as I’ve always found this character annoying, and the fact that he’s coming back into prominence because of a cameo in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie is equally annoying, BUT, this comic is being written by Chip Zdarsky, one half of the Sex Criminals team. The wilder half. I know this is a Marvel comic still, so he’ll be under intense scrutiny with respect to just how much he can get away with with this book, but I’m betting on the fact that he’s smarter than all of his editors, and this will be a treasure trove of inappropriate humour. Last summer, during Toronto’s Fan Expo, Zdarsky held Zdarscon, a one-man convention that consisted of him sitting in a leather armchair across the street from the Convention Centre. It was at that point that I silently vowed to always support his career.
- Southern Cross #1 – This is a new science fiction series at Image, written by Becky Cloonan and drawn by Andy Belanger. They had me at Cloonan’s name, because I have yet to see her create anything I haven’t liked.
- Ninjak #1 – I’ve loved the way Matt Kindt has been portraying Ninjak in both Unity and The Valiant, so I’m pretty excited to get a look at how he treats him in his own solo series. Few people can be trusted to take a purple-clad 90s ninja and make him an interesting character; I trust Kindt to be the guy to pull it off, especially since everything else from this latest wave of new titles at Valiant has been fire.
- Hellbreak #1 – Cullen Bunn’s The Sixth Gun is (slowly) winding down, and his new series Hellbreak is set to take its place at Oni Press. This series has Brian Churilla drawing, which is great, because nobody draws better monsters. Also, it’s only $1, so you have no excuse to not check it out.
- The Surface #1 – I’m not always clear on what Ales Kot is trying to do with some of his series (see Change or Secret Avengers), but after his work on Zero and Bucky Barnes, I’ll always give him a chance.
Paul Miranda
- AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #16
- AMAZING SPIDER-MAN SPECIAL #1
- ANT-MAN #3
- ARROW SEASON 2.5 #6
- BATMAN ETERNAL #49 (of 52)
- DETECTIVE COMICS: ENDGAME
- FANTASTIC FOUR #644
- GUARDIANS TEAM-UP #2
- HOWARD the DUCK {2nd Series} #1
- NEW AVENGERS #31
- SPIDER-GWEN #2
- SUPERIOR IRON MAN #6
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN SPECIAL #1
Given that this will cross over with FalCap and more so the Inhumans, it should be red-hot. I really hope the story itself will be noteworthy. I’m a Spidey-fan through & through and also really rooting for Sam Wilson as the all-new Captain America.
DETECTIVE COMICS: ENDGAME
How much damage can the Joker cause to the eternally-in-turmoil Gotham City? Never enough!! It’ll be interesting to see how these one-shots offer a different P.O.V. of the maniacal’s madness.
GUARDIANS TEAM-UP #2
Second part released one week after the first delayed issue?!? Awesome, blossom!! It’s tongue-in-cheek how the current incarnation of the Guardians never did come across the expanding organization known as the Avengers. Well-played, Mr. Bendis!!
HOWARD the DUCK {2nd Series} #1
That loveable quack-pot is back in full force!! Chip Zdarsky is such a rising star that he’ll soon be so far out of reach and out of touch with us plebes. Another new launch receiving mega-hype. So far, all the new #1’s launched by Marvel have been pretty solid.
Agreed, Babos!! However, I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum. I’ll be really slashing my Marvel selection. I’ll only buy SECRET WARS proper, A-FORCE, OLD MAN LOGAN, SPIDER-VERSE and the other monthlies that are not affected. With DC, I’ll buy the 10 books that pique my interest.
$3.99 is the new normal, Babos.
