John Babos
- Batman #42 – I’m not sold on this former Commissioner Gordon as Iron Man Batman arc. However, I’ve enjoyed the previous arcs. They’ve been good, but none has matched the excellence of the Court of Owls. I’m curious how this creative marches to Batman #50.
- Bloodstrike #1 – I’m still waiting for Youngblood’s next issue, but am curious as to Rob Liefeld’s 2015 take on Bloodstrike.
- Earth 2 Society #2 – Earth 2 was one of my fave series pre-Convergence and Society appears to continue with that. Really curious how the new Doctor Impossible plays into things on Telos New Earth 2.
- Justice League United #11 – Curious as to this trippy new JLU and seeming multiverse travelling. Will sample this issue and go from there.
- New Suicide Squad #10 – Another pre-Convergence fave. The concept remains fresh and relevant in 2015.
- Bloodshot Reborn #4 – Love the new take on ‘Shot even the fun Bloodsquirt. Action-packed fun monthly.
- Squadron Sinister #2 – This is the only Secret Wars book I get beyond core mini-series. Loved issue #1 and hope this leads into James Robinson and Leonard Kirk’s All-New All-Different Marvel series.
- Unity #20 – Love this team book. So much fun and depth. Well written and drawn. A showcase of Valiant’s top heroes.
So, with that, I’ve got 8 books this week.
James Fulton
This is my smallest week in months, which is kind of nice. There are still some books to get excited about.
- Star Wars: Lando #1 – This is the only Marvel book I’m picking up this week, and I’m looking forward to learning more about this very cool character. Charles Soule has yet to disappoint at Marvel, and while I would have preferred someone more exciting than Alex Maleev as artist, this should look lovely.
- Strange Fruit #1 – It’s very timely for Mark Waid and JG Jones to be releasing this book right now. Basically, I think it’s a retelling of the Superman origin, but set in a black Louisiana community. It should look and read great. I like when comics reflect their times, and hope Waid has something interesting to say here.
- Providence #2 – The first issue of Alan Moore’s new Lovecraft series was pretty interesting. This should be more of the same.
- Starve #2 – The first issue of Brian Wood’s new series with the incredible Danijel Zezelj impressed me, with its mixing of celebrity cooking shows and economic inequality. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.
- The Walking Dead #144 – I can’t imagine a time when I wouldn’t be excited to get a new issue of this, but after the end of the last one, I’m very glad that I have only had to wait two weeks.
John Babos: What? I have more books than THE James Fulton this week? Am I on Bizarro World?
James Fulton: I limit to talking about five on here each week, so there are more. I try to focus on the five I’m most excited about or want people to check out. But I think the whole week is only 10 or 11 books deep, which is pretty slight for me.
Mike Maillaro: Yeah, for me, I pick up a lot more books that I talk about each week. It’s just a matter of finding books I have something interesting to say. This week there were quite a few of them
Mike Maillaro
- ARCHIE #1 – The big Archie relaunch starts here. Regular readers of my work will know that I have been talking about this relaunch for a while. This is the book I am most hyped about this week, if just for the creative team of Mark Waid and Fiona Staples. All that said, it is VERY weird to see Archie looking so different after all these years.
- JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #11 – I actually had no idea this series was still going. It sort of got lost in the shuffle with all the announcements about JUSTICE LEAGUE and JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA. I thought JLU got off to a bit of a slow start, but I loved the second arc featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes. The solicitation for this issue makes it sound almost like SECRET DEFENDERS – Now, Alanna Strange, Stargirl and Equinox must assemble brand-new and wildly untraditional teams of heroes and villains to work together and stop another cosmic catastrophe before it happens. In this issue: Mera, Poison Ivy, Swamp Thing and Etrigan! – All right, I am definitely curious about this one! Count me in.
- VAMPIRELLA/ARMY OF DARKNESS #1 – Pretty bummed out by the news that Nancy Collins will be leaving VAMPIRELLA pretty soon. I only recently got into VAMPIRELLA, and it was pretty much entirely because of how well Nancy Collins writes the character. It was enough to get me to go out and buy the VAMPIRELLA ARCHIVE collections, which I’ve also enjoyed. And this issue brings together Vampirella with Ash Williams. Sounds like a weird and fun combination!
- STAR TREK/GREEN LANTERN #1 – Speaking of unusual combinations… IDW has done a real good job with their comics devoted to the “new” STAR TREK universe. I have no idea how good a fit it will be with Green Lantern, but I always love crossovers.
- BLOODSTRIKE #1 – I used to love BLOODSTRIKE back in the 90’s. It started as a spin-off of BRIGADE, which was pretty much my favorite comic at the time. So, while I am glad to see it back, at the same time it kind of bothers me. Image did a big relaunch of a lot of their Extreme titles a few years ago, including BLOODSTRIKE. I was enjoying these relaunches, especially YOUNGBLOOD. But they were pretty much all cancelled without warning. So bringing back BLOODSTRIKE again, I can’t help but wonder if it will stick around this time. And what ever happened to the BRIGADE series that Liefeld had going on Kickstarter? I’m still waiting on that too…
- STAR WARS: LANDO #1 – Lando finally gets his own comic series! Marvel has done a great job with the Star Wars license, and I am real curious about this book. It’s been great to see Lando in STAR WARS: REBELS. I really hope that Billy Dee Williams returns for some capacity for the new Star Wars movies!
- STARFIRE #2 – I really enjoyed the first issue of this series. Definitely lived up to the potential of the preview issue. A very funny series, and a much better representation of Starfire than we had see in New-52 before now.
- SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #274 – The WORLDS UNITE crossover has finally started to pick up steam. Last issue teased the inclusion of more Capcom characters as Sticks seemed to run into Chun-Li. I can’t wait to see more Capcom and Sega characters enter the fray. The weirder the crossover, the happier I am as a reader.
- EARTH 2 SOCIETY #2 – I am not going to lie, I don’t remember the first issue at all. That is never a good sign. But, I keep waiting for the JUSTICE SOCIETY to be formed, so I will keep picking up this book and hoping for the best. But I don’t know how much longer I can keep playing that thread out. Personally, I would rather that the JUSTICE SOCIETY and INFINITY INC we saw during CONVERGENCE show up.
- SECRET WARS – Marvel keeps putting out more and more SECRET WARS tie-ins. For the most part, I’ve really enjoyed most of the ones that I’ve read, but my wallet can’t take much more of this. In terms of new series, I am curious about 1872, AGE OF APOCALYPSE, and SPIDER-VERSE. MASTER OF KUNG FU has been my favorite tie-in basically since it launched. SPIDER-VERSE, GHOST RACERS, and INFERNO have worked really well too. My wife really enjoyed MRS DEADPOOL AND THE HOWLING COMMANDOS. I am still not sold on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: RENEW YOUR VOWS. I love seeing Spider-Man as a family man, but the first issue was just so much darker than I was expecting. I was really hoping it would skew more like SPIDER-GIRL.
- MAXX MAXXIMIZED #21 – I will admit the second “act” of MAXX is nowhere as good as the first act, but I still really enjoyed the time jump and the beauty ending to the story. This actually is a really good jumping on point for the series (the first issue of MAXX I read back in the day was issue 21 in fact).
- SWORDS OF SORROW #3 – Still my favorite summer crossover! The all-female cast has been terrific, and I hope that we get an ongoing series that keeps many of these characters teaming up. As much I have enjoyed A-FORCE, SWORDS OF SORROW does it far better.
- BLOODSHOT REBORN #4 – I can’t say this enough: ever since BLOODSHOT relaunched, it has quickly become one of my top three Valiant books. Granted, some of that is because QUANTUM AND WOODY and ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG are on hiatus, but that doesn’t take away from how much I’ve enjoyed this series. It is a very different take on Bloodshot, and gives us a very fresh perspective of how badly Project Rising Spirit messed with his life.
Alexander Lucard
- Archie #1 – It’s not on my pull list but I actually have a subscription through Archie comics for this. I’m excited to see how it pans out. With the Waid/Staples relaunch be like the “New Look” attempt that Archie Comics tried a few years ago only to have it fizzle out in less than a year, or will last a while? I’m not sure, but it’s going to be a fun ride.
- Bloodshot Reborn #4. This has been a very weird take on Bloodshot and I’m enjoying the madness. Everyone in this series is completely out of their gourd and I have no idea where Lemire is going with this, but every page is worth reading.
- Constantine: The Hellblazer The relaunch of Constantine’s adventures in the New 52 is already better than the first series he had. It’s closer to Hellblazer and Iwill probably stick with this as long as it stays good. With Constantine, I just kept pulling hoping that it would get better. Unfortunately I dropped it around the time they started doing the Earth 2 nonsense with poor John.
- Gotham Academy #8 – The absolute best comic either of the Big Two is putting out right now. It’s adorable, exciting, and I love the characters. I’m building a Gotham Academy for my Batman Miniature Game. That’s how much I love this series.
- Providence #2. The first issue was far closer to Moore at his peak than the dreck that was Neonomicon. I loved Providence #1 and I hope the other eleven issues are just as great.
- Section Eight #2 – I’m a sucker for Dogweilder.
- Starfire #2 -The first issue was great and this is easily my favorite of all the new series DC launched last month. It’s a more whimiscal Starfire but not quite Teen Titans Go! level crazy.
- Unity #20 – Great series. You should be pulling it
Paul Miranda
- ARCHIE {2nd Series} #1
Redux!! Mark Waid respects characters and has a vast encyclopedic knowledge of comics. Can he raise the bar with the Archie Universe?? Plus, Fiona Staples is appreciated by many. - ALL-STAR SECTION EIGHT #2 (of 6)
- BATMAN #42
- BATMAN/SUPERMAN #22
- GOTHAM ACADEMY #8
- JUSTICE LEAGUE #41
- JUSTICE LEAGUE of AMERICA #2
- JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #11
- STARFIRE #2
DC You continues!! Three Bat-titles and three League-titles. A fanboy/girl’s heaven. Triple goodness times two. Plus, one cannot ignore the newest offerings. - INVADER ZIM #1
Anyone remember this cutesy cartoon? I do!! Sadly, short-lived and a TV schedule nightmare It doesn’t matter. The creator of JOHNNY, the HOMICIDAL MANIAC, I FEEL SICK, and SQUEE! delivers his own quirkiness. - STAR TREK/GREEN LANTERN #1 (of 6)
The melding of the sci-fi/super-hero genres takes place here! IDW and DC play nice since they can place their different characters in the same sandbox. I’m stoked for this!!
- 1872 #1
- AGE of APOCALYPSE #1
- AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: RENEW YOUR VOWS #2
- CIVIL WAR #1
- GHOST RACERS #2 (of 4)
- INFERNO #3
- MASTER of KUNG-FU #3 (of 4)
- MRS. DEADPOOL and the HOWLING COMMANDOS #2
- RUNAWAYS #2
- SECRET WARS 2099 #3 (of 5)
- SPIDER-ISLAND #1 (of 5)
- SPIDER-VERSE #3
- SQUADRON SINISTER #2
Two major deaths in the main series, scars made for some, other domains popping up like dandelions, the wars still haven’t hit their stride!! I’m chomping at the bit to see Red Wolf redesigned and reinterpreted. Being a Spidey fan, how will arachnid-powered ordinary citizens deal with major menaces?? - STAR WARS: LANDO #1
Marvel’s best-selling franchise (in competition with the other WARS for the time being) keeps churning out the hits!! The charming rogue with a penchant for getting rich quick eventually found his heroic trappings. Another money-maker [pun intended!]
