Mike Maillaro
We got a fifth week, and a lot of specials and first issues this week.
- MAN OF STEEL #1 – Bendis comes to Superman! We already got some quick teases in DC NATION and ACTION COMICS #1000, but we still don’t quite know what we’re getting here. I like Bendis’s work a lot usually, and I am not sure how good a fit he will be on SUPERMAN…but I can’t wait to find out.
- VALIANT HIGH #1 – A reimagining of the Valiant Universe as a bunch of high school students. This probably should be a 1 shot, not a mini-series, but it still looks like a lot of fun.
- DC/ Hanna-Barbera Round 2 – This week we get four more DC/HB specials in AQUAMAN/JABBERJAW, BLACK LIGHTNING/HONG KONG PHOOEY, FLASH/SPEED BUGGY, and SUPER SONS/DYNOMUTT. This first bunch of these books was so much fun. Glad we are getting more of them!
- BATMAN: PRELUDE TO THE WEDDING: ROBIN VS RA’S AL GHUL #1 – We got a bunch of one-shots to get through until the Batman/Catwoman wedding. I don’t care too much about most of them, but this story putting Robin vs his grandpa definitely holds a lot of appeal.
- JUSTICE LEAGUE: NO JUSTICE #4 – As hyped as I am for the relaunch of DC’s JUSTICE LEAGUE line, NO JUSTICE has been a little underwhelming. The characters just feel thrown together, and the big exciting moments just haven’t felt like there was any payoff (like the return of Vril Dox).
- AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #800 – The first superhero comic I ever read was AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #351, so it’s kind of cool to see this series hitting issue 800…you know, until Marvel reboots it again next month. I really enjoyed Dan Slott’s work on Spider-Man the past ten years or so, but I think I am ready for him to move on. Bring on Nick Spencer!
- Pestilence A Story Of Satan #1
- Green Arrow Annual #2
- Green Lanterns Annual #1
- Sonic The Hedgehog #5
- Star Trek The Next Generation Through The Mirror #5
- Uncle Scrooge #34
- Daredevil #603
- Infinity Countdown Captain Marvel #1
- Marvel Two-In-One #6
- Ms. Marvel #30
- Punisher #225
- Star Wars Lando Double Or Nothing #1 (Of 5)
- Quantum And Woody #6
John Babos
8 books this week.
- Amazing Spider-Man #800
- Batman Prelude To The Wedding Robin Vs Ra’s Al Ghul #1
- Doomsday Clock #5
- Green Lanterns Annual #1
- Harbinger Wars 2 #1
- Justice League No Justice #4
- Man of Steel #1
- X-Men Red Annual #1
James Fulton
- Grass Kings #15 – Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenkin’s series about secessionists and their feud with the closest town has been sometimes frustrating but often gorgeous. I’m sad to see it end, but I’m okay with it as the creators have already moved on to another project together.
- Harbinger Wars 2 #1 – I was going to skip this event, but it’s being written by Matt Kindt and Eric Heisserer, who are writing the best stuff coming out of Valiant right now, so I figure it was a safe bet. I just hope I don’t need to know what happened in Harbinger Renegade, as I never read that…
- This week Black Mask has two cool post-Apocalyptic books – The Wilds and Survival Fetish, both of which have impressed me. I’m glad they are sort of coming out regularly…
- It’s a good week at Image, with the conclusion of Barrier, and new issues of Descender, Kill or Be Killed, Lazarus, Royal City, Saga, and Stray Bullets. That’s a hugely talented line-up of creators.
- Marvel-wise, I’m looking forward to X-Men Red’s Annual, as it fills in the gaps between Phoenix Resurrection and the launch of this series. I’m also happy to buy new issues of Daredevil, Marvel 2-In-One, and Punisher. I’m on the fence about the new Lando series – I’m going to have to flip through it.
- I’m not getting any DC books this week, which sadly looks like it’s going to be a thing now.
Matt Graham
- WE ARE THE DANGER #1 – Fabian Lelay was the co-writer and artist on Black Mask’s first all-ages title, Jade Street Protection Services. Co-written with Katy Rex, the four issue series was a punk rock twist on the Magical Schoolgirl Sailor Moon genre. I never finished it since it was coming out at a time when Black Mask was struggling with financial issues and delivering things in a sporadic manner. My shop never got the last two issues in, and I never found the 4th out in the wild, but I liked what I read.
Now Lelay is writing and illustrating We Are the Danger, which is about two high school seniors who bond over music and form a band.
I know We Are the Danger as a Minecraft original music video, thanks to all the kids who play with dank Minecraft memes in my parent-filled social circle. The thought that it was a deliberate all-ages ploy crossed my mind. I’m also unsure about the preview art. Lelay’s art in Jade Street had an unrefined, sloppy look that reminded me of unskilled Tumblr fan art rather than a deliberate style choice. In the preview pages for We Are The Danger #1, it seemed to have gotten looser and even more unfinished.
I like unrefined, stylized art. However, in both books once the (nice) colors are added to finish the art, it just highlights that Tumblr/DeviantArt look of throwing in computer coloring and technical tricks that emphasize how unfinished the linework looks, rather than enhancing it.
I put this book here if you’re looking for something all-ages and enjoyable, and because I mourn the loss of Marguerite Bennett’s Josie and the Pussycats. I love band books. However, based on the preview interior art and cover price, I’m on the fence. I’m also not sure I’m into a script with monologues like “Uh oh, not a mosh pit…”
Hey, it works for that local scene ‘zine look, though.
- THE LAST SIEGE#1 – Billed as a genre-twisted Spaghetti Western meets Game of Thrones atmosphere(their words, not mine), this comic sounds like the perfect bait for a low budget screen adaptation that will become a cult hit. Like Dredd and The Raid and Morgan and any slasher and Alien and countless others, thrill to a lone violent badass in a confined environment (a castle) cutting down the cast one by one.”
The first Google hit for this returned a review that opens with what I my gut said: intriguing premise, but fails in its execution to deliver the promise of that basis. Then again, that review also nitpicks “genre tropes”, and I can’t stand when critics break any story down into a TVTropes checklist.
Could still be right, though. The preview art I saw wasn’t consistent or even keeping continuity – weapons changing hands panel to panel. Movies can mess that up thanks to reshoots and edits. Comics are beyond that. C’mon, man.
The Stranger With No Name has two katanas. Two.
- INFINITY COUNTDOWN CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 – Carol Danvers and Jessica Drew are my favourite non-mutants in the Marvel Universe. It’s really hard being a fan of both characters. Spider-Woman has been over, but Captain Marvel has kept trucking along with uninteresting comics. The series before and during Civil War was just treading water, and Margaret Stohl’s run has been nothing but faffing about, with the ultimate insult coming from the aimless Dark Origins finale this spring.
The books just haven’t been compelling. I want to say that the books after Kelly Sue Deconnick left haven’t been compelling, but anyone I recommend those to comes back with even less interest in Carol or other series.
Will Infinity Countdown change that? Well. Civil War II took Carol to an all-time low and she’s been there, sputtering around in the muck of irrelevance. How a Captain Marvel book can have its title hero. a fighter pilot space soldier superhero, lack agency and drive is beyond me.
The hope here is that with Captain Marvel’s movie coming up, it’s time to commit to her. She wears the company name as her mantle. There’s no reason to hold her down, she should be going toe to toe with Superman and Batman on the shelves. Yet, Infinity Countdown and the upcoming relaunch this fall for her 50th anniversary (!) haven’t seemed to make moves in creative teams, so I hope there’s something that’s been shackling them before Infinity Countdown.
Marvel Studios has spun C and B-Tier people into gold, and while I was hoping for Charlize Theron or Elisha Cuthbert in my fancasts, I am excited for Brie Larson to bring Carol to life. And Larson and her blue and turquoise costume we’ve seen on set appears in this book. Cool.
- SHEENA QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE #9 – Sheena has agency and drives her story. For nine issues she’s been leaping around her jungle killing intruding mercenaries and monsters.
- X-MEN RED Annual #1 – Four issues in and already an annual! Better relaunch it, too, once we hit issue #5 new readers are going to be confused and find it impossible to keep up.
I’m excited for this one as it covers the gap since Resurrection and X-Men Red #1. It seems like an important gap, and while it didn’t bother me, I do know other readers who were put off Red #1 because they felt like they missed something.
Maybe that could have been covered in Gold or Blue. Comics used to do that. Generation X had all its set up in Uncanny X-Men, and it even informed and enriched Uncanny without detracting from it. We can’t do that nowadays, so have a $4.99 one shot that is the epilogue to Phoenix: Resurrection we never got, even though it had 5 issues to do so.
- Daredevil #603
- Spider-Gwen #32
- X-Men Blue #28
