Pull List Roundtable 12/03/2014: Secret Six #1, Batman Eternal #35

Features, Roundtables, Top Story

Welcome to the Pull List Roundtable. A weekly look at the  comics coming out each Wednesday! My name is Mike Maillaro, I’ve been a staffer at Nexus for longer than I can remember. I am really looking forward to this new column, hopefully the first of many new features at Comics Nexus. Let’s jump right in here!

Click here for a full list of this week’s new releases


Mike “Skitch” Maillaro

My Top Books For This week:

  • Secret Six #1
  • Valiant-Sized Quantum & Woody #1
  • Double Life of Miranda Turner #4
  • Sonic Boom #2
  • Grayson #5
  • Justice League 3000 #12

Kind of a dead week for Marvel for me. I am picking up the Axis tie ins, but nothing particularly inspiring there.

I am really looking forward to Secret Six finally making its triumphant return. And I am always happy to see more Quantum and Woody.

I actually thought Monkeybrain had forgotten about Miranda Turner, so I am glad to see that one is back. Now, when can we expect the next issue of October Sky??


Grey “Better than Kanyon” Scherl

My Top Books For This week:

  • Batman Eternal #35
  • Earth 2 #29
  • Justice League 3000 #12
  • Secret Six #1
  • Angela: Asgard’s Assassin #1
  • Crossed Badlands #67
  • Crossed Plus 100 #1
  • Uber #20
  • Valiant Sized Quantum and Woody #1

Really dead week out of Marvel, and I’m not even sure I’m picking up Angela yet.

DC is loving me with Secret Six, and Booster and Beetle in JL3K. Batman Eternal has been getting really good, especially since all the fallout books have been kicking in.

Earth 2 should be good, World’s End will be alright.

Avatar Press continues to devour my money, because I can’t resist Uber, I love Crossed, and I might wind up breaking one of my cardinal rules and buying an Alan Moore book just because his fucked up mind seems perfect for the world of Crossed.

And, of course, you can’t go wrong with anything Quantum and Woody.


Alexander Lucard

This week:

  • Eternal Warrior Days of Steel #2
  • Gotham Academy #3
  • Rai #5
  • Swamp Thing #37
  • Valiant-Sized Quantum & Woody #1

I don’t get a lot of comics these days. One IDW title, most Valiant titles and a few DC. Marvel’s last title on my pull list was New Warriors (KANE!) and since they cancelled that, they have nothing of interest to me for the time being. This week it’s an old standby in Swamp Thing, three hopefully great Valiant titles and Gotham Academy which reminds me of a Manga more than your usual DC comic.


Paul Miranda

First & foremost, I’ll say that this is THE SHORTEST pull list I’ve ever had!! Secondly, I’ve always been divided between DC and Marvel. However, I’ve opened my mind more and started to look at indies. That being said, here’s my list:

  • ANGELA: ASGARD’S ASSASSIN #1
  • BATMAN: the JIRO KUWATA BATMANGA vol. 1
  • FLASH: SEASON ZERO #3
  • GOTHAM ACADEMY #3
  • GRAYSON #5
  • GREEN ARROW #37
  • SECRET SIX #1
  • SHAFT #1

Gail Simone is one of the smartest, sassiest writers out there. Period!! It takes a certain mind and dark sense of humor to truly appreciate her opuses (plural of opus). At any rate, a New 52 interpretation of SECRET SIX is making me run circles. How messed-up will it be? How much violence can we expect. If DC plays this right, this should be the most “out-there” book that they’re publishing. They’ve learned to really branch out with three new Bat-titles. It’s time they apply this to other non-standard books.


Joe Smith

  • Woods #8
    This book continues to be a solid read for me. Wherever the story goes, I think it’ll get there consistently. With some mystery books in the past, my interest started to wane after the direction started to become aimless. I don’t think that’ll happen here.
  • Action Comics #37
    I’m not loving this book, but I’m enjoying it enough to continue reading it. The art has been hit or miss for me lately. The current storyline has Smallville isolated and I like the inclusion of Lana as a main character right now. I must not have enjoyed the recent “Doomed” arc that much because I didn’t bother reading the conclusion and was okay with just seeing Superman move on from that arc without fully knowing how it got resolved.
  • Grayson #5
    This title has been getting better for me and I just recently added it to my file at the LCS. I just hope DC can hold off on putting him back in the role of Nightwing, at least for awhile, that would actually help me from being so apprehensive about wanting to really get into this title.

James Fulton

Top Picks for this week:

  • Secret Six #1
  • Crossed +100 #1
  • Grayson #5
  • Tooth & Claw #2
  • Men of Wrath #3

Odd week, in that the only Marvel book I’ll be buying is from their Icon imprint. I’m cautiously optimistic about Secret Six (if it’s about 3/4 as good as it used to be, I’ll be happy) and Crossed +100. Grayson went from being a book I was on the fence about to a must-read.

And make sure you check out James Fulton’s’ Roundup of last week’s best comics!

Gotham by Midnight #1 – There were two series that I love and miss that led to my picking up this new series. Gotham Central was a wonderful police procedural set in the world of Batman, that focused on regular cops doing their jobs. Fell was a brilliant and short-lived series of stories set in a feral city, drawn by Ben Templesmith, the artist on this book. In Gotham by Midnight, Ray Fawkes establishes that there is a special detail of GCPD working out of a rundown old precinct house, working to solve supernatural crimes. The lead detective of this squad is one Jim Corrigan, a name that should be familiar to anyone with a working knowledge of DC comics. Strangely, there is a nun working with these cops. This is a terrific first issue, using a sergeant from Internal Affairs to give us a point-of-view into the workings of this detail, and a cameo by Batman to help establish that Corrigan is the Spectre in the New 52 (has he shown up anywhere else?). A new case leads the squad to look into the possessions of abducted children, and sets up a nice creepy cliffhanger. Templesmith is always brilliant, and Fawkes feels like the right person to write this book, even though I’ve had some problems with his consistency on corporate-owned titles. I’m not sure how long Templesmith can last on a monthly book, but I’m definitely going to be back for the next issue.


Huge thanks to my friends and co-conspirators who jumped in on a VERY short deadline to make this first column work. Definitely will have more lead time for next week!

Mike Maillaro is a lifelong Jersey Boy and geek. Mike has been a comic fan for about 30 years from when his mom used to buy him Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Adventures at our local newsstand. Thanks, Mom!! Mike's goal is to bring more positivity to the discussion of comics and pop culture.