James Fulton
It looks like a good week for series that don’t stick to any kind of reliable schedule, with new issues of Southern Bastards, Sex Criminals, Black Magick, and the Pitiful Human-Lizard. All four comics are very different, but do a great job of exploring the human condition through comics.
Also returning from hiatus are Black Science and Regression, both great titles. I’m not sure where Manifest Destiny has been lately, as it used to be so reliable, but I’m happy to see a new issue of it coming Wednesday too.
John Babos
10 books this week
- Action Comics #996
- Detective Comics #973
- Doom Patrol #10
- Doomsday Clock #3
- The Flash #39
- Kid Lobotomy #4
- Ninja-K #3
- Suicide Squad #34
- Teen Titans #16
- Wonder Woman #39
The big book this week are DC Comics’ Doomsday Clock #3 continuing the integration of the Watchmen into the core DC Universe.
I’m also excited about IDW Black Crown’s Kid Lobotomy #4. This is a been a mind-bender of a read with amazing art.
The Flash #39 is actually also The Flash #700; a cool milestone.
The rest will be read after those two this week.
Phil Allen
A pretty solid week for me, here’s what I’m looking forward to most.
- Action Comics #996
- Batman Beyond #16
- Black Magick #10
- Detective Comics #973
- Hal Jordan and the GLC #37
- Jughead: The Hunger #3
- Justice League of America #23
- Nightwing: The New Order #6
- Redneck #9
- Sex Criminals #21
- Southern Bastards #19
- Star Wars: Poe Dameron #23
- The Flash #39
- Wonder Woman #39
Matt Graham
Happy to be getting off cheap this week.
- Go Go Power Rangers #6 – Might be event fatigue, might be disatisfaction with the relentless beating of new status quos and shocks so constant they numb, might be a preference for smaller, focused superhero books, but Boom’s Power Rangers titles are giving me the superhero fix I used to turn to Avengers, JLA, and Spider-Man for.
It’s a nice palette cleanser between the Calexits, Days of Hates, Animosities, and yeah, even the Red Sonjas and X-Men on the shelves. Whats strange to me is I’m not even fueled by nostalgia for the thing. I watched the show through the White Ranger saga, but only because it was there while I waited for Batman or Animaniacs. I don’t keep up with the new iterations, and I’m not really a giant monster or robot kind of consumer.
And yet I’m still drawn into the time tested secret identity superheroes balancing high school thing. The main MMPR title kicked off with a redirecting of the aftermath of the Green Ranger storyline, and I thought Go Go Power Rangers would be a lighter take. Nope. It’s an angst ridden Year One of sorts that informs on things teased in the main book. Just don’t expand this into even more titles and events, and I think you got a good thing going, Boom.
- Wonder Woman #39 – I’m always going to dream about the rumoured Marguerite Bennett Wonder Woman run that wasn’t. Greg Rucka ended up taking over, and as series, that book frustrated me. Not that it wasn’t good, but it wasn’t great, and it suffered from the alternating issue storyline which smacked of DC being too scared to try giving Wonder Woman two titles.
James Robinson’s run is also good, not great. Superman and Batman’s titles have momentum, there’s a real undertow dragging readers along. Things happen, and we find out they happen for a reason. Wonder Woman all of Rebirth hasn’t felt like that, but now it feels like the book is treading water, waiting for the next great Thing, like Brian Azzarello’s divisive take. Something that gets the blood rushing and the brain flitting about in awe and panic. Maybe that isn’t Robinson’s fault, although his Cable arc was also a time killer. Maybe DC is executing this plan and I just don’t like it. It’s happened before.
I don’t know. I spent more time musing on this issue than I will reading it. Wonder Woman is my favourite DC character after Batman, and I feel like this book should be leading their vanguard on the shelves, setting standards. Then again, I feel the same way about Captain Marvel, the woman who wears the publisher’s name as her mantle, and we know how that book always goes for Carol Danvers.
- Phoenix Resurrection #4 – Jean is a diner waitress in a small town, and her world is about to come crashing down. I’m glad Matt Rosenberg wrote this series, because he’s flipped the standard “Back from the dead!” storyline that X-Men fans shrug at and played up the thriller and horror aspects. I’m waiting to read #5 and Jean Grey #11 before I digest the entire thing. May even read the entire Jean Grey series and this in one sitting before getting to Jean Grey #11 next week.
- X-Men Blue #20 – Speaking of Jean, here’s the book where her teenage self leads the other original teen X-Men. And Wolverine’s alternate universe son. And a vampire alternate universe Storm, but not the vampire Storm you’re thinking of. This book just doesn’t seem to give a damn what’s happening in Jean’s own title and now Resurrection, but whatever, because there’s ANOTHER team of alternate X-Men who are evil and just like last year’s Uncanny X-Men, Cullen Bunn knows how to make the book sing like the best soap opera absurd action and revelations of the 90s glory days.
Next up is the Venomverse crossover POISON X, where the these young X-Men face the Poisons and get alien symbiotes of their own, and young Jean is still there, so who knows what the hell is happening. Storm and Jimmy Howlett don’t go to space for this event, because solicits tell us they’re aiding Magneto against an evil Havok, Emma Frost, Bastion, Miss Sinister, and, throwback of throwbacks, a Malice possessed Polaris!
Like I said above, I need to know how Jean Grey #11 ends things and leads into X-Men Red before I know how I feel about some things.
- X-Men Blue Annual #1 – That POISON-X thing? It starts here. An event starting in an annual. I told you Cullen Bunn just gets the 90s X-Men formula.
Mike Maillaro
Got some family stuff going on this week, so only touching on a few books that jumped out.
- LEGION #1 – Posting this one in honor of my sister who is obsessed with David Haller. I am glad to see LEGION getting his own mini-series, I’ve always thought he had a lot of potential to be a great character. A successful TV series definitely goes a long way.
- BACKWAYS #2 – I really enjoyed this first issue of this urban fantasy series from Aftershock. Aftershock puts out a lot of books that I enjoy, and BACKWAYS is off to a strong start.
- BLACK MAGICK #10 – BLACK MAGICK is one of my favorite Image series, and I’m glad to see it’s finally back. Rucka and Scott make a hell of a creative team.
- AVENGERS #677 – AVENGERS: NO SURRENDER has been kicking some serious ass the last two issues. Last issue all the Avengers were blown up, so I guess this is just funerals, right? Not likely, we still have 14 more issues to go.
- Jughead The Hunger #3
- Go Go Power Rangers #6
- Action Comics #996
- Batgirl #19
- Batman Beyond #16
- Detective Comics #973
- Doomsday Clock #3 (Of 12)
- Flash #39
- Hal Jordan And The Green Lantern Corps #37
- Justice League Of America #23
- Nightwing The New Order #6 (Of 6),
- Ruff And Reddy Show #4 (Of 6)
- Suicide Squad #34
- Teen Titans #16
- Wonder Woman #39
- DuckTales #5
- Postal #25
- Amazing Spider-Man #794
- Luke Cage #169
- Marvel Two-In-One #2
- Phoenix Resurrection The Return Of Jean Grey #4 (Of 5)
- Star Wars Poe Dameron #23
- X-Men Blue #20
- X-Men Blue Annual #1
- Ninja-K #3
- X-O Manowar #11
