Mike Maillaro
Lot of big anniversary issues this week, and the return of my favorite Valiant series!
- SHADOWMAN #1 – It’s about time we get SHADOWMAN back! This has pretty much always been my favorite Valiant book (and that is going back to original, old school Valiant). Last time we saw SHADOWMAN he had been pretty engulfed by his dark side. Curious what comes next for him!
- DAREDEVIL #600 – Charles Soule is just the latest in a long line of writers who did amazing work on DAREDEVIL. I don’t know any other character who brings out the best in writers like DAREDEVIL always seems to. The Kingpin is the Mayor of New York…what can Matt Murdock do about it?
- MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS #25 – I honestly had no idea this series would be this successful. Issue 25 and in the same year as the POWER RANGERS franchise is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary. This issue kicks off the massive Shattered Grid storyline.
- GI JOE A REAL AMERICAN HERO #250 – While there was a pretty substantial break in this series between Marvel ending it and IDW reviving it, it is amazing to see this series hit 250. That means we have gotten 95 issues since the relaunch, which is no small feat in itself. Larry Hama continues to create magic with GI JOE even after 35 years.
- SAGA #50 – I had no idea what to expect when I read the first issue of SAGA…it basically started by talking about poop and giving birth. It’s been a crazy ride, but SAGA is still one of my favorite books, and may go down as BKV’s masterpiece (and considering his career has included Y:THE LAST MAN, RUNAWAYS, and EX MACHINA that is saying a lot).
- JESSICA JONES #18 – This is the last issue of JESSICA JONES by Bendis and Gaydos who created her. The character will still be around, but I still feel a certain amount of sadness to see Bendis and Gaydos go. Hopefully we get a fond farewell for them.
- DARK NIGHTS METAL #6 – FINALLY OVER! I actually mostly enjoyed DARK NIGHTS METAL, but it’s been dragging on so long, and it feels like pretty much every DC series moved past it. It just feels like nothing big can possibly happen in this issue since we’ve already seen the aftermath, and it’s basically business as usual. I just hate events like that.
- STAR WARS DOCTOR APHRA #18 – Hera!!! My favorite member of the STAR WARS REBELS cast is featured in the current arc of DOCTOR APHRA. Hmmm…based on the time line here, this means that Hera’s son would have already been born during this appearance. Wonder if we will be seeing him in this arc.
- SILENCER #3 – So far this has been my favorite of DC’s new hero books. Love the character, love the world they are building around her. TERRIFICS #2 also comes out this week. I did enjoy the first issue, but SILENCER has been much better.
- Previews #355
- Animosity #13
- Jimmy’s Bastards #7
- Batgirl #21
- Batman Beyond #18
- Detective Comics #977
- Doomsday Clock #4 (Of 12)
- Flash #43
- Hal Jordan And The Green Lantern Corps #41
- Mystik U #3 (Of 3)
- Ruff And Reddy Show #6 (Of 6)
- Suicide Squad #38
- Teen Titans #18
- Wonder Woman #43
- Black Magick #11
- Hit-Girl #2
- Avengers #686
- Ben Reilly The Scarlet Spider #16
- Damnation Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider #1
- Despicable Deadpool #297
- Invincible Iron Man #598
- Legion #3 (Of 5)
- Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #29
- Moon Knight #193
- Old Man Hawkeye #3 (Of 12)
- Old Man Logan #37
- Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man #302
- X-Men Blue #24
Matt Graham
- Breathless – Pitched as Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets big pharma, Black Mask’s latest book sees a cryptozoologist discovering the cure for asthma in the venom of a monster. This puts her on the hit list of a pharmaceutical company and the monsters they employ.
Black Mask is known for its satirical shots at the system, and as someone who has worked in American healthcare and been at their mercy as a citizen, I’m intrigued.
- MMPR #25 – Two years and 25 issues already? On shelves full of Rebirths and Legacies, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers has been my safety net of accessible and fun superheroics. The Ranger books have always had some nice grand redesigns on the lore, but the alternate universe evil White Ranger is one of the highlights. Shattered Grid promises to bring in something for fans of every era of the franchise, but it’s the twists they can inflict on the franchise with the books’ new tone and lore that I’m looking forward to.
- Mother Panic Gotham A.D. #1 – Mother Panic was one of my favourite Young Animal titles, coming across like Black Mask’s attempt at Batman or Daredevil, with an imperfect antihero raging against class divide and those who abuse power.
A Gotham city socialite playing brutal vigilante is as tired as DC can get, but protagonist Violet Paige bucked just enough convention with a complex backstory, interesting personas as socialite-daughter-vigilante, and the way she and her antagonists are thrown against Gotham that it interested me more than most recent Batman arcs. Batman and Batwoman even appear to give her some Gotham cred with the readers. It wasn’t perfect, and the narrative and questions it raised felt jagged and disjointed at times,
The second season throws us ten years into the future, with no Batman, and a serial killer overseeing the citystate that was Gotham.
- Animosity #13
- Sheena #7
- Shadowman #1
- Daredevil #600
- X-Men Blue #24
John Babos
13 books this week.
- Dark Nights Metal #6
- Detective Comics #977
- Doomsday Clock #4
- G.I. Joe vs. Six Million Dollar Man #2
- Justice League of America #27
- Kid Lobotomy #6
- Rough Riders Ride Or Die #2
- Silencer #3
- Suicide Squad #38
- Teen Titans #18
- Terrifics #2
- Trinity #20
- Wonder Woman #43
James Fulton
It’s a nice small week, and one without much I want to really highlight past things my colleagues have already discussed.
My highly anticipated books:
- Black Magick #11
- Black Panther #171 (I still wish Asura was called Queen Divine Justice)
- Days of Hate #3 (This is a new favourite)
- Manifest Destiny #34
- Saga #50
