John Babos
11 books this week.
- Astonishing X-Men #12
- Batman #48
- Batman Prelude To The Wedding Nightwing Vs Hush #1
- DC Nation #1
- Deathstroke #32
- Green Arrow #41
- Justice League #1
- Man of Steel #2
- Unexpected #1
- Wonder Woman Annual #2
- X-Men Red #5
James Fulton
- Immortal Hulk #1 – I’m on the fence here. On the one hand, I’ve become a big fan of Al Ewing’s Marvel work, and appreciate the way he seems to fix continuity and character problems. He’s working with Joe Bennett, who I usually like a lot. The problem? I find the Hulk, especially back to basics Banner Hulk, pretty dull. I’ll have to look through this on the stands…
- Sword Daughter #1 – Brian Wood is back with another Viking story! It’s like Northlanders never ended, sometimes. I’m looking forward to this – I know it will fit a type, but that type works for me.
I’m excited this week to see new issues of:
- Deathstroke
- Black Science
- Death or Glory
- Eternal Empire
- Paper Girls
- Prism Stalker (one of the best new titles this year!)
- The Walking Dead
- Star Wars
- X-Men Red
Matt Graham
- Sword Daughter #1 – Brian Wood is a writer after my own heart. He has a constant stream of ideas covering many genres and inspirations. Not all of them capture my imagination, but the ones that do root themselves deep.
Two of my favourite works of his are his 25 issue Conan run and his own 50 page Viking saga Northlanders.
Sword Daughter returns to the Viking setting like a piece torn from the Northlanders tapestry. Openly citing Lone Wolf and Cub and numerous Kurosawa films, this book chronicles a father and daughter trekking across Viking age Europe as they hunt the raiders who slaughtered their village.
Illustrated by Mack Chater with moody colours by Lauren Affe, this book looks like something special.
- Dazzler X Song #1 – On the fence with this one. Dazzler has always been one of my favourite X-Men, and while I loved the Ultimate X-Men punk rock take where Dazzler was torn from the same cloth was Wendy O. and early Distillers Brody Dalle, I did not care for her modernized punk design in A-Force. While she’s a favourite, in recent years it seems Marvel hasn’t known what to do with her, making her a SHIELD agent, sending her as an assassin to take down alternate Professor X’s, joining an Avengers squad. It all fits the character and her old solo title random adventures, but it feels unfocused.
Rather than bringing Dazzler back to X-Men, this one shot sees Dazzler continuing the A-Force iteration, fronting a Brooklyn punk band, and it’s the first time we’ve seen her since the Inhuman cloud was dispersed.
Laura Braga is an Italian artist I enjoyed on the tail end of Witchblade a few years ago. Since then she’s dipped into books like Bombshells and Harley and Ivy Meet Betty and Veronica, as well as Captain Marvel, Punisher, and Superior Iron Man. Her interiors here look good, with bold, confident linework that feels more at home in Image or Black Mask than a Marvel house style. That’s refreshing, not a negative.
Speaking of Black Mask, Magdalene Vissaggio scripts this one. Vissagio’s exploded onto the scene with Black Mask’s Kim and Kim and Quantum Teens Are Go, both sci-fi punk outings with their own political messaging twined through a worthy story once everything is said and done.This seems like her area of expertise, especially with a rock and rolling counterculture optimist hero.
I’m just not thrilled for another one shot sampling of one of my favourite X-Men.
- Go Go Power Rangers #10
- Red Sonja #16
- Death or Glory #2
- Paper Girls #21
- Astonishing X-Men #12
- X-Men Gold #29
- X-Men Red #5
Phil Allen
- Batman #48 – Just when Bat and Cat think about making their wedding a little easier, The Joker shows up. I think he’s just mad he didn’t get an invitation.
- Batman: Prelude to The Wedding – Nightwing vs. Hush #1 – I’m hoping this is a sign that we’ll be seeing more Tommy Elliot in the future, this is only his second appearance since Rebirth began by my count.
- Bombshells United #19 – And so it ends. This was a fun series and has had a great run, so I guess it’s time I pick up another Marguerite Bennett series; Insexts probably, as well as continuing Animosity.
- Justice League #1 – What I’m looking forward to most in these new JL titles is the character and team shake ups, like Martian Manhunter in this. While I wasn’t wild about Metal as a whole, the stuff coming after it seems pretty interesting so far.
- Koshchei: The Deathless #6 – Mini-series finale, now it’s time for me to dig back through the collection and catch up some more.
- Wonder Woman Annual #2 – Things get pretty interesting when lantern rings get passed around, and Diana’s putting on a Violet ring again.
- Other issues I’m looking forward to
- Eternal Empire #9
- Paper Girls #21
- Star Wars #49
- Strangers in Paradise XXV #4
- The October Faction: Supernatural Dreams #4
Mike Maillaro
- JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 – I have to admit, NO JUSTICE didn’t do much for me. I am really looking forward to the new JUSTICE LEAGUE books, but the lead in seemed liked a bit of a waste to me. Hopefully they will pick up. JUSTICE LEAGUE has been the one real weak area of DC since REBIRTH to me.
- ANT-MAN AND THE WASP #1 – I know this is just to capitalize on the movie, but I love both Nadia and Scott Lang, so any excuse to get them in a comic is okay with me.
- DOCTOR STRANGE #1 – Mark Waid is taking Doctor Strange on some cosmic adventures. Why not! Count me in; this sounds like fun!
- IMMORTAL HULK #1 – Al Ewing quickly became one of my favorite comic writers. I think he is a great fit for a new HULK series. I actually did like Amadeus Cho as the Hulk, but Marvel seems obsessed with the status quo all the time, so I am not surprised to see Bruce Banner back.
- DAZZLER X-SONG #1 – I have always liked Dazzler. The reluctant superhero with the real unique super powers. I know a lot of people look down on the character because she was so disco when she was created, but I think Marvel has always done a great job of keeping her up the with times.
- BATMAN: PRELUDE TO THE WEDDING NIGHTWING VS HUSH #1 – Hush is back!! I’ve always thought that DC could do a lot more with the character. Too often, the Batman books seem stuck in using one-shot villains that we never see again or using the same villains over and over again. I’ve always thought Hush had a lot of potential, and I hope we see more of him. And we also have BATMAN #48 which is a lead in to the wedding issue too!
- Dark Ark #7
- Archie #31
- Saban’s Go Go Power Rangers #10
- Exit Stage Left The Snagglepuss Chronicles #6 (Of 6)
- Green Arrow #41
- Green Lanterns #48
- Man Of Steel #2 (Of 6)
- Wonder Woman Annual #2
- Spawn #286
- Ben Reilly The Scarlet Spider #19
- Hunt For Wolverine Weapon Lost #2 (Of 4)
- Infinity Countdown #4 (Of 5)
- Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #31
- Star Wars #49
- Weapon X #19
