Pull List Roundtable 10/14/2020 – Rorschach, Killing Red Sonja #4 & More

Devil’s Red Bride – Vault Comics has been finding itself on my radar more and more, so when I saw this series, set in feudal Japan, in Previews, it looked interesting enough to take a chance on, despite not knowing any of the creators involved.

Rorschach – I don’t feel like there is any need to revisit Watchmen or its characters, but given that Rorschach masks are starting to be used exactly as they were in the Watchmen TV series, I hope that Tom King and artist Jorge Fornas have something new and relevant to say here. I trust King a lot, on oddball titles, and this feels more like Mister Miracle than it does Batman. Also, Fornas is a great artist, who often reminds me of David Mazzucchelli, and that’s a big draw for me.

I’m also looking forward to new issues of Cable, Captain America, Grendel Kentucky, Hellions, Immortal Hulk, New Mutants, Once & Future, Star Wars: Darth Vader, Strange Adventures, and Vampirella.

X-Men Art & Making of Animated Series HC – Never before seen artwork and behind the scenes stories. Script breakdowns, interviews. Yeah, I need this. The X-Men animated series was an essential foundation for my Marvel indoctrination, coming into my life just as I finished reading the Outback era through a friend’s back issues. This cartoon captured the 90s mutant relaunch and repackaged thirty years of the franchise into accessable, Saturday morning and Oreos fueled soap opera. This is essential reading for me.

Killing Red Sonja #4 – Red Sonja’s main title under Mark Russell has seen the book become the A-list power house Sonja should be, and this subversive spin off keeps the blood flowing. This series follows the son of a slain emperor and his quest to…Even if you aren’t reading the main book, this is the perfect book for those who like to see what villains are up to. I feel like that’s all the rage these days.

Also looking forward to Death Metal, Wonder Woman, Immortal Hulk, New Mutants, Hellions, and flipping through someone else’s copy of X of Swords Handbook, because if you fall even the slightest bit behind on Hickman’s X-Men, you’re drowned. That’s where I’m at playing catch up.

7 books this week.

Running real late this week, so just a few quick comments…

Rorschach #1 – I know it’s blasphemy, but Watchmen and Alan Moore don’t get me all weak behind the knees like it does a lot of comic fans. It’s an interesting work, but way too bleak for me. I am only giving this a shot because I love Tom King’s work on books like Mister Miracle and Strange Adventures. This is very much in his wheel house.

Amazing Spider-Man #50 – Last issue presented some interesting moral questions…and then had one of the dumbest endings I have ever seen in a comic. Spider-Man considers “hey, killing Norman might be the right thing in the end…” And in a typical Spidey way, resists taking the easy way out. But instead of taking Norman to prison or someplace where he can do no harm, he just tosses Norman out of the vehicle and leaves him stranded in the sewers. Yeah, that won’t possible bite him in the ass later. I normally like Nick Spencer a lot, but his Spider-Man continues to do very little for me. I am sad to say that.