ADVANCE PICK OF THE WEEK
DC Finest: Hawkman -- Wings Across Time TP (DC, $39.99): I have all of the original comics, and the Silver Age Hawkman Archives, but I'm still excited! I won't mind getting these again, and reading them in order -- especially at $40. That's pretty cheap! This collects all of the Pinioned Paladin's try-outs, in Brave and Bold #34-36 and 42-44, plus the team-up with Aquaman in B&B #51, plus his first series in Mystery in Space #87-90, plus the beginning of his second series, Hawkman #1-11 (of 27), plus a guest appearance in The Atom #7. It's mostly by Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert, rich with Silver Age goodness.
ABSOLUTE COMICS
Absolute Batman #11 (DC, $4.99): Absolute Bane, who looks a lot like regular Bane.
Absolute Flash #6 (DC, $4.99): Origin of the Absolute Rogues.
SUMMER OF SUPERMAN
Absolute Superman Vol. 1: Last Dust of Krypton HC (DC, $24.99): Collects Absolute Superman #1-6.
Batman/Superman: World's Finest #42 (DC, $3.99)
Krypto: The Last Dog Of Krypton #3 (of 5, DC, $3.99)
Superman Trade Paperback Box Set (DC, $84.99): Collects All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, Superman for All Seasons by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? by Alan Moore and Curt Swan, Superman: Up in the Sky by Tom King and Andy Kubert, and Superman Vol. 1: Supercorp by Joshua Williamson and Jamal Campbell.
Superman Unlimited #4 (DC, $4.99)
ULTIMATE COMICS
Ultimate Black Panther #19 (Marvel, $4.99): T'Challa battles "Vibranium Incarnate." I should feel guilty that I'm not following the new Ultimate universe, but then I look at something like this and think, "This looks just like the 616." And then I don't feel guilty.
INTERESTING STUFF
BLACK CAT #1 (Marvel, $4.99) is by G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel) and Gleb Melnikov (Amazing Spider-Man). Felicia steps up as the friendly, neighborhood Black Cat after Spider-Man is defeated by Hellgate. Can she be a superhero, despite her many moral failings?
“Felicia decides to fight crime for entirely self-interested reasons — something fishy is going on with Spider-Man, and as a result, some new riff-raff starts elbowing in on her territory, so she decides to pick up the slack,” Wilson said. “But going from being perceived as a bad guy to being perceived as a folk hero goes to her head — and that’s where the trouble starts.”
Godzilla Destroys The Marvel Universe #2 (of 5, Marvel, $3.99) is by Gerry Dugan and Javier Garrón. Godzilla has a symbiote, which explains how he's going to live up to the title. I had wondered about that.
Justice League Red #1 (DC, of 6, $3.99): I've never been a fan of secret groups of superheroes doing the terrible things the other heroes won't. What separates them from the villains? Good intentions? Well, maybe this one won't be as dreadful as most of them are. Red Tornado leads a group consisting of Cyborg, Deadman, Green Lantern (Simon Baz), Power Girl and Red Arrow.
Marvel All-On-One #1 (One-shot, Marvel, $7.99) is by Ryan North (Fantastic Four, One World Under Doom) and Ed McGuinness. The entire world has turned against Ben Grimm, so he's got a mystery to solve and a whole lot of clobbering to do. The issue is entirely comprised of splash pages and double-page spreads.
“So, Ed McGuinness is a modern legend, and working with him is obviously going to be a thrill," North said. "BUT -- working with him on an issue that's so big, explosive, and clobber-filled that it HAS to be told in JUST splash pages and double-page spreads, well, that's literally a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Every single page is an artist's showcase, but it's ALSO the biggest Thing story I've ever told, and has a ton of VERY fun battles. And heart too? Moments of recognition and self-discovery? It was a joy to write, one that's only been surpassed every day as I see the new joys of Ed bringing each page to spectacular life.”
“The Thing vs Everybody?! 50 splash pages?! What could go wrong?” McGuiness said. “This has been one of the most fun, challenging books I’ve ever worked on! IT’S CLOBBERIN’ TIME!”
Wonder Woman #24 (DC, $4.99): One of my favorite titles.
MORE COMICS
Big Rig #2 (Vault, 48 pages, $9.99): I read thew FCBD preview of issue #1, and thought it was kinda dumb, but well drawn. The premise is a truck drive and his rig transported back in time to the black plague, only the plague turns people into fast zombies. Or something. As I said, my frontal lobe pronounced it dumb and went on to the next book. But my amygdala was vaguely interested. Here's a PREVIEW.
Catacomb Of Torment #2 (Oni Press, $4.99)
Conan The Barbarian #23 (Titan, $13.99): The Great Serpent's influence draws Conan and his allies into Stygia.
Detective Comics #1100 (DC, $5.99): An oversize issue celebrating issue #1100.
Escape #1 (Image, $4.99) is by Rick Remender (Deadly Class, Uncanny X-Force) and Daniel Acuña (Captain America, Black Panther). In a brutal anthropomorphic world consumed by war, a bomber pilot is shot down behind enemy lines. Worse than that, he's in the city he helped burn to the ground.
"Daniel and I have worked together many times, and each project sets a new high watermark in my experience making comics," Remender said. "He’s one of the best artists working today. Getting to take our time and build this book exactly the way we want — drenched in love — has been an absolute pleasure. I’m certain readers will feel that on every page. Escape is a perfect comic book."
"When Rick and I started working together years ago, we 'connected,' not only as artists but also on a personal level," Acuña added. "Back then, we already decided we wanted to create something together. I honestly thought it’d never happen, but thanks to Rick’s infinite patience (and believe me, it is infinite) it’s happening! We both agreed we wanted to create a comic our parents would read and enjoy, a big war story. It’s been decades since I created a comic from scratch working with another creator, and I couldn’t ’t be more happy and proud with what we’ve done. It’s a great fit for both of us, and my most solid, mature and personal work. I’m sure you’re gonna be surprised and love every panel as I’ve enjoyed and have gotten emotional first reading, and then creating the art for it. In Escape Rick and I shine as never before."
Event Horizon: Dark Descent #1 (of 5, IDW, $4.99) is by Christian Ward (Batman: City of Madness) and Tristan Jones (Aliens: Defiance). It's a prequel to the 1997 sci-fi/horror film Event Horizon.
“It's a huge privilege to be handed the keys of such a beloved film, one I take very seriously and I have some extremely exciting things up my sleeve," Ward said. "Big gory swings will be happening. You'll never see the film in the same light again.”
“I think what Christian's laying out and adding to the lore is going to surprise people," Tristan Jones said. "It's certainly given me a lot of gnarly, visceral stuff to chew on visually, which is always fun and knowing that this is being done directly in collaboration with the team behind the film certainly helps lock things in as something fans of the film will want to explore with us."
“There are few films better suited for an expansion than Event Horizon," series editor Nicolas Niño said. "It’s a strong character-driven horror movie that hints at a whole other dimension we get to build upon. And build we shall. This is a creative team possessed by some dark and seductive muse guiding their hands through a story in which evil never loses. Strap in now — DARK DESCENT is only the beginning of the pandemonium …”
Ghost Pepper #2 (Image, $3.99)
G.I. Joe #10 (Image, $3.99)
Imperial #3 (of 4, Marvel, $4.99) is by Jonathan Hickman, Iban Coello and Federico Vicentini. I have the first two of these, and was waiting for the last two before reading them all at once. But they seem to be coming out very, very slowly. Then there are all the special and miniseries to follow. I hope I live long enough to see the end of it. But it promises to re-order the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe, so I'm curious how it will shake out.
Invincible Universe Battle Beast #4 (of 4, Image, $3.99)
Ionheart GN (IDW, $24.99). Written and drawn by Austrian German artist Lukas Kummer. Description: "Pursued by a terrifying demon, a young knight flees across the radioactive ruins of a fairy-tale land. His only weapon is the same cursed power that once destroyed this world—what some would call magic, and others would call technology."
“I always enjoyed stupid smart things ... or smart stupid things. To me, that's the pinnacle of art,” says creator Lukas Kummer.
Resident Alien: The Book Of Changes #1 (of 4, Dark Horse, $4.99) is by Peter Hogan (Tom Strong) and Steve Parkhouse (Bojeffries Saga). I prefer the TV show, but the comic book is mildly entertaining.
“There’s more than one alien in town now -- and they’re planning to change the world,” said Hogan.
Somali And The Forest Spirit Volume 3 GN (Titan, $9.99) is by Yako Gureishi, and is set in a world ruled by goblings, golems, spirits and the like. And is it just me, or is that a vagina dentata in the penultimate image?
Space Ghost/Jonny Quest: Space Quest #4 (Dynamite, $4.99): I didn't notice this before, but they're doing the little head vignettes like on the JLA/JSA crossovers!
Terminator #10 (Dynamite, $4.99)
Toxie Team Up #3 (of 5, Ahoy, $3.99: Ahoy Comics alert!
Valiant Beyond: Tales of the Shadowman #1 (Valiant, $3.99): This is the second issue of Valiant's latest re-launch. The first featured Bloodshot, and headlines in my newsfeed say it's controversial for its depiction of trans people. I haven't read the stories, or the comic book, because the culture wars make me tired.
Vampirella: Armageddon #2
Replies
Detective Comics #1100: An oversize issue celebrating issue #1100.
Unfortunately it's illegitimate because DC skipped over #882-933 to get there. Sad.
Resident Alien: I prefer the TV show, but the comic book is mildly entertaining.
Agreed.
I'm mildly curious on what the end results of "Imperial" will be. Presumably there will be some consequences for the X-books, since Phoenix is currently in space traveller mode; Storm is... in hyper-weird mode that apparently has cosmic significance of some sort; and Professor X and Lilandra are expected to factor into the series in some capacity.
But I still feel that there are way too many events happening way too often with way too dilluted consequences in current Marvel. Even Venom is apparently cosmically significant now and it seems to amount to little more than a malleable plot device that is there when writers feel like using it, but can be easily forgotten about when convenient as well.
"Vagina dentata! What a wonderful phrase!"
It's not often one hears vagina dentata described that way! But words can have more pleasant sounds than their meanings. In the 90s, a woman local to me named one of her cats Chlamydia because she thought that the word sounded so beautiful but had such a terrible meaning. She received really strange looks when calling her cats.
I suppose that Vagina Dentata is even better-suited to be a cat's name.
Chlamydia does sound like a flower name to me.
Yes, I do know better. Thanks for asking.