MAJOR PUBLISHERS
MARVEL COMICS
AVENGERS #22 ($3.99) is by Jed MacKay and Farid Karami.
Guest-starring Black Cat. And yes, this is an homage to Steranko's Captain America #111 cover. Dem wuz de days.
CABLE: LOVE AND CHROME #1 (OF 5, $4.99) is by David Pepose and Mike Henderson.
I'm never sure what Cable's role is supposed to be in the Marvel U. This series elides that problem by taking him solo into a dystopian future, in the middle of a civil war. That should work, as Cable has "soldier" covered pretty well.
DEADPOOL/WOLVERINE #1 ($4.99) is by Benjamin Percy and Joshua Cassara.
Say, these guys have costumes that work really well together. They should make a movie with them.
"Josh and I really hit it off when we were working together on X-Force and became great friends," Percy told IGN last month. "We never stopped texting or hanging out at cons. We’re always trading stupid jokes (and many hundreds of Arnold Schwarzenegger GIFs). I even helped his wife locate one of the elusive 12-foot Home Depot skeletons recently, so we’ll both be celebrating Halloween like bosses. This is all to say: we were both so damn excited to get the band back together. DEADPOOL/WOLVERINE is us cartwheeling onto the stage and shredding our guitars once more while smoke machines churn and pyrotechnics explode all around us."
MARVEL MASTERWORKS: MARVEL TEAM-UP VOL. 8 brings up up to MTU #89.
SAM WILSON: CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 ($4.99) is by Greg Pak, Narcisse, Evan, Eder Messias and Valentine De Landro.
A floating-farm scam leads Wilson into conflict with the scammer's head of security: Red Hulk! What is a former United State general doing in jobs like that, even if he is a big crimson monster now? Anyway, These guys look pretty glitzy together, too. Maybe Marvel should make a movie about them, right after a Deadpool/Wolverine movie. I bet they'd be popular.
THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MEN #11 $3.99 is by Greg Weisman Andres Genolet and Von Randal.
I don't read this book, so I don't even know if Miles is still a vampire. But I was stopped cold by this cover. It features a new character called Elemental, and any veteran fan will quickly discern that she's exhibiting the four classic elements: earth, air, fire and water. Necessarily, that will also reminds veteran fans of the Fantastic Four.
But even more interesting is the way Elemental's body is split four ways. That brings to mind two more characters, this time from DC: Metamorpho (whose latest title launched last week) and Ultra the Multi-Alien (currently in comic book limbo).
It almost makes me want to pick up the book to see if there are any overt or subtextual references to any of those characters.
ULTIMATES #8 ($4.99) is by Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri.
This issue premieres the Ultimate Guardians of the Galaxy, consisting of Star-Lord, Captain Marvel, Ultimate Nullifier and Cosmo. We knew the team wouldn't include Mantis, because we saw Nick Fury kill her in Ultimate Universe: Year One. But even the Guardians with familiar names don't have familiar faces, so maybe all the ones we know are dead in this universe. Even Cosmo looks different. (And they better not hurt Cosmo.) I'm guessing the girl in the lead is the new Star-Lord, the Kree girl with the Captain Marvel logo is Captain Marvel, the dog is Cosmo, which means the big guy with the beard is "Ultimate Nullifier."
“The creative goal we set for ourselves on ULTIMATES -- in addition to telling complete stories every issue -- was to create (or re-create) characters interesting enough to sustain readers' imaginations and their own series, if they had to,” Camp said. “Whether we've succeeded on either count is up to the readers to decide, but the reaction so far has been really special. I am so grateful for it, and am doing my best to be worthy of it. Issue eight introduces the Ultimate Guardians of the Galaxy, and I hope readers enjoy meeting the heroes of the future as much as I enjoyed writing them! It's our most cosmic issue to date, the life and death of universes in 20 pages, and explores new sides of the Ultimate Universe through Ultimate America Chavez, who has quickly become a favorite of mine.”
WHAT IF GALACTUS TRANSFORMED HULK #1 ($3.99) is by Mat Groom and Lan Medina.
This is the first of a series of one-shots with stories featuring five characters other than Norrid Radd becoming the herald of Galactus. This first one features Hulk, and may turn on what Bruce Banner does with the Power Cosmic. The big green guy might just be along for the ride.
The next four one-shots feature Gambit, Moon Knight, Rogue and Spider-Gwen.
DC COMICS
ABSOLUTE SUPERMAN #3 ($4.99) is by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval.
We're still learning what happened on Krypton, where little Kal-El was NOT shot to Earth in a rocket as a baby. That comes later. But how much later, I don't know yet.
BATMAN #608 FACSIMILE EDITION ($3.99) is by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee. Reprinting the first chapter of "Hush."
DC COMICS PRESENTS #26 FACSIMILE EDITION ($4.99): The lead story is by Jim Starlin, and is a Superman/Green Lantern team-up. The insert is by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, and is the first appearance of the New Teen Titans.
DC VERSUS MARVEL: THE AMALGAM AGE OMNIBUS HC ($150.00): I already have all these stories in two forms (originals, and the first set of collections). And I'm glad I do, because this reprint series will drop all stories by disgraced writer Gerard Jones. I don't necessarily need those stories, but I do suffer from Completist Disease.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE ATOM PROJECT #1 (OF 6, $3.99) is by John Ridley, Ryan Parrott and Mike Perkins.
The first thing I thought of when I saw who was in this book was, "They're using every character with 'Atom' in their name." But then I remembered Adam Cray (the "bad" Atom duirng Ostrander's Suicide Squad run), Al Pratt (the original Atom, who's undoubtedly alive again) and Al Rothstein (Atom Smasher, nee Nuklo). Those guys ought to petition to join the title, as they don't seem to be getting much work elsewhere.
Anyway, this book follows Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi as they search for the super-powers that are still missing after they were released into the wild by the Amazos in "Absolute Power." One hitch: Captain Atom's nuclear powers are among the missing, and he doesn't want them found. This is going to lead to a rogue Captain Atom battling a lot of DC superheroes in the months to come, as hinted at by DC's January, February and March solicitations. DC is calling it a "spy thriller," and there's no character better suited to espionage than The Atom. Both of them. Or all four of them, if Adam Cray and Al Pratt show up.
POISON IVY #29 ($3.99) is by G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara.
I've never been a big Poison Ivy fan, but cover artist Jenny Frison could make me fall in love.
MORE COMICS
DAISY GOES TO THE MOON HC ($19.99): Taking a break from murder, Rick Geary turns his retro-woodcut style toward this whimsical “Wizard of Oz”-type story. If you’re a Geary completist, this is for you.
THE ELEGANT COURTLY LIFE OF THE TEA WITCH VOL. 1 TP (Titan, 192 pages, B&W, $12.99) is by Ameko Kaerudo and Yorifuji. I don't really read manga, but maybe you do. Here's what this one's about: "The first volume in a heart-warming and cosy ongoing series The Elegant Courtly Life of the Tea Witch, tells the tale of Remy, a lowly tea witch, using her magic to brew the finest cuppa for the noble lords and ladies. All she really wants is a quiet life creating gorgeous displays for shop windows … but she’s slowly drawn into a world of intrigue as her incredible powers of transformation make her the gossip of the court … and the object of affection for a naïve princess!"
FENCE CHALLENGERS: SWEET SIXTEEN #1 (BOOM, $7.99) is by C.S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad. The Kings Row fencing team makes it to the Sweet Sixteen. Honestly, I can't think of any sport I'm less interested in than teenage fencing. I may think of another, but it would take a while. Anyway, here's a PREVIEW.
FLASH GORDON #5 (Mad Cave, $4.99) is by Jeremy Adams and Will Conrad. Hoping this will be collected soon.
PS ARTBOOKS: MODERN COMICS VOL 1 SOFTEE ($32.99): This is another PS Artbooks dump week, and there are some interesting titles. This one for example. Quality’s Military Comics turned into Modern Comics after World War II, with issue #44, and this book contains issues #44-46. However, the Military Comics reprint series from PS is only up to volume 8 and issue #29. So there will be a hole until Military Comics catches up to Modern Comics.
Even after it does catch up, it will take me longer to do so. Reading Military Comics is hard, because outside of Blackhawk it's ba-a-a-a-a-ad.
PS ARTBOOKS: AMERICA'S GREATEST COMICS VOL 2 SOFTEE ($32.99): Right now, America's Greatest Comics reprints are the only Marvel Family stories being reprinted by PS in collection format. (They have released a slew of facsimile books.) I’m hoping for Whiz or Captain Marvel Adventures or Marvel Family down the line, but I’ll take what I can get. There were only eight issues of America’s Greatest Comics, but it will take four Softees to collect them—they were 100 pages each!
I've read the first volume, and like a lot of Golden Age material, it varies from charming to drek. The first two stories feature characters with genuine super-powers -- Captain Marvel and Bulletman -- and are pretty good. (Especially Captain Marvel, by C.C. Beck.) But it goes swiftly downhill from there. I find Minute-Man, Spy Smasher and Mr. Scarlet almost unreadable. They are written and drawn as if they are flying instead of jumping and fight as if they have super-strength, when the dialogue makes it perfectly clear that they don't. There's a lot of Kirby Kopying as well. You can imagine almost all of these stories as Captain America stories (where they'd make more sense.) And why on earth did anyone think "Mr. Scarlet and Pinky" were good names for anything other than a drag act? I have to stifle giggles, especially when Pinky calls the big guy "Scarlet." I expect Vivian Leigh to turn around.
PS ARTBOOKS: STUNTMAN #1 FACSMILE EDITION ($15.99): I don’t usually buy facsimile editions, but if they reprint all three issues of Stuntman I might have to reconsider my position. Stuntman was one of the last Mainline titles from Simon & Kirby, and as far as I know has never been reprinted in its entirety. I’ve got the bulk of it in Titan’s Simon & Kirby Library: Superheroes, and I think PS had dropped an issue into one of its anthology books. It’s not the greatest comic book in the world, but I’d like to have it in comprehensive form just because it’s Simon & Kirby.
ROBOTECH RICK HUNTER TP (Titan, $17.99)
SHADOWS ON THE ICE 1972: ANDES DISASTER HC (Black Panel Press, MR, $22.99) is by Frederic Bertocchini and Thierry Diette.
It’s the famous story of the rugby team whose plane crashed into an inaccessible area of the Andes, and survived by resorting to cannibalism. It’s a terrible story—so terrible I don’t want to revisit it. Why do people keep revisiting it?
VAMPIRELLA #673 (Dynamite, $4.99) is by Christopher Priest and Ivan F. Silva. Draculina and Vampirella's relationship is explored via hallucinations Draculina experiences while sick with a deadly plague. I read it, but since I haven't been reading Vampi regularly, I didn't really understand it. I'll have to fix that. In the meantime, rest assured that no one launches into a rendition of "Sisters" from Holiday Inn. And it's by Christopher Priest, so when I finally do catch up with the storyline I'll probably enjoy it.
WHEN I LAY MY VENGEANCE UPON THEE #1 (BOOM, $4.99) is by Gus Moreno (This Thing Between Us) and Jakub Rebelka (Cyberpunk). A disgraced priest is sent to a remote South American town as penance, to learn to be an exorcist from an eccentric priest whose methods pre-date Christianity. Father Stygian's last apprentice committed suicide, so danger lies ahead. Here's a PREVIEW and an INTERVIEW.
WRETCHED: A SURREAL TALE OF VICE & CRIME HC (Black Panel Press, MR, $24.99) is by Henrik Rehr and Jan Solheim. This Danish GN features a woman trapped in some sort of fever dream, or althernate dimension or bad trip. The art doesn't do much for me, but hey, it's Danish! Who knows what artitic tradition this hearkens back to? Something cool, I bet, like Vikings.
Replies
SAM WILSON: CAPTAIN AMERICA #1:
You didn't mention it so I will: that sixth cover is an homage to Captain America #100 (1968).
STUNTMAN... as far as I know has never been reprinted in its entirety. I’ve got the bulk of it in Titan’s Simon & Kirby Library: Superheroes
That volume reprinted three stories from #1, two stories from #2, two stories from #3, three additional unpublished stories and all three covers. I think that's it.
Then I guess I DON'T need Stuntman facsimiles. That's good news, as I didn't find Stuntman to be very good.
I didn't comment on that Captain America #100 homage because I don't comment on every homage any more (if I ever did). I saw it, shrugged my shoulders, and went on. Nobody seems to care much.