New comics are released tomorrow after the Memorial Day weekend (in the States at least; we have to wait until Friday in the UK, a further day!!). Here's a brief look at our expectations for the books we're picking up this week.
Stewart R: With the excellent Bristol Comic Expo 2010 drifting into the 'treasured memories' section of my brain and a pile of purchased bargains still waiting to be read, I've been hoping for a few light comic weeks to ease the burden on both my time and my wallet. It seems that this week is the first to answer those prayers as both Marvel and DC have failed to grab my attention with any new titles that I wasn't previously aware of, and my regular pull-list entries seem to be conspicuous by their absence.
The big title of the week will have to be Thanos Imperative #1 despite a few fears that I have about the quality of the artwork. Miguel Sepulveda has a distinctive style, and while certainly an accomplished artist his work hasn't particularly appealed to me in the past. When the likes of Paul Pelletier and Brad Walker have truly wowed me with their work on SBU titles and series, especially with their senses of depth and scale, I tend to get a little sceptical when a new talent is thrown into the mix. Of course I will read it and I hope to be pleasantly surprised by the aesthetics. Thankfully I don't have any such concerns about the writing as Abnett and Lanning have barely put a foot wrong in the past 3 years or so - well, maybe a little when Nova seemed to be stalling - and I don't expect that to change on this title.
The only other Marvel book I'll be scooping up into my arms will be Vengeance Of The Moon Knight #9 but I have to say that I've lost my enthusiasm for this title somewhat since the awesome first arc. Once again this is down to changes in the art department as I thought Jerome Opena hit it out of the park and really helped Greg Hurwitz push the (temporary? Who knows, it is Moon Knight after all!) reset button and draw me back in to this dark, crime-fighting world. Moon Knight's inclusion in the Secret Avengers roster also seems to be affecting a few upcoming issues and storylines and while I'll be picking up Brubaker's comic I can't really see myself continuing with this book for much longer.
Will I be dropping Jeff Lemire's excellent, post-apocalyptic tale of human-animal hybrids and grizzled survivors out for redemption? HAHAHAHA of course not silly! Don't be ridiculous! Sweet Tooth #10 comes out this week and when I look back now to the time I picked up issue #1 as a $1.00 taster and wasn't even that bothered about reading it, it brings a small smile to my face. I've stuck with it since then and it has been a truly rewarding comic experience. It has been a real revelation and was possibly the first comic to really make me aware of what Vertigo is capable of as a publisher. After the mysterious shock ending to the last issue I'm expecting Mr Lemire to keep us in the dark for just a little while yet as to why Gus might be so special.
There seemed to be plenty of 'special cases' in the debut issue of iZombie and having seen Shelly Bond heap a decent amount of praise upon Chris Roberson's new title in Bristol I'll definitely be giving iZombie #2 a look this week. There's definitely a Buffyesque feel to the small-town setting where the bizarre and mysterious creature and monster count seems to be higher than most suburban areas and Michael Allred's style is growing on me. The potential for murder-investigation antics from brain-snacking Gwen could be the ticket to see yet another success for Vertigo.
DC's only offering for me is actually another book on the slippery slope at the bottom of my pull-list. Brightest Day #3 really needs to up its game on the week when the page count finally drops yet the number of plot threads and story locales remains the same. I'm betting that many out there are probably drooling in anticipation of the Deadman vs Anti-Monitor scrap that we appear to have been promised but I'm more interested in finding out when all of the resurfacing villains - Black Manta, crazy family-murdering, skin-ripping Mum from last issue - are going to make things really nasty for our heroes. If we're left waiting too long for further explanation to those shocking scenes then their impact will be lost and we might be into unwanted, page-long reminder territory. On a pull-list that's pretty much bursting at the seams I'm giving this one more issue to prove its worth!
Mark Waid of course need not worry about such things as Irredeemable #14 is unmissable in my eyes. This BOOM! Studios book has managed to take a rather straightforward story and keep it unpredictable and thoroughly enjoyable. If Waid had kept the Plutonian as a relentless, unstoppable force of madness and destruction then I dare say I would have grown tired of this very quickly but by keeping things less clear cut and ensuring that things can and have turned on their head at a moments notice has kept things fresh. And after issue #12 of course I'll never look at Cheerios in the same way again.
Stewart R: With the excellent Bristol Comic Expo 2010 drifting into the 'treasured memories' section of my brain and a pile of purchased bargains still waiting to be read, I've been hoping for a few light comic weeks to ease the burden on both my time and my wallet. It seems that this week is the first to answer those prayers as both Marvel and DC have failed to grab my attention with any new titles that I wasn't previously aware of, and my regular pull-list entries seem to be conspicuous by their absence.The big title of the week will have to be Thanos Imperative #1 despite a few fears that I have about the quality of the artwork. Miguel Sepulveda has a distinctive style, and while certainly an accomplished artist his work hasn't particularly appealed to me in the past. When the likes of Paul Pelletier and Brad Walker have truly wowed me with their work on SBU titles and series, especially with their senses of depth and scale, I tend to get a little sceptical when a new talent is thrown into the mix. Of course I will read it and I hope to be pleasantly surprised by the aesthetics. Thankfully I don't have any such concerns about the writing as Abnett and Lanning have barely put a foot wrong in the past 3 years or so - well, maybe a little when Nova seemed to be stalling - and I don't expect that to change on this title.
The only other Marvel book I'll be scooping up into my arms will be Vengeance Of The Moon Knight #9 but I have to say that I've lost my enthusiasm for this title somewhat since the awesome first arc. Once again this is down to changes in the art department as I thought Jerome Opena hit it out of the park and really helped Greg Hurwitz push the (temporary? Who knows, it is Moon Knight after all!) reset button and draw me back in to this dark, crime-fighting world. Moon Knight's inclusion in the Secret Avengers roster also seems to be affecting a few upcoming issues and storylines and while I'll be picking up Brubaker's comic I can't really see myself continuing with this book for much longer.
Will I be dropping Jeff Lemire's excellent, post-apocalyptic tale of human-animal hybrids and grizzled survivors out for redemption? HAHAHAHA of course not silly! Don't be ridiculous! Sweet Tooth #10 comes out this week and when I look back now to the time I picked up issue #1 as a $1.00 taster and wasn't even that bothered about reading it, it brings a small smile to my face. I've stuck with it since then and it has been a truly rewarding comic experience. It has been a real revelation and was possibly the first comic to really make me aware of what Vertigo is capable of as a publisher. After the mysterious shock ending to the last issue I'm expecting Mr Lemire to keep us in the dark for just a little while yet as to why Gus might be so special.There seemed to be plenty of 'special cases' in the debut issue of iZombie and having seen Shelly Bond heap a decent amount of praise upon Chris Roberson's new title in Bristol I'll definitely be giving iZombie #2 a look this week. There's definitely a Buffyesque feel to the small-town setting where the bizarre and mysterious creature and monster count seems to be higher than most suburban areas and Michael Allred's style is growing on me. The potential for murder-investigation antics from brain-snacking Gwen could be the ticket to see yet another success for Vertigo.
DC's only offering for me is actually another book on the slippery slope at the bottom of my pull-list. Brightest Day #3 really needs to up its game on the week when the page count finally drops yet the number of plot threads and story locales remains the same. I'm betting that many out there are probably drooling in anticipation of the Deadman vs Anti-Monitor scrap that we appear to have been promised but I'm more interested in finding out when all of the resurfacing villains - Black Manta, crazy family-murdering, skin-ripping Mum from last issue - are going to make things really nasty for our heroes. If we're left waiting too long for further explanation to those shocking scenes then their impact will be lost and we might be into unwanted, page-long reminder territory. On a pull-list that's pretty much bursting at the seams I'm giving this one more issue to prove its worth!Mark Waid of course need not worry about such things as Irredeemable #14 is unmissable in my eyes. This BOOM! Studios book has managed to take a rather straightforward story and keep it unpredictable and thoroughly enjoyable. If Waid had kept the Plutonian as a relentless, unstoppable force of madness and destruction then I dare say I would have grown tired of this very quickly but by keeping things less clear cut and ensuring that things can and have turned on their head at a moments notice has kept things fresh. And after issue #12 of course I'll never look at Cheerios in the same way again.
1 comment:
I'm game for anything with both the Silver Surfer and Nova. Thanos it is...
Cheers!
Steven G. Willis
XOWComics.com
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