New comics are released tomorrow (in the States at least; we have to wait until Thursday in the UK!). Here's a brief look at our expectations for the books we're picking up this week.
Stewart R: Okay, let's start this week off with a quandary; following my recent review of Brightest Day #3 I've been pondering this series' place on my pull-list; should I bin it? I can see what Johns and Tomasi are trying to do and perhaps if they were working their schedule as Marvel do with it's thrice monthly Amazing Spider-Man run this comic would be drawing me in and keeping me there. Brightest Day #4 marks the turning point where I must either carry on for another 22 issues or drop it and have a sniff around the eventual trade paperback versions. I dare say that come Thursday when I eventually step through Paradox's doorway I may still be weighing the decision...
Of course I may also be talking of Marvel's ASM schedule with a touch too much praise as it appears that the House of Ideas may have their timing a little out of whack this week. Should you be a regular reader - and if you aren't and have the funds I highly recommend becoming one - you'll be forking out the princely sum of $6.98 this week for Amazing Spider-Man #633 followed up by a healthy dose of Amazing Spider-Man #634. The wedge of cash aside this should be a fantastic Spidey week with #633 being the grand finale to the deeply engrossing 'Shed' storyline which has definitely taken The Lizard to another level. Zeb Wells' striking plot has been brilliantly delivered so far by Chris Bachalo and Emma Rios and I've high hopes for this last chapter.
ASM #634 then shifts us into high gear and slams us, and the Webbed Wonder straight into the Grim Hunt. That's right, The Gauntlet is over and the Hunt is on. Admittedly I'm usually a little peeved to see Marvel chuck on the extra dollar for some extra Stan Lee work and then an additional back-up story but they've been pretty decent offerings when Marvel have pushed them in the past year. Max Fiumara is bringing his art back to Spidey's world with the Kaine vs Kraven backup and he has been at the very top of his game with his previous Spidey work.
It actually seems that Mr Fiumara and writer Joe Kelly have been busy little beavers this week - Kelly is writing the main Grim Hunt storyline on ASM - as the long awaited Four Eyes #4 finally spins out of Image's print house and onto shelves. I'm going to go out on a non-researching limb here and say that it must be a year if not more since the last chapter of this superb fantasy comic came out and I've been pestering Andy H behind the Paradox desk for any information he might have as to when this might come in. For the uninitiated, Four Eyes focuses not on an optically challenged protagonist as some of you may have thought but instead on young Enrico who has recently had his father taken from him all in the name of underground Dragon-fighting. I love the story and cannot wait to get my hands on this latest installment.
Back over at Marvel the Second Coming X-event has also failed to disappoint as I had initially expected it to (double negatives Stew, what're you doing??). It's actually developed into a thoroughly enthralling read with the Mutants, *gulp* dare I say it, facing their darkest day so far. With the talents of Fraction, Carey, Wells, Kyle and Yost in charge of things I really shouldn't have been surprised. We're nearing the sharp end of things now with New Mutants #14 as Cable and X-Force travel into the future to try to prevent Bastion from completing his rewriting of history while everyone else bunkers down and tries to survive the night.
So some good comics out then. I just have to try to squeeze them all in around the football now...
Stewart R: Okay, let's start this week off with a quandary; following my recent review of Brightest Day #3 I've been pondering this series' place on my pull-list; should I bin it? I can see what Johns and Tomasi are trying to do and perhaps if they were working their schedule as Marvel do with it's thrice monthly Amazing Spider-Man run this comic would be drawing me in and keeping me there. Brightest Day #4 marks the turning point where I must either carry on for another 22 issues or drop it and have a sniff around the eventual trade paperback versions. I dare say that come Thursday when I eventually step through Paradox's doorway I may still be weighing the decision...Of course I may also be talking of Marvel's ASM schedule with a touch too much praise as it appears that the House of Ideas may have their timing a little out of whack this week. Should you be a regular reader - and if you aren't and have the funds I highly recommend becoming one - you'll be forking out the princely sum of $6.98 this week for Amazing Spider-Man #633 followed up by a healthy dose of Amazing Spider-Man #634. The wedge of cash aside this should be a fantastic Spidey week with #633 being the grand finale to the deeply engrossing 'Shed' storyline which has definitely taken The Lizard to another level. Zeb Wells' striking plot has been brilliantly delivered so far by Chris Bachalo and Emma Rios and I've high hopes for this last chapter.
ASM #634 then shifts us into high gear and slams us, and the Webbed Wonder straight into the Grim Hunt. That's right, The Gauntlet is over and the Hunt is on. Admittedly I'm usually a little peeved to see Marvel chuck on the extra dollar for some extra Stan Lee work and then an additional back-up story but they've been pretty decent offerings when Marvel have pushed them in the past year. Max Fiumara is bringing his art back to Spidey's world with the Kaine vs Kraven backup and he has been at the very top of his game with his previous Spidey work.It actually seems that Mr Fiumara and writer Joe Kelly have been busy little beavers this week - Kelly is writing the main Grim Hunt storyline on ASM - as the long awaited Four Eyes #4 finally spins out of Image's print house and onto shelves. I'm going to go out on a non-researching limb here and say that it must be a year if not more since the last chapter of this superb fantasy comic came out and I've been pestering Andy H behind the Paradox desk for any information he might have as to when this might come in. For the uninitiated, Four Eyes focuses not on an optically challenged protagonist as some of you may have thought but instead on young Enrico who has recently had his father taken from him all in the name of underground Dragon-fighting. I love the story and cannot wait to get my hands on this latest installment.
Back over at Marvel the Second Coming X-event has also failed to disappoint as I had initially expected it to (double negatives Stew, what're you doing??). It's actually developed into a thoroughly enthralling read with the Mutants, *gulp* dare I say it, facing their darkest day so far. With the talents of Fraction, Carey, Wells, Kyle and Yost in charge of things I really shouldn't have been surprised. We're nearing the sharp end of things now with New Mutants #14 as Cable and X-Force travel into the future to try to prevent Bastion from completing his rewriting of history while everyone else bunkers down and tries to survive the night.So some good comics out then. I just have to try to squeeze them all in around the football now...
2 comments:
Yeah, I made the decision of not getting Brightest Day 4 this week. I feel like a bit of a muppet for not tbh, as it looks like a big hawkman issue-and I LOVE Johns' hawkman-but its never as it seems and just doesn't move quick enough. Thrice monthly would have improved story quality alot. The only problem I have now though, is how badly is this going to affect my understanding of the 3 brightest day books I currently buy-Green Lantern,Green Lantern Corps & The Flash?
This week I got ordered both Amazing Spider-Man issues, which both pleases and annoys me. Annoys me because the conclusion to ''Shed'' has been delayed for this long due to Bachlo not being able to finish the art no doubt-and STILL not having a whole book of Bachlo art and having the mediocre art(that doesn't fit the tone of this arc)from Emma Rios. Pleases me however because I get a double dose of spidey action this week-am ESPECIALLY looking forward to Grim Hunt, even if I believe the art choice is incorrect.
Also ordered New Avengers issue 1, and i'm not entirely sure why to be honest. I think I have a craving for the Avengers at the moment, and any book that has Spidey,Wolverine,The Thing & Luke Cage on one team sounds pretty good in my mind. Only problem I have with it is there is hardly going to be any development in characters as the majority of them are of in their own books(same as Avengers) and even the main star of the title-Luke Cage-is pulling double duty between this and Thunderbolts, so which title is really going to feature any development in his character? Anyway, enough whinging-it looks better than Avengers which I must confess to enjoying-but can it beat Secret Avengers? That remains to be seen, but thats now a triple dose of Spider-Man in one week so do I have any right to complain? Answer: No
Hey Joe! Thanks for the comment!
Hmmm, tough call with Brightest Day really. I did pick up issue 4 in the end and I'm still not convinced that it's done enough to keep me going with it. I think that the three titles you mention - GL, GLC and Flash will be fine reads without BD and we won't be left with a stupid need to pick up 26 issues of the main event comic to get the best out of them. As I said before I think picking BD up in trade might be the way to go in order to get the best out of the scope that Johns/Tomasi are going for.
And by jove, Bachalo may have speed issues but when he bangs out Spidey work like that it's worth every second of the waiting!
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