Incoming... 09/09/2010

New comics are released Thursday (same day in the UK as the US thanks to Labor Day). Here's a brief look at our expectations for the books we're picking up this week.

Stewart R: Oh comic gods, how you mock me!!! (Shakes fist at the strange mark on the new kitchen ceiling that may or may not resemble Steve Ditko). I've moved into my new abode now but am still without the internet and have no fewer than 13 titles on the horizon for this Thursday! Madness I tells ya! Delicious madness!!

So let me waste no more time and dive straight into the thick, gooey, illustrated goodness. Anything thick and gooey in X-Force: Sex and Violence #3 is 75% likely to be blood and I shall leave it at your furtive imaginations to guess what the other 25% is probably going to consist of. I’ve been having a blast reading this miniseries with writers Kyle and Yost really getting the best out of the Wolverine/Domino dynamic and Del’otto delivering some mouth-watering visuals. This final issue will no doubt bring things to a sweaty and bloody crescendo and in this highly promising week this sits firmly at the top of the list of things to read first.

Not too far behind is Thanos Imperative #4 as I really have started to miss the usual double helping of all things galactic that used to come from Nova and Guardians Of The Galaxy each month. Thankfully Abnett and Lanning’s huge, tense space opera has been shaping up very nicely indeed and with Nova’s small strike force set to leap into the heart of the Fault and Drax seeming to have achieved his life’s task once more, things are brilliantly poised.

Many of you will have the next title I mention as your must-read comic for this week and to be honest I suspect it’ll be the one that will have many comic fans talking once they’ve turned the final page. Ba and Moon’s Daytripper #10 will (hopefully) wrap up the story of Bras’ journey through the many periods of his life and give some closure to this captivating series, but then I wouldn’t go assuming anything just yet as I know that this creative team isn’t short of a few surprises. Whatever these brothers have planned I’m already sure that I’ll look back on this series as one of the best of the past few years.

Elsewhere on the many racks and shelves of various comic book shops there will be new beginnings in American Vampire #6 from Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque as the action moves forward to 1930s Las Vegas. Reading various things around the internet it seems that this second arc won’t focus on newly transformed vampire Pearl quite as much as the first arc did and we may therefore be getting to know Skinner Sweet a little better over the next five issues. Shifting the setting from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and moving the time forward several years should give a decent sense of progression and I’m looking forward to seeing just what Mr Albuquerque can do with the Vegas vistas.

Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca’s Invincible Iron Man #30 may need to remove the question mark that sat prominently above my head following the ending of issue #29 as Tony’s behavior was rather bizarre and left things a little unexplained. Imagine, Tony Stark checking out of a party early with a young, beautiful… hmmm ok, so maybe it’s not so unexplained! HAHA! The cover for this latest instalment suggests that we may be seeing some neat banter and posturing between Tony and the youngest Hammer girl but could also mean that fans of the title are still left wondering just when we’re going to see that armour in action properly. I’ve not been getting Bendis’ Avengers title since the first issue but I suspect readers of that title may already have an idea of what the latest repulsor tech can do.

Quickly skimming through the rest of the week’s haul there’ll be two, yes TWO, issues of Amazing Spider-Man which I think is taking the piss just a little in an already heavy week for Marvel. I haven’t looked yet but if both issues #641 and #642 weigh in at $3.99 then it may well stick in the throat for some time. Batman And Robin #14 will probably let us know if the fate we caught a glimpse of for Dick Grayson last issue will come anywhere near true or whether something else is going on that we’re not yet privy to, and Lee Garbett returns after a months’ break for Batgirl #14. I have to say that the inclusion of Supergirl this time out has me a little concerned that there are too many other heroes stepping in to team up with Stephanie Brown and that maybe Bryan Q. Miller should start looking at some arcs where it’s just the titular heroine doing her crime-fighting thing by herself.

Oh yeah, and there’ll be mutant and vampire action in X-Men #3. And we might hear Wolverine’s claws go ‘snikt’ at some point. Nuff said!