New comics are released Wednesday in the States and guess what, in the UK too! Well except Fantastic Four #587 which was released Tuesday... but then is that still new?? Enough of this brain ache, here's a brief look at our expectations for the books we're picking up this week.
Stewart R: Wow! A year already? Has it gone that quickly? Oh yes ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 52nd instalment of Incoming... which marks the year anniversary of when I first decided to start taking a little look at my pull-list and sharing odd thoughts and hopes about what was coming out that week. Well I can tell you right now, this is one heck of a Wednesday to celebrate the 1st birthday!
Top of the pile for me as I imagine it will be for quite a few of you as well will of course be the title of the week and certainly the first big comic story for 2011. Fantastic Four #587 is here and while it may already have found its way into some of your willing arms on Tuesday you can bet that over the course of the coming days thousands of people will be grabbing a copy to find out just who Jonathan Hickman has decided must meet a premature and heroic end. I’ll say right here that Fantastic Four has never been a comic that I’ve been drawn to - always coming across in my mind as a light and airy team book where I’d rather be getting some gritty, desperate action in an X-Men comic or other sci-fi alternative - but it is an important title in Marvel’s roster and I’ve obviously experience, and a little affinity for, the characters from the various crossover and all encompassing events that they’ve appeared in. Matt C’s review and the fairly large internet buzz has convinced me that this issue at least needs to be added to my list as an important character meets their end. *sniff*
Only one mention of the X-Men so far but it seems that Marvel are going absolutely X-potty this week with no fewer than 11 titles dedicated to mutants of one variety or another which you have to say is a just a touch of overkill. I myself am picking up only 3 and avoiding the new heavy hitter in Age of X: Alpha as I never picked up The Age of Apocalypse. Mike Carey is a pretty darn decent X-writer (and the one man who seems to get and know how to use Bobby Drake to his full potential in my opinion) but I'm not the biggest fan of alternate reality stuff when it comes to the big characters and teams of Marvel’s canon it has to be said. I will of course be picking up the one comic currently looking at Apocalypse in the current reality , Uncanny X-Force #4, which will mark the end of a highly enjoyable first arc from Rick Remender and Jerome Opena. This has been a total revelation and a complete success so far and I seriously doubt that this final chapter to the arc will be anything less that X-cellent!
Uncanny X-Men #532 also makes the list with Matt Fraction, Kieron Gillen and *gulp* yes, Greg Land doing a decent job of throwing Cyclops and Co into Quarantine as the flu-like symptoms persist on Utopia and the secretive Sublime Corporation throw their own X-Men wannabes into heroic action. That plot thread is interesting in itself but whisking Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde and Fantomex off on a little jaunt to deal with the huge, conniving form of Sebastien Shaw is where the draw is going to be for me this week. Watching Emma try to fix the transgressions of her villainous past is enthralling at the best of times but it seems that Fraction and Gillen have taken a leaf out of Joss Whedon’s book and seen that Kitty is the perfect foil and friend to have Frost bounce and rub up against. Hmmm, that sounded like I was going off on a sexy tangent there; must be too much exposure to Greg Land’s pencils in recent months!
But wait, there’s even more!!! Artistic supremo Chris Bachalo is back and getting stuck into Victor Gischler’s X-Men #7 and I cannot wait! Gischler did a superb job with the vampire-filled first arc but now he gets a chance to move the X-Men out of San Francisco as Cyclops decides it’s time to get pro-active once again - honestly, it’s all he seems to have been doing for the past few years - and send his team into the field when no-one else is qualified to handle the job. This particular time it means that Bachalo gets to not only draw the mutants that he handles so very well but also his most recent success in The Lizard as the X-Men head to New York to deal with a threat below the streets of the Big Apple. I’ve been counting the days since I heard about this several months ago and I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on this comic on Wednesday.
Wow, a little Marvel-centric for the most part so far but the other publishers out there have offerings that I’ll be handing over my cash for. Scott Snyder has a busy old time of it this week with both Detective Comics #873 and American Vampire #11 hitting shelves and I will be hard pressed to pick which one of his titles I should read first. He and Jock have been turning the ‘creepy’ dial up several notches with Detective Comics as Dick Grayson finds himself outnumbered and quite possibly ‘out to tender’ as he’s besieged by the patrons of a fiendish auction house in the dark depths of Gotham’s underbelly. That last issue with the whole weird gas-mask motif was really quite chilling and ensures that this week’s issue is a must read. AV has also been hitting those high notes of comic quality in recent months - heck, through the whole run really - and I can only imagine what sort of heartbreak we could be in store for as Pearl and Henry have to fight off a bloodthirsty Vampire gang.
Oni Press have The Sixth Gun #8 out this week and I breathed a heavy sigh of relief last month when the start of the new story carried on the great Wild West supernatural feel that the first six issues had delivered. Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt have crafted themselves an intriguing world filled with rounded yet flawed characters and you should certainly be looking here if you’re in the mood for something new. When it comes to older things there’s always G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #162 which has things being turned upside down as the brainwashed Snake Eyes ends up working for Cobra while his ninja nemesis Storm Shadow has defected to the Joes! Larry Hama is the real deal when it comes to all things G.I. Joe and bringing him back along with this trusty title was one of IDW’s big wins in 2010 and I reckon it’s a decision that will keep paying dividends through 2011!
Stewart R: Wow! A year already? Has it gone that quickly? Oh yes ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 52nd instalment of Incoming... which marks the year anniversary of when I first decided to start taking a little look at my pull-list and sharing odd thoughts and hopes about what was coming out that week. Well I can tell you right now, this is one heck of a Wednesday to celebrate the 1st birthday!Top of the pile for me as I imagine it will be for quite a few of you as well will of course be the title of the week and certainly the first big comic story for 2011. Fantastic Four #587 is here and while it may already have found its way into some of your willing arms on Tuesday you can bet that over the course of the coming days thousands of people will be grabbing a copy to find out just who Jonathan Hickman has decided must meet a premature and heroic end. I’ll say right here that Fantastic Four has never been a comic that I’ve been drawn to - always coming across in my mind as a light and airy team book where I’d rather be getting some gritty, desperate action in an X-Men comic or other sci-fi alternative - but it is an important title in Marvel’s roster and I’ve obviously experience, and a little affinity for, the characters from the various crossover and all encompassing events that they’ve appeared in. Matt C’s review and the fairly large internet buzz has convinced me that this issue at least needs to be added to my list as an important character meets their end. *sniff*
Only one mention of the X-Men so far but it seems that Marvel are going absolutely X-potty this week with no fewer than 11 titles dedicated to mutants of one variety or another which you have to say is a just a touch of overkill. I myself am picking up only 3 and avoiding the new heavy hitter in Age of X: Alpha as I never picked up The Age of Apocalypse. Mike Carey is a pretty darn decent X-writer (and the one man who seems to get and know how to use Bobby Drake to his full potential in my opinion) but I'm not the biggest fan of alternate reality stuff when it comes to the big characters and teams of Marvel’s canon it has to be said. I will of course be picking up the one comic currently looking at Apocalypse in the current reality , Uncanny X-Force #4, which will mark the end of a highly enjoyable first arc from Rick Remender and Jerome Opena. This has been a total revelation and a complete success so far and I seriously doubt that this final chapter to the arc will be anything less that X-cellent!
Uncanny X-Men #532 also makes the list with Matt Fraction, Kieron Gillen and *gulp* yes, Greg Land doing a decent job of throwing Cyclops and Co into Quarantine as the flu-like symptoms persist on Utopia and the secretive Sublime Corporation throw their own X-Men wannabes into heroic action. That plot thread is interesting in itself but whisking Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde and Fantomex off on a little jaunt to deal with the huge, conniving form of Sebastien Shaw is where the draw is going to be for me this week. Watching Emma try to fix the transgressions of her villainous past is enthralling at the best of times but it seems that Fraction and Gillen have taken a leaf out of Joss Whedon’s book and seen that Kitty is the perfect foil and friend to have Frost bounce and rub up against. Hmmm, that sounded like I was going off on a sexy tangent there; must be too much exposure to Greg Land’s pencils in recent months!But wait, there’s even more!!! Artistic supremo Chris Bachalo is back and getting stuck into Victor Gischler’s X-Men #7 and I cannot wait! Gischler did a superb job with the vampire-filled first arc but now he gets a chance to move the X-Men out of San Francisco as Cyclops decides it’s time to get pro-active once again - honestly, it’s all he seems to have been doing for the past few years - and send his team into the field when no-one else is qualified to handle the job. This particular time it means that Bachalo gets to not only draw the mutants that he handles so very well but also his most recent success in The Lizard as the X-Men head to New York to deal with a threat below the streets of the Big Apple. I’ve been counting the days since I heard about this several months ago and I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on this comic on Wednesday.
Wow, a little Marvel-centric for the most part so far but the other publishers out there have offerings that I’ll be handing over my cash for. Scott Snyder has a busy old time of it this week with both Detective Comics #873 and American Vampire #11 hitting shelves and I will be hard pressed to pick which one of his titles I should read first. He and Jock have been turning the ‘creepy’ dial up several notches with Detective Comics as Dick Grayson finds himself outnumbered and quite possibly ‘out to tender’ as he’s besieged by the patrons of a fiendish auction house in the dark depths of Gotham’s underbelly. That last issue with the whole weird gas-mask motif was really quite chilling and ensures that this week’s issue is a must read. AV has also been hitting those high notes of comic quality in recent months - heck, through the whole run really - and I can only imagine what sort of heartbreak we could be in store for as Pearl and Henry have to fight off a bloodthirsty Vampire gang.
Oni Press have The Sixth Gun #8 out this week and I breathed a heavy sigh of relief last month when the start of the new story carried on the great Wild West supernatural feel that the first six issues had delivered. Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt have crafted themselves an intriguing world filled with rounded yet flawed characters and you should certainly be looking here if you’re in the mood for something new. When it comes to older things there’s always G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #162 which has things being turned upside down as the brainwashed Snake Eyes ends up working for Cobra while his ninja nemesis Storm Shadow has defected to the Joes! Larry Hama is the real deal when it comes to all things G.I. Joe and bringing him back along with this trusty title was one of IDW’s big wins in 2010 and I reckon it’s a decision that will keep paying dividends through 2011!
1 comment:
Wow indeed. One year? Time certainly flies. Keep up the good work it's always a good read and really appreciated.
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