New comics are released Wednesday in the States and guess what, in the UK too! Here's a brief look at our expectations for the books we're picking up this week.
Stewart R: There’s quite a lot to discuss this week so let’s jump straight in shall we?
It’s the last week for the ‘old guard’ of DC as the Wednesday where Flashpoint ends and the new 52 begins is now but 7 days away. Funnily enough I’m only picking up three, full-blood DC titles this week and they’re all relative new comers in the grand scheme of things. One of them will not be returning in September, one will be folded in amongst its peers and the other gets a fresh reboot and a new #1.
The one that is drawing to a proper and unfortunate end is John Rozum and Frazer Irving’s Xombi which reaches its conclusion today with #6. I was late to the party with this title and really wish that I could’ve done a better job at promoting it when I did find it - thanks to James R’s recommendation - as it really has been something special. David Kim is not your regular hero and the gang of comrades and supporters around him are not your run-of-the-mill teammates. In fact, everything about this book has something very special about it. The supernatural/paranormal settings and storyline have been brilliantly conveyed by Frazer Irving who really has turned my opinion of him around 180 degrees with his work on this and may even get me looking at his future works with a keener interest. At a time when DC is closely looking at its financial position and taking something of a large gamble, it’s understandable that some things had to face the axe, but when a few months have passed and certain titles may possibly be struggling - I’m looking at you Deathstroke, Demon Knights and OMAC! - I’ll be there cheering for the return of Xombi!
The title I mentioned that will be folded amongst its peers is Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors which ends at (unlucky for some) #13 but for all intents and purposes will return in a few weeks time as Green Lantern Corps as the original creative team of Peter J. Tomasi and Fernando Pasarin make the move, along with my favourite human Lantern, Guy Gardner, to that title. In the meantime we get the last of the rejigged creative rosters for the post-War of the Green Lanterns titles as DC’s solicitation has Pasarin touching pencil to paper for this issue when in actual fact Ron Frenz has been charged with that task now. The story is still written by Tomasi so I’ve every confidence that it’ll be an entertaining read, not least because it involves Guy having to team up with Batman and the two don’t often see eye to eye - though it hasn’t been made clear if it’s Bruce or Dick who’s wearing this particular cape today!
Of course we know it’s Bruce wearing his trademark pointy ears and utility belt in David Finch’s Batman: The Dark Knight #5! I have to say that while reading this series Batman has seemed a little secondary to the plot and other characters involved at times, much in the same way that he was during the Batman movies of the '80s and '90s, although under Finch’s hand the contents of each comic have looked sumptuous.
I also have to say that things were going well up to the introduction of demonic forces and then my attention did start to waver slightly; I prefer Batman to be fighting gangland bosses, hired goons and Killer Croc if the occasion calls for it - demons and the like are Zatanna’s bag. baby!
So what else is arriving in stores today? Well Mark Sable and Paul Azaceta’s Graveyard of Empires #2 finally hits the stands and I’m looking forward to seeing how the American soldiers fare against the uprising of zombie Afghans and fallen comrades that are headed their way! I expect we’ll see a siege mentality and fight for their lives as I also expect to see in Marksmen #2 when the The Duke and Deacon Glenn arrive at the walls of New San Diego with their horde of religious marauders! Seems like a week to batten down the hatches and get reading some Image comics!
Over at Marvel, Rob Williams wraps up the thoroughly entertaining Iron Age time travelling saga that has been unfolding these past few months with Iron Age: Omega #1. Will Tony Stark be able to salvage a hopeless situation where he appears stranded in the Hellfire Club at the dawn of the Dark Phoenix crisis, Dr Doom’s time machine crippled and the chances of him being able to prevent Dr Birch’s eventual destruction of the entire planet looking minuscule at this time? I have to thank Andy H for putting me on to this series and mistaking Tom P’s love of Rebekah Isaacs’ art for my own - she IS actually very good I’ll admit, though not pencilling here - as each instalment has been terrific fun to read and a delightful nostalgia-fest. It’ll be interesting to see how everything is wrapped up and whether this will well and truly sit as a standalone story - at this late stage Williams has the opportunity to end things any which way he chooses and edge this towards an alternate reality finale should he decide too. Oooh, the possibilities!
Zooming over the rest of this week’s comic drop like a Nato fighter buzzing a Gaddafi compound I have high hopes for Uncanny X-Force #13 as we reach the end of the team’s danger-infused trip to the Age of Apocalypse in search of the means to bring about Warren's salvation. Jonathan Hickman's FF #8 will hopefully edge away from the Inhuman interlude which has robbed the series of much of its impetus in recent months and get back to focusing on how Reed and his team of invited villains can avert the global disaster that the Reed's of various realities are threatening. And thanks to IDW my inner child of the '80s gets another treat as Mainframe and a couple of Joe scientists will get into a close quarters gun battle - and by the looks of the cover potentially lethal fistfight - with Firefly and Crystal Ball in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #169. Guilty pleasure a-go-go people!
Stewart R: There’s quite a lot to discuss this week so let’s jump straight in shall we?
It’s the last week for the ‘old guard’ of DC as the Wednesday where Flashpoint ends and the new 52 begins is now but 7 days away. Funnily enough I’m only picking up three, full-blood DC titles this week and they’re all relative new comers in the grand scheme of things. One of them will not be returning in September, one will be folded in amongst its peers and the other gets a fresh reboot and a new #1.
The one that is drawing to a proper and unfortunate end is John Rozum and Frazer Irving’s Xombi which reaches its conclusion today with #6. I was late to the party with this title and really wish that I could’ve done a better job at promoting it when I did find it - thanks to James R’s recommendation - as it really has been something special. David Kim is not your regular hero and the gang of comrades and supporters around him are not your run-of-the-mill teammates. In fact, everything about this book has something very special about it. The supernatural/paranormal settings and storyline have been brilliantly conveyed by Frazer Irving who really has turned my opinion of him around 180 degrees with his work on this and may even get me looking at his future works with a keener interest. At a time when DC is closely looking at its financial position and taking something of a large gamble, it’s understandable that some things had to face the axe, but when a few months have passed and certain titles may possibly be struggling - I’m looking at you Deathstroke, Demon Knights and OMAC! - I’ll be there cheering for the return of Xombi!
The title I mentioned that will be folded amongst its peers is Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors which ends at (unlucky for some) #13 but for all intents and purposes will return in a few weeks time as Green Lantern Corps as the original creative team of Peter J. Tomasi and Fernando Pasarin make the move, along with my favourite human Lantern, Guy Gardner, to that title. In the meantime we get the last of the rejigged creative rosters for the post-War of the Green Lanterns titles as DC’s solicitation has Pasarin touching pencil to paper for this issue when in actual fact Ron Frenz has been charged with that task now. The story is still written by Tomasi so I’ve every confidence that it’ll be an entertaining read, not least because it involves Guy having to team up with Batman and the two don’t often see eye to eye - though it hasn’t been made clear if it’s Bruce or Dick who’s wearing this particular cape today!
Of course we know it’s Bruce wearing his trademark pointy ears and utility belt in David Finch’s Batman: The Dark Knight #5! I have to say that while reading this series Batman has seemed a little secondary to the plot and other characters involved at times, much in the same way that he was during the Batman movies of the '80s and '90s, although under Finch’s hand the contents of each comic have looked sumptuous.
I also have to say that things were going well up to the introduction of demonic forces and then my attention did start to waver slightly; I prefer Batman to be fighting gangland bosses, hired goons and Killer Croc if the occasion calls for it - demons and the like are Zatanna’s bag. baby!
So what else is arriving in stores today? Well Mark Sable and Paul Azaceta’s Graveyard of Empires #2 finally hits the stands and I’m looking forward to seeing how the American soldiers fare against the uprising of zombie Afghans and fallen comrades that are headed their way! I expect we’ll see a siege mentality and fight for their lives as I also expect to see in Marksmen #2 when the The Duke and Deacon Glenn arrive at the walls of New San Diego with their horde of religious marauders! Seems like a week to batten down the hatches and get reading some Image comics!
Over at Marvel, Rob Williams wraps up the thoroughly entertaining Iron Age time travelling saga that has been unfolding these past few months with Iron Age: Omega #1. Will Tony Stark be able to salvage a hopeless situation where he appears stranded in the Hellfire Club at the dawn of the Dark Phoenix crisis, Dr Doom’s time machine crippled and the chances of him being able to prevent Dr Birch’s eventual destruction of the entire planet looking minuscule at this time? I have to thank Andy H for putting me on to this series and mistaking Tom P’s love of Rebekah Isaacs’ art for my own - she IS actually very good I’ll admit, though not pencilling here - as each instalment has been terrific fun to read and a delightful nostalgia-fest. It’ll be interesting to see how everything is wrapped up and whether this will well and truly sit as a standalone story - at this late stage Williams has the opportunity to end things any which way he chooses and edge this towards an alternate reality finale should he decide too. Oooh, the possibilities!
Zooming over the rest of this week’s comic drop like a Nato fighter buzzing a Gaddafi compound I have high hopes for Uncanny X-Force #13 as we reach the end of the team’s danger-infused trip to the Age of Apocalypse in search of the means to bring about Warren's salvation. Jonathan Hickman's FF #8 will hopefully edge away from the Inhuman interlude which has robbed the series of much of its impetus in recent months and get back to focusing on how Reed and his team of invited villains can avert the global disaster that the Reed's of various realities are threatening. And thanks to IDW my inner child of the '80s gets another treat as Mainframe and a couple of Joe scientists will get into a close quarters gun battle - and by the looks of the cover potentially lethal fistfight - with Firefly and Crystal Ball in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #169. Guilty pleasure a-go-go people!
3 comments:
Xombi won't ever return according to Rozum (I asked him on him blogspot) because of some deal with DC and McDuffie.
If I may...*ahem*....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Gutted. Dang it!
Soooo, Rebekah Isaacs DID pencil Iron Age: Omega #1! Thanks Marvel for slightly dodgy solicitation info again, making me think Alan Davis was the lead penciller! Bah!
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