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: Wowsers! Where did that month go? We’ve had four Wednesdays fly past since Flashpoint #5 and Justcie League #1 came out and now we’ve only one more week of brand new DC #1s before we start analysing the battlefields that are our pull-lists, or the shelves of our friendly neighbourhood comic book store, and start to decide if there’s room for all those comic books to sit happily side-by-side. I’ve made things a little easier for myself this week by only showing interest in two of the thirteen titles that DC are offering up, and even then they’re titles that I’m merely ‘interested’ in rather than ‘excited’ by.
I’ve little desire to pick up Flash #1, Superman #1 or Savage Hawkman #1 at this time; these prime DC characters don't seem to scream out at me to buy, buy, BUY when it comes to their individual titles. Aquaman #1 on the other hand is going to sit on the periphery, waiting while I see if my fellow Paradox Comics chums give it the thumbs up of approval. The Geoff Johns / Ivan Reis combination is certainly a good move but I just want to ascertain if having a good working knowledge of Brightest Day is going to make it a better reading experience should it prove to be a winner. Having picked issues of BD off the shelf for an occasional flick through over the past 18 months, it certainly seemed that Aquaman and his enemies were given a (sea)lion’s share of the page count as the series progressed.
Green Lantern: New Guardians #1 wasn’t going to make my pull-list when it was announced as I’d started to have doubts about the Tony Bedard and Tyler Kirkham partnership, but a solid rounding off of his work on Green Lantern Corps has seen me warm to Bedard’s writing talents and I’m intrigued to see where this title might take us, and how quickly it could get us there! The idea of several different alien races, with differing allegiances, not to mention a handful of them carrying grudges might come together to sculpt out a future for the Universe. Bedard's characterisation of Kyle Rayner will be all important as I was unconvinced by his depiction during the Weaponer arc. With Kirkham on pencils and BATT once again picking up the inking duties, I just have to hope that their combined style matures and edges away from the jarring, jagged art that distracted my enjoyment of later Green Lantern Corps issues.
The ‘other’ DC title lurking in the shadows, waiting to leap out once I’ve handed over the $2.99 for it is David Finch’s Batman: The Dark Knight #1. It is something of a poor show that this is the second #1 for this title within the space of just over a year but needs must I guess, and a publisher-wide relaunch waits for no man, or book. The premise for the new arc seems entertaining enough as the inmates of Arkham Asylum are subjected to a monstrous transformation that makes them a far deadlier prospect to tackle than ever before... and they’re all loose at the same time! The initial solicitation also promises that the ‘legal ramifications’ of Batman Incorporated will be looked at which shows that this is not a title standing out there on it’s own like the previous incarnation appeared to. With Paul Jenkins coming in to help with the scripting process we should hopefully get this title appearing in our hands on a more regular basis than when Finch was tackling the writing AND art.
It seems like it’s been a while but Marvel are a company that can sling the odd #1 at a reading audience and this Wednesday they’ll be doing it with two very different titles. Abnett and Lanning get the opportunity to go all ‘cosmic’ at us once again in Annihilators: Earthfall #1 as the recently formed team of powerhouses - Quasar, Beta Ray Bill, Gladiator, Ronan The Accuser and the newcomer, Ikon - head to Earth on some yet unrevealed quest of galactic importance and come face to face with the planet’s mightiest heroes. I’m really looking forward to the impending clashes of perspectives and fists and to see if my slight criticisms of artist Tan Eng Huat’s style on the last Annihilators miniseries were perhaps misplaced. Oh yes, and there's to be five pages of dedicated Rocket Raccoon and Groot action in the back of each issue which can only be a good thing!
On the other side of the Marvel fence, at their Icon imprint, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagely - arguably the most successful creative comic partnership seen so far this century - have come up with a new creator-owned comic. Brilliant #1 is set in a world where superheroes only exist in fiction, but a small group of college friends set about trying to unlock the super-powered potential in anyone and may well succeed. Bendis has already impressed with his other recent creator owned project in the form of Scarlet (which has now evidently taken an unfortunate backseat to his commitments to... ugh... Moon Knight) and I’m hopeful that this series will yield another positive result. It certainly seems to me that he produces some of his better work when steering away from the standard superhero fare and I’m also keen to see what Bagely can produce in that respect too.
Just doing the quick final survey of the week’s must-buys it seems that there’s quite a few titles looking back into the ripples of the past couple of centuries for their storytelling inspiration. Ed Brubaker’s Captain America and Bucky #622 is looking likely to be another window into the (fictionally amended) battlefields of World War II, Sixth Gun #15 by Cullen Bunn is courting with that late 19th Century, Wild West locale and Scott Snyder’s American Vampire #19 is going even further back to the turn of the 1800s to explore the childhood of Skinner Sweet and his earliest experiences with vampirism. Fair enough, it’s all history with a twist but a delicious, tempting twist I’m sure many of you would agree! C’mon, who’s excited about their visit to the local comic book store this week?
Stewart R: Wowsers! Where did that month go? We’ve had four Wednesdays fly past since Flashpoint #5 and Justcie League #1 came out and now we’ve only one more week of brand new DC #1s before we start analysing the battlefields that are our pull-lists, or the shelves of our friendly neighbourhood comic book store, and start to decide if there’s room for all those comic books to sit happily side-by-side. I’ve made things a little easier for myself this week by only showing interest in two of the thirteen titles that DC are offering up, and even then they’re titles that I’m merely ‘interested’ in rather than ‘excited’ by.I’ve little desire to pick up Flash #1, Superman #1 or Savage Hawkman #1 at this time; these prime DC characters don't seem to scream out at me to buy, buy, BUY when it comes to their individual titles. Aquaman #1 on the other hand is going to sit on the periphery, waiting while I see if my fellow Paradox Comics chums give it the thumbs up of approval. The Geoff Johns / Ivan Reis combination is certainly a good move but I just want to ascertain if having a good working knowledge of Brightest Day is going to make it a better reading experience should it prove to be a winner. Having picked issues of BD off the shelf for an occasional flick through over the past 18 months, it certainly seemed that Aquaman and his enemies were given a (sea)lion’s share of the page count as the series progressed.
Green Lantern: New Guardians #1 wasn’t going to make my pull-list when it was announced as I’d started to have doubts about the Tony Bedard and Tyler Kirkham partnership, but a solid rounding off of his work on Green Lantern Corps has seen me warm to Bedard’s writing talents and I’m intrigued to see where this title might take us, and how quickly it could get us there! The idea of several different alien races, with differing allegiances, not to mention a handful of them carrying grudges might come together to sculpt out a future for the Universe. Bedard's characterisation of Kyle Rayner will be all important as I was unconvinced by his depiction during the Weaponer arc. With Kirkham on pencils and BATT once again picking up the inking duties, I just have to hope that their combined style matures and edges away from the jarring, jagged art that distracted my enjoyment of later Green Lantern Corps issues.
The ‘other’ DC title lurking in the shadows, waiting to leap out once I’ve handed over the $2.99 for it is David Finch’s Batman: The Dark Knight #1. It is something of a poor show that this is the second #1 for this title within the space of just over a year but needs must I guess, and a publisher-wide relaunch waits for no man, or book. The premise for the new arc seems entertaining enough as the inmates of Arkham Asylum are subjected to a monstrous transformation that makes them a far deadlier prospect to tackle than ever before... and they’re all loose at the same time! The initial solicitation also promises that the ‘legal ramifications’ of Batman Incorporated will be looked at which shows that this is not a title standing out there on it’s own like the previous incarnation appeared to. With Paul Jenkins coming in to help with the scripting process we should hopefully get this title appearing in our hands on a more regular basis than when Finch was tackling the writing AND art.It seems like it’s been a while but Marvel are a company that can sling the odd #1 at a reading audience and this Wednesday they’ll be doing it with two very different titles. Abnett and Lanning get the opportunity to go all ‘cosmic’ at us once again in Annihilators: Earthfall #1 as the recently formed team of powerhouses - Quasar, Beta Ray Bill, Gladiator, Ronan The Accuser and the newcomer, Ikon - head to Earth on some yet unrevealed quest of galactic importance and come face to face with the planet’s mightiest heroes. I’m really looking forward to the impending clashes of perspectives and fists and to see if my slight criticisms of artist Tan Eng Huat’s style on the last Annihilators miniseries were perhaps misplaced. Oh yes, and there's to be five pages of dedicated Rocket Raccoon and Groot action in the back of each issue which can only be a good thing!
On the other side of the Marvel fence, at their Icon imprint, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagely - arguably the most successful creative comic partnership seen so far this century - have come up with a new creator-owned comic. Brilliant #1 is set in a world where superheroes only exist in fiction, but a small group of college friends set about trying to unlock the super-powered potential in anyone and may well succeed. Bendis has already impressed with his other recent creator owned project in the form of Scarlet (which has now evidently taken an unfortunate backseat to his commitments to... ugh... Moon Knight) and I’m hopeful that this series will yield another positive result. It certainly seems to me that he produces some of his better work when steering away from the standard superhero fare and I’m also keen to see what Bagely can produce in that respect too.
Just doing the quick final survey of the week’s must-buys it seems that there’s quite a few titles looking back into the ripples of the past couple of centuries for their storytelling inspiration. Ed Brubaker’s Captain America and Bucky #622 is looking likely to be another window into the (fictionally amended) battlefields of World War II, Sixth Gun #15 by Cullen Bunn is courting with that late 19th Century, Wild West locale and Scott Snyder’s American Vampire #19 is going even further back to the turn of the 1800s to explore the childhood of Skinner Sweet and his earliest experiences with vampirism. Fair enough, it’s all history with a twist but a delicious, tempting twist I’m sure many of you would agree! C’mon, who’s excited about their visit to the local comic book store this week?
3 comments:
Your picking up some cool comics this week Stewart,did you finally pick up Frankenstein and if so what did you think of it and did anyone pick up The Bionic Man as I'd like too know what you guys thought of that one.
i'm done with the Annihilators books. i can't stand the RR back up story and i'm fed up for having to pay for something i don't want to read.
That's fair enough David, it was the same for many people with Captain America a year or so ago with the Nomad back-up. As it stands I'm glad that I'm getting 5 pages of Rocket Raccoon rather than 5 pages of adverts for other titles (admittedly I do have a soft spot for RR!). I doubt the book, being a Marvel mini-series, would ever be priced at $2.99 so to that end I'm happy with what they're putting out.
So if you're stopping with Annihilators, are there any other titles that you'll be looking to pick up with the money?
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