18 Dec 2012

On The Pull 19/12/2012


New comics are due to hit the shelves on Wednesday so here’s a look ahead at some of the books we’ll be picking up this week. To see what’s available at Paradox this week, click here.

Stewart R: The Christmas madness comes but once a year... and when it does the comics madness breaks out as well! With Boxing Day falling on the Wednesday next week we’ll only be seeing a couple of titles hitting the shelves - Amazing Spider-Man #700 and Avenging Spider-Man #16.1 being the only ones that I know of (update: Brian Wood and Ming Doyle’s Mara #1 will also be out from Image - hooray!) - and so this coming Wednesday is a storm of illustrated paper, swirling around our heads, blinding us with tales of superpowers, otherworlds and a thousand possible futures as the publishers throw a huge amount of comic book temptation our way. Glorious isn’t it?

A massive 18 titles will be taking the journey home with me and while I am rubbing my hands together in anticipation at getting stuck into the many written wonders, part of me is very weary of the fact that at least three of the Marvel books coming out for their second bite of the readers’ disposable income are doing so just one to two weeks after their debuts.  While I was already aware that Jonathan Hickman and Jerome Opena’s Avengers book was going to be twice monthly, and I’m incredibly excited on the prospect of diving into Avengers #2 this week, having both Avengers Arena #2 and Cable And X-Force #2 turning up just 7 days after their respective first chapters seems a little off. After the craziness of Iron Man’s seemingly permanent presence on the delivery list week after week since it relaunched I guess I’m now hyper-aware of just how much money Marvel seem to want to suck out of me. I can feel myself getting close to breaking point with it soon, saying ‘no more’ and leaving promising titles on the shelf for those future times when they present themselves in longboxes at conventions. I suppose one way to look at the two aforementioned titles being out again so soon is that it potentially gives me the opportunity to make a snap decision as to whether I’ll continue with either into 2013.

Admittedly there will be two slots on my pull list freed up soon as Rick Remender’s runs on Secret Avengers and Uncanny X-Force both come to a close. Uncanny X-Force #35 signals the end for Wolverine’s black ops team and I imagine that this will be the first comic read this week for a lot of people out there, such is the level of praise that this superb title has received over the past couple of years. While there are still a few issues of Secret Avengers to go, #35 will continue with Hawkeye’s team separated, battered, bruised and one transformed against his will, and I’m looking forward to seeing just how bad things can get for the team before the creative baton is handed over. And speaking of creativity, it’s a crazy week over at Image as they try to get all their creator-owned wares out before the holiday season crashes in. Saga #8 is definitely the first thing I’ll read from this growing publishing house as Brian K.Vaughan and Fiona Staples just do such a fine job each and every time. I’m looking forward to seeing how Nowhere Men #2 expands on the mysterious introductory chapter and then I’ll be immersing myself once again into the dieselpunk world that Carbon Grey Vol 2 #2 is going to take me back to. Finally it appears that the scheduling bugs have been ironed out and Jonathan Ross and Bryan Hitch’s America’s Got Powers #4 makes it’s long awaited appearance... but is it too late??

Matt C: So where the heck is this week's issue of Iron Man then? Joking aside, a quick calculation of all the Marvel NOW! titles due out this week breaches the forty dollar mark, and that's not counting other Marvel books due out like Daredevil, Hawkeye or the finale of Uncanny X-Force. That's just ridiculous; even taking into account that we're getting only a handful of books next Wednesday (Boxing Day for my fellow countrymen) it just highlights what an insane publishing schedule Marvel are pushing ahead with at the moment. If I'm buying two issues of, say, Avengers and Thor: God Of Thunder each month, that leaves me with less spare cash to spend on other titles. Is that what Marvel really want? (Probably, yes, but I imagine they expect us to buy Marvel books with the rest of our funds rather than anything from Image, which ain't gonna happen!) But anyway, highlights on my pull-list this Wednesday are (unsurprisingly) the aforementioned Uncanny X-Force #35, Avengers #2, Thor: God Of Thunder #3 and Hawkeye #6 from Marvel, and Image once again give my wallet a battering with the likes of Saga #8 and Where Is Jake Ellis? #2, amongst others. Oh yeah, then there's Black Beetle: Night Shift #0 from Dark Horse, an untested property for me that I think will give an indication of whether the forthcoming miniseries from Francesco Francavilla is worthy of investment. An expensive week then. Again!

Tom P: I’m not sure I can handle this new Marvel release schedule! It's nuts! I'm dropping books just so I don't have to pay for them! So with that in mind I’m just going to highlight a few other things. Let’s start with Black Beetle: Night Shift #0 from Francesco Francavilla. I really dig his style and I love a bit of noir pulp. You might be aware of him from his work on Detective Comics with Scott Snyder and his terrific turn on Captain America And Bucky. Its only $2.99/£2.15, so c'mon, give it a go! Saga #8 is out! I love this book! As do you, fellow readers, as you voted it as Best New Title of 2012! Good taste you lot! Avengers #2 is a big highlight for me. With such a strong creative team it's hard to go wrong. I really enjoyed the change of direction in Captain America #2 and can't wait to see what happens to Steve next. Thor: God of Thunder #3 should continue to be awesome too. I'm sad that Uncanny X-Force #35 will see the end of this incarnation of  the team. I took a chance on the first issue when Paradox's Andy H tempted me with it a few years back as he knew I liked Rick Remender’s Dark Horse work and what a great ride it’s been. It reignited my love of X-Men comics. Surely the most definitive X-Men book of the last decade? It is for me.

1 comment:

walkeri said...

Some great titles your picking up there guys and I have to agree with you that Marvels publishing schedule is starting to do my head in and of course my bank account.
Do we really need so many of the same titles coming out so soon after the last one,but as long as we buy them Marvel are happy and for me I've picked up a stupid 24 Marvel titles this week and counting DC and Image that's 38 titles in one week,that's utter madness I tell you.