ON THE SHELF THIS WEEK
by Craig Reade

DARK HORSE
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Conan #23, $2.99. Written by Kurt Busiek, Art by Greg Ruth. Another flashback into Conan’s formative years. This time Busiek takes us to a ten year old Conan who has taken ill, and struggles to prove himself worthy after the disease makes him weak. It’s been two years now and this book still remains one of the best non-hero books on the market today. This is a great time for a new reader to finally see what the buzz is about. 32 Pages.

Goon #15, $2.99. By Eric Powell. Awards don’t always mean much, but in this case, it really deserves mention. The Goon snagged Eisner’s this year for best ongoing series AND best humor publication. And they are honors well deserved. The Goon is a great title that perfectly balances the humor with a compelling story. Your local comic shop probably still has a few copies of the recent quarter issue – pick it up and give it a read. Worst that happens is you lose a quarter. Chances are you will be plunking down a bit more to catch up on this book after you sample it though. It really is that good. 32 Pages.

Kong 8th Wonder World Movie Adaptation #1 (Of 3), $3.99. Written by Christian Gossett, Art by Dustin Weaver. A movie adaptation comic coming out after the movie? That is almost unheard of these days! Seems a little silly here though, since this story has been spoiled for nearly 80 years, so releasing it before the picture came out really wouldn’t be giving anything away. Still, this is perfect timing for an adaptation, and it is nice to see it. Haven’t seen the movie yet, but the buzz I have heard says that is is best describes as exhausting. Might be a good thing in this case. 40 Pages.

DC COMICS
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Adventures Of Superman #647, $2.50. Written by Greg Rucka, Art and cover by Karl Kerschl. This issue marks the climax of the battle between Superman and Ruin. Next month it looks like there will be something of a filler issue (well packaged though, for a filler), followed by the “This Is Your Life, Superman” crossover. Then OYL begins. A busy time on this book into next year. After that, a needed trimming down to two main Superman books – Action Comics and Superman. Some die hard Superman fans might be disappointed at this news, but keep in mind that sometimes you get better quality if you put out less. I will take less of anything if it will be better for it. 32 Pages.

Batgirl #71, $2.50. Written by Andersen Gabrych, Art by Pop Mhan and Jesse Delperdang. The clock is ticking on this title, but most probably not the character. The general opinion is that this title will be replaced with Batwoman, though who will be behind the mask is something of a mystery. Cass won’t be going anywhere though, at least I hope not. The character has come a long way, and there is still a lot left to explore with her. 32 Pages.

Batman Gotham Knights #72, $2.50. Written by A.J. Lieberman; Art by Al Barrionuevo and Bit. It probably would be redundant to say at this point that I just haven’t been a fan of Lieberman’s work on this title. This book is set to end with issue #74, and the rumor is that this book will be cancelled along with Legends to make way for a Classified-type book, but that hasn’t come down yet. Time will tell on that one. 32 Pages.

Batman Journey Into Knight #5 (Of 12), $2.50. Written by Andrew Helfer; Art by Tan Eng Huat. Seems like this one is turning out to be not much more than a regular, run-of-the-mill Batman mini. Which isn’t so bad, if you are the type of person who gets every Bat-title every month, and craves even more, this will suit you just fine. For the rest of us though, this kind of blends into the long list of similar bat minis. 32 Pages.

Birds Of Prey #89, $2.50. Written by Gail Simone, Art by Joe Bennett and Jack Jadson. The best part of this story is how logical it is. Calculator is clearly inspired by Oracle, and a showdown between these two is a natural Infinite Crisis confrontation. 32 Pages.

Flash #229, $2.50. Written by Joey Cavalieri, Art by Val Semeiks and Livesay. Second to last issue for this run of the Flash, and sadly it seems to be going out with a wimper. You have to wonder why Johns decided to drop out so soon, instead of seeing this volume through to the very end. DC had to know it was getting the axe, and it would have made way more sense to have him carry the title to the end, rather than have a lackluster hodgepodge of arcs carry through until the eventual relaunch. Post-Crisis II is probably a huge logistical nightmare, though, so things like this were bound to happen. 32 Pages.

Green Lantern #6, $2.99. Written by Geoff Johns, Art by Ethan Van Sciver. Probably my biggest complaint about this title was the fact that it seemed like Kyle Rayner was being shoved into the background. He is still popping up in the Corps book, but that is a mini, and after that, who knows where he would end up? For the longest time, it seemed like they might even actually kill him – and that would have been a disservice. Now, from the looks of things, his character is about to take a huge step forward in the wake of Infinite Crisis, and that is excellent news. Johns’s new run on Green Lantern is entertaining, but not quite good enough to totally drop Kyle Rayner out of the picture for. 32 Pages.
Also Available – Green Lantern Corps Recharge #3 (Of 6), $2.99.

Hellblazer #215, $2.75. Written by Mike Carey; Art by Leonardo Manco. Well then, I must be sleeping, because somehow I let the news that this will be Mike Carey’s final issue on this book. Next month novelist Denis Mina will be taking over for at least the next seven issue arc. Hopefully she will do well by all of the readers who have stuck with Mike Carey this long. 32 Pages.

Infinite Crisis #3 (Of 7), $3.99. Written by Geoff Johns, Art by Phil Jimenez and Andy Lanning. Another wow – seems like it has been forever for this issue, doesn’t it? But it is right on time, thankfully. If this one started to come out late, there might be violence! In any case, this is one I am just going to sit back and enjoy. You are either already reading this, or are never going to read it, and it is useless to try and convince you otherwise! 40 Pages.

JSA Classified #6, $2.50. Written by Jen Van Meter; Art by Patrick Oliffe and Ruy Jose. As good as the main JSA book is; this one is better. Mostly because it is so accessible. The JSA is a storied team made up of fairly obscure characters to a newer DC reader. What Marvel Zombie do you know who knows who Doctor Fate is? JSA Classified eases you into these characters, where JSA assumes you already know who they are. This whole Classified concept is a great move on the part of DC. Can’t wait to see how the Batman and Superman ones turn out. 32 Pages.

Justice #3 (Of 12), $3.50. Written by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger, Art by Doug Braithwaite and Alex Ross. I should probably be up front about this – Earth X bored me to tears. The follow-ups were even worse for me. Those books seemed to be to epitomize undeserved praise. The painted art was a novelty, yes, but the stories were completely uninteresting. I picked up Justice hoping it would be different. Unfortunately, it lost my interest about as fast. Different strokes, it would seem. This kind of thing just isn’t for me. 40 Pages.

Manhunter #17, $2.50. Written by Marc Andreyko; Art by Javier Pina and Fernando Blanco. Are you reading this yet? Probably not, it is was overshadowed by Infinite Crisis at this point. Shame, but it doesn’t look like the title is going anywhere soon. Some of the DCU books are being streamlined, like Batman: Gotham Knights, perhaps that will be an ideal time for a few new readers with room on their list to give this book a shot. One of the biggest sleepers in the DC line-up. 32 Pages.

Plastic Man Vol 2 Rubber Bandits TPB, $14.99. By Kyle Baker. Yes, this title ends with 20. It doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this if you haven’t read it yet. The whole continuity arc was a riot, something every JLA fan should take a look at. This trade collects Plastic Man #8-11 and #13-14, two bits of an entire series that is an absolute must-read. 144 Pages.

Powerpuff Girls #69, $2.25. Written by John Rozum, Art by Ricardo Garcia-Fuentes and Mike DeCarlo. Everyone is talking about all of the huge cancellations in the wake of Infinite Crisis. Wonder Woman, Gotham Central, The Flash… but no one is talking about Powerpuff Girls! This is the last original issue of the series, issue #70 being a reprint of the very first Powerpuff Girls issue, and that’s it. This is a shame – Johnny DC is a solid all-ages line, and will survive the loss, but this concept was far from played out. Hopefully there will be some new Powerpuff Girls stories appearing on occasion in the Block Party anthology. 32 Pages.

Robin #145, $2.50. Written by Bill Willingham; Art and cover by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens. March will be a big one on this book. Not only is there a new writer coming aboard (Willingham is departing! No!!), but Robin has something of a new look. What’s up with the Bat-cape? I surely hope there is something to read into that, because it is hideous! Looks like this will all be happening just in time for Willingham to wrap up what has been another outstanding arc. He will be missed, but since he is going to do a Shadowpact book, there isn’t that much cause to complain. 32 Pages.

Seven Soldiers Bulleteer #2 (Of 4), $2.99. Written by Grant Morrison, Art and cover by Yanick Paquette and Serge LaPointe. Ah, just what this run didn’t need – a reference to that abysmal #0 issue. Still, it was necessary, and it isn’t being handled too badly. And finally there looks like some serious cohesion between the books, which only means good thing for this line. Can’t wait to see how it finally wraps up. 32 Pages.

Testament #1, $2.99. Written by Douglas Rushkoff, Art and cover by Liam Sharp. Vertigo is playing up the controversial nature of this title as its main selling point. Considering the religious nature of the book, you would expect that it would set off some sparks. Enjoying things that intelligently and thoughtfully challenge religious conventions, I eagerly checked out the preview pages Vertigo posted online. What I found wasn’t so much a religious offense, but the few preview pages posted sure seemed to go out of their way to be politically inflammatory. So instead of getting a taste of philosophical mind-food, I got treated to a nice dose of propaganda and soap-boxing. If the preview was this bad, how will the rest of the series be? Maybe it was an anomaly, but if the pages meant to sell someone on the series focused on a pretty obnoxious session of political proselytizing, it doesn’t give a whole lot of credibility to that “Intelligently and thoughtfully” bit I m entioned before for the rest of the book. Shame: this one sounded good too. 32 Pages.

IMAGE
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Image First TPB, $6.99. Written by Robert Kirkman, Joshua Luna, and Rick Remender, Art by Kieron Dwyer, Jonathan Luna, Tony Moore, Eric Nguyen, and Salgood Sam. It worked for Vertigo, why not Image? This extremely reasonably priced trade collects the first issues of The Walking Dead, Sea of Red, Strange Girl, and Girls. A great sampling of some of the best Image books on the market right now – pick it up if you are looking to expand your comic horizons a bit. 96 Pages.

Intimidators #1, $3.50. Written by Neil Kleid, Art by Miguel Montenegro. Wow – not sure what to make of this series. It looks like a bit of comedy, the protagonist is a sixties hero who travels to modern times and must team with a group of heroes who horrify him to save the country. There is bound to be some good humor in this, but it doesn’t seem to be a total comedy book. 32 Pages.

PVP #21, $2.99. By Scott Kurtz. This issue focuses primarily on the gang’s forays into table top gaming, a constant source of entertaining PvP webstrips many times in the past. As enjoyable as this comic is, it is sometimes a downer to read, since it is usually at least 90% retreads of old content. Still enjoyable to read in book form though, a big reason I have continued to pick this title up ever since it first came out. A good buy if you are looking for a comedy title. 32 Pages.

Shadowhawk #8, $3.50. Written by Scott Wherle, Art by Carlos Rodriguez. It is extremely frustrating to talk about this title right now. The first six issues were outstanding. A solid super hero title, and still a somewhat fresh hero. The Blacklight series soon followed, only to get the axe a couple short issues into it. Then, for some reason, a drastic artist change occurred with Rodriguez talking over the chores last issue. Now his art is good, don’t get me wrong, but Shadowhawk #6 was a perfect illustration of why it is imperative that an artistic style match the tone and theme of a comic. His art with this story is a horrible mismatch, and personally killed the title for me. It stopped being a fun, action packed superhero story. Instead the art seemed to try to turn this book into a deep, complex character study about a dark and tortured protagonist, something Shadowhawk is not. Rodriguez is a fine artist, but the best thing Valentino could do for this book right now is to backtrack and get a more conventional comic artist to take over. Please! 32 Pages.

MARVEL
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Book Of Lost Souls #3, $2.99. Written by J. Michael Straczynski, Art by Colleen Doran. Boy – it is great to see Colleen Doran’s work on this book. Shame the excessive ads totally distract from the art! Now don’t get me wrong – I am not one that will demonize advertising in comics. It is necessary, and even quite good for the industry. And ads in the middle of the book are perfectly fine. But a few uninterrupted pages of art and story isn’t really too much to ask. When you have more ad pages than you have actual product, the book stops being literature and becomes something much less. Not asking Marvel to stop the ads all together, but dialing it back a notch in these ICON books might be a good thing. 32 Pages.

Captain America #13, $2.99.. Written by Ed Brubaker, Art by Steve Epting. Is it just me, or are the solicits using the word “penultimate” a lot less these days? Thank goodness! Not that there is anything wrong with the word, but when it gets used over and over and over again, it loses its punch, you know? Instead, the outstanding Winter Soldier arc is “rocketing towards its conclusion,” which, of course, pretty much means the same thing, but it doesn’t make you want to bang your head against a wall. Bravo Marvel! 32 Pages.

Daughters Of The Dragon Deadly Hands, $3.99. Written by Chris Claremont, Art by Marshall Rogers. Looks like a reprint of old material, but there is a good chance that most readers these days will have never heard of this story before. So it is a well timed release! This issue reprints stories from Bizarre Adventures #25 and Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #32-33. Should be worth a peak if you are into obscure classic comics. 80 Pages.

Fantastic Four #533, $2.99. Written by J. Michael Straczynski, Art by Mike McKone. This issue looks like it will be pretty action packed, guest starring the Hulk, who looks to be going after Hydra in the Nevada desert. That is promising on its own – any time there is a chance for a good old-fashioned Hulk/Thing fight, it is worth taking a peak. 32 Pages.
Also Available – Fantastic Four By J. Michael Straczynski Vol 1 Premiere HC, $19.99 (Collects Fantastic Four #527-532).

Generation M #2 (Of 5), $2.99. Written by Paul Jenkins, Art by Ramon Bachs. So far, the follow ups to House of M seem to be more entertaining than the event itself. In a way, that isn’t such a bad thing. The mutant universe was a bit of a wreck, and Marvel had a tough task with the transition. But then, a lot of the problems people had with House of M was the storytelling style – many felt it was a bit too inflated and that hurt the story. These stories are a little more down to earth, and much closer to the level of import that they should be at. That is probably contributing in a big way to the higher quality these minis seem to have. 32 Pages.

Incredible Hulk #90, $2.99. Written by Daniel Way, Art by Juan Roman Cano Santacruz. Hulk in space always seemed like a poor fit to me. But that is where this arc is heading – right to the big Planet Hulk event next year. Regardless, Way is off to a good start here, and things aren’t nearly as cheese-ball as they could be. It is kind of nice not to have creator controversy hovering around this book for a change! 32 Pages.

Iron Man The Inevitable #1 (Of 6), $2.99. Written by Joe Casey, Art by Frazer Irving. Hey! A new Iron Man mini. Neat! Will it be any good? Tough to say, of course, it is just getting started. Irving is fresh off his Klarion mini, which had a really unique but outstanding look. It will be interesting to see how that style plays out with an Iron Man story. 32 pages.

Marvel Spotlight John Cassaday/Sean Mckeever, $2.99. This is a pretty good idea, but the lack of story might lead to its failing. It is great to spotlight creators, they do a lot of hard work and deserve the expose, but sketches, scripts, and interviews seem more like extra features, not the main draw. Still – it is something different, and it could be really interesting. Well worth a look. 32 Pages.

New X-Men Academy X Vol 3 X-Posed TPB, $14.99. Written by Nunzio Defilippis and Christina Weir, Art by Michael Ryan, Paco Medina, and George Jeanty. If you are one that likes to check out different trades and you didn’t get a chance to sample Weir and Defilippis’s New X-Men, you should give this one a look. It has a few short stories in it, collecting New X-Men #12-15 and the Yearbook Special. This had a very classic X-Men feel to it, and is a good alternative if you don’t really like what we have been getting in Uncanny lately. 120 Pages.

Punisher Vs Bullseye #2 (Of 5), $2.99. Written by Daniel Way, Art by Steve Dillon. So far pretty good on this mini. Marvel sure has been putting out a lot more titles these days that fit into the light and humorous category, and that is actually resulting in a decent increase in quality. Maybe Marvel has the right idea here? 32 Pages.

Runaways #11, $2.99. Written by Brian K. Vaughan, Art by Adrian Alphona. It was only a matter of time before Spider-Man popped up in this title. It might result in a spike in sales, but personally I never bought that line of marketing. This title continues to be a pretty solid and very original book by Marvel standards – there is bound to be a lot of you out there who might really enjoy this book who still haven’t given it a shot. A Spider-Man guest shot is an ideal time to sample the title though, so check it out! 32 Pages.

Spider-Woman Origin #1 (Of 5), $2.99. Written by Brian Reed and Brian Michael Bendis, Art by Jonathan Luna. Personally, I am picking up this series for one reason – Jonathan Luna. Luna made a splash along with his brother in the highly-touted-by-me-among-others Ultra series, and their equally impressive follow-up Girls over at Image. It is going to be a treat to see how his style translates to the Superhero genre. Plus it will be nice to finally have a coherent origin for Spider-Woman, but that is just a little bonus. Worth checking out. 32 Pages.

Supreme Power Hyperion #3 (Of 5), $2.99. Written by J. Michael Straczynski, Art by Dan Jurgens. Basically, with these Supreme Power minis, you either are a fan of the series, and will enjoy the fresh perspective, or otherwise you should probably steer clear. You can bet these will appear in trade format soon, so if you missed out, there will be a second chance. 32 Pages.

Ultimate Wolverine Vs Hulk #1 (Of 6), $2.99. Written by Damon Lindelof, Art by Leinil Francis Yu. This series has a few big marketing pushes behind it. Firstly is the writer – Lindelof is the co creator of LOST, an extremely popular show that is bound to get this book some attention. Now I actually think people who work in the television and movie industry are a bit more qualified to write comics than novelists – writing prose is a far cry from working with scripts, and comic and TV scripts are extremely similar technically. And, of course, there is the confrontation, which will make for an interesting story. Can’t say how good or bad this will be until the issue comes out, but it is something that is worth a chance, especially if you are a fan of the Ultimate Universe. 32 Pages.

What If Fantastic Four, $2.99. Written by Mike Carey, Art by Marshall Rogers. This one seems like a bit of a tired idea – how often do we get What If style stories where the heroes were Soviets? Well, that is what happens here – the FF are cosmonauts, how would their story turn out differently? Good for Fantastic Four fans, but probably not the most original What If? outing. 32 Pages.

What If? Submariner, $2.99. Written by Greg Pak, Art by Keu Cha. This What If? issue might actually be pretty interesting. Instead of growing up in Atlantis, Namor grows up on land with his father, hating the Atlanteans for killing his mother. A good issue for Submariner and What If? fans. 32 Pages.

Craig’s Pick of the Week

Girls #8, $2.99, Image. Written by Joshua Luna, Art by Jonathan Luna. Once again – kind of pointless to pick the obvious Infinite Crisis issue, so why not spotlight another potentially outstanding issue that might be caught in TC’s shadow? This series turned out to be nothing like I thought it would be. Coming off of Ultra, I thought this would be another soap-opera type story. Instead it turned out to be something totally different. That unexpected twist made the book so much better, and it just keeps going. Really, if you haven’t checked this book out, you really should. 32 Pages.

NOTE: Opinions here may not reflect those of X-World Comics LLC or it’s staff and are solely the opinions of the writer.

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