ON THE SHELF THIS WEEK
by Craig Reade

DARK HORSE
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Blade Of The Immortal #112, $2.99. By Hirokai Samura. The artwork on this series is something to behold. Samura has a handle on artistic storytelling that is often lacking in American Super-Hero comics, and it is refreshing to see it done so well on occasion. A good title to check out if you enjoy a good samurai story. 32 Pages.

DC COMICS
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100 Bullets #71, $2.75. Written by Brian Azzarello; Art by Eduardo Risso. The more you hear about this title, the more it seems to be the kind of story that needs to be read an arc at a time. Does this mean you should forgo reading the monthly issues, and just wait for the trade? Of course not. Some do, of course, but very few series can actually survive in a trade-only format, and if people aren’t reading the monthly… well, you know the math. Not that it is an issue with this title, though it is really, really hard for a new reader to jump aboard at this point. 32 Pages.

Albion #4 (Of 6), $2.99. Written by Leah Moore & John Reppion; Art by Shane Oakley & George Freeman. Boy – its been a good six months since the last issue. Is anyone but the die-hard Alan Moore fans even looking for this anymore? Another great example why isn’t such a bad idea to ask for all the issues of a mini to be handed in before you solicit it. In some cases, anyway. 32 Pages.

American Virgin #2, $2.99. Written by Steven T. Seagle, Art by Becky Cloonan. Kind of a creative effort from Vertigo, though possibly one without much hope of long term success. How many times can you have someone be tempted with sex and then not have it, after all? We will have to see how that pans out down the road, but so far this series if off to a decent start. 32 Pages.

Batman Dark Detective TPB, $14.99. Written by Steve Englehart, Art by Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin. This trade collects one of the stranger Batman minis to pop up of late, in which the Joker enters the gubernatorial election. Nevermind the absolute ridiculousness of an insane multiple convicted felon and murderer actually being allowed on the ballot. Naturally you are supposed to maintain a suspension of disbelief when reading any fiction, but sometimes an idea is just too outlandish, and ends up dragging a story down. The trade is worth checking out if you were a fan of this team’s work in the 70s, but you might want to flip through it and see if it interests you first otherwise. 144 Pages.

Batman Legends Of The Dark Knight #203, $2.50. Written by Christos N. Gage, Art by Ron Wagner and Bill Reinhold. Man-o-man, that is one buff Mr. Freeze on the cover. Looks like the skinny Freeze got replaced with Arnold again! This is the conclusion of the three part Cold Case arc featuring one of the writers from Law and Order, SVU. The storyline seems interesting, Batman looking to clear the name of his father who has been implicated in a murder. So far it has been pretty decent. Let’s see if Gage can bring it home. 32 Pages.

Batman Strikes #20, $2.25. Written by Bill Matheny; Art by Christopher Jones and Terry Beatty. Hope you all liked “the” Batgirl, because she is back again. This time, all on her own! Naturally this book is great if you happen to enjoy the cartoon. 32 Pages.

Batman Year One Hundred #3 (Of 4), $5.99. By Paul Pope. This really is the week for you if you are a Batman fan – lots to choose from! Also this week is the continuation of Pope’s Prestige Format mini where in 2039, a mysterious vigilante is believed to be the mythical Batman from a century earlier. So far the series has been very well received, though the price-point is a turn-off for some readers. But it is Pope, and with him you pretty much always get the Prestige format. Kind of par for the course with his work. 48 Pages.

Captain Atom Armageddon #7 (Of 9), $2.99. Written by Will Pfeifer, Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Sandra Hope. This series started off as what some thought was the continuation of the positive steps the Wildstorm Universe was taking to modernize and reform in the image of Majestic. Instead, it looks like it will be the catalyst of the opposite – the reversion of the Wildstorm Universe to an earlier state. This is something not sitting well with those new Wildstorm readers that followed Majestic back over to this universe from his foray into the DCU. A real, real shame. 32 Pages.

Crisis Aftermath The Battle For Bludhaven #1 (Of 6), $2.99. Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, Art by Dan Jurgens and Palmiotti. You can’t deny there is a story here – you drop the equivalent of a chemical bomb on Bludhaven, and you know there is going to be a story to tell. Though is this mini coming too soon? Or in the wrong format? There is a very real sense of event fatigue amongst readers who are very eager to move on to a status quo – any status quo in the wake of Infinite Crisis. As good as IC has been, and as good as the lead-up was, people are ready to return to a sense of normalcy. “Crisis Aftermath” minis don’t really fit into that mold, especially with the weekly 52 on tap here shortly. This is one a lot of people may wait for the trade to check out. 32 Pages.

DMZ #6, $2.99. Written by Brian Wood, Art by Wood and Riccardo Burchielli. A brand new story arc starts here. It is a real surprise to me how this series has avoided the blatant propaganda at this point. At first glace, you really expected a story about how one party or another today is so evil that they started a civil war. It Wood’s credit, it isn’t like that at all. This is a really promising series for Vertigo, which is in a transition right now. It is a good bet that this series will be around for some time to come. 32 Pages.

Fables #48, $2.75. Written by Bill Willingham, Art by Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha. Perhaps an interlude story arc, but a possible answer to a long awaited question. Where is Bigby? This arc features Mowgli, who has been sent to track him down. Expect a lot of other wolf-fables to make appearances in this story. 32 Pages.

Firestorm The Nuclear Man #24, $2.50. Written by Stuart Moore; Art by Jamal Igle and Keith Champagne. One Year Later Firestorm is proving to be just as entertaining as the first two years were. This title’s somewhat rocky start is well in the past, and Moore is chugging right along developing what has become one of the strongest of the latest generation of DC heroes. Still early – and an ok time to jump aboard and give this book a look. 32 Pages.

Green Arrow #61, $2.50. Written by Judd Winick; Art and cover by Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens. A One Year Later/Identity Crisis rematch between Deathstroke and now Mayor Ollie Queen, the Green Arrow. Not sure how long this mayor thing will last. President Luthor lasted a while, but Luthor was hardly a main character in an ongoing series. Winick must have some kind of plan in the works for this, it should be interesting to see how it unfolds. 32 Pages.

Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi #3 (Of 3), $2.25. Written by Abby Denson, J. Torres, Sean Carolan and Jennifer Moore; Art by Phil Moy, Chris Cook and Mike DeCarlo. What? This is a mini? Say it ain’t so! All kidding aside, usually it is really easy to see the appeal of a title aimed at the younger crowd. What kid wouldn’t like the Powerpuff Girls, after all? This series – I just didn’t get it. Don’t know if that makes me old, or observant. 32 Pages.

Majestic #16, $2.99. Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, Art and cover by Neil Googe. It is hard to know what to do about this title. On the one hand, it is ending, so you expect Abnett and Lanning to go out with a bang. On the other hand – this title wasn’t supposed to end at 17. It started with promise, this was supposed to be the start of something bigger, not another great title to get the axe in the teens way before its prime. As good a job closing this title out as Abnett and Lanning will no doubt do, there is no way it could compare with the months upon months of outstanding storytelling and growth the fans expected. 32 Pages.

Showcase Presents Teen Titans Vol 1 TPB, $16.99. Written by Bob Haney, Marv Wolfman and Len Wein; Art by Nick Cardy, Bruno Premiani, Bill Molno, Irv Novick, Lee Elias, Bill Draut, Sal Trapani and Jack Abel, We are entering into a new era for the Teen Titans, so why not take this chance to bone up on Teen Titans history? This collection contains Brave and the Bold #54 and 60, Showcase #59, and Teen Titans #1-18, stories featuring the original team of Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, and Aqualad. As always, these Showcase books are a great resource. 528 Pages.

Superman #651, $2.50. Written by Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek; Art by Pete Woods. Part three of the eight-part crossover Up, up, and away. Though we all know that a powerless Superman isn’t something that will last forever, it is interesting to ponder the idea of a Superman powered by a Green Lantern ring. This month, we get a hint of that. Hopefully this is a concept the writers take the time to explore in a little more detail. Superman isn’t going anywhere – and we all know his powers will return. Might as well take a chance to explore something a little different with his character. Besides – we all know the man Clark Kent is. This is something he WOULD say yes to. 32 Pages.

Wildcats Nemesis #8 (Of 9), $2.99. Written by Robbie Morrison, Art by Talent Caldwell, Horacio Domingues and Matt Banning. Another Wildstorm penultimate issue this week. This series has been okay… though it is probably something that would appeal to the more hard-core Wildcats fan than the average reader. And with the Wildstorm reboot lurking around the corner, it is tough to say whether this is representative of the Wildcats to come in the new-old Wildstorm Universe. 32 Pages.

MARVEL COMICS
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Annihilation Super Skrull #1 (Of 4), $2.99. Written by Javier Grillo-Marxauch, Art by Greg Titus. If internet buzz is any indication of how well a series is doing (and it only really is sometimes), Annihilation isn’t off to such a good start. Of course, judging by the start Seven Soldiers got over at DC, it is possible to have a horrible prelude issue and still come back with a decent event. Still time for this one to right itself yet. 32 Pages.

Cable/Deadpool #27, $2.99. Written by Fabian Nicieza, Art by Lan Medina. Much like House of M, the tie in to the Blood of Apocalypse for this title is likely to end up being better than the main event itself. Medina is doing a decent job on the art, but I still really miss Patrick Zircher. He really had this title down. 32 Pages.

Exiles #79, $2.99. Written by Tony Bedard, Art by Paul Pelletier. The last of the World Tour mini-arcs starts here, and Bedard’s time is quickly winding down. Of course, the big news out of Marvel is that Claremont’s run on this title is being postponed along with all of Claremont’s other projects while he recovers. So Bedard’s wrap-up will be the last bit of Exiles we get for some time. Best wishes to Chris Claremont for a speedy recovery. 32 Pages.

Fantastic Four First Family #2 (Of 6), $2.99. Written by Joe Casey, Art by Chris Weston. Second part of this look back into the early days of the Fantastic Four. This series seems pretty decent, especially if you are a fan of the First Family. The big Fantastic Four news of the week is the new Cartoon Network Fantastic Four series. Aside from the weirdness of a company which owns Marvel’s main competitor doing a cartoon of one of their main stable teams, if this series follows in the tradition of other Cartoon Network shows like JLU, Teen Titans, and Batman: The Animated Series, it should come out really well. Am looking forward to checking it out. 32 Pages.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #7, $2.99. Written by Peter David, Art by Roger Cruz. Seems like with every new issue of Spider-Man, we are growing farther and farther apart from the Spider-Man we all grew up loving. Character development is fine and good, but when every single core element of a character has been wiped out by story in such a short period of time, it really gives you pause. Thankfully there is still Ultimate Spider-Man. Not 100% true to the classic Spider-Man we all grew up with, but much, much closer than the current mainstream version. 32 Pages.

Iron Man Demon In A Bottle TPB, $24.99. Written by David Micheline and Bob Layton, Art by John Romita, Jr., Bob Layton, and Carmine Infantino. A bit of a classic collection here, which is great for newer Iron Man fans. This trade collects Iron Man #120-128, which featured the first appearance of Justin Hammer. 176 Pages.Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #11, $2.99. Written by Jeff Parker, Art by Manuel Garcia. As usual, the Marvel Adventures titles provide something that is really lacking in comics these days – simple, easy-to-follow stories that are totally unburdened by massive continuity and multi-issue story arcs. This issue pits the FF against Molecule Man. Great for a casual read. 32 Pages.

Marvel Romance Redux Restraining Orders Are For Other Girls, $2.99. Written by Kyle Baker, Fred Van Lente, Keith Giffen, Michael Leib, Robert Fleming, and Kirsten Sinclair, Art by Jack Kirby, Don Heck, and Dick Giordano. The wonders of Photoshop magic, in print! This issue’s premise is a simple and popular one – take an old comic, and redo the script with something funny. Should be a great read. Seeing Kyle Baker’s name on the credits there does illicit some mixed feelings. On the one-hand, it is great to see him out in the mainstream, on the other, wasn’t part of the “official” reason behind the end of Plastic Man was his exclusivity with his own company? 32 Pages.

Ms Marvel #2, $2.99. Written by Brian Reed, Art by Roberto De La Torre. Will it last? That is probably one of the most important questions facing this title just two issues in. In its entire history, Marvel has only had one female character ever solo her own title for over 100 issues, and that was decades ago. She-Hulk recently crossed the 100 issue threshold, a first for a female Marvel super-heroine, but that was by combining the totals of three separate books. And of course there is Spider-Girl, who is about to cross 100 all in one volume, only to be cancelled one she reaches that milestone. Recent criticisms about Marvel’s lack of effort when it comes to female leads has had defenders pointing to this title as a step in the right direction. Only if it lasts… only if it lasts. 32 Pages.

New X-Men #25, $2.99. Written by Craig Kyle and Chris Yost, Art by Mark Brooks. It was a worry that this title would slip in quality with the new creative team and focus, and several issues into it, it is clear that it has. Still a bit better than most of the core X-Men fare, but it is a shame that the old, outstanding New X-Men is well in the past. 32 Pages.

Son Of M #5 (Of 6), $2.99. Written by David Hine, Art by Roy Allan Martinez. You have to hand it to Hine – anyone who makes me care about Quicksilver as a character deserves a lot of credit. And the fact that he is a totally unlikable character, and you still care to see the story unfold says even more. Its been beaten to death at this point, but this follow-up is so much better than the original House of M could even aspire to be. 32 Pages.

Thunderbolts #101, $2.99. Written by Fabian Nicieza, Art by Tom Grummett. The “No Longer New” Thunderbolts. Please, please, let this be only the first of many. 32 Pages.

Ultimate Extinction #4 (Of 5), $2.99. Written by Warren Ellis, Art by Brandon Peterson. This thing is still going – but the end is in sight. This event lost a lot of people along the way, mostly due to lateness and a simply way-to-slow story, but with some luck those that stuck it out will be rewarded with an epic conclusion. 32 Pages.

Ultimate Spider-Man #93, $2.99. Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Art by Mark Bagley. The Ultimate Deadpool arc continues here, and we still don’t have a real clear picture of how Ultimate Deadpool is different than the regular universe one, outside of the still-disconcerting costume. Might be for the best – a shocking “hi-look at me, I am Ultimate Deadpool!” issue might not sit too well. Though it would be in character. Looking forward to seeing more of him this week. 32 Pages.

Uncanny X-Men #472, $2.99. Written by Chris Claremont, Art by Chris Bachalo. Not really sure if the scripts are done on this through June or not, or if Claremont’s health is going to have an impact on the timeliness of the next couple issues of Uncanny. In any case, it is best to prepare for some understandable delays in the months to come here. 32 Pages.

X-23 Innocence Lost TPB, $15.99. Written by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, Art by Billy Tan. The untold take behind the origin of X-23, told again! This trade collects X-23 #1-6, a mini that set out to really explore where this character came from.. 144 Pages.

X-Men Complete Age Of Apocalypse Epic Book 3 TPB, $29.99. By Various. Hmm. I missed volume 2 of this. Rats. Though honestly, this collection could have been handled a lot better. It is doing more of the “continuity” style of collecting, by breaking up the series and putting them in-order. Personally when reading AoA, I found reading each mini straight through to be far more enjoyable. It makes sense that this method would have you read the issues kind of “as they came out” (if you ignore the books that came later that were collected earlier, like the totally unrelated Blink series), but still – part of having the trade is getting to avoid the wait. Still – a great trade to buy and an outstanding story to have in your collection in some form. 360 Pages.

X-Men The 198 #4 (Of 5), $2.99. Written by David Hine, Art by Jim Muniz. As good as these follow-ups have been, you have to wonder why David Hine wasn’t tapped to write House of M in the first place? Bendis is kind of the name in Marvel these days, that is clear, but a decompressed story-style just doesn’t work with major summer crossovers. Still, it is nice to have Hine on mop-up here. 32 Pages.

Craig’s Pick of the Week

BPRD Universal Machine #1 (Of 5), $2.99, Dark Horse. Written by John Arcudi, Art by Guy Davis. Sometimes you have to wonder why BPRD isn’t an ongoing already. It seems like there is always a BPRD series ongoing in the gaps between Hellboy books, and the fans clearly eat them up. Well, a constant stream of minis is better than no book at all, so no complaints here. A really good week for Hellboy and BPRD fans. 32 Pages.

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