On The Shelf In March 2007
Jan 03
ON THE SHELF IN MARCH
by Craig Reade
DARK HORSE COMICS
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Page 22 – Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Joss Whedon, Art by Georges Jeanty. Not just another Buffy comic – this one is penned by series creator Joss Whedon, and is intended to be, in every way that matters, a continuation of the television series. Naturally they are billing the comic as “Season 8.” Buffy comics were always enjoyable back when Dark Horse was printing them, but having Whedon on as a writer really cements this series as a must-have. Hope this one is worth the effort.
Page 24 – BPRD: Garden of Souls #1, $2.99, 32 pages. Written by John Arcudi and Mike Mignola, Art by Guy Davis and Dave Stewart. As usual, no idea how much Mike Mignola is contributing to this story besides the original idea, but that hardly matters. BPRD fans will be thrilled to see another mini series hitting the shelves, this one focusing on Abe Sapien’s past. Hellboy and BPRD fans will no doubt be picking this one up.
DC COMICS
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Page 70 – Superman/Batman #34, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Mark Verheiden, Art by Pat Lee. Having been so often stung by this title in the past, it seems like leaving it behind would be easy. But there is always something going on here just interesting enough to get my attention. This month – the new Metal Men make another appearance. It was cool to see them pop up in 52, and that new take on the team was an intriguing one. I am glad to see that they are being used once again.
Page 76 – 52, Weeks 44-47, $2.50 each, 32 Pages each. Written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid, Art by Keith Giffen and various. 52 has had its ups and downs, but one of the most interesting plots of the whole series has been the Black Adam sub-plot. This character hasn’t been this interesting, well, ever. The whole Captain Marvel family is just dripping with potential right now, and thanks to 52, Black Adam is a big part of that. 2007 should be huge for the whole Marvel family, and this series deserves some of the credit for that.
Page 77 – Helmet of Fate: Black Alice #1, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Steve Niles, Art by Scott Hampton. The Helmet of Fate saga comes to a close this month, ending quite fittingly with one of DC’s younger magic users, Black Alice. It is the new Age of Magic, after all, why not new blood? We have seen solicits for all of the one shots now, but we still haven’t got a chance to try any of them out yet, the Detective Chimp book coming in just 2 weeks. To me, this is more exciting than even the relaunch of the Justice League. Hopefully this lives up to even my own hype.
Page 77 – Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #50, $3.99, 48 Pages. Written by Tad Williams, Art by Sawn McManus and Walden Wong. OK, the Next was a decent mini – can’t say I have read any of Williams’ novels though. As a follow-up to Busiek though? That is a tough sell. You can be the best novelist in the world, but comic writing is a totally different pool to be swimming in. For all those fans who really dug Aquaman for possibly the first time ever, having a virtual unknown follow up Busiek isn’t exactly confidence inspiring. But hey, who knows – can’t really judge until it has come out, can you?
Page 83 – Justice League of America #7, $3.50, 40 Pages. Written by Brad Meltzer, Art by Ed Benes and Sandra Hope. Probably not too many people saying it so far, but this title is off to a terrible start. It has been all hype, no substance – something we are much more used to seeing from the House of Ideas these days than from DC. The second arc is really going to have to deliver if trudging through that molasses first arc is going to be worth it. The 4-page foldout of the new headquarters being the draw of this issue – that is a bad sign. If you remember, they did something similar for All Star Batman and Robin, and no one needs to be reminded just how that series turned out. The solicit promises to deliver what we have all been waiting for. They say there that it is the debut of the actual team. While that is nice, most everyone has actually been waiting for an exciting, faster paces story. Hopefully they deliver on that front as well.
Page 91 – Wonder Woman #6, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Jodi Picoult, Art by Drew Johnson and Ray Snyder. OK, we have all seen that novelists have been seeping their way into the comic-author ranks quite a bit lately. It seems like a fad, but whatever works, right? And usually they come from the ranks of fantasy or sci-fi, all very logical leaps for the types of stories we are getting. But Jodi Picoult? What’s next, Danielle Steele? Dan Brown? Not doubting Picoult’s writing skill in the least, but there is absolutely no connection there whatsoever. Do any of her readers even buy comic books? Come on, how many of you have read My Sister’s Keeper? Not many I’d wager. OK, so maybe having an acclaimed female novelist writing their #1 female hero scratches that itchy PC bone of DC’s, but this just seems like stretching to me. Picoult is an excellent novelist, but there is no reason to expect that she is going to be interesting to comic readers, and there is no indication that she has a fanbase interested in comics that would boost the sales of this book by bringing her over. There had to be an indie comic writer out there somewhere that was far more deserving of this huge opportunity…
Page 114 – Army@Love #1, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Rick Veitch, Art by Veitch and Gary Erskine. Wow, no idea what to say about this one. No idea whatsoever. Part of me wants to be offended, and another part of me thinks that by admitting that, Veitch or someone else out there will prance around smugly proud at their own artistic genius. While I don’t share the philosophy that offensive equals art, I do usually make an effort to quell the initial offensive reaction just in case I really am missing something profound. Thinking…. hmmm, nope. I seriously can’t find much of value here. It seems like a vague attempt at a political statement, and even of that impression is wrong, the very presentation of the preview for this title is insensitive and insulting to those who actually go to war for this country. This series is either a disaster waiting to happen, or the victim of the worst attempt at marketing a comic has ever seen. We all expect way better from this imprint.
Page 118 – American Splendor: Another Day, $14.99, 136 Pages. Written by Harvey Pekar, Art by Dean Haspiel, Eddie Campbell, Ty Templeton, and various. Man, that American Splendor mini went way, way too fast. Hope it isn’t the last we see of the series! There is a reason that Pekar is so acclaimed. I may have been a late comer to his work, but it didn’t take him long at all to win me over. If you haven’t read any of his work, this is a great place to start. Proof that comics are more than a Superhero game.
Page 120 – Fables #59, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Bill Willingham, Art by Various. This issue promises to answer all of the burning questions that readers have about the details of the Fables saga – including such trifling minutae like “Who Caught the Bouquet at Snow’s wedding?” Now are these seriously questions that readers have been dying to have answered, or just some quirks that Willingham decided to have a little fun with? It doesn’t really matter. In the end, pretty well everything he does with this universe is golden, and any chance for a fun done-in-one issue that is easily accessible to new readers is bound to be a winner. Should be a fun issue.
Page 121 – Hellblazer #230, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Andy Diggle, Art by Leonardo Manco. Well, isn’t this a surprise! And here we all thought Mina was on for the long haul. Diggle has his share of fans, and he is certainly suited to take on a title like this one. Seems a little soon for a new writer on Hellblazer, things finally settling down for the long-time readers. Hopefully Diggle gets into a groove quickly. At the very least, it is another good time for new readers to give this book a shot.
IMAGE COMICS
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Page 138 – Dynamo 5, $3.50, 32 Pages. Written by Jay Faerber, Art by Mahmud Asrar. Took a few seconds to stop laughing to actually write this paragraph! This idea is just bad… shame on you Jay Faerber! In all seriousness, yeah, it is bad, but more bad in that “I can’t believe you are doing something like this, I can’t wait to read it” sense of the word. The story is about a group of five heroes – illegitimate siblings of a hero named Dynamo who have been gathered by his widow to fight crime. Yes, that is right, 5 brothers/sisters from different mothers, complete with the spectrum of racial diversity. It’s the Dudley Boys meet the Super-Hero genre. My, oh my. Only draw back of this title is the cover price – been seeing that $3.50 mark on more and more Image books these days. Really hampering my ability to buy them, and I can’t be alone in that. Image is putting out some good stuff these days – I’d hate to have to pass on the whole publisher over affordability!
MARVEL COMICS
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Page M6 – Stephen King’s Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #2 (of 7), $3.99, 48 Pages. Written by Peter David and Robin Furth, Art by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove. Still have yet to see an issue of this – but the excitement is palpable. It is kind of a surprise that we haven’t seen more marketing for this outside the usual comic readership, however. This is the perfect gateway book- we will certainly see the trades pop up in bookstores to some fanfare, but why not try to get those readers in on the monthly comic? Especially when you have similar comic adaptations of popular novelists available under your shiny new Dabel imprint? Oh well, just one month to wait and see if this will be a success.
Page M21 – Annihilation: Heralds of Galactus #2 (of 2)- Silver Surfer/Firelord, $3.99, 32 Pages. Written by Keith Giffen, Art by Andrea DiVito and Scott Kolins. This seems like a 2 issue mop-up for Annihilation – not a terribly bad idea. One would ask why these issues weren’t just tacked on to the end of Annihilation, but in this case it would probably be anticlimactic. Annihilation was the most enjoyable thing to come out of Marvel in a long while – hopefully they can use that good will and turn it into a successful ongoing or two. Looking forward to the upcoming Nova series.
Page M25 – Captain America #26, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Ed Brubaker, Art by Steve Epting. Agh – this “Access Denied by SHIELD” thing is really annoying. I can understand not wanting to spoil the end of Civil War (Though I honestly don’t believe they really know the ending yet), but it MUST be possible to write a solicit without giving things away. On the other hand, once upon a time, things that happened in a comic were a total surprise, no solicits to even hint at plots, and there is a part of me that misses those days. So this will just have to be something to grin and bear. Winter Soldier looks to figure prominently in this issue, a welcome storyline. Should be good.
Page M27 – Fantastic Four #544, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Dwayne McDuffie, Art by Paul Pelletier. Ah, this is something you know isn’t going to last very long – a new Fantastic Four. Certainly it has been tried before, and sometimes with some success. Whether it is a whole new team (Hulk, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider), or the occasional replacement members like She-Hulk and Luke Cage, popular demand always wins the day, and the classic team makes a comeback. No reason to believe that the same won’t hold true here.
Page M29 – Hulk and Power Pack #1 (of 4), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Marc Sumerak and Paul Tobin, Art by David Williams and Chris Giarusso. This series has essentially become ongoing, but the fact that they are always solicited as minis makes you wonder if one time, Marvel is going to pull the plug. This time the Power Pack teams-up with the Incredible Hulk. This has been a consistently good title for the younger reader, and great for the Power Pack fan. This has to be the longest regular stretch of Power Pack comics in my memory.
Page M29 – Franklin Richards: March Madness!, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Marc Sumerak and Chris Eliopoulos, Art by Chris Eliopoulos. A good month for Marvel’s all-ages books! This one has a bit more appeal to the older reader – these one shots have been a consistent source of humor and good fun. Yeah, at times it can seem like a Calvin and Hobbes rip-off, but at least it is a GOOD rip-off. Five new short stories in this issue – a can’t miss.
Page M38 – Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness #1, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by John Layman, Art by Fabiano Neves and June Chung. Never was a fan of the whole Marvel Zombies thing, but even I can spot a winner of an idea when I see one. As the title suggests, this crossover will pit the ever-popular Marvel Zombies against Ash himself. This is not a one-shot, but whether or not this is a mini series (as it logically seems to be) remains to be seen. It’s a cool crossover idea, and should be a fun read.
Page M39 – Mighty Avengers #1, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Art by Frank Cho. Well, Joe Q’s dream of having an Avengers stable of comics is one step closer to reality. It could be argued that the #1 reasons other comic properties start to flounder after a time is because of the stable mentality – Batman, Superman, X-Men – even Spider-Man is weaker as a result of multiple monthly titles, there is no reason to expect that the Avengers concept as a whole won’t suffer as well being divided up like this. Guess we will just have to see how this one works out.
Page M52 – Runaways Saga, $3.99, 48 Pages. Written by C.B Cebulski, Art by Humberto Ramos, Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa, and Mike Norton. Runaways is about to start a brand new era, so this issue will set out to retell their entire story for the benefit of all those who will finally be jumping on the bandwagon. Told from Molly’s perspective, this issue will walk all the readers through the entire history of the team, as well as an original story by Cebulski and Ramos, as well as other extras to sate the palates of the Runaways devoted. This is the perfect time to start on this title before the new team takes over.
INDEPENDENTS
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Craig’s Top Five of the Month
#5 – Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1, Dark Horse. Considering how little I usually like vampire stories, I have always had a soft spot for the Buffy universe.
#4 – Fables #59, DC/Vertigo. Fables is always a safe bet, but these stand-alone issues are always more satisfying to me.
#3 – Dynamo 5, Image. This series looks ridiculously fun. Looking forward to seeing what Faerber is going to bring to the table
#2 – Annihilation: Heralds of Galactus #2 (of 2)- Silver Surfer/Firelord, Marvel. In a way, Annihilation has renewed at least some of my faith in Marvel. I never thought that would happen.
#1 – Runaways Saga, Marvel. A great chance for those who still haven’t read this title to get caught up before the new creative team takes over. And we all know that a ton of people are going to be trying this book for the first time thanks to Joss Whedon.
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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