ON THE SHELF THIS WEEK
by Craig Reade

DARK HORSE COMICS
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Blade Of The Immortal #122, $2.99, 32 Pages. By Hiroaki Samura. Long time readers will recall that I have been contemplating picking this book up for years now. Well, this week is the time, I am finally going to put aside my manga prejudice and give it a shot. Hopefully, it was worth the wait! Honestly, I am a bit excited about it!

Star Wars Legacy #8, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by John Ostrander, Art by Adam Dekraker and Brad Anderson. The only real problem with this book is how difficult it will almost certainly become in the months down the road for new readers to jump aboard. The concept is great, as is the quality of the story thus-far, but outside a couple familiar surnames, there isn’t much recognizable here to film-only Star Wars fans. But then, that never proved a problem before with books like Republic, so perhaps it is too soon to start worrying about that. In any case, it has been an enjoyable read so far. No reason why that shouldn’t continue.

DC COMICS
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52 Week #41, $2.50, 32 Pages. Written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid; Breakdowns by Keith Giffen; Art by Chris Batista and Rodney Ramos; Pat Olliffe and Drew Geraci, Joe Bennett and others Backup features by Waid and various. This series is really starting to pick up, thankfully. The first dozen or so issues made lots of readers worry – granted, that was used as set up for what we have now, but if you are going to keep a weekly series healthy for a full year, you really need to give readers something other than promise to latch on to out the gate. Thankfully, most readers hung on, and that is paying dividends. The road to the end is moving along nicely.

Batman #663, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Grant Morrison, Art by John Van Fleet. Morrison is back, and in this case, that is a very good thing. His initial arc on this title was outstanding, and it was tough getting a break so quickly in his run. Can’t wait to see what he does with the Joker – this has the potential to be really good.

Green Arrow #71, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Judd Winick; Art and cover by Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens. This is quite probably the best Green Arrow has been in a long, long time. Of course, this means that the sales are lower than other far less deserving titles. It is almost like high praise on the internet equals death for some books. Not that this title is going anywhere anytime soon, but it deserves to have way more readers than it does. If you try one new book this week, make it Green Arrow.

JLA Classified #34, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Dan Slott and Dan Jurgens; Art by Jurgens and Jerry Ordway. As expected, Slott taking over this arc has meant good, good things for this book. If you dumped it fast during the last arc, you might want to pick it up again. Rotating creative teams is bad news sometimes, but it also means you shouldn’t let a book totally drop off the radar after one really bad arc. Slott is living up to his expectations here.

Justice Society Of America #3, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Geoff Johns; Art by Dale Eaglesham and Ruy Jose. Man, this really is what Justice League of America should have been – accessible to new readers, yet full of stuff that avid fans can get into. Plus the story moves – ignoring the current convention that in order for a story to be considered to have “good pacing” it has to drag. It doesn’t, and in fact shouldn’t! This is shaping up to be a great week for DC.

Manhunter #28, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Mark Andreyko, Art by Javier Pina and Robin Riggs, Another great book for DC this week, but one that is kind of sad to see. Every new Manhunter means one less issue in the works – very sad indeed. Though this title is pretty well dead and gone, there is still the sliver of hope that can be saved. If there is any book under the DC Spin that deserves the Spider-Girl treatment, it is Manhunter. Check it out this month! Even if it is mid-arc, you should get enough out of this to want to track down some back issues. It is worth the extra effort.

Martian Manhunter #7 (Of 8), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by A.J. Lieberman; Art by Al Barrionuevo and Bit. The upcoming WWIII is supposed to explain these changes to J’onn, but even that won’t make this more palatable. This was a character that was in dire need of some color, but they didn’t have to strip away his core to do it.

OMAC #8 (Of 8), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Bruce Jones; Art and cover by Renato Guedes. Bruce Jones has gotten his fair share of lumps for his work at DC since he signed with them, and with good reason. Unfortunately, that made it easy to overlook it when he puts out something good – and this series turned out to be just that. Check it out in the trade if you missed it – it should be a good read.

Superman Batman Vs Aliens Predators #2 (Of 2), $5.99, 48 Pages. Written by Mark Schultz; Art and cover by Ariel Olivetti. Hope you weren’t expecting something deep and meaningful here. This title was custom made to be a fun action read, and thus far it has delivered. Any attempt to be anything more than that would have killed the premise. Thankfully, it seems they were wiser than that. A fun read that should have satisfied just about anyone who picked this one up.

Tales Of The Unexpected #5 (Of 8), $3.99, 48 Pages.Written by David Lapham and Brian Azzarello; Art by Eric Battle, Cliff Chiang and Prentis Rollins. Seemed like this one was a let-down at first, but it really came together over subsequent issues. It is a shame that so many minis tend to do that – but since there really aren’t too many anymore that don’t spend an issue or two gearing up, it is tough to complain.

Trials Of Shazam #5 (Of 12), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Judd Winick; Art and cover by Howard Porter. Then again, there are books like this one, that have you grinning in enjoyment right off the bat. But maybe that is the Big Red Cheese fan in me talking. The fact that this series is delivering almost nothing that was expected, and is still this good a read is a real credit. Who knows what Captain Marvel is going to be like when this is all said and done. And that is a good thing in this case. A great read, and still plenty left to go!

VERTIGO

Y The Last Man #54, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Brian K. Vaughan; Art by Goran Sudzuka. This issue is a stand-alone gear up to the final arc, Vaughan will give us a look at what Hollywood is like now that all the men are gone. It is still tough to believe that this series is almost over!

Wildstorm

Gen 13 #5, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Gail Simone; Art and cover by Talent Caldwell and Matt “Batt” Banning. You have to give Simone credit – even when she has some raw material to work with, she can still turn out a better than average story. Such is the case here. Tough to care about the new-old Gen13, but she makes a passable story out of it. Well done.

IMAGE
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Casanova #7, $1.99, 24 Pages. Written by Matt Fraction, Art by Gabriel Ba. This one is being called the end of Volume 1 … does that mean a volume 2 is already planned? If so, isn’t #7 a weird number to wrap up on?

Truth Justin & American Way #5 (Of 5), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Scott Kurtz and Aaron Williams, Art by Giuseppe Ferrario. Wow – 5 months between issues? Talk about on time. This title already lacked originality, you might as well take away punctuality as well! One thing a lot of people missed with this book is the difference between homage and “rip-off.” Homage does not mean you completely copy an idea, change one or two things, and call it a tribute. Real homage can stand on its own, but borrows something from the original – a tone, an idea, and while using it, reverently acknowledging the source. This only works, though, if your ENTIRE idea didn’t come from something else.

MARVEL COMICS
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Astonishing X-Men #20, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Joss Whedon, Art by John Cassaday and Laura Martin. Part two of the final Whedon arc – nottoo terrible a thing though. This title has more than served its purpose,and Whedon seems to have a taste for comic writing now, since he isn’t going anywhere. His fans do have Buffy and Runaways to look forward too.

Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes II #6 (Of 8), $3.99, 32 Pages. Written by Joe Casey, Art by William Rosado, Tom Palmer, and Wil Quintana. While it is neat sometimes to re-tell these classic stories with a more “realistic” bent, sometimes it takes some of the joy out of the story. Yeah, comics in decades past could be a little cheesy, but that was what made them so fun. Just think, 20 years from now, people would look back at today’s comics and see how forced the “dark and edgy” feel is, and have just as big a laugh. Today’s style may be different, but it isn’t always better.

Blade #6, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Marc Guggenheim, Art by Howard Chaykin and Edgar Delgado. Man, this book seemed to fall off the radar pretty quickly. This issue might be one to check out though – a stand-alone issue in which Blade will meet his father. If you are a fan of the character, this will be an important issue to pick up.

Exiles #91, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Chris Claremont, Art by Paul Pelletier, Rick Maygar, and Wil Quintana. #90… oiy, talk about a worst nightmare coming true. Everyone wondered which Chris Claremont would show up for the start of his long awaited run… unfortunately it was the same guy we have all grown used to having around the last few years. In other words – even the harshest critics of Tony Bedard’s run were longing to have him come back. A real shame – with all the hype that surrounded his start on Exiles, it would have been something special to have a real knock-your-socks-off arc. Alas, it was not to be.

Marvel Legacy 1990s Handbook, $4.99, 64 Pages. By Various. One would think that this would be the last of these Legacy Handbooks, though I do have a feeling that we will be seeing just one more, as silly as it sounds. This was a clever idea, though they probably should have gone in reverse order – these were more interesting the older they got.

New Excalibur #16, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Chris Claremont, Art by Scot Eaton, Rich Ketcham, and Peter Pantazis. Speaking of Chris Claremont, he makes his return to this title too this month. Man, just when this book was becoming more interesting! If you are one of those who enjoyed Claremont on this book, you really should be checking out Exiles right now. Claremont already seems to be setting up a crossover, so it makes sense to see it all unfold.

New X-Men #35, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, Art by Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco, and Brian Reber. Seems like this book has become X-23 and her Amazing friends… a real disservice to the other great characters on this title. To boot, it seems like they are taking what few good qualities X-23 has and diluting them by having her “tamed” by the “power of love.” It has been way too long to keep comparing this the prior team on this book, but it is still tough not to see the problems that continue unabated, all comparisons aside.

Nextwave Agents Of Hate #12, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Warren Ellis, Art bu Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Growbadger, and Dave McCaig. Well, this is the final issue – though I can’t say I will miss it, there are plenty of people out there who will. From a purely objective standpoint (keeping in mind that I completely and totally hated this title), it is strange that it was cancelled. Sales weren’t phenomenal, but Marvel publishes other books that don’t sell nearly as well. It slipped in the numbers just a tad, but that was nothing a little bit of marketing couldn’t fix. And the book had a unique tone and a vocal fanbase – people talked about Nextwave way more than they did books like New Excalibur or Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. So while I certainly won’t miss it, it is strange to see this book fade away like this…

Orson Scott Cards Wyrms 2nd Ptg #1 (Of 6), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Orsen Scott Card and Jake Black, Art by Adriano Batista. This is a second printing, but considering the increased exposure Dabel books are getting thanks to their partnering up with Marvel it makes sense to start the series over. Dabel has done a great job with past novel adaptations, and the first issue of this one was well done. Worth checking out – especially if you aren’t familiar with Wyrms. It is one of Card’s lesser known novels, but it is one of his more imaginative ones. Should work well in comic form.

Punisher Presents Barracuda Max #1 (Of 5), $3.99, 32 Pages. Written by Garth Ennis, Art b y Goran Parlov and Dan Brown. Boy, sometimes it seems that MAX is basically Garth Ennis’s personal imprint. A brand new Punisher mini starts this month, this time with one of the Punisher’s foils, Barracuda. Should be a good pick-up if you enjoy Ennis’s work on Punisher.

Sensational Spider-Man #35, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Art by Angel Medina, Scott Hanna, and Dan Kemp. Clone saga redeux? Let’s hope not. Another “Back in Black” title, Spider-Man is dealing with life after Civil War (which I guess hasn’t technically ended yet…). Some people are still a bit upset about the return of the Black costume, and the fact that we still don’t have a concrete reason for it. Hey, we all know it is because of the movie, and we all know it is to help market the book to all those non-comic readers who will be going to the theater. This is probably a lump we can take for “the team” as it were!

Thunderbolts #111, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Warren Ellis, Art by Mike Deodato and Rainier Beredo. Still not the biggest fan of whatever they did to Speedball, but this new direction for the Thunderbolts has gotten off to a good start. Definitely worth jumping aboard soon.

Thunderbolts Presents Zemo Born Better #1 (Of 4), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Fabian Nicieza, Art by Tom Grummett, Gary Erksine, and Chris Sotomayor. This one is definitely for fans of the last Thunderbolts incarnation. Just because the relaunch has gone well, doesn’t mean you can’t miss these characters. This 4 issue mini will focus on Baron Zemo, in the past, faced with the potential of saving his family from a “legacy of failure.” Sounds like a decent story – hopefully it pans out.

Ultimate X-Men #79, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Robert Kirkman, Art by Yanick Paquette, Serge Lapointe, and Stephane Peru. Dunno what to say about this title – there really isn’t much left to get excited about here. Once you could say that it was indistinguishable from any of the other X-Books in the 616 universe, but even those are plain better these days. Man, Kirkman is great, but he isn’t doing this title any favors.

Wolverine Origins #11, $2.99 32 Pages. Written by Daniel Way, Art by Steve Dillon and Dan Kemp. Here is another head-scratcher. Billed as a title to explore Wolverine’s newly recovered memories, the book itself has been as muddled as Logan’s memory once was. Not much improvement here.

Craig’s Pick of the Week

Green Lantern Corps #9, $2.99, 32 Pages, DC Comics. Written by Keith Champagne; Art and cover by Patrick Gleason and Prentis Rollins. Man, do you remember when Guy Gardner was kind of reviled by comic readers? There was once a time if you ever suggested that he was your favorite Green Lantern that you would be laughed at. Look at him now – the main character of the best of a really good line of Green Lantern books. Champagne deserves all the credit in the world for making him a good character once again. This book is one I look forward to each and every month.

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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