ON THE SHELF THIS WEEK
by Craig Reade

DARK HORSE
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STAR WARS LEGACY #10, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by John Ostrander, Art by Colin Wilson and Brad Anderson. This title continues to be well received by readers and well reviewed by critics. The art has taken its fair share of lumps (having artists shuffle in and out will do that, no matter how good they really are), but on the whole this has been a solid series. Much like the rest of the Dark Horse Star Wars line.

DC COMICS
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52 WEEK #47, $2.50, 32 Pages. Written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid; Art breakdowns by Keith Giffen; Art by Joe Bennett; Backup features by Waid and various. As irritating as the announcement of Countdown was, DC is making it hard not to want to read it. Dini writing characters like Jimmy Olsen and Mary Marvel – that is the kind of thing we should all want to read. Of course, now they are backpedaling and insisting that Countdown has nothing at all to do with 52 (not one thing!), a natural reaction to the negative feedback that series got when it was first announced. But hey – starting with issue #51 the week after 52 #52 comes out? What did they expect? It might just be the case that DC had a little misstep, but it has been becoming a pattern of late. Is the positives of Countdown enough to overcome event and weekly fatigue from readers, along with general annoyance at DC’s marketing direction these days? That remains to be seen.

ACTION COMICS #847, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Dwayne McDuffie; Art by Renato Guedes. Almost the worst thing that they could do with this title is rotate the writers – after a somewhat successful start from Johns and Richard Donner, they are going right into this issue penned by Dwayne McDuffie, then a two-parter from Fabian Nicieza, followed by at least one issue by Kurt Busiek. Rotating creative teams never work out as well as you might hope, no matter who the writers are. Readers like books that are out on time, but they also appreciate stability and consistency. New writers every month or two diminish the quality of any title. On the other hand – the reason for this shuffle is because of artistic delays from Kubert. DC rightly made the call that the title should come out monthly, and though rotating writers is bad, it is considerably worse to allow an artist to hijack a title and come in several months late with their work. These next couple months may be rough for fans of this title, but you should show some patience. It will be rocky, but DC is doing the right thing here. If you can’t meet the deadline, don’t take the assignment!

BLUE BEETLE #13, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by John Rogers, Art by Rafael Albuquerque. This series is slowly picking up steam – though the alien-origin scarab still doesn’t sit as well as the magical Egyptian origin. John Rogers has done a pretty good job so far carrying the ball solo since Giffen’s departure – there was some concern that the quality of this book might dip at a very critical time, but Rogers seems up to the task of keeping things consistent.

CATWOMAN #65, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Will Pfeifer, Art by David Lopez and Alvaro Lopez. It is amazing how well Pfeifer can write some characters. On this title, he keeps Catwoman very close to her roots, and finds a way to make a fresh and interesting story out of it. This title has been outstanding since he took it over, and it doesn’t show any signs of diminishing yet. A good title to pick up for the first time any month.

FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #34, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Dwayne McDuffie; Art by Pop Mhan and Rob Stull. Ug – Firestorm has been cancelled. Talk about your horrible news. The last issue will be #35 next month. This is being heralded as the first of many cancellations involving “legacy” characters by some critics, as fans are understandably annoyed with new versions of characters like Batwman, the Blue Beetle, and etc. While a lot of that criticism is justified, Jason Rusch was the one character in the whole lot that really came into his own as Firestorm, thanks in large part to the work of Stuart Moore. If any of them were going to survive, it should have been this one. Instead, it is the first to go. Sad news indeed.

GREEN LANTERN #18, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Geoff Johns, Art by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert. It has been well over a year since Hal Jordan’s return, and this book is still alive and kicking, and stronger than ever. Well, I’ve been wrong before! Looks like there were some Hal Jordan stories left to tell after all. Anything less than excellence from this title at this point would have made Jordan’s return cheap, thankfully Johns has been up to the task. Maybe it is the really, really stiff competition from Green Lantern Corps, which is still just a hair better – but that is the kind of rivalry we can all get behind. There aren’t many other corners of the DCU putting books out as consistently good as these. Also Available: GREEN LANTERN REBIRTH, $14.99, 144 Pages[/b]. Written by Geoff Johns; Art by Ethan Van Sciver and Prentis Rollins. Collecting the sold out series that features the return of Hal Jordan.

HAWKGIRL #62, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Walter Simonson; Art by Renato Arlem. What a difference an artist makes, eh? While Arlem does still do thinks a little “sexier” than would be preferred, his work is much tamer than what we got from Chaykin. And that is making all the difference. This title has steadily improved since he took over the art chores, and that doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

JSA CLASSIFIED #24, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by J.T. Krul; Art by Alex Sanchez and Jack Purcell. Last issue was a real improvement over the past few issues – and an especially good one for Doctor Mid-Nite fans. The medical techno-babble was especially good (if slightly contrived, but hey – no one expects Krul to be an actual doctor!). This book is at its absolute best when it highlights one of the members of the Justice Society, and it looks like they are finally getting back to that formula.

SECRET SIX SIX DEGREES OF DEVASTATION TP, $14.99, 144 Pages. Written by Gail Simone; Art by Brad Walker and Jimmy Palmiotti. This series wasn’t quite as strong as the original Villains United story, but that wasn’t due to any fault in the writing. Simone told another fantastic character story here, and made this series worth the cover price. As with many of the minis and ongoings that spun out of Countdown to Infinite Crisis minis, the follow-up wasn’t quite as strong in the art department. It wasn’t bad, but Villains United was nothing short of stellar artistically. This should make a good trade purchase if you missed the mini. Collects Secret Six #1-6.

SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #4, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Darwyn Cooke; Art and cover by Tim Sale. Cooke is really making a name for himself producing comics with a “modern-classic” feel. He really seems to have a knack for writing his characters with an old-school feel, and manages to capture a tone that has been lost in super-hero comics for some time. Sale as well is doing a fantastic job on the art. If you aren’t reading any Superman book, and are perhaps looking for something not so continuity-heavy, this title is a good choice.

TEEN TITANS GO #41, $2.25, 32 Pages. Written by J. Torres; Art by Todd Nauck and Lary Stucker. Trouble in Tokyo finally hit DVD about a month ago – maybe good sales on that release will mean a follow-up movie, or maybe even another season? Maybe wishful thinking on the latter, but it would be nice to see more animated Titans sometime in the future. Until then, the comic still carries the torch well, being very faithful to the series it was inspired by. As always, this book is great for fans of the cartoon and the younger readers.

VERTIGO

CROSSING MIDNIGHT #5, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Mike Carey; Art by Jim Fern and Mark Pennington. Cut here continues this month with part two. As before, this title is doing very well, and is slowly becoming worthy of the Vertigo banner. It has taken a bit of tinkering, but the down period that Vertigo was experiencing in its new titles seems to be coming to an end.

FABLES #59, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Bill Willingham; Art by Various. Looks like Fables is taking a month off – so to speak. This issue looks to be a self-contained look at some random “burning” questions fans might have had about minutiae of the previous stories. On the surface, it seems like this issue will add some more color to an already rich ongoing story. However, knowing Willingham, there will no doubt be a great deal of importance placed on everything that is revealed in this issue. To boot, this is possibly another good jumping on point, as it will also review some of the old stories while casting them in a new light.

WILDSTORM

NINJA SCROLL #7, $2.99, 32 Pages . Written by J. Torres; Art by Michael Chang Ting Yu. Wow – this one is kind of painful to watch. The success of this series rested solely on how well it did with existing fans of the franchise. Looks like they aren’t responding very well at all. Sales that were luke-warm for the first issue have steadily plummeted, and negative reviews and general bad-buzz has reached a crescendo. Probably a good bet that this series won’t be around too much longer.

WETWORKS #7, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Mike Carey; Art by Peter Gross. Peter Gross as the guest artist on this issue is something of note to old Lucifer fans who are eager to see these two work together again. Outside of that- not much appeal for this book unless you are very into the Wildstorm universe. If you want to check something out – might be better to take a look at Gen13 or one of the other more prominent titles before delving into this one.

IMAGE
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SAM NOIR RONIN HOLIDAY #3 (OF 3), $2.99, 24 Pages. Written by Eric A Anderson and Manny Trembley, Art by Manny Trembley. Early! Is that a good thing? Sometimes it is tough to tell. Issue 2 was just out earlier this month, so a lot of readers might not be looking for it this week. This isn’t a “sell-out fast” book, but it also isn’t one that stores are going to have a ton of in stock. This was a great read and a worthy sequel – if you are one of those who has been following this book, don’t forget to double check in case it does actually hit the stands this week.

STRANGE GIRL #15, $3.50, 32 Pages. Written by Rick Remender, Art by Nick Stakal. Remender certainly is a singular talent. Though his titles are either outstanding reads, or a little too – what’s the word – experimental? Thankfully, this title falls in the former category. More supernatural than sci-fi though. Well worth trying out.

MARVEL COMICS
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DAREDEVIL #95, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Ed Brubaker, Art by Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano, and Matt Hollingsworth. Man, has it been a year already? One thing is for sure, you can’t call the past year of stories on this title “decompressed” by any stretch. Hopefully we get a little bit of a breather this story – not that jam-packed plots aren’t good, but we are due for something a little more straightforward. If only to catch our breaths!

FANTASTIC FOUR #544, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Dwayne McDuffie, Art by Paul Pelletier, Rick Maygar, and Paul Mounts. Last issue was the anniversary issue (45th? I didn’t think that was such a major milestone so close to 50), and it was outstanding. This issue finds Reed and Sue taking a break, and the surprise replacement members announced. If the picture on the cover is to be believed (Spoiler?), it looks like Storm and Black Panther will be stepping up and filling the void. That might illicit a groan from some readers – their own story hasn’t exactly been the best received since, well, before the whole wedding mess. But McDuffie did a solid job on his debut issue, so he might deserve the benefit of the doubt here. Hopefully he can make something of this.

HEROES FOR HIRE #8, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Zeb Wells, Art by Al Rio, Tom Palmer, and Brad Anderson. Zeb Wells is flying solo this issue – and will be for the foreseeable future. Perhaps this is a good thing – Wells is an underused talent that can do wonders with the right characters. Fortunately, based on this book’s history, almost anything is a step up. Hopefully he can turn things around for this title before the World War Hulk crossover issues start.

RED PROPHET TALES OF ALVIN MAKER #6 (OF 12), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Orson Scott Card and Roland Bernard Brown, Art by Miguel Montengro. This series really is geared towards those who have read the novel – or at least followed this mini since the very first issue. If you still aren’t reading this, it is probably best to wait for the trade. That being said, it is an excellent adaptation, as Dabel products usually are – just a little rough on those readers who might come in mid-story.

SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #36, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Art by Ramon Bachs, and Paul Mounts. Angel Medina was solicited to do the art on this issue – and still is – but it looks like it will actually be Bachs who did the job. No idea why that change was made, maybe Marvel too is starting to take a harder line on deadlines. This arc started off fairly decent, though has suffered a bit thanks to the chaos of the Civil War aftermath and the order in which some issues were released. The whole costume motivation is still a little rocky, but at least they made some kind of effort. Better a black costume than Iron Spidey any day.

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #40, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Mike Carey, Art by Mark Brooks and Jaime Mendoza. Three Ultimate titles this week – didn’t they use to spread these out? Ultimate Fantastic Four is kind of in limbo at the moment. Not bad – but not amazing. A good chunk of this title’s problem is the inability to break the “introduce Ultimized villain, tell story, rinse, repeat” cycle. The Ultimate Universe books used to be able to stand on their own, instead of relying on the “cool factor” of having an alternate version of a pre-existing 616 character. Until that changes, there is little chance that these books will be able to get much better.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #107, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Art by Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy, and Justin Ponsor. Ultimate Spider-Man, on the other hand, continues to be the exception to the rule about Ultimate quality. Though Bendis has liberally dipped into the Ultimization well, he has still managed to tell fresh and interesting stories with the material. This title does offer something that the regular 616 universe Ultimate books can’t, and that makes a great deal of difference. No doubt this issue will continue a long-standing quality run.

ULTIMATE X-MEN #80, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Robert Kirkman, Art by Yanick Paquette, Serge Lapointe, and Stephane Peru. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is this title. While Ultimate Spider-Man has been stellar, and Ultimate Fantastic Four has been teetering on the brink, this title fell off a long time ago. One of the biggest problems it has had is that it is virtually indistinguishable from the regular X-Men books. And unlike the current crop of X-books that have enjoyed a bit of resurgence, this title seems stuck in old familiar patters. Hopefully this title can eventually turn things around, but for now it isn’t looking very good.

WOLVERINE #52, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Jeph Loeb, Art by Simone Bianchi and Andrea Silvestri. To be fair, there are a good number of fans who are loving this arc. On the other hand, there are equally as many who can’t find much to like about it at all. The story is pretty-well non-existent, and the fighting (which has been the vast majority of the previous two issues) just seems almost pointless. Marvel probably expected this arc to be much more epic, and expected for it to generate much more positive fan feedback than it has. A let-down to say the least.

Craig’s Pick of the Week

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #1 (REPRINT), $2.99, 32 Pages, Dark Horse. Written by Joss Whedon, Art by Georges Jeanty. Probably strange to see a reprint get selected as the pick of the week, but in this case, enough readers missed out on this issue due to the extremely early sell-out that this reprint warranted a little extra attention. Tough to say whether this sell-out was a good or a bad thing. That all rests on Dark Horse – did they deliberately print too few on this issue to jack up the hype, or did they honestly not expect it to do this well? Dark Horse doesn’t have quite the reputation when it comes to deliberately under-printing, so you have to assume that they were genuinely surprised by the response. Retailers were sold out on day one, leaving many readers high and dry scrambling to find a non-existent copy of issue #1. At the very least, Dark Horse turned out the second print super-fast, so if you were one of the unlucky ones who couldn’t find this issue the day it came out, here is another chance to read it.

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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