ON THE SHELF THIS WEEK
by Craig Reade

DARK HORSE
Order any of the below titles by clicking here!

BPRD GARDEN OF SOULS #2 (OF 5), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by John Arcudi and Mike Mignola, Art by Guy Davis and Dave Stewart. This mini is billed as being THE Abe Sapien story – so far it seems to be delivering. Arcudi traditionally delivers with these BPRD minis – this one doesn’t look to be any different. As always, a good read for the fans.

DC COMICS
Order any of the below titles by clicking here!

52 WEEK #49, $2.50, 32 Pages. Written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid; Breakdowns by Keith Giffen; Art by various; Backup features by Waid and various. Next week is the killer – 5 issues to buy to get “the complete story” – 52 #50 and 4 issues of World War III. No matter what you think about Countdown (as a continuation or not), having to buy five issues in a single week after patiently buying a full priced book every week is a bit disheartening. Hopefully it is worth it – but the standard is going to be really, really high for DC to accomplish that.

ALL STAR SUPERMAN #7, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Grant Morrison; Art and Cover by Frank Quitely. This book is enjoyable – but really, 2 months isn’t enough time to get an issue out? This book is billed as bimonthly, but it has been over three months since we saw issue #6. Morrison and Quietly are doing a great job quality-wise, but they are losing the interest of some who don’t really like waiting three months between issues. Even when a book is solicited quarterly, people start to lose interest. Look what happened to Secret War, after all.

BATMAN STRIKES #32, $2.25, 32 Pages. Written by Scott Beatty; Art by Christopher Jones and Terry Beatty. The Joker puts together a super-team in this issue to help take out Batman. Hmm – Joker seems too possessive to do something like that – he has such a unique relationship with Batman, it is tough to believe that he would be spearheading an effort like that. His adversarial relationship with Batman is far too personal. But, things like this used to happen, and this is a whole different continuity, so why not.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #11, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Dave Gibbons; Art and Cover by Patrick Gleason and Prentis Rollins . This title is just plain fun – there are no two ways about it. After a complete mini and almost a year solid of ongoing issues, this book still hasn’t lost its flavor. If only every comic were this reliable. Looks like an action-packed issue. Possibly a good issue to try out for the first time.

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #7 (OF 8), $3.99, 32 Pages. Written by David Lapham and Brian Azzarello; Art by Eric Battle, Cliff Chiang and Prentis Rollins. Some people still don’t like that Hal Jordan came back, but just about everyone is in agreement that Crispus Allen is far and away a better Spectre. This series got off to a slow start, but is really delivering down the stretch. Maybe hopes of an actual ongoing anthology book aren’t so farfetched after all.

TEEN TITANS #45, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Geoff Johns; Art and Cover by Tony S. Daniel and Jonathan Glapion. This arc has been hyped for some time, and thus far it has really delivered. This issue should feature Ravager and Jericho squaring off some more against dear-old-dad. Man, isn’t it nice to see Deathstroke squaring off against the Titans again? He may well be a strong enough character to hold his own against the JLA, but this really is where he belongs. Johns is doing his usual stellar job.

TRIALS OF SHAZAM #6 (OF 12), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Judd Winick; Art and cover by Howard Porter. Boy, the wait for this issue has been unbearable. Monthly! Comics should be monthly! That really is the only complaint. As sad as it is that it seems like Billy Batson will no longer be Captain Marvel, the way they are handling Freddy stepping up to take the mantle is just too awesome for words. It has an air of “ultimization” about it – if they were to make an Ultimate (or All-Star, as the case may be) Captain Marvel series, the origin might look a lot like this story. Best time in years for the fans of the Big Red Cheese.

WONDER WOMAN #7, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Jodi Picoult; Art by Drew Johnson and Ray Snyder. Unlike Tamora Pierce, Jodi Picoult’s debut as a comic writer fell a little flat last month. She just doesn’t seem to have a handle on the character or the serial format. Thankfully for Wonder Woman fans itching for a great story, she is only on for one arc. After issue #10 – maybe more Allan Heinberg? Will Gail Simone finally be brought aboard to save the day? Something big has to happen, so it isn’t that far out of the realm of possibility. Fingers crossed!

VERTIGO

FABLES #60, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Bill Willingham; Art by Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha. A brand new story arc starts this month, and this story looks to focus solely on Flycatcher. Good news – he is such a great character and though having him involved in major events will be hard to watch (you feel so bad for him, he is probably the most “normal” of the Fables), it will be compelling. As always, a new story arc is a great place for those of you who STILL haven’t tried this book to correct that problem.

SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE SLEEP OF REASON #5 (OF 5), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by John Ney Rieber; Art by Eric Nguyen. This series doesn’t look like it is going to end up as bad as things were looking when the first issue came out- in fact, some readers are really enjoying this series finally. Might make a good trade purchase for those who passed on it based on poor reviews for issue #1.

WILDSTORM

GEN 13 #7, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Gail Simone; Art by Alvin Lee. Best part about this issue? Gail Simone working with Alvin Lee again. Granted, at that time, the art on Deadpool and Agent X was more of a collaborative UDON project (at least, according to the credits), but regardless – the team worked well together. This issue is billed as a done-in-one, so it should be a good one to try out if you have been pondering picking this title up.

GRIFTER MIDNIGHTER #2 (OF 6), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Chuck Dixon; Art by Ryan Benjamin and Saleem. If anyone can make the Wildstorm Universe compelling at this point, it is Chuck Dixon. Well, as long as he is writing a story like this one. Gail Simone does a great job with Gen13, but considering the material she has to work with, she can only take things so far. With any luck, this will be a solid action read, the kind we are used to seeing from Chuck Dixon. Hope it delivers for the Wildstorm fans.

IMAGE
Order any of the below titles by clicking here!

DYNAMO 5 #2, $3.50, 32 Pages. Written by Jay Faerber, Art by Mahmud A. Asrar and Ron Riley. The concept of this series is pretty interesting – 5 illegitimate children of a hero brought together by his widow to fight crime. Only trouble is – laying out that concept was pretty much the entirety of issue #1. Faerber did a decent job of it – and it was an expected part of the story, but the solicits spoiled all that in selling the issue. Guess that is one of the evils with an idea like this one – you have to talk about it to get people to buy the book. It was an entertaining read, but hopefully we get a lot more this issue than what we have already heard about.

MARVEL COMICS
Order any of the below titles by clicking here!

AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #7, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Tom Defalco, Art by Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema. Spider-Girl has settled back into what made this title really good in the first place – good, old-fashioned webslinging fun. Spider-Man hasn’t been like this in years – even Ultimate Spider-Man lacks the depth that the old Spider-Man supporting cast had, which is what makes this title so good. Glad to see this book didn’t suffer after the relaunch.

BLADE #8, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Marc Guggenheim, Art by Howard Chaykin and Edgar Delgado. Some fans still dig this title, but art problems combined with some strange character developments (Blade missing a hand?) baffle others. I does seem like Guggenheim has elected to go a pretty bizarre direction with this title.

CIVIL WAR TP, $24.99, 192 Pages . Written by Mark Millar, Art by Steve McNiven. Collecting Civil War #1-7. Well, this was Marvel’s Infinite Crisis – sadly it didn’t really end up nearly as good as that. Plagued with a lack of direction (new plot being developed during the art phase of specific issues is never a good sign), this series was ultimately hampered by Marvel’s inability to make the pro-registration side seem anything other than villainous. Who? delivered what you would expect from him – a string of sensational moments (and a bucket-full of C-Listers dying for it), which did give people some hit moments to talk about, but did little to give the story itself much depth. The real gems in the Civil War saga were the tie-ins. Some good writers took some difficult material and turned some good stories around as a result. Might surprise you to hear it (from me), but Peter David particularly deserves a lot of credit for the stories he turned out in the wake of Peter Parker’s unmasking. Unfortunately this trade collects only the event itself, and not the tie ins. With luck, Civil War is the end of the marketing-event era for Marvel, as World War Hulk and the new Annihilation look to be much better.

GHOST RIDER #10, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Daniel Way, Art by Javier Saltares, Mark Texiera, and Dan Brown. Heh – a fragment of Lucifer in Jack O’Lantern. That is kind of amusing. Beyond that – really little else seems to have changed on this book. Same basic premise that has the potential to turn out some ok stories, but it doesn’t leave much flexibility for deeper Ghost Rider stories. Decent if you are a fan, though this series probably won’t turn you into one.

HEROES FOR HIRE VOLUME 1, $13.99, 120 Pages. Written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, Art by Billy Tucci and Francis Portela. This series spun out of Daughters of the Dragon and started up as an ongoing Civil War tie in. Not the best way to lay the foundation of an ongoing, but this series has had more difficult problems to deal with. It is strange to say about a Palmiotti and Gray story, but they just weren’t able to get this series beyond the “Hot babes sexily collecting bounties” angle. Some decent action though – worth looking at if that is all you are looking for.

IRON MAN #16, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Daniel and Charles Knauf, Art by Roberto de la Torre, Jonathan Sibal, and Dean White. Still not totally sold on the idea of Tony Stark as the Director of Shield. The Knauf’s seem to be setting him up for failure there, which could make for an interesting story.

LEGION OF MONSTERS MAN-THING #1, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Chaelie Huston, Art by Klaus Janson. Why haven’t they just made this a Legion of Monsters series, even a mini, and just be done with it? A long-term series of one-shots seems more confusing than it aught to be. This is virtually a horror anthology, all it needs is a little cohesion and it would really work. This issue has a Man-Thing story, and a Zombie (Simon Garth) back-up.

THE LONERS #1 (OF 6), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by C.B. Cebulski, Art by Karl Moline. Kind of an interesting team concept – but most of the people who are buying this issue are just interested in seeing a couple New Warriors and a Slinger in action. For those that don’t know, this team got its start in the newest volume of Runaways as Excelsior, and boasts some familiar (and almost cult-favorite) faces, including Ricochet, Turbo, Darkhawk, and Lightspeed. The whole concept of a team trying to “kick the mask” isn’t going to work for very long, but as long as they eventually work past that, this series should be decent in the long term.

MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR #23, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Fred Van Lente, Art by Clay Mann, Terry Pallot, and Lee Loughridge. This issue finds the Fantastic Four going after Rama-Tut, who has kidnapped Alicia to serve as a sculptress for his pyramid. As always, this should be a decent all-ages superhero romp. Also Available:MARVEL ADVENTURES FF VOL 5 ALL 4 ONE 4 FOR ALL, $6.99, 96 Pages. Written by Zeb Wells, Art by Kano. Collects Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #17-20.

NEW AVENGERS #29, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Art by Leinil Francis Yu and Dave McCaig. This issue continues The Initiative crossover, and once again pits the New Avengers against the Mighty Avengers. It seems like Marvel is pushing forward with their plan to bring an Avengers stable of books to the forefront – for better or worse. This issue is supposed to shed some light on the identity of the latest Ronin, for those who are interested in that.

NEW X-MEN #37, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Christopher Yost and Craig Kyle, Art by Niko Henrichon, Paco Medina, and Juan Vlasco. This issue is billed as a “prelude” to the upcoming Quest for Magik arc. They are invoking House of M here, so it stands to reason that whoever this Blondfold character is, she has reality-warping powers. With luck this arc will be high on action, which seems to be the modern New X-Men’s only real strength.

NEWUNIVERSAL #5, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Warren Ellis, Art by Salvador Larroca and Jason Keith. Sure seems like the “realistic take on humans gaining super-powers” sub-genre has really taken off of late, and a lot of people might look at this resurrection of the New Universe a tired concept. Where the original New Universe went, followed by Rising Stars, to an extent Supreme Power, and lately Heroes on TV – what more could this offer? Surprisingly this is an outstanding read nonetheless. Ellis has brought something special to the book, and really delivered something that captures the spirit of the original New Universe while at the same time telling a fresh story. Not bad at all.

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #6, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Matt Fraction, Art by Ariel Olivetti. Matt Fraction certainly has the touch these days, doesn’t he? As a series that started off as a glorified Civil War tie-in, Fraction has certainly made something special out of this. Most impressive. This is a fun action read that should make any Punisher fan happy.

SHE-HULK 2 #17, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Dan Slott, Art by Rick Burchett and Cliff Rathburn. This title has really become something of a mainstay – even at its worst it is good for at the very least a decent fun read. At its best it is compelling and hilarious. We aren’t seeing Slott comics nearly as much as we should anymore. Hopefully he picks up a couple more books soon.

SPIDER-MAN BACK IN BLACK HANDBOOK, $3.99, 48 Pages. By Various. This handbook was something of a surprise, though perhaps it shouldn’t have been. This handbook runs down the whys and hows of the current plotlines affecting Spider-Man, along with character sketches of the involved players, a fact-sheet about the Iron-Spidey suit specs, and a rundown of Spider-Man’s powers. Wonder if they will make reference to those bone-claws…

SPIDER-MAN FANTASTIC FOUR #1 (OF 4), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Jeff Parker, Art by Michael Wieringo. For those looking for the current Fantastic Four teaming with a black-clad Spidey, this is not for you. This tale may be set in the Marvel Adventures Universe, or in a similarly generic setting, because it features the standard versions of both fan favorites. Parker has done an outstanding job with the Marvel Adventures Avengers series – no reason to expect that this mini will be any less interesting.

SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #17, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Sean McKeever, Art by David Hahn and Christina Strain. Introducing Felicia Hardy? Well, this series isn’t exactly in continuity, so it isn’t that far out there to have her attending high school with Peter Parker and company. No doubt this will lead to an eventual encounter between Black Cat and Spider-Man. Wonder if McKeever will get to that before his departure.

THUNDERBOLTS #113, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Warren Ellis, Art by Mike Deodato and Rainier Baredo. This series is something of an enigma. It is well written, and there can be no denying that Ellis is telling a compelling story with these characters. But it isn’t Nicieza’s Thunderbolts. And even moreso, some of the characterizations just seem off – nothing like what we are used to seeing from these characters. Ellis is taking them to a different place, but there is something to be said for the familiar. These sorts of objections will only subside as time passes, and this title becomes the new status quo. Still – Nicieza’s Thunderbolts was really, really good… This issue once again focuses on the Steel Spider.

UNCANNY X-MEN #485, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Ed Brubaker, Art by Billy Tan, Danny Miki, And Frank D’Armata. Oiy – just two more issues to go! Not that Brubaker isn’t doing a decent job on this title, but it has been almost a year since he started. It would be kind of nice to see a different sort of X-Men story out of him? X-Men in Space has never been my favorite setting for the mutants. Still, far better than what we were getting just over a year ago…

WHITE TIGER #5 (OF 6), $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Tamora Pierce, Art by Philippe Briones, Don Hillsman and Chris Sotomayor. Buzz on this title has been really, really quiet. A shame really, because Pierce has done an outstanding job on this title. Not directly familiar with her novels (they are more directed at the teen audience, and she didn’t start publishing until I was well past that age), but she seems to have managed the format transition quite well. Hope to see more of her in the future in comics.

WOLVERINE ORIGINS #13, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Daniel Way, Art by Steve Dillon and Dan Kemp. Still double the Wolvie- double the fun. His “son” is turning out to be everything you might have guessed – pretty much a copy of dear-old Dad. And yet another Wolverine clone is the last thing anyone was really looking for right now. This title might be a fun read for the serious Wolverine fan, but for those looking for a little more depth, this might not be the title for you.

Craig’s Pick of the Week

NOVA #1, $2.99, 32 Pages. Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, Art by Sean Chen, Scott Hanna, and Brian Reber. How many people here picked up any issues of the last Nova ongoing? And how many of you, when it was cancelled, ever thought that a new Nova ongoing would not only eventually begin, but would be greeted with such high expectations? Of all the characters in Annihilation, Richard Rider probably got the biggest boost in stature, and this series is evidence of that. Abnett and Lanning are just the men to handle the script for this book to boot. This is going to be good. I’ve been looking forward to this issue since 1999 – can’t wait.

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

Want to comment on this week’s newsletter? Give your feedback here!

Post your comments in the Forum!