ON THE SHELF THIS WEEK
by Craig Reade

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK
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BRAVE AND THE BOLD #4, $2.99, 32 Pages, DC Comics.
Written by Mark Waid; Art by George Pérez and Bob Wiacek

On the whole thus far, this series hasn’t been too bad. The biggest weakness has been Supergirl – but once you get past that, it is really fun.

Speaking of Supergirl – have you seen any of the character sketches from Renato Guedes for the upcoming Tony Bedard-penned run? See, that is what a teenage girl is supposed to look like! If the rumors that they are finally backing off of the spoiled-brat Paris Hilton-style Supergirl, and more towards the realistic teenage girl, then the character might suddenly be worth caring about.

But, back on target, the main focus of this issue looks like it will be Lobo and the current, less appealing Supergirl. The thing with this series is, though, that the team-up of the month isn’t all you get – so far the story has checked in on just about everyone involved with the plot each issue, so those of you who enjoyed the Blue Beetle/Batman interaction will likely get a small taste this issue as well. Thus far this series shows some promise – eager to see where the next arc takes us.

HIGHWAYMEN #1 (OF 5) , $2.99, 32 Pages, DC/Wildstorm.
Written by Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman; Art by Lee Garbett; Cover by Brian Stelfreeze

An interesting formula – a pair of old, retired partners with bad blood between them must reunite for one last job. Sounds like a generic action film. Thing is, Wildstorm seems to do a lot of minis that sound generic that end up being something more.

This series looks like it is going to be a testing ground for Entertainment Weekly editor Marc Bernardin – the man who was responsible for the press comic have gotten in that publication in recent years. Hey – if the price of mainstream coverage is giving the man a chance to tell a comic story, who isn’t up for giving the man a chance?

The preview pages look pretty decent – this series does have the potential to be fairly fast-paced and exciting. And with an action book like this, the more like a formula action movie the better – too much depth can drag an action story down. It is possible to tell a great character story and not get too bogged down in depth, so the lighter the better here.

This is a great place for Bernardin and Freeman’s debut – now let’s see what kind of chops they have!

INCREDIBLE HULK #107, $2.99, 32 Pages, Marve.
Written by Greg Pak, Art by Gary Frank, Jon Sibal, and Chris Sotomayor.

This just seems awesome – a pro-Hulk team forming in anticipation of his arrival? That is the great thing about the Hulk. The Hulk is on his own side, and probably couldn’t care less about Angel and Hercules. He wants his revenge, and is going to get it his way. I just can’t see him slowing down to allow for the opinions of “team-mates,” especially those who aren’t among his Warbound.

Annihilation has gotten loads of praise, but one thing it didn’t have was anticipation. It was a fantastic event, but no one saw it coming. Marvel hasn’t built an event this well in a long time, and the anticipation of what will happen is almost enough to get us all through this with smiles and thumbs up.

The event itself is off to a decent start – I must admit that I enjoy the art crew on this title much more than the event series itself. It has been a long time since I have enjoyed Romita Jr‘s art – I could get past the Stretch-Armstrongness of his characters if it weren’t for that facial expression they all seem to have. I am still suffering from event fatigue, but Marvel has put together a decent line-up this summer. Should restore a lot of faith in the line if these are successful.

IRON MAN #19, $2.99, 32 Pages, Marvel.
Written by Christos Gage, Art by Roberto De La Torre, Jonathan Sibal, and Dean White.

A big Iron Man week – this issue, the last issue of Hypervelocity, and the second issue of the Marvel Adventures series!

For those of you following World War Hulk (but not getting all of the crossover issues), this is one tie-in you may want to pick up. Heck, if you are someone who just flat out despises the man that Tony Stark has become in the aftermath of Civil War, you want to buy this issue just to see the Hulk clean his clock.

It looks like Tony’s empire is going to start crumbling in this title, and this issue is the catalyst. Stark has become hated – not at all heroic – and looking at this issue, it might not have been as accidental as some thought. As despised as Stark is, seeing the Hulk run through him might be just enough to get his biggest detractors interested in what comes next on this book.

REPO #1 (OF 5) ,$3.50, 32 Pages, Image.
Written by Rick Spears, Art by David Ahn.

This one looks like it could be a fun little mini – a pair of repo-men sent to repossess the beating heart of an escaped clone. I don’t think that quite fits the definition of repossess, sounds more like bounty hunting to me, but that is probably splitting hairs.

This team was pretty popular on their Teenagers From Mars series, and Spears’s Pirates of Coney Island was pretty entertaining, if a lot twisted. Spears is on a pretty good streak right now, and there is no indication that he is slowing down any time soon.

SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #38, $2.99, 32 Pages, Marvel.
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Art by Lee Weeks, Scott Hanna, and Dan Kemp.

So this story only came about because of the latest Spider-Man movie. That doesn’t mean there still isn’t a good Eddie Brock story to tell. And this one does have potential.

Eddie doesn’t need Venom to hate Peter Parker – and this story should test exactly how deep that hatred runs. He is weak, but in the very same hospital as an even weaker Aunt May, will the temptation be too great to resist? Will he be strong enough of will to actually carry out the act if he goes down that road?

These next two issues will no doubt be dark, a little disturbing, and a lot tense.

SPIRIT #7, $2.99, 32 Pages, DC Comics.
Written by Kyle Baker, Jimmy Palmiotti and Walter Simonson; Art by Kyle Baker, Jordi Bernet, Chris Sprouse and Karl Story.

Special fill-in issue this week featuring a trio of Spirit shorts. The lack of Darwyn Cooke might be a little bit of a let down to those of you who don’t like fill-in issues, but it is almost always better to give a hard working creator a month off and let someone else do the issue rather than delaying things. Besides – Cooke has done something special with the Spirit here, and it is totally understandable that some other creators would want to give it a whirl. Especially Kyle Baker – this kind of thing is right up his alley.

The Spirit continues to satisfy every single month with great storytelling and outstanding art. It has been said by others, but I am really digging the single-issue stories Cooke has been churning out. I have talked about single-issue stories at length when discussing Jonah Hex, and between that and The Spirit, there is almost hope that the single-issue story will become much more commonplace in the years to come.

Cooke deserves more credit than he could possibly get for telling a contemporary Spirit story that is both entertaining and something Eisner would probably actually approve of. His fans need not worry – he will be back for next month’s issue.

SPOTLIGHT PICK OF THE WEEK

ANNIHILATION CONQUEST PROLOGUE, $3.99, 48 Pages, Marvel.
Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, Art by Mike Perkins and Guru-EFX.

The sequel has arrived! Scary! One of the bad things about a runaway hit is the eventual sequel. The first Annihilation was pretty well under the radar for Marvel, and it almost seemed like they were shocked at how popular it was. Will they be more hand-on with the sequel, or will they just let Abnett and Lanning tell the outstanding story we all know they can tell?

There was one glaring blemish last go-around for Annihilation, and that was the Prologue issue. The story was decent, but the art was horrific. It took a lot longer to sell people on the amazing story being told when the very first issue was such an eyesore. Thankfully, that will not be a problem this time. Mike Perkins is more than capable. His work will be immediately familiar to some – his art on Captain America has been outstanding. Others might recall seeing him way back in the waning days of CrossGen on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, an ok title (not great) that was really helped along by his work.

I can say with some confidence that this Prologue issue will not find artistic commonality with the previous effort – so on that note, readers will rest easy. Looking forward to another awesome event!

DARK HORSE COMICS

STAR WARS 30TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION VOL 5, $24.99 Now: $18.99

DC COMICS

AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS #53, $2.99 Now: $2.59
ARMY @ LOVE #4 (MR) , $2.99 Now: $2.69
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #4, $2.99 Now: $2.59
CATWOMAN #68, $2.99 Now: $2.69
CHECKMATE #15, $2.99 Now: $2.69
COUNTDOWN 45, $2.99 Now: $2.59
EX MACHINA #29 (MR) , $2.99 Now: $2.69
FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #13, $2.99 Now: $2.69
HELLBLAZER #233 (MR), $2.59 Now: $2.69
HIGHWAYMEN #1 (OF 5) , $2.99 Now: $2.69
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #10, $2.99 Now: $2.69
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA VAR ED #10, $11.99
LEGION OF SUPER HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #3, $2.25 Now: $1.99
ROBIN #163, $2.99 Now: $2.59
SHADOWPACT #14, $2.99 Now: $2.59
SPIRIT #7, $2.99 Now: $2.59

IMAGE COMICS

REPO #1 (OF 5) , $3.50 Now: $2.99

MARVEL COMICS

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #541, $2.89 Now: $2.69
ANNIHILATION CONQUEST PROLOGUE, $3.99 [/strike] Now: $3.49
CAPTAIN AMERICA #27, $2.99 Now: $2.69
CIVIL WAR: FALLEN SON – SPIDER-MAN, $2.99 Now: $2.69
GHOST RIDER #12, $2.99 Now: $2.69
HEROES FOR HIRE #11, $2.99 Now: $2.79
INCREDIBLE HULK #107, $2.99 Now: $2.84
IRON MAN #19, $2.99 Now: $2.69
IRON MAN HYPERVELOCITY #6 (OF 6), $2.99 Now: $2.59
MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #2, $2.99 Now: $2.59
MOON KNIGHT #11, $2.99 Now: $2.69
SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #38, $2.99 Now: $2.69
SPIDER-MAN FANTASTIC FOUR #3, $2.99 [colore=red]Now: $2.59[/color]
THUNDERBOLTS GUARDIAN PROTOCOLS TP, $10.99 Now: $2.69
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #110, $2.99 Now: $2.69
X-MEN ENDANGERED SPECIES ONE-SHOT, $3.99 Now: $3.49

IDW

TRANSFORMERS MOVIE ADAPTATION #3 (OF 4), $3.99 Now: $3.49

Hello Stranger

Marvel has finally let the cat out of the bag regarding the future of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. As many of you know, long-time Mary Jane writer Sean McKeever is moving on to DC shortly after signing an exclusive contract. Most readers feared that Marvel would just turn around and axe a bothersome title (for them), or that some hack would take over the title, causing the story to wither and sales to plummet, resulting in the same. It is a safe bet now that this book isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon.

Enter Terry Moore, the man behind the popular and recently completed Strangers in Paradise series. Honestly – who thought of him when considering potential replacements on this book? And why is that number so low – the man is perfect for it! It doesn’t look as if he will be handling the art chores – sad, but that would probably lead this title to be less than monthly, which would not be good.

As it stands now, the current title would end with McKeever’s final issue, followed by a brand new #1 three months down the road with Terry Moore and the yet-to-be-announced artist. A long wait – but one that is well worth it. Mary Jane fans can finally breathe easy!

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!

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