HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK
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CAPTAIN AMERICA #37, $2.99, 32 Pages, Marvel Comics
Written by Ed Brubaker, Art by Steve Epting, Jackson Guice, and Frank D’Armata.

This begins a new storyarc of sorts – they are referring to it as the third act of the “Death of Captain America” story. That continues to fuel the flames that Steve will be back sooner rather than later, though his death has lasted a lot longer than many thought it would. Brubaker is telling a decent story, though he still has a long road ahead of him in cementing Bucky as the new Cap – if that is indeed his goal. He is beginning to give Bucky some depth, and even if he doesn’t end up as Captain America permanently, he is at a point where we will probably be a fixture in the Marvel Universe for some time to come. In the meantime, Brubaker is telling a decent story (if a little decompressed), and Epting is stellar as always on the art. Not a bad selection this week.

DC WILDSTORM DREAMWAR #1 (OF 6), $2.99, 32 Pages, DC Comics
Written by Keith Giffen; Art by Lee Garbett and Trevor Scott; Cover by Mike McKone

Not entirely sure if this series is just your regular comic crossover, or if DC is going to tie this to their Final Crisis event (after all, the Wildstorm Universe is one of the “52 Earths”), but it is certainly great news for longtime Wildstorm fans who have never really had the chance to see a DC crossover with that universe of this magnitude. Of course, this crossover is bound to follow the usual formula, where the heroes will fight at first until they realize they must come together for the common good. The good news is that it will take a few issues to get to that point, so there will be many opportunities for those dream match-ups people actually buy these crossovers to see. Whether the story will be good enough to carry the remaining 4 issues remains to be seen.

FEAR AGENT #20 HATCHET JOB, $2.99, 32 Pages, Dark Horse
Written by Rick Remender, Art by Jerome Opena and Michelle Madsen

Well, this one ended up being three weeks late - the good news is that the title seems to be maintaining a monthly release schedule at this point, even if it hasn’t quite caught up with the solicits yet. Nothing but good news! It doesn’t really matter if this title catches up with the solicits or not (it will be adjusted eventually), a monthly release schedule is all anyone wants, and if it maintains that, everything is perfect.

Of course, there is little to tell you outside what you must have heard about this title by now. Best Sci-Fi book on the market right now - bar none, and it stacks pretty good against comics of any genre at the moment. Disappointed with any of the books on your usual list lately? Give this book a try for a month. At worst, you miss a poor title for a month, and at best, you find out I have been right about this book for the last few years, and you won’t be able to put it down!

NOBLE CAUSES #32, $3.50, 32 Pages, Image
Written by Jay Faerber, Art by Yildiray Cinar and Ron Riley

This issue marks a pretty radical shift for Noble Causes. Faerber is jumping forward 5 years in the story. This is often a risky tactic in superhero ongoings, but strangely enough it might be an extremely successful move for this book. Noble Causes is, in part, a soap opera, and like any soap opera, the potential for stagnation is high. Some of the more dramatic aspects of the story linger far longer than they really should, since they are always so fresh in the mind, and that makes it difficult to really go in a new direction. This jump should help Faerber to do just that with his story.

Noble Causes is a great concept and a consistently entertaining title. This issue will make an ideal time for any new reader to come aboard - in fact, this is probably the best opportunity you will have for some time if you still haven’t tried this book out. Don’t miss this boat!

SUPERMAN #675, $3.99, 48 Pages, DC Comics
Written by Kurt Busiek; Art and variant cover by Renato Guedes and Wilson Magalhaés

Let’s face it - usually, mainstream hero comics are average at best. Sure, you get the occasional good run, but in general most are telling stories that have already been done (in a totally different way, of course), and many times they lose touch with the best parts of the characters as they go. Busiek though - his run on this book was refreshing. His run on Superman was the best we have seen in years - and it is over! Seriously! How do you finally get someone who gets Superman right on the book, and then move him on to something else? Not that James Robinson absolutely won’t carry the rod as well as Busiek, but as they say, if it ain’t broke… Of course, Busiek is moving on to Trinity, so he will still be writing the character, but it really won’t be the same.

As the final issue, and a quasi “anniversary” issue (it ends in a multiple of 25, so I suppose), we are getting an extra large story, with promises of heavy action and heroics. Busiek will no doubt hit this one out of the park with his last at-bat.

WOLVERINE ORIGINS #24, $2.99, 32 Pages, Marvel Comics
Written by Daniel Way, Art by Steve Dillon and Matt Milla

Part 4 of the Deadpool/Wolverine brawl, and not much has changed. The three issues we have read so far (which, by every description, is a preview of the upcoming Way/Dillon Deadpool ongoing) have been remarkably consistent. Way gets Deadpool mostly right - passable at the minimum, with a few choice moments that make you think things might not be so bad after all. Of course, the art remains a killer - Steve Dillon has a unique style that just isn’t suited for Deadpool (or for Wolverine, for that matter), and it continues to hold the story back.

It still isn’t time to declare the upcoming Deadpool ongoing a disaster. Sure, the pieces are still there, but the fact that Way has managed to hold this arc together as well as he has is potentially a really good sign. Still reading with patience here.

SPOTLIGHT PICK OF THE WEEK

ANNIHILATION CONQUEST #6 (OF 6), $3.99, Marvel Comics
Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, Art by Wellington Alves, Tom Raney, Scott Hanna, and Frank D’Armata

The end is here! Despite one minor bump in the middle of this series, it has been pretty solid, and looks like it will culminate here in a nice action packed solution. I especially look forward to finally seeing Quasar cutting loose once her connection to the Quantum Zone is restored. Of course, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, and the rest of Star-Lord’s ragtag bunch continues to be the highlight of this series – hopefully their final contributions to this story will reflect that.

There is a lot of event fatigue out there, but one of the great things about this event is that it is fairly self-contained, and no ongoings really suffered from it. Nova remained outstanding, even if it stalled a little, but in general event stories do a great deal more damage to the flow ad build of many ongoings at once – a short stutter is hardly something to complain about. This event is going to launch the new Guardians of the Galaxy series – which is even more good news. If they duplicate the success of Nova, Marvel will have two completely outstanding ongoing titles on their hands. Fingers crossed that they don’t mess with the formula in the wake of that success!

DARK HORSE

FEAR AGENT #20 HATCHET JOB $2.99 Now: $2.59
PIGEONS FROM HELL #1 $2.99 Now: $2.59
REX MUNDI DH ED #11 $2.99 Now: $2.59

DC COMICS

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #6 $2.99 Now: $2.69
BATMAN STRIKES #44 $2.25 Now: $1.99
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #12 $2.99 Now: $2.69
CATWOMAN #78 $2.99 Now: $2.59
COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 2 $2.99 Now: $2.69
DC WILDSTORM DREAMWAR #1 (OF 6) $2.99 Now: $2.699
FLASH #239 $2.99 Now: $2.69
GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #7 (OF 9) $2.99 Now: $2.59
LEGION OF SUPER HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #13 $2.25 Now: $1.99
ROBIN #173 $2.99 Now: $2.69
SALVATION RUN #6 (OF 7) $2.99 Now: $2.59
SUICIDE SQUAD RAISE THE FLAG #8 (OF 8) $2.99 Now: $2.69
SUPERMAN #675 $3.99 Now: $3.49
TANGENT SUPERMANS REIGN #2 (OF 12) $2.99 Now: $2.69
WORLD OF WARCRAFT #6 $2.99 Now: $2.69

DEVIL’S DUE

WORLDS OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS #1 $5.50 Now: $4.99

IMAGE COMICS

NOBLE CAUSES #32 $3.50 Now: $2.69
PERHAPANAUTS #1 $3.50 Now: $2.99

MARVEL COMICS

ANNIHILATION CONQUEST #6 (OF 6) $3.99 Now: $3.49
AVENGERS CLASSIC #11 $2.99 Now: $2.59
AVENGERS INITIATIVE #11 $2.99 Now: $2.69
CAPTAIN AMERICA #37 $2.99 Now: $2.69
CAPTAIN MARVEL #5 (OF 5) $2.99 Now: $2.69
GHOST RIDER #22 $2.99 Now: $2.59
HOWARD THE DUCK TP MEDIA DUCKLING $11.99 Now: $9.99
INCREDIBLE HERCULES #116 $2.99 Now: $2.69
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN OMNIBUS HC VOL 01 $99.99 Now: $77.99
IRON MAN #28 $3.99 Now: $3.49
MARVEL ILLUSTRATED ILIAD #5 (OF 8) $2.99 Now: $2.59
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL PREM HC VOL 03 HUNTER HUNTED $19.99 Now: $15.99
WOLVERINE ORIGINS #24 $2.99 Now: $2.69
WORLD WAR HULK AFTERSMASH WARBOUND #5 (OF 5) $2.99 Now: $2.69
X-FACTOR #30 $2.99 Now: $2.69
X-MEN DIVIDED WE STAND #1 (OF 2) $3.99 Now: $3.49

BLUE BEETLE NEWS

It has been generally assumed that with John Rogers’ announced indefinite hiatus from this book that regular co-writer Will Pfeifer would be handling the writing chores. It was the best of a bad situation, but for better or worse, it has been announced that with issue #29, Matt Sturges will be coming on as the new regular writer.

Now Sturges has some impressive credits to his name. His work on Jack of Fables is outstanding, so there is potential for that quality crossing over. Some potential bad news is the focus on Illegal Immigration in his first arc. Of course he promises that he won’t be taking a stand, that the readers will be allowed to “decide for themselves,” but that is a potential double barrel blow early for this book. Political topics have been far too prevalent and there has been way too much preaching in comics of late, and this might just end up being more of the same. On top of that, Jaime’s ethnicity could become more important than his heroic character, which would be a disaster. Rogers always did a fantastic job of keeping the focus on what is really important in a good superhero story, and allowing his ethnicity to serve the purpose it should for any good character - additional depth. As a result, Rogers’ Blue Beetle has been a perfect example of how so-called “minority” heroes should be written. Jumping right into such a hot button political issue could do a lot of damage to that status quo.

Skin color shouldn’t matter when it comes to comic heroes - and it definitely shouldn’t be the defining trait of any character, hero or villain. Hopefully Sturges has kept that in mind as he embarks on a very perilous fine line.

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

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