If you follow comic news you will noticed that it gets very quite during the May/June cycle as the companies put off announcements for the San Diego Comic Con. The big problem is most of these announcements are for products that maybe a year or so away. I think the new Dr. Solar and Magnus series were announced by Dark Horse last year and we have yet to receive issue #1 of either book yet. So it is better to try and not get too hyped about future stuff and instead look forward to Wednesday instead.
It is a relatively calm week with only three books coming out from Marvel that I’m getting, Namora #1, Thunderbolts # 145 and X-Men Legacy #237. I found it amusing how many books the Agents of Atlas have been given with the Namora One Shot just being the latest. Of course she is still getting the short end of the stick as Marvel Boy and Gorilla Man (due out soon) were given three issue mini-series. Thunderbolts is still a work in progress as we are settling into a new status quo on that book and X-Men Legacy is Chapter 12 of the well done X-Men Second Coming saga. I’m still enjoying this story, but I think some tighter plotting could have made this a shorter story. 
The other category, including Vertigo has some great books coming out this week. What I’m calling literate comics has American Vampire #4, Killer Modus Vivendi #3 (of 6) and Battlefields #7 (of 9). This category are books that are the crème de la crème of the comics world where the words and pictures meld together and become more like chapters of an illustrated novel then what is commonly referred to as a comic book. In some ways these books make it harder for me to enjoy some of the more standard fare as they lack by comparison. The other category also has Joe the Barbarian # 6 (of 8) which is also a high quality book, Mouse Guard Legends of the Guard #2 (of 4) a terrific book. Saga of the Swamp Thing Volume 3 collecting Alan Moore’s run on Swamp Thing, 7 Psychopaths #2 (of 3) and the return of Dynamo 5 with Sins of the Father #1 (of 5). 
The mainstream DCU has a ton of books leading off with Green Arrow #1 and Justice League the Rise of Arsenal #3 (of 4). Now I have issues with Ollie still running around as Green Arrow, but the premise has potential as GA should now be a friendless loner who has by his own actions isolated himself from the rest of the JLA. The proof will be in the actual comic. The Rise of Arsenal has been panned far and wide as a horrible series and while it is certainly not distinguishing itself as a great book I think the criticism is over the top as this book is just a poor melodrama. Again I believe the editors of the book should be able to determine that prior to publication, but I believe it all came down to getting rid of Roy being Red Arrow. 
It is a big girl week for DC with Power Girl #13, Zatanna #2 and Supergirl #53 all hitting the stands. I have to say that Zatanna got off to a good start and Supergirl is sort of a re-set as we start the next arc of her life now the War of Supermen is over. What disturbs me the most is the five page preview I read of Power Girl #13. I know new creative teams can be hard pressed after following up on a strong team, but the five page preview gave me little hope that I will be continuing this comic as it starts off tying into the whole search for Maxwell Lord thing that was already covered in Generation Lost. The book is called Power Girl and I think the fans of the book want it to be more about her. She can have the interaction with the cape set in JSA and other books, but she should stand alone. I will give it a chance the preview was not an enticement to follow the new team. 
The Batverse has a busy week with Batman Arkham Asylum Madness HC, Batman Return of Bruce Wayne #3 (of 6), Batman Streets of Gothamn #13, Detective Comics #866 and Joker Asylum Killer Croc #1 all coming out Wednesday. The Arkham hard cover is an OGN by Sam Keith whose work is always unique and sometimes brilliant and sometimes odd. Which describes my view of Grant Morrison also, whose Batman and Robin has been terrific and the Return of Bruce Wayne has been over the top madness. Killer Croc is by Mike Raicht whose work for T3rd World Studios has always been very solid. It is nice to see DC is recruiting some different talent onto their books. 
The rest of the DCU includes Green Lantern Corps #49, Justice League Generation Lost #4, Legion of Super-Heroes #2, an anniversary issue Superman #700, Superman/ Batman #73 and we will include the lone Wildstorm series Authority the Lost Year #9 (of 12 ) in this group. Sadly I’m not thrilled about the next issue of LOSH as the first issue was a disappointment and the JL Generation Lost book is losing my interest also. The concept is okay and interesting, but I have a feeling the execution will be boring and too typical because they are making a one central plot 26 issues long. As I stated a rather calm week this week with the highlight being AV #4, Killer #3 and Battlefields #7. Those three books alone make it worth the trip Wednesday.
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