DC has cooperated with issuing Green Arrow #31 and Green Lantern Corps #46. The Green Arrow story is a direct follow up to the Rise and Fall Special. I will admit that DC has grabbed my interest with this storyline as Green Arrow has apparently gone rogue. How the heroes ultimately come to grip with what Ollie has done and what happens from here should make some interesting reading. This month we see the end of Blackest Night and we have Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern and Blackest Night as the only books associated with that event. Some books in the DCU are past Blackest Night, but I’m curious to see what long lasting effects this storyline will have inside the DCU and especially with the status quo of the GL side of things.
A big release in my mind is American Vampire #1. If you missed it Scott Snyder the creator and writer of American Vampire did an interview with us and we broke it into three parts and you can find it here, here and here. I have to admit I very jazzed to see this book now as Stephen King, who has never written a comic before, is writing one story for the first five issues and Scott is writing another story. A big launch from Vertigo and a privilege I’m sure for Scott to get Stephen to add elements to his story. The crux of the idea is American Vampires are a different breed and the series plans to examine how they have lived within America over the decades. It sounds great and I can’t wait to actually read it.
The rest of the books that I’m getting from DC are a really mixed bag. The Authority the Lost Year #7 (of 12) is the last Wildstorm Universe book I’m getting now and that is about a different time. Vertigo gives us Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy’s wonderful book Joe the Barbarian #3 (of 8), The Bronx Kill HC an OGN by Peter Milligan and James Romberger and Fables #93. The regular DCU has Batman #697, Booster Gold #30, The Brave and the Bold #32, The Shield #7, Showcase
Presents World’s Finest Volume 3, Supergirl #51 and Superman 80 Page Giant #1. It is a wide variety of material that cuts across all sorts of market segments. I’m really looking forward to The Bronx Kill as the criminal OGN series from Vertigo have all been good and while Milligan can be hit or miss the solicitation copy sounds great “Being a cop was in the Keane blood. But Martin wanted to be a writer even if it meant turning his back on the family legacy. Then his wife goes missing, and Martin is forced to delve into the dark history – and darker secrets – of that same family. It's a path that will lead him back to the Bronx Kill: that lonely, godforsaken stretch of land where many years earlier his grandfather had been brutally murdered, and where finally he will learn the truth about his wife's disappearance. It's a truth more monstrous than he could ever have imagined.”
The independent group is filled with some excellent books. A favorite publisher of mine BOOM Studios has two books on my list with Farscape #5 and Irredeemable #12. Irredeemable has come back strong in my eyes and hindsight being 20/20 the book was not going where I wanted it to go so I fell off the title for a month or two. I wanted this story to have an endpoint and as unlimited series they are not headed that way. That being said the storyline has gotten very interesting and the Plutonian is especially creepy again. As the scope of the book has widened not only are we finding out more about the Plutonian, but we are finding out more about the other heroes. I guess I have to remember the book is called Irredeemable and not the Plutonian, so there is no reason why more people besides Tony can’t be Irredeemable. 
Three absolutely well written titles are out also with Echo #20, Locke and Key Crown of Shadows #4 (of 6) and Battlefields #4 (of 9) Firefly Part 1 of 3. Terry Moore, Garth Ennis and Joe Hill are all producing some of the best work of their careers in these books. It seems to me that comics have taken a leap forward in the quality of the work being done and each one of these gentlemen are contributing to that fact. Add into the idea that Terry is also drawing Echo and you have a true Renaissance Man. Rounding out this group is Devil #2 (of 4), Fade to Black #1 (of 5) and Choker #2. 
Marvel has a solid week leading off with Siege #3 (of 4) and Dark Avengers #15 which is a Siege tie-in. I’m impressed that this mini-event has really stayed self contained and I believe you could just read the mini-series and not miss too much of what is going on. In some ways I’m shocked at the restraint Marvel has shown in wrapping up the whole Dark Reign thing and not dragging it out longer. This third part should be good as we set up for the grand finale next month and move into what Marvel is selling as the “Heroic Age”.
The cosmic side of the MU has a big week with Guardians of the Galaxy #24, Nova #35 and Realm of Kings Imperial Guard #5 (of 5). I was shocked that Realm of Kings does not appear to be anymore then a theme for a few months with this corner of the MU. I think Marvel has done a good job with marketing and mini-events, but the theme stuff and constant event mode wears thin after awhile. Still it makes it easy to follow different stories. The Guardian story has been especially good but I do not care for Wes Craig’s work on this book. When Wes takes his turn as the artist, his style is so jarringly different from the other artist that and not a standard super hero artist that it hurts the book. 
To complete my list for this week I have Avengers vs Atlas #3 (of 4), Hercules Fall of an Avenger #1 (of 2), Marvel Boy Uranian #3 (of 3), Spider-Woman #7 and Vengeance of Moon Knight #6. Of those five Avengers vs Atlas is my favorite right now. Jeff Parker has endeared these characters to me and with the Marvel Boy series; we have two books focused on my guys The Agents of Atlas. Now if Marvel could just go back and collect stuff in the 12 issue deluxe format and I could be having all the Atlas stuff collected in hard covers.
No comments:
Post a Comment