What I’m Getting Wednesday May 5

May promises to be a month that will kill me as far as dollars go, but will keep me happy with all the new series coming out and great collected editions that should hit the stands. Also if all goes according to schedule the first statue I have ordered in many years should show up this month.

It starts with DC which has Brightest Day #1 hitting the stands. I loved the zero issue and DC has often left good ideas languishing in the dust, but the end of Blackest Night has just given way to tons of great series. This book is following Aliveman (he isn’t Deadman anymore), Aquaman, Hawkman and Hawkgirl and more of the resurrected heroes. It comes out bi-weekly and we have a very strong creative team on the book. It has can’t miss written all over it. The other big book from DC is Superman War of the Superman #1 (of 4). A weekly event chronicling Zod’s war against Earth and General Lang with Superman caught in the middle. Superman is finally interesting again and should be a top book to read every week.

The rest of the books from the DCU look good also with Batman and Robin #12, Batman Confidential #44, Doom Patrol #10, Great Ten #7 (of 9), Jonah Hex #55, JSA All Stars #6, Nemesis the Imposters #3 (of 4), Red Robin #12, Secret Six #21 and Warlord #14. Batman and Robin has been great, Secret Six is in the middle of its best arc ever, Nemesis has been killer and the list goes on. The DCU is having a strong opening week.

Vertigo has IZombie #1 hitting the stands. Allred’s art is perfect for this book. The preview pages show off Allred’s art and his quirky, yet realistic style fits the strange premise to a “T”. Writer Chris (Cinderella from Fabletown) Roberson’s has a pretty young girl that has to eat a brain a month to keep from being a true Zombie. Add to that that her name is Gwen and the book sounds like it should be a very cool series. Vertigo also brings us Demo Vol 2 #4 (of 6), Sweet Tooth #9 and House of Mystery #25. Vertigo is the best imprint on the market for my money. Very high quality and many, many more hits then misses.

Rounding out items from the DC Entertainment group is Astro City The Dark Age Book Four #4 (of 4). I love Astro City but this was way too long of a story and I have lost interest to a certain degree. Finally the release of the week is Dong Xoai Viet Nam 1965 HC by Joe Kubert. The solicitation copy tells the story “Joe Kubert, one of the most influential storytellers in comics history, tells the harrowing, true story of a detachment of Special Forces soldiers on a simple recon mission into the village of Dong Xoai, Vietnam, that turned suddenly deadly. DONG XOAI, VIETNAM 1965 has a unique perspective, since Kubert based the story on extensive information gathered from the surviving members of the unit. It covers not only the action of the event but the details of deployment and build-up that led to the deadly encounter for these young American G.I.s.” This should be excellent and at $25 for 200 pages in color it is a bargain.

Marvel is almost a skip week for me with only Realm of Kings Son of Hulk #4 (of 4), Stephen Kings N #3 (of 4), Uncanny X-Men #524 Second Coming Chapter 6 and Moon Knight #8. The Second Coming story has continued to be terrific. It is such a pleasure to read an event like this that skips from book to book but maintains a straight story line. Heck I’m so into this story I will probably get the tie-in series called X-Men Hellbound #1 (of 3) about what happened to Magik.

The other category is killer this week with Walking Dead HC Volume #5, Barry Windsor Smith Conan Archives HC Volume 2 and Dreadstar The Beginning HC (finally) all coming out the same week. I knew May was shaping up as the perfect storm with late books hitting my list and others hitting their publication dates, it always happens that way. The rest is Codebreakers #2 (of 4), Irredeemable #13 and Killer Modus Vivendi #1 (of 6). I’m very glad to see a second story on The Killer as the first series was one of the best stories about an assassin for hire I have ever read.

A nice way to start the month of May which promises to be the brightest heroic age we could possible ask for! Of course the fact that the economy is still in the tank and is being held up by the government printing money until it is worthless should not bother you at all.

Next week I will be skipping this column as I’m out of town for a few days and Greg is doing a Monday post for us. Thanks Greg! I may do my What I’m Getting and an abbreviated Week In Review on Tuesday May 11.