What I’m Getting September 5

Unfortunately this is what I’m getting September 7 since the holiday pushes back when my books will be mailed. Normally they go out Tuesday and 95% of the time they arrive Thursday (occasionally Friday). With the holiday the comics are delivered on Wednesday to my store so  they get shipped Wednesday and it could be Saturday if things go wrong which all means my review of next week maybe the Tuesday post to give me time to read stuff. I know a lot of behind the scenes stuff that you could care less about. If you just want to know what is coming out next week click New Comics for September 5, for my view of what I’m getting and why, read on.

Let’s start with the “Everything Else” section which dominates my list and needs to be broken down a bit. Starting with Image I’m getting Epic Kill #5, Guarding the Globe #1, Harvest #2 (of 5), Hell Yeah #5, Mind the Gap #4, Near Death #11, Thief of Thieves #8 and Think Tank #2. Epic Kill is just a great action flick done as a comic book. Guarding the Globe I believe is being produced by Kirkman and hopefully will have a more consistent publishing schedule this time around. Harvest started out very cool and I’m looking forward to more on the illegal organ donor story. Hell Yeah is the continuation of the multi-verse story and why is everyone trying to kill every version of this one guy? Mind the Gap is a murder mystery that needs to start coming to a conclusion or else it will be too long. Near Death has almost lost me as the story of a man trying to redeem himself is not holding my interest like it should. Thief of Thieves starts a new arc with a new writer as Kirkman provides I guess the story outline and then hires a writer to make it happen. Last and not least Think Tank was a true gem or about the genius who does not give a f**k now being in the middle of a bunch of stuff. It was better than my description.

The rest of the “Everything Else” comes from Valiant, Dynamite and Boom. Oddly enough Dark Horse printed nothing and on occasion has a skip week. Valiant brings us Archer and Armstrong #2 &  Bloodshot #3. The new start for the Valiant line has all been well done. Archer & Armstrong have just met, so this issue should be moving the premise of their partnership forward. Bloodshot has a very cool edge to it, where it is taking the Wolverine idea of him being programmed for missions and making that the crux of this opening storyline. I’m totally onboard with the new Valiant and hope they can continue their slow and steady build.  Dynamite has Peter Cannon Thunderbolt #1 and my curiosity is very high on this title. I need to read the back story of how DC lost the exclusive rights and also want to know if they can take what was a somewhat boring character and make him exciting. Alan Moore did it with turning him into Ozymandias. Finally from Boom is Planet of the Apes Cataclysm #1. I think Matthew talking about the other Planet of the Apes books got my interest back in the franchise. While this is not the writer he was praising it is a new story that is a clean jumping on point and I thought I would give it a whirl. I still wish someone would get the permission to republish the Mike Ploog POTA’s work from the old Marvel magizines.

Next up is Marvel with Age of Apocalypse #7, Dark Avengers #180, Hawkeye #2 and Punisher #15. The AofA is a book that I’m barely hanging onto. I was never into the whole Age of Apocalypse stuff and the characters in this world are so radically different I find it hard to hold onto the storyline form issue to issue. It is the edginess of the book that has held me so far. Dark Avengers is just a fun book. Jeff Parker excels at team books with characters that are C list or below. It allows him to build his own continuity and play with it and it seldom is impacted by companywide events. The long time travel story almost pushed me off the book, but I’m solidly behind this book again. Hawkeye’s first issue was a blast. I loved what Fraction and Aja did and can’t wait for issue #2. It is a very different take on Hawkeye and could even be argued that he is a little out of character, but the writing and art are so good I have been willing to give it a pass and just go with it. Finally I dropped off Punisher for a few issues, but I’m a Greg Rucka fan and decided to jump back into the series. I like Rucka’s writing and don’t get enough of it, so Punisher gets a second try.

DC publishing is broken into two parts for me, the non-DCU stuff and the DCU stuff. Starting with the non-DCU we have Before Watchmen Silk Spectre #3 (of 4), Fairest #7 and Sweet Tooth #37. BW Silk Spectre has been great with Cooke writing and Amanda Connor assisting in script and doing the art, this series is a winner. It is so good I wish it was a longer series. Fairest begins a new story arc with a new creative team which makes ever arc like a new series. Sweet Tooth is working towards its finale with issue #40. This has been another great series and solidified my feeling towards Jeff Lemire being one of the premier storytellers in comics at this time.

The DCU stuff is well represented as we begin the zero month and I’m trying out series here and there that I abandoned or checking out a new series. My list has Action Comics #0, Animal Man #0, Detective #0, Dial H #0, Earth 2 #0, Green Lantern #0, Phantom Stranger #0, Stormwatch #0, Swamp Thing #0 and World’s Finest #0. Action will be odd because most of the zeros are giving us information on the early years and Action started in Superman’s early years. In general I’m getting the zero issues of books I’m following, retrying some books and looking in on some new series. This week Stormwatch gets a second chance and we get a new Phantom Stranger series. I’m very curious to look at Phantom Stranger as I have a great affection for that character, but also have trepidation as Dan Didio is the writer. Between Dan’s agenda for the book and the inability of him to be truly edited by anyone I have concerns he will hurt the character.

A rather longer list then I like, but I go through constant purges and updates with my list. Lately I have been in a heavy reading mood so I’m giving some books a new chance to win me over. Of course I have other books being kicked to the curb and hopefully it will all balance out.