A.D. AFTER DEATH BOOK ONE by Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire. Scott Snyder is both madman and genius and his writing reflects that. The same is true with Jeff Lemire, as his art shows. This title is pure genius, mixing spot illustrations and pages of beautiful watercolors by Lemire with long bits of prose by Snyder. It stars Jonah Cooke as someone who is dealing with a future where mankind has found a way to conquer death. It is weird, quirky, and very character driven, as the story bounces from Cooke’s childhood to his adulthood. This is not a mini-series for everyone but is an amazing read nonetheless.
THE AMORY WARS: GOOD APOLLO I’M BURNING STAR IV #1 by Claudio Sanchez, Chondra Echert and Rags Morales. If you are unfamiliar with the band Coheed and Cambria or how most of the bands early albums were based on a massive Science Fiction epic written by Sanchez, then you may not want to jump into this book at this time. This is actually based on the third album and, while I am a huge fan, this will truly be confusing for you. That having been said, the overall epic tells the story of the Kilgannon Family who have to stop archmage Wilhelm Ryan and save the universe. Ryder, who is a writer and clearly has personality issues, tells the story. The highlight, especially if you have no idea about the back-story, is Rags Morales’ incredible artwork. This is definitely a series to take a look at.
BLACK PANTHER & THE CREW #1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Butch Guice. T’Challa, along with Luke Cage, Manifold, Storm and Misty Knight are taking it to the streets in this series that jumps from past to present. We start in the Bronx in 1957 and then jump to Harlem now, where this is unrest and riots. And we get robotic cops too! I’m liking this better than the other BLACK PANTHER titles, as it seems like it is going to be more action oriented and less political stuff. Guice’ art shines and Coates knows these characters well.
BLOODSHOT REBORN #0 by Jeff Lemire and Rentao Guedes. I have been a huge fan of Lemire’s run on all the previous Bloodshot series and especially love the character-this tortured man who has endured more than most men should have to. This book provides a great transition from BLOODSHOT USA into the upcoming BLOODSHOT SALVATION series and, for long-time fans, there is a huge plot drop that will totally change the future for the character. Follow Bloodshot, Bloodshot Squad (I kid you not), and Magic as they recover from defeating Project Rising Spirit. This is the perfect jumping on issue and now is the best time, especially with the buzz around the upcoming film starring Jason David Frank as the man with the Nanites in his blood.
CIVIL WAR II: THE OATH #1 by Nick Spencer and Rod Reis. Well CIVIL WAR II has come to and end and left many of our Marvel heroes changed “forever”. James Rhodes and Bruce Banner are dead and Tony Stark is in a permanent vegetative state. Steve Rogers has been made Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Maria Hill is on the run and Captain Marvel is trying to get the President to buy into the concept of a shield in space to protect the world from alien invaders(nothing like a parallel to a certain President trying to build a wall). In the end, we see that Steve has a secret agenda and his future vision he saw during the series was of an America run by Hydra. This was a great epilogue by Spencer to a lackluster mini-series that now sets up Steve Rogers as a true bad guy after having been tweaked by the living Cosmic Cube. I guess this will lead to another “universe changing event”.
THE CLONE CONSPIRACY OMEGA #1 by Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Peter David, Cory T. Smith, Mark Bagley, and Stuart Immonen, This one shot provides the wrap-up to the “Dead No More” storyline that ran through the Spider titles. Almost all of the resurrected people have died again, including Rhonio’s wife, which leads to the major confrontation in the first story. But The Lizard’s family is still alive and kicking and so is Ben Reilly, even though we all thought he died at the end of the saga. And we end with Kingpin getting Spidey to agree to a deal so he can find the ever-elusive Normal Osborn. That means this all leads to the new SCARLET SPIDER book, starring Ben Reilly, and also leads to the $10 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #25. All in all, it’s a great jumping off AND a great jumping on point!
HULK #1 by Mariko Tamaki and Nico Leon. Bruce Banner’s cousin Jen, affectionately known as the She-Hulk, was critically injured during CIVIL WAR II and, when she finally came out of her coma, found out that Cousin Brucie was dead. Now she is trying to put her life back together by going back to work as a lawyer. Unfortunately, she now suffers from her cousin’s old problem of trying to control her anger, so she watches food videos. Really? Sorry…I’m not buying it, although I give Tamaki points for trying to show us Jen’s inner pain even if it feels really forced. Besides-it’s a Hulk title with no Hulk in it yet…
INHUMANS PRIME #1 by Al Ewing, Ryan Sook, and Chris Allen. Coming off the game changing events during IVX, this one-shot acts as the lead in to the new Inhuman themed series: ROYALS, SECRET WARRIORS, and BLACK BOLT. The Terrigen cloud has been eliminated, meaning that mutants are safe, even at the expense of the Inhumans, as there can never be any new Inhumans. Medusa and Black Bolt resign as Queen and King, Maximus is exiled and Marvel Boy shows up. Yeah-it’s that kind of read! Highlight is this amazing two-page spread featuring almost the entire cast. I have long been an Inhumans fan and had mixed emotions over the last two series. My hope is that this will be the first step in a new era.
JUGHEAD THE HUNGER #1 by Frank Tieri and Michael Walsh. Well, it’s about time! We have been waiting for so long for a new story in the Archie Horror line that I can’t tell you where the plot lines of AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE and CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA left off. In this one-shot, there is a werewolf in Riverdale bumping people off and it’s a mystery as to who and who is next. It’s a fun, funky ride that also serves to whet my appetite for more and hopefully we’ll get some at some point. Until then, you’ll have to settle for this.
KAMANDI CHALLENGE #1 by Dan Didio, Keith Giffen, Dan Abnett and Dale Eaglesham. I have to admit, I’m a sucker for Jack Kirby’s KAMANDI series. KAMANDI #1 came out in that time when I stopped reading comics, which meant the first few issues I picked up as back issues when I got back into comics a year or so later. I was always a fan of Kirby’s work and this future tale with PLANET OF THE APES overtones fit my bill. So, when I heard about the Kamandi Challenge, where a dozen creative teams each take a chapter in a story that featured the PREVIOUS creative team dropping a cliffhanger on the subsequent team, I got really excited. Even with a series of amazing teams announced, the first issue proves why this concept may not work: it’s incredibly uneven. The first chapter by Didio and Giffen, providing a convoluted Kamandi origin featuring cameos by Mike Royer and The King himself, is weak The next installment by Abnett and Eaglesham has a better feel, even though I’m still not sold on the characterization of these classic characters. We’ll see what Peter Tomasi and Neal Adams have in store next issue…hopefully something good!
MONSTERS UNLEASHED #1 by Cullen Bunn and Steve McNiven. It’s the next BIG THING from Marvel and boy…I’m NOT thrilled! Monsters arrive all across the world and teams of Marvel heroes arrive to stop them. In the end, it may have something to do with the drawing ability of a young boy, who apparently can call of these creatures just by drawing them. McNicen’s art is dynamite but Bunn’s story is just silly, although I did like that he reintroduced Elisa Bloodstone into the Marvel Universe. The only thing we can hope for is that the classic Marvel Monsters like Fing Fang Foom arrive in full and that this DOESN’T act as the LEAD-IN to a lame new REGULAR SERIES, but I feel it will.
NEW ENGLAND TALES OF TERROR #1 by Rich Woodall, Ian Chase Nichols, Jay Kennedy, Chris Campana, Jeff McClelland and Joe St.Pierre. The newest title in the ever expanding Altered Reality Comics features four fun horror stories in the classic tradition. In addition to these four, there is also a pin-up by Kennedy and Nichols and an extremely killer, pun intended, cover by Joe St.Pierre, with inks by the legendary Ralph Reese. First available at TerrorCon 2017, copies are obtainable from ARCOMICS.NET. Check it out! In the world of gory horror titles, like CROSSED, this is a nice (mostly) all ages title to chomp onto.
RIVERDALE ONE-SHOT #1 by Brian E. Paterson, Britta Lundin, James DeWille, Will Ewing, Elliot Fernandez, Jim Towe, Thomas Pitilli and Alitha Martinez. The Archie World keeps getting more diverse as illustrated by the RIVERDALE television series, which is a different universe that any of the existing comic universes. This one shot highlights four stories featuring Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead as they appear in the television show. It will make no sense to you unless you have seen the show, so take that as advice. If you’re a fan of classic Archie, you will want nothing to do with this.
ROYALS #1 by Al Ewing and Jonboy Meyers. Welcome to the new era in the lives of the Inhumans. We have a whole bunch of old Inhumans, new Inhumans and Marvel Boy too. I would love to say I love this book, but I can’t get past Meyers’ art style, even with Ewing’ characterizations. So much for the next era…
SECRET EMPIRE #0 by Nick Spencer and Daniel Acuna. What happens when the living entity of the Cosmic Cube rewrites Steve Rogers’ personal history? You end up with CAPTAIN AMERICA: AGENT OF HYDRA. That’s the basic premise of this mini-series where Cap betrays everybody in the world. He traps Captain Marvel and Alpha Flight in outer space, sends New York into the Darkforce Dimension and prepares to take over Washington, D.C. This is Marvel’s newest Earth Shattering, Universe changing, event. It’s an interesting premise, although we can guess how this might go, complete with the living Cosmic Cube changing everything back and, POSSIBLY, that death of Captain Marvel on the steps of the capital that we all saw predicted in CIVIL WAR II.
THE SHAOLIN COWBOY: WHO’LL STOP THE REIGN? By Geoff Darrow. The legendary Shaolin Cowboy finds himself trying to heal himself, deal with ignorant tourists, a spectre from Hell and a giant crab. Yeah, it makes little sense unless you have read about our hero before. But, for newcomers, just know that it’s witty and looks incredible! And it’s worth your time…believe me!
STARSTRUCK-OLD PROLDIERS NEVER DIE by Elaine Lee and Mi. W. Kaluta. Back in the day, there was a really cool Sci-Fi series called STARSTRUCK. The bad news is that it ended. The good news is that it is back with the same wit and beautiful artwork that I remember. This is so trippy and beautiful looking that every panel is a treat. And for newcomers, there is even a detailed glossary each issue to help fill in the blanks. This is required reading and I cannot recommend this enough.
U.S. AVENGERS #1 by Al Ewing and Paco Medina. Oh look: ANOTHER Avengers title! In the race to see if they can have more titles than the X-Men, Ewing and Medina gives us the new team, led by former New Mutant and current head of the NEW A.I.M.(now known as Avengers Idea Mechanics), Roberto DeCosta, who now goes by the name of Citizen V. His team includes Iron Patriot, Enigma, Cannonball, Squirrel Girl, and General Robert Maverick, who is the new Red Hulk and they go off to fight the NEW Secret Empire. And he has merged with the government to form American Intelligence Mechanics. I expected this to be awful but was pleasantly surprised. Part of it is that I didn’t read Ewing’s run on the fourth series of NEW AVENGERS, so I missed all of that went on before…like the new Red Hulk and all. Personally, it’s like a Michael bay film-looks good and is less filling! And is probably enough to make me go find those NEW AVENGERS issues.
VAMPIRELLA #0 by Paul Cornell and Jimmy Broxton. How many times can Dynamite redo this classic character? Too damned many for my liking! This is now the FOURTH series since 2010 and enough is enough. At least she’s not playing Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Scream Queen any more. It’s 3,000 years in the future and a group of people find Vampirella’s tomb and then kill themselves, to provide her with the blood to resurrect her. Upon awakening, she finds that they have brought her a book showing her all the various different origins that has been thrust upon us over the years. Well, now she’s ready to take on this New World. While it’s not classic Warren vintage Vampi, it is a step up over recent incarnations. But can we PLEASE get her back in her classic costume too!?
WEAPON X #1 by Greg Pak and Greg Land. In the aftermath of the whole IVX event, all the X-teams are being shuffled around. There is a new Weapon X program and they are building killer cyborgs to hunt mutants. This leads to a new team of hunters made up of Old man Logan, Sabretooth, Domino, Lady Deathstroke and Warpath. Land’s art looks great, but is softer than normal thanks to the inks of Jay Leisten. I’m a big fan of Greg Pak’s writing, but this is bare bones at the moment, so it’s tough to judge where it will go. It looks worth a second issue.
THE WILDSTORM #1 by Warren Ellis and Jon Davis-Hunt. The name may be familiar and even the names of some of the characters may ring a bell, but this is NOT the Wildstorm Universe you might remember. They certainly do not resemble the New 52 versions of them. Zealot is here, as are Deathblow, Void, Voodoo, Miles Craven, Angela Spica, The Engineer, and Jacob Marlowe. The story is typical Ellis weirdness and Davis-Hunt’s art feels like classic Image. Do NOT expect this to be classic Wildstorm at all. This is going to be Ellis creating a twelve-issue event that may never ever connect to the DC Universe. But hey-with the announcement of the new DARK MATTER imprint, maybe that's okay!
X-MEN PRIME #1 by Marc Guggenheim, Greg Pak, Cullen Bunn, Ken Lashley, Ibraim Roberson, Leonard Kirk, and Guillermo Ortego. Storm tracks down Kitty Pryde, who has left the Guardians of the Galaxy, and tries to convince her to rejoin the X-Men. She ends up at X-Haven, which is in Limbo, and she gets associated once more with Peter, Shogo and Jubilee. She also sees the time-displaced X-Men, soon to be known as X-Men Blue. At the same time, a woman named Clara tries to convince Lady Deathstrike to kill mutants for her, which results in the long-clawed mutant getting captured. In the end, the Blue team hits the road, Kitty is poised to lead the Gold team, and X-Haven gets moved to Central Park. All in all, this is a jumping on point for all the new series.
X-MEN BLUE #1 by Cullen Bunn, Jorge Molina and Matteo Buffagni. For those who aren’t aware, some time ago, the Beast brought the younger versions of the X-Men forward and time and now they are stuck here. Until recently, they have been operating in the title ALL-NEW X-MEN. Currently, they have left X-Haven and gone after Black Tom, who has Juggernaut with him and who is truly pissed off that Cyclops killed Charles Xavier. But this is a different Cyclops, which doesn’t seem to make a difference to Cain Marko. Beast uses magic, there’s a skill I didn’t know he had, to send Juggernaut away and saves the day. In the end, it looks like Magneto is going to be this team’s new mentor. Oh…and we may have a visit from an Ultimate Universe Wolverine…
X-MEN GOLD #1 by Marc Guggenheim and Ardian Syaf. The X-Men are back together…sort of. Well, AN X-MEN TEAM is back together. This version is led by Kitty Pryde and features Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Old Man Logan(doing double duty in two titles) and Prestige, who was Phoenix(no…not that one, the other one!). There is the usual mutant hate issue, the NEW Brotherhood of Evil Mutants…and a bunch of graffiti that got Syaf fired! Oh yeah: a six-page recap on X-Men history, for those of us who have never read an X-Men comic before
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