A new batch of first issues and some last ones

ARCHIE #700 by Nick Spencer and Marguerite Sauvage.  To celebrate a legacy, ARCHIE has again been rebooted and gone back to its’ original numbering. Nick Spencer takes over for Mark Waid and he seems to be willing to tie it closer to the RIVERDALE TV series. There’s a mystery as to what has happened over the summer. Jughead now looks like Cole Sprouse and is working as a writer. Reggie is back and looks like he does on the TV show. Cheryl Blossom is here and even Sabrina shows up. Sauvage’s art is nice and clean and adds to the streamlined, CW look to it. This is fun.

ARCHIE 1941 #1 by Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn and Peter Krause. It’s 1941 in Riverdale and the world is engaged in World War II. The gang is graduating high school and Archie can’t seem to figure out what he wants to do, resulting in his becoming distant. With the fall coming, it looks like America may end up in the conflict. This is an interesting take on the gang by Waid and Augustyn with killer art by Krause. Obviously, Pearl Harbor is coming, and I see the gang ending up in the service.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1  by Saladin Ahmed and Garry Brown.  Set in the days just after the alien symbiote attached himself to Spider Man, the alien host fights crime while Peter Parker sleeps. In the end, the suit is removed, to much anger from the host, and is locked away in the Baxter Building. This is a long, overwritten look at the early days which does a nice job of adding some back story to that time in Peter’s life. I like adding to the story, but to make it an annual, which DOES have a Legacy number, is just a money grab by Marvel.

BATMAN DAMNED #1 by Brian Azarello and Lee Bermejo. So, this was a major controversy a few months back because, this title which launches DC’s oversized Black Label “adult line” of comics featured a scene where we get to see Batman’s naked butt and…shudder…three panels with his “Batawang”, as it became known, showing. The book sold out in its; first week, commanding ridiculous prices because DC has threatened to censor it in online availability and future printings. Well, two weeks later, dealers got their reorders’ and prices dropped, DC said there would be no second printings and only the online and the collected edition would be censored. Big deal, only if you never read HEAVY METAL or an underground comic. In the story, which is really what matters, the Joker has been murdered and it looks like Batman may have finally snapped. Azarello’s story is captivating but Bermejo’s art is amazing! Can’t wait for #2.

BATMAN/THE MAXX ARKHAM DREAMS #1 by Sam Keith. The Dark Knight teams up with The Maxx to help stop the evil that is coming here from The Outback. Along the way, they end up in Arkham, cross paths with The Penguin and creatures in The Outback. As always, Keith’s writing is a little trippy but his artwork is great! I was always a huge fan of The Maxx and had the opportunity to meet and talk with him in the last year or so and it’s great to see him back in action. This should be a fun ride!

BLOODSHOT RISING SPIRIT #1 by Zac Thompson, Lonnie Nadler, Kevin Grevioux and Ken Lashley. Angelo Mortalli is a Mafia hit man who is getting a new life as Bloodshot. But is he real or just a mental construct? That’s the basic premise of this relaunch from Valiant.  After a lengthy series of titles, Thompson, Nadler and UNDERWORLD actor Grevioux take the genre and twist it sideways. Add it the amazing art by the always amazing Lashley and you have a reboot that is worth checking out.

BOOKS OF MAGIC #1 by Kai Howard and Tom Fowler. A long time ago, Tim Hunter was a young apprentice of magic. Today, it seems his magic ability is gone, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t trying. The newest entry into the SANDMAN UNIVERSE line f titles brings Hunter back to the line and, while weaving a new journey, it does allow readers to catch up on his past run. Howard’s story is nicely done and does a good good of telling DC’s version of Harry Potter to life. And Fowler’s art is clean and does a great job of enhancing the story. A nice first issue that will undoubtedly please longtime fans and hopefully bring in new ones.

CAPTAIN AMERICA ANNUAL #1 by Tini Howard, Chris Sprouse and Ron Lim. Set in World War II, Cap and Bucky meet up with three escaped prisoners and set about trying to get them to safety. It’s a long drawn out tale that could have been told in 8 pages, but goes on for an extended amount of reading time. The art is fine, although it is nice to see Ron Lim back in action. And a guest appearance by Dum Dum Dugan. But, other than that, there is nothing thrilling about this.

DAREDEVIL #612 by Charles Soule and Phil Noto. Soule ends his five year run on Hornhead and does so with a bang. What appears to be the ending of Kingpin’s Mayoral stint turns out to be visions of a dying Daredevil on the operating table. It’s a tale filled with red herrings and makes us wonder how much from recent issues was real versus imagined. It’s a nice closing to this series, which will lead into a mini-series and then a reboot by Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto in February, even if we have seen this plot device used before, specifically in THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST.

DEAD MAN LOGAN #1 by Ed Brisson and Mike Henderson. Old Man Logan has killed Maestro, which gives him revenge for the deaths of his family. But Logan’s healing factor has gone south and he is dying from Adamantium poisoning and has a year to live. Despite that, he is on the hunt for Mysterio, who was responsible for poisoning Logan’s mind in the Wasteland, leading to the former Wolverine to kill the X-Men in his timeline. While he hunts, so does Miss Sinister, who breaks Mysterio out of his incarceration and leads him to the ranks of Neo-Hydra. All in all, this is a great start to what could be the final ride for Old Man Logan.

DICK TRACY #1 by Lee Allred, Michael Allred and Rich Tommaso. First off, let me say that I am a huge fan of Dick Tracy, going back to the last Sixties when I cut out and collected the dailies and Sunday pages. So I was excited to see this newest tale, by the likes of Allred and Tommaso. Set in modern day, Tracy gets fired because of his Dirty Harry themed acts. Sam Ketchem has quit being a cop and is now a journalist. And Big Boy, villain from the Warren Beatty movie, is the bad guy, sort of. Overall, it looks great, even though the story is kid of silly. As a long time fan, I was kind of disappointed.

ERRAND BOYS #1 by D. J. Kirkbride and Nikos Koutsis. Jace Lopez is an errand boy, running collectibles and stuff to various clients. In the middle of it all, he discovers that his father and step-mother are killed in a car accident and he suddenly now has a step-brother in his care. What to do? Well, that means that Jace now finds himself  with an apprentice. It’s a fun little tale, with a nice back-up that gives a bit of history to Jace’ career and relationship.

FANTASTIC FOUR WEDDING SPECIAL #1 by Gail Simone, Dan Slott, Fred Hembeck, Laura Braga and Mark Buckingham. Well, in case you have not heard, Ben Grimm, who we all know and love as the Thing, is getting married.  So this gives Marvel a chance to put out an overpriced one shot featuring stories connected to that wedding.  In the first story, by Gail Simone, we get the bachelorette party and, obviously, some fun things occur in it, complete with Crystal from the Inhumans getting really drunk as the team of superhero ladies end up dueling with The Mole Man or, more specifically, Mole Woman.  In the second piece we have Ben visiting his future father in law in a very touching piece with some amazing artwork by Buckingham that certainly has a callback feel to classic Marvel artwork.  The third tale is by Fred Hembeck…Nuff said.  All in all…this was tons of fun!

FREEDOM FIGHTERS #1 by Robert Venditti and Eddy Barrows. The Nazi’s won World War II, but there is an uprising brewing. On November 22, 1963, the Nazis, with the help of their secret weapon Plastic Man, capture the Freedom Fighters and execute them on live television, causing Uncle Sam to go into hiding. Flash forward to 2018 and the regime is still in power. Time for a new generation of Freedom Fighters. This was such a fun read that I wish it was a graphic novel instead of a 12-month long mini-series. The premise was fresh and fun, and Barrow’s art was great! This has the makings of a classic mini-series with lots of notes to beloved characters.

HARBINGER WARS 2 AFTERMATH #1 by Matt Kindt and Adam Pollina. Valiant’s newest event series has ended and this is the wrap up for it. All the pieces come together here and splinter off to set up Valiant’s next line of titles. Among the threads, Livewire, now the most wanted person on the planet, is looking to disappear and Bloodshot looks to be primed for a reboot. In all, it’s a disappointing epilogue.

HOUSE OF WHISPERS #1 by Nalo Hopkinson and Dominike “DOMO” Stanton. Set in the Bayou, we have a whole different take on life in The Dreaming. It’s a place filled with voodoo, spirit possession and strange new characters. While it puts a whole batch of new characters into Gaiman’s legendary world, and the art is nice, the story itself is a bit weak. Even the appearance at the very end by Cain and Abel don’t help.

INFINITY WARPS #1 by Jim Zub, Ryan North, Mariko Tamaki, Flaviano, Todd Nauck, Ozygur Yildirim, Scott hHanna, Natacha Bustos, and Francisco Herrera. Marvel unleashes another INFINITY WARS tie-in with this anthology title featuring appearances by a bunch of mashed-up heroes and villains. Observer-X, Moon Squirrel, Tippysaur, The Terrific Two, the Green Widow and so many more traipse across this one-shot with less than satisfying results. In my mind, it’s a cash grab.

INFINITY WARPS: ARACH-KNIGHT. #1 by Denis Hopeless and Ale Garza. Gamora has turned the world universe upside down and, unlike her father who once eliminated half the universe, she has just MERGED half the universe together. In this tale, we get a rebooted origin for Peter Parker, who watches his uncle and aunt murdered by a Green Goblin mash-up only to be saved by a spider from the Spider-Verse, which gives him multiple personalities, like our universe’ Moon Knight. Along for the ride is his best friend Harry, bad guy Norman and his best girl Markey Jane. Sure…it’s Moon Knight meets Spider-Man with a touch of Werewolf by Night thrown in. A must for die-hard fans of the old AMALGAM line.

INFINITY WARS: SLEEPWALKER #1 by Chad Bowers, Chris Sims and Todd Nauck. Rick Sheridan is also the superhero known as Sleepwalker. Marvel drags him up from near obscurity to make him a key player in this world turned upside-down. After meeting with more of his ow people, Sleepwalker goes out into the world, where he meets Scott Banner, AKA the Little Monster, Man Thing Thang Thoom, and the Dark Starhawk

INFINITY WARPS: GHOST PANTHER #1 by Jed MacKay and Jefte Palo. T’Challa makes a deal with the Zarathos and becomes a Ghost Rider Black Panther mash up, where he is trying to avenge his father. But in this piece, Killraven may be the hero in the end. This is another INFINITY WARS spin-off and, like many of the others, is a cute concept, but not well executed.

INFINITY WARPS: IRON HAMMER #1 by Al Ewing and Ramon Rosanas. In the new, retooled universe that Gamora has created, Sigurd Stark ends up donning armor and wielding the hammer to battle the Krimson Kurse and, probably in the next issue, Madame Hel. The mash-up is fun, as it touches on bits of the classic origins of Thor and Iron Man and twists them up to fit this reshaped world. Of course, we all know that everything will come back around again, but, for now, this is just dumb fun!

INFINITY WARPS: SOLDIER SUPREME #1 by Gerry Duggan and Adam Kubert. Gamora has reshaped reality, which means we get twisted version of Marvel’s favorite heroes. A female Dr. Erskine uses her experiments to turn Steve Rogers into Dr. Strange. With magical shield in tow, he teams up with Dum Dum Fury and Bucky Wong to form he Howling Commandos of Hoggoth to battle Dormammu Red. All in all, it’s a lot of fun that harkens back to the Amalgam line of comics from back in 1996 when the DC VS. MARVEL series was running. And Kubert delivers on the art. Looking forward to the rest of the crossovers.

INFINITY WARPS: WEAPON HEX #1 by Ben Acker, Ben Blacker and Gerado Sandoval.  A scientist creates a new life and she grows up to be Weapon Hex: a cross between Scarlet Witch and X-23. This is a mess, filled with bad spell names, like Hexual Healing, and clunky dialogue. So far, this is the worst of the INFINITY WARP tales. And there is still one more issue to go!

INFINITY WARS: FALLEN GURADIAN #1 by Gerry Duggan and Andy MacDonald. This epilogue to the INFINITY WARS mini-series follows what caused the death of the “fallen Guardian” of the Galaxy, who gave their life to save two universes. It follows the origin of the character, their heartbreaking death and their “afterlife”. All in all, it works if you didn’t read INFINITY WARS but, if you did, you’ve been here already.

IRONHEART #1 by Eve L. Ewing, Kevi Libranda, Luciano Vecchio and Geoffo. Riri Williams, the former Iron Man and now Ironheart, gets her own regular series. Riri is a genius and a superhero and is trying to combine those two lives into one as she finds herself back at M.I.T. and adjusting to a new life. Yeah, she still is a superhero but she is also dealing with PTSD from the deaths of her father and her best friend back in the day. It’s well written, the art is cool and it fits nicely into the Marvel Universe.

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY: THE BATTLE OF KRAKOA #1 by Dennis Hopeless and Djibril Morissette-Phan. Set in 1945, Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos crash land on an island and, after the team is transformed in zombies by a mysterious chemical, Krakoa is born. It adds some nice color to the legendary creature who is an island, but that’s about all. The art, while very Sixties inspired, is weak in spots and Hopeless story is…well: hopeless.

MARVEL KNIGHTS 20^TH by Donny Cates and Travel Foreman. Matt Murdock is visiting Karen Page’s grave and doesn’t know why. Policeman Frank Castle shows up and kicks Matt’s memory into gear, leading him to find the people in his life from the past. But nine remember him and he finds himself on the run. Meanwhile Kingpin, Bullseye and even Doctor Doom are on hand in this world turned upside down. A nice start to a twentieth anniversary tribute by Cates and Foreman.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #12 by ?. Well, the experiment has ended. The FF are back and there is no need for this book anymore. It’s a nice send-off and obviously the characters will continue in FANTASTIC FOUR. But Marvel: could you have at least put CREDITS for the creative team inside the book? Or a story title? Anythng? This feels like a sudden dump with no support.

MILES MORALES SPIDER MAN #1 by Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garron. Well, just in time for his feature film debut, the other Spiderman, Miles Morales, is back in his own title.  For those who are not aware, Miles was the second Spiderman in the Ultimate Universe and when they puts all the universes back together, he ended up in our universe.  So, we have Miles and his family at his friends and, yeah, he gets to go off and do adventures.  The writing is fun and the artwork looks really great.  So, expect fans to be jumping on the bandwagon for this title based on what some are calling the best Spider-Man movie ever made.  For me, it was fun but not something I will pick up on a regular basics.

MOON KNIGHT #200 by Max Bemis, Paul Davidson, Jacen Burrows, Jeff Lemire and Bill Sienkiewicz. Moon Knight’s crazy journey comes to an end in the oversized last issue that ties together two years of plot. All the diverse personalities comes together as Marc Spector deals with those persons in his head. A satisfying end to a wild ride, with great art by some amazing guest artist including legend Bill Sienkiewicz.

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 THE COMIC #1 by Harold Buchholz, Joel Hodgson, Matt McGinnis, Seth Robinson, Sharyl Volpe, Mary Robinson, Todd Nauck and Mike Manley. The gang on the Satellite of Love are subject to a new experiment that takes them into the world of public domain comics. That results in TOM SERVO TEEN REPORTER. While it’s an interesting concept, I found it hard to embrace as, instead of the characters riffing, they re appearing in a comic. Not to mention that I as a huge fan of the original MST3K crew but not so much about those appearing in the Netflix reboot. While this was a cool concept, it does fall flat.

RETURN OF WOLVERINE #1 by Charles Soule and Steve McNiven. The Ragin’ Cajun is back from the dead, but is being experimented on, having major memory gaps and seeing visions of his former lives. Yeah: it’s a wild, trippy ride with guest appearances by various parts of his past, while trying to deal with being told he is a hero.  This is a long story that will continue for six months while, at the same time, Old Man Logan will spend nine months dying. Soule’s story is disjointed and that is part of the allure to it, as bits and pieces of Logan’s memory pops in. I should note that McNiven is truly channeling his inner Barry Windsor-Smith here with moments that scream about Smith’s run in MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #72-84.

SPIDER-GEDDON #1 by Christos Gage and Jorge Molina. This sequel of sorts to the SPIDER-GEDDON mini-series from a year or two back features all of your favorite Spider characters from the various universe as they prepare again to fight The Inheritors. That means you’re getting Octavia Otto, Spider-Ham, Spider-UK, Spider Woman, Spider Punk, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Gwen, The Superior Octopus, Spider-Man, and more. It’s a great big team fight that is crossing over through several one shots and mini-series along with SPIDER-MAN and SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN. Definitely fans for all of this but myself: not digging it, although it looks great!

THE SUPERIOR OCTOPUS #1 by Christos Gage and Mike Hawthorne. Tying into the SPIDER-GEDDON mini-series event thingy, Doc Ock is back with a whole new bag of tricks. Now in a cloned body made up of Peter Parker’s genetic material and his brai, he masquerades as a professor at Horizon University, where many of the former cast of Spider Man characters are also at. This is an essential lead-in if you plan on reading the SPIDER-GEDDON series, but not much ore than that.

UMBRELLA ACADEMY: GAS PANIC #1 by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba. Set several years after the end of the last series, we find the team in disarray. Sir Reginald Hargreeves is dead, Kraken is a big game hunter, Rumor is dealing with the end of her marriage, Spaceboy is in Tokyo and Vanya, who had previously been shot in the head, is still doing physical therapy. And what of Séance? There’s the mystery. If you were a fan of the previous series by Way, you’ll love it! If this is your first dip in the pool, you will find yourself a little confused.

UNCANNY X-MEN #1 by Ed Brisson, Matthew Rosenberg, Kelly Thompson, Mahmud Asrar, Mirko Colak, Ibraim Roberson, and Mark Bagley. Well, here we go again: another X-Men reboot. With multiple variant covers, Marvel seeks to disassemble and reassemble the mutant heroes. The MLF is attacking a research facility that is developing a vaccine to eliminate the mutant gene. Multiple Man is attacking a senator championing the vaccine. And the team finds itself conflicted by it all. Oh yeah: Apocalypse is back too. The four part back-up covers events that leads up to the main story.  Can’t get enough of all of this in this monstrous length book? Don’t worry: it ships weekly for the next 10 weeks.

WEB OF VENOM: CARNAGE BORN #1 by Donny Cates amd Danilo S. Beyruth. Cletus Cassidy is dead and gone. But not really. His corpse has been captured by a cult that is planning on bringing him back from the dead and will help to achieve their crazy goals. But a resurrected Carnage is going to do what he wants. And he wants to track down everyone who has ever been exposed to the original Symbiote and gets those pieces back. What this does is lead into what I’m sure will be future events in the regular VENOM series.

VENOM ANNUAL #1 by Donny Cates, David Michelinie, Jeff Loveness, James Stokoe, Kev Walker, Ron Lim and Tigh Walker. It’s just another night in the villain bar as the bad guys elate various tales of Venom. What it comes off feeling like is a whole bunch of inventory stories that are stitched together by a loose narrative.  In the end, it seems the big bad was hanging around there all along. Kind of a $5 bummer that is only for completists.

X-MEN BLACK: MAGNETO #1 by Chris Claremont and Dalibor Talajic. Marvel ramps up to reboot the UNCANNY X-MEN book by dropping this five-issue mini-series, each highlighting a member of the X-Men’s Rogues Gallery. In this issue, Magneto is in a small town and gets attacked by O.N.E., which is some military group that is holding mutants like terrorists. The real reason to pick up these books is the five-part story of Apocalypse, who is losing his power and becoming human. Told by Zac Thompson, Lonnie Nadler and Geraldo Borges, it’s just okay and, unless there is some great payoff, may not be worth your investment on this series.

X-MEN BLACK: MOJO #1 by Scott Auckerman, Nick Bradshaw and Andrew Lima Araujo. Mojo has got a thing for an Earth woman he lists after ands it takes X-Man Glob to partner with him as his wingman. Later, Sentinels attack and Mojo lends a hand. In wrestling, this would be called a face-turn. It’s a fun tale with a different take on the crazy outer space television programmer. Also, the second part of APOCALYPSE DEGENERATION where the big bad continues to regress.

X-MEN BLACK: MYSTIQUE #1 by Seanan McGuire and Marco Failla. Mystique has a job to do and that means masquerading as many people as she infiltrates Trask Industries. In the process, she meets a young mutant who has been locked up by Trask and that means her conscious kicks in and she also looks to break the girl out in the process. And, in the third part of the Apocalypse saga, he has become a caveman and must battle other cavemen before his intellect goes away.

X-MEN BLACK: JUGGERNAUT #1 by Robbie Thompson and Shawn Crystal. Chrles Xavier’s brother fights against the control of Cyttorak and his inner self. In the third part of APOCALYPSE DEGENERATION, Apocalypse has regressed to an ape before being reborn as his old, mean self.

X-MEN BLACK: EMMA FROST #1 by Leah Williams and Chris Bachalo. Emma meets with Rogue as part of a plan to take down the Hellfire Club once and for all. But that leads to a double cross as she takes out Sebastian Shaw and makes herself the Black King. In the final part of APOCALYPSE DEGENERATION Apocalypse is reborn.

X-MEN BLUE #36 by Cullen Bunn and Marcus To. As Marvel tries to correct what they have done by bringing the original X-Men from the past into the present, part of which will apparently come to fruition in EXTERMINATION, and to do that, along with rebooting the UNCANNY X-MEN book, they are ending this book, along with X-MEN GOLD. So, what we thought would be a final send off back to their own time becomes a continuing run of small episodes as they prepare to time-jump. But, in the end, they see Magento and his new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants attacking the world and decide to stick around for one last battle. We leave this title with the C-Men still here and we PRESUME soon to be heading home. Minus the neat variant cover by Mile Allred, this ends up being a thud instead of being a Home Run.

X-MEN THE EXTERMINATED #1 by Zac Thompson, Chris Claremont, Neil Edwards and Ramon Rosanas.  With the recent death of Cable, Marvel has put out a one shot designed to pay tribute to the fallen hero.  They give us two stories which ties into the legacy of Nathan Summers.  The first one is a loving tribute piece featuring his daughter Hope while the second is narrated by Nathan but is more of a tribute to Scott Summers. But it also works out to be an alternate kind of history.  All in all, it’s a piece primarily for completists, but is also a nice tribute to a character who has played his role in comics and movies.