ALIEN #1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Julius Ohta. Ah yes…those wonderful Xenomorphs are back for a second run as Marvel makes the most of having this license. Simply put: if you were a fan of the first series, then you’re in for this one. Johnson knows how to build the story and Ohta’s art is beautiful. ‘Nuff said!
ALL-OUT AVENGERS #1 by Derek Landry and Greg and Greg Land. And here we have ANOTHER AVENGERS title, which makes this feel like the X-books! And the lineup? Captain Marvel, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Blade, Spider-Woman, Black Panther and…Spider-Man(?). The good news is that it has the wonderful 1970’s action oriented feel to it and Land’s art is killer. The bad news? It's ANOTHER AVENGERS TITLE! But, to be honest, based on this first issue, it may be my current favorite AVENGERS title.
BATMAN & THE JOKER: THE DEADY DUO #1 by Mark Silvestri. The long awaited Batman Black Label story from Mark Silvestri. The Dark Knight teams up with his greatest enemy to solve a mystery. Great read and it looks amazing! I would not call the story canon, but it sure is worth the read!
BATMAN: KNIGHTWATCH #1 by J. Torres and Erich Owen. If you are expecting this to be another title in the current Batman line, be prepared to be disappointed. This is a weird all-ages Batman title. I say weird because it has that wonderful Batman look to it, but the story and dialogue are definitely not canon. Or is everything now canon because of the Omniverse. Anyway, it’s fun but not something I need to continue on with. But it’s great for younger readers looking to possibly make the jump one day.
BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED #1 by Deniz Camp and Jon Davis-Hunt. Oh…how any times have I jumped into the Valiant Universe? Way too many to count. I go back to the original Valiant run, into Acclaim and then into the reboots. But, I always find myself losing interest and rather quickly. But this intrigued me: a more graphic version of Bloodshot, so I gave it a shot. Yeah…definitely a more graphic approach. Camp’s story is intriguing but Davis-Hunt’s art is the highlight here: incredibly detailed and mind blowing. Personally, I like it…but not enough to jump back into the whole universe once more.
BRIAR #1 by Christopher Cantwell and German Garcia. What if the prince never woke Sleeping Beauty and she was forced to sleep for 100 years? That’s the premise behind this tale of Briar Rose far different than we are used to. She wakes in a world drastically changed from what she knew, where weird creatures and evil villains lurk. Fun story with great art by Garcia. Very curious to see how it progresses.
CHERISH #1 by Katana Collins and Gabriel Caitano. Here’s the selling point for this story about a high-tech vigilante looking to avenge her father’s death: character designs were from Mark Silvestri. Yeah…that’s all I got. The dialogue is boring and the art is stagnant. One and done for me with this one
CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SALEM #1 by Cullen Bunn and Dan Schoening. Archie Comics releases another one-shot horror themed title, this time featuring Sabrina’s cat Salem. Fun story, nice artwork…but please: give us a regular Archie horror series again! I so miss AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE!
CREEPSHOW #1 by Chris Burnham, Paul Dini, Stephen Langford, and John McCrea. Nothing like a good horror anthology that ties in the best of classic EC with this horror movie and television show. Two stories here in this new mini-series. Burnham’s “Take One” shows what happens when you get too greedy while “Shingo” is a birthday party like no other. By the way, there is a four page black and white piece in the back of the book that confused people as it was short and had no real end. Don’t worry…it’s actually a preview for DARK RIDE.
CRYPT OF SHADOWS #1 by Al Ewing, Rebecca Roanhorse, Chris Condon, Danny Lore, Chris Cooper, Adam Warren, Ramon Bachs, Geoff Shaw, Fran Galan, Karen S. Darboe, and Ibrahim Moustafa. Marvel issues a one-shot special just in time for Halloween, featuring some of their horror based characters. With Stephen Strange’s creeping brother Victor as the host, we travel through tales featuring Blade’s daughter, Werewolf by Night, Morbius, Elsa Bloodstone, and Man Thing. An interesting book for fans of these characters, but the big collector interest is in Blade’s daughter, causing prices to spike rapidly on it.
DARK RIDE #1 by Joshua Williamson and Andrei Bressman. Owen Seasons goes to work at the horror themed amusement park Devil Land. But what he discovers, as the park is trying desperately to stay afloat, is not what he hoped for. This is a super weird and dark horror tale that totally hits all the right buttons. Williamson writes a great story, with a whole bunch of twists and turns in it. And Bressman’s art fits the bill. Part funny, part scary, and part horrific, this ride is a hoot!
DC HORROR PRESENTS: SGT. ROCK VS. THE ARMY OF THE DEAD #1 by Bruce Campbell and Eduardo Risso. It’s World War II and the Nazi’s have figured out how to regenerate the dead and use them in battle. So, it’s up to Frank Rock and Easy Company to fight them. Sure, let’s take the heroes of my childhood and send them off against zombies! Bruce Campbell, yes…THAT Bruce Campbell turns out a killer script that toes the line between silly and gory. And Eduardo Risso, who I have been a fan of going back to 100 BULLETS, details everything perfectly. Probably one of the most fun books I have read in a bit!
DEADPOOL #1 by Alyssa Wong and Martin Coccolo. I’m sorry: I’m a sucker for Deadpool. He’s silly, breaks the Fourth Wall a lot and manages to get cut him, blown up, and dissected on a regular basis. His books are just silly fun. That having been said, Marvel trots out a new Deadpool run. He’s been captured by the Harrower and she is looking to use his body to grow a new version of Carnage. Oh yeah: he’s also in the process of doing a hit job on Doc Ock. Brainless story, which is fine, with what is becoming the Marvel style of art and page layout. It’s one of those books you’re either into or not.
FANTASTIC FOUR #1 by Ryan North and Iban Coello. Marvel reboots the FF again with a new Number One issue. And it feels like you’re watching a cross between FIGHT CLUB and MEMENTO, in that there is a story regarding something Reed did that left a huge crater in New York and it looks like we’re going to get those details told in reverse. But this issue isn’t about that. It finds Ben and Alicia on the road in a town where time repeats itself and them finding a way to fix it. Fun story that is not your regular FF story and Coello’s art shines. Highly recommended, even if you might be left in the dark from where the last issue of the previous run ended.
FRANK MLLER PRESENTS ASHCAN EDITION by Frank Miller, Dan Didio, Phillip Tan, and Danilo Beyruth. Hey…Frank Miller is doing comics again and this $1.00 sampler is his first shot across the bow. First up is RONIN BOOK II, which picks up from where the classic title left off. The good news, as Frank’s art has decreased in quality over the years, is that Phillip Tan is drawing it, so it looks amazing. Next is ANCIENT ENEMIES by Didio. Not sure how I feel about this although it reminds me of what he was writing at DC and has an 80’s feel to it. Also included is a preview of Miller and Emma Kubert’s PANDORA, which should look wonderful.
GOLD GOBLIN #1 by Christopher Cantwell and Lan Medina. If you haven’t been paying attention, Norman Osborn has been strips of his sins and memories by the Sin Eater. That means he is trying to be good for a change. That also means he plans on being a hero, thus the Gold Goblin is born. But Norman is troubled by visions, including from a dead Gwen Stacy with a broken neck. The story is fun and to the point and Medina’s artwork is very reminiscent of Mark Bagley’s. Fun stuff seeing the consummate crazy guy as a hero.
HARLEY QUINN: THE ANIMATED SERIES: LEGION OF BATS #1 by Tee Franklin and Shae Beagle. HARLEY QUINN: THE ANIMATED SERIES has finished its’ third HBO season and this title follows directly out of it. Harley teams up with Robin, Batgirl and Nightwing and tries to become a hero…sort of. This isn’t the Harley you know and love. This is the television version and is filled with Fourth Wall breaks, off-color language and all the craziness fans of the show expect. Personally, I love the show and find myself both spontaneously laughing and cringing at it. Obviously, this book is a winner for me.
I HATE FAIRYLAND #1 by Scottie Young and Brett Bean. This was so twisted the last time this title was published that I guess we can expect more of the same. Once again, we follow Gert, who was in Fairyland and causing destruction and mayhem with her antics and foul mouth. Well, Gert has been sent back to Earth and is having a tough time coping. But she may have a job she can actually handle and that may include heading back to the place that drove her crazy. Just a whole lot of silly stuff. Despite the look, this is NOT a kid’s book!
JUNKYARD JOE #1 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. It’s 1972 and a group of soldiers in Vietnam have a tough mission ahead of them. Luckily their newest platoon member turns out to be a mechanical man who they name Joe. Post war, questions remain. Whatever happened to Junkyard Joe? This book is a prequel to the character’s appearance, or reference therein in GEIGER (also highly recommended)
LORD OF THE JUNGLE #1 by Dan Jurgens and Francesco Segala. When it comes to Edgar Rice Burroughs, I was never a huge fan of Tarzan, probably only reading one or two of his stories. I was more about the adventures of John Carter, Carson Napier, and David Innes. However, I did collect the DC run of the early Seventies and part of the Marvel run in the late Seventies. After seeing some of the preliminary artwork for this series, and realizing that Jurgens was writing it, I gave it a shot. And was pleasantly surprised! It fluctuates back and forth between the “present” and the depths of John Clayton’s origin, remaining relatively close to Burroughs work. The art is ridiculously reminiscent of greats like Russ Manning and Burne Hogarth and, for me, that’s a major selling point. I cannot recommend this enough!
MIDNIGHT SUNS #1 by Ethan Sacks and Luigi Zagaria. Just what we do need: a rebirth of the classic supernatural team. But not everyone has supernatural connections. Either way, we have them. Blade, Magik, Spirit Rider, Nico Minoru, Zoe Laveau, Agatha Harkness and…Logan Wolverine(???) join forces to stop the pending apocalypse(and not the X-Men villain). But then Doom shows up(yeah…that guy!) and things get weird. Is it good? Well, it is what it is and ties into STRANGE ACADEMY, so…
MIRACLEMAN #0 by Neil Gaiman, Ryan Stegman, Ty Templeton, Mike Carey, Peach Momoko, Jason Aaron, Mark Buckingham, Paul Davidson, and Leinil Francis Yu. After far too long, MIRACLEMAN is back. In my opinion, one of the greatest superhero stories ever told and now Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham have their hands on it, to finish up what began in Apocryoha. Seven stories that set the stage for MIRACLEMAN: THE SILVER AGE. If you have never read this classic series before, so masterfully turned out by Alan Moore and then Gaiman, here’s your chance.
NIGHT OF THE GHOULS #1 by Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla. Parts of a long-lost horror movie have turned up and one collector wants the truth about it. What made the creator try and destroy it and why? This twisted and totally amazing story may have the answers. Snyder’s story is both fascinating and horrifying and Francavilla’s art totally fits the bill.
OLD DOG #1 by Declan Shalvey. Jack Lynch was a art of a special ops team and something went wrong while recovering something. Lynch wakes from an eight year coma and finds his team is gone and he was changed by what he encountered. Now a secret government organization is getting him back into the game again, as their new secret weapon. This is an interesting story that shifts back and forth in time and sometimes becomes a bit hard to follow. But it looks great and the plot is intriguing, so I’m definitely in for the ride.
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL: BROTHER #1 by Torunn Gronbekk and Rafael T. Pimental. The second of the free-standing WAR JOURNAL titles that tie into the current continuity. Frank’s now part of The Hand and his wife has been resurrected. So, the master assassin now wields a sword and this issue takes him into a face-off with his old nemesis Jigsaw. Just so you know, it is not essential to read if you’re reading the regular series, but it does add some color to it. To be followed by PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL: BASE in February.
QUICK STOPS #1 by Kevin Smith and Jeremy Simser. Dark Horse brings us a trip into the View Askewniverse with this issue; the first of four. Fans of CLERKS and other Kevin Smith films will love it, as it has a ton of callbacks to moments and characters. I was hesitant about it, but gave it a shot based on the artwork, which nails so many characters from Smith’s films. To be honest, Ben Affleck and Jason Lee are so spot on that I could hear their dialogue when I read it. I was pleasantly surprised!
SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH ANNIVERSARY SPECTACULAR #1 by Dan Parent, George Gladir, Dexter Taylor, Frank Doyle, Bob Bolling and Stan Goldberg. It’s another Archie one-shot, filled with classic stories and one new one, which introduces the new character of Amber Nightstone. Typical silly fun for folks who loved this stuff growing up, like me.
SECRET INVASION #1 by Ryan North and Francesco Mobili. Those pesky Skrulls are back and still trying to take over the world. Nick Fury Jr., because is dad is once again alive, investigates a strange death, only to find out that the family he is visiting are Skrulls. Bow he gets the Avengers involved and it looks like one of them is a Skrull.
SIREN’S GATE #1 by Shannon Maer. I have said it elsewhere in this batch of reviews, but I don’t know how to describe this book. I will say that it’s about a ten minute read but is incredibly beautiful. I’m a huge fan of Maer’s artwork and this one is spectacular. We have a recently resurrected girl and a werewolf and some weird stuff going on. But the dialogue is threadbare, so it is a very quick read. That said, it’s beautiful enough to have me come back for more.
SOLDIER STORIES #1 by Megan Ferrell Burke, Brian Anthony, Jalysa Conway, Reverand William J. Bellamy, Dennis O’Neill, Arturo Lauria, John Bivens, Annapaola Martello, and Cecilia Lo Valvo. A wonderful anthology one-shot written by veterans from Vietnam through Afghanistan. Four different stories and an except from the late Dennis O’Neill’s semi-autobiographical novel. It’s a mixed bag, story wise, ranging from modern eras and even a touch into science fiction. It’s a great read. Highlighted by two different covers by legends Bill Tucci and Mark Silvestri.
SPIDER-MAN #1 by Dan Slott and Mark Bagley. If you read any of the EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE issues, you would know that the Spider-Verse is in trouble and there is a big event coming. It is so big that Morlun is back and he’s AIDING Peter. It’s Slott and Bagley, so you know where this is going to go. People either loved or hated Slott’s run on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, so your mileage may vary. Personally, I liked their run and figure I will feel the same about this. Now understand, even though EVERYTHING is in continuity, this kind of runs alongside the regular title. Where exactly? Anyone’s guess.
SWEETIE CANDY VIGILANTE #1 by Suzanne Cafiero and Jeff Zornow. So, Dynamite does it again and brings this tale of the wacked out relative of the legendary Candyman and she is about to make things right in her crappy world by using her candy powers. It bangs from minute one as she goes to New York’s legendary Ice Cream Bunny looking for…the Ice Cram Bunny. What she finds pisses her off and, while a punk rock version of “Sugar Sugar” plays, she wreaks havoc on the baddies there. It’s totally insane, totally gory and just bananas…and bananas is good! And it totally ties in with the band Osaka PopStar.
THUNDERBOLTS #1 by Jim Zub and Sean Izaakse. Following the departure of Wilson Fisk and uke Cage becoming Mayor of New York, the decision is made to create a new super-team, since the last one was Fisk’s own group of super-villains. So, thanks to marketing geniuses, we get a team led by Hawkeye, consisting of America Chavez, Power Man, Gutsen Glory(yeah…that’s what I said!) and the Purple Girl. Hey…I get it: the Thunderbolts have always been a weird team. But I’m also a huge fan of the classic series so, with Clint Barton being his usual bumbling self, this series looks like fun!
TRAVELING TO MARS #1 by Mark Russell and Roberto Meli. Roy Livingston is about to make history by traveling to Mars, courtesy of the Eazy Beef Corporation, with two “super-rovers” named Leopold and Albert. What makes his trip interesting is that he is dying of cancer and this trip will give his surviving family $10 million dollars. Once he gets there and claims the planet for the Corporation, he plans to kill himself. Well…that is the plan. Fun, thought-provoking stuff from Mark Russell.
20TH CENTURY MEN #1 by Deniz Camp and S. Morian. I don’t know where to start with this one. We have a super-powered President, a cyborg solider, trips from 1948 to the present and an Afghan woman in the middle of it all. It’s about Russia and the United States and the possibility of World War III. It is one crazy, disjointed ride. And not surprising as Camp is the same guy responsible for BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED. At is cool, even reminiscent of Richard Corben in spots. Recommended if you need something really deep to read, because this ain’t no superhero book you’re used to.
TWO GRAVES #1 by Genevieve Valentine, Ming Doyle and Annie Wu. A young woman meets a man and, with the help of a mysterious stranger, kills him. This leads to a strange road trip with someone who may be the personification of death. Not quite sure how I feel about this. Looks great, has an intriguing story, but I’m not sure where it is going. Does that mean I won’t follow the series? Probably not. This first issue was intriguing enough to make me want to go further.
VAMPIRELLA VERSUS RED SONJA #1 by Dan Abnett and Alessandro Ranaldi. Another Dynamite title spinning out of the Dark Powers series, which I was not a fan of. And this one is no better. Abnett’s story is filled with boring conversations and equally boring tropes. Worse yet is the interior artwork, which is square and clunky. However, if you want to see killer artwork, buy it for the multitude of variant covers by Lucio Parrillo, Joe Linsner, Joe Quinones, Jae Lee, Carla Cohen, Eric Hensen, and Jeremy Clark, among others. THOSE ROCK!
VANISH #1 by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman. Once upon a time, there was a word of magic. Then things went terribly wrong. And now, some of those from that world have landed on our world and that’s where things get interesting. Lines are crossed, villains are heroes and vice versa. Cates newest work is amazing and complex. The ideas of right and wrong are questioned and you find yourself not knowing who to side with. Stegman’s art me be some of the best of his career. This one if a winner!
X-TERMINATORS #1 by Leah Williams and Carlos Gomez. I know exactly what you are going to say, because I already said it. “Just what we DON’T NEED…another X book.” Here’s the pitch: Jubilee, Dazzler, and Boom-Boom go out for a night drinking and end up with vampires. Oh yeah…and Wolverine shows up along the way. So…it’s a girl’s night out with vampires. Wait…drunk mutants and vampires. Wait wait: really drunk mutant girls with mouths like truckers and vampires. Stop: really drunk mutant girls with mouths like truckers, vampires and a ton of blood? Okay…I’m in! See a side of these heroes we haven’t seen before. Just silly bloody fun!
