ARCHIE THE
DECISION #1 by Tom King
and Dan Parent. So, sue me: I’m a sucker for Archie comics, buying many but not
all. But when I heard that King and Parent were doing an Archie comic and
allegedly Archie was finally going to decide who he was going to make his true
girlfriend, I got excited. In the end, he doesn’t do the deed and it just feels
like a regular Archie jaunt. It’s fun and there is really nothing earth-shaking
here. Recommended by Archie fans or fans of King’s work.
THE AUTUMN
KINGDOM #1 by Cullen
Bunn and Christopher Mitten. This came highly recommended by my local comic guy
so I gave it a shot. When a family goes on vacation. The family of a writer go
on a vacation as he tries to finish his newest book. But strange things happen
and his daughters suddenly find themselves thrust into a world of strange
creatures and trying to save their parents. It was entertaining and I’m curious
to see what’s next.
BABS #1 by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows. When you
see the names of Ennis and Burrows together on a book, you had best figure it
is going to be a wild romp, based on past history. This is no exception!
Picture Red Sonya as written by Garth Freakin’ Ennis! I got to Page Two, saw our heroine complain
about her chainmail bra, a nice call back to a similar complaint in a early
issue of CEREBUS, and I was in hysterics. And it only gets wilder from
there. Somewhat gory, certainly NSFW language and a ton of genre breaking
tropes, this is about as perfect a satire as you can imagine from the creative
hands of these two. This may be my absolute favorite book of recent months.
Seek this book out!
BLOOD
HUNTERS #1 by Erica
Schultz and Robert Gill. Coming off the BLOOD
HUNT mini-series, this unusual team of monster hunters is back. Dagger,
Elsa Bloodstone, White Widow, and Hallows’ Eve come together again; each with
their own agenda as they hunt vampires, including a certain Wall-Crawling one.
I just love Elsa Bloodstone’s character and feel she has been very
underutilized over the years and anytime we can get more Dagger I am a happy
guy. It won’t be for everyone but I’m all in.
CHILLING
ADVENTURES PRESENTS TRUTH OR DARE #1 by
Ron Robbins and Laura Braga. It’s another Archie one-shot, this time starring
Trula twist and Ethel, plus the regular gang as supporting players. Kind of
cool, great art from Braga, but I still hanker for some more AFTERLIFE WITH
ARCHIE. Perfect for die-hard readers of the Riverdale gang.
CONAN:
BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE #1
by Jim Zub and Jonas Scharf. Sword and sorcery fans: prepare yourself for a long
haul. This is part of an epic storyline that actually begins in SAVAGE SWORD
OF CONAN #4, runs through the other three issues of this mini-series, and
also in the novel CONAN: CULT OF THE OBSIDIAN MOON.. It also ties
together so many of Robert E. Howard’s characters including El Borak and
Soloman Kane. Zub’s story is what it is and Scharf’s art fits the tale, even if
it is not as dynamic as regular series artists Braithwaite and De La Torre.
CRUEL
UNIVERSE #1 by Matt
Kindt, Corinna Bechko, Chris Condon, Ben H. Winters, Kano, Caitlin Yarsky,
Jonathan Case, and Artyom Toplin. Oni-Lion Forge again mines the long dead
concept and name of EC Comics, this time tapping into a Science-Fiction vein.
Four fun stories that try to harken the classic EC stuff but ultimately fall
short. Nothing earth-shattering here but some nice stories in general. All I
can tell you is to get ready for more EC titles as Oni as already announced the
addition of two more titles: a holiday themed one-shot entitled SHIVER
SUSPENSTORIES and the Fantasy anthology CRUEL KINGDOM, that will
replace this title after five issues.
THE CURSED
LIBRARY ALPHA #1 by
Eliot Rahal, Magdalene Visaggio, and Craig Cermak. Over the past few years,
Archie Comics has been weaving a strange collection of one-shots into some sort
of cohesive universe. Now, they promise to tie all those various threats
together. Jinx, Danni and Madam Satan all play prominent roles as we learn that
all of these one-shots were actually stories from the Cursed Library.
Obviously, this will not appeal to all readers but will certainly be grabbed up
by fans of this corner of the Archie Universe.
DC VS
VAMPIRES: WORLD WAR V #1
by Matthew Rosenberg and Otto Schmidt. At last, a sequel to the highly
successful DC VS VAMPIRES series, that picks up the plot threads from
the previous run. In those issues, the world was split between the last humans
and DC heroes and villains turned into vampires. In the end of the run, a new
status quo was established and an actual
truce was initiated, even though vampires still rule the world, with Batgirl
being the Queen of one group of bloodsuckers and the other under the control of
vampire Damian Wayne. It is a little confusing if you were not a reader of the
original series, but Roseberg nails it and this Elsewhere tale works really
well.
DEADPOOL
TEAM-UP #1 by Rob
Liefeld. Here is all you need to know about this book: it’s Deadpool as brought
to life by Liefeld. Oh yeah: we also get the return of Crystar. So, who else
might show up in the future issues. It’s Deadpool so you may or may not want to
dive into this, depending on how you feel about this character.
DEFENDERS OF
THE EARTH #1 by Dan
Didio and Jim Califiore. Mad Cave does it again and mines classic heroes of
many readers’ youth. Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Lothar, and the
Phantom band together once again to fight evildoers. The story has a decided throwback
feel to it, even if these characters have aged and mostly retired. Califiore
always delivers the good from an artistic standpoint and this is no exception.
While not as good as their FLASH GORDON series, it is worth a look, especially
if you remember the cartoon.
DUCK AND
COVER #1 by Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque. This was not a
book I was looking to buy and, honestly, was not on my radar. But I saw that it
was Snyder and Albuquerque and figured to take a chance. Here’s the quick synopsis:
it’s 1955 and the Russians drop the bomb on a small town. A group of kids, who
were hiding under their desk, survive and now have to survive during what looks
to be World War III. The big question: how did these individuals manage to
survive by hiding under their desks? There is a bunch of back story leading up
to this that does a great job of defining the characters and setting the table.
This was a surprise grab and I loved it. Highly recommended!
EPITAPHS
FROM THE ABYSS #1 by J.
Holtham, Chris Condon, Stephanie Phillips, Brian Azzarello, Jorge Fornes, Peter
Krause, Phil Hester, and Vlad Legostaev. EC Comics is back, sort of, from Oni
Comics. The first in a new line of EC titles, with CRUEL UNIVERSE coming
in August, four writer/artist teams try to recreate the glory that was EC. To
be honest, the stories are good and have a bit of shock value to them but I
have to admit that CREEPSHOW has been doing it better. But they get
points for mirroring the EC styles, right down to the classic EC font in the
stories. I will continue to support the title in hopes that future stories will
be a bit more intriguing.
EXCEPTIONAL
X-MEN #1 by Eve L.
Ewing and Carmen Carnero. With the fall of Krakoa, the X-Men have splintered
across the world. At the moment, Kitty Pryde is a bartender at Lulu’s Tavern,
having put her past behind her. But a chance encounter with a mutant leads her
to have to consider her choices. But let’s not forget that Emma Frost is
looming in the background of the lives of the mutants and is making plans for
her future too. With all the relaunches of the X-Men line, this may be one of
my favorites, simply because it is not all about slam, bam action. There is a
wonderful story with some heart to it.
FLASH GORDON
#1 by Jeremy Adams and
Will Conrad. When I saw the FCBD release for this book, I got real excited, as
it had a great story and the art had a certain homage to the great Alex
Raymond. Well, the first issue does not disappoint as Flash finds himself
captured, Mongo is in turmoil and Dale . . . is the Empress? Wow! This just
takes the classic Flash and turns it sideways. Love it! At the same time, Mad
Cave has also introduced FLASH GORDON QUATERLY #1 by Dennis Culver,
Louis Southard, Nuno Plati, and Pasquale Qualano. This title has two stories in
it and they are okay-nothing tremendous, although the Western story is kind of
fun.
HELLO
DARKNESS #1 by Jude
Ellison S. Doyle, Robert Hack, Dave Cook, James Tynion IV, Sarah Andersen,
Steve Orlando, Garth Ennis, Letizia Cadonici, David Cousens, Werther
Dell’edera, A.L. Kaplan, and Beck Cloonan. This must be the month for horror
anthologies to come rolling out as Boom dropped this new series on us. Seven
tales including a SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN multi-parter and a piece by
Ennis that is also a multi-parter. Overall, the stories are a bit more diverse
and, at times, hit a bit harder than EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS did for me.
The focus, while having horror elements, seems to aim more to a psychological
bent than just straight our gore. Of the pair, this is the better book, in my
opinion.
IRON FIST 50TH
ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1
by Chris Claremont, Alyssa Wong, Justina Ireland, Frank Tieri, Jason Loo, Lan
Medina, Van Randal, Elena Casagrande, Ty Templeton, and Whilce Portacio. Danny
Rand’s hero reaches its’ 50th anniversary from Iron Fist’s first
appearance and it’s a nice collection of five stories that tie-in the various Iron Fists in the
Marvel Universe, as Danny Rand has since given up that mantle and his power.
Probably the most important piece of this, SPOILER, is
that the book ends with a battle between Danny and Ch’I-Lin that ends in Danny’s
apparent death. However, there is a QR code which shows that possibly tells us
that nobody really stays dead in comics.
JONNY QUEST
#1 by joe Casey and
Sebastian Piriz. The Jonny Quest cartoon truly was my favorite cartoon growing
up, so to see these characters getting a reboot, as has already been done by Dynamite
on titles like POWERPUFF GIRLS, THUNDERCATS, and SPACE GHOST,
made this old guy feel like a kid again. The story is mostly set in the era the
cartoon was in but something happens that propels Jonny, Race, Dr. Quest,
Hadji, and Bandit in our present, where they discover that things have changed
and an old adversary is still around. The story is a ton of fun, so much so I can
hear their voices as I read it, and the art smacks! This is such a fun book that I almost wish it
was a bi-weekly series!
KARDAK THE
MYSTIC #1 by Joe
Corallo and Butch Mapa. Archie brings us the tale of a magician who gains
ability from a mystic amulet he acquires. Kardak is not a new character to
comic fans but has been given new life in this one-shot. It has a 1950’s,
pre-Code mystery series’ feel to it, in both the story and the look. It is not
great, but does the job, actually a bit better than some of the stories in the
new EC reboots.
LADY
MECHANIKA: THE DEVIL IN THE LAKE #1
by Joe Benitez, M.M. Chen, and Sya Oum. The good news? LADY MECHANIKA is
back! The bad news? Benitez is not handling the art on this. Either way, the
story is a ton of fun and Oum does a good job handling the art. Fans of this
character will love this, as the story continues from the previous run. For new
readers, it’s a quirky little Cyberpunk inspired tale with a character who has
grown since her beginning. Go find the trades and catch up before diving in.
MARVEL 85TH
ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1
by Ryan North, Iman Vellani, Sobir Pirzada, Alan Davis, Christopher Priest,
Yuji Kaku, Steve Skroce, Joshua Cassera, Stephen Byrne, and Carlo Paguayan, It’s
the 85th Century and Earth is not what it used to be, as evident by
Wolverine and an aged Deadpool head in a jar, tour a museum that shows off
artifacts from a bygone age of the Marvel Universe. That leads us into a host
of stories from an earlier time. As it turns out, the Wolverine/Deadpool
connecting pieces are the most fun, as everything else feels like leftover
stories that had been sitting in a vault and Marvel was looking to publish. Ms.
Marvel, Excalibur, Spider-Man, and more all get their turn before the dynamic
duo get their day. Honestly, it was eight bucks I will never see again!
MARVEL
ZOMBIES: DAWN OF DECAY #1
by Thomas Krajewski and Jason Muhr. I have loved the Marvel Zombie line of
books because they are just a ton of strange, grisly fun. In this run, Groot is
responsible for bringing a space virus back to Earth and accidentally infects
the Avengers, leading to tons of chaos as the World’s Greatest Heroes become
zombies. Can The Hulk stop them? Tune in next issue to find out. This may or
may not be your cup of tea, but I thought it was a cool ride, although I got
more mileage out of the DCEASED series of titles.
THE NICE
HOUSE BY THE SEA #1 BY
James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez Bueno. Welcome back to the NICE HOUSE
universe in this sequel of sorts. As in the previous book, a group of people
with diverse talents have been housed together as the world ends. Just like the
last one, it is an interesting combination of plot and characterization as you
spend the first issue trying to acclimate yourself with all of them. I loved
the first series, even if I had to go back and read the entire epic once it was
finished to capture all the nuances of it. I expect the same will happen with
this one. But the first issue is a great start and I would recommend anyone who
if thinking of picking it up to read THE NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE first,
so as not to be confused.
NIGHTWATCHERS
#1 by Juni Ba and Fero
Pe. IDW has been rebooting their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line, following
the conclusion of the long run. In the main series, things have happened and
each issue focuses on the individual turtles. This spin-off, follows
Nightwatcher, whose identity is unknown until the very end of the book
although, if you did read the previous run, you probably figured out who they
were early on. Either way, it was a fun story and, between this and the
rebooted series, might have made me a TMNT fan again.
NYX #1 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and
Francesco Mortarino. Following the end of the Krakoan Era for Marvel’s mutants,
several new teams have sprung up. This is one of them, consisting of Anole,
Prodigy, Sophie Cuckoo, Ms. Marvel, and Wolverine…the other one. In the first
issue, while they all get used to each other, they face off against The
Krakoan, formerly Hellion. Oh yeah: Krakoan isn’t alone as there is a whole
group of mutants with their own agenda, including the other Cuckoos. And, as
has become tradition with Marvel mutant titles as of late, there is a QR code
at the end of the issue that gives you an extra page, essential to everything.
An interesting start but I need to see where they go from here to give it a
full thumbs up.
PEEPSHOW #15 by Joe Matt. Not a first issue, but it
almost feels like one since it had been 16 years since issue#14 appeared. And
it will certainly be his last as Matt passed away from a heart attack in
September at age 60; literally dying at his drawing board. In fact, the last
four pages of this posthumously released book were inked by his longtime friend
Chester Brown, best known for YUMMY FUR. Back in the Eighties,
PEEPSHOW was part of a whole plethora of autobiographical comics and was
one of the better ones. This is a great tribute and final word from an
underrated cartoonist who literally died for his art. Go find back issues or
the collected trades.
PHOENIX #1 by Stephanie Phillips and Alessandro
Miracolo. Jean Grey is back from the dead and now once again the host of the
Phoenix. Her new mission, with the end of the Krakoan Era, is to defend the
universe, which leads her to being part of a new team that includes her
father-in-law. Fun stuff if you like the space stories that Marvel delivers.
And don’t forget to scan that QR code for an extra page of story.
THE
ROCKETEER BREAKS FREE #1
by Stephen Mooney and Staz Johnson. IDW turns out another ROCKETEER
mini-series and there isn’t much more to say that I haven’t said before. I was
a Rocketeer fan from the first time I saw Dave Steven’s work and have remained
that way ever since. Mooney writes a fun story and Johnson does his best
Stevens imitation. Lots of action and excitement and hey…Betty! It won’t be for
everyone, as it’s kind of the different between Classic Coke and New Coke. But
it does certainly scratch an itch that I have missed since Steven’s untimely
death 16 years ago.
STANDSTILL
#1 by Lee Loughridge
and Andrew Robinson. Did you ever wish you had the power to stop time and do
whatever you wanted to? Well, that is the whole premise of this book as our
main character has that ability. Telling
you more than that would spoil it, especially because we don’t get to know what
his mission in. And I love that, as we don’t know if he is a hero or villain. A
bit grim and grisly but overall a great first issue.
TEENAGE
MUTANT NINA TURTLES #1
by Jason Aaron and Joelle Jones. I have drifted back and forth with TMNT
over the years, although I am proud to say I was there at the beginning of it
all; back when this weird looking black and white book hit the comic shelves.
All these years later, despite the spin-offs, movies and cartoons, I still love
them. This new series, written by Aaron with a rotating cast of artists, finds
Raphael in prison and, over the course of the issue, we discover that he has
incarcerated for an un yet revealed crime and is also acting as an informer for
the warden. The story is fun, Jones’ art is not her normal stuff and it fits. The
next few issues feature art by Rafael Albuquerque, Cliff Chiang, Chris Burnham
and Darick Robertson, as each will tell a single tale of the rest of the group.
UNCANNY
X-MEN #1 by Gail Simone
and David Marquez. If you have read this far, you know that Krakoa is gone and
it is a new day for Marvel’s mutants and there are a host of teams out there:
some in the open and some in hiding. This run, by Simone and Marquez, focuses
on the Uncanny team, made up of Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler. Besides
having our mutants, a dragon, a sketchy group operating in the former mansion,
we get a new group of mutants who arrive, as our team is on the road. It is an
interesting take on things but I severely wish we could go back to one or two
X-titles and not all of these. Giev me ONE or TWO teams and move on.
UNIVERSAL
MONSTER FRANKENSTEIN #1
by Michael Walsh and Toni Marie Griffin. Image comes out with their third
series based on the classic Universal Monsters, this time with the Frankenstein
Monster. As in the previous series, this takes the concepts and twists them a
bit and the result is incredibly satisfying. The story has nothing to really do
with the legend of the creature, but does involve new characters interacting
with him. A nice little tale that sets the table for the forthcoming issues.
VENOM WAR #1 by Al Ewing and Iban Coello. Is it just
me, or are we all getting tired of Venom and his entire collection of
symbiotes? This one allegedly will finally settle the idea of who will carry
the original Venom symbiote. Let’s be honest: Eddie Brock has his team and his
son Dylan has his and, somehow, Spider-Man finds himself with the original creature
and may carry that mantle. The art is great and the story is fine. But Marvel:
ENOUGH! There are no less than TEN mini-series/one shots connected to this
event. Tell a simple story, keep it streamlined and move on. The end of this
mini-series may also represent the end of my connection with venom, unless Marvel
can pull a rabbit out of its’ hat.
WEREWOLF BY
NIGHT #1 by Jason Loo
and Sergio Davila. Marvel does suddenly LOVE their Red Band books. Now, don’t
get me wrong: I LOVE having Jack Russell back as the REAL Werewolf by Night and
hopefully this will lead to Marvel resurrecting some of their other classic
creatures, specifically Frankenstein. Honestly, this is probably the goriest of
their Red Band books as Jack Russell needs to figure out if he is responsible
for a series of murders or is it someone or something else. The story is a
great little mystery tale with some of my favorite B level characters in it,
that have gotten new reader life thanks to the recent BLOOD HUNT. The
highlight is Davila’s art, that feels like the classic 70’s titles.
WOLVERINE #1 by Saladin Ahmed and Martin Coccolo.
Welcome to another new #1 from the X-Universe. Wolverine is kind of pissed at
the world and has screwed off to the wilds of Canada to get his head together.
Unfortunately, Cyber has decided to hunt him and Nightcrawler has decided to
find him. Pity poor Logan, who only wants to be left alone but the brutal
killing of his family of wolves only seeks to enrage him. The title is just okay,
because we have seen all of this before. Logan gets mad, Logan kills people,
Logan sulks. The art is okay too.
WOLVERINE:
REVENGE #1 by Jonathan
Hickman and Gerg Capullo. Welcome to Wolverine overload as this Red Band title
tries to cash-in on the renewed interest in the Canuck. Logan is hanging out in
the Savage Land, hunting with the locals when nick Fury…the REAL Nick Fury…shows
up and recruits him to fight alongside Captain America, Winter Soldier and
others in a fight against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, currently run by
Mastermind. Things go from bad to worse when it is revealed the Brotherhood
consists of Sabretooth, Omega Red, Deadpool and Colossus. It is a different
take on Wolverine and, based on what happens in the story, is set in some
corner of the Multiverse. Red Band? Sure, a couple of grisly moments but
nothing most have not seen before. Hey Marvel: STOP trying to punch up sales by
bagging stuff!
X-FACTOR #1 by Mark Russell and Bob Quinn. Here we
go, gang-ANOTHER X-book! This team consists of Angel, Feral, Firefist, Xyber,
Cameo and Jacok. This is the public team, complete with a PR firm backing them.
It is Mark Russell, so I expected it to be filled with a bunch of in-jokes and
some quirky characters. Before the issue is done, almost the entire team is
replaced, for any number of reasons…death included! It’s not as much fun as you might expect, but
it does represent another side of the Mutant world.
X-FORCE #1 by Geoffrey Thorne and Marcus To. With
the Krakoan Age ended, there is still a need for an extreme mutant team and it
looks like that duty falls on Forge. So he puts together that team, featuring
himself, Sage, Tankm Captain Britain…the new one…and Askani, better known as
Rachel Summers. And, one might expect, the stuff going on that they must faced
has a bit of a connection to none other than Nathaniel Essex. The story is fun
and, except for a bit of craziness involving Deadpool, not as outrageous as
some of the previous versions of the team.
X-MEN #1 by Jed McKay and Ryan Stegman. As you
may have seen by now, the end of the Krakoan Era has resulted in a batch of new
mutant teams. Does anyone remember when we only had three or four? The classic
team, the New Mutants, and X-Factor? Since then, we’ve had X-Force, X-Men, Dark
X-Men, Extreme X-Men, and just about every possible iteration you could think
of. Good ole’ Slim Summers is running this team from their base in…Merle,
Alaska? It was here that Sentinels were once built and some of them are still
there. This team, featuring Cyclops, Beast, Magneto, Psylocke, Kid Omega,
Temper, Magik, and Juggernaut, with some guest appearances, seems to be the
most cohesive. And don’t forget that QR code to find out a bit more about the
shadowy forces hiding in the background and try to figure out who they are,
although fans already have some ideas, including Cassandra Nova and her
brother.