Books I want this week:
Strangehaven #18
When was the last time this came out? Always a pleasure to see this appear on the New Comics List.
Jack Cross #2
I never watched 24, so the comparisons some have made mean nothing to me. Even if Erskine isn’t at his best, the first issue was taut stuff, so looking forward to more.
Legion of Super-Heroes #10
Hopefully, Kitson is back on art duties, as we see what happens next in this interesting take on the LSH.
PvP #19
I’ve read the entirety of the online comics so this is my way of paying Mr Kurtz back.
Daredevil #77
Bendis & Maleev have had a great run on Daredevil and this last arc looks like it will be no different.
And now, a few comments on the solicitations by the big three companies for December.
Image try their best to be different and interesting but someone should have told them that the phone conversation thing was not funny. Really. Marc Silvestri wimps out on Hunter-Killer, with Eric Basaldua providing the interior pencils for issue 8. Wasn’t this supposed to be his return to drawing regularly? Or perhaps I’m being too harsh. After 3 issues (has #1 come out yet?), V.I.C.E. is, apparently, already an ‘ongoing hit series!’, which I’m sure is news to the rest of the world. And I’ll avoid the easy joke in Best of Michael Turner being a very small book. Damn.
DC has lost a lot of the goodwill I felt for it with most things seemingly crossing over with Infinitely Long Build Up and Continuity Clean Up, which makes me gloss over most of the books on the list. Apart from Seven Soldiers, the one thing that brought a smile to my face was the title of the Batgirl TP, Kicking Assassins, but I guess that depends on your sense of humour. Although it smacks of cashing in, Crisis on Multiple Earths: The Team-Ups Vol. 1 TP will give those people, like myself, the opportunity to read some interesting old comics. The same can be said for Showcase Presents: Justice League of America Vol. 1 TP, with the innate suggestion that there is more to come. The only addition to my usual suspects will be the last issue of Tom Strong, as Alan Moore and Chris Sprouse come back to finish things off in style. I haven’t been reading it since Moore left, because that’s the kind of chap I am, so I’m looking forward to the finale. Question – why are the TPs for Vimanarama and We3 $12.99 (more than the individual issues) when Seaguy is $9.95? Am I being dense but aren’t the point of TPs to be cheaper than the comics, more accessible to the non-comic reading public?
Marvel have fostered very little goodwill with me and their strategy of late (throw enough shit at the wall and see what sticks), which makes going through their solicitations very wearisome. It must be the silly season with all these ‘Specials’ to drain people’s bank accounts, and do we really need six more What Ifs? The art of Leinil Francis Yu will probably be wasted on Ultimate Wolverine v Hulk, which seems a shame for his first project under exclusive contract. Kevin Smith sees fit to finish off his Spider-Man series after being constantly guilted into it by Joe Quesada, who only gives him slack because of the media attention he can bring to a project. The curiosity value of two Punisher one-shots make for the most interesting Marvel projects: Andy Diggle does the Xmas comedy, while Garth Ennis does Pre-Pubescent Punisher, which seems utterly bizarre but should be a good read nonetheless.
I don’t know; it’s enough to make someone write an article about how they are bored with comic book NEWS and then see the internet crack in half when people misinterpret what was written …
