Avengers Annual #1
Simon Williams and his Revengers believe the Avengers’ time is up and they’ve taken the fight right to the Avengers’ front door.
Uncanny X-Force 19.1
Return to the Age of Apocalypse as the AOA X-Men make their final stand against Weapon X! Introducing new Age of Apocalypse super hero team The X-Terminated! The stage is set for Age of Apocalypse #1, the new ongoing series set in the Age of Apocalypse!
Avengers: Children’s Crusade 8
The Young Avengers find themselves on the wrong side of the Scarlet Witch’s reality-altering powers in their final battle against the combined forces of THE AVENGERS and THE X-MEN. In this penultimate issue of the epic maxi-series, the Young Avengers have no one to turn to except each other as they are forced to fight their lifelong heroes, to the death. Find out who lives and who dies.
Dectective Comics 5
There’s been a series of assassinations in the criminal underworld – and The Penguin is among Batman’s first suspects! But when seemingly ordinary women become part of the killings, Batman discovers a common denominator that leads him on the trail of a vicious killer who is spiraling down a path of destruction. Bruce Wayne’s girlfriend, investigative reporter Charlotte Rivers, ends up on the killer’s hit list. And with her missing, can Batman uncover the layers of lies and deception within the underworld in time to save her?
Last week was a good week for comics. I enjoyed a bunch of releases, bur Uncanny X-Force stole the show. The final chapter in the long running “Dark Angel Saga”, we see ApocAngel’s plans coming to fruition, and the decimate X-Force trying to stop him. Great Rick Remender story and Jerome Opeña art. Now i’m curious on where the series goes.
Like any other MAJOR EVENT from DC Comics, the whole “Flashpoint” storyline kind of went over my head. The core books were easy to follow, but all the side books (basically alternate reality versions of the regular books) just kept me scratching my head. I can’t say it was because of the writing. It’s just that I’ve always felt DC has been mired in a convoluted continuity, and it was always a chore to try and get solid back-stories on the characters I thought were interesting.
DC seemed to have a solution for that. The end of the Flashpoint event saw The Flash combine the three separated universes, Vertigo, Wildstorm and the current DC universe, into one. What? Superman and Batman co-existing in the same reality with Jonah Hex, Constantine and Grifter? AWESOME! That was my initial thought. I’d been a dabbler in Wildstorm and Vertigo over the years. This was an interesting concept. And with DC ensuring that this will be a great jumping on-point for new readers..
I was sold. I pushed through ‘Flashpoint’.. kinda following the whole thing. And when the reboot of the entire universe started, I cleared all preconceived notions on what to expect from DC Comics and tried to keep and open mind. Over the past four weeks, I got to read the entire catalog of new books.. all 52. Some I thought were great. A lot of them weren’t exactly my cup of tea. But all in all, I have to say I’ve tripled the number of DC Comics I’ll be buying and following for the foreseeable future (that would be from 1 book to 5). Here’s a shortlist of the issue #1′s that I love and will be continuing the read. I won’t be going into detail on the books. I’ll just give you my quick takes.
Batwing
JUDD WINICK / BEN OLIVER
The African Batman? That’s about right. Simple premise. Excellently written book. One of the heroes tied to the international Batman Incorporated brand. We get to see a young Black hero, being mentored by Batman in superhero AND detective work. Winick does a great job of not ‘over-africanating’ the story and dialog and keeping the character interesting, even though it’s rooted in the Batman style of story. My rating: 4/5
Batman: Detective Comics
TONY DANIEL (?!)
When I first opened this reboot of DC’s flagship book, I got this warm and fuzzy feeling from the first page. It took me back to the days when Tony Daniels was my favorite artist penciling Marvel’s X-Force, and then Image Comics’ Spawn. I was a little skeptical of the whole writer/artist combo thing. That is until we first meet the rebooted Joker. Great action and an ‘oh shit’ ending makes this one of my main MUST READS from The New 52. My rating:4.5/5
Aquaman
GEOFF JOHNS / IVAN REIS / JOE PRADO
I know, I know.. Don’t hate me for this one. I read a friends copy just for the hell of it. I NEVER liked Aquaman. But when Geoff Johns’ name is on the cover, you give it a chance. And I’m glad I did. Somehow, Johns addresses the big elephant in the room: Aquaman being the joke of the DC Superhero community, AND managed to foreshadow him being a bad-ass. Add in a horrifying threat rising from the ocean to attack the surface world, and you get the makings of a classic ‘redemption’ story. My rating: 4/5
Batwoman
J.H. WILLIAMS III / W. HADEN BLACKMAN
I have to admit, I initially missed the classic run J.H. Williams did penciling Batwoman’s mini-run in Detective Comics, Although I skimmed over his incredible artwork, it took me a few months to go back and read Greg Rucka’s story. After racing through the whole storyline in a day, i was ready for more. And after a ton of delays, W. Haden Blackman’s first issue was worth it! My rating: 4/5
Grifter
NATHAN EDMONDSON / CAFU
I can BARELY remember Jim Lee’s initial WildC.A.T.S. I just remember I thought they were 3rd rate X-Men knockoffs.. except for the dude with the rag on his face. Grifter was such a standout character, I wished he’d show up in the Marvel Universe. The next best thing has happened. He’s in the new DCU and he has his own book. The first issue wasn’t that strong, but I love this character (kind of like Wolverine with guns instead claws). I’ll try and hang on for a few more issues. My rating: 3/5
There are a couple other series that I’m looking at, but you can spend only so much money on comics. Unfortunately my pull list is pretty much set now. I had to dump a few of my main books that have been getting a little tired, so these five books will fit in nicely for the time being.
One of the coolest things about existing in a creative ecosystem is your homies tend to find ways to impress you. One of my closest friends an collaborative partners, Trel Robinson isn’t just a talented singer/musician.. but also a talented cartoonist. When his road-dog and pug in crime, Fender passed away, he decided to play homage to him by immortalizing him in an online webcomic entitled A Pug Named Fender (apugnamedfender.com). Breathing cool life into the awesome Pug, Fender takes a trip through the world of cool culture and soul music with a supporting cast, partly based in his real reality.
Not only did I think this was cool as hell at first, but when I found myself in an episode of the comic, it made the whole project THAT MUCH more awesome. Flipping through the episodes and seeing cats like Phonte, Lalah Hathaway, Nicolay, Zo! and others.. and then seeing my beardy, freckly mug with the MacBook Pro tucked under my arm (LIKE IT ALWAYS IS) sharing an episode with Fender… F’n AWESOME! So peace to my man Trel for immortalizing me in something that I think is gonna be something big in the ear future!
About A Pug Named Fender
http://apugnamedfender.com
About Trel Robinson
http://allthingsfave.com/
I remember the first time I discovered David Wellington. When my obsession with zombie novels reached it’s peak back in (I believe) 2004. I scoured the internet looking for any and all underground novels I could acquire, when i found myself on Wellington’s blog, where he was releasing his second zombie novel, Zombie Nation a few chapters a week. Being skeptical from reading HORRIBLE fan fiction to quench my appetite, I started reading the first few chapters.. and got immediately hooked! I quickly stopped and started to read the first novel, Zombie Island from the beginning. Suddendly, my 90 minute train commute from San Jose to San Francisco was a little less painful. I’d sit at my desk during the week, and cut and paste each chapter from his blog posts and print them out. For months I ripped through the stories until I was caught up, and from then on, I consumed anything on the blog, and later bought any story he published.
Even thought I loved the zombie trilogy and his other works, my favorite immediately became the vampire novels (also known as The Claxton books). Deliciously simple premise. A cop teams up with a grizzled hunter to try and wipe out the vampire menace. Although it took me awhile to warm up to 13 Bullets and 99 Coffins, I was hooked after the first chapters. I’m in the same space right now with the third book, Vampire Zero. And with one more to go after this, I’m enjoying the ride of gruesome vampire hunting and killing.
Next!?! the Werewolf novels!
About David Wellington
David Wellington is the author of seven novels. His zombie novels “Monster Island”, “Monster Nation” and “Monster Planet”(Thunder’s Mouth Press) form a complete trilogy. He has also written a series of vampire novels including (so far) “Thirteen Bullets”, “Ninety-Nine Coffins”, “Vampire Zero” and “Twenty-Three Hours”, and in October of 2009 began his new Werewolf series, starting with “Frostbite” (all with Three Rivers Press). In 2004 he began serializing his horror fiction online, posting short chapters of a novel three times a week on a friend’s blog. Response to the project was so great that in 2004 Thunder’s Mouth Press approached Mr. Wellington about publishing “Monster Island” as a print book. His novels have been featured in Rue Morgue, Fangoria, and the New York Times.
More on David Wellington
One of my favorite comic storylines of all time was the awesome Age Of Apocalypse, which ran through Marvel Comics X-Books in the 90′s. It basically told an alternate timeline story if the villain Apocalypse conquered the world. This new universe was filled with twisted versions of Marvels heroes that banded together to help restore the timeline.
Much to my delight, Rick Remender is taking Marvel’s secret mutant assassins, X-Force back into that universe to help an ailing Arch-Angel who is slated to become the next Apocalypse.
A lot of interesting stuff Remender plays off of. But the coolest thing has to be the Wolverine/Jean Grey thing. There’s Wolverine meeting up with his long dead lost love, Jean Grey. But she’s the Jean Grey from the Apocalypse timeline, and she lost the love of her life.. which happened to be alternative timeline Wolverine.
There’s a lot of other stuff going on, and we’re only on issue two of the story arc. Let’s hope that some of these characters will crossover to the 616 universe. (i.e. Sabertooth and Wild Child!!!)
