COMICS ON THE RACK
Quick Picks for Comics Due 05-19-10
By John Judy
AGE OF HEROES #1 of 4 by Kurt Busiek, Dan Slott, Leonard Kirk and Many More! A mixed bag of hero tales set in the post-Osborn era. Strong creative teams and a new status quo require a look from the discerning fan-person.
AMERICAN VAMPIRE #3 by Scott Snyder, Stephen King and Rafael Albuquerque. The Yankee vamps start staking out their territory among the euro-trash bloodsuckers! Great fun! Recommended!
ATLAS #1 by Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman. The time-tossed heroes of the 1950s are back in the saddle looking to find out what's up with the 3-D Man! Is he also in IMAX? Gotta look!
ATOMIC KNIGHTS HC by John Broome and Murphy Anderson. Collecting a bunch of Silver-Age madness from the old STRANGE ADVENTURES series about a bunch of armored guys who protect folks after the apocalypse. Cool. And timely.
AVENGERS #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr. There's yet another team of Avengers on the scene so of course Kang the Conqueror's gotta roll in. Contains Wolverine.
BRIGHTEST DAY #2 by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis and Many Others. Quite a few folks, good and bad, are back from the dead. Some other folks, good and bad, aren't happy about it. Mysterious stuff. Gotta look.
CAPTAIN EASY, VOL. 1: SOLDIER OF FORTUNE HC written and drawn by Roy Crane. Beginning as a character in the daily strip "Wash Tubbs" Captain Easy became America's first adventure comic strip, influencing all those to come. This volume from Fantagraphics collects the complete Sunday newspaper strips from 1933-1935.
DC UNIVERSE: LEGACIES #1 of 10 by Len Wein, Joe and Andy Kubert and J.G. Jones. A veteran scribe and artists take us through the current history of the DCU, starting with the dawn of the Mystery Men of World War II.
EX MACHINA #49 by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris. It's the next to last issue of the series as it all comes down to Mayor Mitchell Hundred, the Great Machine, to save the world. Of course he's gotta do it the hard way. Highly recommended.
EXECUTOR HC by Jon Evans and Andrea Mutti. A guy who hasn't seen his high school sweetheart in years is named her executor after her mysterious death. Cue ominous music. Recommended.
GALACTA: DAUGHTER OF GALACTUS #1 by Adam Warren and Hector Sevilla Lujan. For the absolute hardest of hardcore, soap-abstaining, never been kissed Marvel Zombies there's this.
GARTH ENNIS BATTLEFIELDS #6 of 9 by Ennis and Carlos Ezquerra. As we learned last issue, war becomes much less fun when you start accidentally greasing civilians. The conclusion of "The Firefly and His Majesty." Recommended.
GARTH ENNIS BATTLEFIELDS, VOL. 4: HAPPY VALLEY SC by Ennis and PJ Holden. Believe it or not, incinerating an industrial area in WWII Germany actually involves certain moral problems. There's people living there, you see. Highly recommended.
GIRL COMICS #2 of 3 by Many Creators with Double X Chromosomes. An anthology of female creators working on female Marvel superheroes. Neat stuff.
HELLBLAZER #267 by Peter Milligan and Giuseppe Camuncoli. The world seems to have turned against John Constantine. In other news, the sun came up in the east.
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #26 by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca. Hey, this would make a good movie! Someone tell Marvel!
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #45 by James Robinson and Mark Bagley. Supergirl and Power Girl duke it out. "Hawt!"
LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #1 by Paul Levitz and Yildiray Cinar. The legendary Legion scribe returns to the fold, giving the 31st century's greatest heroes another shot at glory. This one involves a certain green ring that does stuff.
ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS #1 by Various Quite Talented Creators. Origin stories of your favorite characters re-told by your favorite creators. Great stuff for new readers. Recommended.
RESCUE #1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Andrea Mutti. Pepper Potts is NOT Iron Maiden. She's Rescue. Coulda been worse. She coulda been Iron Supplement.
SCALPED #1 by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guerra. If you want to turn on a newbie or a filthy unbeliever to the adventures of Dash Bad Horse, the baddest numchuk-wielding, undercover junkie ever to boomerang back to The Rez, this is your chance to do it for the low price of one measly buck. Do it! Highly recommended.
SCALPED, VOL. 6: THE GNAWING SC by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guerra. Collecting issues #30-34, this story-arc features a huge amount of murder and mayhem even by SCALPED standards. Red Crow mixes it up with the Hmong gangsters and Dash goes on a rampage of his own. It's beautiful, raw and absolutely not for kids. Highly recommended.
THE SPIRIT #2 by Mark Schultz and Moritat with a back-up story by Harlan Ellison and Kyle Baker. Yeah, I'm getting it for the back-up too. No choice.
ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS 2 #2 by Mark Millar and Leinil Yu. So we've seen a gray Hulk, a green Hulk, a red Hulk and even a blue Hulk. Now, thanks to Millar we are finally seeing a black Hulk! When he calms down he turns into Michael Jackson. (Too soon?)
WALKING DEAD #72 by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. Michone attends her first DC area cocktail party. With her sword… Recommended, not for kids.
WALLY GROPIUS HC written and drawn by Tim Hensley. Imagine an adult Richie Rich who has to marry a sad girl or lose all his money. Yes, it's the plot to the movie "Arthur" but that was a long time ago so let's have at it!
WEATHERCRAFT HC written and drawn by Jim Woodring. This is the first full-length graphic novel from Woodring. It stars Manhog, a supporting character from his earlier FRANK comics, on a hero's journey to enlightenment and redemption. So that's nice.
X-FACTOR #205 by Peter David and Valentine DeLandro. Strong Guy has to fight Baron Mordo. My hand to god, it's true…
X-MEN LEGACY #236 by Mike Carey and Greg Land. An impenetrable dome makes San Francisco a prison, especially if your mortgage is underwater! Somebody call Bart and Homer!
ZATANNA #1 by Paul Dini and Stephane Roux. The DCU's most famous femme fatale in fishnets gets her own title! Magic galore! "Ehs sklat sdrawkcab! Kool attog!"
Richard Thompson sent this in (locally it's on WETA at 9 pm tonight, and probably the other PBS stations as well):
