COMICS ON THE RACK
Quick Picks for Comics Due 06-30-10
By John Judy
ABE SAPIEN: ABYSSAL PLAIN #1 of 2 by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Peter Snejbjerg. Hellboy's pal finds a haunted commie sub. Hijinks ensue. Pretty art.
ACTION COMICS #890 by Paul Cornell and Pete Woods. After an eternity plowing through the adventures of Night-Who-Knows and Flame-Who-Cares we finally have a star of this title whom fans want to read about: Lex-frickin-Luthor! Turns out Lex really dug being an Orange Lantern and now he wants to recapture that orange juice. Of course some fools are gonna get in his way. And that's how you write a comic called ACTION! Highly recommended.
ASTONISHING X-MEN #34 by Warren Ellis and Phil Jimenez. Undead…robot…alien…mutant…Ellisy stuff! Gotta look.
BATMAN BEYOND #1 of 6 by Adam Beechen and Ryan Benjamin. Future Batman kicks future butt.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #607 by Ed Brubaker and Butch Guice. Baron Zemo wants to kill Bucky America all over again. The continuing epic that, were it written by anyone but Brubaker, would require the author to be punched in the face. Recommended.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE 1940S NEWSPAPER STRIP #1 by Karl Kesel and Butch Guice. Collecting the recently unearthed run of the 1940s daily strip by time-traveling bullpenners Kesel and Guice! Sadly they were not allowed to kill Hitler.
CAPTAIN SWING #2 of 4 by Warren Ellis and Raul Caceres. If high-tech anarchists are taking it to The Man it's probably written by Warren Ellis. High voltage graphic entertainment with a cockney 'tude. Recommended.
CHIMICHANGA #3 of 3 written and drawn by Eric Powell. Last issue those carny-trash bastids turned on Chimichanga! Dare we hope, given his brutish strength and appetites, he might attain a modicum of "git-back?" Because that would be great... Recommended.
CHRONICLES OF WORMWOOD: LAST BATTLE #4 of 6 by Garth Ennis and Oscar Jimenez. Jay comes out as the returned Christ and the undead Pope Jacko's on the warpath! How can this not be hideously awesome? Recommended. Not for kids.
COMPLETE DR AND QUINCH GN by Alan Moore and Alan Davis. Check out the humor strip Alan Moore blatantly plagiarized from NATIONAL LAMPOON back in 1983! Seriously, character-types, storylines, even narrative tone ripped whole cloth from the earlier OC AND STIGGS stories written by Tod Carroll and Ted Mann for NATIONAL LAMPOON in 1981-82. This is why you are allowed to look down your nose at Alan Moore anytime he whines about DC making money from stuff he created. You're welcome.
FLASH #3 by Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul. From future rogue cops to super murder mysteries, things haven't slowed down since Barry Allen came back from the dead. Or should we say, "back from the dead for now?"
GREEN LANTERN #55 by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke. Featuring Atrocitus the Red Lantern versus Lobo, so you kind of have to buy this. Big fight with biker chains and red puke. Recommended.
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN ANNUAL #1 by Matt Fraction, Salvador Larroca and Carmine DiGiandomenico. Okay, so this should really be called "The Mandarin Annual #1" but it's pretty cool and Iron Man shows up several times. Recommended.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #46 by James Robinson and Mark Bagley. It's a JLA/JSA crossover with the teams fighting all kinds of new bad guys created when the original Green Lantern's power source goes nuts. Ruckus guaranteed!
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #40 by Bill Willingham and Jesus Merino. Future Ratzis get theirs! Next up: JLA team-up!
MEATCAKE GN written and drawn by Dame Darcy. A collection of bizarre fantasy humor, including a collaboration with Alan Moore that he didn't plagiarize from anyone. From Fantagraphics.
MINDFIELD #1 by J.T. Krul and Alex Konat. CIA mind-readers fighting Terror!
NORTHLANDERS #29 by Brian Wood and Fiona Staples. A Viking boat gets lost. Will they ask for directions? Highly recommended.
SAN FRANCISCO PANORAMA: COMICS SECTION TABLOID FORMAT by Art Spiegelman, Dan Clowes, Adrian Tomine and many more. Like DC's WEDNESDAY COMICS done by awesome indy creators. Gotta look!
SECRET AVENGERS #2 by Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato. Hey, if Moon Knight was on your team you'd keep it a secret too! Bam! No seriously, it's cool. It's Brubaker/Deodato and the heroes go to Mars. Recommended.
SHADE THE CHANGING MAN, VOL. 3: SCREAM TIME SC by Peter Milligan and Several Awesome Artists. Collecting issues #14-19 of the amazing psychedelic 80s horror comic, courtesy of the wayback machine and the American Scream. Recommended!
SIMPSONS SUPER SPECTACULAR #11 by Many Funny Folks. Springfield's finest superheroes for readers in need of good all-ages fun.
THOR #611 by Kieron Gillen and Richard Elson. Thor goes to Hell to straighten some stuff out. Hard.
TURF #2 by Jonathan Ross and Tommy Lee Edwards. Bootleg Era gangsters fight vampires with the help of alien invaders from space! You're darn right you need to have this!
VELOCITY #1 of 4 by Ron Marz and Kenneth Rocafort. The adventures of the fastest woman in the world, Image-style! Winner of the "Pilot Season" contest!
WEREWOLVES OF MONPELIER GN by Jason. A romantic comedy about the perils of pretending to be something you're not. Like, a werewolf, say… An antidote to "Twilight." Recommended.
WONDER WOMAN #600 by Everyone, including Simone, Straczynski, Perez and Jimenez. A bunch of stories from Diana's past, present and future celebrating 600 comics with the Princess of Paradise Island in the lead! Recommended!
X-CAMPUS #1 of 4 by Lotsa People. Basically an alternate universe version of the X-gang where everyone's in a seriously cliquey high school. Like the Ultimate stuff except done by European creators. "Euro-Ultimate X-Men?"
