QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 04-02-08

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 04-02-08
By John Judy

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #555 by Zeb Wells and Chris Bachalo. Gorgeous art, ninjas, Wolverine, and an official Marvel No-Prize challenge for all you kids who think you're smarter than a Marvel Editor. Start slamming your head into a brick wall to make it fair...

AMERICAN SPLENDOR SEASON TWO #1 of 4 by Harvey Pekar and Assorted Talents. The J. Alfred Prufrock of comics returns with his autobiographical shorts illustrated by Chris Weston, David Lapham, and other gifted collaborators. Recommended for teens and up.

ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL #6 by Joss Whedon, Brian Lynch, and a bunch of artists. A two-parter finally giving with the scoop about what exactly happened after the final scene of the TV series. Way cool. Recommended.

ANNA MERCURY #1 of 5 by Warren Ellis and Facundo Percio. Warren’s new superwoman who makes Jet Li and the Shadow look like Laurel and Hardy! Recommended!

BOYS #17 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. Wee Hughie starts to live again. Sadly so does his old foe, The Blarney Cock! Vicious, soul-to-hell-condemning fun from Belfast’s Favorite Son. Not for kids.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #13 by Drew Goddard and Georges Jeanty. Buffy and the Scoobs fight uber-vamps in Tokyo. From the writer of “Cloverfield.”

CABLE #2 by Duane Swierczynski and Ariel Olivetti. Mutant cyborg time-travelin' action with a baby. This is what Sweeps Week looks like in Hell.

ESSENTIAL IRON MAN VOL.3. SC by Archie Goodwin, Gene Colan, and Many Others. Collecting issues #12-38 and DAREDEVIL #73. Time to get psyched for next month’s movie and bargain-priced reprints are the best place to start. Enjoy!

HOLMES GN written and illustrated by Omaha Perez. Author Perez explains it best: “What if Sherlock Holmes is constantly out of his head and Watson’s not much better off, the Dr. Gonzo to Holmes’s Raoul Duke?” This week’s “Gotta-look!”

KICK ASS #2 by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Okay, the first issue saw our hero essentially beaten to death, sans mutant healing factor, which is good enough for me to want to read issue two! Definitely too rough for younger kids. Twisted fun for all others.

LOGAN #2 of 3 by Brian K. Vaughan and Eduardo Risso. Wolverine’s back in Japan which is always good for few sword and barbed arrowhead induced laughs. Beautiful art by Risso and a comforting fix of Vaughan for those of us who still miss Y THE LAST MAN. Recommended.

PROJECT SUPERPOWERS #2 of 6 by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, and Carlos Paul. The most interesting thing about this series is the fact that its cast of heroes is in play due to copyright expiration. At least one of them (Dynamic Man) is also appearing in THE TWELVE over at Marvel. And it’s tough to overcome the fact that one of the main protagonists in this “serious” adventure story is repeatedly addressed as “Yank.” Just sayin’…

SCALPED #16 by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. Dash and Red Crow butt heads with a Nebraska sheriff. This is the title Garth Ennis calls “like a comic book written just for me!” The hardest of hard stuff for fans of westerns and noir. Highly recommended. Not for kids.

SECRET INVASION #1 of 8 by Brian Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. SKRULLS!!!! Shapeshifting, concentric circle-eyed, ridgey-chinned !@$^@#$!!!! Time to start collecting on those bets you made with your friends. Geeky fun!

SHAZAM: GREATEST STORIES EVER TLD SC by Bill Parker, C.C. Beck, Dennis O’Neil, Gil Kane, Jack Kirby and many more. The best of the past 60+ years of the Big Red Cheese! Highly recommended for all ages!

THE TWELVE #4 of 12 by J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Weston. More murders and back-biting among our time-lost Golden Age heroes! Plus, the origin of Rockman! Appointment reading, highly recommended!

WALKING DEAD #48 by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. The bloody aftermath of the Governor’s raid. As Kirkman has proven: “No one is safe.” Not for kids. Recommended for older teens on up.

YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS #3 of 6 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Alina Urusov. Wiccan and Speed search for their lost mama, the Scarlet Witch!

YOUNG X-MEN #1 by Marc Guggenheim and Yanick Paquette. Cyclops is gettin' the band back together. If you liked "Young Justice", "Young All-Stars", "Youngblood", "Young Guns", "Young and the Restless", and Young MC.... well, you have OCD and you're not going to feel right if you don't buy this comic. PS - The kitchen floor is covered with germs.

ZORRO #2 by Matt Wagner and Francesco Francavilla. “The Fox” versus the brutal Gonzales in the new adventures of the original Man in Black!

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