QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 02-11-09

QUICK REVIEWS FOR COMICS DUE 02-11-09
By John Judy

ACTION COMICS #874 by James Robinson and Pablo Raimondi. Mon-El may be getting out of the Phantom Zone early! Fingers crossed! BTW, can someone explain how it is that Mon-El can spend 1,000 years in the P-Zone and not come out as the DCU’s most gigantic, super-powered head-case? Think about spending 1,000 years stuck in what is essentially Limbo. How do you not come out the other end making the Joker look like an accountant? Just sayin’…

ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, VOL. 2 HC by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. Collecting issues 7-12 of the series in which somebody made Morrison tell a story. See the last son of Krypton in classic Silver-Age style battling Bizarro, Zibarro and eating at S’Barro! Okay, I made that last one up, but this is still Good Comics. Recommended.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #586 by Marc Guggenheim and John Romita Jr. In which we finally get to stop referring to Menace as a “he.” Maybe more of a “S/He?” Oh, these modern comics…

BATMAN #686 by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert. Neil takes a swing at the Dark Knight. Part one of two. Must have.

FLAMING CARROT LIMITED EDITION, VOL. 1 HC written, drawn and published by Bob Burden. This edition, limited to 850 signed and numbered copies, collects the earliest CARROT comics from the 1980s. Add to that ten pages of all-new material and a forward by Dave Sim and you have just the thing for, well, yourself probably because who else deserves a treasure like this?

INCOGNITO #2 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Meet the Black Death. He wants to kill a lot of people and he’s used to getting what he wants. From the team that gave us CRIMINAL. Highly recommended.

MASQUERADE #1 of 4 by Phil Hester and Carlos Paul. Another Golden-Age public domain revival overseen by Alex Ross. This one features the pistol-packin’ femme fatale who looks kinda like The Shadow in drag.

SCALPED #25 by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. Part one of an all-new story arc in which a newcomer arrives at the Prairie Rose reservation. Because with Dash Bad Horse hooked on crack and Red Crow beating Mr. Brass damn near to death, things needed shaking up. Highly, highly recommended. Not for kids.

THOR #600 by J. Michael Straczynski, Stan Lee and Olivier Coipel. No, you didn’t miss 500-plus issues. Marvel just decided to go back to the original numbering for the series in order to make Robert Overstreet cry. And yes, Smilin’ Stan does indeed contribute some new material for this special anniversary issue. Gotta look!

WALKING DEAD #58 by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. After last issue’s horror, it appears Mr. Kirkman is even more determined to turn all his fans into emotional basket cases. NOT. FOR. KIDS. (And maybe not for anyone with kids.)

WOLVERINE: MANIFEST DESTINY #4 of 4 by Jason Aaron and Stephen Segovia. The Sons of the Tiger reunite and Logan has to make a “dark decision.” That’s always good for some twisted amusement. And Jason Aaron writes Wolverine better than anyone in recent memory. Recommended.

WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ #3 of 8 by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young. Featuring all the stuff they left out of the movie. This series has been getting raves from fans both young and old. It is da Baum! (I’m sorry…)

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