Major Spoilers Staff Picks for May 16, 2012

The Major Spoilers Staff Picks of the Week is a fortune teller sure thing.  We pick the comics we are most looking forward to, and you have something to read and enjoy.

ATOMIC ROBO: REAL SCIENCE ADVENTURES #2
Writer: Brian Clevinger
Artist: Cody, Reilly, Broglia, Speroni, Powell
Publisher: Red 5 Comics
Cover Price: $2.75
SOLICITATION: For those who like their comics with pulp, the untold tales of Atomic Robo continue featuring Dr. Dinosaur, Sparrow, the Last Stand of the Commie-bot and Bruce Lee!

ROB: You can never go wrong with Atomic Robo. This is exceptionally true if Dr. Dinosaur is also involved. Anyone that has yet to listen to Stephen about this yet, do so, totally worth it.

ROBOT OVERLORD:  He’s a little too Goody-Goody for my taste, but I can appreciate a mobile killing machine that restrains itself for the betterment of mankind.

STEPHEN: Stop reading right now. Put down the Internet and get your ass down to your local comic shop and pick this up.

WHY ARE YOU STILL READING!? PICK UP THIS BOOK NOW!

ZACH: Whoooo Atomic Robo!!! These collection of short story issues started out strong last outing and will assuredly keep that going. I’m hoping for even more Dr. Dinosaur. I hear him as a mixture between Iago from Aladin and Dr. Doofenshmirtz, so I’m always laughing when he speaks.

AVENGERS VS X-MEN #4 (OF 12) AVX
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: John Romita, Jr.
Publisher: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION:
• All across the globe—in the Savage Land, in Wakanda, in Tabula Rasa and more—Avenger battles X-Man for the fate of the world!
• Hope has a suicide mission to propose to Wolverine!
• While in space, the Avengers’ away team meets the Phoenix head on!

ROB: I have been continuously surprised with how much I am enjoying the Avengers vs X-Men story. From what expected to be just a general beat-em-up fun with little reasonable plot is coming into something that has been entertaining on a number of levels as opposed to just the big, dumb fun. Avengers vs. X-Men is really what a big crossover should be.

CATWOMAN #9
Writer: Judd Winick
Artist: Guillem March
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: “NIGHT OF THE OWLS” continues here!• CATWOMAN and SPARK are forced to defend THE PENGUIN against the Court of Owls!

JIMMY: Catwoman is a title I’ve been enjoying a lot, and this issue marks their crossover with the Night of the Owls event. I’ve really enjoyed the introduction of the character Spark, and am curious to see how the Selina/Spark team will fare against a Talon… Especially since they’re protecting The Penguin! I’m a little bit bummed that Guillem March is back on the art, as the fill-in artist they had an issue or two ago, Adriana Melo, was really good.

DANCER #1
Writer: Nathan Edmondson
Artist: Nic Klein
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.50
SOLICITATION: Retired assassin Alan Fisher and his ballerina companion must escape a ruthless sniper who stalks them through the streets of Milan. To survive and protect the love of his life, Alan will unravel the tapestry of the past he’s kept hidden and discover the killer’s impossible identity. From the writer of WHO IS JAKE ELLIS? and the artist of VIKING comes a spy thriller with a 21st Century twist.

RODRIGO: Ok, you had me at “Ballerina companion”.

DANGER CLUB #2
Writer: Landry Q. Walker
Artist: Eric Jones
Publisher: image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: Yoshimi Onomoto returns to her homeland a fugitive as Danger Club leader Kid Vigilante and his arch-nemesis Ladybug confront their pasts in the Cave of Vengeance. Old wounds are opened again, and new mysteries arise as the world faces its imminent doom.

ZACH: Having read the first issue and having mixed feelings about it, I’m retry interested in seeing where this issue goes. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the art will be great and there will be blood, which when combined well can be entertaining.

DAREDEVIL #13
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Khoi Pham, Tom Palmer
Publisher: Marvel
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION:
• THIS IS IT! “Megacrime and Punishment” Be here as Megacrime strikes back at Daredevil!
• And Matt’s “happy go lucky” veneer at last begins to peel back, revealing… darker truths that may end his career as Daredevil.
• Artist Khoi Pham returns!

MATTHEW: Last issue reminded me how few really well-drawn bras you see in comics these days. Matt Murdock’s new life isn’t without complications, but the cute romantic and personal touches along with some stellar art are more than worth the price of admission…

FABLES: LEGENDS IN EXILE NEW EDITION
Writer: Bill Willingham
Artist: Ian Medina
Publisher: Vertigo
Cover Price: $12.99
SOLICITATION: It’s a new edition of the classic first FABLES collection featuring issues #1-5 of the award winning series, with updated trade dress!This first FABLES volume introduces Fabletown, and the murder mystery of Snow White’s party-girl sister, Rose Red. It’s up to Bigby, Fabletown’s sheriff, and a reformed and pardoned Big Bad Wolf, to determine if the culprit is Bluebeard, Rose’s ex-lover and notorious wife killer, or Jack, her current live-in boyfriend and former beanstalk-climber. This new edition features a brand-new painted cover by Mark Buckingham, as well as the short FABLES comic from PETER & MAX, presented here for the first time in color!

ROB: Yay, another chance for people to get into Fables. Seriously, anyone who has yet to read Fables should be picking this up as it’s a book that never stops getting better and better. Heck, anyone who doesn’t own at least one version of the book should pick it up as well.

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #517
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Publisher: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION:
• If Tony Stark isn’t Iron Man, then who’s the guy in the suit?
• Zeke Stane digs for he truth
• Spymaster racks up his victims

MATTHEW: Who IS this super hero? Sarge? No… Rosemary, the telephone operator? No… Penry, the mild-mannered janitor? Naaah, it’s probably just Rhodey again…

LAST UNICORN (Deluxe Hardcover Edition)
Writer: Peter S. Beagle, Peter B. Gillis
Artist: Frank Stockton, Ray Dillon, Renae De Liz
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $50.00
SOLICITATION: Whimsical. Lyrical. Poignant. Adapted for the first time from the acclaimed and beloved novel by Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn is a tale for any age about the wonders of magic, the power of love, and the tragedy of loss. The unicorn, alone in her enchanted wood, discovers that she may be the last of her kind. Reluctant at first, she sets out on a journey to find her fellow unicorns, even if it means facing the terrifying anger of the Red Bull and malignant evil of the king who wields his power. Adapted by Peter B. Gillis and lushly illustrated by Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon, this special, oversized edition features additional art galleries and loads of extras, expanding the universe of The Last Unicorn.

RODRIGO: If you never got your hands on IDWs The Last Unicorn then you most seize this opportunity to get this fantastic book. The art is absolutely gorgeous! If you have young kids in your life and you want to introduce them to comics it doesn’t get much better than this.

LOCKE & KEY: CLOCKWORKS #6
Writer: Joe Hill
Artist: Gabriel Rodriguez
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: As a storm thunders up the coast to Lovecraft, Massachusetts, the Keepers of the Keys face Dodge a final time, under three hundred feet of stone, in the darkness before the Black Door. Here, water will mix with blood and The Drowning Cave will become a colossal grave, in the final issue of the CLOCKWORKS storyline.

STEPHEN: This week is just filled with treats for comic fans. Atomic Robo AND Locke & Key in the same week? I may wet myself right now… except I won’t because I’ve already read this issue, and for those following the adventures of the Locke kids, and are wondering what is up with Dodge, this issue brings it together nicely, and sets us up for the final arc – Locke & Key: W.

MANHATTAN PROJECTS #3
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Nick Pitarra and Cris Peter
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.50
SOLICITATION: ‘THE BOMB’ The Death of FDR leaves the Manhattan Projects in chaos as questions of leadership arise. The world’s first Artificial Intelligence is created 40 years ahead of schedule. And whatever happened to the THIRD atomic bomb developed by Oppenheimer and his unparalleled Science Team? One of the most anticipated new series of the year continues in THE MANHATTAN PROJECTS #3: THE BOMB!

JIMMY: I started on this series with issue #2, and was blown away by how crazily awesome it was. Image is putting out a metric crap-ton of comics right now, and a lot of them are actually worth picking up. I highly recommend Manhattan Projects, especially if you are a fan of books that take historical figures (a la Atomic Robo, or The Five Fists of Science) and expound upon their history in interesting (and in this case, really weird) ways. The art didn’t really impress me, but the story was really fun, and the art is something I feel I can get used to.

STEPHEN: This has been a so far, so good series for me, and I’m loving what Hickman is doing with the notion of what was really going on inside the Manhattan Project. Throw in a crazed Oppenheimer, and a really secretive Albert Einstein, mix in some cosmic epicness, and the potential for parallel worlds, and Image is printing money.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #9
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artist: Kenneth Rocafort
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: The Court of Owls is attacking, and the last person in the world you’d expect to answer Batman’s call to arms is the Red Hood! Also featuring Mr. Freeze!

JIMMY: I’ve been a fan of this series since the start, and am glad it’s managed to change the mind of many of its early critics. This issue is the Night of the Owls tie-in, AND it features the introduction of Mr. Freeze to the relaunched DC universe that will be expounded upon in the Batman Annual. I’m curious to see what a run-in with the bat-family is going to do to Jason Todd, and I know as always Kenneth Rocafort’s art will be gorgeous.

MATTHEW: I missed a couple of issues, but of all the books crossing over with the big Batman schmegegge, this is the one that most intrigues me. How will Jason and company deal with Talon assassins and such? I expect swift and blinding violence…

ZACH: No idea why this title caught my eye when looking at the New Releases, but I think it may be my destiny to read this book. Seriously didn’t read past issue one last fall, so I have no ideas what has been happening. But it is a Court of Owls crossover, so it shouldn’t take much to understand everything.

URSA MINOR #1
Writer: Tom Hutchinson
Artist: Ian Snyder
Publisher: Big Dog Ink
Cover Price: $3.50
SOLICITATION: Nature’s supernatural balance is shattered when werewolves kill the President and vampires come to mankind’s aide. Now, one girl with a power she can barely control sets out to right what has gone horribly wrong the only way she knows how. Kill them all!

RODRIGO: Not gonna lie, I’m going into this book expecting it to be terrible. Fortunately though, that means only one of three things are likely to happen.

A) The book is better than terrible and I’m pleasantly surprised
B) The book is terrible and I lose no sleep over it
C) The book is worse than terrible and I force Stephen and Matthew to review it on the podcast when it comes out in the trade.

ROBOT OVERLORD:  There you go, Spoilerite! A plethora of reading to keep you occupied, while I continue to plot your demise!

Enjoy!