Looking for something to read this week? The Major Spoilers staff has a run down of the books they are most looking forward to this week!
ASSASSINS CREED THE CHAIN GN
Writer: Karl Kerschl
Artist: Cameron Stewart
Publisher: Ubi Workshop
Cover Price: $19.95
SOLICITATION: Eisner award winners Karl Kerschl and Cameron Stewart return to create the sequel of Assassin’s Creed The Fall. Assassin’s Creed The Chain completes the Daniel Cross/Nikolai Orelov narrative arc, but it also sheds a new light on Assassin’s Creed III…
ROB: The first few Assassin’s Creed comics were actually quite good and I imagine any fan of the series would be more than happy to pick this one up as well. I know I’ll be looking for it in the near future.
ATOMIC ROBO TP VOL 07
Writer: Brian Clevinger
Artist: Scott Wegener
Publisher: Red 5 Comics
Cover Price: $18.95
SOLICITATION: Invented by Nikola Tesla in 1923, Atomic Robo went on to be a soldier, a scientist, an entrepreneur, and an explorer whose adventures span the globe. This one begins, if you couldn’t guess from the title, in the vast expanse of the south Pacific. The year is 1951. World War II concluded just six years ago, but it’s mark is still felt in this remote part of the world in ways that one could have ever predicted!
ROB: Robo, Women with jet-packs, WWII villains! This is yet another great story for the character of Atomic Robo as it has been. Clevinger and Wegener just keep getting better at giving us more Robo.
AVENGER’S ARENA #4
Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Alessandro Vitti
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: The Runaways vs. Avengers Academy!
DANIELLE: Playing off of my love of watching teenagers fighting to the death, this series has been in my top five favorites of all the Marvel Now! titles. It pulls no punches and doesn’t baby the audience into thinking everyone will get out alive. This issue will be no exception. Although, I can’t help but wonder how anyone (or anything) is going to take out X-23…
BATMAN #17
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: • This is it: The stunning conclusion to “DEATH OF THE FAMILY”!
• Who lives? Who dies? Who laughs last? Find out as Batman and The Joker face off one last time!
GEORGE: The end of “Death of the Family.” I have no idea how Bats is going to make his way out of this one. I cannot wait to read it.
STEPHEN: I’ve got to get this, just to see the shocking ending, and the shocked fans who will no doubt have mixed feelings about the conclusion to this arc. No, seriously, there are going to be a lot of mixed feelings about this issue.
END TIMES OF BRAM AND BEN #2
Writers: James Asmus, Jim Festante
Artist: Rem Broo
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: Bram’s wild and very public response to the Apocalypse brings a cult of followers to his door – and warring agents of the End Times! Ben, meanwhile, gets blue balls and a trip to Hell. Destruction! Betrayal! Crotch-grabbing! And the violence kicks into high gear!
ZACH: The premise of End Times had me intrigued enough to check out the first issue, and I’m now coming back for the near flawless execution of the material. If you are familiar with Christianity at all this should be hysterical, but even if you aren’t there is still enough funny in the pages. Fans of Image’s Chew need to seriously consider picking this up.
GHOSTBUSTERS #1
Writer: Erik Burnham
Artist: Dan Schoening and Erik Burnham
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The Ghostbusters are gone, spirited away by some dastardly demons from another dimension! But spectral shenanigans haven’t ceased in the city that never sleeps, meaning a new group will need to step up and don the proton packs. Will the New Ghostbusters be able to rescue their predecessors, or will they share the same fate? The Ghostbusters creative super-team of Erik Burnham and Dan Schoening return to bust out more ectoplasmic excitement in this all-new Ghostbusters ongoing volume!
RODRIGO: I’m interested in this because I saw it had that one girl from Extreme Ghostbusters. Don’t hate, y’all, that show was pretty good.
KATANA #1
Writer: Ann Nocenti
Artist: Alex Sanchez
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: From the pages of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and BIRDS OF PREY!
• KATANA is a former assassin on a noble quest to restore the OUTSIDERS to their former glory!
• Will she succeed, or will she be overcome by the power of her sword, the SoulTaker?
RODRIGO: Ah, the promise of a new #1. I’m not going to lie, I’m probably not going to like this book at all, but you gotta give things a chance, right?
STAR WARS #2
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Carlos D’anda
Publisher: Dark Horse
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: A cagey young Imperial officer seems to anticipate the Rebels’ every move, so Princess Leia forms a “stealth squadron”-including Luke Skywalker-to expose a suspected spy within their ranks.
Meanwhile, Han Solo and Chewbacca run afoul of bounty hunter Boba Fett, and the Emperor sends Darth Vader on a secret mission!
DANIELLE: Not normally a fan of non-film related Star Wars merch (the Star Wars RPG excepted), I was pleasantly surprised by how good this series was. It manages to stay true to the first three movies while adding on it’s own surprises. This one is a must have for any self-respecting Star Wars fan.
GEORGE: The first issue of the new Star Wars monthly was solid work. And with Brian Wood typically being a bit of a slow starter, there’s no reason to think this series won’t be getting even better. All the usual suspects are here, including fan favorite Boba Fett. The most interesting question to me is how Wood will keep fandom’s favorite bounty hunter fresh, when the guy pops up in almost every Star Wars title these days.
ZACH: If you are a fan of Star Wars you should be racing to the comic store Wednesday to get this. Not only did Brian Wood start off the series strong with an engaging story, where Leia is a total bad-ass, but Carlos D’anda’s art is flat beautiful. I honestly can’t believe this is only a $2.99 book.
TODD, THE UGLIEST KID ON EARTH #2
Writer: Ken Kristensen
Artist: M.K. Perker
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: “CANDIE WITH STRANGERS,” Part Two
Todd, imprisoned for a murder he didn’t commit, falls into the crosshairs of the Aryan Nation. Meanwhile, his father stalks a celebrity Scientologist, his mom gets laid in a parking lot, and a headless Girl Scout is mauled by junkyard dogs.
RODRIGO: Ok, so the first issue of this was really weird, but this is definitely interesting. So far the series has done a good job of keeping all the horrid depravity farcical enough to read. Let’s see if they keep it up.
UNCANNY X-MEN #1
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Chris Bachalo
Publisher: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The true flagship book of the X-Men returns. In the wake of the Phoenix, the world has changed and is torn on exactly what Cyclops and his team of X-Men are – visionary revolutionaries or dangerous terrorists? Whatever the truth, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magneto, and Magik are out in the world gathering up new mutants and redefining the name UNCANNY X-MEN.
GEORGE: I know Brian Michael Bendis’s extended tenure on the Avengers grew tiresome for some readers, but it seems like a change has done him good. All New X-Men has kept me entertained, and it is the one title where Marvel’s turbocharged double-shipping policy is actually working. ‘Cause Bendis is still Bendis – he loves his dialogue and his decompressed storytelling. But with a new set of characters to play with and the issues coming at a steady clip, I’m buying what he’s selling. I hope Uncanny X-Men keeps the streak alive – and Chris Bachalo on art means it’ll look good at the very least.
ZACH: I could have sworn this titled had already released, but I must be getting my adjectives confused. I didn’t read Avengers vs X-Men last summer but the more I read of NOW! the more I’m interested in doing so. Maybe these Uncanny X-Men can push me to go back and read the event.
X-TREME X-MEN #10
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Stephen Segovia
Publisher: Marvel
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: After the events of their last mission, something is off about Xavier
Will the team be able to close the tears between dimensions without him?
PLUS! Romance is in the air…or it could be, if Dazzler and Cyclops don’t kill each other first!
ROB: I’m a bit of a sucker for alternate realities and this happens to be one of the better ones I have read. Dazzler actually makes for a great lead for the book and having Hercules and Howlett be in a relationship was surprising and entertaining. Give it a quick look, totally worth it.
