Major Spoilers Staff Picks for April 03, 2013

The new comics are almost here! If you are looking for a comic book recommendation, take the jump for a rundown of the books, the Major Spoilers staff is looking forward to this week.

ABE SAPIEN #1: DARK AND TERRIBLE PART 1
Writer: Mike Mignola, Scott Allie
Artist: Sebastian Fiumara
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $3.50
SOLICITATION: On the run from the B.P.R.D., a mutated Abe Sapien traverses a devastated America, with monster corpses scattered around and cities in ruin.

RODRIGO: I reviewed this on the Major Spoilers Podcast, and even though I’m really behind I’m still getting it. Abe Sapien is good times, even when times are terrible.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN: JOSE LUIS GARCIA LOPEZ HC
Writer: Gerry Conway, Martin Pasko, David Michelinie, Len Wein, Elliot Maggin
Artists: José Luis García-López
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $39.99
SOLICITATION: Collecting tales illustrated by master comics artist Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez from SUPERMAN #294, 301, 302, 307-309 and 347, DC COMICS PRESENTS #1-4 and 17, and ALL-NEW COLLECTOR’S EDITION C-54.

MATTHEW: You may not think you know the art of Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, but you do, especially if you’ve ever seen any of DC’s marketing/merchandise in the 1980s. Sheldon Cooper’s vintage Flash t-shirt is a Garcia-Lopez, as was the art for the Super-Powers toys. And if you REALLY want to be scandalized, check out ‘Twilight,” a series he did with Howard Chaykin circa 1990, which has no glittery vampires, but wonderful art. I’m super-psyched to read this collection of his work on Superman, and hope to see more such collections of his work (and other underrated artists) in the future…

AGE OF ULTRON #4
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Bryan Hitch
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The impossible has happened! • The Earth has been taken by Ultron…what few super hero survivors there are try desperately to stay alive. • And it is Luke Cage who discovers the secret behind Ultron’s victory over all of mankind. • A secret that will have fans of Marvel comics arguing for years to come!

MATTHEW: Man, this book is shaping up to be an utter trainwreck, shoveling dirt across the flames of some of the best Marvel NOW! titles (Fantastic Four and Superior Spider-Man are both damaged as stand-alone books by issue #3) and is poised to launch Avengers AI, which seems like a really spectacularly brain-dead idea for a series (especially since it doesn’t have Aaron Stack, noted AI and former Avenger in it.) Hitch is phoning in another Ultimate Avengers art job, and the book just flat isn’t good. That said, I’m looking forward to the damage control that Marvel does after this latest mess hits the stand, and hoping that this helps to put a nail in the coffin of Marvel’s big schmaggegi crossover madness.

BEDLAM #6
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Riley Rossmo
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.50
SOLICITATION: Confession.

CHRIS: It worries me some that I enjoy Nick Spencer’s Bedlam as much as I do. This is dark stuff but damn if it isn’t some gripping storytelling. I look forward to the disturbing things this book presents each month. I don’t know what that says about me, but if you enjoy dark thrillers with psychopaths as protagonists, you might want to give this book a read.

ZACH: Bedlam continues to be a creepy yet mesmerizing read every month. I’m continually surprised about the direction Spencer takes the story. Arguably the best part of Bedlam is Rossmo’s art, which is worth the cover price by itself.

DIAL H #11
Writer: China Mieville
Artist: Alberto Ponticelli, Dan Green
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: What? The? Flash?

ROB: Dial H has the weird turned all the way up to eleven, which seems appropriate, and is a great story tearing around the edges of the DCnU proper instead of running full force into the rest of it. The characters are entertaining and the story is just building on more and more about what can happen, and that can keep me going for some time.

GODZILLA HALF CENTURY WAR #5
Writer: James Stokoe
Artist: James Stokoe
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: Ota Murakami has fought Godzilla for fifty years. The decades have been hard on Ota, and he is seemingly no closer to his goal. Now, in the frozen wastes of Antarctica, the end of the world beckons. Ota and Ken gear up for a deadly final battle, and only one beast will be left standing at its end! This is the book you’ll be talking about for years! Don’t miss it!

GEORGE: Better late than never, right? The concluding issue of this stupendous miniseries has been delayed for awhile now, but it should finally hit the shelves this week. And thank goodness. This is undoubtedly the best Godzilla comic I have ever read. Stokoe crafts a tale that manages to be funny, touching, personal and yet epic in scope. If you have any interest in Godzilla or good art in general, this is a series you must pick up.

LOCKE & KEY OMEGA #4
Writer: Joe Hill
Artist: Gabriel Rodriguez
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: Chapter Four – Human Sacrifices: The bottomless pit of the Drowning Cave threatens to become a mass grave, as Dodge springs a fatal trap on the senior class of Lovecraft Academy. Hope is as fragile as a candle-flame wavering in the night… and as easy to extinguish.

ROB: We’re getting closer and closer to the finish and the wait just becomes that much more daunting between each issue of Locke & Key, but that isn’t stopping me yet. It looks like the final events are really kicking off here and we can look forward to the sad day that this series has built to, the end.

STEPHEN: A must have book for everyone! If you haven’t read the series yet, there are plenty of trades to get you caught up. I can’t wait to see how this is going to end, and all signs right now point to “don’t get your hopes up too high,” as I expect a lot of tragic moments in the next couple of issues.

LOONEY TUNES #212
Writer: Sholly Fisch
Artist: Robert Pope, Scott McRae
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: Bugs Bunny makes a wrong turn at Albuquerque and ends up in Rocky and Mugsy’s jail cell!  Can Bugs be their way out? Or will they realize there’s no place like home?

RODRIGO: I don’t know, 212 is a very intimidating number, am I going to have to deal with 200 issues worth of continuity here?

MASSIVE #1
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Kristian Donaldson
Publisher: Dark Horse
Cover Price: $1.00
SOLICITATION: In a post-war, post-Crash, post-disaster, post-everything world, the environmental action trawler Kapital scours the earth’s oceans for its missing sister ship, The Massive, while struggling to redefine its core mission. Captain Callum Israel, a man who dedicated his life to the ocean, now must ask himself-as our planet dies-what it means to be an environmentalist after the world’s already ended.

ZACH: Wait one second, you are saying. Isn’t Brian Wood’s The Massive multiple issues into its run? Yes, yes it is. But Dark Horse is re-releasing the first issue for a single dollar so I figure it is a perfect time to read this series I have been reading so much about.

MIND THE GAP #9
Writer: Jim McAnn
Artist: Rodin Esquejo,
Dan McDaid
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: ‘WISH YOU WERE HERE,’ Part Four 

A loss of life! A loss of innocence! A terrifying return! Actions are taken and consequences are so far reaching in this SILENT issue that will have you holding your breath & leave you speechless.

CHRIS: Mind the Gap is a book that is both enjoyable and frustrating at the same time. It’s so well written and illustrated but presents so many mysteries that, sometimes, it drives me nuts. That’s a short drive, I know, but still. Just when you get some reveal, a new mystery is presented. At least Jim McAnn provides adequate answers so it’s not entirely frustrating. This issue will be dialogue free, something that’s not easy to do, so it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: THE ORIGIN, VOLUME 1: ACTIVATION
Writer: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Yoshiyuki Tomino
Artist: Hajime Yatate
Publisher: Vertical
Cover Price: $29.95
SOLICITATION: In a civil war, half of humanity is wiped out, and Zeon’s army of Zaku mobile units is the decisive weapon. With the Federation’s first Gundam out of action, Amuro miraculously stumbles on a second unit. Now, in control of a machine with unparalleled destructive power, will Amuro’s actions save the colony’s survivors – or destroy them? The biggest name in Japanese science-fiction – Gundam – returns with one of its creators retelling its origins 25 years after the series debuted. To honor this modern classic, Gundam: The Origin will be pulbished as a set of hardcovers featuring dozens of color pages and essays from the biggest names of Japanese animation and manga.

GEORGE: Does the world really need another rehashing of the One Year War? I’m a huge Gundam geek, and I say yes. As the original and definitive Gundam story, the adventures of Amuro Ray, the crew of the White Base, and Char Aznable have been told and re-told in the television, film, manga and novel forms. But there’s always room for one more – and I hear that Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin is delivering a top-notch retelling of this classic story. Clocking in at over 450 pages, with a hardcover and an essay from Hideaki Anno, this thing seems like a steal.

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #7
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Humberto Ramos
Publisher: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: “Troubled Mind” Part 1 • An Avenger no more? • With the public at large realizing this is no longer a “Friendly Neighborhood” Spider-Man, and in light of his actions in recent events, will the Avengers kick Spidey off the team? Plus the return of Cardiac! • And a new development for a Spider-Man who hasn’t been seen for some time. And by time, we mean centuries. • The lead up to the Spider-Event of the Summer STARTS HERE!

ROB: After last weeks mild #6AU I am thoroughly excited to not only have more main universe Spidey with Slott, but to be getting my favorite Spidey artist back as well with Ramos’s return. Heck, now Ock is going to be dealing with the consequences of his actions as the Avengers come to take him on.

STEPHEN: Yup, I can’t wait to read what happens next. Though there are indications that Doc Ock’s tenure as Spider-Man is coming to an end sooner than expected, I can’t wait to see how Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos get us to that point. If you are a fan of Spider-Man, pick up this book!

THANOS RISING #1
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Simone Bianchi
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: What comes after ‘Marvel NOW!’? Whatever it is, it starts HERE. • The vile face left movie audiences in shock after last summer’s Marvel Studios’ ‘The Avengers’ movie, but who is this eerily disturbing villain? • Thanos rises as the unrivaled rogue of wretchedness in this gripping tale of tragedy, deceit and destiny. Where did this demi-god of death and destruction come from and…more importantly, what does he want? • The answers come from the incredible creative team of Jason Aaron (Wolverine, X-Men Origins) and Simone Bianchi (Wolverine, Astonishing X-Men) as they take you on journey that will not only change the course of one boy’s life… …but will soon change the very nature of the Marvel Universe.

CHRIS: I know next to nothing about Thanos but I do know two things. Jason Aaron can write a damn good story and Simone Bianchi’s art is jaw dropping amazing. Those two things are enough for a read at least, if not a buy.

UBER #0
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Canaan White
Publisher: Avatar Press
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: From the jaws of defeat, the Nazi war machine is resurrected by walking battleship superhuman soldiers who turn the tide of World War II. Kieron Gillen unveils his epic new monthly series, which rewrites history with a horrifying twist! Super soldiers now turn the machinations of the Twentieth Century’s greatest madman into reality. The Ubers are here and the world will tremble at their feet. But a deeply entrenched spy could be the difference in seeing the world remade in the Nazi vision and the Allies finding a way to stem the tide.

GEORGE: Kieron Gillen has become one of my favorite writers, and superheroics in the Second World War hits one of my sweet spots. I’ve been looking forward to this one for months – although, since this is an Avatar book, I’m a bit afraid to see just how far Gillen might take this story.

MATTHEW: Kieron Gillen (not to be confused with Karen Gillan, who plays Amy Pond) is a writer who keeps impressing me, and his latest high concept promises alternate history shenanigans on a grand historic scale, and frankly, I’m stoked for it. Though having the series through Avatar worries me that we’re going to see their trademark ultra-violence shoveled into the book without provocation, this is nonetheless the book I’ve most looked forward to since the debut of Saga, and I hope it’s a ride worthy of the high-concept at its core…

WITCHBLADE #165
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Diego Bernard, Fred Benes
Publisher: Top Cow
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: Sara Pezzini is no longer in the dark. She remembers her life the way it used to be, the family she used to have. A mother without a daughter, Sara also feels the full guilt for her actions committed during a different life. All she wants to do is hole up and grieve. But her investigation into the Chicago underbelly is catching up to her, and it’s not concerned with the personal time she wants to take for herself.

RODRIGO: Look at it this way, in the history of superheroes being reset to “Single with no kids” Sara can at least boast that she held out longer than Spider-Man.