IT’S NEW COMIC BOOK DAY!
Major Spoilers runs down the comics we are looking forward to, and recommending, this week.
ATOMIC WONDER WOMAN STATUE
Sculptor: Gentle Giant
Publisher: DC Comics
SOLICITATION: What better way to kick off the Infinite Crisis line of statues than with Atomic Wonder Woman? Sculpted by Gentle Giant, this sensationally detailed and colorful resin sculpture with an amazing base measures approximately 11 1/4-inches tall.
A sudden assault threatens the DC Multiverse, and all realities stand on the brink of annihilation. The last hope for Earth lies in the powers of the DC legends. Infinite Crisis is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game for PC featuring fast-paced battles, streamlined RPG mechanics, and iconic locations and characters from across the DC Multiverse, which includes Atomic Wonder Woman.
RODRIGO: I did not read Infinite Crisis. But I can’t say no to a lady with a chainsaw.
BLACK SCIENCE #2
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Matteo Scalera
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.50
SOLICITATION: Run-amok reality! Grant and his crew escape the madness of the lightning sea-swamp only to be flung into a futurepast trenchworld, where the Sons of the Wakan Tech-Tanka wage never-ending war on the savages of Europe! How did the Anarchist League of Scientists end up this deep in the onion? Who among them sabotaged the Pillar?
GEORGE: Black Science #1 was a very strong debut indeed. Remender’s script set up an interesting concept and hinted at some very weird goings-on, but it was Scalera’s art that really sold the project. Fans of weird sci-fi and super science should get in on this series on the ground floor.
CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT #6
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Eduardo Francisco
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: “Captain Midnight heads to Washington, D.C., to help Agent Jones learn the truth behind the mysterious Project Black Sky. But Jones’s investigation into Black Sky is raising red flags with the wrong people, which puts Captain Midnight on a collision course with a deadly assassin who, even with all of Midnight’s intelligence and resourcefulness, might be too much for him to handle. Captain Midnight takes on a Black Sky assassin! Cover by Freddie Williams II and Dan Scott! Written by Ghosted creator Joshua Williamson! The beginning of a new two-part story!”
WAYNE: This book continues to excel, with its more realistic approach to a hero out of time. It’s one of the best reboots I’ve ever read. I hope it goes on for years to come!
DEADPOOL #21
Writer: Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn
Artist: Mike Hawthorne
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: • Deadpool vs. S.H.I.E.L.D., part one!
• S.H.I.E.L.D. stiffed Deadpool on a bill!
• Now, they’re gonna regret it!.
GEORGE: Deadpool is one of my favorite ongoing monthlies, and Lord knows I’ve sung its praises many times in this space. But I just really want you to see this cover.
GHOST #1
Writer: Kelly Sue DeConnick/Chris Sebela
Artist: Ryan Sook
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $3.
SOLICITATION: Ghost, the hero trapped between two worlds, fights to protect Chicago from extradimensional demons disguised as humans. When a familiar stranger destroys an el train, Ghost makes a deal with a devil for the chance to uncover her own mysterious past. The perfect issue to join this action-packed superhero title.
MATTHEW: I once had a not-inconsiderable fascination with Comics’ Greatest World, the imprint that birthed Ghost, and she seems to be one of the most viable characters of that long-lost world. Add in Kelly Sue’s writing with an artist I enjoy, and this one is a prescription for readability. What will Stephen and I think of it on the next Dueling Review? Watch the skies!
HARLEY QUINN #1
Writer: Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti
Artist: Chad Hardin
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: Harley is set to begin her new life, but she needs a job first! Enter the Coney Island Roller Derby! It’s game time as Harley sets out to destroy her competition – literally!
CHRIS: I was shocked by how much I enjoyed the zero issue. It was a load of fun in a sea of dark, serious books DC is putting out. I’m hoping Conner and Palmiotti can keep up the crazy humor. It’s the only book I’m looking forward to this week.
THE ILLEGITIMATES #1
Writer: Marc Andreyko and Taran Killam
Artist: Jerry Ordway and Kevin Sharpe
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: Jack Steele: World renowned agent of OLYMPUS, super-spy, debonair, lover of ladies, man-slut. While facing off with his arch-nemesis, Viktor Dannikor, Steele faces his biggest defeat, but who will take his place? Olympus scrambles to find not one, but FIVE newbie agents to fill the void and, unbeknownst to them, they share a common thread. Can these five strangers embrace their fates and come together to save the world? They are THE ILLEGITIMATES! And if you called them bastards…. you’d be absolutely right!
RODRIGO: Is it ok to do Dynamo 5 again, except with super-spies rather than super heroes? I’m actually asking, is this officially a genre now?
INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #17.INH
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Miguel Angel Sepulveda
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: “The Humanity Bomb” Chapter One! Humanity has placed its faith in Bruce Banner to save Earth! Who is working against Banner as the threat spreads? This time, Hulk has nothing to punch! Can Banner smash?
MATTHEW: Working at the store this weekend, I accidentally perused a bit of Indestructible Hulk, which led to me reading the last six issues in a marathon snarf session, and now I’m hooked on Waid’s take on Bruce Banner and his alter-ego. This issue promises a new arc for the Green Goliath, one which kicks off a new phase called “Being On My Pull List.”
KISS ME SATAN #4
Writer: Victor Gischler
Artist: Juan Ferreyra
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: After a contract-killer shaman ambushes our heroes, undercover demon Barnabus Black takes a group of witches back to his safe house, where he equips them with a massive arsenal to prepare for a final showdown with the werewolf mafia.
* Covers by Dave Johnson!
* By Victor Gischler (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike—A Dark Place, Clown Fatale) and Juan Ferreyra (Colder, Rex Mundi)!
* Drawing on your nightmares!
RODRIGO: Without really trying to I’ve been following this from the beginning. At times I can’t tell if the lone-wolf protagonist is being written ironically or not. I prefer to think that he is.
LOCKE & KEY ALPHA #2
Writer: Joe Hill
Artist: Gabriel Rodriguez
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $7.99
SOLICITATION: “The End.” A door claps softly shut. A key scrapes in a last rusted lock. It ends here: the story of the Locke children and their desperate, tragic battle with the monster set on destroying them… the past. Join Gabriel Rodriguez and Joe Hill for the final chapter of Locke & Key.
ROB: It’s the final chapter of the awesome epic that has been Locke & Key. Anyone not picking this up this week is crazy. If you aren’t caught up with this series, take the time to educate yourself, because this finale will be huge.
STEPHEN: This is the end… the end my friends, the end. Can’t wait to see how everyone takes out and takes us out of the story. Definitely a must read this week!
SAGA #17
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: Prince Robot IV gets everyone into trouble.
MATTHEW: This one is pretty much always a no-brainer. Go buy it, it’s a trip…
ROB: After explaining where everyone has been for awhile in the last few issues we have caught up to the cliffhanger from a few issues ago, Prince Robot approaching the house with our young protagonists. Now we get to see how that plays out.
SAMURAI JACK #3
Writer: Jim Zubkavich
Artist: Andy Suriano
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: Jack’s travels bring him to a village filled with tension and mystery. Can he discover the town’s strange secret before Aku’s robotic army invades? Our samurai hero’s quest to gather the Threads of Time continues.
ROB: The first two issues have been good and giving me the proper feel for what Jack was about. It does have me missing the show itself, which I think is a good thing here. I’m happy to be getting more issues of this soon.
TEEN TITANS GO #1
Writer: Sholly Fisch and Merrill Hagan
Artist: Ben Bates and Jorge Corona
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: “Based on the hit new TV show, feast your eyes on this all-new, all-ages comic book series! Join Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven as they display their unique brand of hijinks, mayhem and justice! But giant pizza monsters aren’t the only dastardly and delicious villains on the menu…so dig in, Titans!”
WAYNE: This Cartoon Network series seems to be doing very well, considering they seem to show it multiple times a day. Will the comic be as much fun? We’ll have to buyit to find out!
X-O MANOWAR #20
Written by: Robert Venditti
Artist: Cary Nord
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: “UNITY TIE-IN! Head-to-head with Toyo Harada and the forces of UNITY! X-O Manowar finally has it all, and his people finally have a land they can call home…but threats from all sides now threaten to destroy Aric and the peace he has struggled to secure. While unrest stirs and Aric’s camp threatens to rebel against him, the most dangerous strike force ever assembled – UNITY – have joined forces with the Harbinger Foundation’s Toyo Harada to achieve but one goal: kill Aric of Dacia. Robert Venditti and Cary Nord ratchet up their standalone story arc at the heart of the year’s biggest comic book event!”
WAYNE: The Valiant comics are just great, and Unity is doing interesting things with many of this universe’s characters! I can’t wait to see what happens next!
ZERO #4
Writer: Ales Kot
Artist: Morgan Jeske
Publisher: Image Comcis
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: Rio, 2019. Edward Zero looks in a mirror and the mirror gives him unsettling answers. The mirror being Carlyle, ex-Agency spy, holed up in a favela, running his own gang
GEORGE: Ales Kot is one of the most interesting new writers on the scene, and Zero is making that more plain with each issue. Zero jumps around chronologically through secret agent Edward Zero’s life, with each issue serving as its own self-contained story. So it’s worth checking out at least one issue to see if this does anything for you. I know I’m digging it.
