It’s New Comic Book Day!
What should you pick up this week? The Major Spoilers Staff runs down the titles they are most looking forward to this week!
BATMAN 66 MEETS GREEN HORNET #1
Writer: Kevin Smith/Ralph Garman
Artist: Ty Templeton
Publisher: DC Comics/Dynamite Entertainment
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: In 1967, television history was made when two masked crime fighters met in a historic crossover. Now, superstar filmmaker Kevin Smith and actor/comedian Ralph Garman join forces with artist Ty Templeton (BATMAN ’66) to bring these two iconic characters and their famous partners together again. Set in the continuity of that earlier team-up, Batman, The Green Hornet, Robin and Kato must go up against a very different General (formerly Colonel) Gumm. What crime could be so deadly as to force these rivals to put aside their differences and join forces again? And what surprise does Gumm have up his sticky sleeve?
MATTHEW: I’m a Green Hornet guy, and Kevin Smith’s writing is usually pretty solid, if quirky. Worst-case scenario, it’s a pretty trainwreck…
BETTIE PAGE: GIRL OF OUR DREAMS SCULPTED METAL PIN
Packaged in a laser-cut foam block in a color sleeve
Price: $12.99
Based on Dave Stevens’s art
SOLICITATION: One of our most satisfying projects was the beautiful statue of Bettie Page inspired by the classic illustration Girl of Our Dreams by the late Dave Stevens.
We have commissioned renowned sculptor Joe Menna to re-create this image in bas- relief and have fabricated it as a high-quality zinc alloy pin.
RODRIGO: I love the incredible specificity of a Bettie Page metal pin. Also if anyone gets in your face about your half-naked lady pin you can just be like “Hey! This is a piece of Americana!”
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA #1
Writer: John Carpenter/Eric Powell
Artist: Brian Churilla
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: Jack Burton, a macho, truck-driving adventurer, finds a stowaway hiding on his rig, The Pork Chop Express, but that soon becomes the least of his troubles. He helped his best friend Wang save his fiancée from the clutches of a demon, but now the wedding has been invaded by more evil forces with one thing on their minds—revenge against Jack Burton!
MATTHEW: Everybody gets a comic in 2014! Join us next week for Buckaroo Banzai Meets Joey Tribbiani in the Temple Of Doom! As for Jack Burton, Stephen and I will be hitting this one up on this week’s Dueling Review…
STEPHEN: I’m so looking forward to this book! A chance to relive favorite moments from my youth in comic book form? I sure hope this lives up to all the hype and nostalgia that I have heaped upon it.
IRON FIST LIVING WEAPON #3
Writer: Kaare Andrews
Artist: Kaare Andrews
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: • Ninja nurses versus killers in suits!
• Our villain’s face revealed, and it’s one terribly close to Danny Rand’s heart!
CHRIS: Iron Fist is only on its third issue and already pretty phenomenal. Kaare Andrews should at least get credit for doing as much work on the book as he does. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but there is some definite coolness taking place.
MATTHEW: Hmm. This series has been a little bit odd in tone for me, but I’m wondering where it’s going and whether Kaare Andrews has a handle on Danny Rand’s world and character. Either way, I want to know what’s up with the Iron Fist…
STEPHEN: I completely forgot this series was happening. I’m picking this up, and the previous two issues, too!
JIM BUTCHER DRESDEN FILES WAR CRY #1
Writers: Jim Butcher, Mark Powers
Artists: Carlos Gomez
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Cover Price: $4.99
SOLICITATION: Four months have passed since the events depicted in Dead Beat, Jim Butcher’s New York Times- bestselling 7th novel in the Dresden Files series. A war is raging between the vampire forces of the Red Court and the White Council—a war the wizards are losing. So desperate are the Council that they’ve dragooned the experienced and the outcast to reinforce their thinning ranks of Wardens. One of these draftees is one Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only wizard for hire and a guy who’s long been looked upon with suspicion by the supernatural authorities. Now, he’s one of them, and his first big mission as a Warden is a doozy: take a small team of greenhorns to a frigid town in the middle of nowhere to rescue a handful of mortals who’ve been targeted by the Red Court. The question is, why exactly are these particular mortals so crucial to the outcome of the war? The answer will come only if Harry can keep them, and his team, alive for one very long night. An all new, original Dresden Files story featuring stunning artwork from Carlos Gomez, and covers by the amazing Stjepan Sejic!
STEPHEN: You may have heard in recent discussion on the Major Spoilers Podcast (you are listening and subscribing, right?) that I have slowly become a convert to the Dresden Files. Thought I’m woefully behind in the world of Harry D, I’m going to check this issue out and see what’s going on.
MOON KNIGHT #4
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Declan Shalvey
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: • Moon Knight goes somewhere even more messed up than his own mind.
• Something is happening to the subjects of a sleep experiment that’s driving them all insane.
• Go with Moon Knight to the Mushroom graveyard planet for the most troubling and disturbing issue yet!
GEORGE: With what Ellis and Shalvey have done on Moon Knight already, I’ll follow them to a mushroom graveyard planet or anywhere else.
NAILBITER #2
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Mike Henderson
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: Officer Nicolas Finch doesn’t care about Buckaroo, Oregon’s serial killers or its secrets – he just wants to find his missing friend. With time running out he turns to the one man who has all the answers… the infamous Nailbiter!
CHRIS: Nailbiter is just sick and twisted enough that I’ll be picking this up. As someone who used to chew their nails, the thought that some psycho would want to kill me and eat my fingers sounds…fun? It’s creepy fun, which is sometimes the best kind.
THE SUPERANNUATED MAN #1
Writer: Ted McKeever
Artist: Ted McKeever
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: By the time most people realized it, they were no longer in charge of the world we know. In an unspecified future, the small seaside town of Blackwater has now been taken over by advanced and mutated animals. Most of the humans that lived there are now either dead or gone, but one old-man remains, scavenging off the scraps and refuse of humanity’s past, and doggedly defying the new tenants.
GEORGE: New Ted McKeever! He’s not for everyone – his work can be pretentious, it can be confusing, but it’s always interesting and unique. I like this concept a bit more than the last (Miniature Jesus), ‘cause hey, mutants and post-apocalypses are always fun.
RODRIGO: Every once in a while a book comes along whose description makes me do a double take. This is such a book. I’m really curious to see how serious or tongue-in-cheek this is.
WAKE #9
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Sean Murphy
Publisher: Vertigo
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: A post-apocalyptic USA only partially above sea level, a country overrun by corrupt leaders fearful of horrific mermaids, a voice dredged up from the deep, dark past – how will all these factors tie together in the acclaimed miniseries by Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy? Will Leeward discover something more to the life she knows out across the vast ocean? Find out in the penultimate issue of THE WAKE!
CHRIS: There are two things Wake has been consistently doing: Giving incredible art and genuinely surprising me in where the story goes. I have no clue what’s going to happen next and that’s awesome. Plus, there are killer mermaid creatures, whales with bombs on their back, and crazy pirates. What’s not to love?
WITCHBLADE #175
Writer: Ron Marz
Artist: Laura Braga
Publisher: Top Cow
Cover Price: $5.99
SOLICITATION: DOUBLE-SIZED ANNIVERSARY ISSUE! Starting a new storyline, the team of writer RON MARZ and artist LAURA BRAGA continue their acclaimed run, providing an entry point for new readers, as well as a celebration of all that’s gone before. Also features a second story by MARZ & BRAGA, revealing a previously untold tale of the Witchblade in feudal Japan, as well as other bonus features.
RODRIGO: I really enjoy Braga’s Witchblade. She strikes a good combination of sexiness without being over-the-top cheesecake.
THE WOODS
Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Michael Dialynas
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: While the crew of students led by Adrian and Karen come face to face with the unseen terrors of the alien woods, tensions boil over back at the school as power-hungry players seize the opportunity to take control.
GEORGE: Man, that was a good first issue. Good drama, an interesting hook, great art. Get in on the ground floor of this one, folks.
