IT’S NEW COMIC BOOK DAY!
But what to read?
Fortunately, the Major Spoilers Staff have comic book recommendations for you!
AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE #6
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Artist: Francesco Francavilla
Publisher: Archie Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: “The Nether-Realm”: The unthinkable has happened: Riverdale has become ground-zero for the zombie apocalypse, and the surviving members of our gang have been forced to flee their beloved home. However terrible things have been for Archie and friends, they’ve been MUCH worse for Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Banished to witches’ purgatory after using the dreaded Necronomicon, she’s now fighting for her immortal soul! The award winning team of writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Francesco Francavilla continue their celebrated run on the critically acclaimed series. A perfect entry-point for new readers as the smash horror TEEN+ hit of the season continues! Definitely NOT for all ages!
MATTHEW: Oh. My. God. This book is amazing to me, and the story and art are incredible. Don’t let a hype backlash pull you away from what might be the best horror book on the stands in years…
STEPHEN: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDGE. Only I didn’t really say fudge. I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of words… FRANCAVILLA! You need to read this issue. Period. Take horror, Sabrina, H.P. Lovecraft, and a final page that seems pretty final, and Afterlife with Archie #6 has suddenly become the BEST issue of the year!
ALIEN LEGION UNCIVIL WAR #2 of 4
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artists: Larry Stroman, Carl Potts
Publisher: Titan Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITIATION: Detailed with providing humanitatian support to refugees fleeing a civil war on the planet Harkilon, Force Nomad is hoping for a push-over peacekeeping milk. Instead, smugglers are using the refugees as cover and it only takes one itchy trigger-finger to turn a diplomatic mission into a SNAFU of galactic proportions!
WAYNE: It’s good to have Alien Legion back, and the first issue was a pleasure to read. Now it’s time for chapter two, so I highly recommend Mr. Dixon’s writing as well as Mr.Stroman’s art!
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #4
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Humberto Ramos
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The radioactive spider that gave Peter Parker his powers bit someone else, too! Who is Silk and where has she been? Don’t miss this incredible new character who will be a major Spider-player for the whole year!
ROB: Slott, Ramos, Spidey, I don’t need to say anything more about this book as to why I want it. But here we’re going to see more info about the newest character in the Spider-Mythos as well.
BATMAN #33
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Greg Capullo
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
SOLICITATION: It’s been one hell of a year in Gotham City, and it all comes down to this: Batman vs. The Riddler! Gotham City and the Dark Knight will never be the same! Don’t miss this special, extra-sized finale of “Zero Year!”
WAYNE: Happy 75th, Batman! It’s the perfect week for the conclusion to “Zero Year” to arrive in stores since it’s also the celebration of 75 years of the Dark Knight. I’ll be at the local comics shop wearing my Capullo Bat-shirt, so hope to see you there, too!
DOCTOR WHO 10TH #1
Writer: Nick Abadzis
Artist: Elena Casagrande
Publisher: Titan Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The Eisner Award-winning Nick Abadzis (Laika) and fan-favorite Elena Casagrande (Angel, Suicide Risk, Doctor Who, Star Trek) take control of the TARDIS for their first five-issue arc with the Tenth Doctor, as played by David Tennant!
Gabriella Gonzalez is stuck in a dead-end job in her family’s New York Laundromat, dreaming of college and bigger, better and brighter things.
So when a strange man with an even stranger big blue box barges into her life on the eve of the Day of the Dead celebrations – talking about an infestation of psychic aliens – she seizes her chance for adventure with both hands.
After Donna’s tragic exit, the Doctor thought he was done with new companions. But Gabby Gonzalez is going to prove him wrong… if she survives the night!
MATTHEW: Titan Comics finally figures out that you can have ongoing adventures of a non-incumbent Doctor, but can they make it work? My second-favorite Doctor in play means I’m willing to give them a chance to pull it off.
DOCTOR WHO THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR #1
Writers: Al Ewing, Rob Williams
Artist: Simon Fraser
Publisher: Titan Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The eleventh Doctor returns in an all-new ongoing series, with a time-twisting leap into the unknown! Geronimo! Alice Obiefune has just lost her mother when the Doctor explodes into her life. But what does a grieving young woman have to do with the career of a 70s musician, an amnesiac alien time traveler, and a terrifying cosmic threat? In the wake of the second Big Bang, discover what the Doctor gets up to when Amy and Rory aren’t around! Plus, every issue includes a ‘Titans’ strip and a brand-new humor strip.
WAYNE: I’m really going to miss Matt Smith as the Doctor since he was the first one I truly related to. It’ll be fun to see other adventures never experienced before, so I think this will be quite a lot of fun! Geronimo!
DRAGON GIRL AND THE MONKEY KING
Writer: Katsuya Terada
Artist: Katsuya Terada
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $39.99
SOLICITATION: Dark Horse proudly presents the first English-language art book showcasing one of Japan’s most sought-after painters and illustrators, Katsuya Terada! Dragon Girl and Monkey King collects Terada’s art in every mood: sexy, brutal, bizarre, and humorous, including his distinctive Hellboy figurine work, commentary, and an exclusive interview with the artist!
Foreword by Guillermo del Toro!
RODRIGO: Katsuya Terada’s art is beautiful and disconcerting. This is a must-have for people that love Japanese pop art.
GROO VS. CONAN #1
Writer: Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragonés
Artist: Sergio Aragonés, Thomas Yeates
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $3.50
SOLICITATION: It had to happen: The most heroic warrior in history meets the stupidest as Robert E. Howard’s immortal Conan the Barbarian crosses swords with Sergio Aragonés’s Groo the Wanderer inGroo vs. Conan #1. This four-issue miniseries was concocted by Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragonés, aided by illustrator Thomas Yeates and colorist Tom Luth. Will Conan annihilate Groo? Will Groo turn out to be the man who can defeat Conan? We’ll see.
* Comics’ greatest barbarians together at last!
RODRIGO: This is weird. It’s pretty weird. It’s kinda like Austin Powers teaming up with James Bond. Which is weird. I don’t understand how they’re going to do this. But I’m interested.
STEPHEN: I could have sworn this happened decades ago… Regardless, this is on my must read list this week if for nothing more than to see the smash up of art.
MIGHTY AVENGERS #12
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Greg Land
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION:
• Election Night, 1972. Under a moonless sky, unspeakable evil slouched towards Manhattan to be born…
• …and the only people who could hold it back were the original Mighty Avengers.
• Meanwhile, in the present day – history repeats itself! But this time, have the Mighty Avengers already failed?
MATTHEW: The best Avengers title on the stands is the one most people seem to have forgotten about. It’s a comic so good that even the art of Greg Land can’t sink it, and I recommend you check it out…
SAGA #21
Writer: Brian K. Vaughn
Artist: Fiona Staples
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: Not every robot is lucky enough to be born a royal.
ROB: More Saga, more good story, and this time it looks like back story for the most recently introduced character. It’s going to be interesting to see how this guy plays into the rest of the narrative.
STORM #1
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Victor Ibanez
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: Thief. Goddess. Headmistress. Queen. The X-Man called STORM has always defied a single title. And her desire to better the world has never been limited to only her own kind. On a mission to foster goodwill and safeguard the mutant race’s continued existence in her own way, Storm will travel the globe, confronting man and mutant, god and monster and everything inbetween. She will overthrow tyrants, quell tsunamis and strive to see her dream for the world realized. She is STORM, a hero like no other….and the skies will tremble at the sight of their namesake.
GEORGE: It’s hard to be an X-Men fan without being a fan of Storm – how can you not love one of mutantdom’s most iconic figures? The solicit gives away precious few hints as to the actual plot of this series, but Greg Pak usually has something reliably interesting up his sleeve.
SUPER SECRET CRISIS WAR JOHNNY BRAVO #1
Writer: Erik Burnham, Louise Simonson
Artist: Erica Henderson, Derek Charm
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: There’s trouble a brewin’ in Aron City; and no sir, it ain’t the kind that rhymes with pool! A robot from another dimension has appeared, intent on finding and challenging a hero – any hero – for its evil masters. Instead, the robot finds Johnny Bravo, and proof… that even a robot can be driven mad by exposure to Johnny’s obliviousness. Don’t miss this tie-in to the event of the summer — so cool, you’re gonna have to wear shades. Hyah!
Plus, a two-page epilogue by Louise Simonson and Derek Charm, delving into the formation of the LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY VILLAINS!!
ROB: So this sounds like it may be the most entertaining part of the Cartoon Network event IDW is making. Johnny Bravo is the most removed character from the general conceit of the story, and his idiocy played right should go a long way toward making this enjoyable.
SUPREME: BLUE ROSE
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Tula Lotay
Publisher: Image COmics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: You are not dreaming. We are trying to communicate with you. Local reality has been reinstalled. Things have gone wrong. The revision has corrupted. Finding Ethan Crane is your supreme priority. We are speaking to you from the ultimate bunker within the structure of multiversal time. Do not trust Darius Dax. We are all going to die. SUPREME: BLUE ROSE. Re-introducing the central Image Comics character, with WARREN ELLIS and TULA LOTAY.
GEORGE: I know precious little about Supreme. I haven’t even read the Alan Moore stuff. But I’m definitely enjoying Warren Ellis’s return to the comic book fold. I’ll be curious to how his usual ambivalence for superheroics manifests in this one, but I’m sure it’ll be worth reading.
RODRIGO: I was a little disappointed to realize that this title is called “Supreme: Blue Rose” as opposed to “Supreme Blue Rose”. Still, art looks good, so I’ll check it out.
TRANSFORMERS VS GI JOE #1
Writer: Tom Scioli, John barber
Artist: Tom Scioli
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: SPACE WAR I! Earth makes contact with an alien race-and G.I. JOE is on the front lines of first contact! But when the TRANSFORMERS arrive-their version of “peace” does not match our own…
GEORGE: C’mon, you think I’m not looking forward to this? I’m on the G.I. Joe side, of course. Who you got?
