IT’S NEW COMIC BOOK DAY!
But what to read?
Fortunately, the Major Spoilers Staff have comic book recommendations for you!
ALEX + ADA #10
Writer: Jonathan Luna, Sarah Vaughn
Artist: Jonathan Luna
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: Alex and Ada must find a resolution!
WAYNE: This series is so relevant to today’s relationships that many, many more of us should be reading it! Will the now-awakened android be able to work things out with her human beau? We gotta buy this book to find out! Highly recommended!
ALL NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA #1
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Stuart Immonen
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION:
• This is it! The all-new, Spy-Fi, highflying adventures of Sam Wilson Captain America and Nomad begin here!
• Hydra is growing, the terrorist band have has infiltrated the Marvel Universe completely! But what is their ultimate goal?
• United by Hydra, Cap’s rogue’s gallery gathers to take down the new untested Captain America and Nomad!
MATTHEW: I’m interested in seeing where this goes, mostly because we fans complain that there’s nothing new, then get all snarky when they actually give it to us. Either way, Sam Wilson is a strong character, and this could be a fun ride…
BATMAN #36
Writer: Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV
Artist: Greg Capullo, Danny Miki
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: “Endgame,” part 2 – It’s a story arc so steeped in mystery, all we can tell you is the title!
WAYNE: If you read the last issue, you know what’s going on, and it’s going to be quite the challenge for the Dark Knight! The premise is, what would happen if the Joker could control Batman’s closest allies? This story is what happens! Don’t miss it!
BATMAN ADVENTURES TP VOL 01
Writer: Kelley Puckett, Martin Pasko
Artist: Ty Templeton & Various
Publisher: DC COMICS
Cover Price: $19.99
SOLICITATION: The first ten issues of the classic all-ages series are back in a new collection! Don’t miss these tales of the Dark Knight featuring appearances by The Joker, The Penguin, Catwoman, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Clayface, The Riddler and more!
JASON: No other release this week matters! One of the best Batman series of all time is finally being collected. Just because it’s an animated show tie-in doesn’t detract or devalue these stories in anyway. Powerful and simple Batman stories. Plus, it’s continuity free! Get yourself to the local Bat Comic Book shop! Quick!
BIGGER BANG #1
Writer: D. J. Kirkbride
Artist: Vassilis Gogtzilas
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The Big Bang created all life as we know it. The Bigger Bang creates just one: a being named Cosmos. Is he a destroyer? A hero? A god? All he knows is that he’s completely alone in what was our universe… so he seeks out another where he’ll try to atone for the sins of his mysterious creation. From the inventive minds of D.J. Kirkbride (Amelia Cole, Never Ending) and Vassilis Gogtzilas (Augusta Wind) comes a sprawling space-epic of multi-dimensional proportions.
RODRIGO: I’m not sure where they’re gonna go with this, honestly. I’m less than enthused by the cover, but that doesn’t mean the book doesn’t deserve a shot.
BORDERLANDS FALL OF FYRESTONE #4
Writer: Mike Neumann
Artist: Agustin Padilla
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The hit comic based on the hit video game continues! Outgunned and outmanned, Roland, Lilith, Mordecai, and Brick will use everything at their disposal to save the city of Fyrestone. But like all battles, what will the cost of victory be? Sit tight for a shocker of a finale in the last issue of this arc.
ROB: The end of the first arc and the battle with Nine-Toes is here. The ridiculous, over the top nature of Pandora has translated well to the comics and I’ve like seeing the “canon” events play out with all four of the original Vault Hunters present.
DEEP STATE #1
Writer: Justin Jordan
Artist: Ariela Kristantina
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: WHY WE LOVE IT: You know all those conspiracy theories you hear about? Like how the Jonestown Massacre was a failed MKULTRA experiment by the government, or how Lee Harvey Oswald was trained and brainwashed to be an assassin? Well, what if some of those were true? DEEP STATE is a dream (nightmare?) come true for conspiracy theory nuts like us here at BOOM!
WHY YOU’LL LOVE IT: With LUTHER STRODE, DEAD BODY ROAD, and SPREAD Justin Jordan has become one of the eminent voices in hardintelligent, original comics, and Ariela Kristantina (DEATH OF WOLVERINE) brings her unique, idiosyncratic style that has made her a breakout talent. If you’re even remotely interested in conspiracy theory stories from comics like PLANETARY and SLEEPER to films like ENEMY OF THE STATE and THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, you’ll be gripped by DEEP STATE!
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: John Harrow doesn’t exist, and his job is to make sure that other things don’t exist, too. At any given time, the government is running dozens of black book operations, experiments that aren’t on any official record and are never acknowledged to exist. Some of these are innocuous. Some of them are monstrous beyond reason. And most of the time, they go as expected and the public is never the wiser. Most of the time. John Harrow’s job is to handle them when things go wrong, and do anything to make sure the government’s secrets stay just that-secret.
GEORGE: Justin Jordan sure is writing a lot lately. I wasn’t bowled over by Dark Gods, but his work on Spread is still very strong, and anything delving deep into conspiracy theories always catches my eye. This sounds like a reverse X-Files, which is a pretty neat concept.
STEPHEN: I’m very interested in this story as it feels like it has an X-Files vibe to it. Like George, I’m a sucker for conspiracy theories, so this is going to be a must read for me.
DRIFTER #1
Writer: Ivan Brandon
Artist: Nic Klein
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.50
SOLICITATION: FROM THE CREATORS OF VIKING: Writer IVAN BRANDON (Wolverine, Men of War) and artist NIC KLEIN (Captain America, Thor) reunite to bring you a sci-fi ONGOING SERIES joining the dark revenge themes of Unforgiven with the mind-bending sci-fi universe-building of Dune.
In its frantic rush to survive itself, mankind has spread across the universe, colonizing and strip-mining countless planets. Abram Pollux barely survives a crash landing on Ouro, a lawless backwater world where life is cheap. What starts as a struggle for survival quickly becomes a journey to the very edges of what it means to be human.
GEORGE: I’m not familiar with these creators, but Unforgiven, Dune and what it means to be human are all things that I enjoy immensely. I am very curious to see how this series will start.
HAWKEYE VS DEADPOOL #2
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Matteo Lolli
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: • The Avenging Archer and the Merc with the Mouth are one step closer to solving their Halloween whodunit – but things aren’t what they seem! • With villains masquerading as heroes, who can Deadpool and Hawkeye trust? • And no, it’s not one another. • The most beloved (and simultaneously annoying) duo is on the case!
ROB: This pair works together. Hawkeye is one of the few people in the Marvel U that can legitimately take Wade seriously and the play these two have together makes the read fantastic, here’s hoping this series has a long life.
THE KITCHEN #1
Writer: Ollie Masters
Artist: Ming Doyle
Publisher: Vertigo
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: New York City, late 1970s. Times Square is a haven for sex and drugs. The city teeters on the verge of bankruptcy, while blackouts can strike at any moment. This is the world of THE KITCHEN.
The Irish gangs of Hell’s Kitchen rule the neighborhood, bringing terror to the streets and doing the dirty work for the Italian Mafia. Jimmy Brennan and his crew were the hardest bastards in the Kitchen, but after they’re all put in prison, their wives – Kath, Raven and Angie – decide to keep running their rackets. And once they get a taste of the fast life and easy money, it won’t be easy to stop.
THE KITCHEN takes one of the most popular genres in entertainment and, like The Sopranos, reimagines it for a new generation to present a classic gangster story told from a fresh point of view.
Written by talented newcomer Ollie Masters with stunning art by Ming Doyle (Mara) and killer covers by Becky Cloonan (GOTHAM ACADEMY, Killjoys, DEMO), THE KITCHEN is not to be missed.
RODRIGO: Not a big fan of crime stories, but I am a fan of Ming Doyle. Still, even though I am interested in this from an art perspective, it doesn’t mean I won’t give the story a chance to grab me.
LEGEND OF KORRA COFFEE MUG
Price: $12.99
SOLICITATION: Nickelodeon’s animated television series The Legend of Korrahas taken audiences by storm. Created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino as a sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender, one of Dark Horse’s most popular series, it is inspiring an ongoing merchandise line.
We launched with some iconography of the element symbols and are following up with a new range of cool merchandise.
RODRIGO: I don’t drink coffee, but Korra merchandise is surprisingly hard to find, so maybe I need to start just so I can support the show.
SPIDER-VERSE #1
Writer: Dan Slott, Skottie Young, Robbie Thompson, Kate Cook
Artist: Humberto Ramos, Jake Parker, Denis Medri, Katie Cook
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
SOLICITATION: SPIDER-VERSE IS HERE!
• Dive deep into the Spider-Verse event with the most Spider-filled anthology ever!
• ASM team DAN SLOTT & HUMBERTO RAMOS kick it all off!
• Skottie Young (ROCKET RACCOON) & Jake Parker (ALL-NEW X-MEN) tell a Mangaverse Spidey story!
• Robbie Thompson (writer of television’s Supernatural) and Dennis Medri introduce a Steampunk Spider-Woman!
• Katie Cook (Marvel animal variants) introduces a new Spider-Character for the ages!
MATTHEW: The cynic in me wants to hate this, but there’s such goofy, fun, playing-with-all-my-toys potential in the story that I am going to have to check it out anyway. Hopefully, this won’t leave us with a dozen alternate Spider-ongoings…
STAR TREK ONGOING #38
Writer: Mike Johnson
Artist: Tony Shasteen
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The Star Trek event of 2014 continues in Part 4 of “The Q Gamibt!” Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise find themselves in a true no-win scenario thanks to the mischievous Q! Trapped in a dark future, at the mercy of the mighty Dominion, this adventure might prove to be their last! Don’t miss this all-new story produced in association with Star Trek writer/producer Roberto Orci!
WAYNE: One of the things I’ve felt the franchise needed for quite some time was going where no Trek had gone before, and that’s what I’m enjoying about this “event.” It’s also great to see DS9 characters come back again – how I’ve missed them! If you want “new” Trek, be sure to pick up this comic!
SUPER SECRET CRISIS WAR CODENAME KIDS NEXT DOOR #1
Writer: Scott Peterson, Louise Simonson
Artist: Ryan Jampole, Derek Charm
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: The KND discover something even worse than parents, the Delightful Children From Down the Lane, editors, or even asparagus, when they get caught up in the Super Secret Crisis War! Challenged to a fight by a robot created by the evil Aku, the KND find they’re in an impossible situation: win and they’re transported Aku’s space station. But lose and… well, they’re goners! What’s a collection of underage operatives for a super secret global organization to do?
ROB: Of the one-shots, this was the one I was most looking forward to. The KND seem like the most likely of these to have actually been selected for the League’s evil schemes and I wanted to know how they managed to elude capture, so should be fun.
THOR #2
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Russel Dauterman
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
SOLICITATION:
• Get ready for a Thor like you’ve never seen before!
• Witness the mysterious all-new Thor in action for the very first time!
• With an army of Frost Giants invading the earth, she may be the world’s only hope!
MATTHEW: A rare clean-sweep for Marvel from me this week, as it’s time for the new Thor to earn her stripes… Issue #1 was a good read, and I’m curious as to who it is under the winged helmet, so I’m in for a least the short-term.
WYTCHES #2
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Jock
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
SOLICITATION: A busload of children disappears in the woods. A strange bite grows on a girl’s neck. And the wytches are getting closer, creeping from the woods. Be there for the terrifying second chapter of the new smash hit, WYTCHES.
GEORGE: Wytches finds Scott Snyder going back to his roots – both as a horror writer and in the sense that he’s tapping his childhood fears for creative fuel in this series. I thought the first issue worked marvelously, and I am sure the second will too.
