Is It Wednesday Yet?
It wasn't hard to choose this as my pick of the week. Jeff Lemire, writer, artist and creator of the excellent Vertigo title Sweet Tooth, signed an exclusive contract with DC earlier this year and since then I've been anxiously waiting for his contribution to the DC Universe. The Atom one-shot, which led to a back-up feature in Adventure Comics, felt like he was just warming up, but now this is it: his very own ongoing titles featuring one of DC's biggest stars.
I have complete confidence that this is going to be a great book. The character and setting are a perfect match for Lemire's writing talent, and based on the wacky preview he gave us in Action Comics a few months ago, he's got some big plans for the story and no shortage of ideas.
Artist Pier Gallo is new and it remains to be seen whether his art will live up to the challenge. You can check it out for yourself in this six-page preview at DC's The Source. I'm not a huge fan of the face he gave Superboy, and the backgrounds in those pages tend to be lacking in details, but I think there's potential here. Let's give him a chance.
2. Batman and Robin #16 (DC)
Here it is, finally, after much delay. The very last issue of Grant Morrison's run on Batman and Robin, the title he launched a little over a year ago. Bruce Wayne is back (even though we're still waiting for that last issue of The Return of Bruce Wayne, which was supposed to come out two months ago), and this is the big showdown between him and the most evil man in the world, Dr. Hurt. I'm going to be honest with you, if you haven't been following any of the goings on in the Batman books lately, this is not going to make any sense to you. But if you have been, well, you're probably shitting your pants in excitement right now. Art by Cameron Stewart, Frazer Irving and Chris Burnham. Here's a preview.
3. Strange Tales II #2 (of 3) (Marvel)
The first issue of this three-part anthology was amazing and ended up at the top of my favourites list for October. The second issue promises more awesomeness from a long list of exciting indie creators, including Jaime Hernandez and Kate Beaton. There's no continuity involved, so you can pick this up even if you missed the first issue.
4. Captain America: Man Out of Time #1 (of 5) (Marvel)
A Captain America mini-series written by Mark Waid. If that doesn't sell it to you, I don't know what will. Art by Jorge Molina. Here's an interview with Waid from back in July.
5. Generation Hope #1 (Marvel)
Marvel is calling this "the most important new X book in years," so it must be important, right? It's written by Kieron Gillen with art by Salvador Espin. Here's a preview.
6. Adventures into Mindless Self-Indulgence (one shot) (Image)
Sorry about this token non-Marvel/DC entry. It's kind of a slow week for indie comics. I don't know. I thought the title was pretty cool, but I kind of lost interest when I realized it was the name of real-life (i.e., not just in comics) synthpunk band.
7. Women of Marvel #1 (of 2) (Marvel)
This is a collection of "the tales that took Marvel.com by story." I guess that means material that was previously released digitally only. I don't know, I wasn't paying attention. But there are a few interesting creators in there, including G. Willow Wilson. Worth checking out.
Written and drawn by Howard Chaykin. This should be pretty good.
9. Sweet Tooth #15 (Vertigo)
Consistent quality from Jeff Lemire. Can't let this one go by without a mention.
10. Ozma of Oz #1 (of 8) (Marvel)
And finally, this is the third in a series of all-ages adaptations of L. Frank Baum's Oz books. I have not read any of them, but the art looks pretty fantastic and if I had kids I would totally be trying to get them hooked on comics with these. Check it out here.
Honourable mentions
I don't usually do this, but there's a ton of new Marvel mini-series launching this week and they're all kind of mildly interesting depending on which characters or creative teams happen to appeal to you, so it was pretty much impossible for me to narrow it down to 10 titles. So you might want to check out the following three #1 issues:
- Iron Man/Thor #1 (of 4) (Marvel) Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning; art by Scot Eaton.
- Warriors Three #1 (of 4) (Marvel) Written by Bill Willingham; art by Neil Edwards.
- X-Men: To Serve and Protect #1 (of 4) (Marvel) Written by Chris Yost and more; art by various.
- Punisher: In the Blood #1 (of 5) (Marvel) Written by Rick Remender; art by Roland Boschi.
Here's the full list of new releases shipping this week.
About "Is It Wednesday Yet?": Every week, I take a look at the new releases and compile a list of 10 titles that look interesting to me. These are not necessarily the books I will buy for myself, but rather things that I think are noteworthy for a variety of reasons and that I want to bring to people's attention in case they might have missed them. I try to give priority to #1 issues, one-shots, new creative teams, or new story arcs, so that most of these are easy jumping-on points for new readers.
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