The Man With the Getaway Face- Despite this being just a teaser and something that will be reprinted as the prologue in the next Parker adaptation The Outfit, I couldn’t pass on it simply for the oversized Darwyn Cooke art. And this is a thing of beauty, especially for only $2 with no ads. If you wanted a great sampler of a brutal crime story with amazing art then you really need to pick this up. A

 

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Thor The Mighty Avengers #1- While out of continuity books that look like they might be part of the normal chunk of Marvel continuity can be confusing to explain, this first issue was just damn good. If I had to pick a Thor title out of the five or six being released in the next few months to recommend to a newcomer this one would be it. First of all Langridge just provides a solid script, good dialogue, and a fresh new perspective on the Marvel Thor myth. Then you have Chris Samnee’s art, which is clean, dynamic, crisp, and offers great emoting and overall storytelling. Plus hey, only $2.99! It's a friggin' deal! I'll go ahead and say this is one of the best first issues Marvel has released for the year so far and I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys books like Agents of Atlas, Incredible Hercules, or just anything fun and well done. A+

 

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Shadowland #1- I haven’t been reading the Diggle run of Daredevil since I was planning on checking it out in trade format, but I figured I would take a look at this so I would at least have a vague idea of what’s going on. The Tan art is nice although I’m not a huge fan of the style and Diggle’s script is fine, but besides just being tired of Marvel ‘events’, I do have to say at this point Matt Murdock is just one of the more annoying characters in comics these days. He’s pretty much had two or three mental breakdowns in the past decade and the dude’s decision making abilities are kind of embarrassing.

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X-Men #1- Really Marvel? Really? So, a new X-men title. With a couple variant covers. With vampires. Oh and it’s an ‘event’ with a bunch of spin-offs and other crap. You assholes haven’t even finished your last X-Men event and you’re charging people $3.99 for a new one and bragging it’s the first #1 X-Men issue in a decade. Disregard Astonishing X-Men, disregard the bajillion mini-series and one-shots that have #1 plastered on them, you have to brag about the technicality that this is the first issue to a regular series that happens to not have an adjective in the title. This is the exact crap that holds the entire industry back from ever developing anything new and meaningful. That all being said the script was lackluster while the Paco Medina art was fine. I think I’m just too far away from ever giving a crap about the X-Men anymore that I can’t think of anything really nice to say. C-

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Beasts of Burden HC- Collecting the four issue series plus all the short original stories from various Dark Horse anthologies, this is a great package for on $19.99. This oversized trim with luscious paintings by Jill Thompson is a great series and one of the few titles in the industry today that can perfectly balance dark humor, carefully somber storytelling, morbid mystery, and a supernatural flair tinted with funny animals. Evil toads, zombie dogs, an army of rats, and a human warlock are just a few of the threats sprinkled throughout the series as Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson build a fantastic world and fill it with interesting cats and dogs. A+

 

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Dar! A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary Vol 1 & 2- One of the best reads I’ve picked up in a while, although I already read most of the content online anyway. It’s nice to just sit down with both volumes though and I really like to support Erika Moen, partly because she’s one of the nicest creators I’ve ever met. Dar is a fantastic autobiographical series that follows Erika over a six year length, starting when she was a 20 year old lesbian artist and follows her as she marries a boy from England and becomes a full time cartoonist. Great humor, honestly, art, and storytelling make this an awesome read and worth every penny. If you want to check out a sampler go over to the Dar! site where you can also order the book directly from Erika. A

 

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Well, it's like the Bible, but different. Waaaay different. Great mock religous commercial for the Necromicon.

Octopus Pie: There Are No Stars In Brooklyn- The first printed collection of the popular webcomic series, this dense collection puts together the first two years worth of stories. Great sense of humor, a solid sense of characterization, and fun fluid art make this something definitely worth picking up. Fans of Scott Pilgrim, North World, and just anything fun should check this out. Check out Meredith Gran’s site if you want to sample it, but try to help support the release of the book. Considering it’s only $17 for 252 pages, it’s a great package and Villard books did a nice printing job. A

 

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Wonder Woman #600-I would probably rate this just slightly under the Batman #700 but definitely above the Superman #700. The Simone/Perez story was fun and a nice set up for how WW is viewed by her female peers. The Amanda Conner story was cute with fantastic art, you just have to ignore any sense of continuity. The Louise Simonson story was sadly a throwaway and really didn’t fit in this volume at all. It wasn’t bad by any means, it was just kind of a generic team-up with Superman. The Johns/Kolins piece was cryptic and kind of a set up, but sort of jaunty and basically just let you know that the Straczynski run may or may not be an alternate reality. It was interesting to read because it echoed a lot of people’s thoughts on the last page, commenting that the world undervalues her and this needs to change (screw you Megan Fox).

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Action Comics #890- Now this here, this is good comics. When they first announced this book the writer was supposed to be Guggenheim, who honestly does absolutely nothing for me. Then they announced the change over to Paul Cornell, who totally won me over with his Captain Britain series at Marvel. Dracula has a base on the Moon and a giant cannon that fires vampires at Earth? Sold. So Cornell turning Action Comics into a series about Lex Luthor on a quest to hunt down the power rings from Blackest Night? Drawn by Pete Woods? Guest-starring the likes of Mr. Mind, Deathstroke, and Gorilla Grodd. Yes please, may I have another? A+

 

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