These are my (overdue) picks for January comics. I
won’t be buying all of these, but anything that struck
me as being of interest was listed anyway.
DC Comics
- ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER #4: The
Frank Miller
series continues. - YEAR ONE: BATMAN/RA’S AL GHUL TP: Originally
released to tie in
with Batman Begins. This is the TPB
collection. - BATMAN: HUSH RETURNS TP: This is the sequel to the
recent
Hush storylin. - SUPERMAN CHRONICLES VOL. 1 TP: This is the first
collection of
stories that will publish every Superman story ever
published in
chronological order. Very tempting. - INFINITE CRISIS #4: The latest “event” story
continues. -
DAY OF VENGEANCE: INFINITE CRISIS SPECIAL: This is a
48 page one shot. - THE FLASH: ROGUE WAR TP: This was written by Geoff
Johns, who has
been writing so much for DC lately. - GOLDEN AGE FLASH ARCHIVES VOL. 2 HC: This is the
stuff from 1941.
If you can afford it, go for it. - GREEN LANTERN #8: Geoff Johns and Carlos Pacheco
continue their run. - GREEN LANTERN CORPS: RECHARGE #5: Dave Gibbons and
Geoff Johns are
writing this miniseries. There will be six issues in
the end, and the
first two weren’t bad. - SHOWCASE PRESENTS: GREEN ARROW VOL. 1 TP: The
Silver Age edition
is also collected. - DC UNIVERSE: THE STORIES OF ALAN MOORE TP: This is
a wide variety
of material written by Moore for DC. - JLA: CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE TP: Geoff Johns and
Allan Heinberg wrote
this one, which fits between Identity Crisis and
Infinite Crisis.
Marvel Comics
- Ultimate Extinction #1 (of 5): Kicks of the third
part of the
Ultimate Galactus storyline. Maybe Galactus will
actually be in this
one. - Ultimate Fantastic Four / X-Men: The second part
of the story
begun in Ultimate X-Men / Fantastic Four in
December. - Ultimate Spider-Man #89: The Silver Sable
storyline continues. - Ultimate X-Men #66: Robert Kirkman is writing
this, the first of
three parts in the “Date Night” storyline. - Ultimates 2 #10: Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch
continue the run. - Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man #4 / Marvel
Knights Spider-Man
#22 / Amazing Spider-Man #528: This three part
storyline is back to
having each title’s writer writing just that issue.
It’s about time.
Had they kicked off FNSM with just Peter David doing
his thing, I’ve
have probably picked it up, but I’ll pass on this
mega-crossover
stuff, and probably won’t get issue 5. - Spider-Man / Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #6
(of 6): It’s
actually happening. The final issue has actually been
solicited, and
might actually be out some time soon. - Daredevil #81: The final issue of the
Bendis/Maleev run. It’s
been good so far. - Marvel Knights 4 #26: The second Fantastic Four
title continues. - All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A
to Z #1: This
is the first in a 12 month series that will cover the
entire Marvel
Universe. I wonder how out of date issue #1 will be
when issue #12
sees print… - Fantastic Four #534: The Hulk guest stars as JMS
continues his run. - Nextwave #1 (of 12): This has an unappealing
solicitation text,
but with Warren Ellis writing and Stuart Immonen on
pencils, it could
be alright. - New Avengers #15: This still has Bendis on
writing, but will have
Frank Cho on pencils. - Pulse #13: Bendis recently announced on his
bulletin board that
his last issue on the title will be #14. There’s
still no word on who
will follow him, if anyone. I loved the first story
arc, which was
actually about reporters in the Marvel Universe, along
the lines of
the original pitch. Since then, it’s been a book
about Jessica Jones,
the advisor to the group. It’s not bad, but it’s not
the concept I
signed up for. If someone else were to take over and
bring it back to
that concept, I’d be quite excited. - Astonishing X-Men Saga: A 48 page summary of 12
issues of
Astonishing X-Men. It could be interesting,
but I’d rather
just get the 12 issues. - Exiles #75 and 76: The World Tour takes them to
the Marvel 2099
universe that hasn’t been seen in so long. - Mythos: X-Men: Written by Paul Jenkins and painted
by Paolo
Rivera, this is the first in a series of
one-shots. - Uncanny X-Men #468: This is another tie-in to the
“House of M” via
the “Decimation” fallout. - X-Men: The End – Men and X-Men #1: This series is
finally coming
to a close. I left the second book for the TPB
format. I bought it,
but haven’t read it yet. - Supreme Power: Hyperion #5 (of 5): I’ve enjoyed
the first two
issues. This could continue to be quite good. - Supreme Power: Nighthawk #5 (of 6): Again, the
first two issues
are quite enjoyable. - Essential Godzilla TPB: There’s no mention in the
solicitation,
but rumour has it that Marvel only managed to
renegotiate the license
for a single printing, so you might want to strongly
consider this
one. - Essential Avengers Vol 5: I’m on board for this
one for sure. - Essential Handbook to the Marvel Universe Vol. 1:
Collects issues
1-15 of Mark Gruenwald’s original run.
don’t touch the batman year one TPB’s
both the Ras Al Ghul and Scarecrow stories are *horrible*. from the “this straw only grows in one part of the country! and only for one year!” kind of detective work to the sadly hamfisted eco-hand-wringing of Ras’ plot (I mean, I know he’s an eco-terrorist, but come on – that doesn’t mean you have to try and make the whole thing seem sympathetic. and badly, at that.)
just….just don’t.
Essential Godzilla
And Godzilla was such an essential part of the Marvel Universe, huh?