The next issue of Previews goes online later
today. I’ve sifted through the solicitations text for
Marvel and DC and picked out those that interest me.
I’ll check the digital version and see if there are
interesting items from other producers, as well.
DC Comics
- ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER #6 – The
Frank Miller
series continues. - NIGHTWING #121 – Dick Grayson and Jason Todd
together. - BATMAN CHRONICLES VOL. 2 TP – This was tempting.
It’s a low-cost
full colour reprint of Batman comics in chronological
order.
Tempting, but given that it’s been more than a year
since the first
collection, I’m not sure how worthwhile they are to
collect, given
that they take more than a year to release less than a
year’s worth of
comics. - SUPERMAN RETURNS: KRYPTON TO EARTH – The “Superman
Returns” issues
are meant to fill in the gaps between Superman
II and
Superman Returns. Yes, Singer, Dougherty and
Harris have
decided to make a sequel to the films involving
Richard Donner and
ignore the others. Rumour has it that, contrary to
the solicitations
text, John Byrne has chosen to leave this project, as
the project that
was given to him to draw wasn’t the project he thought
they were
making. (He was told it was part one of a four issue
adaptation of
the original movie.) - SUPERMAN RETURNS: MA KENT – The second of
four - SUPERMAN RETURNS: LEX LUTHOR – The third of
four - SUPERMAN RETURNS: LOIS LANE – The fourth of
four - SUPERMAN #653 and ACTION COMICS #840 – Parts 7 and
8 of the Geoff
Johns and Kurt Busiek collaboration. - SUPERMAN/BATMAN #27 – A resolicitation of the
first Mark Verheiden
issue. - SUPERMAN/BATMAN VOL. 4: VENGEANCE HC – Collects
issues 20-25.
Note that the final Loeb / McGuinness issue, #26,
which is a tribute
to Loeb’s son with a phenomenal list of creators, will
not be included
here. Pick that one up when it comes out, which
should be April 19. - SUPERMAN: INFINITE CRISIS TP – Putting together
some of the
“behind the scenes” stuff for Infinite Crisis. - SUPERMAN/DOOMSDAY OMNIBUS – Why collect these now?
Is Doomsday
coming back, perchance? - SUPERGIRL #8 – A resolicit. If you’ve ordered it,
you’ll have to
order it again. - 52: WEEKS 5-8 – The year long weekly series
continues. I respect
the project’s ambition, but that’s a lot to budget
for. (It’s like
adding four and a half new titles to my pull
list.) - DCU: BRAVE NEW WORLD – A $1.00 80 page preview of
many new series
launching after Infinite Crisis. - THE FLASH: FASTEST MAN ALIVE #1 – The
post-Infinite Crisis
relaunch of the character, created by the creators of
the TV series.
I’ll wait for reviews, and maybe pick up the
TPBs. - GREEN LANTERN #13 – Continuing the “Revenge of the
Green Lanterns”
story that includes the cyborg Superman and the
Manhunters. - GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1 – Now officially an
ongoing, this issue
takes place a year after the miniseries. - JUSTICE #6 – Pictures by Alex Ross are guaranteed
to be pretty. - ION #3 – The twelve issue miniseries
continues. - ABSOLUTE KINGDOM COME HC – Sounds fancy.
- SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE ELONGATED MAN VOL. 1 TP –
These early
appearances are all from The Flash and
Detective
Comics. - WONDER WOMAN: MISSION’S END TP – Collecting the
end of her
previous series. - WONDER WOMAN #1 – The new ongoing, with words by
Allan Heinberg
and pictures by the Dodsons. It’s a promising
creative team; I’m more
likely to get this than The Flash. - MEGATOKYO VOL. 4 – More from the webcomic.
Marvel Comics
- ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #96 – The second and final
part of the Mobius
vs. Blade story. - ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #31 – Doom is back.
- ULTIMATES 2 #12 – Millar and Hitch go out with a
bang, as Hitch
draws every hero in the Ultimate Universe as they fit
to win back the
US. It’s a double sized finale. (When Ultimates
3 launches,
it’ll have Jeph Loeb on scripts and Joe Madureira on
pencils.) - ULTIMATE X-MEN #71 – Kirkman wraps up his take on
the Phoenix story. - ULTIMATE WOLVERINE VS. HULK DIRECTOR’S CUT – A
fancy version of
the two issues already out. They’re good issues; you
should consider
this if you don’t already have them. - FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #9 – A Hobgoblin
from the future
is back. - SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #27 – It’s the end of the
“Feral” storyline. - ANNIHILATION – The “Part 3 of 4” issues of the
various
Annihilation miniseries (Nova, Ronin, Silver Surfer,
and Super-Skrull)
are all out this month. - ALL-NEW OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL
UNIVERSE A TO Z #6 – It’s a 12 issue series running
throughout the year. - BLACK PANTHER #17 – Getting ready for the
Storm/T’Challa wedding. - CAPTAIN AMERICA #19 – This was Wizard’s pick as
the best book of
2005. This is the start of a new story arc, so it may
be a good place
to jump on. - ETERNALS #1 (OF 6) – A revamp of the Kirby series
with writing by
Neil Gaiman and pencils by John Romita Jr. I’ll
probably check out
the TPB version. I’m hesitant to pick this up from
the start after
the way the last
revamp turned out. Mind you, Neil Gaiman and John
Romita Jr. have
done a lot more to earn my trust than Chuck Austen and
Kev
Walker. - ETERNALS SKETCHBOOK – A “behind the scenes”
companion to the main
series. - DAREDEVIL #86 – I’m itching to read the issues I
have so far, but
I’m waiting until I get the TPB of “The Murdock
Papers” next week. - GIANT-SIZE HULK #1 – This includes Planet Hulk
material, and a
reprint of Incredible Hulk: The End, which
was probably the
best entry in Marvel’s The End line so far.
If you missed it
then, get it now. - MOON KNIGHT #3 – Marvel released preview pages to
issue 1 which
I’ve had some trouble posting. I’ll keep trying to
get them up, but
I’m really impressed by them. Finch’s art looks
great, and it’s
giving a pretty serious tone to the character while
still including
some humour. - NEW AVENGERS #20 – Note that issue 21 is also out
this month, but
it’s listed with all of the other Civil War
material. Issue
20 is all about facing Genosha. - RUNAWAYS #17 – Is there even any point to telling
you that I’m
behind in the reviews of this series, too? I don’t
think I’m caught
up on anything. - SHE-HULK #9 – This has some rather amusing
solicitations text.
Here it is: “Read SHE-HULK #8 yet? Bet you didn’t see
THAT coming,
didja? Wild, huh? Spiraling out of the end of last
issue’s CIVIL WAR
crossover, She-Hulk’s life will NEVER be the same
again! Sure, OTHER
books SAY that all the time. But when have WE ever
said it over in the
SHE-HULK book? Really. Trust us, WE’RE good for it.
So… After She-Hulk and SPOILER went and SPOILERED,
it’s time to
deal with the fall out! And that leads to a SPOILER
with SPOILER!!!
Miss this one, and you’ll be kicking yourself in the
CENSORED for
months! ” - SQUADRON SUPREME #4 – I can’t wait to see this
come back next week. - YOUNG AVENGERS #12 – Once this run is finished,
the book will go
on hiatus. There will be a Civil War: Runaways /
Young
Avengers crossover series, and then a Young
Avengers 2
relaunch next year. - CIVIL WAR #2 (OF 7) – This is Marvel’s big summer
event. - CIVIL WAR: FRONT LINE #1 & 2 (OF 10) – This sounds
like what I wanted
The Pulse to be. I’ll be on board for 32 ad
free pages twice
a month. - AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #533 – The Civil War
tie-in. - FANTASTIC FOUR #538 – Civil War tie-in.
- NEW AVENGERS #21 – The Civil War tie-in, titled
“New Avengers:
Disassembled!” We’ll see how the team puts itself
together after
Civil War. - THUNDERBOLTS #103 – Gotta love cover art that
shows Iron Man
shaking hands with Baron Zemo. - X-FACTOR #8 – Quicksilver is back.
- WOLVERINE #43 – The last of this month’s Civil War
tie-ins. - MARVEL WESTERNS: THE TWO-GUN KID – Written by Dan
Slott, so it’s
worth consideration. - EXILES #82 and 83 – Issue 82 wraps up the World
Tour, and issue 83
wraps up Tony Bedard’s run before Claremont takes
over. - ASTONISHING X-MEN #15 – The Hellfire Club goes
public. - UNCANNY X-MEN #474 – Claremont’s run is coming to
a close. Again. - UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #1 – More wedding
preparations. - X-MEN: THE END – MEN AND X-MEN #6 (of 6) – This
long series (which
is also behind on reviews) comes to a close. - ETERNALS BY JACK KIRBY HC – All 19 issues plus the
annual from the
original series. - CHAMPIONS CLASSIC VOL. 1 TPB – Collects issues
1-11. - ANTASTIC FOUR BY J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI VOL. 1 TPB
– Another
overdue review. I’ve got to finish reviewing the Mark
Waid run, first. - SUPREME POWER: NIGHTHAWK TPB – This series needs a
review, but
it’ll be a positive one. Much better than the Doc
Spectrum series,
this one is as good as the parent title. - ESSENTIAL SAVAGE SHE-HULK VOL. 1 TPB – This was
the John Buscema
series. - ESSENTIAL FANTASTIC FOUR VOL. 5 TPB – This runs
just past the end
of the Lee/Kirby run on the title. I’ll be passing on
it, since I
have the “44 Years of the Fantastic Four”
DVD-ROM.
Dark Horse
- PENNY ARCADE VOL. 2 LEGENDS MAGIC SWORD TPB – The first volume was highly entertaining, particularly with the commentary portions.
Image Comics
- LIBERTY MEADOWS VOL. 1 AND 2 – This enjoyable comic strip is being reprinted.
JMS Fantastic Four
Would it be reasonable to just jump in and pick up the JMS FF TPB, without knowing the story leading up to it? Or is it too much a part of a larger story?
Re: JMS Fantastic Four
It doesn’t depend upon the Mark Waid run. It could even be the first set of Fantastic Four you read, as it recaps their origins, as well. This solicitation is for the paperback edition, but the hardcover is already available.