Great balance this week of exciting mainstream stuff, indie stuff and web stuff coming to press for the first time!
DC has a few more WTF covers trickling in this week. You know, their gatefold covers revealing crazy plot twists? Batwoman #19, Justice League #19 and Nightwing #19 should (hopefully) keep the ball rolling on controversy…I know Wonder Woman #19 is reaching for that goal itself. Her gatefold involves her fighting a well known character, but making out with that self-same character in the fold!
Kinda’ lame, I know. Superman and Batman get gatefolds revealing WHO they might be punching/getting punched by. Wonder Woman, being a woman, is defined by her sexuality.
Check out the cover to this week’s Captain Marvel! Captain Marvel’s off to fight crime on a cool flying jet-bike! Good job, Marvel!
SPEAKING OF WHICH
Last week I did a good deal of grousing about Age of Ultron, but this week Marvel is bringing us Age of Ultron #6 and Wolverine and the X-Men #27. Both of these books look like a whole heck of a lot of fun!
Both will feature time travel, where Cap and team go forward to kick Ultron’s can and Wolverine going back in time to kill Antman as a back-up plan. That’s right: Wolvie #27 will feature Logan travelling back to Silver Age Marvel to kick some pint-sized, lycra butt. THIS could be great. Wolverine and the X-Men has been one of the better X-books lately, and with fun, action packed issues like this it is easy to see why.
Also from Marvel, Superior Spider-Man #8 (ALWAYS and interesting read) and Cable and X-Force #7. Cable and Cyclops are going to have a little Father/Son chat, now that they’re both crazy fugitives and all. This should be nice and awkward.
POWER
Solicitations for DC claim they have a new He Man and the Masters of the Universe #1 , as well as a reprint of Paul Pope’s ultra-cool Batman Year 100. He-Man and Batman need to admit their feelings for each other (Mutual distrust and dislike) and finally get on with the big fight they’ve been putting off for years! Dissolve all this tension, you two, and punch each others faces in!
OOOH! Now I have to draw a Batman/He-Man Mash-up. Let’s see: Joker as Skeletor, Catwoman as Beastman, Killer Crock as Merman and whatnot. Jim Gordon as Man-At-Arms is a given, but would it be more fun to make Barbara be a Batgirl/Teela or Orko?
INDIES AND WEBS
Adventure Time #15 hits the stands just in time to lighten the comic shop mood, and Ghostbusters #3 continues a pretty good story, imho. IDW also has the collected Mars Attacks IDW TP. Absolutely a must for fans of weird, wild and wacky action.
MEANWHILE, Double Fine Action Comics Vol. 1 and 2 hit the shelves, bringing Scott C.’s incredible webcomic to the tangible shores of print! Scott C. is as funny as he is talented, a brilliant cartoonist whose simple doodles drip with warmth and detail.
I’m also VERY INTRIGUED by Top Shelf’s Crater XV HC. It is a collection of Kevin Cannon’s webcomic which he’s also been publishing in his anthology comic Double Barrel. It looks great, and at $19.99 it looks well worth the purchase.
Happy Comics, Kids! I’m off to draw the most bad-ass Penguin/Trap Jaw mash-up the internet has ever seen. If the whole dang’ tube system has gone all “Skynet” tomorrow, you’ll know why.
