This is a huge week. I’ve been sick these past two weeks but I’m back in action now. Let’s roll.
Batman and the Outsiders #1
Chuck Dixon & Julian Lopez
This book has had, at different times, Judd Winick, Peter J. Tomasi, Tony Bedard and now Chuck Dixon attached on writing duties. So it’s gone through a little bit of a development hell. This seems to be the set direction, though, and it’s likely to read very much like Chuck Dixon’s previous Batman books, just with new characters. Although it should be fun to watch him (try to?) write lesbians in a loving relationship. He didn’t fuck it up too bad with Midnighter and Apollo.
JLA: Ultramarine Corps TPB
Grant Morrison & Various
FINALLY, the amazing first three issues of JLA Classified reprinted in trade form. This really should have been included with Seven Soldiers, as it’s a prelude to that story, but hey. It’s also got a pretty lame-sounding JLA/Wildcats crossover that I’ve never read, but hey, it’s Morrison, so it can’t be that bad.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier
Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill
This needs no introduction. Hope you live in the US.
Salvation Run #1
Bill Willingham & Sean Chen
Been wondering where the Suicide Squad were carting all those DCU villains off to? Wonder no more! In this 7-issue mini, reportedly based on a George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire) pitch, Lex Luthor, the Joker, the Rogues and every other villain anybody gives a shit about are stuck on famed Legion prison planet Takron Galtos. Basically, it’s the original Secret Wars minus the heroes, with a bit of Planet Hulk.
Captain Marvel #1
Brian Reed & Lee Weeks
In this Secret Invasion lead-in, we finally get some follow-up on January’s controversial Civil War: The Return oneshot that brought us the return of the original Captain Mar-Vell through Wolfman-inspired time fuckery. This has a very strong creative team attached, and a cool man-out-of-time premise, and its status as a miniseries holds out hope that this won’t fuck with the legacy of Mar-Vell’s seminal death story too much. Marvel is going for an interesting artistic approach here by using their usual “gritty” art stylists (Lee Weeks and ever-street-level inker Stefano Gaudiano) on a high-level cosmic book with bright Jason Keith colors. Looks very cool.
Thor #4
J. Michael Straczynski & Olivier Coipel
This issue: Thor stops the conflict in Darfur. What the hell is next? Curing cancer in #5 and using his hammer to reverse global warming in #6? Where is JMS going with this?
World War Hulk #5
Greg Pak & John Romita Jr.
The Hulk vs. Sentry slugfest we all knew was coming. Pak has done an excellent job with keeping this crossover walking the line between being too heady and too punchy, so I expect this to continue in the concluding chapter. Marvel is likely to clean up on this saleswise.
Scott Pilgrim Vol. 4
Bryan Lee O’Malley
This should need little introduction — you either like O’Malley’s videogame-culture-inspired indie geek romance or you don’t. For those in the former category, the rather lengthy wait for this fourth (and, according to O’Malley, longest) volume is over come this Wednesday.
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