The People’s Publisher

Another week of Between The Staples Best Bang for comics that came out on March 5th! Scalped #15, The Twelve #3, Buffy #12 and Terry Moore’s Echo #1 are the best books for the week! Since Cable #1 was worse than Countdown (gawds knows how that is possible), I am using Nathan’s head for ranking, as always from Best to Worst.

Echo #1 (Abstract Studio) Terry Moore’s new book hit the shelves and I have to say that I just loved this issue. From the wonderful foil cover to the clean, crisp B & W inside art. Great quick story which has the reader right there with the main character as she’s all covered in some strange debris from some failed military experiment. I really look forward to future issues!

The Twelve #3 of 12 (Marvel) JMS & Chris Weston are making one of the sleeper hits of 2008! The story continues about these 1940’s heroes who are awoken to the modern day Marvel Universe and trying to fit in, catch up and continue on in their lives. Very very enjoyable!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #12 (Dark Horse) Wolfs at the Gate kicks off a new story arc with writer Drew Goddard (”Cloverfield”). If you have not read the spoilers, yes, Buffy sleeps with another slayer while Andrew returns with Willow and Zander asks Renee out on a date but the main point of the entire book was the loss of the Scythe Scythe. Best part was Zander going to see his “Master” again. Extremely enjoyable issue!

Scalped #15 (Vertigo) This title just gets better and better from issue to issue. Strong solid storytelling which reminds me that you can do good crime stories as comic books. Criminal, 100 Bullets and Scalped are prime examples of that. In this issue, Bad Horse continues to deal with the death of his mother while Red Crow starts to wonder who killed Gina. Very powerful book! Vertigo is looking strong again with the likes of DMZ, The Un-Men, Young Liars & Scalped!

The Boys #16 (Dynamite) On thing that this title does from time to time is remind you that its telling you a story and not all about sex, drugs, messed up super heroes and sex. This is one of those issues which helps build the romance between Hughie and Annie but the focal point of the entire book is between The Female and The Frenchman. A very well written issue.

Green Lantern #28 (DC) The Alpha Lanterns come to full swing as Laira of Sector 112 goes on trial and the birth of the Red Lantern(s) begins here! The whole Lantern storylines has to be one of DC’s strongest stories right now, I hope they keep up the momentum and not let it fail for Final Crisis!

David Lapham’s Young Liars #1 (Vertigo) This book comes at you at a thousand miles an hour like the cover suggests and does not stop. Hard paced crazy fun is one of the many different point of views I love from a Vertigo book. Come at me hard, Come at me fast and keep it up. I got a new Vertigo addiction now!

Narcopolis #2 (Avatar) From the studio that brings you zombies and Warren Ellis books galore finally comes a great futuristic comic done right! Jamie Delano & artist Jeremy Rock put together a wild spin on a very futuristic tale of some of the last surviving people of earth. Catch up with all the wild lingo and messed up morals of citizan Gray and shitbirds. Ah suck!

Pax Romana #2 of 4 (Image) Jonathan Hickman just gets better and better with each issue he puts out these days. This is a stunning collage of words, graphics, art and story. Well crafted and has enough that I am rereading and rereading again and again. I love the design of every page. This to me if one of the futures of the industry, this type of design for a comic.

Star Wars: Legacy Vol. 2: Shards TPB (Dark Horse) I have fallen in love with the Star Wars Legacy series and this latest trade helps me catch up. Very good read with most of the book begins focused on Emperor Fell and Dark Krayt then catches up with Cade Skywalker.

Detective Comics #842 (DC) The armor from Talia is the main point of the story. Will is corrupt or taint Batman? Why did she give it to the Dark Knight? Interesting issue and I hope it bleeds into more of the Batman cannon than this single issue.

Justice League: The New Frontier Special #1 (DC) I think I wanted too much out of this book. I LOVED the recent DVD “Justice League: The New Frontier“ but I did feel that the Special was a little lackluster in comparison. It was good and fun but I expected much more. Still enjoyable.

Punisher War Journal #17 (Marvel) Or should I call it Marvel Villain Team-up? Second issue that Matt Fraction has given us readers more insight to the crazy Marvel Villain world with Punisher always showing up and blowing someone away. I don’t know but if this keeps up, I might drop the book till the story comes back to the Punisher and his wacky crew & supporting characters.

The New Dynamix #1 (Wildstorm) I know I was saying I was not going to be picking up any more WildStorm books at the beginging of the year but man, the artwork in this book blew me away and got me addicted plus the story was entertaining. In the new Wildstorm universe, where are the heroes? Well some are just about to come back and hit the streets! Check it out!

Justice League Unlimited #43 (DC) I just cannot let go of the cartoon so I am glad that it still continues in this monthly book. This week it is The Blue & The Gold. Booster Gold and Blue Beetle try to break into the super hero biz. Enjoyable but I did not like Blue Beetle being the one who wanted to impress the Justice League, quite out of character to the DCU version.

Uncanny X-Men #496 (Marvel) The Divided We Stand (or Countdown to Uncanny #500 when we put the X-Men together… again but this time…) storyline crawls along. You got Logan, Kurt and Peter in Russia being all mopey dopey, Scott & Emma going to San Fran to trip out where Warren has lost himself in a lapsed out mental escape. The book was so-so. Nothing special other than Wolvie talking about missing The Blob and hints at the old pub fights with Juggernaut. Otherwise nothing much happens.

X-Force #2 (Marvel) More killing. More X-23. More Wolvie wishing he wasn’t a leader. More fricken Emo and grim. More bullshit really, the book is going no where pretty fast and if Rahne was drugged with heroin and walks away without an addiction, you know its a poor story!

X-Men vs Apocalypse: The Twelve TPB (Marvel) Remember in the 90’s when the X-Men began to suck? Wolverine was Death for Apocalypse, Caliban was turned into another version of a mutant Hulk (one of many, take a number) and Jean Grey was running around in the old green Phoenix costume? Yeah, me neither so I picked this up and then smacked myself on the head. I could’ve bought a V-8 instead but wait… there is good from this. Yes its shit poor writing and artwork that makes you wonder what they were smoking but some themes make sense. You see it has SKRULLS impresonating the X-Men and Wolverine. THIS IS WHY this book was released. I think to add fuel to the bullshit fire that the current Wolvie is a Skrull and help pimp out Secret Invasion through such sutle releases. Either or, nice work with bad comics!

Cable #1 (Marvel) Cable & Baby in the future. Fight off post apocalyptic bad guys then head to a dinner where everything seems normal. *yawn* Maybe Countdown will be better than this book this week?

Countdown to Final Crisis #8 (DC) Monitor & Darkseid scream at one another. Each thinking that they are smarter than the other. They show off. Next.

Secret Invasion Saga (Marvel) Even though this was a free comic, Marvel still should have paid me to read it. If you have no idea about the Skrulls, I guess it is education propaganda.

Missed: Casanova #12, The Highwaymen (TP), & Hazed OGN.

Next Week: Annihilation: Conquest #5 of 6, The Astounding Wolf-Man #5, Fantastic Four #555, DMZ Volume 4: Friendly Fire TPB, Gotham Underground #6, Green Arrow/Black Canary #6, Green Lantern Corps #22, The Last Defenders #1, Salvation Run #5, Nova #11, Nova #11, New Avengers #39, Mighty Avengers #10, Serenity: Better Days #1 just to name a few. Big week!