Comics! Comics! Comics!

Forthcoming Titles

A round up of some of the future releases to get excited about.

First up some Marvel titles, and big things are in the works from J. Michael Straczynski at Marvel with three new titles on the horizon -

Silver Surfer: Requiem teams him with artist Esad Ribic and is due out early next year. From the title, this sounds like a future tale featuring the end of the galactic beach bum.
Anticipation factor 7

Bullet Points is an alternate history limited series that follows the repercussions of two deaths during WWII, Peter Parker will become The Hulk, Steve Rodgers Iron Man and Reed Richards the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Art on this one is by Tommy Lee Edwards. Due later this year.
Anticipation factor 8

Ultimate Power will see Straczynski’s Squadron Supreme crossover to the Ultimate universe. This will be a nine issue series featuring three writers, Brian Michael Bendis, J.M.S. and Jeph Leob, with each doing three issues. Ultimate FF’s Greg Land gets to do the pretty pictures on this one. With the possibility that not all the heroes will return to their respective worlds this could have major repercussions on the regular titles. The first issue is due to ship late this month.
Anticipation factor 9

newuniversal is the rebirth of Marvel’s less than successful New Universe from the 80′s. Obviously hoping for similar success to the Ultimate universe phenomenon Marvel have put two top creators on the book. Warren Ellis is one of the biggest names in comics with the ability to turn his hand to any kind of story. Just check out Fell if you don’t believe me (in fact, check it out even if you do.) With the first eight pages of Salvador Larroca’s art available at Marvel.com for those who want a sneak peak it’s fair to say this one is going to look awesome. Due before the end of the year.
Anticipation factor 10

White Tiger is being written by hot children’s fantasy writer Tamara Pierce who specialises in strong female characters. She’s joined by French artist Phil Briones on pencils and David Mack will provide painted covers. Due November.
Anticipation factor 7

Criminal is Ed Brubaker’s new series for Marvel’s Icon imprint. Described as a comic that non-comic readers can enjoy this teams Brubaker (Captain America, Daredevil) with the artist he worked with on Sleeper, Sean Philips (Marvel Zombies ) for tales of robbery, murder and more. Due in October.
Anticipation factor 7

Ultimates Vol’s 3 & 4 from Jeph Loeb, have a lot to live up to following in the footsteps of Mark Millar and Brian Hitch. Leob is far more a traditional superhero scribe so this should see some move away from the more overtly political work of Millar but I’m not sure that’s a good thing. At least the art from Joe Madureira (3) and Ed McGunness (4) should be good. No dates yet.
Anticipation factor 7

Wolverine is also going to have his destiny controlled by Jeph Loeb at least for six issues from 50-55. The story arc will see the return of Sabertooth and Loeb has promised to clear up some of the mystery surrounding the two characters relationship. Simone Bianchi will be the artist and both creators may stay on beyond the initial six issues. Issue 50 is due in January.
Anticipation factor 6

The Mighty Avengers will be a sister title to The New Avengers from the same writer, the prolific Mr Bendis, but with a different team that will be born from the current Civil War series. The only news of who will be in the team has come from series artist Frank Cho, who’s hinted that Wonder Man will make a return. The title is expected to debut in early 2007
Anticipation factor 8

Fantastic Four: The End tells the tale of the superteam’s final days and is both written and illustrated by Alan Davis. Needless to say Doctor Doom will make an appearance. Due in Novenber.
Anticipation factor 7

Wisdom is a spin off from New Excalibur and features the exploits of Pete Wisdom and MI 13. With a story by Doctor Who’s Paul Cornell this is definitely one to get excited about. Trevor Hairsine will be drawing homicidal fairies and more British set weirdness. Coming in November.
Anticipation factor 8

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born will see Peter David writing the scripts from Stephen King’s plot with superstar Jae Lee on art duties. This is the first of several planned mini-series. Expect this around February.
Anticipation factor 9

Wonder Man gets a limited series from the prolific Peter David and Andrew Currie. This sounds like it will be much lighter in tone than Simon Williams current appearance in Frontline and there will be guest appearances from Ms Marvel and Beast. Due December.
Anticipation factor 7

Iron Fist receives his own title that will take him back to his roots. Matt Fraction and David Aja reveal the secret history of the character. Released November.
Anticipation factor 8

New Avengers: Illuminati is a five issue series that will explore how the secret cabal has affected the history of the Marvel universe. New Avengers Brian Michael Bendis works with artist Jim Cheung on this one and we can no doubt expect some shocking revelations.
Anticipation factor 8

Stan Lee Meets… is a series of one off titles celebrating Mr Lee’s 65 years with Marvel. He’ll be ‘meeting’ Spider-Man, The Thing, Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange and Silver Surfer. Each title will contain three tales, an original Lee story with big name artists Oliver Coipel, Lee Weeks, Salvador Larroca, Alan Davis and Mike Wieringo lined up to illustrate them, a classic Lee story and the third will be a new story from top creators paying tribute to the man who started it all. The first (Spider-Man) is out now.
Anticipation factor 7

Not much from DC has me waiting with bated breath with only Frank Miller’s Holy Terror, Batman! really piquing my interest. Touted by Miller as a piece of propaganda in much the same way as the comics of WWII, it pits Batman against Osama and Al Qaeda after a terrorist attack on Gotham. This will be nothing if not controversial when (or should that be if?) it sees the light of day.
Anticipation factor 7

Horror has a new home or at least several horror icons do and it’s Wildstorm.

A Nightmare on Elm Street starts the ball rolling in October from Chuck Dixon and Kevin West .
Anticipation factor 6

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is up next with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning with the severed limbs rendered by Wesley Craig.
Anticipation factor 6

Friday the 13th kicks off the new year in gory style thanks to Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and an as yet unnamed artist.
Anticipation factor 6

Wildstorm are also relaunching a number of titles under the new Worldstorm brand starting in September.

The Authority by Grant Morrison and Gene Ha
Anticipation factor 6

Deathblow from Brian Azzarello and Carlos D’Anda.
Anticipation factor 6

Gen13 – Gail (The All New Atom ) Simone and Talent (hopefully not in name only) Caldwell.
Anticipation factor 5

Stormwatch – Christos Gage and Doug Mahnke.
Anticipation factor 6

Wildcats from Grant Morrison and Wildstorm top man Jim Lee.
Anticipation factor 7

Also on the horizon is a solo title for Midnighter, the ‘gay Batman’ from The Authority to be written by Garth Ennis with art by Chris Sprouse and Karl Story. Ennis has gone on record as saying there will be no guest appearances, particularly from Apollo (if Midnighter’s the gay Batman then he’s the gay Superman), Midnighter’s other half, describing him as a ‘boring blond twat.’
Anticipation factor 6

As everyone knows zombies are cool but after Marvel Zombies they’re also hot. There are several zombie titles due to be unearthed soon.

War of the Undead by Bryan Johnson and Walt Flanagan will be a three issue series from IDW. From the title it sounds like it may be similarly themed to the film Underworld but with zombies in place of werewolves but that’s pure speculation on my part.
Anticipation factor 6

Zombies: Eclipse of the Undead should be out in November again from IDW. El Torres is the writer and he’s paired with artist Yair Herrera .
Anticipation factor 6

Zombies vs. Robots could be fun or it could be nuts. Or both. The third of IDW’s zombie titles this one is due in October from Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood.
Anticipation factor 6

Zombie is Marvel’s attempt to jump on the bandwagon it created. There’s no relation between this and Marvel Zombies (although a sequel to that series is promised) with this being more of a traditional zombie tale. Coming from the MAX imprint this should be a pretty violent tale from Mike Raicht and Kyle Hotz.The first issue is on the racks now.
Anticipation factor 7

Zombee is a new Image title that sounds like zombies vs. Samurai and is set in feudal Japan. It’s a 96 page black and white one-shot by Miles Gunter and Victor Santos and is out in October.
Anticipation factor 8

Drain, with a female ninja vampire as the lead character, comes from Image by way of C.B. Cebulski and Sana Takeda in November.
Anticipation factor 7

As a long-time Edgar Rice Burroughs fan I’m eagerly awaiting IDW’s A Princess of Mars from the creative team of Dan Taylor and Ted McKeever. McKeever is certainly a leftfield choice for the art but it will definitly have a unique look. Hopefully this will get enough readers to warrant more adaptations of the Mars series of novels.
Anticipation factor 7

Vangard Productions are releasing a couple of calendars for 2007 that will get older (veteran?) comic fans (like me!) excited, one from comic titan Steranko (he used to have Jim in front of it but like Madonna he’s now so famous he now only needs one name) and the other from the equally awesome Neil Adams. One for work and one for home perhaps?

This Months Reading

The All New Atom 2 & 3
John Byrne’s art looks the best it has for years, perhaps because he’s concentrating on that and leaving the story to someone else. Gail Simone is that someone else and does a fair job, creating a superhero tale with 50′s SF undertones that go beyond the obvious (The Incredible Shrinking Man ) to encompass an alien invasion plot as well. I’m not sure the quotes from famous scientists every couple of pages works though. The series also features some lovely painted covers by Ariel Olivetti.

The Amazing Spider-Man 533 & 534
Heavily tied to Marvel’s current multi-part Civil War series these issues feature the aftermath of Peter Parker revealing to the world he’s Spider-Man. Spidey is currently pro the government Superhero Registration Act that requires all superheroes to register but if there is one hero I’m expecting to switch sides before the war is over it’s him. These two issues culminate in a terrific confrontation between Spider-Man and Captain America, and it’s clear Peter isn’t happy about having to fight the living legend. Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski has been writing this title for several years now and has a perfect grasp of all the main characters. Sadly, Ron Garney’s artwork is a disappointment, not up to the standard set by previous J.M.S. collaborators notably John Romita Jr. and Mike Deodato Jr.

Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis 43
Given a change of direction after the recent DC ‘Crisis’ series this title now seems, pardon the pun, to be treading water. Kurt Busiek either has no idea where he’s going with the new Arthur Curry/Aquaman or if he does he’s in no hurry to get there. Thankfully Butch Guice’s art makes up for the meandering story. It looks incredible due in no small part to the living legend that is inker Tony DeZuniga.

Black Panther 18
Not a title I usually pick up, not since John Romita Jr’s departure after the first story arc anyway, but it’s a Civil War crossover title so I took the plunge. It’s T’Challa’s wedding day and his bride to be is non other than the X-Men’s Storm. Hollywood writer/director Reginald Hudlin presents us with one of the most uneventful Marvel weddings ever. The cover shows Iron Man and Captain America, the leaders of the opposing sides in the current war, but they only appear for a couple of pages and are there purely as a marketing ploy to get Civil War readers to buy the book and in my case at least, it worked. Scot Eaton’s pencils are competent but uninspired even with the help of another legendary inker, this time Klaus Janson.

Blood of the Demon 16 & 17
The final two issues of this series manage to tie up all the loose ends even if it does feel somewhat rushed. And rushed is a good word to describe John Byrne’s pencils, it looks like he wanted to be done with it and concentrate on The All New Atom instead. Will Pfeifer’s script from Byrne’s plot feels dated; it’s almost like an 80′s comic book with added blood and gore.

Cable & Deadpool 30 & 31
Another Civil War crossover but this one is a lot of fun as Deadpool signs up with the government to track down outlaw heroes and finds himself in over his head. Fabian Nicieza’s writing makes the most of Deadpool’s humour and it’s nice to read a comic that doesn’t take itself too seriously for a change. Staz Johnson is another one of Marvel’s average artists, more than capable of telling a tale but lacking that certain something.

City of Heroes 14
The problem with this series is it’s just too simple, there’s no expanding of the characters from the NCSoft RPG game, no fleshing them out into believable people. It’s just superhero fights bad guy month after month and it’s getting boring. David Wohl needs to come up with a new direction or I doubt this will continue much longer. Ronan Cliquet’s pencils seem ok but it looks like they’re being inked using a marker pen, there’s almost no detail.

Civil War 3
Who says politics and mainstream comics shouldn’t mix? It’s nice to see a major company like Marvel doing something that resonates with the world outside. There are elements of Bush’s ‘war on terror’ here particularly the Homeland Security Act and it’s come under fire from some quarters for it’s perceived anti-government stance. Politicians are portrayed as self-serving individuals with their own agenda and the main hero on the government’s side (Iron Man) is much the same, while the super patriotic Captain America leads the anti-registration heroes, so in some ways you can see their point. Yet if you look at it from another perspective, I think you see a different message. All the hyper-intelligent superheroes (Mr Fantastic, Yellowjacket, Iron Man) are on the government’s side, all those who fight more from a gut level sense of right and wrong (Daredevil, Captain America) are against the Act. Looked at this way it can be seen as a battle between America’s heart and it’s head and the shocking climax to this issue could tip the balance either way. Mark Millar knows how to write BIG superhero action (he did it on The Ultimates ) while not losing site of the human element. In a world filled with average comic artists Steve McNiven is a breath of fresh air, his incredibly detailed work is breathtaking.

Daughters of the Dragon 6
The final issue of this mini series is a non-stop actionfest but still with the series trademark tongue-in-cheek sense of fun. Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmotti have done a good enough job on this to get a well-deserved regular series (Heroes for Hire .) Khari Evans art is hyper-stylised and fits the book’s retro kung-fu/blacksploitation action extremely well.

Eternals 2 & 3
Two of comicdoms heavy hitters, Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr. take a stab at updating the old Jack Kirby cosmic heroes. Set on the fringes of the Superhero Registration Act with the Eternals living as normal humans, having no memory of who they really are and what powers they possess. With issue three, the series really starts to hit it’s stride as we learn of a rebel Celestial (the beings who manipulated life on earth and created the Eternals) buried deep in the earth. Gaiman seems to be enjoying himself playing with Marvel’s toys (Iron Man makes a guest appearance) and handles the biblical allusions (the rebel Celestial clearly represents Satan) expertly. I’ve watched John Romita Jr. grow as an artist from his early days on Iron Man through his work on Spider-Man and Daredevil, discovering his own unique style along the way. His work is now instantly recognisable, something few artists can claim these days. He’s one of the artists whose name on a book will get me to buy it and his work here is up to his usual high standard.

The Exterminators 7 & 8
This series about the employees of the pest extermination company Bug Bee Gone started out great but after the initial six issue story arc (now collected as The Exterminators: Bug Brothers ) it seems to have lost it’s way. There is far too much time spent on the main character’s love life and not enough on the gross but blackly comic exploits of the freaky workers. Issue eight lacks even the pleasure of Tony Moore’s wonderful pencils with fill in artist Chris Samnee not in the same league.

Fantastic Four 539
J.M. Straczynski now has control of another of Marvel’s biggest titles and what’s he doing with it? Pulling the team apart. Well it’s not all his fault, most of the blame falls to the government and the Superhero Registration Act. Reed Richards is on one side, his wife Sue on the other with Ben Grimm in the middle while Johnny Storm lies in a coma. This issue we see a couple of vintage FF villains, The Puppet Master and The Thinker, try and take advantage of the war going on between the heroes. The art is almost as good as Straczynski’s witty script thanks to sterling work from Mike McKone.

Fell 6
One of the best (and cheapest) books around at the moment. Warren Ellis turns his hand to a spot of crime writing and graces us with Detective Fell and his exploits in Snowtown, a place that’s like the worst neighbourhood in the worst city you can imagine. Only worse. Each issue tells a separate self-contained tale usually drawn from real life events. Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night ) captures the seediness of the place brilliantly, to such an extent that you feel like you need a shower after reading. ~

Frontline 4 & 5
A spin-off limited series from Civil War that features three stories. The first parallels two journalists from different newspapers each with a different take on the war. Story two shows what happened to Speedball after the disaster that led to the new goverment Act. The tale that most alludes to the ‘war on terror’ is “Sleeper Cell” with a hidden agent of the Sub Mariner being activated. The art on all three tales is up to scratch and Paul Jenkins gives you just enough of each story to keep you hooked. The last few pages each issue illustrate how the civil war parallels events in real world history, here we get Vietnam and the American Civil War. Some of these work, some don’t, but as they only run to five pages it’s no big deal when they don’t.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 10 & 11
Comic writer extraordinaire Peter David gives us a futuristic Green Goblin (10) and the return of Mysterio (11.) David’s gift for snappy dialogue is on display, particularly in the scene where Peter meets with the school principle to resign as teacher due to the publicity his un-masking has generated. On the art front, Mike Wieringo does a passable job and at least does a good Aunt May, far better than Ron Garney’s version in Amazing where she looks the same as she did in the 70′s.

Heroes for Hire 1
After the Daughters of the Dragon limited series I had high hopes for this but it’s turned out to be a major letdown. Perhaps it’s because of the tie-in with Civil War or it could be the increased cast. Whatever it is the sparkle has gone. It’s also annoying that Iron Fist has been replaced with Shang-Chi with hardly any explanation why. Marvel have other plans for the slipper wearing kung-fu superhero (see the forthcoming titles section above). Billy Tucci is the new artist and his work is ok if a little cluttered at times. Another veteran inker makes an appearance – Tom Palmer has always been a favourite of mine and he does a good job with what he has to work with.

The Incredible Hulk 78-85
I’m currently working my way through a backlog of this title in the hopes of getting up to date before issue one hundred. These were all written by Peter David who, for me, is the best Hulk writer since Stan ‘The Man’ Lee. This is his second run on the title but sadly this time he only stayed for a year or so. Lee Weeks does the art for 78-81, the “Tempest Fugit” storyline and does a stonking job also providing the covers. I particularly liked the Frazetta inspired 81. Jae Lee does some truly atmospheric work for David’s lovely ghost story set in London in issue 82. And 83-85 feature a bald Hulk for the “House of M” as depicted by Jorge Lucas.

The New Avengers 20-22
Issue 20 is the conclusion to the storyline that returns Magneto to earth by Brian Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr. Deodato provides some good old fashioned epic superhero battles. 21 and 22 sees the Civil War storyline reach The Avengers; each issue spotlights a different character. First up Bendis takes us inside the head of Cap, a man torn by what he believes is right and what his government wants. Comic old boy Howard Chaykin is on art duties and does a great job on the action scenes but doesn’t seem to know what to do when the characters aren’t beating hell out of each other. I’ve never really been a Luke Cage fan but with issue 22 Mr Bendis has won me over. Luke is another man torn this time by what he believes in and the safety of his family (Luke’s a dad now in case you didn’t know.) The dark brooding work of Leinil Yu is perfect for the dark brooding Cage. Next issue Spider-Woman!

Finally a quick word about a few new titles I’ve picked up but only had a quick flick through so far.

Mystery in Space has Jim Starlin doing what he does best – epic outer space adventure and newcomer Shane Davis’ art had me drooling (that’s probably why the store made me buy it.)

Rush City 2 looked so good I picked up the first issue as well, just hope the story matches the art.

Wetworks by Mike Carey and series creator Whilce Portacio starts the Worldstorm ball rolling so that should be interesting.

Union Jack gets his own limited series after a successful guest spot in Captain America. With the team of Christios Gage and Mike Perkins promising to carry on where Cap left off taking the hero away from hunting vampires to the more real threat of terrorists.

Blade is a new ongoing series featuring the vampire slayer. With the TV series currently airing this is the perfect time for a new Blade series and with a first issue that will feature both Dracula and a vampire Spider-Man this could be hot. Marc Guggenheim teams with artist Howard Chaykin and the first issue features a breathtaking cover from Marko Djurdjevic.

Finally Samurai Detective combines samurai action with a hard boiled detective story and being a bit of a nut for samurai action I couldn’t resist particularly as the lead character reminds me of Edward G. Robinson. Edward G. the samurai, how could I resist. Sorry, I’m drooling again.