Comics and More

In wake of Siege , Marvel pushes the reboot button, throwing out the Superhero Registration Act and giving their heroes room to breathe in a sunnier, more united world.  And of course a new, fresh start means relaunched books, new creative teams and new directions.  The past few weeks have seen a couple of new Avengers books launch, as well a reboot of Thunderbolts , and the resurrection of fan-favorite Agents of Atlas , all of which I'll speak briefly about. The Avengers #1 Brian Michael Bendis & John Romita Jr. Steve Rogers assembles a new team of Avengers, including Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Wolverine and Hawkeye, with a slew of other superheroes waiting in the wings of this new flagship title.  And in charge of them all?  Maria Hill.  I'm pretty excited about that.  I loved having her in charge of SHIELD - she made for a great, unique dynamic - and I'm sure Bendis has some plans for her here as well.  Romita'...

Here is the book you should be paying attention to at the local comic shop on Wednesday... Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D. HC (w/motion comic DVD) - My favorite superhero comic of last year is collected at last.  All seven issues of the short-lived book by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev under one cover (including the motion comic that was its undoing as Maleez got burnt out redrawing the same issue several times for the project).  Any fans of Bendis'  Alias should check this book out featuring Jessica Drew tracking down skrulls for S.W.O.R.D., set to Maleev's beautiful gritty artwork. Other Noteworthy Releases 7 Psychopaths #1 Best American Comics Criticism SC The Complete Little Orphan Annie (Volume 5): 1935-1937 HC The Search For Smilin' Ed GN Secret Avengers #1 Sense & Sensibility #1 (of 5) Thanos Imperative: Ignition #1 Thunderbolts #144 Wednesday Comics HC

Stepping On Roses (Volume 1) Rinko Ueda New from Viz is this shojo manga from Rinko Ueda, featuring a girl in a fairy tale dream, lifted up from the starving poor class to live with a rich, handsome man in the elite class...too bad Sumi Kitamura is more miserable than ever now.  Before she was plucked from the streets and offered riches beyond her wildest imagination, Sumi lived with her brother who, on top of a gambling problem, brought home orphans for Ruki to raise, even though they hardly had enough between them to eat properly.  On top of that, they have loans coming out of their ears and their landlady is threatening to throw them out if they don't pay their rent immediately.  But Sumi loves her family and will go to any length to help them survive, which is why she met the man of her dreams, a handsome gentleman who gave her money to help pay for medicine for a sick little girl, when she was lying in the street crying out for help.  It's also...

Jamie S. Rich, Nicolas Hitori De & Joelle Jones I'm a fan of the whole teen witch subgenre...when it's done well.  This is not.  Spell Checkers has three high school girls as the protagonists, girls who have used magic to bring about their popularity and make things much easier for themselves (using clones to go to gym class for them, glamour bubbles that let them talk together during class, spells to help them ace exams, etc.)  They really take their powers for granted, as is demonstrated by how helpless they are when their powers begin to zonk out on them.  Their classmates retaliate and the girls turn on each other viciously, accusing one another for causing the drain on their magical powers.  Unfortunately, these witches have absolutely no redeeming qualities.  They're just horrible, crass girls, and this made me indifferent to whether they got out of their situation or not.  Plus, beyond the generic "this girl is the goth gir...

Here is the book you should be paying attention to in comic shops tomorrow... Weathercraft HC - This new Fantagraphics book by cartoonist Jim Woodring is actually his first full-length graphic novel, and features his Frank character.  It clocks in at just over 100 pages, featuring beautiful art from a master. Other Noteworthy Releases Age of Heroes #1 (of 4) Atlas #1 Avengers #1 Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune: The Complete Sunday Newspaper Strips (Volume 1) HC Codename Knockout (Volume 1): The Devil You Say TP - Random much? Galacta: Daughter of Galactus #1 I'll Give It My All...Tomorrow (Volume 1) Saturn Apartments (Volume 1) Zatanna #1

Black Blizzard GN Yoshihiro Tatsumi A Drifting Life was a big celebrated release last year, an autobiography from Tatsumi that focused on his budding career as a manga artist and his role in the gekiga movement.  A few collections have been released from Drawn & Quarterly collecting short works by the creator, but Black Blizzard is a different animal.  This is the book that really cinched Tatsumi's spot as a major new talent at the beginning of his career.  Highly influenced by cinema and his idol Osamu Tezuka, you can see such influences throughout this graphic novel.  It's very cinematic, with a great noir edge, following two fugitives that escape a derailed train handcuffed to one another.  It's all very dramatic and tense, with loads of action and suspense, as well as a few surprises to keep readers guessing.  The artwork is often rough, but always clear, with words and objects breaking out of the panels, usually during a tense...

Diligently wading through the phone book that is Previews Catalogue so you don't have to...here are ten choice books shipping to comic shops in July that I think may get overlooked or that I'm just plain excited about... 1. The Wild Kingdom HC - A graphic novel by acclaimed cartoonist Kevin Huizenga featuring his beloved character Glenn Ganges. 2. Scott Pilgrim (Volume 6): Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour TP - Just in time for the movie featuring Michael Cera, the final installment of Scott Pilgrim comes out, Bryan Lee O'Malley's hipster video-game, pop-culture influenced series featuring Scott as he battles his new girlfriend's evil ex-boyfriends. 3. Avengers: The Children's Crusade #1 (of 9) - A new nine issue mini-series featuring the Young Avengers on a quest to track down the Scarlet Witch, from Young Avengers series creators Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung.     4. X-Files/30 Days of Night #1 (of 6)  - This is a great idea, meshing up these two p...

Here is the book you should be paying attention to at the local comic shop tomorrow... Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne #1 (of 6) - This is the first issue in a new mini-series featuring Bruce Wayne during different time periods, leading up to his return to the present day DC Universe.  Batman and Robin writer Grant Morrison is at the helm of this one, so it's sure to be high quality stuff, with a variety of artists involved (Chris Sprouse is on the first issue). Other Noteworthy Releases Birds of Prey #1 Invincible Gene Colan HC My Girlfriend's a Geek (Volume 1) New Avengers Finale Prince of Power #1 (of 4) Underground TP

Twin Spica (Volume 1) Kou Yaginuma This new manga series was just launched from Vertical , the publisher responsible for bringing some key Osamu Tezuka titles to print ( Buddha , Black Jack , Ode To Kirihito ), as well as works by Keiko Takemiya.  Kou Yaginuma's Twin Spica fits nicely among such company.  There's an old-fashioned feel to this book, from its soft cartoony art to the gentle tone of the story and the wide-eyed innocence of its protagonist Asumi.  As I was reading it, it just felt like I was reading a classic.  Twin Spica is about a girl who wants to be enrolled in the Tokyo Space School, where she would be trained to go on missions to the stars.  She has kind of a mixed relationship with the space program, as a rocket crashed in the middle of a town when Asumi was a baby, and her mother was killed in the accident, along with the crew and many bystanders.  And she has some sort of a friendship with an invisible friend...

Sean McKeever & Emma Rios Firestar is a one-shot that came out from Marvel a few weeks ago. I had trouble tracking it down locally, so I had to order it on-line, and once I had it, I'd read Nomad: Girl Without a World by writer Sean McKeever already, which hadn't really met my expectations, so I wasn't too excited to read  Firestar any longer.  I'm really glad I did though.  It doesn't have that same Marvel Adventures all-ages feel to it that Nomad  and other books from McKeever like Sentinel has that make me feel like it's being dumbed down a bit for the audience (not all all-ages books feel like that, mind you.  His just feel...scrubbed clean, too forced into a G rating or something).  In Firestar #1 , McKeever makes Angelica Jones a real three-dimensional character instead of the broad characterization that he usually grafts to rather flat protagonists.  He works with some pretty intense, complicated issues with a subtlety...

I'm actually reading three books by this creator that I haven't really talked about, so I figured I may as well address them all at the same time. Secret Warriors #1-15 Jonathan Hickman, Brian Michael Bendis & Stefano Caselli I've been following this series for awhile.  It spun out of Secret Invasion and is pretty much a Nick Fury series with a team of young unknown heroes he's grooming.  To be honest, I was a little back and forth on this series early in its run, and stopped picking it up at one point, only to realize that I was genuinely interested in what had been going on, so I picked it up again.  The character stuff in this title is not very interesting, if I'm being honest.  Sure, Hickman does a few cool things with the characters and there's some good relationships in the book, but for the most part, I'm a little bored by the broad characterization.  I think that's the main reason I dropped the title the first time.  Bu...

Chris Roberson & Michael Allred I, Zombie is a new ongoing title that just debuted through DC's Vertigo line.  The first issue is actually offered at a special introductory price of $1, assuming they will make a profit after selling subsequent issues at regular cover price.  Well, they've probably managed to hook many readers willing to pay full price, and they've certainly hooked me, because this first issue is awesome.  I was initially drawn to this title because Michael Allred is the artist, and I love his clean, cartoony art.  He's at his best here, with beautiful panels and fluid storytelling.  I especially like the fashion of his characters, all wearing interesting clothing that suits each person, and writer Chris Roberson really provides some great characters for this title, including the main character herself, Gwen Dylan, who is the hot zombie in question.  Once a month, in order to stop from becoming a senseless wandering zombie, she ...

Here is the book you should be paying attention to at the local comic shop tomorrow... Krazy & Ignatz: 1916-1918 TP - Going back to the very beginning of George Herriman's Krazy Kat , this collects the first three years worth of  Krazy Kat  Sunday pages.  Originally, Fantagraphics began publishing works well into the run because another company had already published the first nine years worth of the strip.  Now Fantagraphics goes back to the beginning, where three volumes will collect three years each to round out the early years of the strip, bringing them all back into print. Other Noteworthy Releases Brightest Day #1 Dong Xoai, Vietnam 1965 HC Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale HC I, Zombie #1 John Carpenter of Mars: The Jesse Marsh Years HC The Killer: Modus Vivendi #1 (of 6) Stuff of Legend TP Super F*ckers TP Twin Spica (Volume 1)

Flower In a Storm (Volume 1) Shigeyoshi Takagi The first of  Flower In a Storm 's two volumes introduces readers to Riko Kunimi, a normal high school girl (or so she'd like you to think).  She has superhuman abilities that make her feel really self-conscious, especially since she was rejected by a boy when she played a boys' sport well.  Since that devastating rejection, she has wanted nothing more than to be normal and fit in.  But she's unable to do just that when powerful, rich teen Ran Tachibana enters her classroom, waving a gun and demanding that she be his bride.  She tries to outrun the overzealous admirerer, who comes at her with armies of ninja and helicopters, and manages to evade him for a time, but he turns up at the most unexpected times.  And soon he actually displays genuine affection for this girl who wants nothing to do with him, doing outrageously romantic things to woo her (which she hates, since it brings extra attention her way...

Various I was never a huge fan of Fraggle Rock growing up.  I would catch it on TV here and there, but I never made a point to watch it, so I can't speak for the hardcore fans of the show here.  But as a comic, this worked really well.  Overall, this is a great package, in the same square format as Archaia's Mouse Guard series, another all-ages book.  The stories are very lively and engaging, and quite colorful, which is very important in a book like this.  I don't think it would be half as appealing without all of the different colored fraggles bouncing around.  Overall, I think the creators did a great job of getting the Fraggle Rock vibe across in this debut issue.  The first story, from Heather White, Jeff Stokely and Lizzy John, is "A Throne of my Own" and perfectly introduces (and reintroduces) the world to readers.  Over the twenty beautiful pages, we get to know the fraggles' world, including "The Beast" in "Outer Space" (a do...

Sean McKeever & David Baldeon I was a little thrown by this book, to be honest.  I've read other works from Sean McKeever before, such as Sentinel , so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that it had such an all-ages feel to it, but somehow the title and circumstances around the lead character made me think it would be more of a dark, serious story.  But while it does tackle some grim issues, Nomad: Girl Without a World remains a pretty colorful superhero title that would sit well among the books in Marvel's Marvel Adventures kids line.  But I'm not complaining - it's kind of refreshing actually.  I mean, more superhero books should be aimed at younger readers instead of catering to long-time fans.  I just expected a different experience going in than what I got. This book is about Rikki Barnes, who was the present-day sidekick to Steve Rogers, Captain America, as Bucky.  In her world, that is (she was transported here during the On...

Here's the book that you should be paying attention to at the local comic shop tomorrow... Wilson GN - An all-new full-length graphic novel from master cartoonist Daniel Clowes!!  The few reviews I've seen have been pretty glowing, and I'm sure from the quality of his past works that this is going to be one of the best graphic novels of the year. Other Noteworthy Releases Abandoned Cars SC City of Spies GN Fraggle Rock #1 (of 4) Fruits Basket: Banquet GN Little Lulu Giant Size (Volume 1) TP Super Spy: Lost Dossiers GN

Cactus's Secret (Volume 1) Nana Haruta Cactus's Secret is a new shojo manga release from Viz, who have turned out a lot of great manga over the years.  Unfortunately, this title isn't one of their strongest.  Cactus's Secret follows a girl named Miku who has a secret.  It's not the most original secret - hardly anything about this book is original - she merely has a crush on one of her classmates, a gorgeous, but clueless boy Kyohei, whom she has the luck of sitting next to in class (even when the seats get rearranged, it seems that destiny favors her).  And Kyohei seems to genuinely like her, which is why she eventually summons up the courage to confess her secret to him, but Kyohei is pretty dense, and her hints and confessions are misinterpretted at every turn, frustrating Miku to the point where she lashes out at him.  Which is when she gets called a cactus by Kyohei, because she's acting "prickly" toward him.  Actually, he calls her a "c...

Nathan Edmondson & Brett Weldele The Light is a new mini-series from Image Comics that just saw its first issue sell out at the distributor, but is still available in some comic shops.  It's not surprising that it sold out really, as it has quite a neat little horror hook.  Anybody who looks at light, be it a light bulb, computer screen, television or whatever, suddenly burns up from the inside out.  So in a small town, Coyle tries to keep his daughter safe from the threat that is killing his friends and neighbors, by avoiding looking at anything illuminating.  But it's kind of hard to avoid actually seeing something until it's too late, so the characters are basically blind as they fumble in their quest to find safety.  It's a really cool idea, one I'm not sure where the creators are going with, with any number of social commentaries they could be pulling out of the premise of man vs. technology.  Brett Weldele ( The Surrog...

Marjorie Liu & Daniel Acuna With Black Widow debuting on the big screen in a few weeks in Iron Man 2 (played by Scarlet Johansson), Marvel has wisely launched a new on-going series starring the red-headed ex-Russian-spy Avenger Natasha Romanoff.  There have been a few mini-series as of late, including Black Widow: Deadly Origin (Paul Cornell & Tom Raney) and Black Widow & the Marvel Girls (Paul Tobin & Salva Espin), both of which were disappointments, so I was preparing myself to be disappointed once again with this new series debut, but it seems that the third time really is the charm for Black Widow.  In case you're unfamiliar with Black Widow's elaborate history, there's a nice recap at the back of this issue to get new readers up to speed, including anything readers may have missed in the recent Black Widow: Deadly Origin .  I'm personally a little surprised that Marvel hasn't done more to highlight Greg Rucka's work on Black Widow, sinc...