The Weekly Crisis vs. Solicits for August 2010

It's time for speculation and fan-love to abound as we peek through the looking glass and into the far off future that will be August 2010. There's plenty of things that we each want to discuss, we don't necessarily list our buy list but simply discuss what we feel is comment worthy, for good or bad reasons. And it sure looks to be a big August because nearly the whole crew got together on this one, which is always nice.

Hit the jump to see what caught our collective eyes.

RYAN L's THOUGHTS

Shadowland Titles

It's official, Daredevil's little family event has completely blown out. But I'm not seeing this as a bad thing. There's a stack of ancillary minis and one-shots but some of them seem really decent. I know I'll be checking a fair few out, but there'll be plenty I'll ignore and that won't affect me. You buy what you want, completists be damned. There are seven issues shipping this month connected to Shadowland and I staunchly plan on buying 4 of them. I'll also be picking up the Daredevil: Black & White issue, so colour me happy. Having never done an event before, I now see what the fuss is about, but I also see how easily avoidable all the problems are. You read the solicits, work out what interests you, and decide from there. Anything important I miss I'll probably get in a review or on the Moments of the Week right here. I'll still figure out what happened, so it won't ruin my story, and if I don't own one section of the story then I'll be fine. But in saying that, this sounds like you could only read the Shadowland mini and you'd be fine, the others orbit but don't collide, they just leave pretty trails in the sky. Let's hope it stays that way.

Ultimate Comics Avengers 2 & 3

Ultimate Comics Avengers will ship the second issue of the second volume in the same month as the first issue of the third volume. Call me old fashioned, but I just don't get this. It's like releasing Captain America #609 at the same time as Captain America #615. Doesn't this ruin a bit of the suspense as we can see who lives, or doesn't, and so some energy is thus lost from the previous volume? Or are they all stand alone, no connection, no continuity? I didn't think so. Is Mark Millar planning on being so late that he figures he might as well start now before people forget all about this series? It'll probably wrap on time in 12 months anyway? I don't get this and I guess I don't have to, I won't be buying it. I figure this is the man who caused Wolverine to ship issue 73 before issue 72 so what do you expect?

New Avengers #3

Y'know, I almost might pick this title up for the cover and premise alone. A deep secret is seeded in the sordid histories and legacies of three characters; Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, and Wolverine. It's the team-up we've all been waiting for, or at least I have. This is a pretty good trio and you've got kooky-funny, kooky-weird, and kooky-rage-y all together in the one adventure. Just look at the slice of cover above, tell me that doesn't interest you. Well, maybe it doesn't but it does for me. I can't get my Iron Fist love anywhere else anymore so I'll take what I can get. You'll also notice Iron Fist on the cover of Daredevil, and apparently he makes a run in Avengers Academy this month. That's good news for Mr Rand, though I'll be happier when he gets his own black and white one-shot like these other lads have. Oh, and a return to his ongoing would also be tops, thanks.

Morning Glories #1

Man, this series has been getting some series press with teaser images and plenty of speculation. And, I'll admit, it does look good. Nick Spencer seems to have come out of nowhere and been given a handful of green lights to make projects happen, with the Existence books and Shuddertown. He's becoming one of Image's rising names and the company has certainly put themselves completely behind making Morning Glories another major hit. Getting teasers for characters in a series we've never heard of is a bold move, but Image seem to be full of bold moves right now. My only problem with this title, as it stands, is that I don't exactly know what it's about. We know there's some cool kids at a prep school but that's about as deep as my knowledge runs. I'd like to see a bit more before I commit, but I'm sure Image will give us plenty more before it hits the shelves.

RYAN S.'S THOUGHTS

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #1

Aside from Birds of Prey, this is definitely the most promising book to spin out of Brightest Day and one of the more intriguing solicitations I’ve read this year. Guy butting heads with Hal should be interesting and I can’t wait to see what is in store for Guy as he teams up with Atrocitus (especially after once being a Red Lantern himself). What I’m really interested in, though, is Kilowog and Arisia’s role in this series and how they will handle Guy’s highly questionable alliance and mission.

Superman: Last Family of Krypton #1

Finally! Ever since the Multiverse was brought back at the end of 52, I’ve been waiting for Elseworld’s stories to make a comeback. I’m also glad to see that DC made the wise choice of allowing other writers to explore these world’s rather than leaving it all up to Grant Morrison (as Dan Didio has mentioned numerous times on Newsarama). Plus it sounds like a really interesting story and seems like it will be allowed enough room to be explored fully (56 pages an issue for three issues). I look forward to checking this out in trade! On a side note, I'm a bit concerned with the fact that DC would allow the cover artist for this to so blatantly rip-off Alex Ross. What gives?

Shadowland Titles

I’ve never been a huge fan of Daredevil, but the premise behind this miniseries seems intriguing and the guest stars from the teaser images seem like a lot of fun. I could probably spare room for one extra book on my pull list this summer, so I was planning on checking this story out…before it ballooned. Between the recently revealed solicits for August and additional announcements, Shadowland now has nearly as many tie-in issues as Siege, including several spin-off miniseries and a slew of one-shots. If the conclusion of Siege taught me anything, its that you can’t trust Marvel to tell a complete story in the main miniseries of an event. Since I’m not willing to pick up 30 books for a single story starring a character I’m only marginally interested in, you can count me out.

MATT'S THOUGHTS

Avengers & The Infinity Gauntlet #1

Brian Clevinger of Atomic Robo fame is writing this, and really, that should be enough to get you to pay attention. Clevinger is one of the funniest and most clever authors, and I am sure this is going to be an awesome ride through one of the most infamous moments of Marvel history: Thanos killed half the universe! This looks to be one of those All Ages title, so it should be fun for the whole family, and it's $2.99 for 40 pages of comic. That's a pretty good deal in my opinion.

Secret Avengers #4

At first sign, the cover is incredibly awesome: Steve Rogers as a member of the Nova Corps (even if temporary)? F@&# YEAH! Reading the solicit makes me slightly worried however, as it says "The fate of one hero and the birth of another will be decided here", which is a pretty loaded statement coupled with the picture. Why would Steve Rogers pick up the Nova helmet, is it implying that Richard Rider is Nova No More? Or perhaps something far more sinister, such as Nova dying? Brubaker might have gotten death threats from the Tea Party because of that Captain America, but if he kills Richard Rider, one of my favorite characters, The Weekly Crisis will be declaring Holy War on his ass! Bru, if you are reading this, don't do it, OR ELSE!

Superman: Earth One HC

DC has been doing it for some time now, but in case you didn't know, they "Advance Solicit" their collections. What does that mean? It means that even though up there in the title it says "Solicitations for August 2010", this book won't actually come out until October 27th, a two full months later. I'm still not sure why they do this, I figure it's so they know fully ahead of time how approximately many copies they need to print? In any case, it seems like a bad policy, because it requires retailers to decide if their customers are going to buy something five months from now. It is especially disappointing to see it happen in what is going to be one of their higher profile books, and for the launch of their new Earth One series.

Superman: The Last Family of Krypton #1

Well, well, well, what do we have here? A previously thought extinct species makes a surprise comeback. Elseworlds are back, everybody! I wonder if this is a just one-time thing or if they plan to bring the concept back full time? There also seems to be a noticeable increase in the attempt to make Superman family popular again after years of losing readers and dwindling sales. It seems that DC is putting a lot of their talent and effort into the Superman titles, aside from the previously mentioned Earth One, there's also JMS taking over the Supes title and Paul Cornell taking over Action Comics, plus a collection of a Luthor mini series by the same team of the Joker HC (would have been great if they published both of those at the same time).

Wolverine: Weapon X #16

I have been waiting for Jason Aaron to write more of Nightcrawler, since he plays off his relationship with Logan really well. Of course, as everyone knows by now, Nightcrawler died during Second Coming, so this is a somewhat bittersweet moment for me. That being said, it mentions something that Kurt left in his will, asking Logan to do him a favor from beyond the grave. We also know that this is the final issue of the series, and that it will be relaunched as just "Wolverine", and that the first arc will involve Wolverine going to hell. Could Nightcrawler have asked him to do something with his soul, or perhaps with Mephisto?

ERIC'S THOUGHTS

American Vampire #6

In case you didn't' notice the fine print, American Vampire joined the $4/22pg. book club this month, along with Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors and Time Masters: Vanishing Point, among others. Honestly, this makes me want to just give up and stop picking up the few remaining Marvel and DC comics I'm currently getting. It's obvious that DC is charging $4 for this is because Steven King co-wrote a back up in the first five issues, same reason why the first collection is being released in a hardcover first. I get that the whole $4/22pg. comic books are seen as an inevitability by some people but that doesn't mean that they provide a decent price-to-content ratio. If the $4/22pg. comic is the inevitable baseline for Marvel and DC, and I'm going to end up dropping all of their comics eventually because of the price increase, then I feel like I should just do it now rather than later and use that extra money to try out comics from other companies and see if I can find some hidden gems, or just solid and enjoyable comics that I would have passed over otherwise.

Shadowland Titles

When it was announced that Andy Diggle was taking over Daredevil, I was definitely interested. I've enjoyed what little of his work that I've read and Daredevil was title that had pretty much done it's own thing for the past few years, ignoring and being ignored by the larger Marvel Universe, which was the kind of comic I've been looking for from Marvel or DC lately. Sadly, his first on the title was actually a Dark Reign one-shot which sent off some warning bells but I still kept an eye on the title to see if it would be worth checking out. That came to an end when Marvel announced Shadowland. Or, more specifically, when they kept announcing one ridiculous tie-in after another. A Daredevil centric event is kind of a stretch but the number of tie-ins is just absurd. Personally, I find the whole Daredevil and The Hand vs. the MU kind of silly to begin with as they wouldn't stand any kind of chance but add some of the bizarre guest-stars like Ghost Rider and I'm just no longer interested. I'd call this disappointing if I wasn't expecting something like this from the moment Diggle's Daredevil run began with a Dark Reign tie-in. That said, I do rather like Daredevil's new costume.

X-Force: Sex and Violence #2

Not sure why this isn't just titled X-Force: Violence or X-Force: Violence and Even More Violence because, and let's be honest here, there will be nothing in this comic that remotely resembles anything like sex. Nope, the only thing that will be found in here is the utterly juvenile let's have naked people but cover up everything in the most absurd manner possible. I honestly have no idea what Marvel is going for with this title other than trying to be "edgy" but coming off looking like a bunch of buffoons. It's really depressing that this 90s influenced mentality still has a solid foothold in any part of the comics industry.

CHRISTINE'S THOUGHTS

Everything Shadowland

While I wouldn't normally have any interest at all in reading Ghost Rider - the flaming skull isn't really doing it for me - I would be neglecting my responsibilities as a Daredevil fan and blogger if I didn't get everything connected to Shadowland. While the Ghost Rider one-shot isn't due until September, August is the month where we really see this event explode. The Shadowland mini-series I'm most looking forward to checking out are Shadowland: Blood on the Streets and Shadowland: The Daughters of the Shadow. Not only do they seem intriguing in their own right, knowing that current Daredevil co-writer Antony Johnston will be working on the former increases the chances of it being well in line with the main event, and Daughters of the Shadow also has a close natural link to the general Shadowland concept.

Daredevil: Black and White

Really, how can I not? This one-shot looks really intriguing, featuring three separate stand-alone stories written by Peter Milligan, Rick Spears and Ann Nocenti. This also gives Nocenti another chance to team up David Aja, as she did for Daredevil #500. Judging by the solicit, this issue seems to investigate Matt Murdock from every angle. With this much Daredevil-related stuff coming out in August, I'm starting to get a feel for what it must be like to be a Wolverine fan.

"Daredevil, the blind avenger of Hell's Kitchen faces a life changing decision when he is presented with the chance to see again. But at what cost will Matt regain his sight? Guest starring Bullseye! The Kingpin of crime, ever the Machiavellian mastermind, uses lawyer Matt Murdock's quest for justice against him in a deadly money-making scheme. And the Man Without Fear finds himself embroiled in a gang war in Japan."

Hawkeye & Mockingbird #3

This series starts in June and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm something of a Clint Barton fan (I have a soft spot for the low-powered guys) and I'm interested in seeing the couple dynamic between Clint and Bobbi. I'm hoping for something fun and sexy.

Amazing Spider-Man #640

No, I won't be picking this one up since I'm not looking to add ASM to my pull list, but I'm definitely looking forward to learning what Marvel is going to come up with to explain how the world forgot about Peter Parker being Spider-Man. ASM #640 marks the end of the One Moment in Time storyline and it's going to be fun to see how the Spidey fans react to it. Also, do note that this story arc will carry the acronym "OMIT." Did they do that on purpose? Who knows.

Conclusion

Those are the titles that caught our eyes the most, but not necessarily everything that we are going to purchase in August. What else should we check out? What are you most interested about for that month? Let us know in the comments section.

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