The Weekly Crisis vs. Solicits for April 2013

It's kind of hard to believe that we're already at the tail end of the first month of 2013.  Time certainly flies, eh?  While you're pondering that temporal speed, may we suggest you check out the Weekly Crisis solicitation picks for the comic books April?  At this rate, we'll be hitting that month in no time, and it's always a good idea to go into these things prepared, so give the other side of the cut a look to see some of the best, worst, and coolest things coming at you in three months time.

Ryan's Thoughts

Best Things In April

Joe Hill's Terrifyingly Tragic Treasury Edition

A 72 page one-shot containing the Kodiak one-shot, the original The Cape one-shot, the Frederic Wertham Goes To Hell short, and the Locke & Key 'Open The Moon' short. Yeah, this thing from Joe Hill and Jason Ciaramella is full of awesome. You possibly missed these the first time around so don't make the same mistake again.

The Massive #1 for $1

One of the best books pumping out each month right now. Brian Wood delivering heart and structure amidst beautiful art. Get into this, then the trade, then jump on the floppies if you know what's good for you.

Coolest Things In April

TMNT Villain Microseries: Krang #1

A crazy Krang one-shot sonuds rad, right? Now imagine it brought to you by Joshua Williamson and Mike Henderson, the guys behind the amazing Masks & Mobsters on ComiXology via Monkeybrain Comics. Now imagine you buying this on sight because it's going to be rad.

Francesco Francavilla on Hawkeye

This could be amazing. Probably will be.

Yellow Daredevil

Is that the Yellow Daredevil costume I'm scoping in the cover to #25? If so, rad.

X #0

In DHP right now, Duane Swierczynski is writing a brutal X story in parts. But if you don't want to buy the expensive anthology for just this tale then wait for April where you can get the shorts collected as a one-shot. Well worth your time.

Ken's Thoughts

Best Things in April

Frazer Irving NOW!

Irving is a fantastic artist, and to see him get a shot on the flagship X-Men book will sure be a sight to see. No slight to Bachalo, but the idea of a revolutionary mutant squad that other heroes, let alone the world might fear and hate, just connects a lot more with Irving's realistic, painted style. Even with his arc on Batman & Robin the guy seems to be under the radar, hopefully this is an optic blast of notoriety that hits all across the industry.

SOLO Hardcover

SOLO is one of the best experimental books in the past twenty years, letting creators just go crazy with DC characters however they see fit. It didn't set the world on fire when it was released, but it's always gotten strong praise. Hopefully the hardcover makes enough waves to warrant another chance at the format, or at the very least Marvel should steal the idea.

Worst Things in April

Dark Avengers Cancelled?

The solicit for issue #189 sure makes it seem like this is the last issue. The book had been sputtering back when it was Thunderbolts and all the time jumping, but the new lineup seemed worth a shot. Too bad they only got one arc before the lights got turned out.

WTF DC?

When you have to resort to labeling your issues as being WTF certified, I think there's something wrong with your publishing plan. It's basically shock moments across every issue for a month, but the key thing that makes a shock moment a shock moment is not knowing it's going to happen. When every issue promises something, it will either look out of place or not live up to the hype. Just tell good stories, DC.

Coolest Things in April

Walt Simonson Smash!

I've always liked Simonson's art, and his recent work still had that dynamic style even if it was more subdued because of the nature of Bendis' scripts, but now on Indestructible Hulk we can hopefully see some more more smashy smashy like his old Thor and X-Factor runs. And I think it's no coincidence that Simonson's story deals with Asgard...

Jupiter's Legacy, Today

It's ambitious, a reuniting of Millar and Quitley on a book that plans to show how later generations of heroes might not be doing it altruistically. A little bit of Kingdom Come, through the lens of Quitley, that should be something to see. Hopefully it actually has something resembling a schedule.

Grant's Thoughts

Best Things in April

Faith Erin Hicks On A Monthly Comic?!

I don't think I've talked about her before here at TWC, but I really like Faith Erin Hicks.  I first discovered her through her brilliant story of Wolverine buying eggs from the supermarket (which is even better than you imagine), and that soon led me to her equally wonderful webcomics, Superhero Girl, which tells the story of a young superhero who doesn't do all that much superheroing.  Both of those projects were pretty big on the levity, which appears to be the opposite of what we'll be getting in The Last of Us: American Dreams.     It's apparently a comic book prequel to Naughty Dog's new video game, The Last of Us, which is a post-apocalyptic survival-horror game.  That doesn't really jive with what I've seen from Hicks, but I do know she's a talented creator, so if her name is attached, I'll be there to check it out.

Still Reprinting Secret Identity

I regaled you all in our last solicits column with how amazing Kurt Buisek and Stuart Immonen's Secret Identity is, but while the reprint of that amazing tale was listed in the March solicits, it isn't actually coming out until April 3rd.  Therefore, it's totally still fair game for me to talk about it again, which I will, because it's so amazing.  This is probably the best Superman story you'll find (with the possible exception of All-Star Superman, of course).  Set in a real world where Superman is a comic book character and nothing more, a young man from small town Kansas who was named Clark Kent by his parents will discover there's more to that story than he once believed.  Seriously, if you haven't read it, go out and buy this reprint when it drops.  You won't regret it.

Worst Things in April

Seriously, WTF?

I'm just straight up continuing Ken's qualms about DC's WTF month, because it's so flummoxing.  There's so much that I dislike about this gimmick that I don't even know where to begin.  Firstly, it follows the "let's spoil the contents of the very comic book you're about to read on the cover" school of thought, a practice which galls me to no end.  Secondly, having 52 major reveals in one month is pretty much the definition of dilution as far as I can tell.  I can't imagine how any of these will stand up when something "extraordinary is happening in every single title.  And thirdly, word goes that many of these covers were made without the book's creative team's input, sometimes even after some books had been scripted.  The whole thing strikes me as a rather creatively bankrupt way to simply shoehorn ideas into books without rhyme or reason - that latter aspect particular so.  I guess that's why this is a gimmick and not a good idea.

Additional Bullets Need Not Apply

Looking at solicitations as often as I do for Previews and these columns, I can't help but be annoyed by how little effort some companies put into their solicits.  I'm thinking especially about the Big 2, who have seem to be continually going from bad to worse.  Once upon a time I was quite annoyed by Marvel and DC's switchover to doing all of their solicits in bullet point.  Today, I am incensed that DC has seen fit to eliminate all but one bullet per title.  That's right, each and every one of DC's main books gets a single bullet to explain what's happening and sell a reader on why they should be buying the title.  Call me old fashioned, but why should we care about any of these if the company itself doesn't think their titles are worth talking about for longer than one sentence?

Coolest Things in April

X-Men Without Those Pesky Men

I really like the X-Men.  My reading habits may not reflect this fact, but I was all upons the mid-90s cartoon show and have had a soft spot for the franchise ever since that point.  Unfortunately, Marvel seems to have a habit of marketing the heck out of this corner of their universe, making it hard (if not impossible) to keep up with continuity.  They also have a habit of slapping $3.99 price tags on those books - and we all know how I feel about that.  However, X-Men just may be the book that forces my hand on that policy.  It's got Brian Wood writing, Olivier Coipel on art, and it stars a team of all female X-Men.  I don't know about you, but that sounds like something I want to check out, and it certainly looks like I'll be doing so come April.

Time For A Journey Into Mystery?

I jumped in and out of Kieron Gillen's amazing run with Kid Loki on Journey Into Mystery, but I haven't given more than a glance towards Kathryn Immonen and Matteo Scalera's time with the title.  That being said, I have been hearing a lot of positive buzz about the title, and the description for this month's comic sounds like a lot of fun: it's got monsters in the lower kitchens of Asgardia, Sif, Thor, the Warriors Three, and pretty much anything else you could want from the Thor corner of the Marvel U.  I guess the other exciting part about this is that it looks like a solicitation might actually get me to pick up a book I wouldn't have read otherwise, which seems to never happen.  I guess there's a first time for everything, eh?

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