This week I’ve got a trio of #1 issues, including the much-hyped and anticipated debut of Robert Kirkman and Todd McFarlane’s Haunt from Image, which promises to be one of the week’s most anticipated books. My sights, however, are set on the return of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’s Criminal, which kicks off its new Hellboy-esque release format of sporadic miniseries. Criminal is always a Must Read, so I can’t imagine this new series will be any different.
Hit the jump for my thoughts on these and the rest of this week’s releases!
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #608Written by Marc Guggenheim
Art by Marco Chechetto and Luke Ross
“WHO WAS BEN REILLY?” begins here! Bursting out of the pages of this year's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL, RAPTOR is back for revenge against the man he claims killed his family – BEN REILLY, the clone of Spider-Man! Unfortunately, the only person alive that fits Ben’s description is Peter Parker! As this super powered psycho with a thirst for vengeance targets Peter, his family and his friends, even Spider-Man might not be able to save the day this time!
Ryan: I remember reading the Clone Saga as a kid and enjoying it (What? I was a kid! What did I know?), but never read many of the Ben Reilly stories afterwards, so I come at this one from a bit of a disadvantage. I can’t say that I’m tremendously interested in it, but Marc Guggenheim has been the strongest writer in the Amazing Spider-Man Brain Trust, so I’m hoping that he’ll give me something to latch on it or this series could, once again, be upstaged by its Ultimate Comics counterpart.
BATMAN & ROBIN #5Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Philip Tan
Are two Dynamic Duos too much for one city? Batman and Robin find themselves at cross-purposes with Red Hood and Scarlet. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? And who will end up being the chosen protectors of Gotham City?
Ryan: Last issue seemed to heavily imply that the “new” Red Hood is Jason Todd, though some arguments have been made that it could be someone else entirely. I’m hoping that we get some more insight with this issue as the titular duo confronts Red Hood and Scarlet. I also hope that Grant Morrison goes back to his tighter scripting from the first three issues of this series rather than repeating his nonsense dialogue and unfocused storytelling from last issue.
Batman Annual #27Written by Fabian Nicieza
Art by Jim Calafiore
A murdered priest. A desecrated grave marker. A kidnapped child. A secret key. A mystery whose solution could upset the world order. For Batman and Robin to stop the rampage of a zealot named Amon, the Sixth Sinner, they first have to halt a deadlier foe intent on making sure Amon succeeds. To end the killer's mad scheme, Batman faces Azrael, Death's Dark Knight! “The Eighth Deadly Sin” continues in DETECTIVE COMICS ANNUAL #11 and sets the stage for this month’s premiere issue of the AZRAEL ongoing series
Ryan: As a habitual Batman completist and huge fan of Fabian Nicieza, I feel like I really have to pick this one up. However, I have no interest in Azrael, I’m not reading Detective Comics anymore so I’d miss the second part of this story, and the $4.99 price tag is a bit ridiculous. It may mean a hole in my collection, but there is a good chance I’m going to pass on this one. Plus, I grow weary any time an issue promises a mystery that “could upset the world order.”
CRIMINAL: SINNERS #1Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Sean Phillips
One of the most award-winning and acclaimed comics series of the last several years returns to the shelves this September with a perfect new jumping-on point for new readers--or those who’ve gotten hooked on Brubaker and Phillips hit series INCOGNITO and are craving more! CRIMINAL’s most popular character, TRACY LAWLESS returns in THE SINNERS. It’s been a year since Tracy was forced into working for the bad guys, and now made men are turning up dead all over the city, in what appears to be mob-style hits. But since criminals don’t go to the cops for justice...only Tracy can solve this crime.
Ryan: Finally, Criminal is back! Tracy Lawless is one of my favorite characters from the series, so I’m glad to see that he will be taking the spotlight as the series shifts into its new format—standalone but interconnected miniseries and one-shots, similar to how Mike Mignola’s Hellboy stories are released. This series has main focused on bad things happening to essentially good people, so it will be interesting to see the book change gears to Lawless’s investigation of bad things happening to bad people. If history is any indication, this will be the book to beat this week.
HAUNT #1Written by Robert Kirkman
Art by Greg Capullo, Ryan Ottley, and Todd McFarlane
McFARLANE & KIRKMAN’S HAUNT HAS ARRIVED! Daniel Kilgore is dragged into his estranged brother Kurt’s secret life of murder and espionage... by his ghost. With no training whatsoever, guided by the spirit of his secret-agent brother, Daniel must now solve his brother’s murder and save the world – or die trying! It all starts here, people: Witness the birth of HAUNT!
Ryan: This arguably the week’s biggest release, with hype building since the 2006 Comic Con International when Robert Kirkman called Todd McFarlane out for not creating comics anymore, leading to their eventual collaboration. Based upon the preview art and the solicitation, this series looks like it will be a nostalgic throwback to McFarlane’s Spawn-era work, which appears to have polarized a lot of fans and put some folks, like me, on the fence about picking it up. Of course, the book is likely to sell like hot-cakes based on the creative team, even though McFarlane is only inking overtop Ryan Ottley’s pencils, which are already being drawn on top of Greg Capullo’s layouts.
ULTIMATE COMICS: SPIDER-MAN #3Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by David Lafuente
The world of Spider-Man is turned upside down! Friends are enemies and enemies are friends!! Mysterio is on the loose and gunning for Spidey big time. And the Hulk is back!!!?? Plus--and this is a biggie--you'll never believe what iconic super hero is moving into Aunt May's house!!
Ryan: Despite my qualms about the unnecessarily high price tag for this series, I’ve absolutely been loving the breath of fresh air that is Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. I’m not terribly familiar with the Ultimate version of the Hulk, but his return should mean big things for this week’s issue and I can’t wait to see how it turns out. Although, I do admit that I’m a bit weary of the idea that his return isn’t the “biggie” of the issue, but instead Human Torch moving in with Peter and Aunt May is (it’s clear after the last two issues that he is the hero referred to in the solicits).
X-MEN VS. AGENTS OF ATLAS #1Written by Jeff Parker
Art by Carlo Pagulayan
It's a monster-sized throwdown as the Agents of Atlas go toe-to-toe with the Uncanny X-Men! Venus has been kidnapped and the Agents will scour the Earth to find her! The Uranian needs a bigger boost to enable his mind to scan the globe, and intel suggests the one machine that can help is CEREBRA - which brings the Agents of Atlas head to head with no less than THE X-MEN!"
Ryan: A battle between the always on-edge X-Men and the always quirky Agents of Atlas? This could be a lot of fun, though it makes me wonder why the Agents wouldn’t just ask to use Cerebra. Surely that would be a lot easier than breaking into the X-Men’s base and fighting it out, right? Of course, it also probably wouldn’t be as interesting. As a side note, although it isn’t listed in the solicits, Chris Samnee is doing art in the back-up for this series. How awesome is that?
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9 comments:
Criminal is out this week, bloody sweet. That'll get me out the door on Friday (Australian comic book day) now that Wednesday Comics isn't driving me every week without fail. If there isn't much out I'll sometimes wait until the next week to pick up two weeks in one, but Criminal is one you do not wait for.
I am eager to read your review on Haunt. This has been my most anticipated series of the year so I'm very psyched for it.
The early reviews of Haunt are very ugly. I think I'm steering clear of it.
I'm actually more interested in Haunt now because of the reviews are so ugly. I've found that a lot of reviewers love to trash anything that throws back to the 90s simply because of its nostalgia. This project, for that very reason, has had a target on its back since it was announced. I'm interested to see if the issue is actually that bad or if its just more unwarranted fanboy resentment towards McFarlane (which is never as bad as the resentment towards Liefield, though is still notable).
Is McFarlane just inking or is he co-scripting/plotting along with Kirkman? Because he is just inking, I really don't understand why people would have preconceptions about it (nor why his name is ahead of everyone else on the cover, haha)
I believe that he co-created the character with Kirkman and helped with plotting. As far as the art goes, though, he is only doing the covers and inking the interiors.
What I don't understand is why Ryan Ottley is even involved. If Capullo is doing the layouts and McFarlane is inking, it's going to look like a McFarlane book (Capullo has done layouts and art for McFarlane enough that he knows the style), so why they would use someone of Ottley's caliber is beyond me. How much of his work is even going to be noticable?
Haunt's cover alone is atrocious. Looks like he traced Spawn over an old Spider-Man cover.
While the IGN preview of the interior pages did not look atrocious, none of those pages showed Haunt in costume. Considering we already know what the costume looks like, why leave it out of the preview? The only answer that makes sense is because it will be butt-ugly in the interiors too.
Hope I'm wrong, but I'm not fool enough to plunk $4 down to find out.
I believe Haunt is a $2.99 comic but I am with you on not wanted to flush money away based the preview out there.
DC is a bit busier than I had expected. Picking up Batman & Robin, Magog, Superman: WoNK, and probably the REBELS annual (Suggestion to everyone and anyone!). I'm not interested in the Batman annual either so I'm waiting on it.
From Marvel, definitely picking up Daredevil 501. I'm kind of interested in ASM, The List - Secret Warriors, and Criminal: Sinners
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