Post-Crisis Comic Book Previews for 02/15/12

Oh the third week of the month. You seem to always have such lovely books to offer to the Post-Crisis Previews. I'm not sure if that's only in my head, but I can tell you that it's definitely holding true for this February. Check after the cut to see all the books I'm intending on picking up, including Amazing Spider-Man #679.1, Peter Panzerfaust #1, Winter Soldier #2, and more!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #679.1

Written by Dan Slott

Art by Matt Clark

• Morbius the Living Vampire returns!

• The perfect jumping on point for the hottest comic around!

Grant: I recognize that this observation is way late and pretty much moot at this juncture, but Marvel's use of .1 doesn't make a lick of sense. Like, it's great that you want to create pretend jumping on points to convince readers to buy comics that aren't #1s, but throwing a .1 at the end is beyond ridiculous. It is absolutely meaningless and I wish they would give it a rest. That being said, if it says Amazing Spider-Man on the cover and it's written by Dan Slott, it's going to find its way into my pull list, so here we are. Fortunately, despite the idiotic numeration, it's a story that Slott was going to tell anyways, so I'm there.

BATMAN #6

Written by Scott Snyder

Art by Greg Capullo & Jonathan Glapion

Trapped far beneath Gotham City and hunted by the Talon – the Court of Owls’ unstoppable killer – Batman lies bleeding and broken. With no way out and no one to help, is this the end for The Dark Knight?

Grant: I'm still not sold on the Court of Owls conceit, which I suppose is kind of a shame, since it looks like they'll be starring in the next Bat-event later this year. I just can't get behind this rewriting of Bruce's early years. It feels like it makes him less special and less impressive. Owls aside, everything else about this series has been phenomenal. Scott Snyder is on top of his game and Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion have been providing some killer work on art duties - especially last issue, where everything went topsy-turvy. Back to the owls for a moment, why is Batman turning into one in this cover?

DAREDEVIL #9

Written by Mark Waid

Art by Paolo Rivera

• Mole Man returns, fresh from his battle in Avenging Spider-Man!

• Jump on to the book that EVERYONE is talking about!

Grant: It's Mark Waid and Paolo Rivera's Daredevil. If you haven't figured out that that means you buy it, then I'm not sure if there's anything I can offer you at this point.

PETER PANZERFAUST #1

Written by Kurtis J. Wiebe

Art by Tyler Jenkins

“THE GREAT ESCAPE,” Part One

The city of Calais is the first city in France to fall to the Germans in the spring of 1940. A mysterious American boy named Peter rallies a handful of plucky French orphans and they must work together to survive Europe’s darkest hour.

From the writer of the critically acclaimed GREEN WAKE and THE INTREPIDS comes a new ongoing series: PETER PANZERFAUST, a high energy action story that blends Red Dawn with Peter Pan.

Grant: Kurtis J. Wiebe makes some good comics. This is a thing that he's proven capable of doing. If he wants to do a mixture of Peter Pan and World War Two, I'm more than willing to give it a shot. Should be interesting.

ROGER LANGRIDGE'S SNARKED! #5

Written by Roger Langridge

Art by Roger Langridge

Brand New Arc! Great For New Readers! Roger Langridge - the Harvey Award winner behind The Muppet Show and Thor: The Mighty Avenger - begins the second arc of his critically acclaimed side-splitting adventure! The journey continues as Princess Scarlett, baby Rusty, the Walrus and the Carpenter, and the fearless Snarkhunter Crew hit the high seas in search of the missing Red King. Swashbuckling, laughs, crocodiles - this issue has it all!

Grant: I missed out on talking about the previous issue last month, but I did read it. Roger Langridge is far and above one of my personal favourite creators. I really like creators who can write and draw, and Langridge can do both with apparent ease. The first arc of this series was great, and I'm more than certain that things are only going to get better. I'm digging Langridge's take on Lewis Carroll lands of nonsense, and am eager to see more.

WINTER SOLIDER #2

Written by Ed Brubaker

Art by Butch Guice

• Bucky and Black Widow on the hunt for men trained by the Winter Soldier himself!

• Who is trying to kill Dr. Doom?

• Also featuring - talking gorillas! Yeah, you heard me.

Grant: The first issue of the new Winter Soldier series was a rather pleasant surprise. It was classic Ed Brubaker, and Butch Guice had no trouble providing the perfect visuals to compliment Brubaker's wordsmithery. I'm really excited to see what this is all building to and where it's going to go. As a side note: is it a rule that any book Brubaker does without Sean Phillips has to have sucky covers? Seriously, what's the deal with this thing?

WONDER WOMAN #6

Written by Brian Azzarello

Art by Tony Akins

Hades and Poseidon both have designs on the kingdom their brother Zeus left behind, but Wonder Woman doesn’t intend to let their turf war decimate the realm of man! It’ll take a big lie and some help from the mystery man known as Lennox to stop a holy war from breaking out – but what does Lennox know that Wonder Woman doesn’t?

Grant: I'm always sad when Cliff Chiang is missing from this title (the way he draws Wonder Woman as an actually fierce warrior is unlike anything I've seen before), but I won't complain too much as long as Brian Azzarello keeps bringing his goodness. I know I'm continuously talking about how good this title is, but that's because it's so unlike most of the runs Wonder Woman has had before. Azzarello has married the mythological with the superheroic in a way that Diana has never experienced, and I'm loving it. Forget about jumping on points. If you aren't reading this series, give it a shot.