The Weekly Crisis vs. Solicits for December 2013

The comic book solicitations for December 2013 have reared their beautiful faces for all to see. As is our wont, we have investigated the offerings from various comic book companies to find some of the best, worst, and coolest things coming your way this holiday season. So join us behind the cut to see our take on the matter!

Grant's Thoughts

Best Things in December

Hellboy Back For More

Mike Mignola's most excellent Hellboy in Hell returns with issue #5! Mignola has repeatedly talked about how he could tell these types of stories forever, as he feels there's an infinite number of adventures that he imagines Hellboy could get up to while down in Satan's backyard. This issue looks to be kicking that off, with Hellboy helping out a fellow confused soul in what looks to be a nice, little done-in-one inspired by one of the Grimm's fairy tales. Sounds good to me.

Muppets Omnibus

Roger Langridge did some absolutely brilliant work with The Muppets for Boom! and Marvel (once they got the license, of course), and it looks like Marvel recognizes the value of those comics, as they're releasing an omnibus collecting a good number of them in one handy dandy book. They're all written by Langridge, and even the ones that weren't drawn were still done by the talented Shelli Paroline and Amy Mebberson. All told, you'll be getting over 1000 pages of comics for $49.99, which I think we can all agree is some pretty ridiculous value.

Worst Things in December

Batwoman No More

I mentioned earlier this week that J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman leaving Batwoman - while only the latest in a long list of creators leaving titles over editorial interference - is the instance that hits closest to home. Batwoman has been my absolute favourite DC comic since the New 52 relaunch, as it has managed to carve out its own space in the DCnU to tell a beautiful comic book story. It is unfortunate that their story will be cut short, so while I wish Marc Andreyko and Jeremy Haun well during their run on the character, I'll pass on this chapter of Kate Kane's life.

Marvel's Growing Innumeracy

Marvel continues to vex me with their increasingly ridiculous comic book numbering system. First they threw out the .1 issues, which I could at least understand the logic behind (even if I vehemently disagreed with it). Then they started doing multi-part stories with .1s, .2s, .3s, and so on, which is even more foolish. Now they've decided to forgo numbers entirely and denote tie-in comics simply through the INH acronym, which while kind of an interesting idea from an ordering perspective, looks completely ludicrous. Count me out.

Coolest Things in December

Golden Opportunities!

Guys, my favourite creative team of Ryan North, Shelli Paroline, and Braden Lamb are stretching their wings and dropping a brand new comic book series this December! Based on this Dinosaur Comic from 2009, the Midas Flesh is about a version of the Midas Touch story where everything he touches turns to gold, including the ground he stands on, the air he breathes, and so forth. Fast-forward to a science-fictiony future where Earth has been cordoned off from the rest of the universe due to the ongoing danger posed by this power, except now, people are returning to the long-dead world in an attempt to weaponize the effect. Even without considering the creative team, how does that not sound like something worth reading? Now add in the presence of North, Paroline, and Lamb, and December literally cannot come soon enough for my tastes.

Parker Slaying the Critics

In other great creator news, Darwyn Cooke is dropping his latest adaptation of Richard Stark's Parker books. Every single story has been amazing, and this one, which features Parker trying to evade the authorities in an abandoned amusement park, sounds like it's going to be a doozy. You do not want to miss this comic.

Ken's Thoughts

Best Things in December

Rover Red Charlie

Garth Ennis is pretty successful at the violent genre, from Crossed to Punisher to his War Stories, so the idea of doing a story centered on three best buds who are dogs surviving the end of the world in New York City is such a departure while still within Ennis' wheelhouse that I'm interested in seeing what happens. Unless it turns out to be something very, very sad like the end of Old Yeller, only the dogs are eaten or something, then no way, Jose.

Dead Body Road

A man seeks revenge against those who killed his wife. It's a high-concept pitch but with the talent involved in Justin Jordan and Matteo Scalera it looks worthwhile. If it can be a much more contained version of the Punisher or that movie The Horseman.

Worst Things in December

.INH Is Not A Number!

Agreeing with Grant here, what the heck is this? I can understand the point one effect, and that's all you need for this, or just keep it the normal numbering. It's still the same creators, and in a few cases it will be the only book for that series in the month, so for all intents and purposes it is the next number in the series, so just use it.

Origin II Not Deserving of the Electric Boogaloo Joke

Origin had a purpose a decade ago, as Marvel had to establish Wolverine's origin before the movie franchise would create it (or so the story goes). And it was fine for what it had to do.

Now, it's almost like a Before Watchmen, only without the high level of cache. Gillen is a talented writer, and you have the other Kubert brother on hand to draw the book and maintain a certain consistency with the original work, but it's just not necessary. We have so many Wolverine stories to choose from these days (this will be the sixth book starring Wolverine when it drops), it doesn't need to exist.

Scarlet Spider Says Sayonara

It was a good book, and Kaine was a much more successful take at the anti-hero than many would probably consider given that he was the embodiment of 90's comics. Moving the character out of New York was also a good attempt showing the Marvel Universe doesn't all exist on a little island in the Northeast. It was also the book that spring-boarded Ryan Stegman into the spotlight. Hopefully we see the Scarlet Spider return in the main Spider-Man book, but at the same time I wouldn't really have a problem if they decided to kill Kaine off permanently.

Coolest Things in December

Dead Boy Detectives Rise Again

One of the better spinoffs from Sandman, the two deceased detective youths solving paranormal crimes would actually work well in today's post-Harry Potter young adult focused publishing world, so this might actually be a decent two-way bridge between Sandman fans and teen literature readers. Plus Mark Buckingham's art is always worth a look, and hopefully this won't interfere with his Fables work.

Indestructible

You're a dude who everyone believes has super powers, like being indestructible. A hulk, if you will. But you don't, and you don't really want to be a hero yet you want to still have all that fame and fortune. Well, this new series looks to show what happens to that very dude in a celebrity obsessed world.

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