New This Week: July 20, 2005

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop tomorrow:


Although it's not a bad week, nothing really stands out head-and-shoulders above the rest. So I guess for Pick of the Week I'll go with Marvel's Defenders #1, from the ICBINTJL team of Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire. Should be funny.


In other comics:

AD Vision have what would have been my other choice for Pick of the Week: the funny parody manga Cromartie High School vol. 3. They also have the second volume of Yotsuba&!, which I hear that many people have enjoyed although I haven't read it yet myself.

Antarctic have Ben Dunn's return to Ninja High School (#130) and a new issue of Fred Perry's Gold Digger (#65).

Dark Horse have new issues of Conan (#18) and Eric Powell's Eisner-winning The Goon (#13).

DC have the eigth volume of the collected 100 Bullets; the debuts of JSA: Classified and Mad Classics; and new issues of Authority: Revolution (#10, Birds of Prey (#84), Detective Comics (#808), Ex Machina (#13), Lucifer (#64), and Plastic Man (#17).

Exhibit A have the Supernatural Law 1st Amendment Issue, produced in conjunction with the CBLDF.

Fantagraphics have a new issue of Love & Rockets vol. 2 (#14).

Graphix have the second Bone color volume.

Image have the Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover vol. 1, which I guess is a large oversized collection of a chunk of Invincible.

Marvel have the final issue of GLA (#4), the long-delayed eleventh issue of Astonishing X-Men, the second issue of the surprisingly enjoyable X-Men: Kitty Pryde - Shadow & Flame (due in a large part to art by Paul Smith), and new issues of Ultimate Spider-Man (#80) and Ultimates 2 (#7). Plus they have the hardcover collection of Ed Brubaker's first seven issues of Captain America.

Oni have the debut of Northwest Passage.


And that's pretty much it. If you're feeling the need to drop $3 on one of the multiple Mouse of Him alternate covers or crossovers, consider instead picking up a copy of the first issue of Banana Sunday, last week's Pick of the Week which more than lived up to its billing. Go-Go will thank you.

Quick Comic Reviews

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #4
by Jeff Parker, Patrick Scherberger & Norman Lee

Unlike previous issues, which were cribbed from classic Lee/Ditko Spider-Man stories, this issue features an all-new all-ages tale teaming up Spidey with the Human Torch. Parker, best known for his OGN The Interman, puts the fun back in everyone's favorite Webslinger with a story that's in the classic mold yet still fresh. The two heroes team up to stop the giant villainous Street before he tears up New York and finishes telling his boring origin story, and contain the giant monster Goom, accidentally freed by Johnny from the Negative Zone. The art by Scherberger & Lee is slightly cartoony and fits with the style of the story, and the fight scenes are easy to follow. This is good solid all-ages super-hero fun.
Rating: 3 (of 5)


City of Heroes #3
by Mark Waid, Nakayami, Basaldua, & Oback

I'd love to be able to tell you the full names of the artists who drew this, but there's nary a credits box to be found anywhere. Probably a good thing though, because in the years to come no one associated with this comic will want to have their names remembered. Oh, the art was competent enough for a standard super-hero book, but the problem is with the 'story.' Although I read the previous two issues leading up to this conclusion, I read so many comics per month that there's no way I can keep track of every continuing plot. But as with the credits box, any sort of recap is absent as well. So what we get are 20+ pages of generic characters in costumes hitting each other for reasons that aren't clear. In other words: extreme boredom. Meh--I expect better than this from Waid; hopefully the paycheck was large enough.
Rating: 1.5 (of 5)


Desolation Jones #2
by Warren Ellis & J. H. Williams III

While the first issue led us to believe that this was yet another take on the usualy Ellis archetypal main character, this second issue explores Jones further and proves him to have greater depth than we might have previously realized. Namely, this protagonist has something that other Ellis types do not: empathy. He also has a sense of compassion, all expertly realized in the extended scene between Joens & Emily Crowe, the woman whose body has been modified to produce fear and revulsion in every person (except for Jones). It's downright touching, something I wasn't expecting. If Ellis can keep playing against expectations, combined with the superb art by Williams (which I could go on about, but I don't have to since Jog does such a good job of praising the art on his blog) we might have another winner on our hands.
Rating: 4 (of 5)