Shipping This Week! -- 05.06.08

ACTION COMICS #828
BATMAN DARK DETECTIVE #3 (OF 6)
BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #192
FABLES #38 (MR)
GOTHAM CENTRAL #32
JLA #115
LEX LUTHOR MAN OF STEEL #4 (OF 5)
MAJESTIC #6
RANN THANAGAR WAR #2 (OF 6)

AGE OF BRONZE #20
NEGATIVE BURN WINTER 2005
STRANGE GIRL #1

DISTRICT X #14
GRAVITY #1 (OF 5)
MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #15
MARY JANE HOMECOMING #4 (OF 4)
NEW THUNDERBOLTS #9
NEW WARRIORS #1 (OF 6)
PULSE #9
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #19
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #78
X-MEN #171

It's me that gets Mary Jane as well. Also, what's up with The Pulse? Have they been delaying it deliberately because Secret War has been so dreadfully delayed?

I don't think I've bought a LOTDK this century

Have they been putting out Negative Burn all this time?

There's surprisingly little sex involved!! I also thought the Ayn Rand segment was lacking, compared to the Jefferson & Augustine sections. Educational; I liked it.

I got X-Men. On a whim. Because I haven't read an X-book in ages. haven't read it yet. Maybe I'm better off reading Astonishing, being as it's written by Joss Whedon (and thanks to DAEREST RECORD STORE GURL, I'm getting into Buffy now too.)

Batman: Dark Detective is better than the last issue. I was almost going to drop it altogether, but changed my mind at the last minute.

Gotham Central was good, though hopefully next month will begin a more involved story arc. Now I think I'm gonna go back and pick up the trades.

And BEST GREEN ARROW IN AT LEAST A YEAR.

Boy Blue meets The Adversary! OR DOES HE???!?!!ELEVEN!!!?!? It's all a bit too simplistic for it to actually be the thruth. I'm still holding out for something a little more complex, and that The Adversary will actually turn out to be a very well known character indeed. Still, a well-written issue again. Vertigo's best title, most of the time.

GREEN ARROW #51

The best issue in some considerable time, in an Anarky-x-o stylee. WHY CAN'T THIS BOOK BE THIS GOOD EVERY MONTH?

RANN THANAGAR WAR #2

Oh no! Can anyone see what's coming with the GIANT YELLOW METAL SOUL-EATER that Kyle Rayner's out looking for? The rest of the book is solid enough I suppose, but it smacks of ALL PLOT NO WAR.

TOM STRONG #33

Charming tweeness as Tom and Solomon remake Fantastic Voyage inside Pneumann. Yes, this wallows in retro yet again, but it's still a great book.

MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #15

The new plot of Ethan is expanded and turns out to be ANOTHER SUPERMAN PARODY. Change the record guys, you already did it ONLY A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO with that Marville mini nobody liked you only published as part of that fake competition to launch the Captain Marvel series YOU THEN CANCELLED DESPITE IT BEING BRILLIANT. (U-Decide?)

MARY JANE HOMECOMING #4

BRING US A THIRD SERIES PLEASE, THIS ONE WAS OVER TOO QUICKLY. Seriously, what's not to like about teen drama, as MJ ends up being Homecoming Queen and falls out with Liz, only for them to make up at the end?

PULSE #9

Marvel in TIE-IN SERIES FURTHER AHEAD THAN MINI-X-O EVENT shockah! This is now further ahead than Secret War and is more or less dependent on some of the events at the end of it. GET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER, MARVEL. (And I don't mean House Of M)

PUNISHER #22

This current plot is an utter bloodbath. I'm having problems working out what is going on, because basically everybody is killing, fucking and double-crossing each other (except Frank, who's just killing them) and a lot of the time the characterisation in the artwork isn't good enough for you to work out who's who. The woman in the rooftop reveal, for example - is she the woman in the car, who I think is supposed to be the woman from the 'Punisher Trapped' arc a couple of years ago? Losing patience, I think.

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #19

Has this morphed into the maintitle when I wasn't looking? Suddenly the 4 don't seem like the same naive kids testing out their powers that they were ONLY LAST ISSUE. This is a backward step.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #78

All MJ Spectacular! This could almost be the Ultimate Mary Jane this month. Awesome.

X-MEN #171

Umm... some stuff happens. A new girl called FOXX turns up. CAN YOU GUESS WHAT HAPPENS? In other news, Rogue almost kills Gambit - or does she? Did Emma Frost plan for it? Plus Iceman talks about cooking chicken. I'm not making that last bit up.

X-MEN #171: Foxx looks about 10 years too young to be a sharp-toothed seductress. And the pacing is ridiculously wonky. I don't think Salvador L. is the right guy to be working w/ PM on this book.

PULSE #9: Yeah, I'm not sure what the deal is w/ touting an x-over event that doesn't really x-over w/ the aforementioned event. All the stuff in these 4 issues encircled THE SECRET WAR w/out actually saying a damn thing about it, excepting some super-vague pronouncements. So, in essence, folks got a 4-part TEASER for THE SECRET WAR paced over 8 months that's x-over'd w/ a mini that's 4-6 months late in finishing. Someone needs to coordinate some traffic. (Michael Lark gets a definite thumbs' up, tho.)

MK SPIDER-MAN #15: What? You're saying the out-of-town corn-pone reporter w/ the super-strength and the flying is a SUPERMAN ANALOGUE? NO WAY! That said, this was the best part of the story to this point - having Mark Buckingham pop over to do some flashback pages always helps.

MARY JANE: HOMECOMING #4: What aldo said. MORE OF THIS DAMN IT! High school drama pitched @ the right level, and even time for a Parker / Watson interlude at that Peach Pit place. (MJ: "Peter, you didn't go? To Homecoming?" *Peter looks at physics books on table* PP: "Um ... so you're reading about Spider-Man?") And a swing-set scene! I love swing-set scenes!

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #78: What aldo said. MJ, distraught over PP giving her the dumps, cries a bit, then goes to rock show where the guitarist (a classmate) tries to pitch some respectful woo. Awkward tenderness ensues. And then you know what happens. I kinda wish Bendis didn't go for the "but I LOVE HIM!" thing immediately - make the fannies squirm, and give MJ the Boyfriend Everyone Would Like If She Weren't Already In Love for a few months. (Tho, given the circumstances of the break-up, I guess MJ's tenacity isn't too surprising.) Please note that the upcoming USM Annual (YES ANNUAL) is giving Spidey a new gurl. "And it's not The Black Cat!"

GRAVITY #1: More teen superstuff from Sean McKeever (AKA the Mary Jane & Sentinel guy). Blah blah middle American yokel comes to the big city to become a superhero and get Bachelors' blah blah punches Rage blah blah has dorm roomy that likes Winger and has a superhero blog (!!!) blah blah ends up late for his first class and encounters possible love interest. Enjoyable as all get out. Kudos for Marvel for upping the ante on teen heroes (just in time for my nostalgia-ridden midlife crisis).

I love how Alias syncs up with Bendis' Daredevil books, to the point of reproducing panels from Daredevil and then showing the same events from Jessica's perspective.

DETECTIVE COMICS #807: What Huk-L said. Maybe 2 panels of the Bat in costume; the rest of the story deftly juggles about 10 minor characters, gives each of them a full & rich backstory in about the space of 2 caption boxes, and manages to involve the Bat in an sneaky unobstrusive way, Matches Malone style. No doubt the best Bat story in the past year+. FUDGE THE WAR CRIME CRAP - LAPHAM 4EVAH! (Huk, you know about Lapham's Daredevil / Punisher mini, right?)

LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #194: Young Bat stumbles around and gets the crap shot out of him by Huggy Bear, while Mr. Freeze starts down the path that will turn him into a walking beer cozy. Seth Fisher's art strikes me as a cross between Frank Quitely & Chris Ware. An interesting start.

STRAY BULLETS #38: In this issue - VIRGINIA APPLEJACK WEARS A SKI-MASK!

Damn, I've gotta catch up on my Stray Bullets. That's some HOT STUFF. (I've only read the first trade, where it's all moody weird crime stuff, and then POW! Sci-Fi Freakout!)

OTOH, it was only fifty cents so whatevah.

Miracleman, dude!

(also Sledgehammer!)