I’m sure in the midst of your holiday shopping, at one time or another you’ve turned to yourself (a trick in and of itself) and asked, “Where are those March Solicit Reviews from The Fifth Color? How am I going to plan my Women’s History Month without them? Or do my St. Patrick’s Day shopping?”

Or maybe you haven’t. But in either case, a week late and about $3.22 short (more in Canada), the Fifth Color proudly presents a look into the new year. Spider-Man 3 will be on the horizon, the Dark Tower mini-series will have started and maybe, just maybe, we’ll see Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine.

Or maybe not.

So, in a twist and to make that Best really stick, here are in fact the best of the Best from the March Marvel Solicits, with a few honorable mentions thrown in.

Best LOOK BACK - CIVIL WAR TPB Let’s just cut straight to it, shall we? March is the month for the Civil War TPs, so get ready! We’re not just talking the main storyline, but at least four, count ‘em FOUR, tie-in TPs too. Man, this looks like so many books when it comes out like this. And I’m not saying it wasn’t a lot of books (or… still is a lot of books), but it’s a little like looking back on an epic climb up Yosemite’s Half-Dome. What a long, strange trip it’s been. Honorable and Connection Mention of the Tie-In TPs : CIVIL WAR: FANTASTIC FOUR TPB (FANTASTIC FOUR #538-543), CIVIL WAR: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN TPB (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #532-538), CIVIL WAR: THUNDERBOLTS TPB (THUNDERBOLTS #101-105), CIVIL WAR: YOUNG AVENGERS & RUNAWAYS TPB (CIVIL WAR: YOUNG AVENGERS & RUNAWAYS #1-4, plus extras). Oooh. Extras.

Best WHOOPS! - ULTIMATE X-MEN #80 For giving up the end of the Cable storyline as blatantly as possible without just screaming it in the first line. From the solicit: The young X-Men are leaderless. And in the wake of their tragedy, Scott Summers reaches a momentous decision: Disband the X-Men! Yes, you read it right. Is this the end of Xavier’s dream? So, leaderless and yet Scott’s still around. Man, it just does not pay to be Charles Xavier these days.

Best MOVIE TIE-IN - SPIDER-MAN: BACK IN BLACK HANDBOOK $3.99 will actually get you a good catch-up to the current Spider-Books it looks like, plus a bunch of other Spider-Man facts. Kind of a catchall for the wild life of Peter Parker, answering a bunch of questions that the movie goers on May 4 will be asking their local comic shops. Already books are coming out with that ‘Back in Black’ logo up in the corner, so to continue our frothing excitement, we get a manual. From the solicit: Are the rumors of Uncle Ben’s return from the grave true? How many people has J. Jonah Jameson hired and fired? Who is that armored Spider-Man from the future with six arms? You know the Lizard – but who’s the Iguana? Can you name all the alien symbiotes besides Venom and Carnage? Spidey’s ex-girlfriend Deb Whitman is back! What’s her story, anyway? Honorable Mention for the SPIDER-MAN: SAGA OF THE SANDMAN TPB as I never thought I would want a little tribute to the career of Flint Marko, but thanks to his “gritty film debut” (Ooh. A sand pun), I like the idea of slaking a curiosity with a handy TP.

Best SURPRISE ARTIST - LEGION OF MONSTERS: MAN-THING #1 Okay, say what you want about Man-Thing, but the idea of Charlie Huston writing a creepy tale of horror and mystery? Moon Knight creeps the heck out of me, personally so I can only imagine what he would do with Marvel’s own muck monster. All this and a story of Simon Garth, “the original Marvel Zombie!”. From the solicit: These are stories that have been begging to be told—set right in the dark, horrific corners of the Marvel Universe! Read it with the lights on! Sounds like a plan. Honorable Mention to SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #16 for getting David Hahn (from Fables and Robin) to step in as regular artist.

Best PHILOSOPHICAL POINT - FANTASTIC FOUR: THE END #6 (of 6) From the solicit: Do the members of the Fantastic Four possess the fortitude to conquer this greatest of challenges to humanity and to their own happiness? Do any of us? Really?

Best JUMP ON POINT - RUNAWAYS SAGA Because Joss Whedon is just around the corner, everyone’s going to want to know about the new and god-willing regular monthly title. And here we have a $3.99 primer as told by Power Princess herself, Molly Hayes. Recounting the series to date in just 48 pages, hopefully this will just get everyone out and buying the trades of this really awesome series. For loyal fans, there’s also a new story by C.B. Cebulski, a ton of new art by Humberto Ramos, and never-before-seen sketches and artwork. Honorable Mention to BLADE #7, who is ballsy enough to say that a story in which the main character dies (”Not a hoax! Not an imaginary story!”) is a great jumping on point for new readers.

Best BOOK THAT SHOULD BE GOOD - MIGHTY AVENGERS #1 Now, I have opinions on New Avengers that I’ve gone over back at my own site and perhaps might be saved for a really long article here, but long story short? It’s not the Avengers. But this book, right from the start says that this group of Avengers is gathered to be “the greatest Avengers team ever”! That’s got to count for something right? They’re even returning a revamped and reloaded A-List villain! It’s shining itself all nice and pretty for its debut and seems to be forgoing a lot of the shady mystery that the New Avengers came out with. No, this is a superhero team and they are going to go beat up the bad guys, then regroup for lunch. Here’s hoping. Honorable Mention to SHE-HULK #17, as it seems as if she’ll finally learn what happened to her cousin after all. It’s been a long time coming.

Best SOLICIT TEXT - ONSLAUGHT REBORN #5 (of 5) Fifteen exclamation points, ladies and gentlemen. I have to stand up and applaud this one. From the solicit: This is it! The heroes have assembled!! And the greatest evil the universe has ever faced is ready to take them on!!! Who lives?!?! Who dies?!?!?! And what will be the final fate of Onslaught?!?!?!?! It’s like someone gave the copy editor a basket of pixie stix and you know what? I like it. Say what you want about Onslaught Reborn, but it’s a darn fine book for the hyperactive teen set (and those looking to regain those years once more). This solicit is one step away from 1337 speak and that’s a-OK with me. Honorable Mention for PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #5, for promising “The ending of this issue will punch you in the face and laugh at your tears.” That’s a Punisher book to me.

Best BOOK I HAVEN’T REALLY BEEN PAYING ATTENTION TO I GUESS - NEW EXCALIBUR #18 From the solicit: The fight has begun. The battle that’s been building since the very beginning of the series is finally coming to a head. Captain Britain must take on his opposite for a battle that will be waged upon many worlds. Really? Because I thought I’ve been reading fill in stories waiting for Chris Claremont to return to the book he started. There was a Captain America event at the start of the book, with Lionheart and that mysterious Albion guy, but we haven’t really touched that since then. It’s like we forgot we left that plot boiling on the stove.

Best POP CASH COW - MARVEL ZOMBIES/ARMY OF DARKNESS #1 Now if we could only work in pirates and ninjas. From the solicit: Ash has faced legions of the undead before, but never like this…as he lands in the heart of New York just as the Zombie outbreak begins! See how his actions help turn more heroes and villains into Zombies! Whoops. Good going, Ash.

Best FOR ME - HULK AND POWER PACK #1 (of 4) From the solicit: Power Pack couldn’t be more excited to meet their father’s new colleague, the world-famous Dr. Bruce Banner. But when the kids find themselves trapped in the tunnels beneath Manhattan by the Absorbing Man, they find out what happens when the good doctor gets angry…! I’ve been missing a simpler, basic Hulk book and if I have to go through Power Pack (highly entertaining themselves, I might add) to get a good ol’ fashioned Bruce Banner ‘Hulk Out’ to do it? I’m buying two. Honorable Mention to SILENT WAR #3 (of 6), a story that promises to get to the heart of Quicksilver’s madness and an X-Factor cameo.

Best LONG TIME A-COMIN’ - WOLVERINE: WEAPON X PREMIERE HC Finally I can hand to kids coming in the store a big ol’ book of Wolverine. This is a great story and back in the day, the only glimpse you could get of Wolverine’s origin. Now that we have books with that right on the cover, it’s good to go back and see where we’ve come from. The Barry Windsor-Smith fest that I still have people asking for, there will be a snazzy hardcover trade I can hand over with pride. To debut in glorious two covers for those of you who like that respectable bookshelf look. Honorable Mention to SPIDER-MAN: BIRTH OF VENOM TPB for a big ol’ book of Venom. Customers adore getting the first issue of anything and, much like Marvel, I’m expecting Black Costume Mania to run wild on local comic shops.The full list of March Solicitations for Marvel is here. Happy Holidays!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 20th, 2006 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Marvel, The Fifth Color, Version 1.0 Blog@. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.