Despite my best efforts to trim my pull list to something approaching reasonable, new comics come out demanding my attention. Current titles and storylines such as Secret Invasion and “Old Man Logan” force their way into my hands. Looking ahead, the promise of even more great titles ensures that I’ll need to pick up another long box or two.
The five upcoming story arcs that have me the most jazzed …
5. Incredible Hercules: Love and War
Like a lot of people, I expected the Incredible Hercules series would suck. I never considered for a moment how good this title would be. Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente spin one amazing tale after another in these pages packing them with humor, adventure and a clever take on Greek lore. Each story is better than the last and it doesn’t hurt that Clayton Henry’s pencils are beautiful. This next arc promises lots of fun. I mean, who doesn’t want to declare war on Atlantis?
4. Dark Reign
I have no idea what this is about. All I know is that if Bendis is on board, then so am I. I’ve been a fan since his (definitive) run on Daredevil. I’ve absolutely loved Secret Invasion. I dunno what that guy plans on serving up, but I’m going in with a big appetite.
3. Guardians of the Galaxy
Rocket Raccoon emerges as team leader. ‘Nuff said.
2. The return of the Milestone Comics characters!
I know some folks disapprove of integrating the Milestone characters into the DCU. There is a risk of losing those qualities that made these characters so unique when plunging them into the wide world of the DCU, but I think McDuffie and DiDio are invested in keeping ICON and the rest true to their design. Besides, some new Milestone is always better than no new Milestone.
1. Blackest Night
There should be a law, a universal law as compelling as gravity. Geoff Johns should always write Green Lantern. I enjoyed the Ron Marz run on GL, but Geoff Johns has brought so much energy to the title. His work on Sinestro Corps War was brilliant. I have not enjoyed Final Crisis one little bit, but I’ll be picking up Johns’ Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns. Ever since reading that last page of the Sinestro Corps War promising the Blackest Night? Hoo-boy! I cannot remember being so excited about an upcoming arc. Excited I was. Excited I remain. Bring it!
September 30th, 2008 at 9:58 am
How about some story arcs that aren’t from the big two?
September 30th, 2008 at 10:33 am
@Squashua:
That’s damn near impossible, seeing as Image/Dark Horse/DDp hardly have these kind of events/story arcs.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Well, if there aren’t any story arcs that aren’t coming from the Big Two that have him excited, why should he include them? It’s a personal list.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:56 am
You know, I thought about it as I was writing this one and realized that there are a number of titles I enjoy from Darkhorse and other publishers, but there’s not an upcoming arc (that I am aware of) that has me jazzed.
September 30th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Lots of great stuff:
This is my list
1. Incredible Hercules: Love and War
2. Blackest Night
September 30th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
If it was last year, I’m sure we could all site “No One is Safe” from The Walking Dead as an arc we were all looking forward to (and man, did it deliver!). This year…I dunno…there’s an Invincible/WolfMan crossover that might be fun. I was really looking forward to Top Cow’s Broken Trinity is pretty nifty, but it’s almost over now.
For those looking for a great arc that isn’t getting a lot of press it seems (all of it is going to All Star Superman…ugh…and the Braniac one in Action Comics) pick up the Heart of Hush storyline in Detective Comics. If there’s one thing I’m NOT looking forward to, it’s a Paul Dini-less Detective Comics.
September 30th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
For me, it would be Shooter’s Legion of Super-Heroes. It is so good that DC will kill it, even though it outsells most DC books.
And Ron Marz should never get near a Green Lantern book again. His Hal Jordan-is-Parallax joke was enough for a century.
September 30th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Jurgens’ first arc on “Booster Gold” will draw me in like gravity. Shooter’s LoSH is a gem, but that’s not so much an arc as a run…and “Triangle” in THE PERHAPANAUTS is genius.
September 30th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Paul, I agree with you about the Heart of Hush arc over in ‘Tec. I don’t know how it’s all going to turn out (I’m NOT looking forward to the Morrison’s resolution to R.I.P., having a Batman other than Bruce for however long), but so far I’m intrigued with the story. A much better follow-up to the original Hush arc than the garbage collected in “Hush Returns” is. Like you, I’m also not looking forward to a Dini-less Detective. His run has easily trounced Morrison’s Batman run IMO.
I am happy to hear that Dini’s going to do another Madame Mirage mini for Top Cow though!
September 30th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Aron, I’m with you on Blackest Night. Hopefully it’ll be as good as Sinestro Corps, and the rest of Johns’ run on GL. I’m worried it won’t live up to the hype, but in Johns I trust!
I need to know more about Dark Reign, which means waiting to see how Secret Invasion turns out, before I’m on board. I’m not a Bendis fanatic, but I like him fine.
I haven’t read his Daredevil, but definitive? Really? I’m thinking Frank Miller, or even Kevin Smith, might have something to say about that. Ed Brubaker for that matter too.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I just want to thank Shaun for being another voice of reason. I freakin’ HATE Morrison’s run on Bats! The whole Son of Batman storyline was okay, but maybe I was more forigiving because of the Kubert art. Since then…ugh.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:48 pm
I’ve been called a lot of things, but never a voice of reason.
Anyhow… Not a problem, Paul. Never have I been as disappointed with one writer’s run on a comic as I’ve been with Morrison on Batman. It’s a shocker, considering how much I enjoyed Morrison’s writing of Bats in JLA (Batman in New World Order? Badass), and Arkham Asylum (still a favorite of mine). Not to mention Morrison’s other fine work. OK, so the only other Morrison I’ve ever read is All Star Supes and We3, but those were great too. I don’t feel like I always fully understood what he was doing with A-S Supes, but I was thoroughly entertained.
I didn’t hate the Son of Batman story arc either (didn’t say I loved it, just didn’t hate it), but you’re right. It never got any better. In fact it got worse. I think I kept buying it out of misguided loyalty to the character of Batman, even though I certainly wasn’t enjoying it. Once I found out Bat-Mite was being revived, that was it for me. I’ve paged through R.I.P. at the shop, just to see what’s happening, and I’m glad I got off the bus when I did.