This week in comics! These comics are available! Probably!

American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #1: Joe The Barbarian artist Sean Murphy joins writer Scott Snyder for a five-issue spinoff miniseries. Set during World War II, Survival features vampire hunters Delicia Book and Cash McCogan.

Booster Gold #45: As one of the only regular DCU titles tying directly into Flashpoint, Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapumund’s book is positioned to benefit quite nicely from the big crossover event. It’s also just one of plenty of Flashpoint comics coming out this week, as four more three-issue miniseries launch: Flashpoint: Citizen Cold, Flashpoint: Deathstroke and The Curse of the Ravager, Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman and Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown. That’s five books, for $15, and just this week, completists!

Captain America: American Nightmare: Excited for the upcoming Captain America movie, and looking to read about his comic adventures first? Great, Marvel’s got plenty of them to choose from. So many, in fact, that the main problem is probably figuring out where to start. Just this week, there’s the above hardcover collection, by Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern, Andy Kubert and others (250-pages/$25), Captain America By Dan Jurgens Vol. 1, collecting the beginning of the Jurgens-written run from the late nineties (260/$30), Captain America: The Fighting Avenger, which collects four all-ages stories from the likes of Brian Clevinger, Paul Tobin, Jeff Parker, Gurihiu, David Baldeon and others (120/$15) and Captain America: No Escape, which collects a five-issue portion of Ed Brubaker’s run on the monthly, penciled by Butch Guice (120/$16).

Congress of the Animals: New Jim Woodring! This 100-page, $20 hardcover is Woodring’s second graphic novel, and the first to star his Frank character. Check out a preview here.

DC Comics Presents: Impulse #1: Before Geoff Johns aged him, matured him and changed his superhero identity in Flash and Teen Titans, Bart Allen went by the name Impulse and had funnier more fun adventures than one finds in the DCU of today. This $8, 95-page almost-trade includes four issues from writer Todd DeZago’s run, including art by pre-Rebirth Ethan Van Sciver, Angel Unzueta and Walter Simonson and featuring guest-stars like Batman, The Joker, Kalibak and Impulse’s archenemy, Inertia.

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Action Comics #901: Artist Kenneth Rocafort joins writer Paul Cornell on Action Comics, which has returned its focus to Superman after Cornell’s Luthor-starring arc. Rocafort and Cornell will be continuing that weird “Reign of Doomsday” storyline that’s been running through various DC Comics for months now. The main page has a preview here. Meanwhile, if you missed it, DC also has a reprint of the over-sized, $6 Action Comics #900 coming out this week.

DC Comics Presents: Green Lantern: Willworld: This 2001 origial graphic novel was most notable for its amazing artwork, courtesy of the young and up-and-coming artist Seth Fisher, who unfortunately passed away in 2006. This is a hell of a showcase for his skills, as the story features a young Hal Jordan waking up on a strange world full of bizarre imagery. J.M. DeMatteis scripted. Like all of the DCCP reprints, its $8 for somewhere in the neighborhood of 100-pages.

Deep Sleeper: IDW is reprinting this follow-up graphic novel to The Coffin, by the creative team of Phil Hester and Mike Huddleston. It’s a 145-page, $22 hardcover.

Emma Frost Ultimate Collection, Mystique By Brian K. Vaughan Ultimate Collection: Two big books featuring characters featured in this summers X-Men: First Class film. The former is a 430-page, $35 trade featuring all 18 issues of the 2003-launched Emma Frost ongoing from writer Karl Bollers and a variety of artists. The latter is a 310-page, $25 trade collecting the first 13 issues of the Vaughan-written 2003 Mystique monthly.

Green Lantern #66, Green Lantern Corps #60 and Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #10: You know how DC plans to publish only one single comic book the week of August 31, Flashpoint #5? Can they really pull that off? Because that would demonstrate an extraordinary amount of control of what they publish and when, and if they can do that, why on Earth would they publish issues of all three titles participating in the “War of the Green Lanterns” crossover story on the exact same day? That seems kind of insane, doesn’t it? There’s a whole lot of Green Lantern material out this week besides those three issues, too. There’s the aforementioned DCCP reprint of Green Lantern: Willworld, the 180-page, $23 trade collection Green Lantern Corps: Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns and the 130-page, $13 trade collection Batman: The Brave and the Bold: Emerald Knight has six stories in it, two of which feature Hal Jordan and the GLC.

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Once again, it’s all words and no pictures! Here’s what jumped out at me from Diamond’s shipping list as looking either really good, really bad or somehow worth mentioning. Feel free to tell us in the comments section what looks really good, really bad or somehow worth mentioning to you. And/or to call me mean names.

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja Vol. 1: Night Powers: Chris Hastings and Les McClaine’s web-comic about a doctor who is also a ninja gets a paper collection thanks to Dark Horse Comics. The hard copy is a $20, 230-page trade, featuring an original story by Benito Cereno and McClaine.  You can read a short preview here and a giant one here.

Batman: Gates of Gotham #1: Given the number of Batman monthlies being published at the moment, a new Batman miniseries hardly seems like something noteworthy, but this one’s from the acclaimed Detective Comics writer Scott Snyder, and has the advantage of a different scope (guest-starring a mess of DCU detectives) and focus, on the history of Gotham City and its founding families. Snyder is co-writing with Kyle Higgins, while Trevor McCarthy is handling the art. It’s a five-issue series.

Booster Gold #44: This week’s only Flashpoint tie-in features DC’s only time-traveling superhero with his own title. Writer/artist Dan Jurgens and artist Norm Rapmund return to the book after a fun, funny run by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Chris Batista. Marvel’s big summer crossover, Fear Itself, is a little further underway, which likely explains all the tie-ins available this week: Herc #3, Avengers #13 and Invincible Iron Man #504 (The first is a $3 book, the other two are $4 ones).

DC Comics: Batman—Dark Knight, Dark City: This $8, 90-page kinda-trade collects the 1990 three-issue Batman story arc by writer Peter Milligan and artist Kieron Dwyer (with covers by Mike Mignola), in which The Riddler returns from retirment to dabble in late-‘80s darkness and Satanism. To fill up the page count, there’s a neat little one-issue story from Milligan’s too-short 1991 run on TEC, featuring pencil art by Tom Mandrake. I’d highly recommend this if you’ve any interest in Batman and missed these the first time around.

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These are the times that try a fan’s soul, or at least a fan’s wallet—starting tomorrow, DC and Marvel will both have big, linewide crossover/event/unified branding storylines going simultaneously. Marvel’s Fear Itself started a few weeks ago, and now DC’s Flashpoint, a Blackest Night-like event launches with Flashpoint #1.

Geoff Johns is writing, And Kubert is drawing, and the premise is that Flash foe the Reverse-Flash has messed with the time stream enough to create a radically altered DCU. IT’s a 40-page, $4 issue.

This week also sees the release of Flash #12, the conclusion of a story arc entitled “The Road To Flashpoint,” which presumably has something to do with Flashpoint. Johns writes that as well, with Francis Manapul on art.

What else is out this week? Let’s take a look together, shall we?

Batman Incorporated #6: This is the issue with Chief Man-of-Bats riding a buffalo on the cover. If for some reason you need to know more than that, the main page has a preview.

Batman: Arkham City #1: This is the first issue of a five-issue miniseries based on the Batman videogames, meant to bridge the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum and the upcoming Batman: Arkham City. Paul Dini is writing, and Carlos D’Anda is handling the art.

Deadman Vol. 1: This $20, 180-page trade collects Strange Adentures #205-213, the original Deadman comics stories from the late ‘60s. Aside form introducing the character, these issues are probably best known for Neal Adams’ art. He illustrates much of this collection, but the other creators involved are no slouches either: Arnold Drake, Carmine Infantino, George Roussos and others.

Devil’s Concubine: Writer/artist Palle Schmidt’s original graphic novel is a crime/noir sort of deal involving two hitmen in a job gone bad in Europe. It’s an $18, 100-page trade paperback, and you should be able to spot it pretty easily—just look for the Peter Snejbjerg cover.

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What’s due in comics shops this week? A whole bunch of stuff, on two days, not just one (Remember this Saturday is Free Comic Book Day, so plan on visiting your local comic shop a second time on Saturday). In the mean time, here are some of this Wednesday’s releases that looked good, bad or interesting to me this week…

Alexandro Jodorowsky’s Screaming Planet: The writer’s name is the one above the title of this $25, 125-page hardcover collection of Humanoids material, but plenty of American fans are likely going to be attracted to the all-star list of international artists involved, including J.H. Williams III, Jerome Opena, Adi Granov, Ladronn and plenty of others.

Avengers Academy Giant-Size #1: This Paul Tobin-written, Ed McGuinness and David Baldeon-drawn comic featuring the Avengers Academy characters and The Young Allies team-ing up against Arcade has already been solicited in a few different formats, but it finally sees rlease this week as a huge 80-page, $8 single issue. As with DC’s DC Comics Presents format, I think this is a pretty good way to sell certain comics in the era of $4/22-page book—it’s pricey, but given its page count and relative to a lot of what’ son the shelf, it’s a great value. (Also, I have a weakness for Arcade). It’s not the only Avengers Academy book out this week; Avengers Academy #13 features the heroes going to their prom in a story by Christos Gage, Bily Tan and Sean Chen. I haven’t read any of the series yet, but everyone who has seems to like it.

Bat Boy: The Complte Weekly World News Comic Strip by Peter Bagge: Just what the title says. This 100-page, $18 harcover collects Bagge’s newspaper-style gag strip featuring one of the late, great supermarket tabloid’s most famous cover boys.

Cyclops Vol. 1: This $20, 115-page hardcover collects the first two instalmments of the futuristic sci-fi action story from the The Killer team of Luc Jacamon and Matz. I’m not a fan of the genre and didn’t really transcend that genre, so it wasn’t really my cup of tea, although you may like different tea than me. The art and production were certainly sensational, and our own David Pepose gave it rather high marks on the main page’s Best Shots review feature.
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I feel somewhat conflicted by Blog@’s image-importing ability being felled by e-goblins for weeks now (For the record, we can still put up images, but not in a way that would do any favors for my already questionable drawings; controlling the sizes is a dicey proposition). On the one hand, I like having cartoons at the top of these columns to differentiate them from all the other columns about new releases each week and because it spared me writing any kind of introduction and because it gave me a legitimate reason to Google Image search, say, Godzilla or Jack Kirby Thor drawings for an hour and then scribble on index cards for an afternoon.

On the other hand, just writing a column and not illustrating it as well is so goddam easy, and it leaves me with plenty of free time to pursue my hobbies—like Google Image searching Godzilla and Jack Kirby Thor drawings and then scribbling away an afternoon.

Anyway! Here are some things that you should be able to find at your comic shop this week, things that look like they might be good, or might be bad or that I might just want to talk about…

Action Comics #900: To celebrate the 900th issue of the longest-running serial comic book, DC comics has called in…a bunch of dudes from outside of comics? Okay, I’m just being a jerk—television and prose writer Paul Cornell, director Richard Donner, TV producer Damon Lindelof and screenwriter David Goyer all have comics work on their resumes, ranging from Donner’s co-scripting of a few Superman arcs with Geoff Johns and  Lindelof’s single miniseries Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk to Cornell’s current run on Action and Goyer’s run on JSA.

They’re all among the many creators contributing to this $6, just shy of 100-pages anniverarys issue. The main event is Cornell and artist Pete Woods’ conclusion to their Lex Luthor-starring story arc that’s been running through the book while Superman’s been…unavailable, a story also containing art by Dan Jurgens, Rags Morales, Ardian Syaf, Jamal Igle and Gary Frank. The book will also feature work from Ryan Sook, Miguel Sepulveda, RB Silva, Geoff Johns, Paul Dini and Brian Stelfreeze. Regardless of the source, that’s a lot of talent for a single purchase.

DC breaks down who’s doing what here and shows off a few pages here.

Brightest Day #24: It’s a big week for big DC books. This double-sized, $5 issue is the conclusion of the biweekly, year-long series that spun out of Blackest Night. As someone who read the first 23 issues with interest, I’m hoping we get a satisfying conclusion, but the existence of a miniseries titled Brightest Day Aftermath and concerning itself with a major plot point not introduced until the twenty-third issue doesn’t give me a lot of hope. The publisher’s other biweekly, year-long series Justice League: Generation Lost, which shipped on the weeks Brightest Day didn’t, also sees release this week (wait, how did that happen?), in another 48-page, $5 special.

Bulletproof Coffin: I haven’t heard a single bad thing about David Hine and Shaky Kane’s miniseries from anyone who’s read it and talked about it yet, so I’m assuming it’s pretty good. Trade-waiters like myself can find out this week, when the $18, 200-page collection arrives in comics shops.

Genius, Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth: Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell’s eagerly-awaited image-filled, $50, 330-page hardcover biography of the highly influential and greatly admired artist will focus on Toth’s life through the early 1960s, while a second volume will pick up from there. This is no dobut going to be at the top of a lot of comics fans’ shopping lists this week.
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Bad news for fans of lame jokes and lamer colored pencil-on-index card art fans. I haven’t been able to connect to the place on the Internet where my computer sends scanned images into Blog@, either because something’s wrong with my computer, or something’s wrong with Blog@, or my computer and Blog@ are fighting, so this week’s installment is nothing but words, words and more words.  On the plus side, there’s a lot more words devoted to more books.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

Astro City: Shining Stars: Here’s the latest chunk of Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson’s superhero comics, including miniseries Astra, Silver Agent and one-shot Beautie. It’s a $25, 210-page hardcover.

Dark Horse Presents #1: After a stint online, the venerable Dark Horse anthology returns to print, now in the form of an $8, 80-page, full-color, ad-free, bound format. This first issue will include work from (deep breath) Frank Miller, Harlan Ellison, Howard Chaykin, Neal Adams, Richard Corben, Carla Speed McNeil, Michael T. Gilbert, Paul Chadwick, Randy Stradley, David Chelsea and others. In other words, not something you wouldn’t want to take a look at. Preview here.

DC Comics Presents: Ninja Boy #1: DC’s line of $8, almost-trades saves another property from the back-issue bins. This was a one-time WildStorm property, written and drawn by Ale Garza, with co-writer Allen Warner and co-artist Dan Norton. The 2001, six-issue miniseries was remarkably manga-inspired,not simply in the accents of Garza’s art-work, but in the premise and characters as well. That premise? Cheeky ninja kid has action-comedy adventures. I remember trying and not really liking the book much, but it’s certainly interesting in it’s attempt to process familiar elements from Japanese pop culture into something American, regardless of how successful it was. This book will include the first four issues. For a more traditional offering from DC in the same format, this week also sees the release of DC Comics Presents: Legion of Super Heroes—Legion of the Damned.That was a millennial storyline by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, who have since gone on to become fairly synonymous with space-faring superhero adventures, and Olivier Coipel. The solicitation on dccomics.com is rather forthcoming about why this one’s being published like this now: “With the hardcover collection of LEGION LOST coming in June, DC Comics collects the tale that led into that space-spanning epic”

Dungeons & Dragons Classics Vol. 1: I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this on Blog@ before, although I know I’ve discussed it repeatedly on my own blog, Every Day Is Like Wednesday, but the old DC/TSR Advanced Dungons & Dragons comic book was the one that got me into comics, setting me on a slippery slope that—greased with Eastman and Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Neil Gaiman and company’s Sandman and a few Alan Grant/Norm Breyfogle Bat-comics— led me to become the well-adjusted, comic book-obsessed, destitute blogger and mini-comic maker I am today. IDW has repackaged and republished it, along with the previously released DC/TSR Forgotten Realms. This first volume of AD&D comics will collect the first eight issues of the series, all drawn by Jan Duursema (she drew every issue of the series, save two fill-ins from Tom Mandrake), and written by first Michael Fleisher and then Dan Mishkin. Fleisher’s arc, comprising the first four issues, is rather unremarkably straightforward, but starting with Mishkin’s first arc, the book improves greatly, moving away from strict adherence to sword and sorcery business into something a bit more interesting. The second half of this book, for example, is the story “The Spirit of Myrrth,” in which our heroes are hired by the ghost of a dead jester to secure a powerful magical joke scroll before the city’s Jester’s Guild gets it and creates a giant jester skeleton to—well, it’s pleasingly strange, is what I’m trying to say.  The trade is a $20, 200-page trade paperback.  For IDW’s original exploitation of the D&D license, you can check out the publisher’s Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Sun #4 and Dungeons and Dragons #6, also on sale this week. Those are both $4 books.

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Okay, I don’t know if it’s actually that heavy or not, but the new Thor By Walter Simonson Omnibus is a big one: It’s 7.8-inches by 11.2-inches, and just under 1200 pages long. For your $125 bucks, you get about 50 issues of Simonson’s Thor, widely regarded as the high point of the title and the character.

Captain America: Fighting Avenger #1: Marvel’s planned all-ages, Marvel Adventures-style series is now a over-sized, 48-page one-shot. Brian Clevinger is a pretty great comic book writer and Gurihiru is a really great comics art team, so why complain about portion size?

The Complete Wendel: Cartoonist Howard Cruse is best known for his 1995 graphic novel Stuck Rubber Baby, which was reprinted by Vertigo last year, but he also produced a comic strip about a young gay man and for The Advocate through much of the 1980s. As the title indicates, this $25, 290-page trade collects the entire run of the comic.

Flash #10: Writer Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul introduce Hot Pursuit and his Cosmic Motorcycle in an issue leading into the upcoming Flashpoint event/story. I guess this book’s running a bit late, given that the cover is of the title-character-posing-before-his-icon-on-a-white-field variety, which the whole DCU line sported back in…January, was it?

G.I. Joe: Cobra Commander Tribute 100-Page Spectacular: This gigantic, $8 special reprints the recent G.I. Joe: Cobra #12, along with reflections and reactions from various characters and reprints of of past Cobra Commander comics. (Exssselent, as the late, great head snake might have said). If you like the sounds of that spectacular Spectacular format, publisher IDW also has an Angel 100-Page Spectacular scheduled, reprinting some of their best Angel comics before the character joins former flame Buffy at Dark Horse Comics.

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The biggest direct market release of the week should be Fear Itself #1, the official kick off of Marvel’s latest line-engulfing crossover story. Unlike the majority of the previous big Marvel crossovers, this one won’t be written by Brian Michael Bendis, but instead by Matt Fraction, with Stuart Immonen providing the pencils and covers (Well, some of the covers, anyway; there should be several for each issue of this). As far as I can make out, the premise seems to have something to do with a pre-Asgardian force referred to as The Serpent giving various Marvel characters giant Thor-like sledgehammers and glowy redesigns, and also making other heroes face their worst fears or something.

At the very least, I imagine the prevalence of hammers in the series will guarantee a great deal more hitting and smashing than either Siege or Secret Invasion managed to muster. It’s a $4, 56-page book.

Aaron and Ahmed: Prose novelist Jay Cantor and Bronx Kill artist James Romberger team for an original graphic novel exploring the question, “What causes terrorism?” It’s a $25, 145-page hardcover from Vertigo’s crime imprint.

Blue Estate #1: This high-concept crime comedy comic sounds like it could be either awesome or terrible—“an alcoholic hit man and a desperate starlet dodge Russian mobsters, Italian gangsters, ninjas, hippies and the LAPD in a scheme to steal millions from a psychotic action movie hero”— but considering some of the artists involved, I’m leaning toward awesome. Screenwriter and artist Viktor Kalvachev write, while Nathan Fox, Toby Cypress, Kalvachev himself and others draw. You can see a preview here.

Blue Exorcist Vol. 1: This new manga series from Viz is about young  Rin Okumura, an orphan boy raised by an exorcist who discovers his real dad is Satan himself. With a background like that, naturally he decides to go to exorcism school. It’s from creator Kato Kazue, and the first volume is 200-pages for $10

BPRD: The Dead Remembered #1: The latest offering from the Mignola-verse is a three-issue miniseries flashing back to a teenage Liz Sherman joining Professor Broom on an investigation in New England. Scott Allie and Mike Mignola write, while Karl Moline and Andy Owens provide the art. You can see a preview here.
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IDW’s Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1 may not be the biggest release of the week, but the title character is certainly the biggest comic book protagonist this week. In this new ongoing series, Godzilla will be in the company of some of his monstrous Toho enemies and allies, and in the capable hands of  writers Tracy Marsh and Eric Powell (the latter of whom is also providing covers) and artist Phil Hester. It’s a $4 book.

I have two nagging questions about the series. First, will Marsh and Powell be able to formulate the perfect onomatopoeia to capture the sounds of Godzilla and his fellow monsters screaming and shooting things at each other? Because the sounds are probably my favorite part of the old movies (In a perfect world, Doug Moench would probably be called in to write just the sound effects, and John Workman to letter them).

The other is where exactly IDW expects to sell this thing, now that Godzilla has gone ahead and destroyed so many comic shops…

The Bronx Kill: The latest Vertgo Crime original graphic novel is from longtime Vertigo writer Peter Milligan, with art by James Romberger. The subject matter? A frustrated author who must find his missing wife wit the help of his police officer father.

Butcher Baker, The Righteous Maker #1: This is Joe Casey and Mike Huddleston’s new series about a superhero coming out of retirement, and it has a hell of a title. Huddleston’s art looks pretty great too, although it doesn’t sound or look like this is going to be a book for everyone. See for yourself here.

Caligula #1: Caligula, David Lapham and Avatar Press—a perfect combination? Sounds like. Lapham writes this historical horror story about one of Rome’s most notorious emperors, here possessed by a demon. German Nobile provides the art. It’s a $4 comic. You can see a preview here.
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I’ve only published one, going-on-two comic books in my entire life, so I’m not exactly an expert in publishing decisions. I’m also not a comics retailer, so I know very little about the business of selling funnybooks to readers in comic shops. My lack of qualifications now clearly established, it still seems to me that releasing Captain America #615.1,  Captain America and Batroc #1, Captain America Comics #1, Captain America: Man Out of Time#5 and Marvel’s Greatest Comics: Captain America: Reborn #1 (not to mention an Essential volume), all on the very same day might be a few Captain America comics too many.

Arctic Marauder: One of the most interesting looking releases of the week, this is Fantagraphics’ representation of Adele Blanc-Sec creator Jacques Tardi’s 1972 Jules Verne-esque, Edwardian era “icepunk” adventure. You can learn more about it, and read a preview of it here. 

Batman Incorporated #4, Batman: The Dark Knight #2: The two best-selling Batman books, Grant Morrison’s franchise flagship and David Finch’s auter take, both show up on the same week, after unfortunate, difficult to understand delays (Morrison works with a different artist every three pages or so on his Batman work, and if Finch didn’t have two books in the can, why launch his book when they did?). In Batman Inc, Morrison and artist yanick Paquette send Batman back to Gotham to team-up with Batwoman; he’s probably going to break the news to her that her solo book is pretty much never going to happen (Check out the online solicitation for laughs, though—”And don’t miss the first issue of BATWOMAN’s new monthly series, on sale this month!”) In Finch’s book, Batman broods while looking at an unconscious lady’s breasts, while a giant Penguin looks on (Er, I’m just guessing by the cover).

Bookhunter: Jason Shiga’s critically acclaimed 2007 original graphic novel about a guy who hunts books is offered again. It’s a  $15, 145-page book, and shouldn’t require too much hunting to find. In fact, I imagine it will just be sitting there waiting for you at any of your finer local comic shops.
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No doubt inspired by the upcoming X-Men: First Class movie, Iceman and Angel #1 is a First Class-like one-shot featuring work from first class writer Brian Clevinger and first class artist Juan Doe, and thus isn’t to be missed. Sealing the deal is the antagonist the two mutant superheroes are dealing with—Goom, the Thing From Planet X!

DC Comics Presents: Batman—Irresistable: This one should probably be called DC Comics Presents: Tom Peyer and Tony Harris, since the creative team seems to be the unifying factor in the two stories collected in this $8 almost-trade. The title story is a three-issue, 2003 Legends of The Dark Knight story arc, and to round it out they stuck in Hourman #22, which featured fill-in art from Harris and the Young Justice team looking up their Happy Harbor neighbor Hourman and failing to find him.

DC Universe Legacies #10: This is the tenth and final issue of the series chronicling the history of the DC Universe, as it supposedly stands after the continuity-bending events of Infinite Crisis, 52 and Final Crisis. So trade-waiters like me are now almost done waiting (The hardcover is due in August, according to the latest solicitations). So, what was the verdict readers? Was this any good or no? The old-civilian-remembers-continuity-like-history schtick from JLA: Incarnations and Marvels doesn’t seem like the most compelling premise. The main page has a preview here.

Egg Story: This is a comic book by artist J. Marc Schmidt about some eggs trying to escape the refrigerator. It sounds delightful.

Fear Itself: Book of the Skull #1: Ed Brubkaer and Scot Eaton kick off Marvel’s next big crossover event story with this special prologue one-shot, involving the Red Skull and his daughter. There’s a preview of it on the main page. It’s a $4 book.

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Is it just me, or does this seem like a fairly light week for comic books? Or, at least, terribly noteworthy comic books? Please let me know if it’s just me. Otherwise, here’s what jumped out at me this week…

Comic Book Comics #5: The Action Philosophers team of Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey finally roll out the latest issue of their series about the history of comics. This one’s the “All-Lawsuit Issue!” and features some of the greatest battles in comics history, including DC vs. Fawcett, Disney vs. The Air Pirates and Jack Kirby vs. Marvel. Also featuring Miracle Man, Dan DeCarlo, Steve Gerber,  Howard the Duck, Josie and the Pussycats,  and the Creator’s Bill of Rights. Whew! You can check out a preview here.

The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art: Jerry Robinson’s 1974 classic has been reworked and updated to cover the medium from its orgins to today for this $40, 300-page, nine-by-twelve-inch hardcover from Dark Horse. Preview here.

Girl Comics: Marvel’s 2010 stunt miniseries featuring all-woman creators on every single aspect of the book is finally released in trade format. So if you were waiting for the trade, you can stop waiting now. It’s a $16, 120-page book, and features a who’s who list of contributors, including Ann Noncenti, Jill Thompson, Collen Coover, Lea Hernandez, Carla Speed McNeil, Trina Robbins, Faith Erin Hicks, Stephanie Buscema, Ming Doyle and plenty of others.

Legion of Super Villains #1: Artist Francis Portela joins writer Paul Levitz for a $5, double-sized oneshot featuring Legion of Superheroes bad guys. Portela was the artist for that all-villains, “MODOK’s 11” miniseries Marvel published a few years back. I liked his art on that. I guess he’s building a reputation as The Guy To Hire To Draw Villain Books…?
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When writer Geoff Johns first introduced Orange Lantern Larfleeze to his Green Lantern comics,  Hal Jordan kept comparing the character to a Muppet, eventually settling on Gonzo as the specific Muppet that Larfleeze reminded him of.

I don’t see it visually, but perhaps Larfleeze’s voice sounds like Gonzo’s. This Wednesday provides a good opportunity to compare and contrast yourself, as Gonzo stars in Muppet Sherlock Holmes, which gets a trade collection, and Larfleeze guest-stars in Lex Luthor’s Action Comics #898.

Ayn Rand’s Anthem: The Graphic Novel: Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey’s Action Philosopher and  the star of Benjamin Frisch’s Ayn Rand’s Adventures in Wonderland returns to comics! Sorta! Writer Charles Santino and artist Joe Staton adapt the controversial thinker’s most student-friendly book into a $15, 145-page graphic novel.

DC Comics Presents: Batman—Conspiracy #1: This edition of DC’s $8, almost-trades reprint program is essentially a showcase of the work of artist J.H. Williams III. Williams illustrated the title story, a three-issue, 1996 arc from Legends of the Dark Knight, written by Doug Moench and inked by Mick Gray. The collection also includes the Williams-illustrated Detective Comics #821, the first issue of Paul Dini’s run on the title.

Deadpool #33, Deadpool Corps #11 and Deadpool Team-Up #884: Great scheduling, guys!

Feeding Ground #4: I don’t really care for this Archaia series about…well, something about werewolves and border crossings and an evil corporation, but there’s definitely an appealing weirdness to the artwork. And there’s no denying that it has the best covers. Check out the cover for the fourth issue, and a preview, here.
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It’s been all the rage in Hollywood for the last few years, but 3D hasn’t really made its way back to comics in a big way since the shoot-everything-in-3D trend got going at the major movie studios. Well, it looks like Image Comics is going to fill the void, with their Captain Wonder 3D special. It’s a $5, 48-page one-shot from Brian Haberlin and Philip Tan, which includes “special” 3D glasses and promises “The Most Advanced 3D Ever In Print.” Preview here.

Amazing Spider-Man #654.1: Dan Slott and Paulo Siqueira present a weirdly-numbered, but good-jumping-on point for the Spider-Man series.

Detective Comics Classics: This is a random little 50-page, $6 compilation of Batman comics from the late sixties and mid-seventies. Included are stories from TEC #377, #384, and #385, as well Batman Family #1.That means work from Gil Kane, Mike Grell, Murphy Anderson, Gardner Fox, Elliot S. Maggin, Frank Springer and others. Apparently this was put together to sell with a  boxed set of toys, but is now being made available sans toys.

Finder: Voice: Carla Speed McNeil’s acclaimed science fiction series gets an original 210-page, $20 graphic novel. Dark Horse plans a Finder Library collection to follow. Preview here.

Hawkeye: Blind Spot #1: Marvel has apparently decided to go the series-of-miniseries route with Hawkeye comics after the cancellation of Hawkeye and Mockingbird, as writer Jim McCann follows that and Widowmaker up with a new four-issue mini.

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Television’s most porous protagonist comes to comics, this time in his very own comic book, thanks to his creator Stephen Hillenburg and comics editor Chris Duffy (former editor of Nickelodeon Magazine). The bi-monthly SpongeBob Comics will feature a who’s who of contributors, including James Kochalka, Graham Annable, Hilary Barta, Jacob Chabot and Gregg Schigiel. That’s a heck of a creative line-up, so here’ shoping SpongeBob’s book lasts longer than some certain other underwater comics characters’ books usually do.

All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold #4: Each issue of Sholly Fisch and Rick Burchett’s new volume of the all-ages Batman team-up title has been better than the previous one, so I’m looking forward to seeing how long they can keep that streak going. Hopefully at least one more issue, as this one’s a Valentine’s Day related issue, featuring Batman and Wonder Woman getting married.

Batman and Robin #20: After a three-issue delay, the previously announced Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason creative team shows up for the official beginning of their run.

Cinderella: Fables Are Forever #1: Chris Roberson and Shawn McManus’ Fables spin-off must have done fairly well for Vertigo, which explains the launch of a new six-issue mini by the team.

DC Comics Presents: Wonder Woman: This installment of one of DC’s almost-trade collections contains a few issues form the beginning of writer Erik Luke and pencil artist Yanick Paquette’s run on Wonder Woman—including a two-part story entitled “Trinity” and featuring Batman and Superman. This week also sees the release of DC Comics Presents: Green Lantern: Fear Itself, a DC Comics Presents reprinting of a 1999 original graphic novel by Ron Marz and Brad Parker, set in three different eras and featuring three different Lanterns. (By the way, if that sub-title sounds familiar, Don MacPherson notes that Marvel’s been promoting the hell out of it, having attached it to their upcoming crossover event storyline thingee, in one of those strange coincidences the company’s sometimes share). Both books are 95-pages, and cost $8.

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This Wednesday, New Comic Book Day isn’t the only holiday being celebrated. Should you find yourself reliving February 2 over and over again, Bill Murray-style, then here are some different comics  you can check out during your endlessly repeating trips to your local comic shop…

Darkwing Duck Classics: I feel weird referring to comics from the early ‘90s as “classics,” but probably just because it makes me feel old. Boom Studios, home of the current Darkwing comics, is collecting Darkwing’s original comics adventures in a $13, 160-page trade featuring work from Brian Swenlin, Doug Gray, John Blair Moore, Chris Allan and others.

DC Universe Online Legends #1: DC’s two bi-weekly series Brightest Day and Justice League: Generation Lost are just starting to reach their respective climaxes, and the publisher already has their new bi-weekly series ready to launch. This one will apparently be based on the premise of the big DC Universe Online MMO computer game thingee, which involves Lex Luthor and Brainiac teaming up to beat up the superheroes in the future or something. It’s co-written by Marv Wolfman and Tony Bedard, and the first issue will feature pencil art by Howard Porter. Here’s hoping it’s more exciting than Ed Benes’ covers for the series would lead one to believe!

Invincible Iron Man #500.1: Hey, remember how Marvel was talking about going out there and promoting these “.1”  books to folks outside of the usual direct market audience? Did they end up doing any thing like that? Like, TV commercials, skywriting, interns with sandwich boards? Anything? Well, you probably already know all about Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca’s Invincible Iron Man, and that issue #500.1 will be a special done-in-one story offering a good jumping on point to the series, so I don’t suppose there’s much point in telling you about it, is there?

Doctor Strange: From The Marvel Vault #1: I confess complete confusion as to what exactly this comic is, particularly why it was in the Marvel vault, and why it is being taken out of the Marvel vault right this moment. It’s a 22-page story about Doctor Strange’s first night in his Bleecker Street brownstone, it’s written by Roger Stern and its drawn by Neil Vokes.

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If you’ve consumed any media today, up to and including this very blog, then you’ve probably already heard that this month’s issue of Fantastic Four is the one in which one of the four dies (or is it “dies” when a comic book star of that stature dies?), and depending on which media you’ve consumed, you may even know who it is; the Associated Press story left the name out of the headline, but I’ve already seen it appear in a few other headlines online while perusing non-comics sites this morning.

This issue is also the one Marvel was shipping a little early and allowing retailers to sell a little earlier, today instead of Wednesday, although I’m sure the death of this particular character won’t drive the sort of death of Captain America feeding frenzy and, anyway, wouldn’t the issue have to come out before the announcement via the press in order to capitalize on both fan expectation and media-driven interest?

(Here is where I make spoiler-ish allusions).

Having yet to read the book, I’m not sure how exactly The Character Who Dies will die, but I’m hoping The Character is accidentally killed by The Character’s fellow FF member in a fit of rage, after one of The Character’s many mean pranks and insults directed at The Character’s teammate over the decades.

At any rate: Fantastic Four #587 is by writer Jonathan Hickman and pencil artist Steve Epting, and it costs $4.

It will no doubt be the most talked-about book this week, but it’s not the only book this week. Here are some more comics that come out this week…

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How much of a futurist is Tony Stark? Well, his comic book Invincible Iron Man has vaulted up to #500 this month, despite the fact that #33 shipped just last month. This big, fat, $5, 100-page anniversary (?) issue is by the regular team of Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca.

Age of Reptiles Omnibus Vol. 1: Hollywood storyboard artist-turned-comics creator Ricardo Delgado’s epic dinosaur dramas are beautiful to look at and thrilling to read. Dark Horse has three of them, the original Age of Reptiles, Age of Reptiles: The Hunt and Age of Reptiles: The Journey—into a $25, 400-page, digest-sized collection. You can see a preview here.

Fraggle Rock 2 #1: Archaia’s launches a new round of Fraggle Rock comics, this first issue featuring work from Grace Randolph, Chris Lie, Jake Forbes, Mark Simmons, Katie Cook and others. The format remains that of the square-ish Mouse Guard comics…and there’s even a cover by Mouse Guard’s David Petersen. It’s a $3.95 book. You can see a preview here.

Jurassic Park: Devils in the Desert #1: IDW launches thier next four-issue Jurassic Park miniseries, this one written and illustrated by John Byrne. Byrne and dinosaurs sounds like a pretty good combination to me (There’s a mean joke to be made in here somewhere I’m sure, but I don’t wan to make it). It will, of course, be a $4 book. IDW’s original Jurassic Park mini is also available this week. Jurassic Park Vol. 1: Redemption collects Bob Schreck and Nate Van Dyke’s series in a $20, 120-page package…just look for the Frank Miller drawing of a dinosaur eating someone on the cover.

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This is your last chance to read Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee’s critically acclaimed, classical take on Marvel’s Thor character in a new single-issue format, as this week’s Thor: The Mighty Avenger #8 is the last issue of the series.

What is the best way to honor the cancellation of one of the best superhero comics of the past year or so? I plan on rolling the last issue up, setting it in the little wooden viking ship I’ve been fashioning since Marvel first announced the end of the series, and then setting it in my bathtub and lighting it afire.

I think it’s what Thor would have wanted.

That’s not the only reason to be sad this week, however, as it looks like a relatively weak week at the old comic shop. Here are a few books of note I noticed…

BPRD: Hell on Earth: Gods #1: Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis keep it up. Preview here.

Daredevil Reborn #1: Andy Diggle and David Gianfelice kick off the next phase of Daredevil’s story post-Shadowland in this $4 one-shot, featuring a neat-o cover by Jock. You can check out a preview here. Meanwhile, T’Challa the Black Panther continues to keep ol’ Horn Head’s subtitle and numbering warm for him in Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #514, by David Liss and Francesco Francavilla.

Hack/Slash: Me Without You: This one-shot features the origin of Vlad, Cassie Hack’s slasher-slashing sidekick. Creator Tim Seeley writes, artist Daniel Leister draws, and the main page has a nine-page preview you can see by clicking here.

Infinite Vacation #1: Suddenly-everywhere writer Nick Spencer and artist Christian Ward team for a high-concept love story about a world where alternate realities exist and are easily accessible, allowing people to buy and trade for variations of themselves. Publisher Image Comics compares it to Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind and Inception. You can start judging that assessment for yourself with this preview.

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