So I hope everyone enjoyed Comic Con this year.  I enjoyed it flat on my back and unconscious – which is why this is a week late.  So we have three weeks to cover, so let’s get started here at:

June 31st, 2016

• DC Rebirth: DC Comics has announced several new titles, including:
  • Vigilante: Southland: Looks interesting and touches on a lot going on today.  
  • Hawkman & Adam Strange: I guess we’re just ignoring the Justice League United story?  Excellent.  I can live with that.
  • The Lost Boys II: Because someone must be demanding this… we need to find that person and gag them.
• Marvel NOW!: Marvel has announced several new titles, including:
  • Thanos: Cause every good villain needs an ongoing series to dilute him.
  • Jessica Jones: It’s about time.  Hopefully, Mr. Bendis doesn’t destroy her relationships too much.
  • World of Wakanda: Sure, ok.  I guess.  Why not?
  • Deadpool: Back in Black: Sigh.  Ok.  Cause it’s a thing now.
  • Nova: Richard Rider will return in the newest Nova series.
• Casting News: A bunch of people got cast in the intervening time since I last posed, including:
  • Ian Gomez: Mr. Gomez will be joining Supergirl as a much older Snapper Carr.
  • Floriana Lima: Ms. Lima will be joining Supergirl as Maggie Sawyer.
  • Benedict Samuel: Mr. Samuel will be joining Gotham as Jervis Tetch, aka the Mad Hatter.
  • Chris Wood: Mr. Wood will be joining Supergirl as a surprise character.
  • Gabriel Luna: Mr. Luna will be joining Agents of SHIELD as Robbie Reyes, aka the Ghost Rider.  And his ride will be pretty sweet.
  • Brie Larson: Ms. Larson will be joining the MCU as Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel.  I hope she enjoys fielding questions as to how she feels about the newest plot for a while.
  • Katie Cassidy: Ms. Cassidy joins Mr. Barrowman and Mr. Miller as being able to travel freely between all of the DCCW shows.
  • Elizabeth Debicki: Ms. Debicki will be joining Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 as Ayesha, aka Kismet.
  • Michael B Jordan: Mr. Jordan’s role in Black Panther has been revealed as Erik Killmonger.
  • Kiersey Clemons: Ms. Clemons will be joining the Flash movie as Iris West.
• Trailers: There were a bunch of trailers from the San Diego this year, if you missed them, take a look:
  • Luke Cage:  This looks amazing.
  • Suicide Squad: Please let this be good.  Please?
  • Wonder Woman: Look bright colors!  Action I can follow!  This looks great!
  • Dr. Strange: This is… interesting.  I think I’ll enjoy it, but it looks like the MCU meets the Matrix and I’m not sure how I feel about that.
  • The Flash: The whole Flashpoint thing will probably be like three episodes and we’ll be back in the old universe.
  • Arrow: Hopefully, things get better from here.
  • Justice League: While not really a trailer, it at least looks like a step in the right direction.
• No Power in the ‘Verse: Serenity once more comes to Dark Horse as a limited series.  I hope that something more permanent comes along.  The Firefly universe is begging to be opened up in the same way the Star Trek and Star Wars universes are.
• The Legion of Doom: Old villains will be joining forces to take on the Legends this season.  I have no idea how they are going to get enough scenery for these guys to chew through.
• Inhumans vs X-Men: Just in case you weren’t tired of heroes fighting heroes, Marvel has you covered with the newest attempt to make conflict in the MU.  How much you want to bet all of the mutants are secretly Inhumans?

 

Archie Comics
Dark Horse Comics
DC Comics
Image Comics
Marvel Comics
Valiant Entertainment

 

Vision #9
By Tom King with art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta and Jordie Bellaire
This book is phenomenal.  If you’re not reading it you should absolutely be.  Less of superhero book and more a horror story set in a suburban area that happens to star the Vision.  The pace of the book is good, slow but not meandering.  It moves the plot forward with each book, giving you more and more information, building to the moment where the Vision finally breaks.  It’s a masterful character study and in this issue we find the Victor Mancha is an addict.  And has been for some time.  It’s a fantastic story and one I highly recommend.  Mr. King brings a sense of growing horror to the book and Mr. Walta’s art adds to everything.

 

Archie #10 (Archie)
By Mark Waid with art by Veronica Fish
HERO
Man, if you had told a year ago, Archie would be one of the books I look forward to each month, I would have laughed in your face.  But this book is great.  I got to the end and was disappointed that it ended.  I wanted more.  I wanted to know the rest of the story and I didn’t want to wait.  And I think that the lipstick incident is coming close to the surface again.  I love the work Mr. Waid is doing here and I hope he continues it for years to come.

Civil War II #3 and #4
By Brian Michael Bendis with art by David Marquez and Justin Ponsor
VILLAIN
DROP POINT
Man, there are so many things that bother me about this book and how it depicts the characters  that I could fill an entire column on it.  And maybe once it’s down, I’ll take it to task, but for now, I’ll just hit some highlights.  We’ll start with issue #3 and how stupid it was to take the ENTIRE superhero community to talk to a guy with anger management and anxiety issues?  This is the opposite of intelligent and the only reason they do it is because Mr. Bendis needs to kill Banner with Hawkeye.  Mr. Bendis then glosses over the trial – which he could use to have a real debate over this issue instead of the soundbites we’ve been getting – and puts us at the end of issue, with the verdict being read, but not revealed.  Issue #4 picks up with the trial over and Hawkeye acquitted in less time than it takes me to get to work.  Tony then tells what we knew all along – Ulysses is giving us a possible future.  This isn’t new – Jesus, Destiny from the X-Men books had the same flipping powers.  Hell, Tony even built a machine that could do this at one point.  And it’s here that we learn that Carol Danvers – Captain Marvel, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, a.k.a. Binary, leader of S.W.O.R.D. and one of Marvel’s premiere female heroes – has become the villain of this story. She was halfway there before, but it’s here that Mr. Bendis completely makes her the bad guy.    Because she’s holding a person that didn’t fulfill Ulysses’s prophecy and she knows it.   And it’s wrong that Mr. Bendis did this to her character because it feels out of character for her.  Just as it felt out of character for Tony during the first Civil War when they made him the villain.  And it’s not going to get better.  Because like the first Civil War – the heroes will keep fighting for a time (long after the series is done) and the wrong hero will “win”.  This is it for me though.  I’m out on this one.

 

Captain Kid #1 (AfterShock): This book begs the question why wouldn’t you just stay in the superhero body?
Captain Marvel #7 (Marvel): Well, we’ve done this dance before – at least the villain hero is being given a S.W.O.R.D. instead of a S.H.I.E.L.D.
Daredevil #9 (Marvel): It’s a good thing Spider-Man was around to help his oldest and most trusted colleague as the dynamic here really saved the book.
Detective Comics #936 & 937 (DC): I’m in love with this team concept.  I think it’s the most fun the Bat-books had been for awhile.
Justice League #1 (DC): Once more, I’m underwhelmed as the “flagship” book of DCU.  They really need to make this more than a disaster movie.
New Avengers #14 (Marvel): Now this is how to do an Avengers book.
New Super-Man #1 (DC): This could be interesting, but I really wish the reporter had a different name.
Nightwing: Rebirth #1 (DC): This was a lot of fun.  As much as I enjoyed Grayson, it’s nice to have Dick back in the blue and black.
The Wolverine #10 (Marvel): This was fantastic – I haven’t had this much fun with a Wolverine book in years.  Though I kind of wish S.H.I.E.L.D. would have stayed out of it.

 

Action Comics #959 & #960 (DC); Batgirl #01 (DC); Batgirl and Birds of Prey #1 (DC); Batman #3 (DC); Betty & Veronica #1 (Archie); Black Widow #5 (Marvel); Civil War: Gods of War #2 (Marvel); Darth Vader #23 (Marvel); Doctor Fate #14 (DC); The Dresden Files: Wild Card #4 (Dynamite); Faith #1 (Valiant); Future Quest #3 (DC); Hal Jordan and Green Lantern Corps: Rebirth #1 (DC); Hal Jordan and Green Lanterns #1 (DC); Green Lanterns #3 (DC); Legends of Tomorrow #5 (DC); Letter 44 #26 (Oni Press); The Mighty Thor #9 (Marvel); Ms. Marvel #9 (Marvel); New Avengers #13 (Marvel); Nightwing #1 (DC); Power Man and Iron Fist #6 (Marvel); Scooby Apocalypse #3 (DC); Spider-Man #6 (Marvel); Star Wars #21 (Marvel); Superman #3 (DC); Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #60 (IDW); The Hellblazer #1 (DC); The Totally Awesome Hulk #9 (Marvel); The Ultimates #9 (Marvel); Wonder Woman #2 & #3 (DC); X-Men ‘92 #5 (Marvel)

 

Back to the Future: Citizen Brown #3 (IDW); Black Hammer #1 (Dark Horse); Black Panther #4 (Marvel); Civil War II: Choosing Sides #3 (Marvel); Horizon #1 (Image); Mockingbird #5 (Marvel); Thunderbolts #3 (Marvel); Weird Detective #2 (Dark Horse)

 

Aquaman #3 (DC); Astro City #37 (DC); Back to the Future #10 (IDW); Birthright #17 (Image); Civil War II: Amazing Spider-Man #2 (Marvel); Civil War II: Choosing Sides #2 (Marvel); The Dark and Bloody #6 (DC); The Flash #2 & #3 (DC); Green Arrow #3 (DC); Harley Quinn #30 (DC); The Haunted Mansion #5 (Marvel); Suiciders: Kings of HelL.A. #5 (DC); Nova #9 (Marvel); Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers #5 (Boom!); Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Pink #2 (Boom!); Titans #1 (DC)

 

All-New X-Men (Marvel): I get it – you can have the X-Men without the clutter of the last 30 or 40 years.  But it’s time to send them home.  Beyond time.

Deadpool and the Mercs for Money (Marvel): Nope.  Wasn’t in for the mini-series, not in for this.

Red Hood and the Outlaws (DC): Honestly, if it was anyone OTHER than Scott Lobdell, I might stick around, but seriously the man is a horrible writer.  

ROM (Boom!): This was… this was bad.  I mean like seriously bad.  Like killed my interest bad.

Wacky Raceland (DC): This was a good try, but ultimately not a good thing.  I’m out out here before it gets any worse.

 

The Dark and Bloody (DC)
6 Issues
Shawn Aldridge, Scott Godlewski, Patricia Mulvihill

Deathstroke (DC)
20 Issues plus 2 annuals
Tony S. Daniel, James Bonny, Tyler Kirkham, Arif Prianto, Phil Hester, Mirko Colak, Roberto Viacava, Michael Spicer, Paolo Pantalena, Sandu Florea, Tomeu Morey

The Haunted Mansion (Marvel)
5 Issues
Joshua Williamson, Jorge Coelho, Jean-Francois Beaulieu