Comic Book Resources

The Dr. Strange - The Oath trade is supposed to come out this week. It's BKV and it's supposed to be incredible (I haven't read it yet myself) so I'll be checking it out for sure.

Other than that, you might want to check out the last Captain America issue if you're at all interested in the fall out from that whole dying thing he did.

Criminal #6 starts a new arc with new characters, although it is sort of tied into the first one, but I doubt it's vital to have read the first five issues.

Also, buy Ant-Man.

Yeah buy Ant-Man. Wisdom is also pretty good but its 6 of 6, you could get it to see if you want the trade I supose.

As I recall, Greg read the Dr. Strange mini when it came out. If not, though, definitely pick up that trade eventually.

As for a single issue, I'm gonna go with the Friendly Neighborhood Spidey annual. I know you like Peter David (and who in their right mind wouldn't), plus this issue's apparently a Sandman story, and I'm crossing my fingers that it'll finally undo that retarded Wizard/brainwashing story John Byrne did to make Sandy a villain again.

I would reccommend either Hellblazer #232 or Criminal #6. Diggle's supposed to be establishing more of the direction Constantine's going to be taking this arc as opposed to the first arc, which was mostly just reestablishing the character after how badly Mina botched the series for a year, and Criminal is worth buying in single issues as opposed to trades just for the back material.

Glad to see you're checking out Gutsville, it's by far the book I'm most excited about this week.

Bah! I have been waiting for months to recommend Gutsville instead of my usual tedious cries of "2000AD" and you're already buying it!!

As it's the only thing I'll be buying this month, I can't help you any further.

I got nothin.'

Nice to see Gutsville's coming out. I should pick it up.

And yeah. Cover Girl #2 already. Wow.

Nothing compelling for you this week, but kudos on adding Legacy to your pulls! I'm waiting-for-the-trade with Criminal, too, since the first arc was solid but not an essential monthly read.

And thanks for the Frazier-on-Gutsville tip. Have no idea what it is, but I'll give it look because I really like his work.

Michael, thanks for reminding me about Dr. Strange. Yeah, I did get it in single issues, and the trade is certainly worth it.

I guess I would have to suggest Captain America...mostly because there isn't much else that works as a jumping on point. Cap works because I'm pretty sure you heard what happened to him.

A slim week, indeed. The only thing I'm picking up* is Birds of Prey. I'd suggest that for you, but as I recall, you read last week and didn't much like it. (I didn't find it too, too talky, although that running gag with the penis-size joke was really lame. Simone's normally so much wittier than that.) Anyway, to be fair, last month brought the middle part of a three-parter; the big brawl between the Birds and the Six is gonna be this issue. So I'm sure this one will rock. Barda versus Knockout! That's good stuff.

Meanwhile, Greg, I like to think of this exercise as you being the Canary in my comic-book coal mine. Will you pick up the new F.Four to see how the new lineup is working, and assess how McDuffie's doing? That'd be swell.

* Well, plus Gutsville now if I can find it. Great tip, thanks!
Btw, did you ever pick up the two-part Robin tale featuring Klarion and Teekl, with Irving art?

Hey!!!

You forgot FELL: Feral CITY tpb & Newuniversal # 6.

Miss either at Ellis' WRATH!!!

I'm getting this week: American Virgin, Birds of Prey, Countdown, Spirit, Dynamo 5, Godland, Madman Atomic, Criminal, and Wisdom. Another huge week. Damn.

I'll recommend either American Virgin or Birds of Prey. Go with Virgin.

WISDOM #6!!! Each issue has been more or less self-contained, and each issue has been a lot of fun.

Birds of Prey - possibly some movement on the Resurrection of Ice plot?

Captain America #26 - How can you NOT buy this?

Tom - I mentioned Fell! I bought the single issues, so I'm not getting the trade. But I mentioned it!!!!

Criminal #6, because Brubaker can do no wrong... unless he's writing X-Men.

Supergirl and the Legion, just in time to wave goodbye to Waid and Kitson.

My vote goes solidly behind Criminal #6. I thought the first arc was really impressive and Bru is the type of writer that gets better as he goes along picking up momentum.

Otherwise I'd recommend Shadowpact #12, which starts a new arc for the very off-beat team. The book is consistently solid, but I'm a huge Willingham fan. Its one of the quirker books out there, as it straddles general superhero stories with oddball mystics thrown in. It's one of those great "Tier 3" books (not a major title like Batman, but not quite secondary like Teen Titans...along the same lines as Checkmate and Catwoman)that is criminally underread.

Captain America #26 could be great as well. I look forward to seeing Bru build the book around his supporting cast now that Cap is out of the picture.

Get the trade anyway and make Ellis a rich and happy guy!

Since you're getting the 2 comics I'm getting (the Spirit and Madman...now, that'll be a great crossover if ever done!), I'm gonna make 2 suggestions:

1. Savage Dragon Archives vol. 2- I remember those old Dragon comics were lots of fun. One of the better comics during the 90s speculation boom.

2. Uncle Scrooge #366- I hardly see an all ages comic reviewed here. Try something new and fun. I used to get Scrooge, but once Gemstone and Geppi cancelled their cheaper books and boosted the price of these, I had to drop it.

My 2 suggestions...that's all

American Virgin - always kinda interesting even at it's worst, and pretty damn cool story idea to start wiht.

Birds of Prey - I am enjoying the Secret 6/BOP interactions and Simone is a steady writer.

Shadowpact - good time to pick up the book as new story starts and it has Detective Chimp. Plus a lot of other DC faves such as Ragman and Blue Devil.

Finally I recommend going back and getting all the Coyote Trades as the Steve Englehart and Steve Leialoha combo was good and the follow up artists did a good job as well. One of my favorite books.

I'd go with Criminal #6. If you end up waiting for the trade then you will miss the excellent back-up features at the end of the book.

I'd pick up that Homeless Channel GN. I think it's pretty good.

But, then again, I'm biased.

(Trailer and thirty page preview at my website.)

Fell and Casanova are on my list as well.

I will also point out that the Casanova trade comes out, and you really should get it, and the Fell trade comes out, and you really should get it. I’m also torn on Criminal - I may simply skip to the trades, because I wasn’t overly impressed with the first arc and might wait to see what people are saying about it.

That was pretty much what I was gonna suggest. Except I enjoyed the first arc of Criminal, but then again, I read it in trade so I can't disagree with you on waiting for the trade. That's what I'll do too.

The new MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN may be he best (the only?) chance to see an heroic Tony Stark right now. Not just that, but it's written by Fred Van Lente! YAY!

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

Hey folks - thanks for the bigging-up of Gutsville.

Frazer and I are disgustingly proud of it, and therefore appropriately terrified of its flying-off-shelves performance. Always gratifying to find folks looking forward to seeing the goods.

For those who haven't yet heard about it, you can find out a lot more here: http://www.gutsville.com

Be sure to check out the "previews" section, for some gorgeous Irving artwork, and the "about" section for a taster of What It's All About...

Ta!

-Si Spurrier
(Writer - Gutsville)

the hard part here is that with each one of these, the caliber of the comics we suggest to you had to inevitably go down a bit.

For instance, Shadowpact is a perfectly fun comic. Some issues are even actively good, but I wouldn't put at at the same level as Blue Beetle or some of the other things we've suggested before. Wisdom's good but you'd be better off getting the trade. I don't remember if you read the Dr. Strange mini or not.

honestly, my suggestions would be Fantastic Four. It's as fun as it's been in a while. McDuffie is a good writer, and while it's in the midst of an arc, you'll catch up quick, and it's all about the best new character Marvel debuted in the last ten years, Gravity.

And then Cap, which is Brubaker writing a very good comic. And it's also a decent jumping on point after last issue.

I guess the only thing I can recommend is FN Spidey Annual #1.

You can always get the DAILY BUGLE JUNE NEWSPAPER...

I forgot to answer you, Rebis. I never did get those issues of Robin. I never saw the second issue, but thanks for reminding me. Now I have to go dig them up!

I know it's late, but Birds of Prey kicked ass. While Barda and Knockout do throw down like they were back on Apokolips, it's a small part of a huge six-on-six battle. Also, there's Rag Doll (Ragdoll?), whom Gail Simone obvious loves to write.

While BoP was the only issue I bought, I'd also recommend Fantastic Four, because McDuffie brings in something that was alluded to briefly in Priest's run on Black Panther. You think Dwayne would go for a Johnny Storm/Kasper Cole teammup? Oh, yeah...there's Gravity, who's getting so popular, his zombie variant debuted a few weeks back.

y vote goes solidly behind Criminal #6. I thought the first arc was really impressive and Bru is the type of writer that gets better as he goes along picking up momentum.

You must have missed the second volume of Sleeper then.

It wasn't bad, but it was a far cry from the moral grayness of the first.