Recommended Picks for October 28, 2009

Hot Pick!
WOLVERINE PREM HC OLD MAN LOGAN
MARVEL COMICS
Written by MARK MILLAR
Penciled by STEVE MCNIVEN
Covers by STEVE MCNIVEN & MICHAEL TURNER

MARK MILLAR and STEVE MCNIVEN-who last teamed for the monumental CIVIL WAR-bring us the most important WOLVERINE story of the 21st Century. Nobody knows what happened on the night the heroes fell. All we know is that they disappeared and evil triumphed and the bad guys have been calling the shots ever since. What happened to Wolverine is the biggest mystery of all. For 50 years, no one has heard hide nor hair from him…and in his place stands an old man called Logan. A man concerned only about his family. A man pushed to the brink by the HULK GANG. A man forced to help an old friend-the blind archer, HAWKEYE-to drive three thousand miles to secure his family’s safety. Get ready for the ride of your life, Logan. Collecting WOLVERINE #66-72 & WOLVERINE GIANT-SIZE OLD MAN LOGAN.
208 PGS./Parental Advisory …$34.99

Recommended Pick!
FREAKANGELS TP VOL 03 (MR)
AVATAR PRESS INC
Writer: Warren Ellis
Art/Cover: Paul Duffield
Format: Full Color, 144 pages, TPB

Volume Three of award-winning author Warren Ellis’ ongoing web comic, FREAKANGELS, is here! This installment collects the entire third arc of the post-apocalyptic saga into 144 gorgeous, full-color pages. Twenty-three years ago, twelve strange children were born in England at exactly the same moment. Six years later, the world ended. Today, eleven strange 23-year-olds are living in and defending Whitechapel, maybe the last real settlement in flooded London. They’ve made a new friend, and together they successfully defended their home from raiders–but the post-apocalyptic drowned London that the eleven Freakangels survive in is never a safe place, and never surrounded by friends. In FREAKANGELS: VOLUME THREE, the FreakAngels begin to address how to build their community while a serial killer stalks in their midst. Everything almost comes crashing down around them as one of their own breaks their most valued rule. Ellis’ ongoing story of a flooded London is beautifully illustrated in jaw-dropping detail by Paul Duffield, and every page is as much a work of art as it is a compelling and multi-layered story. This third collection is also available as a Hardcover edition with an all-new cover by series artist Paul Duffield that is limited to just 2000 copies, and a Dual Signed Hardcover edition, limited to only 1000 copies, signed by both Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield!

Comics Shipping This Week: October 28, 2009

Shipping This Week: 10/28/2009

Every Monday, PREVIEWSworld.com provides a list of comics, graphic novels and other pop-culture merchandise arriving this week to your local comic shop.

Please check with your retailer for availability, as not all new releases may be on sale in all areas at the same time.

PREVIEWS PUBLICATIONS

SEP090001 PREVIEWS #254 NOVEMBER 2009 PI

DARK HORSE COMICS

AUG090012 ABE SAPIEN ONE SHOT (OSW) $3.50
JUN090066 CREEPY BUTTON 4 PACK $5.99
JUN090069 CREEPY FAN CLUB LARGE BUTTON $5.99
AUG090030 GROO HOGS OF HORDER #1 (OF 4) $3.99
JUN090079 I HEART CREEPY BUTTON $5.99
JUN090038 POP WONDERLAND HC VOL 02 LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD $16.95
AUG090018 PREDATOR #3 (OF 4) $3.50
AUG090051 STAR WARS LEGACY #41 ROGUES END $2.99
APR090134 TARA MCPHERSON BUTTON PACK $5.99
JUL090123 TIM BURTON TOXIC BOY & STAIN PULL TAB JOURNAL $14.99

DC COMICS

OCT080101 AMBUSH BUG YEAR NONE #7 (OF 6) $2.99
JUL090303 APOTHECARIUS ARGENTUM VOL 08 $9.99
AUG090112 ARKHAM REBORN #1 (OF 3) $2.99
AUG090199 ASTRO CITY ASTRA SPECIAL #2 (OF 2) $3.99
AUG090117 BATMAN #692 $2.99
APR090306 BATMAN BLACK & WHITE STATUE ED MCGUINNESS $80.00
JUL090229 BATMAN MONSTERS TP $19.99
AUG090191 BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #10 $2.50
AUG090192 BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #9 $2.50
AUG090086 BLACKEST NIGHT #4 (OF 8) $3.99

Black Salt

Fellow Comicreader Chad Boudreau has a new project coming out, an adapation of the upcoming film Black Salt. The news release states.

BLACK SALT: THE LAST HEROES LEFT

One of our latest acquisitions, Black Salt is a multi-media project in development by Ratti Entertainment Inc. out of Columbus, Ohio. Owen Ratliff, President of Ratti, has created the Black Salt property as an action-packed thriller merging the dark world of modern-day espionage and political intrigue with the even darker world of the ancient, forbidden martial arts of the Shaolin Temple. The Black Salt franchise consists of a motion picture screenplay, a cartoon series, an apparel line, a video game and a comic book series, entitled Black Salt: the Last Heroes Left, currently all in development. Through exclusive arrangement, Blackline Comics will be publishing the Black Salt comic beginning in the fall, as created by writer Chad Boudreau (adapting Owen Ratliff’s screenplay), with artwork by J.C. Grande and colors by Santosh Kumar Rath. For more information about the Black Salt franchise, please visit www.blacksaltfilm.com.

It’s available for download here. It will available for sale in a print edition later in the fall.

Cowboy Ninja Viking #1

Cowboy Ninja Viking #1
Image Comics
(w) A.J. Lieberman
(a) Riley Rossmo
FC 32 pgs w/ ads $3.50 US / Higher in Canada

I haven’t read anything from A.J. Lieberman since his run on the now defunct Batman: Gotham Knights way back in 2006. He wrote also Martian Manhunter series that I didn’t read and it doesn’t look like he’s done much since till now.

His Gotham Knights run was ok – it didn’t seem to leave much of an impression on me because I can’t really recall what I thought of it. His new series is from Image and features an individual who has a multiple personality disorder. Duncan was the experiment in a weapons program that used his MPD to try and create an ultimate weapon out of him. Duncan has three personalities. One is a cowboy, the other is a ninja and the last is a viking. The three personalities all interact with each other in his head. To differentiate them, the word balloons are shaped as a gun, sword and an axe. Also on the art front Rossmo draws Duncan wearing a cowboy hat, ninja mask and a horned viking helmet at various times.

The Marvel Ladies

Greetings fellow Heroclixers!

Click for a larger version

We’ll start with one of my favourites, She-Hulk. Here, I’ve done her REV set (left to right). The Rookie consists of Power Girl’s torso, Polaris’ head, Circe’s face, The Lizard’s jacket, Hyena’s arms, Beast’s legs, and Ultimate Doctor Octopus’ base. This one is very labour intensive, hollowing out the Lizard body to fit in Power Girl’s and then heating a needle to make the ripped look of the white outfit for She-Hulk. The Polaris head was the best to show her uncontrolled look, while the open-mouthed scream of Circe made it appear as if the transformation was happening for the first time.

Batgirl #3

Batgirl #3
DC Comics
(w) Bryan Q. Miller
(a) Lee Garbett, Trevor Scott & Sandra Hope
FC 32 pgs w/ ads $2.99 US / Higher in Canada

I think I’ve been fair enough to give this series three issues to make its point and it has. I wanted to see where it’s going but in the end this is another mediocre title from DC. Bryan Q. Miller has written a couple of Smallville episodes and that apparently is enough in DC’s books to give him a crack at comics.

The story so far involves the fact that for no really reason Cassandra Cain just up and gives up being Batgirl. Stephanie Brown aka The Spoiler and former Robin picks up the mantle and decides to become Batgirl. Former Batgirl Barbara Gordon isn’t too happy at first but has now decided to help Stephanie – complete with a cheesy vow scene at the end of this comic. Along the way the new Batgirl fights the Scarecrow – complete with the obligatory hallucination scene that seems to appear every time a hero fights Scarecrow and his wacky fear chemicals.

Maybe a better writer could have done something with this series but Miller just follows the by the book writing guide to super-hero comics. I’ll give the comic a couple more issues to improve but I think I’m being too generous. (Shane Hnetka)

Recommended Picks for October 21, 2009

Hot Pick!
Sugarshock
Dark Horse Comics
(W) Joss Whedon
(A) Fábio Moon, Dave Stewart

Originally presented in the first online issues of MySpace Dark Horse Presents, for which it won the Eisner Award for Best Web Comic, Sugarshock tells the story of a rock band led by charismatic but crazy Dandelion Naizen, a hyperactive singer/songwriter possessed of a mean hatred of Vikings (don’t ask) and a mission for a secret government agency that may only exist in her head. But when her band, which includes a robot bass player, is enlisted in an intergalactic battle of the bands-emphasis on battle-Dandelion gets to prove herself as both singer and soldier.

FC $3.50

Recommended Pick!
FIVE FISTS OF SCIENCE GN (NEW PTG)
IMAGE COMICS
story MATT FRACTION
art & cover STEVEN SANDERS
112 PAGES / FC
$12.99

BACK IN PRINT!
True story: In 1899, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla decided to end war forever. With Twain’s connections and Tesla’s inventions, they went into business, selling world peace.
So what happened?
Only now can the tale be told – in which Twain and Tesla collided with Edison and Morgan, an evil science cabal merging the Black Arts and the Industrial Age. Turn of the century New York City sets the stage for a titanic battle over the very fate of the mankind.

Comics Shipping This Week: October 21, 2009

Shipping This Week: 10/21/2009

Every Monday, PREVIEWSworld.com provides a list of comics, graphic novels and other pop-culture merchandise arriving this week to your local comic shop.

Please check with your retailer for availability, as not all new releases may be on sale in all areas at the same time.

DARK HORSE COMICS

AUG090044 BEASTS OF BURDEN #2 (OF 4) $2.99
JUL090019 BPRD TP VOL 11 BLACK GODDESS $17.95
DEC080079 BRUCE CAMPBELL 12 INCH FIGURE $59.99
AUG090019 CITIZEN REX #4 (OF 6) $3.50
MAY090058 NOIR TP VOL 01 $12.95
MAR090097 SIMPSONS CLASSIC CHARACTER #2 LISA SIMPSON $49.95
JUL090099 STAR WARS KNIGHTS O/T OLD REPUBLIC TP VOL 07 $18.95
AUG090050 STAR WARS KNIGHTS OLD REPUBLIC #46 DESTROYER PT 2 (OF 2) $2.99
AUG090011 SUGARSHOCK ONE SHOT (OSW) $3.50
MAY090086 UNCLE SCROOGE COMIC CHARACTER #2 DONALD DUCK $49.95
AUG090024 ZERO KILLER #6 (OF 6) $2.99

Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural #1

Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural #1
Marvel Comics
(w) Rick Remender
(a) Jefte Palo
FC 32 pgs w/ ads, $3.99 US / Higher in Canada

This seems like a weird character for Marvel to just out of the blue give an ongoing series to but that’s exactly what Marvel has done. The newly appointed Sorcerer Supreme – Doctor Voodoo has gotten an brand spanking new ongoing series with Rick Remender (Fear Agent, End League, Punisher) at the helm.

Following the events of New Avengers #53 and #54 – the issue starts with Voodoo traveling to the Dark Dimension to finish kicking Dormammu’s ass while he’s down. Voodoo follows that up with some quick tutoring from Dr. Strange and then it’s off to the clinic that he has been running in New Orleans to help the needy and to fight Dr. Doom. That’s a lot to do in one day and it’s starting to wear the new Sorcerer Supreme a little thin.

Remender starts this first issue off with not one but two big fights for Doctor Voodoo. I’m not too familiar with Brother Voodoo – he has never had an ongoing title and has spent most of the last few decades randomly guest starring in various Marvel titles. But Remender quickly shows in this issue who he is and that he deserves the title of Sorcerer Supreme despite what most people might think – including Dr. Doom and Dormammu just to name a few. Jefte Palo’s art is alright – it’s a little sketchy and light on the backgrounds but he shows the magic and action clearly enough. I don’t know how long this series will last – there doesn’t seem to be a lot of demand for it but it’s off to a good start and Remender is a heck of writer. Perhaps word of mouth might make this series last longer than the twelve issues most new series seem to last these days. (Shane Hnetka)

Fox Orders ‘The Bradleys’ Pilot

According ICv2:

The Fox Network has ordered a pilot for an animated prime time TV series based on Peter Bagge’s The Bradleys. Bagge, who has had a developmental deal with the network for sometime, is writing the script for the pilot episode. Eric Reynolds, who broke the news on the Fantagraphics Website, reports that the Fox series will be set during the pre-Hate era “when Buddy Bradley was a teen and still lived at home.”