SPOTLIGHT ON NEW RELEASES :: NOVEMBER 2
Marvel relaunches one of their biggest properties this week with writer Kieron Gillen and artist Carlos Pacheco. Consisting of characters like Cyclops, Magneto, Emma Frost, Colossus, Storm, Namor, and Hope, this book looks to represent a thematic counterpoint to Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo’s school-based Wolverine and the X-men title. With its roster of morally ambiguous characters, this title seems like it might be a book of mutants operating in gray areas. It should be interesting to read both books together and see how Marvel aims to reshape the role of mutants within their universe.
2) Hellboy House of the Living Dead HC
Nothing says Halloween like an all new original Hellboy graphic novel! Here Mike Mignola re-teams with Richard Corben to tell another story of Hellboy’s time in Mexico. If you read their Hellboy in Mexico one shot from a year ago, you know how much fun this book should be. In addition to HB’s inebriated encounters with luchadores, apparently he also has a wrestling match with a Frankenstein monster in this one!
3) Swamp Thing #3
It would be hard to write a Spotlight for the week of Halloween without mentioning Scott Snyder’s new Swamp Thing series. Aside from continuing and broadening the history of DC’s muck monster, Snyder and artist Yanick Paquette (along with Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman on Animal Man) are bringing horror back to the mainstream DC universe, and producing entertaining stories in the process.
4) Avengers Origins Ant Man and Wasp #1
Our creative director Rico Renzi mentioned to me that I should check out work by this book’s artist Stephanie Hans, and I was admittedly impressed. True, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle on seemingly endless Avengers titles, but this one is promising because Hans seems like a great fit for this book which documents the meeting of Ant Man and the Wasp, and how they went about becoming costumed heroes. These Origins one shots are a great way to learn about some of Marvel’s classic characters if you’ve never read much about them before.
While Lee Bermejo’s previous collaborations with writer Brian Azzarello Lex Luthor and Joker were critical and commercial successes, for this book Bermejo took up the writing reins to tell a story of several eras of Batman. Aside from seeing Bermejo offer up interpretations of Batman and his villains through different parts of their history, this one was also inspired by Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
> Bonus Picks of the Week: Action Comics #3, Animal Man #3, Dark Shadows #1, Detective Comics #3, Fear Itself #7.1, Ganges #4, Joe the Barbarian HC Deluxe Edition, Six Guns #1, Roger Langridge’s Snarked #2.
Nice picks, Seth. Hey, did the newest Love & Rockets hit the shop yet? Did I miss that? If so any chance you’ll get it back in?
OMG!!!
Did I just type that??
Rich– you are in for a treat!
Best book since Asterios Polyp at least!
May I suggest you re-read Jaime’s stuff from issue #3 before you read #4. It’s all one big story.
Yeah I’ve heard it’s pretty amazing. And #3 was one of the best L&R comics ever.
By the way, I highly recommend both of you guys (or anyone else) picking up Ethan Rilly’s Pope Hats #2 if you still have any in the shop. It’s up there with some of the best single issue comics I’ve read. This guy is going to be a big star.
I’ll make sure you get a copy, Rich.
Thanks, Seth!
Seth:
Will Heroes have a booth at the NC Comicon this weekend?
We will! I am working on that blog post right now!