Welcome back to another edition of What Looks Good for The Big Two! We’ve got a decent sized haul of interesting titles this week, so let’s jump into it.
DC
Annotated Sandman Volume 4 HC, $49.99
I’m torn on “Annotated Whatever” books. On one hand, it’s a great way to find some real insight into these stories. But on the other hand, someone is handing you those insights. It’s kind of like how I’ve never watched the director’s cut of “Donnie Darko” because I’ve been told that the the story is explicitly laid out. I don’t want that. I want to be able to come up with my own interpretations and to stick with them.
Still, this is a nice collection particularly coupled with our series on Sandman.
Batman Vs Superman The Greatest Battles TP, $9.99
This is weird. I understand why DC is putting such a book out, but it’s only 160 pages long, shorter than your average “greatest hits” type collection. It’s an odd mix of stories, too, from The Dark Knight Returns to post-Crisis Batman to New 52 Batman. Given that this is targeted at non-comic book readers, I wonder if that’s going to confuse them.
DC Presents Robin War 100-Page Spectacular #1, $7.99
I love 100 page specials, even if they are way too expensive these days. The Robin War story line must feature Robins fighting each other, as that appears to be the focus of this collection. This is, interestingly enough, all pre-New 52 content.
DC Presents Titans Hunt 100-Page Spectacular #1, $7.99
Here’s another nice 100 page collection. This one features the story of the original Teen Titans coming together for the first time. It’s meant to work as a companion to the current Titans Hunt series which is apparently going to try to jerry-rig a new origin for that team into the New 52.
Gotham Academy #12, $2.99
For some reason, I feel like this series has lost momentum. Maybe it’s just that it doesn’t get the press that it got when it was originally launched, unlike, say, Grayson or Batgirl. But it’s a great title deserving of more attention. The concept alone is gold and the more and more Harry Potter style adventures kick in, the better it gets.
Midnighter #7, $2.99
Speaking of books that just get better and better, Midnighter continues to up the ante with each issue. If you weren’t punched in the gut by the end of issue #6 then you have no soul. It’s crazy how totally obvious that should have been, too, yet it still sneaked up on me.
Prez #6 (Of 6), $2.99
Will we actually get the second half of this series? This is one of those books that might actual suffer from the DC logo being on it, because it’s just not what people would expect for one of the two largest publishers of superhero comics. Let’s hope this gets collected quickly; I think the book store market would take to it in a way that the monthly, comic book shop market hasn’t.
Robin War #1 (Of 2)(Khary Randolph Regular Cover), $4.99
It seems like we get a variation on this theme every few years in superhero comics, the most famous of which being Marvel’s “Civil War:” What happens when an untrained vigilante makes a serious mistake? As much as I like the idea of examining this with regards to the “We Are Robin” title, close examination of anything involving Robin can be problematic; it’s Batman taking a teenager into battle with him. There’s no legitimate justification for that. We just let it go because, hey, comics.
Sheriff Of Babylon #1 (Of 8), $3.99
If you weren’t sold on this book based on this wonderful interview with creators Mitch Gerads and Tom King, I don’t know that anything I can say here can help you.
Marvel
All-New All-Different Avengers #2 (Alex Ross Regular Cover), $3.99
The first issue of this series felt to me like an Image comic from the 90s. The sheer volume of enormous, powerful bad guys of a nondescript nature that appeared in the first few issues of every new Image series was overwhelming. And not that I’m one to bad mouth those titles, but you’d expect something more from this creative team, particularly with such an interesting cast. The back-up story gives me hope for the series going forward.
All-New X-Men #1 (Mark Bagley Regular Cover), $3.99
I’ve always hated the X-Men and time travel. I hate the X-Men and space adventures, too. I think the concept of the X-Men, its real world analogy, is so rich that adding sci-fi elements is completely unnecessary and only serves to over complicate the story. But my nostalgia for the X-books of yore forces me to try each new series.
Totally Awesome Hulk #1 (Frank Cho Regular Cover), $4.99
The preview pages for this actually look really good. Greg Pak can write some fantastic stories when given the chance and it seems like Marvel aim to do just that. I like Amadeus Cho and I’m fully on board with seeing Bruce Banner in a new role. And, yes, I even like Frank Cho’s art; he can actually draw things other than women, believe it or not. It is a ridiculous title, though, and yet another example of Marvel giving a “replacement” hero a different book than the original, thus ensuring that the “replacement” hero will always seem like a stand-in.
Vision #2 (Mike Del Mundo Regular Cover), $3.99
This series might end up on my list for best new series of 2015, that’s how good it was. And anyone who hasn’t read it is thinking “you’re insane.” That maybe true, but Vision #1 was on another level. This is a truly creepy series that seems to be jumping feet first into analyzing humanity, probably in unflattering ways. I can’t recommend this highly enough.