Music - 1 week 4 days ago
The Longbox Short-List - Week of November 25, 2015
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Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 11/24/2015 - 07:40
Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week. Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that. Let's get to it!
Black Magick #2 – Black Magick #1 was a book that ended in my Comixology account even though I had no intention of buying it. Must have been magick. This was an excellent comic, and I can’t wait to see where the series goes from here. Definitely worth checking out.
Ringside #1 – On top of being a comic geek, I am also a huge wrestling fan. Actually, while I type this, I am counting down the hours until tonight’s Pro Wrestling Syndicate show. I also loved the miniseries Swerve that came out last year about the wrestling industry. So, Ringside is definitely right in my wheelhouse.
Carnage #2 and All-New Wolverine #2 – These two books have just about nothing in common except that they are both Marvel titles that I wasn’t sure about, but both turned out to be awesome. Hopefully both series live up to the potential of their first issues.
Secret Wars – Two Secret Wars tie-ins coming out this week, Hail Hydra #4 and Silver Surfer #15. I think that leaves us with just Secret Wars 8, 9 and Ultimate End 5. For the most part, I have enjoyed the tie-ins, but Secret Wars seems like it was a mostly pointless crossover. Which is real depressing since it was well over 200 comics.
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #1 – I honestly have no idea what to expect out of this one, but so far, I have enjoyed pretty much every All-New Marvel book I have picked up, so I will give this one a fair shot.
Archie #4 and Jughead #2 – While I definitely prefer the core Archie book, the Jughead relaunch has been decent too. The second issue of Jughead features an extended “time travel” fantasy, which is a lot of fun. BUT, for me, Waid and Staples on Archie has been a perfect fit.
Silk #1 – Silk has some tough competition for best female headliner. You have Thor, Spider-Woman, Ms Marvel all in terrific series. And Spider-Gwen is typically good (though I don’t think it is quite great). But Silk often edges them out as my favorite. Once they got Silk away from Spider-Man, she’s become a real solid new character, and I hope they continue to build her up.
Darth Vader #13 – Vader Down was one incredibly bad ass comic. We rarely got to see just how powerful Vader was, and this crossover puts him back where he belongs: the baddest dude in the Star Wars universe. Really looking forward to the rest of this crossover.
Groo Friends And Foes #11 – I can’t believe this series is almost over. It’s been so great to have Groo come out on a regular basis this month. Argones and Evanier have hinted that there will be more Groo coming soon. I don’t know if a Groo monthly series would be viable, but I would be a customer!
We Are Robin #6 – Because of Robin War, I decided to get caught up on We Are Robin. I think it has some great characters, but it is VEEEERRRRYYYY slow to develop. I honestly don’t know if I would have any real interest in this series except that it’s crossing over with books I already read.
Will Eisner's The Spirit #5 – I don’t know much about the Spirit, but I picked this series up on a whim, and it’s been terrific. Honestly, any Dynamite series I have tried in the last year or so has been great. They may not be as high profile as Image, but they are doing a great job helping make indy companies important parts of the conversation.
