The Longbox Short-List - Week of December 2, 2015

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!

Comics shipping this week

SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT #1 – As soon as I saw the title of this book, I knew I would be a customer. Seduction of the Innocent was a book that came out in the 60’s that basically devastated the comic industry. So it was pretty cool of Dynamite to try and take it back with their new “gritty and sometimes depraved” crime drama.

ROBIN WAR #1 – For the most part, I’ve been kind of down on how the Robins fared in New-52. But We Are Robin has been entertaining, and I still like Damien. So I am definitely curious about this crossover. 

ALL-NEW X-MEN #1 – While I am a little surprised that the “time lost original X-Men” are still around, I am really excited to see what Dennis Hopeless and Mark Bagley can do with them. 

PREZ #6 – Kind of bummed out that they cut this series down into two 6 issues series (assuming the second one ever happens). It has been some funny and disturbing political satire. I like seeing new and unique comics getting more attention, and Prez is about as new and unique as you can get.

CITIZEN JACK #2 – A great companion piece to Prez. Citizen Jack is also political satire, but with a dark supernatural spin to it. It’s appropriate that these two books are coming out in the same week as when I read one, I can’t help but think of the other.

ALIENS/VAMPIRELLA #4 – I actually think they probably should have made this series only 4 issues. I’ve enjoyed it so far, but it is definitely starting to drag. And we still have 2 more issues after this one to go. I miss short, punchy 4 issue mini-series. 6 issues is just about almost two long.

DOCTOR STRANGE #3 – Doctor Strange has been one of the best surprises of All-New, All-Different Marvel. Jason Aaron has managed to keep in line with classic Doctor Strange stories while still making this a fun and entertaining book. Chris Bachalo’s art is the perfect fit for this series. 

ALL-NEW ALL-DIFFERENT AVENGERS #2 – On the opposite end of the spectrum, ANAD Avengers is off to a dreadfully slow start. I expect Waid will be great on this book with this roster, but it really needs to pick up and quick. I hate first issues in a team book where we still haven’t even seen the whole team. Extraordinary X-Men had the same issue, though the second issue was a huge improvement there.

PAPER GIRLS #3/PLUTONA #3 – Like Prez and Citizen Jack, I can’t help but think of these books as a matched set. Both came out around the same time, the issues often come out at the same time, and both feature a group of kids as protagonists. They are also both terrific books by Image. You should check them out.

SURVIVORS’ CLUB #3 – The last book I want to talk about this week is SURVIVOR’S CLUB. I am a huge fan of Lauren Beukes’ writing, so seeing her on a horror based comic was exciting news. SURVIVORS’ CLUB is about a group of characters who suffered from “horror-movie like” situations when they were younger. They have all been forced to join together to deal with another major evil. It’s a clever book that really plays with horror movie conventions in a unique way.