The Longbox Short-List - Week of January 13, 2016

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

MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS #0 – It’s Morphin time! I am actually slightly embarrassed by how excited I am for this book. I was a little too old for Power Rangers when it first came out, but all of my kids are big fans, especially of the new series, Dino Charge. So I’ve been watching a lot of Power Rangers with them, and we’re all really looking forward to reading this next week. 

GROO FRIENDS AND FOES #12 – Has it been 12 issues already??? It was great having a regular dose of Groo every month for the last year. I have been a huge fan of the character since I got a random issue in a pack of comics years ago. In the issue, Groo’s dog Rufferto ends up getting worshipped by a group of villagers who thinks he resembles their god. I was only like 12 at the time, but I still thought it was real clever satire. I also had the privilege of meeting Sergio Argones and Mark Evanier. Sergio even drew my wife a picture of Groo holding a flower. So…uhm…buy this book!

GREEN LANTERN CORPS – EDGE OF OBLIVION #1 – I am not sure why this book didn’t just continue as Lost Army. Instead, we get a 6 issue mini with a different creative team. I thought Lost Army was a great story, with several Green Lantern Corps members being stuck in the universe that existed before the current DCU. We’ve gotten to see some fresh takes on Green Lantern villains like Krona. Green Lantern had gotten pretty stale, and I thought Lost Army was a great new direction. Hopefully, Edge of Oblivion will keep things moving too. 

TROOP #2 – Troop is a cool new take on superheroes by actor, writer, director Noel Clarke. And just because I love shameless self-promotion, I was quoted on the promotional materials for the second issue, so of course this book would be featured on my list of the best books of the week. 

DEATH-DEFYING DOCTOR MIRAGE SECOND LIVES #2 – I was a huge fan of the old Valiant Doctor Mirage series. To be honest, I did kind of find the first new Valiant Doctor Mirage mini-series to be a little boring. I don’t think I even got around to finishing it. I was going to skip the second series too, but I ended up reading a preview copy of the first issue. I thought it was a huge improvement, and I will probably buy the rest of this series. 

SECRET WARS #9 – I am just happy that this series is finally over. I honestly have just about no interest in whatever happens in this comic. The “new” Marvel universe doesn’t seem like it was all that heavily impacted by however Secret Wars ended, so for me, the only reason this book is on my radar is because I had managed to work with my friends to review every single tie-in. Now we will finally be done with that obscene task! 

PRECINCT #2 – Precinct is a fun mashup steampunk murder mystery by Dynamite. Part of me was hoping that this was set in Dynamite’s Legenderry universe, but it’s still a great series on it’s own. 

BACK TO THE FUTURE #4 – IDW’s mini-series filling in the gaps of the Back to the Future movies has been a lot of fun. If nothing else, it’s been great to find out how Doc and Marty became friends in the first place. They recently announced this will be an ongoing series. Since we will probably never get another BTTF movie, it’s great to see the story continued and expanded.

ALL-NEW – Marvel has four books this week with “All-New” in the title. All-New Hawkeye, All-New Wolverine, All-New X-Men, and All-New All-Different Avengers. I actually enjoy all four books, but my cynicism wonders if Marvel does that to ensure their books will be closer to the front of the store in comic shops that put their new books on the way alphabetically…which is quite a few shops I’ve been in.

ROBIN WAR #2 – One of the most laid back crossovers I’ve seen in the years I’ve read comics. Just a handful of titles with most of them not even being necessary to the main story. I have enjoyed Robin War quite a bit, and I’m hoping this leads to some shakeups in the Bat-titles. 

SCARLET WITCH #2 – I wasn’t sure if I was going to pick up this book, but I enjoyed the lead-in from Uncanny Avengers Annual. James Robinson has been putting out some great books for Marvel (including SQUADRON SUPREME which also ships this week). I just hope that the “death of magic” going on here ties into Doctor Strange. That could make for a really cool story if it happened on a bigger scale.