The Longbox Short-List - Week of January 20, 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

DEVOLUTION #1 – Rick Remender’s got a new series for Dynamite! I’ve said before that Dynamite has been putting out a lot of cool new books, so I tend to give most of them a shot (especially since Dynamite tends to be very generous with the review copies). And I typically enjoy Remender’s work, he always seems to get a bad rap as far as I’m concerned. Here’s the solicit: “Every living creature on Earth has been devolved - the evolutionary clock turned back, reverting all life to odd mutations and prehistoric incarnations. The cities of man are little more than bloody territories ruthlessly dominated by tribal Neanderthals ruling from the backs of mammoths, packs of saber-toothed tigers, and giant man-eating insects. Writer Rick Remender (Black Science, Fear Agent), artist Jon Wayshak (The Authority), and colorist Jordan Boyd (Ant-Man, Planet Hulk) take you on a journey with the last band of "Still Sapien" humans in the hope of locating an antidote and re-evolving the human race.”

CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 – I have been of Carol Danvers for a while. I did think Kelly Sue DeConnick’s first volume was a little slow at times, but I did enjoy her second volume. Like Matt said, I am really curious about this new Alpha Flight, and I think Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas have a lot to bring to the table here. Agent Carter was one of my favorite shows last year. Definitely looking forward to this one!

PATSY WALKER AKA HELLCAT #2 – I almost passed up on the first issue, but I liked what they did with her in She-Hulk, so I figured why not. I am glad I did. Patsy Walker is a real fun comic. She’s trying to help people with super powers find suitable jobs. It’s a real quirky concept with a great art style. In a lot of ways, this is exactly the book I was hoping Squirrel Girl would be.

SILVER SURFER #1 – Slott and Allred make a great team. Silver Surfer was my first favorite comic book character, and this is probably the best creative team on the character since Jim Starlin and Ron Lim. I did think that this series did get a little overrated at times, but I love these guys and Surfer, so I would be reading it pretty much no matter what. 

ASTRO CITY #31 – It sounds like this issue is a major turning point for Honor Guard. They fight a being called the Living Nightmare who brings a lot of their secrets out into the open. A lot of the characters are supposed to get new costumes too. It’s great that Astro City still is producing awesome stories all these years later. And it’s been great to actually get issues basically every month for close to three years straight.

BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #16 – I’ve been really enjoying this series, but it is killing me how slowly they are playing out the thread that one of the Robins might have been built by a mysterious being called Mother. Not in a bad way, it’s an effective cliffhanger and there has been plenty of great stuff in this series to keep me interested. I am really thinking it has to be Jason Todd. Tim Drake’s backstory is enough of a mess, and no one else would have much of an impact. 

UNCANNY X-MEN #2 – Cullen Bunn and Greg Land managed to put out one of the best first issues I’ve read in a long time. I am not sure there was a lot of demand to bring back the Dark Riders, but I am real curious where they will take this book. Definitely the best of the X-Books so far.

SINESTRO #19 – Here’s that Cullen Bunn guy again. He really gets around. Last issue, in order to try and stop the emotion-sucking Pale Bishop, Sinestro dispatched Yellow Rings all over the planet. This new massive Sinestro Corps seems like a hell of a force to be reckoned with. 

GI JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO #224 – It’s kind of weird that the only GI Joe comic we have these days is Larry Hama’s continuation of the old school Marvel series. I actually miss the Image/Devil’s Due continuity we got a few years back. But Hama is still putting out some great GI Joe stories after all these years. Cobra World Order has been a huge much needed jolt to the series.

SYMMETRY #2 – I am not quite sure exactly what was going on in the first issue here, but there was a lot of real cool things going on, so I’m willing to stick around to piece it all together. I typically get annoyed when I finish a first issue and have no idea what the series is about, but Symmetry fascinated me far more than it frustrated me.