Redlands

I know it seems impossible, but The Pull List has grown even bigger this week for the third week in a row! That’s because I finished catching up to present on a number of DC and Marvel books, plus I picked up five smaller press books.

• DC Comics
  • Batman #41
  • Batman & the Signal #2
  • The Brave and The Bold #1
  • Damage #2
  • Deathbed #1 (Vertigo)
  • Justice League #39
  • Milk Wars – DC Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye / Swamp Thing Special
  • Super Sons #13
  • Superman #41
  • Trinity #18
• Image Comics
  • The Further Adventures of Nick Wilson #2
  • Ice Cream Man #2
  • Maestros #5
  • Redlands #6
  • Twisted Romance #3
• Marvel Comics
  • Astonishing X-Men #8
  • Avengers #681
  • Deadpool vs. Old Man Logan #5
  • Doctor Strange – Damnation #1
  • Generation X #87
  • Infinity Countdown Prime
  • Mighty Thor #704
  • Tales of Suspense #102
  • The Incredible Hulk #713
  • Venom #162
  • X-Men Gold #22
• Smaller Publishers: Dark Horse, Dynamite, IDW, Vault Comics, Zenescope
  • Belle Beast Hunter #2, Zenescope
  • Heathen #6, Vault Comics
  • James Bond: The Body #1, Dynamite Comics
  • Mata Hari #1, Dark Horse / Berger Books
  • Musketeers #1, Zenescope
  • Punks Not Dead #1, IDW Publishing / Black Crown

Pick of the Pull

Big Two (Marvel/DC) Issue of the Week:
Mighty Thor (2016) #704

A bloody, thrilling, heart-rending comic. Aaron has somehow amped up the drama in each of the last three issues as we hasten towards a potential Ragnarok at the hands of the Mangog and Jane Foster’s death at her own hands if she takes up the mantle of Thor just one more time.

Yet, beyond those looming disasters there is still Makelith’s war on the Ten Realms. Mangog is just one facet of that. Even in the dimness and tragedy, Aaron finds shining moments – Jane with her friend in the cancer ward, a father and son joined in battle, and a mother casting aside a snake that has wounded her before.

All the while, Dauterman and Wilson are turning in a quality of artwork never seen before at Marvel comics – truly, one of the pinnacles of art at Marvel in over 75 years of publishing.

This story has officially become the best Thor story in my eyes, and it just might be Marvel’s best longform story of all time. I’d place it alongside Mark Gruenwald Captain America and Chris Claremont X-Men at this point.

Best Small-Pub Issue of the Week:
Punks Not Dead (2018) #1, IDW Publishing / Black Crown

An utterly madcap introduction to Punks Not Dead (and, for me, to Black Crown comics, which are edited by Shelly Bond distributed by IDW). This book is part Injection, part Sid and Nancy, and a little dash of the more lighthearted issues of Sandman.

It follows a teenage boy and his scam artist mom as the kid picks up some kind of supernatural echo of the deceased Sid Vicious in a dingy airport bathroom. Meanwhile, the beleaguered Department for Extra-Usual Affairs is busy putting minor demons out of the closet at 10 Downing Street with a staff of one.

This book is funny, unique, and looks freaking brilliant. Artist Martin Simmonds is simply incredible, drawing a real-seeming Britain with amped up color and clever use of cut-and-pasted patterns to ground it in real, textured reality. I am in love with this book, and will not only be keeping up with it, but also checking out other titles from Black Crown. [Read more…] about The Pull List: Batman, Brave and The Bold, Damnation, Maestros, Mighty Thor, Punks Not Dead, and more!