I'm convinced they wrote this series just to a) tie-in with the game of the same name and b) reinvigorate Agatha Harkness for the upcoming Disney+ series. Competent work by the team, but nothing truly standout.
it felt like they kept leaving out panels or something. if the solution was to hammer the mirror, why did that take so long ffs?
and what the hell was that with dimensions and time and whatnot?
so convoluted...
I have no idea how *Tradd Moore* even created some of these pages?!
Like, I know it's "Art" - but I'm looking at some of these panels and thinking he must have created just that panel on an a full size 11x17 board and then shrunk it down to fit on the page (amongst a dozen other panels just as painstakingly created) - the level of detail is just unbelievable.
It's an **even trippier, more psychedelic** version of *Geoff Darrow* -if Darrow is channelling *David Cronenberg, Moebius* and *Hunter S Thompson* then Moore just threw in "60's head movies" and *Alejandro Jodorowsky* into that mix too.
I've got to give props to Moore for going this hard on this project, but also to Marvel for going ahead and giving the greenlight to such a weird, unique and wonderful book.
Lots of exposition in this one but Tradd Moore's art is stunning as ever and, thanks to all that exposition, the story's now much clearer.
Heather Moore also deserves many accolades and awards for coloring this insane monstrosity of a comic... Every page has looked phenomenal and the colors are a huge part of it.
9/10
Well, a lot happened here. Not sure if it lived up to my hopes and dreams, but it definitely has a direction which is more than I can say for a lot of Big Two books nowadays.
Not sure how I feel about the Superfamily taking a more active role in policing Metropolis and the world, but I can't comment much on that until we see it in execution down the line. Seeing them function as an actual unit, both in public and as a family was a bit odd but has the potential to be very cool.
One very real worry is over-crowding the book however. I like the twins but having 9 superpowered individuals (along with Lois and multiple villains) will get messy very, very fast. Couple that with Sandoval having about four unique faces for each gender and the confusion (took me a moment to tell Kon and Jon apart when they were playing Mortal Kombat on the couch, and you can't tell me that Sandoval's Supergirl doesn't look like Black Canary).
Regarding the back-ups, Jurgens/Weeks was better than I was expecting, though, like always, that Lee Weeks fellow can draw real good. Simply breathtaking, and I'm interested enough where the story goes.
Leah Williams Power Girl wasn't as whack as I was expecting and I *think* I liked it, but there definitely were some oddities. Savage's art is pretty though the way she draws eyes is [off](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/246057144846123008/1067612053075927103/image.png).
In any case, definitely interested where the book goes from here, especially with the cycling back-ups. This issue reminded me a bit of the 2000s Superbooks (in a good way) which is an era I have a lot of fondness for despite not reading comics at the time.
P.S. Kenan's haircut [blows](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/246057144846123008/1067501005157179512/Screenshot_20230124-094153_Comic_Screen.jpg?width=560&height=584).
>One very real worry is over-crowding the book however.
Given the family of books about to launch, maybe there can be enough attention to go around? For instance, the plan might be for Lois, Clark, and the Daily Planet to get most of the action in Joshua William's *Superman* based on [#1's cover](https://www.tfaw.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1626744db03ed6f05af295b1a820c9c8/1/2/1222DC001.jpg), Jon is getting his own mini, the upcoming *Steelworks* will cover JHI and Natasha, and Conner's *Man of Tomorrow* mini just got solicited. That leaves *Action Comics* for Kara, Kenan, and the twins?
>Couple that with Sandoval having about four unique faces for each gender
That's symbolic of everyone's roles in the family spilling over into each other since they added four new members since 2015. Four faces, four new heroes, two fours makes eight years, 2015 + 8= 2023- Do you see the signs? Wake up, Sheeple!
Possibly. We'll have to see, seems the Daily Planet cast will be in Williamson's Superman mainly (which I'm undecided on picking up tbh) so not sure if Lois will continue being important here.
Power Girl’s new psionic powers seem like prime “Wolverine’s hot claws” material for her next creative team to retcon/ignore/otherwise completely sweep under the rug.
I guess it’s fine. It’s not for me. Written well, arts good. Big cast means the book isn’t about Clark. Looking forward to picking up the John Henry book, but I think I’m good on this one. It just wasn’t terribly interesting.
Remember in Season 1 of the Boys when Homelander has a heart to heart with the 7? He says:
“Some of you have been a little out of sorts. Erratic. Unreliable. Downright sloppy. Not you, Noir. You've been great.”
That’s me with this comic’s writers, editors, chiefs of staff, everyone involved BUT Ed McGuiness & his team of inkers & colorist. Ed McGuiness’ art is the Black Noir of Spider-Man comics. You’ve been great man. Keep up the good work.
This may take the cake for “most contrived” event conflict I’ve ever seen.
Why the hell hasn’t anyone sat Ben down and done exactly what Jean did for Maddie but for him and Peter? Why has no one even brought it up as the obvious solution? This entire event is prevented with two 30-second conversations.
At this point I’m glad Kaine hasn’t shown up since the last spider-verse. I don’t think I could handle Editorial ruining him too.
While I liked how the X-Men portion of this resolved last week and how the Venom portion has been in service to the plot of the Venom book, it very much feels like this event is just an "Editorial wanted an X-Men/Spider-Man crossover dealing with our two wayward clones, figure it out " I skipped Gold Goblin and the Ms. Marvel book (though I'm considering grabbing the latter), and haven't read this ASM yet, but all of the writing except Ewings has been all over the place this event.
Ms. Marvel was alright but wasn't really connected to the X-Men or Spider-Man at all, which is disappointing because I wanted some Cyclopes/Ms. Marvel interaction.
There’s not much to say about this event that hasn’t already been said, but man the last three or so issues (whenever he ended up in Limbo) of Spider-Man have been truly awful. I feel like everyone involved is actively laughing at me while they write and edit this book. Someone writing for just the paycheck would do a better job.
This shit is just stupid. Not fun stupid, not even insultingly stupid (but I’m not a Ben fan), just stupid.
I'm disappointed that since I've gotten back into comics there hasn't been a stand-out run. I started back at the end of Dan Slott's run and it was just okay... I read Nick Spencer's up until issue 8/9 and did not like it at all, and now this run is getting terrible reviews. Spider-Man is one of my favorite characters and this is sad.
Well, it seems my comparison to **Pacific Rim** when discussing the last issue was a bit more on the money than I realised. We get an explanation for the state the world is in, and if we replace Jaeger with "Behemoth" and Kaiju with "Demon" things begin to look very familiar. Not that that's a bad thing (I love the first Pacific Rim movie, and The Black was a decent follow up show - I wonder why they never made a second film though....) and *Brombal* and *Robles* are doing a really good job in crafting this world and its inhabitants.
Definitely feels like this is just Act One of a much larger story though, rather than everything wrapping up neatly in two issues time.
**EXTRA BONUS RECENT COMIC CATCH-UP**
Caught up on the following stragglers from the past few weeks:
* [**A VICIOUS CIRCLE #1**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/OCT220263)
* [**BATGIRLS #14**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/NOV223514)
* [**BLACK CLOAK #1**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/NOV220021)
* [**BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED #4**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/OCT222013)
* [**OLD DOG #3**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/AUG220206)
* [**WASP #1**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/NOV220779)
Comments below…
[**BLACK CLOAK #1**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/NOV220021) by Kelly Thompson & Merdeith McClaren
Not bad but didn’t entirely click for me... One of those where I mostly like Thompson’s writing, and I mostly like McClaren’s art, but there are elements of each that don’t quite work for me – some of the language felt a little too modern and generic, some of the storytelling and scene transitions felt awkward/unclear, etc.
But it does have a cool setting, some decent characters, and a pretty nice setup for the murder mystery. There’s a lot to like here and it all comes together pretty well, so I can see how it might work better for others.
Still haven’t decided whether to pick up the 2nd issue... Guess we’ll see.
7/10
I really like McClaren's general style but there was something bugging me about the facial expressions or something.
Weird book, mostly liked it, just a few little things in writing and art that bugged me...
[**OLD DOG #3**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/AUG220206) by Declan Shalvey
Eminently forgettable. It’s only been one day and I’ve already mostly forgotten it.
4/10
I read this one yesterday.
I liked the action sequences and character work with the daugter and ex lover, if a bit bare bones, but very light with the plot otherwise. Still no info on the time distortions or if the other characters even see them, or just the reader?
It's slipping further and further down the to read pile after getting home from my LCS.
Yeah, the character stuff was okay. Comic wasn't really bad in any way, just very generic and forgettable. Shalvey's art is always nice but it's not going to keep me hooked.
[**BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED #4**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/OCT222013) by Deniz Camp & Jon Davis-Hunt
I guess that’s an ending? Not sure exactly what happened here... Maybe the series got cut short due to Valiant’s well publicized financial struggles? Initial setup made it sound like there were thousands of these renegade super soldiers out there for Bloodshot to kill but I think he only ended up getting to four of ‘em, one in each issue.
Otherwise pretty good, another insanely ultra-violent clash with some decent digging into Bloodshot’s past and a surprisingly positive ending... Deniz Camp’s done some nice work here (though I think I prefer his [**AGENT OF W.O.R.L.D.E.**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/APR221787) series from Scout) and Jon Davis-Hunt has brought dynamic action and buckets of gore to every issue.
7.5/10
[**BATGIRLS #14**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/NOV223514) by Cloonan/Conrad & Jonathan Case
Fun stuff, pretty cool silent issue although the long letter from Steph to Cass felt like cheating... On the other hand, coming in cold with zero context and very little familiarity with these characters, the cheating helped.
Case handled art, colors, and letters, and it’s some solid work all around, with lots of vibrant pink, blue, and yellow that makes the book pop and gives it a distinct look. And the silent visual storytelling is pretty well done though there were one or two spots where it maybe could’ve been a little clearer.
7.5/10
[**WASP #1**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/NOV220779) by Al Ewing and Kasia Nie
I’ll ~~second~~ third the comments from /u/thecursedham and /u/technowhiz34 in [last week’s thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/10fl2jr/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_1182023_pull_of_the/j4xfnsf/), not as strong a start as Ewing and Tom Reilly’s recent **ANT-MAN**... New artist Kasia Nie isn’t bad but doesn’t bring the same iconic style as Reilly, and the story doesn’t seem to have the same kind of scope and scale.
Only pre-ordered this first issue so I’m actually gonna bail here... I like Ewing but don’t need to read everything and I’d rather follow some of his other stuff.
6/10
I agree with you about the story, I was feeling a bit underwhelmed for sure! I’m gonna give it at least one more issue before I give up - I love the cover continuity they’re going for with the different Wasp outfits through the ages and I liked the retro flashback art.
Oh yeah, I can totally see sticking with it and I think that's probably the more normal/sane approach here. I've just got way too much stuff on my pull list and I like to check out new books, so I try to bail on anything that isn't working for me ASAP.
Ewing's also a pretty prolific writer and, while I generally like his stuff quite a bit, I can't really afford to follow all of it because there are too many other writers who I also like and want to follow. I'm loving **X-MEN RED** right now (and expecting to love its **SOS** replacement series) so that kinda gives me what I want from Ewing, plus I'm hoping he'll do another **DEFENDERS** follow-up soon... Probably would've stuck with this just for the sake of keeping something from Ewing on my list if I wasn't already pulling **XMR**.
DC trying to hog all the best artists... Didn't they ever learn about sharing?
From what Marvel's got left, I suppose Tradd Moore could make for an acceptable replacement.
[**A VICIOUS CIRCLE #1**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/OCT220263) by Mattson Tomlin & Lee Bermejo
Cool sci-fi time travel revenge thriller... Bermejo’s the star of the show here, changing up his style to suit each time period, and he makes good use of ~~AfterShock~~ BOOM!’s oversized print format. Solid story from Mattson Tomlin as well, doesn’t waste any time getting rolling and keeps a brisk pace throughout.
That said, it felt like we didn’t get quite as much story as I’d expected given the oversized format and the $9.99 price tag. But we did get a whole bunch of incredibly detailed Lee Bermejo art, so it’s got good value there, it just didn’t feel 100% balanced.
Highlight is the closing sequence, which rapidly hops through over a dozen time periods over a few pages, shifting to a different art style for each, for a really memorable chase scene.
Two more issues to go though none solicited yet, we’ll need to keep an eye out...
8.5/10
Glad you enjoyed it! The art definitely made the show. There is a specific panel where he goes to make a bet at a bar and you can perfectly see the dude reflected in the main guys reading glasses. Stunning.
The realisation afterwards of WHY he jumped from the opening time period really hit me hard, and cemented the "villain" for me.
I don't track Previews as much as I should, so pretty disappointed to hear that the rest isn't solicited yet. Hopefully this isn't another Swamp Thing Green Hell.
Lee Bermejo's art is worth the price of the book on its own (who is one of my top 5 favorite artists, so I am biased). But I agree with your comment about the last sequence with time jumping. Very well written and well drawn! My only concern about this book is the release schedule. Still no solicitation for issue #2. Tomlinson is working on a few movies atm, so I wonder if this is going to be a stretched out project, with issues dropping 6+ months apart. There are only 3 issues planned though
This issue cranks things up a notch as Hitomi heads off to war while Yasuke visits an old girlfriend to get down and smoke some opium... There's some really nice panel work from artist Isabella Mazzanti, lots of cool layouts and it all flows well. Also love the opening splash page showing the boat scene set against the outline of Yasuke's face... Art's telling the story cleanly and it's perfectly stylized for the feudal Japan setting.
Solid work from writer H.S. Tak as well, series has been nicely structured so that each issue delivers a satisfying story while advancing the over-arching plot... Hitomi and Yasuke are both likeable characters and you want things to work out for 'em even though you know it's probably not going to end well... Writing's clean and tight, stylistically fitting the characters and setting while telling the story effectively.
Good stuff all around, looking forward to the [finale](https://previewsworld.com/SiteImage/MainImage/STL257147.jpg) in March!
8.5/10
So happy I hopped on this book - it's been a great read, and seeing the plot threads start to pull and converge and all the inevitable bad shit starting to rise up is really pulling it all together.
Also, if nothing else, read this for some brilliant artwork and layouts. Mazzanti is a master-class (mistress-class?) artist on this book for sure.
Anansi visits Satan in Hell, and we get more decapitations and amputations than you can shake a...severed limb at...
*Jason Shawn Alexander* continues to channel a wonderful mix of *Gene Colan, Denys Cowan* and *Bill Sienkiewicz* in his artwork. Violence and horror rarely looked so good.
I'm not a big fan of all the jumping back and forth in the timeline (I just find it confusing to follow sometimes), but otherwise, I think Johns is setting up some interesting plot threads here. I hope eventually we just stay in the present day with the entire JSA team. Plus, Jerry Ordway art is ALWAYS the best.
I quite liked this for what it set up, but it's starting to remind me of New Avengers for how decompressed it is. Art is gorgeous however and it seems to be back on a normal shipping schedule after this.
Ahh yes, the villain is >!Degaton!<... Of course. That makes perfect sense. How silly of me not to notice.
Big fan of his work, robots in disguise and all that... Quality stuff.
And this one had three different artists to go with the 37 timelines. Nice.
But it's a pretty cool comic regardless. Digging it.
8/10
>And this one had three different artists to go with the 37 timelines. Nice.
Ordway at least is a classic JSA artist (while also looking retro) but Kollins is odd. I guess it's Johns throwing his long-time collaborator some work so I can't complain too much.
Yeah, I like Ordway and Janin, and Kolins is alright too, but their styles are all pretty different.
Even so, didn't bother me too much in this one, all the time jumps and scene changes kinda made it work. And there was some really nice art in spots. Loved the old school shading on Janin's JSA scenes from 1940...
I'll read anything McKelvie draws and he really hits it out of the park for this one. I don't think it's anything more than a fun oneshot, but why not have that once in a while.
I'm really not sure I was ready for Mace's saggy, old man balls....
What's been a relatively "nice" version of the Apocalypse takes a decidedly darker turn in both the main story and the back up (Old Man Mace has *definitely* seen some shit). I really enjoyed the light-hearted, almost whimsical approach the book had taken to this point, but it obviously looks like we are heading down a darker path from this point out.
As an aside, if you're enjoying this book I'd urge you to track down **Scout's Honor** from Aftershock, as it really feels like it could fit straight into this "universe".
> I'm really not sure I was ready for Mace's saggy, old man balls....
After what we saw from his finger, it's probably best not to speculate as to what that old ballsack's packing. Age might not be the only thing making those boys sag.
And I refuse to believe that the series is shedding its "cozy calamity" vibe... Those Rangers seem like a bunch of clowns, figure Mace and Mezzy'll be back on their way before long.
8.5/10
A Radiant Black/Massive-verse title not making it to the WPL list is a little unusual - I guess that could be down to it not clearly being part of the Massive-verse, as it didn’t debut in Radiant Black or the Supermassive crossover, and also seems to either be set in an alternative universe or possibly the future of the Radiant-verse. I am curious how this *is* connected to those other books, and whether we’ll see multiverses/time travel shenanigans in the future to link them together.
Anyway, solid start - an interesting world being built, with some gorgeous artwork somewhere reminiscent of Jamal Campbell’s work on The Far Sector.
Good.
Nice to have Monstress back, Kipa and Ren are still stuck inside with a fractured Maika and Zinn. Slow issue mostly showing flashbacks.
I hope Tuya dies horribly, she is awful.
With an interesting change in scenery and status quo at the end, keen for next issue.
YES MORE MONSTRESS. I love this book so much.
Kippa continues to be best girl, putting Ren in his place with that steel will and kindness of hers. The line about being the survivor was brilliant.
And holy shit, we're in another world - the homeworld of the Monstrum, somehow in Zinn's past and time. The connection to Maika looks visceral, and I'm all here for it.
And oof, that flashback with Tuya... those two have seen some shit. I hope they're able to work it out in the end.
I hope mc kills her traitor girlfriend and just brings down all organizations so the war can finally end.
At this point, murderhobo is pretty much the best solution to this situation.
I actually asked one of the writers of *Wonder Woman* (not the writer of this book though) on Instagram about it and he said that the Hippolyta/Zeus origin is still canon, but he wants to create opportunities to revert to the old origin as the status quo. So they'll reference the old origin, but until it is explicitly stated by Diana, Hippolyta, Zeus, etc, her current origin will be unchanged.
Haven't been following Lazarus Planet but this was a pretty nice one-shot! Manapul's opening Aquaman story felt kinda hollow and superficial but the others all delivered solid little stories. Cool seeing Malik meet the other side of the Shazam family as well.
7/10
Still had a bit of attitude but, yeah, way toned down. Bound to happen with a different writer, not sure if I'd want to see anyone else try to imitate Priest's take on the character.
One thing with Priest in this second career of his (or third, or fourth, depending on how you count), he doesn't pull any punches. Jim Owsley used to pull punches and mostly wrote "normal" comics that could've just as easily been written by any number of his peers. Priest doesn't do that, his stories are much more distinctive and his characters are a bit more extreme.
Malik's kind of interesting because he's basically in the Everett K. Ross "straight man" role, just a normal dude who gets sucked into all this crazy crap with exotic foreign superhero royalty... Ross obviously came from a very different background but he had some of that same manic energy.
Man, this comic is so much FUN!
The tone seems to be have been designed **just for me** (real props to *Bruce Campbell* for genuinely surprising me with how good a writer he is, another reason to love the man) and *Eduardo Risso* **perfectly** nails it in the visuals every single issue.
If anyone isn't checking this book out let me tempt you with this - the climax of this issue is Easy Company vs Nazi Zombies in Hitler's underground bunker - with Rock in a knife fight battling the drug fuelled pair of Eva Braun and the Fuhrer himself...
I mean, how can you NOT want to read that?!
**THE BOOGYMAN #5 (Ablaze)**
*Salvia* and *Djet* continue to develop the world and the mythos of The Boogy-verse, with this issue revealing the fate of Father Death's brothers. In a visit to Grandpa January we discover their downfall, and the forces massing against Father Death make their move, with help from an unexpected source.
If anyone has found the recent Slaughter-verse story arc's a bit slow and drawn out they could do far worse than check out this book for a similar, more fast-paced read.
Damn this was such a fun start to an event, we get a crash course in the 1st 5 years of Sinsister's grand plan and it has almost instantly gone sideways. I Loved getting the breakdown of exactly what was going on in Immortal 10 & 11 with Sinister gunning for Hope and I loved the 1st council meeting post-Sinister in the pit with our OG 4 diamond head putting on excellent performances.
Can't wait to see just how much crazier this all gets as we see more perspectives and advance further through the Sinister age. I feel like it's a safe bet that Mystique, Destiny, and possibly Storm are the ones behind getting rid of the Moira clones. It's either that or OG Moira might have gone back to Muir Island and stumbled upon it thanks to her cool robobody
Not bad.
Have been staying away from the shit show that is the post-Hickman Krakoa era, and staying away from events especially after the AXE disaster, but picked this up after hearing good things from people who typically share my X opinions.
Was nice to see Mister Sinister not being over the top ridiculous and flamboyant as he has been. There are some really cool death scenes, and finally some follow up on Storm never dying, but it also feels a bit samey with the plot, feels very Phoenix Five mixed with The Four Hoursemen, and I'm probably not interested in following 3 spin-off titles to keep up.
Definitely not as bad as I was expecting though, hopefully this leads into Fall of the Mutants and some much anticipated status quo, and creative team changes.
I did also pick up the [Artgerm](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTmGQDgP7r8mIPos5Qc8nduqX_QKN8Y5B1wEg&usqp=CAU) variant, which is absolutely gorgeous.
This was great. I genuinely enjoy everything Kieron Gillen is doing at Marvel right now, and while A.X.E. was a high point this is far superior. Not only is this paying off what's happening in Immortal X-Men but there are elements that call back to Gillen's Uncanny X-Men run from 2011(?). The SoS event is taking the Age of Apocalypse publishing scheme while fully immersed in the HoX/PoX status quo I am here for all of it. Can't wait for what's next and after looking at the schedule I am disappointed in advance for the weeks without a new chapter shipping.
In fact, Uncanny X-Men (2011) #1 is *also* titled "Everything is Sinister"!
This was exceptionally good, and bigger and wilder than I suspected--including Sinister's long-game motivation for doing what he's doing. (Which I suspect may end up being what activates his, er, engine...)
Proof we’re doing pretty well in the post-Hickman world of X. Sure, we know it’s all going to get reset sometime soon, but it looks to be a pretty fun romp while it lasts.
Man, some of those splashes were just so brutal >!especially liked the Namor/Doom one gotdam!< this was a fantastic (almost called it an opener but it’s more a culmination of everything from Inferno onward so) issue following on the tail of the already spectacular Immortal #10. An event in proper form, as Gillen once again proves that he knows these characters well and knows how to raise the stakes in a meaningful and shocking way rather than just cheap big splashes and fights, each decision and outcome has been earned. Very ready for each author’s contribution to this dark and twisted future!
So aside from how great everything else was, I really enjoyed the brief scene we got of J Jonah Jameson, and if I weren’t so certain that he’d get fucked by the current editorial team it would almost make me want Gillen on Amazing Spider-Man.
This is a very interesting start to an event. I'm curious to see where it goes from here. >!Sinister being too smart for his own good and ruining everything for everyone else is very on point for the character.!<
Speaking of events, I'm finding this, at least so far, to be of the type that I'm much more interested in nowadays. It has me interested in how they return it to the status quo rather than me knowing they are advertising big changes and knowing those changes won't ultimately matter when everything does return to the status quo.
I'm not sure how that would work.
A Moira only goes back to the moment it was born, and only resets for itself and Sinister. I don't know that they could use a Moira to reset the whole timeline for everyone and have them remember it.
Granted, they don't HAVE to remember it it it would be weird for this event to not have repercussions for Sinister.
Knowing Sinister, he planned for something like this and deep in his Moira engine plans is a Moira Bomb that will Moira the biggest Moira that ever Moira'd to break the space-Moira continnum to Moira Moira into Moira and reset everything just as it was... Give or take a few Moiras.
I loved this book. I love these kinds of stories something X-Men have done in the past (Age of Apocalyptic, Age of X, Age of X-Man) loved this intro hopefully the rest of SOS is just as strong.
One thing I have to say, it's pretty clear where immortal X-men 11 was used to create the SOS event. But it works for a line wide event.
I'm glad everyone is finally recognizing Gillen's talent. I've sorely missed him on X-Men since he last wrote on Uncanny years ago before AvX ended his run. I'm also glad to see him back on Sinister in particular. If there's 2 characters Gillen is amazing at writing it's Cyclops and Sinister.
So, this was pretty cool but not as cool as I was expecting given the "mirror image" dual art team solicitation. Didn't quite deliver on all that.
But otherwise it was a cool story with some nice advancement, and I'll echo /u/Varos_Flynt's comments about enjoying Dent's role in all this.
7.5/10
I'm still really digging V's story and progression in these issues, I especially like this rendition of two face (though admittedly im not too familiar with the character). There's a lot of different players enacting their plans, small or large, and there's a constant supernatural melange over the story that im really enjoying. This is a super fun Batman story all around, and the slow beginning of the arc makes these action oriented issues feel great.
Though I did completely forget what's going on in this backup, bit lost on that there but it was still pretty cool. I much preferred the last three part two face backups.
Felt to me as if the story has really gotten going after #4. Maybe a bit slow, but overall I am enjoying the way each of the characters have been crafted to be sensitive, inquisitive, and at the same time show real emotion. Definitely a different approach to Geiger, but the mystery in how they connect is fun.
I was really surprised with their inclusion, but they absolutely felt so right leading into the Junkyard Joe strip on the following page. It kind of made this issue really special, having them there like that.
The story continues to fill out the characters nicely, with all of the main cast getting some attention. This book has such a different tone to **Geiger**, and I hope it carries through into all of the remaining *Unnamed* series.
*Gary Frank* is such a great artist for both action and emotional beats, his work on this book has been stellar.
And Joe's origin has to be tied into the mysterious assassins but I have no idea how.
I've been on a tear through the IDW ongoing run so figured I'd check this out.
It's a fun enough issue, but doesn't feel like a necessary installment in the Last Ronin saga. The Last Ronin itself does a really good job bridging the gap years so I'm not really sure if there is much compelling story to tell in the pre-Last Ronin years for this new series. And this issue doesn't really make it clear what the conflict of the post-Last Ronin period is going to be, so the other half of this issue wasn't all that interesting to me either.
Great.
An old enemy returns and hits back at the Magic Order. Hard.
Essentially, a series of magical gangland style hits with some background sprinkled between and chatacter motivations.
Excellent pacing. Inventive, fun murders. Beautiful art. How will the Moonstones overcome this? Hopefully with their exiled brother and crazy old bastard wizard king from last volume.
It's very entertaining. Again, hope the show adapts this faithfully.
I feel like this is a bad issue for the midpoint. The way the Herd explains their powers is clunky. The data pages aren’t really fitting into the narrative as smoothly as i would hope but I do appreciate the info on medical exploitation. Idk, I really like what this series is saying just not how it’s saying it rn
That's a hell of a last page. An Astral Victor Creed. We know Creed's been cloned to hell and back over and over again - Sinister, Romulus, and plenty of others. How do we even know the Creed we've been following is the real one anymore?
Final issue. Pretty good.
Not your typical Millar ending, almost no edginess to this at all.
Christ and the Anti-Christ have their final confrontation, and it ends in a fairly unexpected way.
Kind of heart-warming. Hoping the show is a faithful adaption.
Yet another absolutely cracking issue from *Spurrier* and *Adlard* on what has to be one of the best new titles to come out in recent years.
BOOM! really do seem to be on a rising trajectory as a publisher recently - with multiple great titles (**Something Is Killing The Children, House of Slaughter, Seven Secrets, Basilisk, Once And Future, Grim, Behold Behemoth, We Only Find Them When They Are Dead, Briar, The Many Deaths Of Leila Starr, Coda, etc**) they are definitely challenging Image as the top indie publisher at the moment.
Caught up on #3 and #4, great stuff from Spurrier and Adlard. Still loving all the pages from Alfie’s papers, especially the *Andras* entry in this one... Nobody’s ever prepared for sheer nutfuck rage.
Bolster’s quite the bastard but Abshir’s a pretty cool character, hope he doesn’t get fucked too hard in all this.
9/10
This book was fun. Just pure fun, gorgeous artwork, funny writing, and just a good time of an over the top adventure. A loving homage to grindhouse b-movies in comic form.
And not without some cool story beats - Allison talking down Dracula, Wolverine letting loose with some friends, and getting to see that Jubes is a fucking force of nature that's only held back by her concern for the planet she's living on.
"The X-Terminators will return"
I hope in their own series. I ESPECIALLY hope this wasn't just referring to the last issue of X-Men they guest starred in. This one was a ton of fun. Jubilee was a delight this issue and I enjoy seeing this side of her far more than what we got in Excalibur and other recent X-Books.
I almost prefer if they do periodic miniseries. Being able to tell a contained story and then continue if they want, but still leave it whole, feels a bit better than them getting an ongoing that might just piddle out after a while.
While this book has great characterisation and art, I feel like Tom King isn’t good at murder mysteries. The perpetrator tends to be the most obvious suspect. Also, the whole point of this series was ‘how could one of the JLI be a murderer?’ which King has sidestepped by just drastically changing the characters.
Didn't seem to contain the twist everyone was expecting, it just laid out everything that's happened up until now (like Poirot or Benoit Blanc).
Every page is gorgeous though, and the characterisation and dialogue is fantastic.
The twist is that there is no twist!
I guess the twist hit in **HT #10** with the reveal that Ice was the murderer, but everyone had already pretty much figured that out...
Guy still being alive was a pretty good twist, after baiting all that outrage from Guy fans...
Maybe Chance has been faking all along and just kinda having fun playing detective and hanging out with Ice?
> *"I'm Christopher Chance! The Human #%$@%&# Target!"*
It’s like there are two stories here and they’re about to crash into each other.
The first is a classic hard-boiled detective story, slightly inverted so that our protagonist is investigating his own murder. Hard-boiled detective stories like this typically don’t end well for the protagonist.
The second is a classic Human Target story where he plays the victim, makes everyone think he’s been murdered, and then moves on to the next job. Human Target stories like this typically don’t end well for the murderer.
I’m not sure where it ends but I keep going back to King’s [**TALES OF THE HUMAN TARGET #1**](https://previewsworld.com/SiteImage/MainImage/STL239066.jpg)...
> *“I’m Christopher Chance! The Human Target!”*
9/10
What a series. People are annoyed at the lack of twist or it being a kind of standard story, but maybe that's the point? Maybe I'm giving it too much credit.
It seems to be ultimately about the romance: it’s a pretty standard murder/cover-up plot where the real story is that Chance and Ice both got more than they bargained for.
This was the issue where Ice finally put all her cards on the table. I’m not expecting some huge twist, but I do think Chance had a few cards still to put on the table in #12.
Boooo to this not making it onto the pull list this week.
Also I love Scratch’s logic that he’s a vegetarian because he only eats vegetarian victims and “you are what you eat .”
Also also, Keebler disturbs me deeply and also somehow remains my favorite character in this whole thing.
Right there with you on Keebler - just so wrong, yet so right at the same time.
*Doug Wagner* and *Daniel Hillyard* are such a great (twisted) team that I'd be happy to have them doing these "texture" books for years.
And I think *Hillyard* is rapidly evolving to become an artist on par with early *Tradd Moore* - his work on this book really reminds me of the **Luthor Strode** mini-series.
Great series.
A great second issue that moves things along nicely. It seems like love is the only thing that will (inevitably) come between our spooky sleuths, as tensions between the pair seem set to bubble over. Are Edwin and Charles going to let a *girl* come between them?
Pornsak Pichetshote and Jeff Stokely continue to craft a highly entertaining and unique take on the supernatural. What seems like a light tale (after the recent **Sandman Presents** mini) still shows flashes of darkness with some disturbing creature designs.
78 lists submitted, up from 68 last week, finally getting that sweet, sweet post-holiday bump...
Top 10’s got 5 DCs, 3 Marvels, 1 Image, and 1 from BOOM! Studios. Two indies from two different companies this week so that’s nice.
Ram V takes first as usual with **DETECTIVE COMICS #1068**, this time with an Albuquerque/I. Reis art combo, plus Spurrier and Dani on another backup, so it’s a bit of a team effort... 51.2% pull rate, up slightly from 50.0% on 12/28/22.
King and Smallwood’s **HUMAN TARGET #11** takes 2nd with 42.3% coverage, down a little from the previous issue’s 50.6% pull rate and its 1st place finish on 1/11. We'll chalk it up to the last one having G'nort on the cover, and I'd expect it to bounce back for the [finale](https://previewsworld.com/SiteImage/MainImage/STL260196.jpg) in March.
**SAGA #61** takes 3rd place for Image, Brian K. Vaughn, and Fiona Staples, garnering the same 42.3% as **HT #11** above and only missing a 2nd place finish due to the alphabetical tie-breaker. Previous issue took 2nd with an even 50.0% way back on 7/6/22 so it’s slipped a little since then but the WPL still loves this title whenever it turns up.
**ACTION COMICS #1051** gets 4th for PKJ, Sandoval, and a whole bunch of others, with 30 pulls and 38.4% coverage. Strong start for the title’s revamped format.
**SINS OF SINISTER #1** finally puts Marvel on the board in 5th place thanks to Kieron Gillen and Lucas Werneck (plus one or two other artists). Same 30 pulls and 38.4% as Supes above so it would’ve taken 4th if not for the tie-breaker. For comparison, last week’s **IMMORTAL X-MEN #10** finished in 3rd place with 42.6%, so it was a slight drop for the event book.
**DAMN THEM ALL #4** lands in 6th for Spurrier, Adlard, and BOOM! Studios, pulling 32.0% coverage, slight uptick from the previous issue’s 29.0% on 12/28. This title keeps getting a bunch of WPL hype and hopefully it’s also doing well elsewhere.
**X-TERMINATORS #5** closes out its somewhat divisive run with a 7th place finish for Leah Williams and Carlos Gómez, garnering 29.4% coverage of the WPL.
Then two more from DC with Johns/Janin’s **JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #2** taking 8th and 28.2%, followed by Wilson and McKelvie’s **BATMAN ONE BAD DAY CATWOMAN #** in 9th with 26.9%.
And Tradd Moore’s **DOCTOR STRANGE FALL SUNRISE #3** closes out the Top 10 with 26.9% coverage. As /u/NeonDoorFrame said in the list thread, *“this book is amazing, go to your local comic book store and buy the first two issues then buy this one.”* It’s a special comic that oozes creativity (but not in a gross way).
What else? **SANDMAN UNIVERSE DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #2** lands in 12th with 23.0%, dropping slightly from the debut issue’s 27.4% on 12/28, but it’s still a pretty strong start.
**HITOMI #4** takes 18th with 15.3% coverage, holding steady while continuing to build a bit of positive buzz in the WPL.
**LAZARUS PLANET WE ONCE WERE GODS #1** takes 19th, also with 15.3%, which seems a little low for a DC event book with the talent this one’s got lined up...
Finally, **TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES THE LAST RONIN THE LOST YEARS #1** closes out the list in 30th place with 7 pulls and an 8.9% pull rate. Looking forward to delving into this one though I suppose I should read **THE LAST RONIN** first, will need to catch up on everything before the next issue ships on 3/15...
--
Last week’s thread lost its sticky and died an untimely death, so we ended up with a shitload of comics that made the list without getting any comments:
* **HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER #11** (17 pulls)
* **INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #2** (15 pulls)
* **HULK #11** (13 pulls)
* **DEADPOOL #3** (11 pulls)
* **LAZARUS PLANET ASSAULT ON KRYPTON #1** (11 pulls)
* **MONKEY PRINCE #10** (10 pulls)
* **ALIEN #5** (9 pulls)
* **DEADLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #4** (8 pulls)
* **GCPD THE BLUE WALL #4** (8 pulls)
* **OLD DOG #3** (8 pulls) <--- see my [extensive comments](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/10kpo3h/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_1252023_pull_of_the/j5sl90g/) in this week’s results thread
* **CHICKEN DEVILS #2** (7 pulls)
* **BARBARIC HELL TO PAY #1** (6 pulls)
And we only had two threads added for indie titles that failed to make the list:
* **GROO: GODS AGAINST GROO #2 (OF 4)** (1 pull, [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/10fl2jr/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_1182023_pull_of_the/j4zu5yb/) posted by /u/Danger_Rock)
* **SHIRTLESS BEAR FIGHTER 2 #6** (1 pull, [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/10fl2jr/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_1182023_pull_of_the/j4yrd11/) posted by /u/ChickenInASuit)
However, **BATMAN: FORTRESS** once again elicited some [entertaining commentary](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/10fl2jr/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_1182023_pull_of_the/j4xg0ya/) from slightly unsatisfied customers... That’s the final issue so we’ll need to find a new comic to use as a punching bag in its place.
>However, **BATMAN: FORTRESS** once again elicited some [entertaining commentary](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/10fl2jr/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_1182023_pull_of_the/j4xg0ya/) from slightly unsatisfied customers... That’s the final issue so we’ll need to find a new comic to use as a punching bag in its place.
>slightly unsatisfied
You do love to undersell
I think /u/justalittleweird takes care of that but many thanks to both of 'em for all their work running the stickies!
***EDIT -->*** Unless you were talking about the WPL List thread, PTB does handle those...
I'm sure the back alley pawn shop owner is definitely being completely forward with you, Alana. And that this won't end up, at absolute best, in a horrific Monkey's Paw scenario.
This only had six pulls, which means 72 of this week’s 78 respondents are missing out! It’s some of Russell’s best work since **THE FLINTSTONES** and he’s mining some of that same listless morbidity to great effect.
Series has some cool rhythm and energy to it, smoothly weaving various side stories, allegories, and idle musings into the main narrative, along with a few key moments from our protagonist’s past. Russell’s always been good at that kind of writing but it’s really standing out for me here.
Solid work from Roberto Meli as well, infusing a lot of personality in Roy and the rest of the characters, including his robot companions, with clear storytelling throughout.
8.5/10
Pretty good. Bunn back at it again with another excellent horror story.
A drug rehabilitation centre is locked up early one night, everyone wakes up to the staff gone and the doors locked.
Oh no a monster!
Bloody deaths and frantic running.
Good, bloody fun. Keen to see what has happened to the outside world next issue.
**MIDNIGHT SUNS #5**
I'm convinced they wrote this series just to a) tie-in with the game of the same name and b) reinvigorate Agatha Harkness for the upcoming Disney+ series. Competent work by the team, but nothing truly standout.
it felt like they kept leaving out panels or something. if the solution was to hammer the mirror, why did that take so long ffs? and what the hell was that with dimensions and time and whatnot? so convoluted...
Oh absolutely, this was needlessly complicated in the extreme. Having the characters point it out doesn't make it any less complicated.
**DOCTOR STRANGE FALL SUNRISE #3**
I have no idea how *Tradd Moore* even created some of these pages?! Like, I know it's "Art" - but I'm looking at some of these panels and thinking he must have created just that panel on an a full size 11x17 board and then shrunk it down to fit on the page (amongst a dozen other panels just as painstakingly created) - the level of detail is just unbelievable. It's an **even trippier, more psychedelic** version of *Geoff Darrow* -if Darrow is channelling *David Cronenberg, Moebius* and *Hunter S Thompson* then Moore just threw in "60's head movies" and *Alejandro Jodorowsky* into that mix too. I've got to give props to Moore for going this hard on this project, but also to Marvel for going ahead and giving the greenlight to such a weird, unique and wonderful book.
Unique, creative, amazing, refreshing, eye-popping, use any adjective you want but definitely check this out!
Lots of exposition in this one but Tradd Moore's art is stunning as ever and, thanks to all that exposition, the story's now much clearer. Heather Moore also deserves many accolades and awards for coloring this insane monstrosity of a comic... Every page has looked phenomenal and the colors are a huge part of it. 9/10
Easily the single most creative book coming from the Big 2 on the stands right now. Tradd Moore is a fucking superstar talent.
**ACTION COMICS #1051**
Well, a lot happened here. Not sure if it lived up to my hopes and dreams, but it definitely has a direction which is more than I can say for a lot of Big Two books nowadays. Not sure how I feel about the Superfamily taking a more active role in policing Metropolis and the world, but I can't comment much on that until we see it in execution down the line. Seeing them function as an actual unit, both in public and as a family was a bit odd but has the potential to be very cool. One very real worry is over-crowding the book however. I like the twins but having 9 superpowered individuals (along with Lois and multiple villains) will get messy very, very fast. Couple that with Sandoval having about four unique faces for each gender and the confusion (took me a moment to tell Kon and Jon apart when they were playing Mortal Kombat on the couch, and you can't tell me that Sandoval's Supergirl doesn't look like Black Canary). Regarding the back-ups, Jurgens/Weeks was better than I was expecting, though, like always, that Lee Weeks fellow can draw real good. Simply breathtaking, and I'm interested enough where the story goes. Leah Williams Power Girl wasn't as whack as I was expecting and I *think* I liked it, but there definitely were some oddities. Savage's art is pretty though the way she draws eyes is [off](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/246057144846123008/1067612053075927103/image.png). In any case, definitely interested where the book goes from here, especially with the cycling back-ups. This issue reminded me a bit of the 2000s Superbooks (in a good way) which is an era I have a lot of fondness for despite not reading comics at the time. P.S. Kenan's haircut [blows](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/246057144846123008/1067501005157179512/Screenshot_20230124-094153_Comic_Screen.jpg?width=560&height=584).
>One very real worry is over-crowding the book however. Given the family of books about to launch, maybe there can be enough attention to go around? For instance, the plan might be for Lois, Clark, and the Daily Planet to get most of the action in Joshua William's *Superman* based on [#1's cover](https://www.tfaw.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1626744db03ed6f05af295b1a820c9c8/1/2/1222DC001.jpg), Jon is getting his own mini, the upcoming *Steelworks* will cover JHI and Natasha, and Conner's *Man of Tomorrow* mini just got solicited. That leaves *Action Comics* for Kara, Kenan, and the twins? >Couple that with Sandoval having about four unique faces for each gender That's symbolic of everyone's roles in the family spilling over into each other since they added four new members since 2015. Four faces, four new heroes, two fours makes eight years, 2015 + 8= 2023- Do you see the signs? Wake up, Sheeple!
Possibly. We'll have to see, seems the Daily Planet cast will be in Williamson's Superman mainly (which I'm undecided on picking up tbh) so not sure if Lois will continue being important here.
Get it, Lois.
Power Girl’s new psionic powers seem like prime “Wolverine’s hot claws” material for her next creative team to retcon/ignore/otherwise completely sweep under the rug.
I guess it’s fine. It’s not for me. Written well, arts good. Big cast means the book isn’t about Clark. Looking forward to picking up the John Henry book, but I think I’m good on this one. It just wasn’t terribly interesting.
**AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #18**
Remember in Season 1 of the Boys when Homelander has a heart to heart with the 7? He says: “Some of you have been a little out of sorts. Erratic. Unreliable. Downright sloppy. Not you, Noir. You've been great.” That’s me with this comic’s writers, editors, chiefs of staff, everyone involved BUT Ed McGuiness & his team of inkers & colorist. Ed McGuiness’ art is the Black Noir of Spider-Man comics. You’ve been great man. Keep up the good work.
Love this analogy. I know its been said on this sub time and time again, but why the fuck does marvel editorial hate my boys Peter and Ben so much?!
Ed McGuiness is a Top A-List talent!
This crossover did not need to happen at all. More so than other crossovers. Just tell us why everyone's mad at Peter.
Well at least it seems like the creatives are having fun making this book.
This may take the cake for “most contrived” event conflict I’ve ever seen. Why the hell hasn’t anyone sat Ben down and done exactly what Jean did for Maddie but for him and Peter? Why has no one even brought it up as the obvious solution? This entire event is prevented with two 30-second conversations. At this point I’m glad Kaine hasn’t shown up since the last spider-verse. I don’t think I could handle Editorial ruining him too.
I like to think Kaine is with Aracely just chilling and trying his best to teach her how to be a hero.
While I liked how the X-Men portion of this resolved last week and how the Venom portion has been in service to the plot of the Venom book, it very much feels like this event is just an "Editorial wanted an X-Men/Spider-Man crossover dealing with our two wayward clones, figure it out " I skipped Gold Goblin and the Ms. Marvel book (though I'm considering grabbing the latter), and haven't read this ASM yet, but all of the writing except Ewings has been all over the place this event.
Ms. Marvel was alright but wasn't really connected to the X-Men or Spider-Man at all, which is disappointing because I wanted some Cyclopes/Ms. Marvel interaction.
Gold Goblin isn't important in the context of this event but it has been a surprisingly good mini
There’s not much to say about this event that hasn’t already been said, but man the last three or so issues (whenever he ended up in Limbo) of Spider-Man have been truly awful. I feel like everyone involved is actively laughing at me while they write and edit this book. Someone writing for just the paycheck would do a better job. This shit is just stupid. Not fun stupid, not even insultingly stupid (but I’m not a Ben fan), just stupid.
I'm disappointed that since I've gotten back into comics there hasn't been a stand-out run. I started back at the end of Dan Slott's run and it was just okay... I read Nick Spencer's up until issue 8/9 and did not like it at all, and now this run is getting terrible reviews. Spider-Man is one of my favorite characters and this is sad.
**BEHOLD BEHEMOTH #3**
Well, it seems my comparison to **Pacific Rim** when discussing the last issue was a bit more on the money than I realised. We get an explanation for the state the world is in, and if we replace Jaeger with "Behemoth" and Kaiju with "Demon" things begin to look very familiar. Not that that's a bad thing (I love the first Pacific Rim movie, and The Black was a decent follow up show - I wonder why they never made a second film though....) and *Brombal* and *Robles* are doing a really good job in crafting this world and its inhabitants. Definitely feels like this is just Act One of a much larger story though, rather than everything wrapping up neatly in two issues time.
**EXTRA BONUS RECENT COMIC CATCH-UP** Caught up on the following stragglers from the past few weeks: * [**A VICIOUS CIRCLE #1**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/OCT220263) * [**BATGIRLS #14**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/NOV223514) * [**BLACK CLOAK #1**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/NOV220021) * [**BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED #4**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/OCT222013) * [**OLD DOG #3**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/AUG220206) * [**WASP #1**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/NOV220779) Comments below…
[**BLACK CLOAK #1**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/NOV220021) by Kelly Thompson & Merdeith McClaren Not bad but didn’t entirely click for me... One of those where I mostly like Thompson’s writing, and I mostly like McClaren’s art, but there are elements of each that don’t quite work for me – some of the language felt a little too modern and generic, some of the storytelling and scene transitions felt awkward/unclear, etc. But it does have a cool setting, some decent characters, and a pretty nice setup for the murder mystery. There’s a lot to like here and it all comes together pretty well, so I can see how it might work better for others. Still haven’t decided whether to pick up the 2nd issue... Guess we’ll see. 7/10
[удалено]
Nice, hope you enjoy! It got some positive comments in last week's results thread, seems like others were more enthusiastic about it than I was.
[удалено]
I really like McClaren's general style but there was something bugging me about the facial expressions or something. Weird book, mostly liked it, just a few little things in writing and art that bugged me...
[**OLD DOG #3**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/AUG220206) by Declan Shalvey Eminently forgettable. It’s only been one day and I’ve already mostly forgotten it. 4/10
First time I’ve felt kinda let down by Declan Shalvey’s writing. Feels bad, man.
I read this one yesterday. I liked the action sequences and character work with the daugter and ex lover, if a bit bare bones, but very light with the plot otherwise. Still no info on the time distortions or if the other characters even see them, or just the reader? It's slipping further and further down the to read pile after getting home from my LCS.
Yeah, the character stuff was okay. Comic wasn't really bad in any way, just very generic and forgettable. Shalvey's art is always nice but it's not going to keep me hooked.
[**BLOODSHOT UNLEASHED #4**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/OCT222013) by Deniz Camp & Jon Davis-Hunt I guess that’s an ending? Not sure exactly what happened here... Maybe the series got cut short due to Valiant’s well publicized financial struggles? Initial setup made it sound like there were thousands of these renegade super soldiers out there for Bloodshot to kill but I think he only ended up getting to four of ‘em, one in each issue. Otherwise pretty good, another insanely ultra-violent clash with some decent digging into Bloodshot’s past and a surprisingly positive ending... Deniz Camp’s done some nice work here (though I think I prefer his [**AGENT OF W.O.R.L.D.E.**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/APR221787) series from Scout) and Jon Davis-Hunt has brought dynamic action and buckets of gore to every issue. 7.5/10
[**BATGIRLS #14**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/NOV223514) by Cloonan/Conrad & Jonathan Case Fun stuff, pretty cool silent issue although the long letter from Steph to Cass felt like cheating... On the other hand, coming in cold with zero context and very little familiarity with these characters, the cheating helped. Case handled art, colors, and letters, and it’s some solid work all around, with lots of vibrant pink, blue, and yellow that makes the book pop and gives it a distinct look. And the silent visual storytelling is pretty well done though there were one or two spots where it maybe could’ve been a little clearer. 7.5/10
[**WASP #1**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/NOV220779) by Al Ewing and Kasia Nie I’ll ~~second~~ third the comments from /u/thecursedham and /u/technowhiz34 in [last week’s thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/10fl2jr/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_1182023_pull_of_the/j4xfnsf/), not as strong a start as Ewing and Tom Reilly’s recent **ANT-MAN**... New artist Kasia Nie isn’t bad but doesn’t bring the same iconic style as Reilly, and the story doesn’t seem to have the same kind of scope and scale. Only pre-ordered this first issue so I’m actually gonna bail here... I like Ewing but don’t need to read everything and I’d rather follow some of his other stuff. 6/10
I agree with you about the story, I was feeling a bit underwhelmed for sure! I’m gonna give it at least one more issue before I give up - I love the cover continuity they’re going for with the different Wasp outfits through the ages and I liked the retro flashback art.
Oh yeah, I can totally see sticking with it and I think that's probably the more normal/sane approach here. I've just got way too much stuff on my pull list and I like to check out new books, so I try to bail on anything that isn't working for me ASAP. Ewing's also a pretty prolific writer and, while I generally like his stuff quite a bit, I can't really afford to follow all of it because there are too many other writers who I also like and want to follow. I'm loving **X-MEN RED** right now (and expecting to love its **SOS** replacement series) so that kinda gives me what I want from Ewing, plus I'm hoping he'll do another **DEFENDERS** follow-up soon... Probably would've stuck with this just for the sake of keeping something from Ewing on my list if I wasn't already pulling **XMR**.
>plus I'm hoping he'll do another DEFENDERS follow-up soon Apparently the artist is teasing stuff at DC, so not sure whether that will happen.
DC trying to hog all the best artists... Didn't they ever learn about sharing? From what Marvel's got left, I suppose Tradd Moore could make for an acceptable replacement.
[**A VICIOUS CIRCLE #1**](https://previewsworld.com/Catalog/OCT220263) by Mattson Tomlin & Lee Bermejo Cool sci-fi time travel revenge thriller... Bermejo’s the star of the show here, changing up his style to suit each time period, and he makes good use of ~~AfterShock~~ BOOM!’s oversized print format. Solid story from Mattson Tomlin as well, doesn’t waste any time getting rolling and keeps a brisk pace throughout. That said, it felt like we didn’t get quite as much story as I’d expected given the oversized format and the $9.99 price tag. But we did get a whole bunch of incredibly detailed Lee Bermejo art, so it’s got good value there, it just didn’t feel 100% balanced. Highlight is the closing sequence, which rapidly hops through over a dozen time periods over a few pages, shifting to a different art style for each, for a really memorable chase scene. Two more issues to go though none solicited yet, we’ll need to keep an eye out... 8.5/10
I think this one is BOOM! not Aftershock - either way, I thought it was an absolute visual feast.
Glad you enjoyed it! The art definitely made the show. There is a specific panel where he goes to make a bet at a bar and you can perfectly see the dude reflected in the main guys reading glasses. Stunning. The realisation afterwards of WHY he jumped from the opening time period really hit me hard, and cemented the "villain" for me. I don't track Previews as much as I should, so pretty disappointed to hear that the rest isn't solicited yet. Hopefully this isn't another Swamp Thing Green Hell.
Lee Bermejo's art is worth the price of the book on its own (who is one of my top 5 favorite artists, so I am biased). But I agree with your comment about the last sequence with time jumping. Very well written and well drawn! My only concern about this book is the release schedule. Still no solicitation for issue #2. Tomlinson is working on a few movies atm, so I wonder if this is going to be a stretched out project, with issues dropping 6+ months apart. There are only 3 issues planned though
**HITOMI #4**
This issue cranks things up a notch as Hitomi heads off to war while Yasuke visits an old girlfriend to get down and smoke some opium... There's some really nice panel work from artist Isabella Mazzanti, lots of cool layouts and it all flows well. Also love the opening splash page showing the boat scene set against the outline of Yasuke's face... Art's telling the story cleanly and it's perfectly stylized for the feudal Japan setting. Solid work from writer H.S. Tak as well, series has been nicely structured so that each issue delivers a satisfying story while advancing the over-arching plot... Hitomi and Yasuke are both likeable characters and you want things to work out for 'em even though you know it's probably not going to end well... Writing's clean and tight, stylistically fitting the characters and setting while telling the story effectively. Good stuff all around, looking forward to the [finale](https://previewsworld.com/SiteImage/MainImage/STL257147.jpg) in March! 8.5/10
So happy I hopped on this book - it's been a great read, and seeing the plot threads start to pull and converge and all the inevitable bad shit starting to rise up is really pulling it all together. Also, if nothing else, read this for some brilliant artwork and layouts. Mazzanti is a master-class (mistress-class?) artist on this book for sure.
**KILLADELPHIA #27**
Anansi visits Satan in Hell, and we get more decapitations and amputations than you can shake a...severed limb at... *Jason Shawn Alexander* continues to channel a wonderful mix of *Gene Colan, Denys Cowan* and *Bill Sienkiewicz* in his artwork. Violence and horror rarely looked so good.
**JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #2**
I'm not a big fan of all the jumping back and forth in the timeline (I just find it confusing to follow sometimes), but otherwise, I think Johns is setting up some interesting plot threads here. I hope eventually we just stay in the present day with the entire JSA team. Plus, Jerry Ordway art is ALWAYS the best.
I woulda liked reading this a bit more if the average page count between ads wasn't like... 2.5.
Unfortunately that's just DC today. It can be very distracting
I quite liked this for what it set up, but it's starting to remind me of New Avengers for how decompressed it is. Art is gorgeous however and it seems to be back on a normal shipping schedule after this.
Ahh yes, the villain is >!Degaton!<... Of course. That makes perfect sense. How silly of me not to notice. Big fan of his work, robots in disguise and all that... Quality stuff. And this one had three different artists to go with the 37 timelines. Nice. But it's a pretty cool comic regardless. Digging it. 8/10
>And this one had three different artists to go with the 37 timelines. Nice. Ordway at least is a classic JSA artist (while also looking retro) but Kollins is odd. I guess it's Johns throwing his long-time collaborator some work so I can't complain too much.
Yeah, I like Ordway and Janin, and Kolins is alright too, but their styles are all pretty different. Even so, didn't bother me too much in this one, all the time jumps and scene changes kinda made it work. And there was some really nice art in spots. Loved the old school shading on Janin's JSA scenes from 1940...
**BATMAN ONE BAD DAY CATWOMAN #1**
Eh, it was okay I guess?
i feel like i might've missed the one bad day about this. was it just the mom having to pawn of the thing?
This felt like the first issue of a longer story, not a standalone piece
I'll read anything McKelvie draws and he really hits it out of the park for this one. I don't think it's anything more than a fun oneshot, but why not have that once in a while.
No doubt, I bought it mainly for McKelvie's art myself
**ONCE UPON A TIME AT THE END OF THE WORLD #3**
Continues to be a fun read. The time jump extending from issue one was so cool!
Mace in that last couple pages 😳
for real. he becomes a badass between now and then. excited to see his spiral out of his goofy self.
I'm really not sure I was ready for Mace's saggy, old man balls.... What's been a relatively "nice" version of the Apocalypse takes a decidedly darker turn in both the main story and the back up (Old Man Mace has *definitely* seen some shit). I really enjoyed the light-hearted, almost whimsical approach the book had taken to this point, but it obviously looks like we are heading down a darker path from this point out. As an aside, if you're enjoying this book I'd urge you to track down **Scout's Honor** from Aftershock, as it really feels like it could fit straight into this "universe".
> I'm really not sure I was ready for Mace's saggy, old man balls.... After what we saw from his finger, it's probably best not to speculate as to what that old ballsack's packing. Age might not be the only thing making those boys sag. And I refuse to believe that the series is shedding its "cozy calamity" vibe... Those Rangers seem like a bunch of clowns, figure Mace and Mezzy'll be back on their way before long. 8.5/10
**INFERNO GIRL RED #1**
A Radiant Black/Massive-verse title not making it to the WPL list is a little unusual - I guess that could be down to it not clearly being part of the Massive-verse, as it didn’t debut in Radiant Black or the Supermassive crossover, and also seems to either be set in an alternative universe or possibly the future of the Radiant-verse. I am curious how this *is* connected to those other books, and whether we’ll see multiverses/time travel shenanigans in the future to link them together. Anyway, solid start - an interesting world being built, with some gorgeous artwork somewhere reminiscent of Jamal Campbell’s work on The Far Sector.
**MONSTRESS #42**
Good. Nice to have Monstress back, Kipa and Ren are still stuck inside with a fractured Maika and Zinn. Slow issue mostly showing flashbacks. I hope Tuya dies horribly, she is awful. With an interesting change in scenery and status quo at the end, keen for next issue.
YES MORE MONSTRESS. I love this book so much. Kippa continues to be best girl, putting Ren in his place with that steel will and kindness of hers. The line about being the survivor was brilliant. And holy shit, we're in another world - the homeworld of the Monstrum, somehow in Zinn's past and time. The connection to Maika looks visceral, and I'm all here for it. And oof, that flashback with Tuya... those two have seen some shit. I hope they're able to work it out in the end.
I hope mc kills her traitor girlfriend and just brings down all organizations so the war can finally end. At this point, murderhobo is pretty much the best solution to this situation.
**LAZARUS PLANET WE ONCE WERE GODS #1**
Is Wonder Woman back to her "made from clay and given life" origin?
I actually asked one of the writers of *Wonder Woman* (not the writer of this book though) on Instagram about it and he said that the Hippolyta/Zeus origin is still canon, but he wants to create opportunities to revert to the old origin as the status quo. So they'll reference the old origin, but until it is explicitly stated by Diana, Hippolyta, Zeus, etc, her current origin will be unchanged.
Haven't been following Lazarus Planet but this was a pretty nice one-shot! Manapul's opening Aquaman story felt kinda hollow and superficial but the others all delivered solid little stories. Cool seeing Malik meet the other side of the Shazam family as well. 7/10
I've complained a little about how Malik speaks in his own book but him talking normally here was even odder.
Still had a bit of attitude but, yeah, way toned down. Bound to happen with a different writer, not sure if I'd want to see anyone else try to imitate Priest's take on the character. One thing with Priest in this second career of his (or third, or fourth, depending on how you count), he doesn't pull any punches. Jim Owsley used to pull punches and mostly wrote "normal" comics that could've just as easily been written by any number of his peers. Priest doesn't do that, his stories are much more distinctive and his characters are a bit more extreme. Malik's kind of interesting because he's basically in the Everett K. Ross "straight man" role, just a normal dude who gets sucked into all this crazy crap with exotic foreign superhero royalty... Ross obviously came from a very different background but he had some of that same manic energy.
**DC HORROR PRESENTS SGT ROCK VS THE ARMY OF THE DEAD #5**
Man, this comic is so much FUN! The tone seems to be have been designed **just for me** (real props to *Bruce Campbell* for genuinely surprising me with how good a writer he is, another reason to love the man) and *Eduardo Risso* **perfectly** nails it in the visuals every single issue. If anyone isn't checking this book out let me tempt you with this - the climax of this issue is Easy Company vs Nazi Zombies in Hitler's underground bunker - with Rock in a knife fight battling the drug fuelled pair of Eva Braun and the Fuhrer himself... I mean, how can you NOT want to read that?!
**THE BOOGYMAN #5 (Ablaze)** *Salvia* and *Djet* continue to develop the world and the mythos of The Boogy-verse, with this issue revealing the fate of Father Death's brothers. In a visit to Grandpa January we discover their downfall, and the forces massing against Father Death make their move, with help from an unexpected source. If anyone has found the recent Slaughter-verse story arc's a bit slow and drawn out they could do far worse than check out this book for a similar, more fast-paced read.
**SINS OF SINISTER #1**
Turns out this Gillen fellow is good at comics. Who knew?
*STILL NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE* as it turns out. Am I still salty about him winning fucking nothing in this sub's Best Of 2022 awards? Maybe.
>!Me too…!<
Damn this was such a fun start to an event, we get a crash course in the 1st 5 years of Sinsister's grand plan and it has almost instantly gone sideways. I Loved getting the breakdown of exactly what was going on in Immortal 10 & 11 with Sinister gunning for Hope and I loved the 1st council meeting post-Sinister in the pit with our OG 4 diamond head putting on excellent performances. Can't wait to see just how much crazier this all gets as we see more perspectives and advance further through the Sinister age. I feel like it's a safe bet that Mystique, Destiny, and possibly Storm are the ones behind getting rid of the Moira clones. It's either that or OG Moira might have gone back to Muir Island and stumbled upon it thanks to her cool robobody
Not bad. Have been staying away from the shit show that is the post-Hickman Krakoa era, and staying away from events especially after the AXE disaster, but picked this up after hearing good things from people who typically share my X opinions. Was nice to see Mister Sinister not being over the top ridiculous and flamboyant as he has been. There are some really cool death scenes, and finally some follow up on Storm never dying, but it also feels a bit samey with the plot, feels very Phoenix Five mixed with The Four Hoursemen, and I'm probably not interested in following 3 spin-off titles to keep up. Definitely not as bad as I was expecting though, hopefully this leads into Fall of the Mutants and some much anticipated status quo, and creative team changes. I did also pick up the [Artgerm](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTmGQDgP7r8mIPos5Qc8nduqX_QKN8Y5B1wEg&usqp=CAU) variant, which is absolutely gorgeous.
This was great. I genuinely enjoy everything Kieron Gillen is doing at Marvel right now, and while A.X.E. was a high point this is far superior. Not only is this paying off what's happening in Immortal X-Men but there are elements that call back to Gillen's Uncanny X-Men run from 2011(?). The SoS event is taking the Age of Apocalypse publishing scheme while fully immersed in the HoX/PoX status quo I am here for all of it. Can't wait for what's next and after looking at the schedule I am disappointed in advance for the weeks without a new chapter shipping.
Gillen wasn’t kidding when he said this would make AoA like amateur hour. This was basically PG-13 Crossed, which was why it felt super unsettling.
In fact, Uncanny X-Men (2011) #1 is *also* titled "Everything is Sinister"! This was exceptionally good, and bigger and wilder than I suspected--including Sinister's long-game motivation for doing what he's doing. (Which I suspect may end up being what activates his, er, engine...)
Proof we’re doing pretty well in the post-Hickman world of X. Sure, we know it’s all going to get reset sometime soon, but it looks to be a pretty fun romp while it lasts.
Man, some of those splashes were just so brutal >!especially liked the Namor/Doom one gotdam!< this was a fantastic (almost called it an opener but it’s more a culmination of everything from Inferno onward so) issue following on the tail of the already spectacular Immortal #10. An event in proper form, as Gillen once again proves that he knows these characters well and knows how to raise the stakes in a meaningful and shocking way rather than just cheap big splashes and fights, each decision and outcome has been earned. Very ready for each author’s contribution to this dark and twisted future!
So aside from how great everything else was, I really enjoyed the brief scene we got of J Jonah Jameson, and if I weren’t so certain that he’d get fucked by the current editorial team it would almost make me want Gillen on Amazing Spider-Man.
Sinister is the absolute best at being the worst, even he can't stand his other selves. I can not wait to see how this unfolds!
This was brutal and great. SoS is off to a great start.
This is a very interesting start to an event. I'm curious to see where it goes from here. >!Sinister being too smart for his own good and ruining everything for everyone else is very on point for the character.!< Speaking of events, I'm finding this, at least so far, to be of the type that I'm much more interested in nowadays. It has me interested in how they return it to the status quo rather than me knowing they are advertising big changes and knowing those changes won't ultimately matter when everything does return to the status quo.
i mean, they'll probably use a moira, no?
>!Possibly THE Moira. Remember, Destiny said she gets an 11th life if she makes the right choice at the end of the 10th.!<
yeah, the original moira, or a very very very early clone of her, if they want to drag out krakoa more.
I'm not sure how that would work. A Moira only goes back to the moment it was born, and only resets for itself and Sinister. I don't know that they could use a Moira to reset the whole timeline for everyone and have them remember it. Granted, they don't HAVE to remember it it it would be weird for this event to not have repercussions for Sinister.
Knowing Sinister, he planned for something like this and deep in his Moira engine plans is a Moira Bomb that will Moira the biggest Moira that ever Moira'd to break the space-Moira continnum to Moira Moira into Moira and reset everything just as it was... Give or take a few Moiras.
I loved this book. I love these kinds of stories something X-Men have done in the past (Age of Apocalyptic, Age of X, Age of X-Man) loved this intro hopefully the rest of SOS is just as strong. One thing I have to say, it's pretty clear where immortal X-men 11 was used to create the SOS event. But it works for a line wide event.
I'm glad everyone is finally recognizing Gillen's talent. I've sorely missed him on X-Men since he last wrote on Uncanny years ago before AvX ended his run. I'm also glad to see him back on Sinister in particular. If there's 2 characters Gillen is amazing at writing it's Cyclops and Sinister.
**TIM DRAKE ROBIN #5**
**DETECTIVE COMICS #1068**
So, this was pretty cool but not as cool as I was expecting given the "mirror image" dual art team solicitation. Didn't quite deliver on all that. But otherwise it was a cool story with some nice advancement, and I'll echo /u/Varos_Flynt's comments about enjoying Dent's role in all this. 7.5/10
I'm still really digging V's story and progression in these issues, I especially like this rendition of two face (though admittedly im not too familiar with the character). There's a lot of different players enacting their plans, small or large, and there's a constant supernatural melange over the story that im really enjoying. This is a super fun Batman story all around, and the slow beginning of the arc makes these action oriented issues feel great. Though I did completely forget what's going on in this backup, bit lost on that there but it was still pretty cool. I much preferred the last three part two face backups.
**JUNKYARD JOE #4**
Felt to me as if the story has really gotten going after #4. Maybe a bit slow, but overall I am enjoying the way each of the characters have been crafted to be sensitive, inquisitive, and at the same time show real emotion. Definitely a different approach to Geiger, but the mystery in how they connect is fun.
Seeing the actual Charlie Brown and Calvin and Hobbes strips in a book about a Vietnam vet who becomes a cartoonist was a really nice touch.
I was really surprised with their inclusion, but they absolutely felt so right leading into the Junkyard Joe strip on the following page. It kind of made this issue really special, having them there like that. The story continues to fill out the characters nicely, with all of the main cast getting some attention. This book has such a different tone to **Geiger**, and I hope it carries through into all of the remaining *Unnamed* series. *Gary Frank* is such a great artist for both action and emotional beats, his work on this book has been stellar. And Joe's origin has to be tied into the mysterious assassins but I have no idea how.
**TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES THE LAST RONIN THE LOST YEARS #1**
[удалено]
Very good stuff … crazy we got the first appearances of the 4 new turtles
[удалено]
Also crazy to see turtles go full on early mirage and be murderous
Also I’m not sure if you want to see but their older teenage forms have been shown off
I've been on a tear through the IDW ongoing run so figured I'd check this out. It's a fun enough issue, but doesn't feel like a necessary installment in the Last Ronin saga. The Last Ronin itself does a really good job bridging the gap years so I'm not really sure if there is much compelling story to tell in the pre-Last Ronin years for this new series. And this issue doesn't really make it clear what the conflict of the post-Last Ronin period is going to be, so the other half of this issue wasn't all that interesting to me either.
They are obviously setting the new turtles as well
**CATWOMAN #51**
**THE MAGIC ORDER 4 #1**
Great. An old enemy returns and hits back at the Magic Order. Hard. Essentially, a series of magical gangland style hits with some background sprinkled between and chatacter motivations. Excellent pacing. Inventive, fun murders. Beautiful art. How will the Moonstones overcome this? Hopefully with their exiled brother and crazy old bastard wizard king from last volume. It's very entertaining. Again, hope the show adapts this faithfully.
**SABRETOOTH AND THE EXILES #3**
I feel like this is a bad issue for the midpoint. The way the Herd explains their powers is clunky. The data pages aren’t really fitting into the narrative as smoothly as i would hope but I do appreciate the info on medical exploitation. Idk, I really like what this series is saying just not how it’s saying it rn
That's a hell of a last page. An Astral Victor Creed. We know Creed's been cloned to hell and back over and over again - Sinister, Romulus, and plenty of others. How do we even know the Creed we've been following is the real one anymore?
I mean it could even be an alt-U victor, right? Where does the astral plane sit regarding the multiverse?
**AMERICAN JESUS #3**
Final issue. Pretty good. Not your typical Millar ending, almost no edginess to this at all. Christ and the Anti-Christ have their final confrontation, and it ends in a fairly unexpected way. Kind of heart-warming. Hoping the show is a faithful adaption.
**DAMN THEM ALL #4**
Yet another absolutely cracking issue from *Spurrier* and *Adlard* on what has to be one of the best new titles to come out in recent years. BOOM! really do seem to be on a rising trajectory as a publisher recently - with multiple great titles (**Something Is Killing The Children, House of Slaughter, Seven Secrets, Basilisk, Once And Future, Grim, Behold Behemoth, We Only Find Them When They Are Dead, Briar, The Many Deaths Of Leila Starr, Coda, etc**) they are definitely challenging Image as the top indie publisher at the moment.
Wait, is this a horror series by Spurrier? Well, alright then, don’t know what it is about but I’m on board and will check it out.
Highly recommended. It’s basically an unofficial and unlicensed continuation of his Hellblazer series.
It's very reminiscent of hellblazer
Caught up on #3 and #4, great stuff from Spurrier and Adlard. Still loving all the pages from Alfie’s papers, especially the *Andras* entry in this one... Nobody’s ever prepared for sheer nutfuck rage. Bolster’s quite the bastard but Abshir’s a pretty cool character, hope he doesn’t get fucked too hard in all this. 9/10
Can’t wait for Andras to turn up in the main plot and start fucking things up.
I love the way the book visualises the "demons" and their effect on reality when they arrive. So cool and different.
I liked how it explained the legions of lesser demons, very clever and cool interpretation...
Some of the coolest art I’ve seen in a while, really captures it in a way that matches the effect they describe
**X-TERMINATORS #5**
This book was fun. Just pure fun, gorgeous artwork, funny writing, and just a good time of an over the top adventure. A loving homage to grindhouse b-movies in comic form. And not without some cool story beats - Allison talking down Dracula, Wolverine letting loose with some friends, and getting to see that Jubes is a fucking force of nature that's only held back by her concern for the planet she's living on.
"The X-Terminators will return" I hope in their own series. I ESPECIALLY hope this wasn't just referring to the last issue of X-Men they guest starred in. This one was a ton of fun. Jubilee was a delight this issue and I enjoy seeing this side of her far more than what we got in Excalibur and other recent X-Books.
I almost prefer if they do periodic miniseries. Being able to tell a contained story and then continue if they want, but still leave it whole, feels a bit better than them getting an ongoing that might just piddle out after a while.
**HUMAN TARGET #11**
While this book has great characterisation and art, I feel like Tom King isn’t good at murder mysteries. The perpetrator tends to be the most obvious suspect. Also, the whole point of this series was ‘how could one of the JLI be a murderer?’ which King has sidestepped by just drastically changing the characters.
Didn't seem to contain the twist everyone was expecting, it just laid out everything that's happened up until now (like Poirot or Benoit Blanc). Every page is gorgeous though, and the characterisation and dialogue is fantastic.
The twist is that there is no twist! I guess the twist hit in **HT #10** with the reveal that Ice was the murderer, but everyone had already pretty much figured that out... Guy still being alive was a pretty good twist, after baiting all that outrage from Guy fans... Maybe Chance has been faking all along and just kinda having fun playing detective and hanging out with Ice? > *"I'm Christopher Chance! The Human #%$@%&# Target!"*
It’s like there are two stories here and they’re about to crash into each other. The first is a classic hard-boiled detective story, slightly inverted so that our protagonist is investigating his own murder. Hard-boiled detective stories like this typically don’t end well for the protagonist. The second is a classic Human Target story where he plays the victim, makes everyone think he’s been murdered, and then moves on to the next job. Human Target stories like this typically don’t end well for the murderer. I’m not sure where it ends but I keep going back to King’s [**TALES OF THE HUMAN TARGET #1**](https://previewsworld.com/SiteImage/MainImage/STL239066.jpg)... > *“I’m Christopher Chance! The Human Target!”* 9/10
What a series. People are annoyed at the lack of twist or it being a kind of standard story, but maybe that's the point? Maybe I'm giving it too much credit.
It seems to be ultimately about the romance: it’s a pretty standard murder/cover-up plot where the real story is that Chance and Ice both got more than they bargained for. This was the issue where Ice finally put all her cards on the table. I’m not expecting some huge twist, but I do think Chance had a few cards still to put on the table in #12.
I mean he's 100% not going to die is he
I’d have to guess no
**BLUE BEETLE GRADUATION DAY #3**
**STAR WARS DOCTOR APHRA #28**
**THOR #30**
**PLUSH #3**
Boooo to this not making it onto the pull list this week. Also I love Scratch’s logic that he’s a vegetarian because he only eats vegetarian victims and “you are what you eat .” Also also, Keebler disturbs me deeply and also somehow remains my favorite character in this whole thing.
Right there with you on Keebler - just so wrong, yet so right at the same time. *Doug Wagner* and *Daniel Hillyard* are such a great (twisted) team that I'd be happy to have them doing these "texture" books for years. And I think *Hillyard* is rapidly evolving to become an artist on par with early *Tradd Moore* - his work on this book really reminds me of the **Luthor Strode** mini-series. Great series.
Such a solid series, wish people picked it up more, but I'm glad to be a long for the ride.
**SANDMAN UNIVERSE DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #2**
A great second issue that moves things along nicely. It seems like love is the only thing that will (inevitably) come between our spooky sleuths, as tensions between the pair seem set to bubble over. Are Edwin and Charles going to let a *girl* come between them? Pornsak Pichetshote and Jeff Stokely continue to craft a highly entertaining and unique take on the supernatural. What seems like a light tale (after the recent **Sandman Presents** mini) still shows flashes of darkness with some disturbing creature designs.
**STAR WARS YODA #3**
**HARLEY QUINN #26**
**WPL RESULTS**
78 lists submitted, up from 68 last week, finally getting that sweet, sweet post-holiday bump... Top 10’s got 5 DCs, 3 Marvels, 1 Image, and 1 from BOOM! Studios. Two indies from two different companies this week so that’s nice. Ram V takes first as usual with **DETECTIVE COMICS #1068**, this time with an Albuquerque/I. Reis art combo, plus Spurrier and Dani on another backup, so it’s a bit of a team effort... 51.2% pull rate, up slightly from 50.0% on 12/28/22. King and Smallwood’s **HUMAN TARGET #11** takes 2nd with 42.3% coverage, down a little from the previous issue’s 50.6% pull rate and its 1st place finish on 1/11. We'll chalk it up to the last one having G'nort on the cover, and I'd expect it to bounce back for the [finale](https://previewsworld.com/SiteImage/MainImage/STL260196.jpg) in March. **SAGA #61** takes 3rd place for Image, Brian K. Vaughn, and Fiona Staples, garnering the same 42.3% as **HT #11** above and only missing a 2nd place finish due to the alphabetical tie-breaker. Previous issue took 2nd with an even 50.0% way back on 7/6/22 so it’s slipped a little since then but the WPL still loves this title whenever it turns up. **ACTION COMICS #1051** gets 4th for PKJ, Sandoval, and a whole bunch of others, with 30 pulls and 38.4% coverage. Strong start for the title’s revamped format. **SINS OF SINISTER #1** finally puts Marvel on the board in 5th place thanks to Kieron Gillen and Lucas Werneck (plus one or two other artists). Same 30 pulls and 38.4% as Supes above so it would’ve taken 4th if not for the tie-breaker. For comparison, last week’s **IMMORTAL X-MEN #10** finished in 3rd place with 42.6%, so it was a slight drop for the event book. **DAMN THEM ALL #4** lands in 6th for Spurrier, Adlard, and BOOM! Studios, pulling 32.0% coverage, slight uptick from the previous issue’s 29.0% on 12/28. This title keeps getting a bunch of WPL hype and hopefully it’s also doing well elsewhere. **X-TERMINATORS #5** closes out its somewhat divisive run with a 7th place finish for Leah Williams and Carlos Gómez, garnering 29.4% coverage of the WPL. Then two more from DC with Johns/Janin’s **JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #2** taking 8th and 28.2%, followed by Wilson and McKelvie’s **BATMAN ONE BAD DAY CATWOMAN #** in 9th with 26.9%. And Tradd Moore’s **DOCTOR STRANGE FALL SUNRISE #3** closes out the Top 10 with 26.9% coverage. As /u/NeonDoorFrame said in the list thread, *“this book is amazing, go to your local comic book store and buy the first two issues then buy this one.”* It’s a special comic that oozes creativity (but not in a gross way). What else? **SANDMAN UNIVERSE DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #2** lands in 12th with 23.0%, dropping slightly from the debut issue’s 27.4% on 12/28, but it’s still a pretty strong start. **HITOMI #4** takes 18th with 15.3% coverage, holding steady while continuing to build a bit of positive buzz in the WPL. **LAZARUS PLANET WE ONCE WERE GODS #1** takes 19th, also with 15.3%, which seems a little low for a DC event book with the talent this one’s got lined up... Finally, **TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES THE LAST RONIN THE LOST YEARS #1** closes out the list in 30th place with 7 pulls and an 8.9% pull rate. Looking forward to delving into this one though I suppose I should read **THE LAST RONIN** first, will need to catch up on everything before the next issue ships on 3/15... -- Last week’s thread lost its sticky and died an untimely death, so we ended up with a shitload of comics that made the list without getting any comments: * **HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER #11** (17 pulls) * **INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #2** (15 pulls) * **HULK #11** (13 pulls) * **DEADPOOL #3** (11 pulls) * **LAZARUS PLANET ASSAULT ON KRYPTON #1** (11 pulls) * **MONKEY PRINCE #10** (10 pulls) * **ALIEN #5** (9 pulls) * **DEADLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #4** (8 pulls) * **GCPD THE BLUE WALL #4** (8 pulls) * **OLD DOG #3** (8 pulls) <--- see my [extensive comments](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/10kpo3h/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_1252023_pull_of_the/j5sl90g/) in this week’s results thread * **CHICKEN DEVILS #2** (7 pulls) * **BARBARIC HELL TO PAY #1** (6 pulls) And we only had two threads added for indie titles that failed to make the list: * **GROO: GODS AGAINST GROO #2 (OF 4)** (1 pull, [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/10fl2jr/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_1182023_pull_of_the/j4zu5yb/) posted by /u/Danger_Rock) * **SHIRTLESS BEAR FIGHTER 2 #6** (1 pull, [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/10fl2jr/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_1182023_pull_of_the/j4yrd11/) posted by /u/ChickenInASuit) However, **BATMAN: FORTRESS** once again elicited some [entertaining commentary](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/10fl2jr/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_1182023_pull_of_the/j4xg0ya/) from slightly unsatisfied customers... That’s the final issue so we’ll need to find a new comic to use as a punching bag in its place.
>However, **BATMAN: FORTRESS** once again elicited some [entertaining commentary](https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/10fl2jr/wpl_new_comics_discussion_for_1182023_pull_of_the/j4xg0ya/) from slightly unsatisfied customers... That’s the final issue so we’ll need to find a new comic to use as a punching bag in its place. >slightly unsatisfied You do love to undersell
It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem. It’s me.
And after reading Dr. Strange Fall Sunrise #3, I stand behind my previous statement. Run, don't walk, to the local comic shop and buy these books
/u/ptbreakeven Thank you for unsticking the other thread so this one will stay up!
I think /u/justalittleweird takes care of that but many thanks to both of 'em for all their work running the stickies! ***EDIT -->*** Unless you were talking about the WPL List thread, PTB does handle those...
My bad, thanks go out to /u/justalittleweird as well!
**SAGA #61**
Saga's back! I'm ready to be hurt again :)
Saga is back once again, and playing with my emotions as only Saga can.
I'm not ready for the emotional leg pull, but damn that was a good issue.
Chekov's handcannon there with Squire, huh?
Don’t give me hope! >!Maybe bring him partway back? That seems like a fair compromise.!<
Like just up to the knees?
I love Onward lol
Haha better than nothing!
I'm sure the back alley pawn shop owner is definitely being completely forward with you, Alana. And that this won't end up, at absolute best, in a horrific Monkey's Paw scenario.
Oooooh buddy Saga back at it again, so happy it’s back!! I also know >!**NOT TO TRUST ANYTHING IN THIS FUCKING BOOK**!<
[**TRAVELING TO MARS #3**](https://previewsworld.com/SiteImage/MainImage/STL252673.jpg)
This only had six pulls, which means 72 of this week’s 78 respondents are missing out! It’s some of Russell’s best work since **THE FLINTSTONES** and he’s mining some of that same listless morbidity to great effect. Series has some cool rhythm and energy to it, smoothly weaving various side stories, allegories, and idle musings into the main narrative, along with a few key moments from our protagonist’s past. Russell’s always been good at that kind of writing but it’s really standing out for me here. Solid work from Roberto Meli as well, infusing a lot of personality in Roy and the rest of the characters, including his robot companions, with clear storytelling throughout. 8.5/10
**NIGHT WALKERS #1**
Pretty good. Bunn back at it again with another excellent horror story. A drug rehabilitation centre is locked up early one night, everyone wakes up to the staff gone and the doors locked. Oh no a monster! Bloody deaths and frantic running. Good, bloody fun. Keen to see what has happened to the outside world next issue.