New Comics

jawad_4lyfe asks: Hi Do you know the oldest Spider-man comic book?,and is the punisher an vrey important comic or is not the important in the comic book industry? Well, first of all, jawad, you need to learn what we in the professor biz call “editing,” because otherwise people will think that you’re either (a) in third grade or (b) drunk, and then won’t answer your questions. The Professor, though, is willing to take a shot: First, assuming you’re talking about the guy named Peter Parker, the oldest Spider-Man story is in a comic called Amazing Fantasy #15, with a cover … Continue reading →

Countdown Arena #1 (of 4) — Writer: Keith Champagne; Penciller: Scott McDaniel; Inker: Andy Owens Surprisingly entertaining, and the first post-52 book that manages to make the alternate-universes deal interesting. Monarch wants to gather an army of super-folks, and so collects a bunch of different versions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. to battle it out in his arena to see which will make the cut, and which will just end up dead (so, you have the prospect of, say, three Batmen versions simultaneously fighting one another and trying to survive while attempting to outfox their omnipotent host). Since none … Continue reading →

OK, kids, there were a lot of books that were good enough to read, but not to buy, this week, so let’s go to the Lightning Round: The Sword #3 — Creators: The Luna Brothers Better than the second issue, with plenty of smoothly-told action (and startling violence); I really should be buying this (this is what happened with Girls, too — I’d waver on the series depending on particular issues, and then when the plot heated up and got good again I’d have to scramble to reacquire all of the earlier episodes). The setup so far seems a little … Continue reading →

Speak of the Devil #3(of 6) — Creator: Gilbert Hernandez This is one of Hernandez’s “B-movie” stories, where he’s “adapting” the films of one of his “real” Love and Rockets characters (yeah, it’s complicated; it’s part of a 20-year, multi-generational storyline). These are grindhouse movies, exploitive and lurid by design, and none of their characters are tied into all that complicated backstory; he can do whatever he wants with them. Consider this issue’s last page — exactly halfway through the story — which offers the moment when the set-up is over, the roller coaster tops the hill, and the real … Continue reading →

Countdown to Final Crisis #22 — Writers: Paul Dini with Tony Bedard; Story Consultant: Keith Giffen; Pencils: Carlos Magno; Inks: Rodney Ramos We start with a panel looking up Mary Marvel’s butt, and end with a full-page splash of the Trickster with a bullet through his forehead (in between? Jimmy Olsen on Apokolips), and that really tells you all you need to know about this sad, exploitive indication of how badly DC has lost its way. Want more evidence? Read on…. Green Lantern Corps #18 — Writer: Peter J. Tomasi; Pencillers: Patrick Gleason and Jamal Igle; Inkers: Prentis Rollins and … Continue reading →