Disclaimer: You can probably find complete shipping list updates on most major comics sites. Consider this an opportunity to either do all your info-shopping in the one place, or get a speculative perspective on what might be worth checking out. These are untested reads. Secret Wars on Infinite Earths can offer no guarantee or endorsement of quality. These are simply titles that may be of potential interest. Some items may ship late.
The Infinite Wars now has a gift shop!
Now you'll find Amazon purchase links to hardcovers, trade paperbacks, and other collections, not only on regular entries -- but also new releases at the bottom of the Shipping List, and now a whole catalogue of potential purchases via the Infinite Wars: Amazonian Gift Shop. [Men are also welcome!] By shopping with Amazon via our purchase links, you not only find yourself a great deal, but also sponsor future entries on the Infinite Wars.
The Independents...
APR100054 ABE SAPIEN ABYSSAL PLAIN #1 (OF 2) DAVE JOHNSON CVR $3.50
MAR101129 ATOMIC ROBO REVENGE O/T VAMPIRE DIMENSION #4 (OF 4) $3.50
APR100744 BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #182 $3.99
MAR100790 DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP #12 (OF 24) $3.99
APR100910 EXPENDABLES #3 (OF 4) $3.99
MAR100431 INVINCIBLE #73 (MR) $2.99
FEB101026 PHANTOM CAPTAIN ACTION #2 (OF 2) $3.99
FEB101029 PHANTOM GENERATIONS #13 $3.99
FEB100821 PROJECT SUPERPOWERS CHAPTER TWO #10 $2.99
APR100711 ROYAL HISTORIAN OF OZ #1 $1.00
MAY101293 SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL VOL 39 $14.95
FEB100371 STRANGE ADVENTURES OF HP LOVECRAFT TP VOL 01 (MR) $16.99
APR100391 TANK GIRL ROYAL ESCAPE #4 (OF 4) $3.99
APR100041 USAGI YOJIMBO #129 $3.50
APR100750 VERONICA #201 $2.99
APR100476 WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BARON VON SHOCK #2 (MR) $3.99
The Corporates...
MAY100586 DEATH OF DRACULA #1 $3.99
APR100151 FLASH #3 (BRIGHTEST DAY) $2.99
APR100172 GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #13 $2.99
APR100597 IRON MAN EXTREMIS DIRECTORS CUT #4 (OF 6) $3.99
APR100158 JOKERS ASYLUM CLAYFACE #1 $2.99
APR100615 MARVEL ZOMBIES 5 #4 (OF 5) $3.99
APR100541 SPIDER-HAM 25TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1 $3.99
The Spotlight...
- APR100176 ACTION COMICS #890 $3.99
It was a stroke of fanboy genius when, during the Blackest Night, Lex Luthor was deemed the ultimate deputy to the Orange Lantern of avarice, Larfleeze! Luthor's greed gets the spotlight as a post-100 Minute War [War of the Supermen] Supes goes walkabout, leaving the starring role of Action Comics to a ring-desiring super-genius!One of the real dangers of Blackest Night was the necessity to find a balance between flooding the DCU with a meaningless rainbow of power rings or a one-hit wonder concept. I'm really enjoying the residence the so-called 'New Guardians' have taken up in Green Lantern, and am keen to see how Larfleeze's time on Earth might lead to yet more intelligent, artful cross-pollination between the brands! They say super-villains can't sustain a starring role, but in Lex Luthor, I expect to see an easy dismissal of that popular misconception!
- APR100163 BATMAN BEYOND #1 (OF 6) $2.99
As an old timey comic book reader, the cartoons are always fun deviations to see, but deviations none the less. Bruce Timm and the team behind the "original" Batman animated series struck gold with their retro-infused vision of the Dark Knight and his Gotham City, but I was never so convinced that the various spin-offs, which lacked that charm, were must-see TV. Batman Beyond was an even bigger deviation into irrelevance that struck me as a cheap weenie Batman for the kids convinced DC comics are less penetratable than Spider-man, using ham-fisted drama to tap into bubbling hormones. It'll be a while before I fully shake that curmudgeonous assumption, but in Superman/Batman Annual #4 and Batman #700 I got a first-hand look at how wrong I've been to be so dismissive. At $2.99, the price is certainly right to investigate further as DC makes good on their promise to canonize Beyond as one of the various Earths-slash-possible futures.- APR100235 BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #18 $2.50
An animated series that convinced me much quicker than some of the more self-important escapades is Batman: The Brave and the Bold. With a four-colour comic book retro taking the place of the noir of the Timm show; Brave and the Bold delivers the ultimate in indulgent comic book animation, a lot like Grant Morrison doing Saturday morning cartoons with it's expansive indulgence in the DC superhero canon and it's seventy years of design and style. Clever with it's references and suitable for the whole family, I think this is probably the best kids' cartoon-to-comic tie-in the cartoons have given us.True to the team-up tradtions of the Brave and the Bold of the old; Batman is joined by a different partner each episode (or issue), to battle a similar selection of villains of the week. In the cartoon you should expect the unexpected, but for those heroes who don't quite make it to the screen, there is the comic book. Martian Manhunter lines up this issue, recalling one of my favourite less prominent relationships in comics, the Gotham City glued detective team-up that was popular introduced to the masses in a more hostile fashion in DC: The New Frontier. Fun!
- APR100141 GREEN LANTERN #55 (BRIGHTEST DAY) $2.99
Red Lantern Atrocitus takes the cover as the New Guardians' tour of recently revealed centre of the universe [Earth] invites the baddest bounty hunter in all the galaxy, Lobo, to town (on business) for an old fashioned fragging! With the next big story already simmering in the background, it's nice to see what will presumably be a light-reading distraction in the pages of GL. A breather after the epic saga that was Blackest Night seems appropriate, even if not a whole lot has happened since Sinestro joined up with Hal Jordan and Star Sapphire Carol Ferris in his pursuit of the White Lantern's light.- APR100557 SECRET AVENGERS #2 HA $3.99
For all intents and purposes, the Avengers relaunch seems to have a great deal of vision for moving forward. Alas, not every title is going to be for everyone, and as enticing as the concept of a team that includes Black Widow, Moon Knight, Nova, and War Machine might be to this old "Secret" Marvel fan, all signs point toward execution that is lacking. [Ed] Brubaker deserves recognition for a first-issue team building that was brisk, but the pace and quality of action and character just doesn't match that. Taking Steve Rogers and his new team into space is the kind of concept that works best with healthy indulgence in the fiction, but the muted execution typical of a new generation of writers led by Brubaker just doesn't seem comfortable enough to make that work. I was hoping for magic from that first issue, but it just wasn't there.- APR100134 WONDER WOMAN #600 (NOTE PRICE) $4.99
By now we all know about the costume change and origin revamp that's had the entire world talking. In many respects, your interest in this issue probably comes down to how much you want to know the secret origins of leggins on the street. As is customary for most comics blogs, I've pondered what Wonder Woman needs to get back amongst the ranks of the relevant. While I'm sure the world mainstream exposure of the stunt in news media will move plenty of units for the next few issues, I just can't help but think we should be well beyond this. Maybe behind yet another JMS character reboot lurks a brilliant concept, one that has good reason for wedging this (presumably) finite change to a classic character. I just can't shake the fact that we seem to be indulging more and more cheap tricks that led the nineties into a nosedive. Electro Superman and French Killer Batman should've been more than enough to steer us clear of this kind of silliness. Getting Wonder Woman in pants isn't the worst thing to happen in the comics world, but everything that comes with it seems to be just another revolution of stupid.We're thirty years in to the street-driven grime proliferated by the eighties and instigated more delicately by the seventies. It feels like experience and intelligence should've given us a path to the next great chapter in comic book creation, and in Final Crisis, I thought I was seeing that. Alas; there are many new influences on the comic book medium, which means waiting for the all expansive creation of intelligently indulgent superhero comics might have to wait. This revamp of a classic heroine isn't entirely unwarranted, but goes in the opposite direction to what I would think is the best way to get something out of the character. Wonder Woman suffers from similar misconceptions and malaise as Superman, which is why I would hold All-Star Superman up as a prime example of the kinds of successes an iconic and hyper-fictionalized Wonder Woman could achieve. Gail Simone's recent run at the character was certainly in that direction and had it's moments and possibilities, but ultimately felt like grinding twelve-part mediocrity that in no way represents the powers of a superhero Wonder Woman comic book. You get the sense that this utterly unimpressive vision of the heroine is preparing us for the realities of film casting. I could certainly see Megan Fox wearing this outfit more convincingly than the much more demanding star-spangled one-piece that most mere mortals are dwarfed by. It wouldn't be the first time movie pitches have infiltrated the books ahead of time. Can't help but wonder what influences like Darwyn Cooke or Grant Morrison were doing during these meetings. Beats a neon pink bikini, I guess.
After Batman and Superman did the $4.99 special, I'm even more reticent as a consumer who has no clear idea of what that extra dollar is paying for. I was very critical of Marvel's similar super-sized prices, but at least they made some effort to stuff back matter into chunky books that put value into the paper. Batman had a great thirty-odd pages of comic, but I put that issue down absolutely wanting my dollar back. I'd expect something similar here, providing foresight hasn't been given to the impressions of the unwashed masses that might pick this up on Lynda Carter's recommendation. An influence I personally have never been one to put stock in.
READ THE PREVIEW - VISIT THE SITE - BUY THE COMICKnow Your Trade...
APR100643 MMW DAREDEVIL TP VOL 01 $24.99
MAR100311 SHADE THE CHANGING MAN TP VOL 03 SCREAM TIME (MR) $19.99
MAY101293 SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL VOL 39 $14.95
FEB100371 STRANGE ADVENTURES OF HP LOVECRAFT TP VOL 01 (MR) $16.99
APR100688 TOMB OF DRACULA TP VOL 01 $24.99
NOV090182 WONDER WOMAN ARCHIVES HC VOL 06 $59.99
For me, a reader of comics for most of my life, this success of the Timmverse has been a mixed blessing. While it's certainly done great things for the comics, not just in terms of exposure, but as an influence that steered the Batman franchise through the late nineties to it's own surpassing successes of the animated series, the cartoons have also had their drawbacks. Most frustrating is the eventuating ignorance of the source material which comes from many fans failing to follow their favourite characters to their home in the four-colour comic book format. A barrier that I would have to admit goes two ways -- adding to my resistance to indulge the Batman Beyond cartoon.
