Jason Aaron takes over on Ghost Rider this week, and comes in with a bang. I still remain skeptical about the Blaze = Angel bit, but I give Aaron a lot of slack because his Vertigo title, Scalped, is amazing. And he comes through with this issue.

Johnny Blaze has always been a bit of a tortured soul (well, obviously) — not that bright and saddled with a demanding Spirit of Vengeance. Since the reveal that it’s a Heavenly Spirit and not necessarily a Hellish one . . . well, Blaze doesn’t really see the difference.

Oh, and Nurses with guns.

And a zombie-ridden stretch of highway.

This is one way to start a run on a book that gets my attention.

Wolverine. X-23. Wolfsbane. Proudstar. Three of the four are the most vicious X-Men when crossed, and the other (Wolfsbane) is someone always struggling against her beastial nature.

With the events of Messiah CompleX over and done, Cyclops has a score to settle. The Purifiers are getting the band back together, as it were; rebuilding and activating Nimrod, which was one of the most deadly foes of the X-Men. (Although, to be honest, do the X-Men have any non-deadly foes? It’s not like they go up against someone like The Vulture or Rhino. Instead they get the Marauders, Magneto’s Evil Brotherhood and the Purifiers)

Cyclops gathers the four mutants mentioned above and sics them on the Purifiers. That’s pretty much the gist of the issue right there. There is some good character bits scattered throughout, as Wolverine attempts to stop them from joining: “You won’t be an X-Man any more,” he says. “You’ll be standing right next to them, but you won’t belong.”

And as the picture above insinuates, he’s unsuccessful and the wetwork ensues.

This is a book I’ll be watching for a while. The violent, bloody underworld of the X-Men’s world has always fascinated me; too many of the spandex set refuse to kill (admirable, but not very realistic, even within the warped logic of the Marvel Universe) and this group gathers together four very dangerous people.

BOOM! continues to impress me with their graphic realization of the Warhammer universes created by Games Workshop. Blood and Thunder is a good one to pick up, being as it is on issue 3 of 5, and at least where I go to acquire my comics, 1 and 2 are in decent supply.

Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton, who are ubiquitous when it comes to Warhammer, pen this tale of a captive human colonel who is considered an Ork Warchief’s “lucky Grot” — and the frustration of the human when escape plan goes awry is almost tangible.

I admit a bias - BOOM! consistently puts out good books, and I’m a sucker for
almost anything that has the word ”Warhammer” on the cover, but believe you
me, this is well worth your time.

Especially if you’re into the whole dystopian future bit.

DARK HORSE COMICS

DEC070024 BPRD 1946 #2 (OF 5) $2.99
DEC070041 EVIL DEAD #2 (OF 4) $2.99
NOV070020 GOON #21 $2.99

DC COMICS

NOV070256 APOTHECARIUS ARGENTUM VOL 04 $9.99
DEC070276 ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE SPECIAL #2 BEAUTIE $3.99
DEC070200 BAT LASH #3 (OF 6) $2.99
DEC070261 BATMAN STRIKES #42 $2.25
DEC070197 BOOSTER GOLD #0 $2.99
NOV070225 CONNOR HAWKE DRAGONS BLOOD TP $19.99
DEC070184 COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 11 $2.99
NOV070255 DOKKOIDA VOL 01 $9.99
JUN070198 DR THIRTEEN ARCHITECTURE AND MORTALITY TP $14.99
DEC078059 FREDDY VS JASON VS ASH #2 (OF 6) 2ND PTG $2.99
DEC070282 GEN 13 #17 $2.99
DEC070192 GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #5 (OF 9) $2.99
DEC070198 GREEN ARROW BLACK CANARY #5 $2.99
DEC070229 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #21 $2.99
OCT070196 GREEN LANTERN HC VOL 01 THE SINESTRO CORPS WAR $24.99
DEC070233 JLA CLASSIFIED #52 $2.99
OCT060202 JUSTICE HC VOL 02 $19.99
DEC070264 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #11 $2.25
NOV070260 PALETTE OF 12 SECRET COLORS VOL 02 $9.99
DEC070193 SALVATION RUN #4 (OF 7) $2.99
NOV070243 SHOWCASE PRESENTS ENEMY ACE TP VOL 01 $16.99
DEC070212 SIMON DARK #5 $2.99
DEC070203 SUICIDE SQUAD RAISE THE FLAG #6 (OF $2.99
JUN070210 SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION THE DOMINATOR WAR TP $14.99
DEC070217 SUPERMAN #673 $2.99
NOV070242 TIME MASTERS TP $19.99
DEC070260 TINY TITANS #1 $2.25
FEB078231 TRANSMETROPOLITAN TP VOL 03 YEAR OF THE BASTARD $12.99
OCT058076 TRANSMETROPOLITAN TP VOL 06 GOUGE AWAY $14.99
NOV070262 VENUS IN LOVE VOL 02 $9.99
DEC070242 WONDER WOMAN #17 $2.99

IMAGE COMICS

SEP071980 BRIT #4 $2.99
DEC072050 GUTWRENCHER #1 (OF 3) $3.50
DEC072093 JACK STAFF #14 $3.50
OCT071967 NEXT ISSUE PROJECT #1 $5.99
Read the rest of this entry »

So Hercules has taken away Hulk’s Incredible title and is now running around with Amadeus Cho. Hulk — at least the Bruce Banner version — is sitting in Ultimate-Style confinement under the desert and apparently going to help figure out what’s up with the new Red Hulk that offed Abomination.

Well, April 23 sees the two Titans battle it out again. Greg Pak, who along with Peter David is quite rightly seen as one of the best Hulk scribes, is going to be taking care of the scripting chores on this one.

Part of the story ties directly into Incredible Hercules #116 and sets up some themes and elements of the “Sacred Invasion” crossover which will follow in Incredible Hercules #117 to #120. And part of the story fits right into a classic Bill Mantlo “Incredible Hulk” tale from the 1980s. I’ll say no more, other than to plug the thrilling fact that you’ll see the Hulk as he hasn’t been seen for a long, long time, and it will be awesome.

So you are DC Comics. You’ve just signed Mark Bagley to an exclusive contract, which gives you access to quite possibly the speediest and most reliable artist in the industry. You have a recent history of putting out weekly comics. What do you do?

It’s obvious. Put him on your next weekly series with a very talented writer in your stable by the name of Kurt Busiek, and make the weekly about your biggest three characters; Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman. And name it Trinity.

And lo, that is exactly what’s happening. Says Busiek:

‘52’ came out of ‘Infinite Crisis’ and itself was a repercussion of a big crossover. ‘Countdown’ is leading into a big crossover. Each time DC does a weekly, they want to do it differently. ‘52’ was about a world without the heroes, ‘Countdown to Final Crisis’ is building up to an event about the heroes and ‘Trinity’ is about the heroes. Front and center.

JMS is writing the story of Captain America writ large.

Sure, it doesn’t have Steve Rogers (or Cap for that matter) between the covers, but it is a story of remarkable similarity.

Don’t get me wrong, though — I am thoroughly enjoying The Twelve. JMS is putting a lot of pathos in the story, and I proclaim it good. The heroes are lost in time, never able to return to the world they know, and some are having adjustment issues.

Take Dynamic Man, for instance. The guy was suspected of being homosexual by his compatriots in the 40’s, and it turns out the guy is a racist as well. From a totally different world, and although he wants to be a Hero, writ large with all the acclaim that gives, he is going to find out that the world of the 2000s is not as accepting of his views.

And I believe Rockman is going to be a very tragic figure. Very tragic.

If you haven’t read the first issue, do so. Pick this one up — it’s a 12-issue miniseries, and so far I like what I’m reading.

Jonah Hex. A hideously scarred bounty hunter, Hex is pretty much the epitome of the hard-bitten bad-ass cowboy all us kids wanted to be when we grew up.

Well, I did. Minus cutting out people’s tongues and the torture that got him where he is now.

Hex is not a nice man; if you’ve done wrong, he’ll come after you — if someone cares enough to pay him. With no bounty on your head, it’s fine — but if someone wants to pay, you’re as good as dead.

This issue isn’t the best in the series — with Hex’s format being one-and-done (for the majority of the run) this one isn’t a great one for story; but it is a good one for giving a taste of the character himself. A who-gives-a-damn fellow who would as much as spit on you as look at you.

Read this one; if you don’t like it don’t buy it — but keep a lookout for Jonah Hex in future weeks. There’s always some entertainment between the covers.

BOOM! Comics has been the focus of my praise many times for their treatment of the Warhammer license from Games Workshop. Mostly due to the Warhammer 40,000 license, as that is where my heart lies — a grim future where there is only war, and there are no Good Guys.

The Warhammer Fantasy setting is much the same; and with a few of the same factions; Empire, Chaos, Orc are the three that cross over and BOOM!’s miniseries Forge of War deals with the Empire and Chaos.

First off, let’s just say that you’re silly as hell if you’re looking for a happy ending in a Warhammer book of any flavor. It just Does Not Happen. The most you can hope for is ambiguity, which Forge of War has in spades.  This was the last issue of the miniseries, which has done a great job of capturing the feel of the W:F setting — which should not be a surprise as Dan Abnett is a very prolific writer of Warhammer prose.

In short, order this trade when it comes out, if you see it; buy it.

This book needs more Machine Man. Especially since it’s Nextwave-Era Machine Man.

Ms. Marvel is growing on me. Since the events of House of M, where she saw herself as the premiere hero on Earth in that alternate reality, Carol Danvers has been giving  her all to become just that.

Agent Sum, Machine Man, Arana and Sleepwalker are good additions to her team, just the right mix of weirdness and humor, with Sum keeping things under control.

This issue features a SURPRISE ENDING THAT WILL ROCK YOUR WORLD AND THE MARVEL UNIVERSE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!

Ok, it doesn’t. Just wanted to type that up once.

But the ending is a surprise. And it did come as quite the shock. Leads in perfectly to Secret Invasion. Pick it up, see if I’m wrong.