If you try and buy every bat-title coming to comic shops this week, your wallet’s going to get hit hard. Very hard. That’s because most of this week’s books are Annuals priced at $5 a pop! So it looks like it’s my time to shine then, as I imagine most of you will want some idea about which of these pricey books are really worth your money. Injustice: Gods Among Us #5 also comes out this week, but didn’t get enough votes in the poll I did at the start of the month so I won’t be reviewing it this week. Next month, I’ll go back to business as usual and even start a new poll asking everyone to vote for their favorite comic of the month or maybe make a poll each week for that. Let me know what you prefer in the comments section.
Here are the review comics coming out this week, May 29th, graded on a scale of my own anticipation.
Hell no! – I’d rather not – Ambivalent – Interested – TAKE MY MONEY
Scroll to the bottom of the page and post in the comments section what books you’re most looking forward to this week!
May 29th
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #4
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Backup story written by MATT KINDT
Art and cover by DAVID FINCH
Backup story art by SCOTT CLARK
Variant cover by TYLER KIRKHAM and BATT
1:100 B&W Variant cover by DAVID FINCH
On sale MAY 29 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
Anticipation Level: Interested
So we’re apparently getting 2 issues of Justice League of America this month and I didn’t realize this so I didn’t include it on the poll (the lighten my load poll from the start of the month) so I’m going to go ahead and do a review of this one and maybe write a quick article for issue #3 as well. Who knows? I’ve been doing an Arrested Development marathon all weekend and have lost all sense of time.
EARTH 2 ANNUAL #1
Written by JAMES ROBINSON
Art by YILDIRAY CINAR, CAFU and JULIUS GOPEZ
Cover by ANDY KUBERT
On sale MAY 29 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T
Anticipation Level: Interested
It’s the debut of the Earth 2 Batman. The original Batman, Bruce Wayne, died in the first issue of this series, which takes place in an alternate universe, and there hasn’t been another Dark Knight since. Now, I haven’t read this series since the first volume came out in hardcover, but I’m willing to bet that this issue will be pretty new reader friendly. If it’s not, I’ll let you know.
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT ANNUAL #1
Written by GREGG HURWITZ
Art by SZYMON KUDRANSKI
Cover by ALEX MALEEV
On sale MAY 29 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T
Anticipation Level: Ambivalent
I find Batman: The Dark Knight to be the weakest of the solo Batman titles so it’s kind of tough to get excited about an Annual. As of right now, I’m not exactly clear on whether or not this will be a stand-alone story or tie into the current, over-long Mad Hatter arc, but I do know that Mad Hatter is definitely a prominent character in the Annual. It’s called “Once Upon a Midnight Dreary” and it will feature Penguin, Mad Hatter, and Scarecrow having a little get-together to plot the Batman’s demise. That actually sounds pretty fun and the idea of seeing Kudranski draw Penguin again sounds great too, but I just don’t have a whole lot of confidence in this series. I’ll be sure to make this one of the first books I review on Wednesday.
CATWOMAN ANNUAL #1
Written by ANN NOCENTI
Art by ARDIAN SYAF
Cover by EMANUELA LUPACCHINO
On sale MAY 29 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T+
Anticipation Level: Hell no!
I usually avoid the previews, but I was too curious to not check-in on the most infamous of the bat-titles. All I have to say is…wow, it already looks to be a pretty ridiculous and frustrating book. I mean.. what the hell? The first page is a guy running away from 2 heat seeking missiles that are chasing him down a Gotham street. There are all of these people who see the guy get killed by the rockets and yet nobody talks about the fact that there were just two heat seeking missiles roaring through the street! Missiles! And even with two missiles exploding, their target wasn’t blown to smithereens nor is there any crater or scorch mark or pillar of smoke drawn into the panel! What was… I’m not looking forward to this at all.
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS ANNUAL #1
Written by JAMES TYNION IV
Art by AL BARRIONUEVO
Cover by KEN LASHLEY
On sale MAY 29 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T
Anticipation Level: Ambivalent
This will be James Tynion’s third issue of Red Hood and the Outlaws but I was thoroughly unimpressed with his first two attempts. The annual promises to show Arsenal and his old pal Green Arrow teaming up, which might be interesting but with the New 52’s five year reboot business I’m not entirely clear how much of a history these two ever had. Plus, everyone draws Ollie looking so young nowadays that Arsenal actually looks like the more mature one. From the sounds of it, this will be a Roy-centric issue with very little Red Hood.
Graphic Novel Watch!
This week we have Batman Noir: Eduardo Risso, which collects Batman 620-625, Batman stories from Wednesday Comics #1-12, Flashpoint: Batman-Knight of Vengeance #1-3 (which is very good), and Batman: Gotham Knights #8.
