Comics this week!

Sorry about missing my first daily post yesterday. Mondays are kind of a free day for me, typically. I start my reviews on Wednesday and I'm done by Sunday (typically) and Tuesday is pre-game so Monday is the free write kind of day I've allowed. It's neat because I can write about whatever I want and I have plenty I typically want to say about comics. However, it does have the double allure of "day off," so I'm sure those will be interspersed with free writes occasionally. I had planned to write about colorists and how the extremely talented Jordie Bellaire has brought them a bit into the light (as far as colorists have gone, anyway) and why it's silly they're not already there. I had planned to talk about her talent, along with the talent of Bettie Breitweiser and Matt Hollingsworth, among others. BUT INSTEAD, the 49ers lost the Super Bowl in just heartbreaking fashion and I had some real motivation issues today so it was a day off. Hopefully I still write that post eventually because it deserves to be said, even if I'm unqualified to say it. ANYWAY, on to this week's pre-game picks!

I'm going to start by saying that, after last week's relatively short week and pretty clear (to me, anyway) picks to look forward to, this week has a ton of choices. Too many, really. I went down the distribution list and just KEPT picking new ones. But I've got to boil it down to three for my own chosen-at-random rules.

New Avengers 3
I don't think I need to even say this is on my pull list because I think I've said that quite enough already so far (after linking all those, turns out I switch between three and five pull books each week. Poor form, Tim, poor form). I will anyway. It's on my pull list for the art, the colors, the writing, the story, the characters, etc. Just everything. No reason not to want to buy this book, in my mind. The story was already moving forward after issue one, but issue two explained what needed explaining and started delving into character. With many things set up, three is primed for success.

Winter Solider 15
This is a big one for me. Jason Latour is taking over as writer on Winter Soldier. I don't know really anything by him (I've liked the art of his I've seen), aside from the story in A+X 4. Adding to the intrigue, this is the first time someone has really written Winter Soldier besides Brubaker. Yes he was in the Avengers but only acted sparingly there. Brubaker created him, built him, established him, whatever else you want to say. I've said before that one of the fascinating things to me about comics is the fact that we, as an audience of an ever evolving form with an always continuing narrative, get to see different writers' perspective on a character. This is going to be the first different perspective we'll really see of the popular Winter Soldier.

Secret Avengers 37
After two shoo-ins for my picks, this one was a little tougher. There's another Superior Spider-Man, another Avengers, an X-Factor, an Iron Man, a Daredevil: End of Days, a Hulk, a Red She-Hulk, and the debut of Cullen Bunn's Fearless Defenders. Any of these books might have been worthy any other week. But Secret Avengers is ending with this issue (before it restarts with the next one) and it'll officially pull Rick Remender out of the "secret" part of the Marvel Universe he's been hanging out in. He withdrew from Venom first, then X-Force ended, and now Secret Avengers is ending. On top of that, it's been a really good book. I'm sad to see it go, though I am excited about the new incarnation premiering later this month.


So that's it. It's a thrilling week (in comics terms) with about 17 new books (by my rather overwhelmed count). Busy, busy week. I'd be hyperventilating more if I wasn't just so excited by the books coming.



EDIT: I counted a second printing of Hulk 2 as a book to review this week. SILLY ME, but I'm down to 16.