Comics this week

Geez, lot of new books out there this week. Plenty to look forward to and more than enough to make up a top five pre-game book. Lotta number ones out there this week and they're just about all worth checking out. GUYS, this week of 16 new releases is SURPRISINGLY TOUGH to narrow down.

All-New Invaders 2
Still looking to see where this series is going to end up. I feel like the first issue was okay as far as introductions go and for getting a feel on the story but now we're primed to actually see the start of a team-up here and as an Invaders fan, I'm hoping that it goes the way I'd like it to go rather than the way I fear it going. Was that broad enough for you?

Black Widow 3
With so many number ones out there this week and so many other books deserving attention that surely won't get it because series launches are just more important in terms of an anticipatory pre-game post, it's crazy to me that I'm starting this post off with two books that are past number one but not fully established yet. This one though, unlike ALL-NEW INVADERS, gets the call because it's been absolutely great so far and so, while I'm excited to see how Edmondson and Noto keep creating Natasha's world, this one gets the pick because it's perhaps the one I'm most looking forward to this week as a comic I know will be good. Very cool to have that in a book so early into its run.

Ms. Marvel 1
Finally the long-awaited Kamala Khan, star of newspaper articles the country over when she was announced, debuts in the Marvel Universe officially as the new Ms. Marvel. I'm really interested to check this book out and you should be too. There are people out there saying this is just a big PR move, meant to force diversity into books. To that I say wait 'til the story comes out to show it was a story worth telling. I ALSO say that comics NEED more diversity so whatever the reason for putting more diversity in a book, as long as we end up with more diversity I'm happy. Looking forward to the introduction of a new character to lead a book. Everyone check it out, give it a couple issues, then decide.

New Avengers 14
I almost scrapped this one on the list for CAPTAIN AMERICA which, of course, I love or LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD which debuts this week from writer Al Ewing and puts the new decidedly older than Kid Loki but decidedly younger than grumps Loki and more a Tom Hiddleston-based Loki in a new role as an...well, agent of Asgard but, at the end of the day, I'm very excited to see NEW AVENGERS again. I refuse to get sick of this book and, along with HAWKEYE, I feel like it's one we've seen less and less of as time has gone by, like we had a surge at the start of the series and then an incredible drought. Oh well, it's out this week, go buy it.

Punisher 1
My fondness for the new BLACK WIDOW series carries over here as I'm genuinely interested in the new PUNISHER series written by BLACK WIDOW scribe Nathan Edmondson. This is a character I've never truly liked in the Marvel Universe (though I've found myself liking certain writers' takes on him) and I'm recommending checking out the new series over, say, the conclusion of MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN, a series I've very much enjoyed, or the start of the new WOLVERINE series, based on a series I very much did not enjoy, or X-MEN 10, another presumably crucial piece of the only core X-MEN book I'm actually getting into, or IRON MAN 21, another step in the very intriguing Ten Rings storyline, or AVENGERS 25, a book that I'm sure will be very cool, or SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN 8, a return to the main story after a brief interlude seeing Beetle's origin. I think that about covers all the books I needed to cover in this post. Anyway, this PUNISHER series could be good.