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Elfbytes August '07

(Note: this is not your average cut and paste, we actually write this stuff.)

This is for product starting to ship in October.

This months Elfbyte credit goes to Ethan, Brock, Davis & Craig.

For your convenience, click links below to jump to a certain Publisher.

Independent Comics | Dark Horse Comics | DC Comics
Image Comics | Marvel Comics | Toys & Stuff

Remember to get your orders in ASAP! Initial orders due Aug 22nd!

INDEPENDENT COMICS HIGHLIGHTS

AIT/PLANETLAR

FIRST MOON GN. By Jason McNamara & Tony Talbert. Roanoke Island was meant to be England’s first permanent colony in the New World. After some time they were cut off from British supplies and every single colonist mysteriously disappeared. To this day, no one knows exactly what happened. Now a young man discovers that he is descended from these doomed colonists and he must unlock the secret that is Roanoke.

AMAZE INK/SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS

EATING STEVE GN. By J. Marc Schmidt. Jill eats her boyfriend’s brain and is understandably upset when it ruins their relationship. Now she finds herself in the midst of a zombie outbreak and has to figure out how she fits into it all.

ARCANA STUDIO

KADE: SHIVA’S SUN #1 of 4. Written by Sean O’Reilly & Alex Niklovitch. Illustrated by Stjepan Sejic. The immortal warrior travels to India’s Golden Age to avenge the death of his lover, Ezra. This is a valuable life lesson, if you form a lasting relationship with a female, it goes without saying that you will go on a relentless quest of revenge-stabbing should anything happen to her. How much do you want to bet this will come out before the Kade cover that the Elfsar owner drew.

AVATAR PRESS

CHRONICLES OF WORMWOOD: THE LAST ENEMY GN. Written by Garth Ennis. Illustrated by Rob Steen. The Pope dispatches Brother One, the most lethal Holy Assassin, to take down the Wormwood, the Anti-Christ.

CHRONICLES OF WORMWOOD TP. Written by Garth Ennis. Illustrated by Jacen Burrows. Wormwood is the Anit-Christ. His best friend is Jesus.

STREETS OF GLORY #1 of 6. Written by Garth Ennis. Illustrated by Mike Wolfer. A Garth Ennis western! Joe Dunn is one of the last drifters of a bygone era, who could be counted upon to defend the common man with integrity, and you know, bullets.

DOCKTOR SLEEPLESS #4 Written by Warren Ellis. Illustrated by Ivan Rodriguez. Warren Ellis’s new series is simply fantastic, and if you’ve not picked this book up yet, you should start as soon as possible! It’s a futuristic mystery unlike anything else.

CHECKER BOOK PUBLISHING GROUP

R.F. OUTCAULT’S THE YELLOW KID HC. By R.F. Outcault. They don’t get much more classic or old school than this. From the late 19th century comes the Yellow Kid, the lead character of the first strip to be mass produced in colour. If it weren’t for strips like this we wouldn’t have the Civil Wars and Identity Crises of today.

D.E. DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

BAD BOY 10^th ANNIVERSARY HC. Written by Frank Miller. Illustrated by Simon Bisley. Jason is a little boy who discovers that his mommy and daddy aren’t really his mommy and daddy, and that he is a product of a sterile experimental community. He then screams “I’m the goddamn Bad Boy!” and spends four issues in a car.

THE BOYS #11 Written by Garth Ennis. Illustrated by Darick Robertson. A new arc begins, as The Boys travel to Russia in an attempt to unravel who is killing the local supes. This one is sure to contain the same over-the-top content that the series has already become famous (or should that be infamous?) for.

DESPERADO PUBLISHING

NECESSARY EVIL #1. By Joshua Williamson, Marcus Harris & Vincente. There have been plenty of stories about super-hero high schools and training academies, but now it’s time to see how the other half lives. Necessary Evil Academy must be where the villains of tomorrow learn dastardly deeds such as stuffing women in refrigerators and how to choose just the right group of minions to surround yourself with.

DISNEY PRESS

EL CAZADOR VOL 1 TP. Written by Chuck Dixon. Illustrated by Steve Epting. One of the only good things that ever spewed forth from Crossgen comics. Thank the soulless conglomerate that is Disney for re-releasing this Pirate comic for your pleasure.

IDW PUBLISHING

CORY DOCTOROW’S FUTURISTIC TALES OF THE HERE AND NOW #1 Written by Cory Doctorow & Dara Naraghi. Illustrated by Esteve Polls. Cover by Sam Kieth. Doctorow is a great writer of sci-fi books for grownups. Buy these comics, and then go find EASTERN STANDARD TRIBE. You don’t even have to pay for them, as I believe he offers his novels FOR FREE on his website.

Six different Cory Doctorow stories will be adapted in this six issue series, spotlighting some of the best of one of the genre’s most interesting new writers. Definitely worth reading.

BEOWULF #1 - #4 Written by Chris Ryall. Illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez. A special four part weekly mini-series, adapting the Beowulf movie written by Neil Gaiman & Roger Avery that opens in theatres this November. The epic tale of Beowulf as you’ve never seen it before.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT SCRIPTBOOK. Written by Steve Niles, Stuart Beattie, Brian Nelson. Cover by Ben Templesmith. The movie is coming out in October (the same month most of most of the items listed here) so why not pick up a copy of the shooting script to complete your 30 Days collection?

THE HERO INITIATIVE

THE 3-MINUTE SKETCHBOOK TP. By various. A collection of convention sketches by famous artists, all completed in 3 minutes or less. Contributors include George Perez, Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin, and both John Romitas. All sales benefit the Hero Initiative.

MARKOSIA

KONG: KING OF SKULL ISLAND #0. By Satterlee, O’Connor, Johnson & Cipriano. Everything’s better with monkeys. What’s even better than that? Why giant monkeys such as King Kong of course!

PANINI PUBLISHING LTD

DOCTOR WHO VOLUME 1: VOYAGER. By various. The first of two volumes collecting the comic adventures of the sixth Doctor from Doctor Who Magazine. There’s nothing cooler than a man who travels around in a police box except for one who travels with a three foot tall talking penguin.

TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING

MODERN MASTERS VOLUME 14: FRANK CHO. Take a look at the career of Liberty Meadow’s very own Frank Cho. If you look hard, you might even find a drawing of a woman that looks different from all the others sketched by Mr. Cho.

DARK HORSE COMICS HIGHLIGHTS

LIVING WITH THE DEAD #1 of 3 Written by Mike Richardson. Illustrated by Ben Steinbeck. Covers by Richard Corben. Two survivors of a zombie apocalypse disguise themselves as rotting corpses to move amongst the living dead. Luckily, they were comic book fanboys, so their normal level of hygiene was bad enough so that they could just walk around smelling like Cheetos and unwashed armpits. AND THE ZOMBIES DIDN’T WANT TO EAT THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE TOO GROSS.

THE BADLANDER #1 of 4 Written and illustrated by Kevin Ferrara. These are the legends of the Badlander who is a ghostly outlaw under the thrall of the Bog Witch.

BATMAN/GRENDEL. Writing and art by Matt Wagner. This year is the 25th anniversary of Grendel and Dark Horse is celebrating by republishing the two Batman/Grendel crossover tales. The first story pits Hunter Rose against the Batman while the second has Grendel-Prime traveling back in time to modern day Gotham City.

This volume contains Matt Wagner’s fantastic cross-over between his most famous creation and the Dark Knight, collecting both mini-series for the first time. A must for any fan of either Batman or Grendel, as well as anyone who enjoys Wagner’s work

STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A NEW HOPE PHOTO COMIC. Fumetti. Photo comics. Cine-manga. Whatever it’s called these days, this is the photo story of A New Hope back in the days when Mark Hamill still had his pretty-boy good looks and no one had heard of Harrison Ford.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #7 Written by Brian K. Vaughan. Illustrated by Georges Jeanty. Part two of the new arc, written by Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man & Ex Machina), starring fan-favourite Faith. The first arc was fantastic, and there is no reason to expect anything less from this story either. Treat yourself to some sweet Buffy goodness.

DC COMICS HIGHLIGHTS

COUNTDOWN PRESENTS: LORD HAVOK AND THE EXTREMISTS #1 of 6. Written by Frank Tieri. Illustrated by Liam Sharpe. The Extremists are the most powerful beings on Earth-8. Jason Todd, Donna Troy and Kyle Rayner travel to Earth 8 and encounter the meanest Marvel knockoffs this side of the Authority. As things, predictably go to S#!+, key pieces to the fate of the multiverse will be revealed.

COUNTDOWN PRESENTS THE SEARCH FOR RAY PALMER: CRIME SYNDICATE #1. Written by Sean McKeever. Illustrated by Jamal Igle. Cover by Tony Daniel. The Challengers from Beyond search for the original Atom in Earth-2, where heroes are villains and villains are heroes. Everything is backwards!

CAPTAIN CARROT AND THE FINAL ARK #1 of 5. Written by Bill Morrison. Illustrated by Scott Shaw. A Countdown Tie-In that brings back everyone’s favourite vegan hero. Can the good Captain and his stalwart companions Yankee Poodle and Alley-Kat-Abra and the rest stop Salamandroid?

The Zoo Crew! DC’s crossovers have been so big that they’ve even brought the funny animals into the action. It’s not clear how an adventure that takes place at a comic book convention will tie into Countdown but it’s more exposure than Spider-Ham’s been getting recently. First issue of a three issue series.

BATMAN #670 GREAT JUMPING ON POINT! Written by Grant Morrison. Illustrated by Tony Daniel. New ongoing artist Tony Daniel starts his work on the series with a new story arc that looks to be the beginning of the next big Batman story. Will Ra’s al Ghul live again? Which side will Batman’s son Damian choose? What other surprises does Grant Morrison have in store in this new story? Make sure you’re reading to find out. The Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul begins here!

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #1. Written by Tony Bedard. Illustrated by Koi Turnbull & Art Thibert. Variant Cover by Ryan Sook. Poor Nightwing, orphaned at an early age, then forced to parade around in pixies boots, he finally esacapes to make friends with his fellow exploited child heroes only to out grow the team; so he goes and forms his own misfit team only to have it taken away by Daddy Bat. He doesn’t even get to tag along as they go off to face certain death against one of the biggest assaults on the metahuman population ever.

Batman has assembled a new team, specially chosen to be able to operate on the fringes and be able to strike in ways that some of the other teams of heroes cannot.

DETECTIVE COMICS #837 Written by Paul Dini. Illustrated by Don Kramer & Wayne Faucher. Paul Dini has made Detective Comics a solid comic worth reading month in and month out. This issue features two recently reformed villains of Batman’s, The Ridler and Harly Quinn, and is sure to be worth picking up.

BOOSTER GOLD #3 Written by Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz. Illustrated by Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund. This fun new series continues, with Booster travelling back to the old west and meeting with Jonah Hex. This book is well written, with solid art from character creator Dan Jurgens, and is definitely worth picking up.

GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #1. GREAT JUMPING ON POINT! Written by Judd Winick. Illustrated by Cliff Chiang. Following the Wedding of the Century comes the Honey Moon! Bwa Wa-wa.

Their new series begins here, focusing on the events following last month’s wedding. What happened at the wedding? Which Green Arrow will we see in this series? Now you can pick it and find out for yourself.

DEATH OF THE NEW GODS #1 & #2 of 8. Written and illustrated by Jim Starlin. Variant cover issue #1 by Ryan Sook. The Legendary Jim Starlin writes the last chapter of the New Gods. Throughout the DCU seemingly omnipotent beings are proving impotent instead and dying for it. Lightray, and Sleez already bought it, and now it’s check out time for the rest. Hundreds will die as the New Gods face their biggest challenge ever… Death. Big Barda, Metron, and even Darksied himself will fall before the end of all things. Read the most exciting obituary ever.

It all started with the death of Lightray but now: Black Racer! Serifan! Infinity-Man! How will DC comics survive with the deaths of these big name characters!?

CRIME BIBLE: THE FIVE LESSONS OF BLOOD #1 of 5. Written by Greg Rucka. Illustrated by Tom Mandrake. Cover by John Van Fleet. This is not your daddy’s Sunday school! Can the Question stop the monk of the dark faith from killing one of the leading experts of the Dark Faith. Can she survive the evil being sown as the Lesson of Deceit comes to be known.

METAMORPHO YEAR ONE #1 and 2 By Dan Jurgens and Jesse Delperdang. Discover how adventurer Rex Mason first came to posses his shape shifting powers from the Orb of Ra. Think Super Powered Indiana Jones.

GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #1 of 8. Written by Frank Tieri. Illustrated by J. Calafiore. With villains disappearing left and right the remaining scoundrels are fighting for the scraps of Gotham City. Now it’s all hands on deck as Batman and his own “ZOO CREW” must counter the pending struggle of the remaining rogues. Salamandroid would be a walk in the park compared to this.

DC INFINITE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL #1. Written by Steve Niles, Mark Waid, Steve Seagle, Dan DiDio, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Peter Johnson, David Arquette (WTF?), and Cliff Dorfman. Illustrated by Ian Churchill, Dean Ormston, Dustin Nguyen, Bernard Chang and others. Cover by Gene Ha. Okay. I hate that I have to say this out loud, but, here we are. “Infinite Christmas” is funny, because it approximates “Infinite Crisis”. “Infinite Halloween” is JUST ABSOLUTELY STUPID. Or, Infinitely Stupid.

First came Infinite Christmas, now Infinite Halloween, but where’s my Infinite Flag Day? Anyways, there are 13 tales in this 80 page special featuring the talent of Mark Waid, Dan Didio, Ian Chuchhill, Dustin Nguyen, and David Arquette among others. Wait a minute, how did David “Scream” Arquette become a comic book writer?

TALES OF THE SINESTRO CORPS PRESENTS THE ANTI-MONITOR #1. Written by Geoff Johns & Sterling Gates. Art by Pete Woods & Jerry Ordway. Cover by Ethan Van Sciver. He’s the Anti-Monitor. The biggest, baddest villain in DC’s history. Do you really need another reason to read this? Oh yeah, it ties into the Sinestro Corps War. He kills faster then a flash can run. More powerful then any other. He creeps out Superman in a single issue. Is it a big angry yellow bird? No it’s “the Anti-moniter!” plus a bunch of his really powerful super-bully friends. Ever notice how the Anti-Monitor looks like a mummified Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Who you gonna call?

TALES OF THE SINESTRO CORPS PRESENTS CYBORG SUPERMAN #1 Written by Alan Burnett. Art by Patrick Blaine & Jay Leisten. Cover by Ethan Van Sciver. Two Sinestro Corp tales in the same month! This one is about Hank Henshaw, the man who went from looking like the love child of Superman and a Terminator robot all the way to being a cosmic threat. On top of all that he has the audacity to steal Clark Kent’s glasses! The Cyborg Superman Sinestro Corps member assaults the new JLA Watchtower. Hank Hewshaw kicks come serious JL-Ass.

SIMON DARK #1. Written by Steve Niles. Illustrated by Scott Hampton. This is a new series featuring a brand new (anti?)hero in Gotham City. He kind of looks like a patchwork version of The Crow. In any case, this is one book that promises to be dark and moody, which is perfect right before Hallowe’en.Gotham City has another guardian, the mysterious creature of the night known as Simon Dark.

The men behind 30 days of Night and Gotham County Line, bring you the creepiest hero to hit the Gotham city streets since, well the Creeper. But will this new vigilante, who won’t hesitate to get bloody, help or hinder in the Wayne War on Crime?

ACTION COMICS #858. Written by Geoff Johns. Art by Gark Frank & Jonathan Sibal. Cover by Frank. Richard Donner is gone and Gary Frank takes over as artist starting in this issue. Following the events of the JLA/JSA Lightning Saga crossover, learn all about Superman’s boyhood adventures with the Legion of Super-Heroes. But remember, he wasn’t Superboy. In fact, don’t even mention Superboy unless you want to get taken to court.

I love Superman. I love Gary Frank. I love this move by DC. I think this will be one of the most exciting runs in Superman history, as the walking DC encyclopaedia and one of the most under appreciated artists in the industry take the Man of Steel in a new direction.

START HERE! SUPERMAN #669. Written by Kurt Busiek. Illustrated by Rick Leonardi. Cover by Jesus Merino. Who is the third Kryptonian?

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #14. Written by Dwayne McDuffie. Art by Ed Benes & Sandra Hope. Cover by Ian Chuchill & Norm Rapmund. Judging by the cover, I’m guessing that this issue is about the Injustice League forcing the JLA to watch Monsieur Mallah and the Brain’s homemade pornos.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #10. Written by Geoff Johns & Alex Ross. Art by Dale Eaglesham & Ruy Jose. Cover by Alex Ross. Variant cover by Eaglesham & Jose. We’ve been teased with it for almost a year now but here it is: The return of Kingdom Come Superman!

WONDER WOMAN #13 is a one-shot story but...START HERE! WONDER WOMAN #14. Written by Gail Simone. Art and cover by Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson. It’s a total switcheroo as Gail Simone takes over the writing while the Dodsons start doing the interior art! All that plus albino monkey assassins! Hey! A writer with TALENT and who can meet DEADLINES. This book is gonna get cancelled for sure!

COLLECTIONS

52 VOL 4 TP. Written by Geoff Johns, Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, and Greg Rucka. Ilustrated by Keith Giffen & various artists. Cover by JG Jones. If you’ve been patient enough to read 52 in trades instead of weekly, then good for you. Your wait is rewarded here with the final volume which collects the final three months or so of the series. There’s a big secret revealed at the end of this book! I hope no one spoils it!

WORLD WAR III TP. Written by Keith Champagne & John Ostrander. Illustrated by Various artists. This is something that probably should have been included in the 52 trades but it’s too late for that now. Think of this book as Black Adam’s vacation slides only, in every picture, there’s the bloody body or dismembered limb of someone he just beat up. Basically Black Adam goes on a killing rampage and Martian Manhunter stands around as is generally useless.

TALES OF THE BATMAN: TIM SALE HC. Written by Darwyn Cooke, James Robinson, Kelley Puckett, and Alan Grant. Illustrated by Tim Sale. Collecting the fantastic early Batman work of one of the most influential Batman pencillers ever. This will be a great look at the development of the current dark night and the growth of one of the premier, and most genuinely engaging artists in the industry. Kind of like DC’s answer to Marvel’s “Visionaries” series, I guess.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD VOL 1: LORDS OF LUCK HC. Written by Mark Waid. Illustrated by George Perez. Batman teams up with virtually the entire DC Universe to retrieve the Book of Destiny. No other book can boast Mark Waid, Supergirl, Batman, Green Lantern, Lobo, George Perez, and the Legion of Superheroes. Follow this intrepid group as they attempt to contain the potential disaster that would ensue if the book of destiny fell into the wrong hands. This book is awesome and worth your time.

JLA: ULTRAMARINE CORPS TP. Written by Grant Morrison. Illustrated by Ed McGuinness & Val Semeiks. This story collects JLA CLASSIFIED #1-3, a prelude of sorts to Morrison’s SEVEN SOLDIERS epic, as well as the ancient and terrible JLA/WILDCATS crossover, for no other reason than to remind us all that Grant wrote ONE GODDAMN ISSUE of Wildcats before abandoning it.

SUPERMAN: KRYPTONITE HC. Written by Darwyn Cooke. Illustrated by Tim Sale. Get your Tim Sale fix this month! This fantastic story reveals Superman’s first fateful encounter with Kryptonite.

WONDER WOMAN: AMAZONS ATTACK HC. Written by Will Pfeifer. Illustrated by Pete Woods. After being firebombed with crazy OMAC robots, the Amazons are naturally pretty pissed off. So they assault the United States of America. Oddly, America seems unwilling to be taken over by an army of incredibly gorgeous women.

WILDSTORM

MIDNIGHTER: ARMAGEDDON #1. Written by Christos Gage. Illustrated by Simon Coleby. Cover by Mike McKone. The Midnighter is the first of six WildStorm heroes to be shown a horrible future, in the hopes that he will be able to prevent it.

MIDNIGHTER VOL 1: KILLING MACHINE TP. Written by Garth Ennis. Illustrated by Chris Sprouse, Peter Snejbjerg, and Glenn Fabry. Midnighter’s got trouble with time travel it seems. This collection has Midnighter sent into the past, to assassinate Hitler.

THE AUTHORITY: PRIME #1 of 6. Written by Christos Gage. Illustrated by Darick Robertson. Both the Authority and StormWatch have a bad history with mad scientist Henry Bendix. So when one of Bendix’s secret bunkers is uncovered, both teams go after it, and you can bet that they aren’t going to cooperate and work together to find a reasonable solution. No.

HIGHWAY MEN #5 (of 5) Written by Adam Freeman & Marc Bernardin. Illustrated by Lee Garbet. This fantastic min-series comes to an explosive conclusion. It has been a great surprise, and the finale is sure not to disappoint. Treat yourself and pick this one up.

WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY #11 Written by Gail Simone. Illustrated by Neil Googe. Gail Simone and Neil Googe have been delivering a consistently enjoyable book every month, and this story is certain to continue the fun. The undead are taking over the town of Tranquility, and the heroes and villains are forced to combine their might in order to have a chance to survive.

VERTIGO

START HERE! THE VINYL UNDERGROUND #1. Written by Si Spencer. Illustrated by Simon Gane & Cameron Stewart. Cover by Sean Phillips. Occult detectives solve secret crimes in the London underworld. CSI meets The Invisibles. A Vertigo book if I’ve ever seen one.

This new series focuses on some occult detectives, as they try to solve crimes that no one else can tackle. It promises to follow in the vein of The Invisibles, with a gritty look at the mysterious underside of London. This one looks really good, so do yourself a favour and start from the very beginning.

IMAGE COMICS HIGHLIGHTS

THE SWORD #1 Written by Joshua Luna. Illustrated by Jonathan Luna. The Luna Brothers newest series begins here, promising their established brand of story-telling (Girls & Ultra), focusing on a young woman whose life is turned upside down when some mysterious strangers come looking for a unique sword. Worth checking out.

YOUNGBLOOD VOL 1 HC. Written by Joe Casey. Look mom, comics that make your eyes bleed! Illustrated by Rob Liefeld. If you say “Youngblood” three times into a mirror, Rob Liefeld appears and traces over one of your drawings, and makes millions of dollars off of it. You won't get any respect from us if you order this.

BRAWL #1 of 3. Written and illustrated by Dean Haspiel & Michel Fiffe. A new anthology book from some of the talents of the Act-I-Vate group of online comics.

PROOF #1 Written by Alex Grecian. Illustrated by Riley Rossmo. This new series looks like a lot of fun. In the style of X-Files and Hellboy, it focuses on the supernatural and an F.B.I. team’s efforts to solve some of the world’s most famous mysteries. Oh, and one of the agents just happens to be Bigfoot.

GREAT JUMPING ON POINT! THE WALKING DEAD #44 Written by Robert Kirkman. Illustrated by Charlie Aldred & Cliff Rathburn. For anyone already picking this book up, this issue looks to mark the beginning of some BIG changes, kicking the series into even higher gear. For those of you who haven’t been reading this series, this is the perfect place to jump onboard and see what all the buzz is about. And the series thus far is nicely collected into trade paperbacks so you can make sure you’re caught up.

TOP COW

Pilot Season: This Fall, Top Cow is launching 7 “Pilot Issues” starring fan-favourite characters currently without a series. After all 7 issues have been released, fans will be able to VOTE online and pick 2 characters to get greenlit for their own all-new series in 2008. It’s all up to you!

THE ANGELUS: PILOT SEASON #1. Written by Ian Edington. Illustrated by Stejpan Sejic. The Angelus, from what I can see, is almost exactly like the Witchblade, except with feathers instead of spikes?

THE NECROMANCER: PILOT SEASON #1. Written by Joshua Ortega. Illustrated by Jonboy Meyers. Cover by Francis Manapul. The Necromancer is a cute girl with some kind of connection to a demon.

MARVEL COMICS HIGHLIGHTS

DAREDEVIL ANNUAL #1. Written by Ed Brubaker & Ande Parks. Illustrated by Roy Allan Martinez. Cover by Marko Djurdjevic. The Black Tarantula has come to an ailing Matt Murdock for help re-establishing himself now that he’s out of prison. Meanwhile Matt’s fearless alter ego, struggling without his “radar” is trying to solve a murder and fend off a Yakuza resurgence on Hell’s Kitchen. The only good news is that is DD can survive that God-awful Ben Afleck movie, he can survive anything.

HOWARD THE DUCK #1 of 4. Written by Ty Templeton. Illustrated by Juan Bobillo. Howard the Duck vs. MODOK? The worst thing to happen to water fowl since Daffy developed that lisp. Yes it’s the most foul mouthed fowl in a brand new mis-adventure.

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #12. Punisher Vs The Hulk. The fantastic Four fell short. Iron Man was squished like a tin can. Doctor strange is in serious need of medical help, and the X-men and Avengers are scattered across the lower east side, so the big guns are being called in. That right, it’s Frank Castle with a Smith and Wesson. Cause this’ll work.

MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 #1 of 5. Written by Robert Kirkman. Illustrated by Sean Phillips. Cover by Arthur Suydam. More great covers and a book that explores the mystery of how many times an idea can be repeated, copied and mimicked before it’s no longer original. Don't you love Marvel Comics. Marvel Zombies Civil War. Just kill me now.

NEW AVENGERS #35 By Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. What’s the only way to make Wolverine even cooler… give him the Venom symbiote! Yes it’s Wolvenorine, and the only way to stop him is to throw a Tigra at him. I’d say she has a slightly better chance then the Punisher with the Hulk.

OMEGA: THE UNKNOWN #1 of 10. Written by Jonathan Lethem & Karl Rusnak. Illustrated by Farel Dalrymple. Because all the other acclaimed celebrity writers have done such fantastic jobs with those stingy Marvel deadlines. I’m looking at you Damon Lindelhof and Allan Heindberg!

Lethem is the latest “legitimate” writer to become a comics author. “Legitimate” meaning he writes actual books, for, you know, grownups who live in their own living spaces, and don’t cry themselves to sleep.

START HERE! SHE-HULK #22. Written by Peter David. Illustrated by Shawn Moll. Cover by Mike Deodato. The world’s most dangerous lawyer gets a brand new writer!

X-MEN: MESSIAH COMPLEX

X-MEN: MESSIAH COMPLEX ONE-SHOT. Written by Ed Brubaker. Illustrated by Marc Silvestri. The first new mutant since House of M has appeared, but the X-Men weren’t there to meet it. The Marauders got to it first. Now the X-Men have to salvage the last hope for mutantkind before it all goes terribly wrong. This one shot leads into a story that travels through all the X-Books. Except Astonishing, because Astonishing X-Men is in a different reality, not the ultimate reality, the astonishing one.

WOLVERINE ANNUAL: DEATHSONG. Written by Greg Hurwitz. Illustrated by Marcelo Frusin. Why is Wolverine chasing a loser bank robber? Well, to kill him, obviously, but there’s more going on here…Hurwitz may be the only celebrity writer who’s story arc is finished on time. More importantly Wolverine takes a whole gang of bank robbers to town… slice town that is. Wow that’s even lamer on the screen.

X-MEN: DIE BY THE SWORD #1 & 2 of 5. Written by Chris Claremont. Illustrated by Juan Santacruz. Cover by Jelena Kevic-Djurdjevic. An Exiles & Excalibur team-up! As if anyone cared.

MARVEL MAX

FOOLKILLER #1 of 5. Written by Gregg Hurwitz. Illustrated by Lan Medina. What does Foolkiller do? Besides, um, kill fools?

COLLECTIONS

FALLEN SON: THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA PREMIERE HC. Written by Jeph Loeb. Illustrated by Leinil Yu, Ed McGuinness, John Romita Jr., David Finch, and John Cassaday. Collecting the five ways of grieving as felt by Marvel’s surviving heroes. Also known as five more reasons why Tony Stark drinks. Boo hoo, Captain America got shot in the neck. Big deal.

SPIDER-MAN: BACK IN BLACK HC. Written by J. Michael Straczynski & Peter David. Illustrated by Ron Garney, Todd Nauck, & Colleen Doran. Find out how and why Spiderman is wearing his black costume again. Comes with handy knitting for dummies insert so you can make your own spidey costume. Black thread not included. Boo hoo, Aunt May got shot in the gut. Big deal.

MARVEL ZOMBIES: THE COVERS HC. By Arthur Suydam. The most poorly written book this month, mainly because it is a collection of Arthur Suydam’s amazing zombiefied marvel classic covers. Does what it says on the box.

WOLVERINE: EVOLUTION PREMIERE HC. Written by Jeph Loeb. Illustrated by Simone Bianchi. Very pretty. But so not worth a hardcover.

IMMORTAL IRON FIST VOL 1: THE LAST IRON FIST STORY TP. Written by Ed Brubaker & Matt Fraction. Illustrated by David Aja & Travel Foreman. People get kicked the face! IN THE FAAAACE!!!!

TOYS & MISC. HIGHLIGHTS

WIZKIDS

DISNEY’S PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN POCKETMODEL MINIATURES GAME. Wizkids’ Pirates game has been sailing on the backs of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies for years now. So it’s only appropriate that they finally snagged the PotC license from Disney. Fully compatible with all previous Pirates expansions.

MECHWARRIOR: UNDEAD LANCE ACTION PACK. Zombies are so hot right now that even robots wanted in on the action. You have good reason to be scared if a 60 foot tower of flesh and steel is after your juicy braaiiinssss…

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