New Comic Book Day Megathread

[Satanist]

Fight Club 2 and Providence were very much enjoyed in my house. Surprised there hasn't been more chat regarding Moores new comic TBH.

[Hawkmumbler]

'Opens up thread whistleing the theme from Jurassic Park'
Oh! New comics!

Well most people know i'm a complete sucker for Dinosaurs. So it's no surprise i'm a huge fan of Riccardo Delgado's genre mashing epics Age of Reptiles, which returns in a new mini called Ancient Egyptians #1. It's awesome. Really, quite wonderfully my thing. An old school Spaghetti Western in the vein of Day of Anger, but with a bloody Spinosaurs as the main character! That's mad as all hell! And wonderful at the same time, as it oozes atmosphere despite being once again a silent tale. Already a sure fire candidate for favourite mini series of the year.

Rat God #5 wraps up the series and it was a very good quality story from start to finish with a thick, scary atmosphere and plenty of gut wrenching horror. Reminds me a lot of Dagon and thats great as it's amongst my favourite HPL stories. One for a collected buy. The Maxx #20 completely lost me once again in how fruit loopy it is but I enjoyed it none the less. So far their are two types of issue with the Maxx, both mental. One you kind of understand whats going on until the last page. The other you have no idea whats going on until the last page. I love it!

Big Man Plans #2 hit's a hard place, both in my heart in with his fist. Such a grim ride of a series with a humour as black as a Siberian hell hole. I mean, it's Eric Powell, so of course it's bloody fantastic, but jesus wept it's one of his darker tale's.

The Last German Soldier in War Stories #9 wraps up and has been one of the much better tales to come out of the comic. Really enjoyed it, but I do have to wonder, when I get around to reading the original War Stories if these newer tale's will hold up. Time will tell. Same kind of holds true for Doctor who 12th #8 which although much better than Titans 10th Doctor Who comic, feels kind of lacluster compared to the comic currently running in DWM. Sad to say i'm only reading that on the stand at the moment but it's a cracking comic.

celebrates World Trigger's second anniversery with a brilliant chapter that should properly kick the next mega arc off. Can't wait for the Border agents to infiltrate Aftokrator and just how badly it could go wrong. And in My Hero Academia....All Might is kind of a dick.

Assassination Classroom vol.4 goes insane and once again prove's to be one of the best series that Viz is putting out right now.

[Link Prime]

Another big-ish week on the horizon, including a few newbies;

Batman 41 (The quite excellent 'Endgame' has ended- what's next? Jim Gordon in a mecha Bat-suit? Seems daft, but I'm willing to follow this creative team to the end of their lengthy run on this title).
Crossed +100 5
Section 8 1 (Hitman made me laugh out load on a regular basis, I'm thrilled Ennis & McCrea are back again for more of the same).
Saga 29
21st Century Tank Girl 1 (I've sporadically picked-up Tank Girl comics / mini-series over the years. This looks like a lot of fun, an anthology format, with some new art by Hewlett too).
Marvel Zombies (Vol 6) 1 (Ok, I think I may have stated elsewhere that I wasn't going to pick up any Secret Wars tie-ins, as I genuinely have no interest in it. Then I saw a preview of this...and...just...couldn't...resist. Creative team of Si Spurrier / Kev Walker- probably wouldn't appeal to anyone on this forum)

Some thoughts on recent new comics;
Injection 1 surprisingly left me cold as ice. I had intended to give it the benefit of the doubt, but haven't added issue 2 to my pull list for next week. May get the first trade depending on what I hear over the next few months.
Sons of The Devil 1 was thoroughly excellent. There's a gap in my heart for a comic about a satanic cult- going to keep this one on the list.
Providence 1 was also a fine read. Moore still has the touch, and having the finest artist in Avatar's stable working on it certainly doesn't hurt.

[Colin YNWA]

I know a couple of folks are getting Secret Wars so just in case people haven't seen some lateness abounds.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/06/08/more-on-secret-wars-lateness/

Now I've returned to be used to things being late having largely moved from the big two over the last couple of years, but it seemed something (the odd exception aside, hello Hawkeye where are you?) that the big two seemed to have had quite a good grip on.

Lateness on this scale we've not seem for some time. Mind someone pointed out elsewhere that all this actually means is that Secret Wars is now shipping monthly (is that right?) so its not too bad!

[Hawkmumbler]

A very good week for comics by most accounts...

Copperhead #8 and Saga #29 do what they do and do it in fine fashion, with both titles representing amongst my favorite content in indi comics today. And with the revolutionary arc heading to the forefront of Saga, the title has truly pulled itself out of the lull that was last years run.

Reanimator #3 continues to be fantastic horror fair with some truly great art to accompany it, and even manages to some of the sinister undertones from the original story along side the camp humor of the movies.

I jump into yet another long running comic i've intended to get into for some time, Savage Dragon, with #204. Thanks to this years FCBD issue (kindly passed onto me by Adventurer) I feel more clued up on the world Larson has created. I'm very much looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Meanwhile both 21st Century Tank Girl #1 and Death Sentence #1 kick the series off fantastically for both Hewlett's return to TG and Montynero's fantastic mini series being given the full ongoing treatment. Well done that man!

Weekly Shonen Jump #28 grabs comic of the week though, not simply because it's a massive, 400 page issue, but the quality of each strip was above their ussual standards (with the possible exception of Blue Exorcist...no comment). Which for One Punch Man and My Hero Academia, mean's it's pretty fan-bloody-tastic comics indeed (particularly liked the Aliens reference in MHA).

[I, Cosh]

Despite actually buying a few current comics at the moment, actual issues have been in short supply. Think we've been waiting four months for the last issue of Annihilator now.

The wait for Nameless #4 has only been half that but two months is still long enough for me to have lost the thread of it a bit. Especially as this is the issue where it goes full Morrison which level of the hallucination is "real"? The art continues to shine on this. Chris Burnham is able to manage the monolithic inter-dimensional architecture and human expressions (a touch of Quitely about the faces?) equally well.

Another one which suffers from the monthly gaps is Crossed +100 #5. Here it's the need to try and get back into the idiom of survivors which causes the problem. I don't know much about the world of Crossed, having only read this and Spurrier's webcomic, but the reveal in this issue worked for me. Look forward to reading this in a oner when it's done.

So, the only thing I bought this week which doesn't suffer from the gap between issues was Death Sentence: London #1. This appears to pick up a few minutes after the conclusion of the original mini-series. We get a recap of what went down, some new characters and ..things and a , hardly unexpected, reversal of one character's original ending. All in all, it's a decent first issue which didn't quite grab me as much as the last series but certainly enough to keep me in for a few months to see where it goes.

I do miss Mike Dowling's art but Martin Simmonds offers a different take on the world. Just how different becoming clear towards the end of the issue.

Addendum.

Reread the first storyline of The Autumnlands over the weekend. Aside from being disconcerted by Comixology quietly updating the first issue with the new supertitle, the cover's previous pristine blankness fading from memory like a purged Stalinist general, I found it a bit more enjoyable in retrospect. Some of the plotting and scheming becomes more apparent and my previous complaint about the squeaky-cleanness (living among German speakers is clearly affecting my vocabularly: I'm sure there's a word for what I mean but I'll just stick a bunch of them together in an effort to approximate it) of much of the animal cast actually becomes a important plot point in the fallout.

Nevertheless, I think I'm done with buying this for now. Might pick up a trade of later stuff if it gets decent notices.

Ragnarok continues to be the best thing I'm getting. Thor [spoiler]giving up his own eye and sticking his old dad's in as a replacement[/spoiler] was a great moment.

[PreacherCain]

I know a couple of folks are getting Secret Wars so just in case people haven't seen some lateness abounds.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/06/08/more-on-secret-wars-lateness/

Now I've returned to be used to things being late having largely moved from the big two over the last couple of years, but it seemed something (the odd exception aside, hello Hawkeye where are you?) that the big two seemed to have had quite a good grip on.

Lateness on this scale we've not seem for some time. Mind someone pointed out elsewhere that all this actually means is that Secret Wars is now shipping monthly (is that right?) so its not too bad!

As I understand it, it's the main Secret Wars issues that are running a bit behind and that's dragging all the interlocking series along with it for fear of spoiling events that occur in the main event. It's understandable enough given Ribic's amazing art. Having to balance Hickman's necessary blocks of exposition and world-building with the required spectacle and 'shock and awe' required by an event series must be a tough task.

Saying all that, Marvel editorial policy of double-shipping was probably a bit idealistic on their part. Hopefully the delays will give them a little breathing room to really nail down the 'new' Marvel universe when Secret Wars ends.

By the way, I'm kind of loving this Secret Wars thing. I was only reading a small number of tertiary Marvel titles before this (Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Howard the Duck) but this event has got me in a rather lovely nostalgic loop. It's quite fun.

[PreacherCain]

Just as a quick aside, Hickman's interview today went into some detail about those delays :: http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/hickman-talks-secret-wars-3-battleworlds-key-players

Finally, I'm hearing rumors that there will be a bit of a delay for "Secret Wars" #4 and it's related titles. Is that true? Can you comment on that at all?

Sure, happy to. Esad is cruising through this stuff, but the problem of course is that the first issues needed to be a certain size. So we got a little bit behind at the beginning. The big thing that happened though is that we kind of changed the sequencing of the story. Issue #5 was originally going to be issue #4. So the story changed and we had the flexibility in the schedule to move some books around, and to specifically move issues of "Secret Wars" around.

I think the original plan was two issues the first month. Two issues the next month and two issues the month after that. Then one issue in both the following months. What we did was we stretched it out in the middle because of some stuff that happens in the story, and then we ship the end of it in a more compressed manner.

I believe the other thing that has happened is this is selling so well we may go longer. All of the books are doing so well that, I think, the entire event is spreading out into an additional month. This is not going to come as a shock to anyone, but Marvel is okay with making a little bit more money, and stores are okay with selling a little bit more comics, and creators are okay with a little more royalties. Some people, of course, will not be happy with this so I guess I owe them an ice cream sandwich or something.

[Colin YNWA]

.....living among German speakers is clearly affecting my vocabularly: I'm sure there's a word for what I mean but I'll just stick a bunch of them together in an effort to approximate it...

I always thought it was an effective strategy!

[Satanist]

Saving reading Nameless till I have them all after reading the first weird issue. Fish-heads getting on the bus at Maryhill road made me chuckle though.

Will read Crossed+100 and Walking Dead on way home

[Colin YNWA]

These are the comics my friends
And they'll keep me reading to the end

Cos these comics are champion
These comics are champion

Not one of the them a loser
Cos these comics are champions of the nerds

Okay the best thing about this weeks (well two weeks) haul is that its damned near impossible to pick the book of the haul.

FBP 21 is a pretty damned fine comic, just not quite up to the standard of the rest. Things are heading well to a big old reality bending climax here and I hope they manage to do the series justice. So far so good.

Winter World - Frozen Fleet 2 is quite superb too, possibly the best of the series (the whole of Winter World that is not just this mini which is clearly a left over arc from the ongoing) to date. It great, with a lovely switcheroo from the position we ended at last time, but its not quite as good as my other comics this month.

Okay so looking for reasons now, I can rule out 12th Doc 8 and War Stories 9, not 'cos they aren't superb comics they really are. 12th Doc 8 is the Doc Who I want and War Stories is a perfect conclusion to a return to the Garth Ennis comics I want.Both are brilliant but with ropey art.

And that leaves me, my friends with my book of the haul... all 4 of um, cos when comics are this good why make arbitrary decisions about which are better or worse. Might as well ask me to decide between my children (good job I don't even know how to spell hyperbole hey). Three of 'um are ending of a kind as well.

Li'l Depressed Boy - Supposed to be there too 5 finished this arc of this glorious series. It ends it in a great place to set up whatevers coming next and as well as being a great, great comic so beautifully obversed and realised in and of itself it also makes an absolutely vital move in terms of the series. After all it is called Li'l Depressed Boy. It does so however very deftly. Brilliant.

The Maxx 20 could have been the end of the series and I've have gone away happy. It wraps things up. Sets out what its been doing, gives you pretty much all you need to go back and make sense of what's gone before, in one easy hit. As ever though with this quite superb, if baffling series, it teases that you don't know half as much as you think you might and I can't wait to see what else is in store for us all.

Copperhead 8 is just a stompingly good romp of western action. Its quite thrilling in a way normally only 2000ad can be. Its action at its best and a little bit more besides. You can taste the dust.

Finally Autumnlands 6 ends the first arc and as above really, thrilling, smart, satisfying. Leaves you looking forward immensely to whatevers next and content with what you have. Just perfect comics.

Really you lot just stop thinking for yourselves and buy the comics I do.When they're as good as this you know you can't lose!

[Hawkmumbler]

Yes, Maxx #20 did feel like a natural conclusion, even to the point where I'm concerned the last dozen issues will feel very tacked on....

Oh, and no Age of Reptiles, Colin?

[Colin YNWA]

Oh, and no Age of Reptiles, Colin?

I know,  I know but having read the omnibus with my son I've decided to trade wait. I was rushing through my LCS yesterday and didn't have time to see it, which is good as I'd have picked it up for sure if I had.

[Link Prime]

Finally Autumnlands 6 ends the first arc and as above really, thrilling, smart, satisfying. Leaves you looking forward immensely to whatevers next and content with what you have. Just perfect comics.

Agreed-  a very enjoyable first arc.

[Hawkmumbler]

Dark Horse Presents finally got dropped. Maybe next year will hold my interest for a full season....meanwhile!

...Groo Friends and Foes #6 introduces The Sage and is once again jolly good fun, top creater owned comics material, as is Usagi Yojimbo #146, which maintains it's classic feel of feudal japanese manga (thinking Samurai Executioner and Lone Wolf and Cub) while still feeling enfused with an energy and an awesome art style. Stan Sakai can draw like a boss.

Mad Max #2 Furiosa details the events prior to Fury Road from the titular characters perspective, how she came to work for Immortan Joe, and the early stages of her escape leading up to the movie. Like the previous issue, mighty fine stuff indeed.

Doctor Who 11th Doctor #13 teases the return of an old fan favourite. What can it be? Excitement increases as one of my favourite ongoing titles races towards the arcs conclusion.

Weekly Shonen Jump #30 set's the ussual highlights ablaze. My Hero Academia, Toriko, and, of course, One-Punch Man keep stealing the show!