The Longbox Short-List - Week of April 6, 2016

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it!

Comics shipping this week

BLACK PANTHER #1 – I have seen Ta-Nehisi Coates on shows like Colbert and Daily Show, and he has some terrific insight on race relations in this country. I was actually really surprised to see that he would be working on a “lowly” medium like comics, so I have been looking forward to this one for a long time. Black Panther has a rich history in comics, and I am real curious to see what Coates will bring to the table here. Should be a real tent pole book for Marvel.

SPIDER-WOMEN ALPHA #1 – Marvel has a lot of crossovers going on at the moment with Avengers Standoff, Apocalypse Wars, and now Spider-Women. Though since Silk and Spider-Woman are two of my favorite books, I have no complaints about this one. The weak link here for me is Spider-Gwen who continues to just got of “be” on my pull list every month. It’s not bad, but it just isn’t as good as it’s hyped up to be.

ROUGH RIDERS #1 – Another new one from Aftershock. Teddy Roosevelt leads a motley crew to Cuba to solve a mystery that threatens all of existence. Harry Houdini, Annie Oakley, and Jack Johnson. This sounds like the historical icon version of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I love crazy books like this, so I definitely have to check it out.

GOLD KEY ALLIANCE #1 – The Gold Key characters came back to audience’s attention back when Valiant used Turok, Magnus, and Solar in the early 90’s. Over the years, Valiant has lost the rights to these characters, and various companies have tried to bring them back with very little success. Dynamite is giving it a swing this time teaming them all up together with other Gold Key characters like The Mighty Samson. Dynamite has managed to make a lot of great books over the last few years, and I keep hoping someone will make me care about Turok, Magnus, and Solar again, so I have to give this one a try.

EMPRESS #1 – Mark Millar has had a streak of great comics for Image lately. This one is actually part of his “Millarverse” publishing line, but coming out from Marvel, not Image. It really doesn’t matter to me who puts out comics, I just thought this was a little odd. To be honest, when I first heard the pitch for it, I thought it sounded like a spin-off of Waid’s Empire, but Millar has been putting out some really good books lately, so I will check it out.

BLOODLINES #1 – I am genuinely curious who in DC decided that it was real important to use the name Bloodlines again. Bloodlines was the theme for a year of annuals that came out that introduced a lot of new characters to the DC universe during an alien invasion. Most of these characters went nowhere (Marvel had done something similar around the same time with similar results), but I did like that DC was at least trying to put some new blood into their line. I am picking this one purely out of curiosity (and because I have some openings in my pull list now that Batman and Robin Eternal has ended).

STAR WARS: POE DAMERON #1 – Marvel has done a great job with their Star Wars books. I actually didn’t enjoyed Shattered Empire (the story of Poe’s parents) all that much, but I definitely want to know more about Poe Dameron. And this one is written by Charles Soule who I really enjoy. 

MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS #2 – I’ve really been enjoying this series, and sales seem to be doing well enough to justify a spinoff series for the Pink Ranger. Boom is doing such a great job with this that I hope they end up doing a Dino Charge series. I have really been enjoying the current Power Rangers series, and have been feeling real bummed out that it will be coming to an end soon. I keep hoping that the cast will stick around for next year’s Ninja Steel, but I know that is VERY unlikely.

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARKSEID WAR SPECIAL #1 – I wonder if DC will manage to actually finish Darkseid War before DC Rebirth. I actually think the smart thing to do would be just to end Justice League at issue 50 or maybe 51 to give them an issue to deal with the Aftermath of Darkseid War since they didn’t seem to have any idea what to solicit for issue 52 anyway. 

BLACK WIDOW #2 – The first issue was wall to wall action. Not quite what I expected from Black Widow and this creative team, but it worked so well. I can’t way to see what they do next!

SUPERMAN #51 – Truth ended up being the exact storyline DC needed to help New-52 Superman get closer a character I enjoy reading about. I do want to complain that it took 4 years to get here, but at least they did it. It’s not clear what his status is after DC Rebirth. Some people seem to be speculating that Pre-Flashpoint will be the “only” Clark Kent Superman, but I’m not so sure about that. I think there is definitely room for both of these characters now that they have tweaked New-52 some. Of course now that I say that, watch him get killed in Darkseid War.