The Longbox Short-List - Week of August 26, 2015

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Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 08/25/2015 - 03:00

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

PREZ #3 - I was surprised when I found out this got changed from a 12-issue mini-series to two 6-issue minis. Hopefully that will help keep sales up and ensure the full run comes out. I've really enjoyed this series so far. Far better than the original. Though I totally want to see her fight vampires.

ANT-MAN: LAST DAYS – As far as I know, this is the only Last Days story that got its own one-shot. I actually suspect that they are just doing this because of the movie. For the most part, I have hated the Last Days stories, but I am excited for this one. Maybe I am just buying into the hype, but I like Scott Lang as Ant-Man, and Nick Spencer is always great.

SECRET WARS – Bunch of good books coming out this week. CIVIL WAR, MARVEL ZOMBIES, E IS FOR EXTINCTION, MODOK ASSASSIN, OLD MAN LOGAN, and WHERE MONSTERS DWELL The only new series seems to be HANK JOHNSON: AGENT OF HYDRA…not quite sure what that one is, but sounds fun.

DEAD DROP #4 – This has been a strange series, with each issue focusing on a different Valiant character. The conspiracy story has been real well done, and I love the unique format here. Nice to get a crossover without a huge investment for the reader.

GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT #8 – I loved the first issue, but I did think that this series got a little shaky after that. I had kind of considered dropping it, but since it took a few months off for CONVERGENCE, the series has been far more consistent. A few good issues in a row and I’m staying a reader.

TEEN TITANS #11 – I do think they have been dragging out the split Titans story for a little too long, but I still enjoy this book. To be honest, I just love teen teams. This would likely be on my pull list unless it was totally unreadable (which happened during Lobdell’s run).

SPIDER-WOMAN #10 – Dennis Hopeless has been great on this book. The relaunch after SECRET WARS promises some huge changes (KNOCKED-UP SPIDER-WOMAN!). Curious how we got to that point. Hopefully this issue will give us some hints. Though it might not since supposedly Marvel is jumping forward a few months after SECRET WARS ends. Plenty of time for Jessica to get pregnant in between issues.

SUPERMAN #43 – “Truth” has been a big story, and SUPERMAN has slowly been filling in the back story. Hopefully, we’ll get a few more answers this month. It is taking away from the story now (three month in) that we still don’t know what happened to Superman.

JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 #3 – A consistently good book every month. I feel bad because there are a lot of books, I buy each week that I don’t talk about much in this column just because they are solid and reliable each month. I’m just not a good enough writer to make those books sound interesting month after month. JL 3001 is definitely worth a look each month. FLASH and GRAYDON come out this week too, and also fall in this same category. Terrific and reliable.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #3 - To be honest, this book hasn’t done much for me. I actually think DC needs to just get rid of this book. It’s redundant with JUSTICE LEAGUE, which is a far better book.