The Longbox Short-List - Week of December 6, 2017

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Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 12/05/2017 - 08:54

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

JUSTICE LEAGUE #34 – JUSTICE LEAGUE hasn’t done a lot for me since DC REBIRTH, but I am looking forward to seeing what Christopher Priest can do on the title. This is by far the most excited I have been for a JUSTICE LEAGUE title in a long time.

WITCHBLADE #1 – I have never actually gotten around to reading WITCHBLADE. It has been on my “must read” list for a long time. This new issue 1 seems like a great place to jump right in.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN/VENOM – VENOM INC ALPHA #1 – This falls in the category of “Eh, why not check it out?” I enjoyed Venomverse far more than I expected, and I will always be a huge Spider-Man fan. I am not even 100% sure what this one is about, but I am still going to give it a shot.

SAVAGE DRAGON #229 – Larsen has taken an “all gloves off” approach to SAVAGE DRAGON as of late. This led to some scenes in the last issue that can basically only be described as porn. I have a real high bar in terms of getting shocked, but SAVAGE DRAGON manages to do it quite a bit lately, with complete porn, a woman carrying her dead fetus around with her, and tons of gratuitous violence and nudity (to be fair, SAVAGE DRAGON always had a lot of gratuitous violence). I still enjoy SAVAGE DRAGON for the most part, and I do appreciate that we have had storylines running in real time for the life of the series, but sometimes Larsen’s excesses make this book almost embarrassing to read.

DC HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2017 – I have always been a fan of these holiday special books. And DC’s HALLOWEEN SPECIAL about a month ago was great. Not a fan of the $10 price tag though. Not exactly in the “holiday spirit” but I guess if us suckers will pay for it, you might as well charge it.

FAITH’S WINTER WONDERLAND SPECIAL #1 – While I am still bummed out that we don’t have a FAITH ongoing series at the moment, I really enjoyed FAITH AND THE FUTURE FORCE and I am looking forward to this special (with only a $4 cover price, pay attention DC). Hopefully we will be getting more FAITH in the near future.

BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II #1 – Not to be confused with the Batman/TMNT animated comic series that came out a few months back. I wouldn’t normally think that BATMAN and TMNT would be a great fit, but the first series was just so good. Can’t wait to see more.

THE FIX #10 – Very glad this is finally coming out this week. I totally needed my Fix fix. Nick Spencer’s absurd criminal story is one of the most fun comics I’ve ever read, and it is always a welcome addition to my shopping list.