Superman Unchained #1: Just in time for Man of Steel’s opening weekend, DC launches a new Superman book with the all star team of Scott Snyder writing and Jim Lee drawing and it’s an action packed opening issue. Satellites are falling out of the sky and Superman has his hands full trying to catch them before they cause any damage. When he learns that one of the ones he ignored because it wasn’t going to impact anything significant was caught, he sets out to investigate. It turns out the Army has a super powered being who they have been using for decades. I’m not sure if it’s a classic villain being revamped for the New 52 or a new character, if anyone knows, let me know in the comments, but this is an awesome jumping on point for Superman.
Deadpool #11: Deadpool’s latest target is a fat pervert who traded his soul to the demon Vetis for the ability to shapeshift, which leads to lots of hilarious misunderstandings as it looks like Deadpool is trying to kill first Black Widow and then a random cheerleader. A fight with Daredevil caps things off nicely.
Guardians of the Galaxy #3: The Guardians are captured by King J-Son of Spartax, father of Star Lord, for interfering with Earth by defending London from an alien attack last issue. J-Son seems to have a not quite noble hidden agenda for Earth, as seen by his interactions with the council of alien leaders. The Guardians, of course, escape and Star Lord sends a message out to the Spartax people that his father may not be acting in their best interests. Also, Groot has the most bad ass entrance of the week when he bursts into the ship holding the other Guardians.
Batman #21: The “Zero Year” event begins with Bruce Wayne just barely back in Gotham after years abroad training, with a very different look than we’ve come to expect (he only really has the cowl and currently has a more generic military outfit and riding a bat dirt bike). There’s some intrigue with his uncle, Phillip Kane, who is working with Edward Nygma, and the Red Hood Gang. It probably won’t reach the bar set by Year One, but it seems like it could be a pretty cool arc.
Grimm #2: Any book that drops an Under Siege 2 reference is OK in my book, even though things in the comic seem to have escalated beyond anything seen in the TV show. Rather than a typical case in Portland, Nick Burkhardt and his friends Hank and Monroe are engaging an army of Wesen (people who transform into various animal creatures) all across Europe. It’s got some cool action, but the show has not even attempted anything at this level and it’s still not really clear where the book fits into the show’s timeline, if at all.
Thor: God of Thunder #9: Three Thors would seem like an unstoppable combination but even their combined power is not enough to stop Gorr the God Butcher, who is finalizing his “God Bomb” that will kill every god in the universe. This book continues to be one of the top Marvel Now books with amazing art and a great villain and a crazy, awesome story. I can’t wait to see what last ditch action the Thors pull to stop Gorr once and for all in the next issue or two.
Savage Wolverine #6: After Frank Cho brought us a pulpy adventure in the Savage Land, artist Joe Madureira steps in for a new story where Wolverine teams up with Elektra to stop a resurrected Bullseye from killing The Kingpin. There’s some fun interactions between Logan and Elektra and Spider-Man (pre Doc Ock brain swap) and the art style is completely different from the last story, with Madureira going crazy with the various ninjas and magic going on and giving Logan and Kingpin his beefed up, aggressive style that you most recently saw in the Darksiders games.
Wolverine #4: The other Wolverine book wrapped up it’s first story in a slightly disappointing way. It had some great action, including Wolverine taking down a plane by ripping it’s wings off, but we still don’t really know what was up with the weird mind control gun or why The Watcher is so concerned with things. Hopefully we’ll get some more details when the next story line kicks off.
Suicide Squad #21: We’re still in a little bit of a transitional period with Suicide Squad but the game may have changed this issue as Harley Quinn took Amanda Waller hostage and made some sort of deal with her that may actually give the Squad their freedom in less than a year. Deadshot and Unknown Soldier have another mano a mano battle and Jim Gordon Jr. proves himself to be kind of a bad ass, plus the team gets a new member with Cheetah. The full details of Harley’s deal weren’t revealed but it will be interesting to see how much power over Amanda Waller she actually has and if she has some side plot in mind.
Constantine #4: John Constantine takes the day off but still has to deal with a pissed off voodoo priest, a pissed off ex-girlfriend and a hired street thug sent to try and kill him. Like the other issues, there’s some cool magic on display, most notably a charm that forces the person who takes it to be inflicted with whatever pain they put on the person originally holding the charm. There are implications that a major magical villain is on the horizon to be faced down and it may involve other DC heroes.
Star Wars #6: With Leia in critical condition and her X-Wing barely functional, Luke and his partner Prithi arrive just in time to help MacGyver up the Star Wars version of a nuclear warhead and take out a Star Destroyer and it’s fighters. Until we see what Episode VII has in store, this is one of the best, old school, Star Wars stories you will get, full of a great mix of character and action.
