Wednesday is just one day away and as I’m sure you’ve heard by now it’s the end of an age at Marvel. Siege and the old Avengers titles are wrapping up to make way for the Heroic Age. Over in DC the real Batman is standing up. He’s standing up in a cave but we’ll take it. Check back later this week to see if any of these pages make our Panel of the Week.
Siege #4
Marvel has many final chapters are shipping this week. Siege is probably the biggest of them but New Avengers, Initiative, and Dark Avengers are all closing up shop with Wednesday’s issues. For those of you fast on the news feeds this week you might have seen the cover to Fallen Siege which basically spoils the hell out of Siege #4. Not that we don’t all know what’s going to happen in Siege #4. Right?
Astonishing X-Men Xenogenesis #1
Three things have me excited about this new X-Men project. One is that Ellis is writing. Two is that Kaare Andrews is drawing. Not only is Andrews drawing by the way, but he’s drawing these gorgeous new black costumes. I’m loving the whole look. Third and finally, the team includes my favorite new mutant, Armor. Her relationship with Logan might be a bit derived from the Shadowcat/Jubilee mold but I don’t care.
Batman Return of Bruce Wayne #1
Of the six time periods this miniseries is supposed to cover it’s possible that caveman Batman is the one I’m least interested in. I feel confident that we are all collectively in this for the pirate Batman. Although cowboy Batman ( or any Village Person Batman ) also wouldn’t be bad. I’m assuming there will be a revolutionary war Batman but I feel like that’s been covered by the Black Coat, no?
PunisherMax #7
Admittedly, Bullseye’s entrance during the last issue was heavy on the bathroom humor but I still have faith in the creative team. The character study of Kingpin in the first arc of PunisherMax was just too much fun to abandon this title after one misstep. Besides this is Bullseye we’re talking about, sure he’s a perennial loser but he he’s the kind of murdering pschopath you can root for.
First Wave #2
Despite the fact that he was on the cover of issue number one, Batman made no appearance on the interior of the book. Which is too bad since the Batman of this new DC pulp universe carries twin 45’s. There is something jarring about the Dark Knight brandishing the barking irons but it also serves to ground the reader in the world that these characters inhabit. I’m going to pick up issue number two and hope for more from Bruce.