The Longbox Short-List - Week of April 8, 2015

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

Astro City #22 - With 22 issues, Astro City's current series now has many issues as the original ongoing Astro City series.  Actually, it's been great to have Astro City on the shelves on a regular basis for the last few years.  When it's rolling, Astro City is always my favorite comic.  The last few issues have been real dark and grim dealing with two heroes at the end of their career and not taking that fact all that well.  Astro City 22 seems to be an homage to Flash Gordon.

New Vampirella #11 - Once again, the fine people at Dynamite are great about getting review copies out early.  This was a terrific issue that does a nice job of cleaning up some of the continuity questions about Vampirella's family.  I only just recently have gotten into Vampirella, and Nancy Collins has been doing a great job on this series. 

Savior #1 - McFarlane seems to be building up on some of the ideas he started to develop from the last 65 issues or so of Spawn.  What if someone was given the powers of an Angel? How would the world react to him?  How would he react to the world?  It's a great idea, and I'm definitely interested in seeing it get developed a little deeper here. 

Convergence #1 - I actually was really looking forward to Convergence, though the zero issue did leave me a little flat.  I guess I was just hoping to see something connected a little tighter to the massive weekly series I had been reading for months now.  I hope now that the zero issue is out of the week DC will build up from here into something great.

As for the ten Convergence issues coming out this week, I will probably check them all out, but the ones I am most looking forward to are Superman (Lois and Clark still married and awaiting the birth of their first child), Batgirl (STEPHANIE BROWN...although it would be better if Bryan Q Miller was writing it), Titans and The Question.

Descender #2 - I did think the first issue had some flaws, but I do think the series has huge potential.  I am definitely willing to give it another look.  But there are a lot of comics out there, and this will need to be a huge improvement to get me to stick around much longer.

Howard The Duck #2 - The first issue was probably my favorite comic in March, so I am really looking forward to seeing what else this series has in store.  This was everything I was hoping Squirrel Girl to be.  Funny, creative, and actually fits well into Marvel continuity. 

Spider-Woman #6 - I really enjoyed this issue during Spider-Verse, and amazing, it's gotten even better once it was able to stand on it's own.  Another really strong Marvel book.  I hope they keep this book around even once Secret Wars starts to reshape the Marvel universe as we know it.

S.H.I.E.L.D. #4 - This issue of SHIELD features Sue Storm and tells about her secret adventures as a member of SHIELD over the years.  I love when Waid was writing Fantastic Four, so this should be a great issue.  SHIELD has been really good, though I will admit I would have liked to see it tie-in to the TV series a little more.