The Longbox Short-List - Week of June 17, 2015

WORLDS UNITE -  This year’s Mega Man/Sonic crossover has been odd at times, since quite a bit of the story has said you need to read “WORLDS UNITE BATTLES #1” to follow what’s going on.  Thankfully that is finally coming out this week (along with MEGA MAN #50).  I do love a lot of the twists in this story, like Mega Man and Sonic both being taken out of action real early, and the Sonic Boom reality being involved too.

SECRET WARS – Marvel has done a great job showing some real diversity in their publishing line with SECRET WARS.  For this week, I am most looking forward to SQUADRON SINISTER, RUNAWAYS, THORS, and OLD MAN LOGAN.  I am also looking forward to MS MARVEL, which is typically my favorite Marvel series, though many of the Last Days books have left me flat so far.

SECRET SIX #3 – We reviewed the first issue of SECRET SIX back in December…and issue 3 is just coming out now.  It’s been real hard to get any traction on this series because of the late releases and the crazy content of the book.  I barely remember what happened in the first two issues at this point. It would be like trying to watch LOST by watching one episode every other month for 20 years. 

PREZ #1 –  I will admit, the preview for PREZ didn’t quite blow me away, but I am still looking forward to this book.  The concept for PREZ allows for a lot of political commentary, and we are definitely living in a time that is ripe for it.   I am real curious why they didn’t just use the PREZ universe that showed up in MULTIVERSITY.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1 – Bryan Hitch writing and drawing JUSTICE LEAGUE!!  This should be a great comic!  I am a little bothered by the $6 cover price on this issue.  I think this is a bad way to bring in potential new readers.  I know it’s easy to be cynical and say “there are no new readers to bring in,” but if I believed that for a second, I would not waste my time writing these columns.

DEATHLOK #9 – You hear literally nothing about DEATHLOK.  It is a strong series, but there is no marketing push behind it at all.  I am genuinely shocked every time a new issue comes out, because I just assume it had to have been cancelled by now.  Glad it hasn’t been, but am I the only person reading it?

X-O MANOWAR #37– Last week’s 25^th anniversary gave us some insight into the X-O armor we’ve never seen before.  X-O is typically a great series anyway, but that issue really gave it a nice jolt in the arm.  I wonder if we will see more of that story at some point or was it just a special treat for the anniversary.

IVAR TIMEWALKER #6 – And the worst brother of the year away goes to IVAR.  Last issue, he tricked his brothers into helping him rescue a damsel in distress…making promises he seems to have no intention of keeping.  IVAR has been a real fun series, and it’s great to see Eternal Warrior and Armstrong in this arc.

ROBIN SON OF BATMAN #1 – This was another book that I was looking forward to that I didn’t think the preview did it any favors.  BATMAN AND ROBIN was one of my favorite titles, and I’m just not sure ROBIN is going to be able to hold my interest.