The Longbox Short-List - Week of November 23, 2016

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

AD AFTER DEATH #1 – After Death is a 3 issue prestige mini-series where humanity has managed to conquer death. And what a hell of a creative team: Written by Scott Snyder. Art by Jeff Lemire. This one has been on my radar for a while. Image launches a lot of terrific books, but this one should be outstanding. 

SUPER POWERS #1 – One of the highlights of every week for me is sitting down with my kids to read them the newest issue of DC SUPERHERO GIRLS. SUPER POWERS is very much in the same vain. A mini series of all-ages superhero stories featuring DC characters. This book is by Franco and Art Baltazar who also did TINY TITANS and SUPERMAN FAMILY ADVENTURES, so definitely worth a look for the longer comic readers in your life. 

CIVIL WAR #7 & DEATH OF X #4 – These two events series are still going on. At least DEATH OF X ends with issue 4; we still have another issue of CIVIL WAR II to look forward to. Someone please tell me when the hurting stops. I am really looking forward to the new X status quo, but it’s felt like hell to get there. And most Marvel books are already set post-CIVIL WAR so don’t expect too much to happen here.

VENOM #1 – I’m glad that they got rid of the ridiculous Venom in space story. I really enjoyed the last series of VENOM (before he became VENOM SPACEKNIGHT) and now that he’s back on Earth, I can’t wait to get right back to the adventures of Flash Thompson. Marvel needs to stop trying to tie everything to Guardians of the Galaxy. As much as I love the movie, the comics have been pretty dull the last year or so.

ULTIMATES 2 #1 – Not really sure this needed a relaunch, but I loved Al Ewing’s new take on a superhero team more proactively solving the problems of the universe. Hoping this picks up where the last series left off because it has been one of my favorite Marvel books over the last few months. 

CAPTAIN MARVEL #10 – CAPTAIN MARVEL has been some of the best CIVIL WAR II Tie-ins, showing a lot more depth to Carol Danvers’ concerns. This issue is supposed to feature a massive battle between Carol and Stark’s forces. Hopefully it will be similar in tone to the last few issues because CIVIL WAR II desperately needed that depth and we only got it in crossoves like CAPTAIN MARVEL and CAPTAIN AMERICA: STEVE ROGERS.

PROWLER #2 – At some point, almost off panel, CLONE CONSPIRACY took a real sharp departure. It went from “Jackal bringing people back from the dead” to “all across the universe, Peter Parker and the Jackal team up and accidentally unleash Carrion zombies, wiping out many worlds.” Honestly, it’s still been pretty good, just not quite what I expected. I don’t know if this crossover will be dealing with the bigger picture, but I did enjoy the first issue of this series.

X-MEN ’92 #9 – As much as I hated the digital series during SECRET WARS, the ongoing series has been a huge improvement, really capturing the feel of the original X-Men cartoon. It felt much more like an homage than an outright parody. So of course, the ongoing series gets cancelled before it even reaches issue 10. Definitely a shame. Marvel should do some kind of WHAT IF line for books like X-MEN ’92 and RENEW YOUR VOWS.

Black-Eyed Kids #8
Groo Fray Of The Gods #3
Action Comics #968 
Batgirl #5 
Batman Beyond #2 
Blue Beetle #3 
Detective Comics #945 
Flash #11 
Future Quest #7 
Hal Jordan And The Green Lantern Corps #9 
Teen Titans #2 
Titans #5 
Wonder Woman #11 
Donald Quest #1 (Of 5)
G.I. JOE A Real American Hero #234
Mickey Mouse #14 
All-New X-Men Annual #1 
Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 
Doctor Strange And The Sorcerers Supreme #2 
Empress #7 (Of 7)
Mighty Thor #13
Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur #13 
Prowler #2 
Star Wars #25 
Star Wars Han Solo #5 (Of 5)
Bloodshot U.S.A. #2 (Of 4)
Ninjak #21