The Longbox Short-List - Week of December 21, 2016

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Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 12/20/2016 - 07:55

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

LOCKE AND KEY SMALL WORLD #1 – I am a huge fan of Joe Hill. LOCKE AND KEY was a terrific series, and even though I loved the ending, I still think there are a lot more stories to tell in that universe. This one-shot is about a key that opens up a miniature world. Definitely looking forward to this one, and any more stories Hill has to tell us in Keyhouse.

JUSTICE LEAGUE VS SUICIDE SQUAD #1 – I am usually a big fan of Justice League, but Bryan Hitch really bores me as a writer, so I haven’t been following Justice League since Rebirth started. Suicide Squad has been very good though, and I like the cast of characters they have been teasing for this crossover (Emerald Empress, Johnny Sorrow, and Max Lord!), so I will check it out.

STAR TREK/GREEN LANTERN VOLUME 2 STRANGER WORLDS #1 – Star Trek/Green Lantern made some pretty bold choices, basically wiping out the entire DC universe and having only a handful of lanterns from all across the spectrums surviving and making their way into the Star Trek Universe. Most crossovers end with a return to the status quo and a happily ever after, but things were still pretty messed up at the end of volume 1. Glad they are getting a chance to revisit this unique crossover.

MIGHTY CAPTAIN MARVEL #0 – My, how the Mighty have fallen. Sorry. Typically, I have been a fan of Carol Danvers, but she’s been written so heavy handed the last few years it’s kind of hard to continue to say that. Civil War II was a particularly bad turning point for her (though I will say that she was far better in her own book than in Civil War II proper). So, I will probably pick up the 0 issues and a few issues of the main series, but unless they stop making the character such a bummer, not sure how long I will stick around.

DIVINITY III STALINVERSE #1 – Valiant usually does pretty awesome crossovers. And I’ve loved the redesigns for all the Valiant characters we’ve seen in this new timeline. I do think it’s unexpectedly timely for this series (which has been set up for a long time) because of everything going on in the news with Russia. Curious if that will have any impact on the direction of this story.

PATSY WALKER AKA HELLCAT #13 – I am amazed this series made it past issue 12. One of my favorite reads every month. Lots of fun and creativity here. For anyone who says they don’t like what Marvel has been doing, I always recommend they check out HELLCAT!

HE-MAN/THUNDERCATS #3 – They really need to speed this series up a bit. I am still enjoying it quite a bit, but it feels like issue 1 and 2 could have been combined and given the reader a lot more time to see the heroes all teaming up.

BATMAN #13 – One of the most annoying story telling devices in comics for me is when you get a whole issues that basically retells the last issue, just from a slightly different viewpoint. I would much rather see a story move forward than what amounts to a cheap stale tactic. I did think issues 12 provided some nice insight into an aspect of Batman we had never considered before, but at the end of the day, that just boiled down to couple really cool panels in an otherwise stagnant comic.

Alters #3
Animosity #4
Archie #15
Black Hood Season 2 #2
Joyride #8
Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye #3
Green Arrow #13
Green Lanterns #13
Nightwing #11
Raven #4 (Of 6)
Superman #13
Trinity #4
KISS #3
Back To The Future #15
Donald Quest #2 (Of 5)
Fix #7
Amazing Spider-Man #22
Avengers #2.1
Doctor Strange #15
Invincible Iron Man #2
Occupy Avengers #2
Power Man And Iron Fist Sweet Christmas Annual #1
Punisher #7
Silver Surfer #8
Squadron Supreme #14
Star Wars Doctor Aphra #2
Ultimates 2 #2
Unbelievable Gwenpool #9
Uncanny X-Men #16
Bloodshot U.S.A. #3 (Of 4)
Harbinger Renegade #2