The Longbox Short-List - Week of June 28, 2017

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Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 06/27/2017 - 03:00

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

BLOOD BROTHERS #1 – Dynamite’s new series seems to borrow heavily from THE DRESDEN FILES, but I think there is enough new here to make it interesting. It about two brothers working as detectives in a town full of supernatural happenings. I really like the heavily stylized art, and I am always willing to try a unique comic like this.

CLUE #1 – I genuinely have no idea how you make CLUE into a comic mini-series, but I was damn curious, and that is how it ended up on my pull list this week. Kind of hoping it’s like CLUE the movie, but I kind of doubt that will happen.

BLACK MAGICK #6 – I didn’t even realize this book was coming back! Greg Rucka and Nikola Scott put together a top notch story about modern day witchcraft in BLACK MAGICK one of my favorite Image series last year, and I am very glad it’s back.

SECRET WEAPONS #1 – I actually read this one a few weeks ago as a Preview copy. Seems like another real solid Valiant series, though I am not sure 4 issues will be enough to tell the sweeping story the first issue set up. Hopefully it will be getting a full series pick up real soon.

SPAWN #275 – It’s amazing to see a series reach 275 issues! SPAWN has had it’s up and downs over the years, but I still read it every month. Actually, the current run is some of the best SPAWN we’ve ever gotten. Love seeing SPAWN as more of a ground level hero not necessarily dealing with all-powerful beings all the time.

DETECTIVE COMICS #958 – Tec continues to be one of my favorite books every two weeks. The last issue featured a very personal threat to Azrael and the return of Zatanna! Wasn’t all that sure about a Bat-team book, but DETECTIVE COMICS has been excellent.

WONDER WOMAN #25 – This is actually the longest I’ve bought WONDER WOMAN continuously. Kind of disappointed to see Rucka go, as he was telling some real strong WONDER WOMAN stories. This last issue pulls together everything he’s been telling about Wonder Woman’s past and present. Hopefully it all comes to a satisfying resolution.

SUPERGIRL BEING SUPER #4 – This story has been very good, even though it doesn’t seem to connect to any SUPERGIRL story we’ve ever read before. I keep thinking of last year’s BLOODLINES story where it seems like a story that would be a better fit for Image or one of DC’s imprints and that it could not possibly be set in the mainstream DC universe. Still, I do enjoy this comic.

OCCUPY AVENGERS #8 –Did they really have to drag this great series into SECRET EMPIRE? I don’t even mind SECRET EMPIRE all that much, I just hate when a real strong series gets sidetracked to get involved in Marvel’s latest event of the day. It seems like most of Marvel’s books this week are tied in some way to SECRET EMPIRE, even ALL-NEW GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ANNUAL #1 with a hefty price tag of $5