The Longbox Short-List - Week of July 19, 2017

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Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 07/18/2017 - 07:46

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

Getting quite a few books this week, but most of them are long running series in the middle of arcs, so not a lot jumping out at me as “you need to talk about this book.”

ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 – I have really enjoyed the X-books for the most part during ResurrXion. Really the only one that has been dragging for me some is ICEMAN. Charles Soule on ASTONISHING X-MEN is a great addition to the lineup, especially with Jim Cheung starting off the art (this book will have rotating artists).

CLUE #2 – Not sure if I would still be reading this series if not for IDW being extremely generous with review copies. The first issue was all right, but the 4th wall breaking just didn’t work for me, and none of the characters felt all that fleshed out. Not sure what I was expecting here, but it just didn’t quite grab me like I was hoping.

MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS #17 – Last issue, several long running story threads came to an end. I’m curious where this series goes from here. The solicit was pretty vague “The next Power Rangers epic starts here! The Power Rangers are finally reunited, but can things ever be the same?”

DUCKTALES #0 – With the new cartoon starting up next month, IDW is releasing an issue 0 to help build up anticipation. The shorts have been a lot of fun, and I love the new theme song. Very excited about this!

PETER PARKER: THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #2 – The first issue was a nice return to basics for Spider-Man. I actually like Dan Slott’s work on Spider-Man quite a bit, but he’s been on the book so long now. It’s great to get some fresh eyes on the character.

BATMAN #27 – Tom King really knows how to build up a story. So much of his stuff feels like it starts slow, but it quickly builds up to a frantic pace. That is exactly what The War of Jokes and Riddles has felt like for me so far.