The Longbox Short-List - Week of July 4, 2018

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Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 07/03/2018 - 09:39

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s long-running 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

BATMAN #50 – Hard to ignore the elephant in the room. DC ended up leaking the ending to this issue to the New York Times this weekend. I really think that kind of behavior is awful to the comic business. I would rather be able to have an emotional reaction to a comic, good or bad, without knowing what’s coming. It’s just sad because Marvel did the same exact thing with the X-Men wedding a few weeks ago. Tom King has warned that the story is long continuing past the events of the issue, but I still think a lot of harm has been done here. CATWOMAN #1 is also coming out this week.

COSMIC GHOST RIDER #1 – I actually didn’t get around to reading THANOS WINS until this week. Cosmic Ghost Rider is a futuristic version of Frank Castle with the powers of Ghost Rider and Silver Surfer. The whole concept sounds insane. But the character is just awesome, and I am really looking forward to this miniseries.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP #3 – I have enjoyed this mini-series, doubly so since Marvel announced that Wasp will be getting her own series again in a few months. Nadia Pym is one of my favorite new Marvel characters, and I am glad to see her getting more exposure. I am glad Marvel didn’t just make her identical to Hope from the ANT-MAN movies. I do like Hope’s character in those movies, but Nadia has a lot to offer as a new unique character.

IMMORTAL HULK #2 – The first issue of Al Ewing’s HULK run was damn haunting. I love this very different take on the Hulk, and can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

JIMMY’S BASTARDS #9 – One of the craziest comics I have ever read. Just about the most screwed up take on the James Bond mythos that you can imagine. I think this might be the last issue of the series, but it has been one hell of a fun ride.