The Longbox Short-List - Week of August 31, 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

I have a lot of comics for a fifth week, including several of my favorite Image titles! Actually it looks like only DC is treating this as a fifth week, as I only have one DC book on my pulllist this week, and that never happens. 

EDEN’S FALL #1 – Postal and The Tithe are two of my favorite series. Even though I don’t read Think Tank (though I probably will catch up on it as soon as I can), I am really curious about this crossover. A lot of the time, Image’s books seem to exist in their own bubbles, so it’s great to see some of them spilling over like this. Hopefully we will get a Saga/Paper Girls crossover soon!

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #11/ROCKET RACCOON AND GROOT #8 – I am not typically on the “hate Bendis” train, but I basically jumped off Guardians of the Galaxy when it relaunched last year. It just felt like it had gotten kind of boring and stale. I am only picking this up because it’s Civil War II. Hopefully it’s picked back up some. I usually like the Guardians of the Galaxy, but at the moment the only Guardians book I buy regularly is ROCKET RACCOON AND GROOT, which also happens to come out this week.

DREAM POLICE #11 – Only two issues to go on this great series. I am glad that JMS got a chance to revisit DREAM POLICE. He’s created a deep and compelling world here, populating it with brilliant characters. JMS has said that he will be getting away from comics moving forward. That makes me sad, because I was really hoping he was going to bring back BOOK OF LOST SOULS like he did DREAM POLICE. 

SAGA #37 – SAGA is back from one of it’s frequent breaks. SAGA continues to be one of my favorite comics. Vaughan constantly shakes up the status quo moving the time line forward, and the result is just a brilliant sci-fi masterpiece. Always glad to see a new issues of SAGA on my pull list.

THUNDERBOLTS #4, SILVER SURFER #4, X-MEN ’92 #6 – Maybe it is just because DC and Marvel release so many bi-weekly books, but it feels like I have been waiting forever for these three series, all of which I enjoy. But all three of them have been fairly close to a normal schedule. I am not sure if that was particular worth commenting on, but hey it’s my column. I never claimed everything that comes out is gold…

FUTURE QUEST #4 – I loved last issue where we got a few short stories giving us back story for some of the characters. I am mostly familiar with the characters who have been showing up in FUTURE QUEST, but it had been a long time since I saw a cartoon starring Birdman or Space Ghost. I hope they do a few more backups like that because it definitely adds to my enjoyment of this great series.

X-O MANOWAR #49 – I can’t believe this series ends next month. This is Valiant’s longest running series, and one of their best. I really hope that we get a relaunch fairly soon because a comic shelf without X-O is a depressing concept for me…

HYPERION #6 – One thing Marvel has done really well is to give the spotlight to lesser known characters. I didn’t know what to expect from a HYPERION solo series, but it’s been very good! I love a good road trip book, and you don’t get enough of those these days.

SPIDER-MAN #7/NOVA #10/MS MARVEL #10 – Three characters who seem to be at the heart of Marvel’s youth movement moving forward. Personally, I think Marvel needs a jolt of fresh characters, and I hope that they stay in the spotlight. I mentioned last week in a column that I kind of hope that the vision of the future with all the dead heroes comes true and stays true. Marvel needs to stop using their old characters as a crutch and move forward. That would be a very bold direction and one I would be very much in favor of.

Previews #336 (September 2016)
Rough Riders #5
Afterlife With Archie #10 
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #6 
Groo Fray Of The Gods #2
Mae #4
Predator Vs Judge Dredd Vs Aliens #2 (Of 4)
James Bond #9 
Postal #14 
Spawn #265, $2.99
All-New Wolverine Annual #1 
Amazing Spider-Man #17 
Astonishing Ant-Man #11 
Carnage #11
Civil War II Choosing Sides #5 (Of 6)
Howard The Duck #10
Spider-Man 2099 #14
Star Wars Han Solo #3 (Of 5)
Uncanny Avengers #13 
4001 A.D. #4 (Of 4)
Bloodshot Reborn #16