NCBD Pull or No Pull? December 5, 2018

Archie Meets Batman '66 #5 (Archie Comics)

The generation gap becomes a battleground in Riverdale, when the teenagers go up against their parents and teachers who have all been enslaved by the Siren and the rest of the Gotham City rogues. Fortunately, Batman is there to help save the day (finally).

I've been following this one from the beginning, out of sheer novelty, and I'll stick with it until the end just to see it out. But Jeff Parker and Michael Moreci's storytelling has been slowly dragging this out into six issues for what could have easily been an 80-page special. And there really hasn't been that much involvement with Archie as a hero -- he's just sort of been there. But I'm still glad the series went with Dan Parent to place the story in the traditional Archie Comics style.

Barbarella Holiday Special (Dynamite)

When someone has been given the ultimate gift, Saint Nick has to figure out whodunnit. And for that, he's going to need the sweetest pair of legs ever to fill out a set of Christmas stockings. Barbarella teams up with Hexagon Comics' Guardian of the Republic in this sexy space murder mystery from Jean-Marc L'Officier and Jose Luis Ruiz Perez.

Black AF: Devil's Dye #1 (Black Mask Comics)

Vita Ayala and Liana Kangas bring us the newest installment of Black Mask's BLACK AF series, which posits a world where superpowers are a potential offset of high melanin concentrations. (In layman's terms, only black people could develop powers.) One can imagine the impact on world history this would have had, as it would have been a lot harder for slavery to have ever happened.

When a new drug hits the street that is nothing but upside for white people and causes "total and violent loss of control" for "empowered Black folks," Indigo must investigate and find the source of the drug.

As intriguing (and, honestly, slightly racist) of a premise that this may be, this sharp cover by Maika Sozo is unfortunately the best thing about this series, as samples of the story and artwork have pretty much revealed it to be amateurish and unreadable. Huge pass on this one.

Deadpool #7 (Marvel)

Of all the people in the Marvel universe least likely to get a visit from Santa Claus, Deadpool would top that list. So when he gets the mission to take out a Santa whose gone from loveable to lethal! Ho ho ho-boy, Skottie Young and Nic Klein are gonna have their hands full. Let's check it out!

Doomsday Clock #7 (DC)

We've crossed the half-way point of this crossover series, and the action has finally taken a turn. Having finally found and confronted Doctor Manhattan, hiding on the DC Universe Earth, Adrian Veidt changes his tactics. His new weapon against the omnipotent Manhattan: Superman!

Martian Manhunter #1 (DC)

Well, here's a story I never thought woudl happen. At certain points in DC's multiversal histories, J'onn J'onnz had been a law enforcement officer on Mars. Now, thanks to Steve orlando and Riley Rossmo, we have to taint what had been up until now one of DC's most incorruptible characters -- by making him a corrupt cop in his past life. Hey, I love redemption tales, but maybe start with scratch with a new character rather than reimagining something for J'onn. I'll probably take a look -- maybe the story will be better than the summary.

The Merry X-Men Holiday Special (Marvel)

This is definitely the week for the Christmas specials to start hitting the shelves. This anthology comes with 25 tales of the X-Men, making it a veritable comic book advent calendar. See Magneto celebrate Hanukkah, Mr. & Mrs. X have their first Christmas together, and more. Depending on how short these tales are (or how thick this book is) we'll probably peruse it to see if it's got some of that classic Christmas comic feel to it.

Prodigy #1 (Image)

The next big thing from Mark Millar is here. Edison Crane is the modern Alexander the Great, having conquered ever field of study there is to conquer. So what's left for this Nobel prize-winning Olympic athlete composer scientist occultist? How do you challenge someone who's figured it all out? This one definitely has our Spidey-sense tingling!

Shazam #1 (DC)

Is it just us, or has this New 52 vision of Shazam been taking forever to finally get off the ground? The last we can recall, there were backup stories in JUSTICE LEAGUE that had Billy Batson being an incorrigible delinquent in a foster home, given amazing powers by the wizard. Finally in his own series, maybe Geoff Johns can start to put some real meat on this story skeleton, as Dr. Sivana teams up with Mr. Mind.

Star Trek vs. Transformers (IDW)

Two cartoon franchises collide ast STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES goes to battle against TRANSFORMERS. Naturally, the Decepticons have sided with the Klingons, while Optimus Prime has forged an alliance with Starfleet. But hey, if we get just one Constitution class vessel that can change into a giant robot, we're in!