The Longbox Short-List - Week of September 16, 2015

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA: WHITE #1 – After CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE TRUTH, this is a slightly awkward title. They probably should have gone with RED, WHITE, and BLUE. I really liked when Loeb and Sale used to do these series like DAREDEVIL: YELLOW and SPIDER-MAN: BLUE. The formula did get a little stale around HULK: GRAY, but it’s been long enough where I think they can get away with doing it again. 

D4VE 2 #1 – D4VE was a series from Monkeybrain that featured a robot who had helped stopped an alien invasion, but had settled into a drudging middle class existence after the war. D4VE is thrilled when there is another alien attack, which helps him return to his glory days. IDW is bringing the series back, and if it is as good as the original, it will definitely be worth buying.

VOLTRON: FROM THE ASHES #1 – I was a huge VOLTRON fan as a kid, and I actually enjoyed VOLTRON FORCE when it aired a few years ago. There have been a few attempts to do a VOLTRON series over the years, but they never quite seem to work out all that well. I am not really sold on setting this series 200 years after the original show, but I like Cullen Bunn’s work a lot, so I am going to give it a fair shot. And Dynamite usually produces great comics, so that gives me hope that this will be good.

GREEN LANTERN: THE LOST ARMY #4 – This story about time lost Green Lanterns who find themselves encountering major threats BEFORE they became threats has been really well written. I was expecting something like LEGION LOST, but this has been far more creative. 

GROO FRIENDS AND FOES #9 – I can’t believe it’s already been 9 issues. They really need to make GROO a permanent ongoing series again. It’s been so great to have GROO on a regular basis again. Brilliant satire and always a very fun read. 

SECRET WARS – Looks like we’re finally starting to trickle down on the number of SECRET WARS books. Of this week’s books, I’m looking forward to AGE OF APOCALYPSE, HOUSE OF M, INFINITY GAUNTLET, SPIDER-ISLAND, and SPIDER-VERSE. 

DOOMED #4 – Wonder Girl Vs Doomed!! I will admit, I don’t particularly like how Cassie has been written in New 52 (actually, I haven’t liked how Cassie has been written since YOUNG JUSTICE). But I still am a fan of the character and keep hoping to see a better showing for her.

INVINCIBLE #123 – The solicits for issue 125 have me real curious about where this series is heading. It seems like Mark might have the opportunity to go back in time and make some dramatic changes to the status quo. I can’t imagine that will work out all that well. Kirkman continues to write a very compelling series here which pulls no punches.

IVAR TIMEWALKER #9 – Gotta love time travel. Issue 8 ended pretty dramatically. Now it looks like the next arc will be spent unravelling all of that. I can’t help but think of Stephen Moffat’s DOCTOR WHO. IVAR, TIMEWALKER is one of Valiant’s best series!

BLACK CANARY #4 and SECRET SIX #6 – Not sure it makes a lot of sense to put these two books under one entry, but my thoughts were very similar. Both series are fresh takes on things we’ve seen before, and both have a lot of mystery to them. I also really enjoy both books, and would recommend them highly.

MEGA MAN #53 – I am still mourning that this series is ending. Though the most recent interview I saw is now calling it a hiatus, so that gives me some hope at least. 

MICKEY MOUSE #4 – IDW is continuing their inexplicable policy of not releasing their Disney books digitally. I don’t know why they have done this, but it’s made it difficult to follow these series for me. Which is a shame, because I really enjoy them. For the most part, these are reprints or translations of older Disney stories, but I haven’t read most of them and I have enjoyed them quite a bit.

ROBIN: SON OF BATMAN #4 – This is another series that was far better than I was expecting. I really enjoyed BATMAN AND ROBIN, but the change of direction and creative team had me concerned. But this has been a great series dealing with Damien’s attempts to redeem himself from his past sins. I am curious when we will get to see him dealing with the changes Bruce Wayne has been going through in his own book.

PREZ #4 – I didn’t know this series got chopped down to 6 issues. I hope that isn’t going to change the pacing and flow of the book, because the first few issues have been a little slow, but I thought it was a great way to explore the world and characters. It is possible they will just keep on track, since it is now just 2 separate 6 issue minis, assuming both come out as planned.