The Longbox Short-List - Week of October 21, 2015

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Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 10/20/2015 - 07:09

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

Shield #1 – Not to be confused with S.H.I.E.L.D (which is also coming out this week), Shield is part of Archie’s Dark Circle line. This book was supposed to come out a while ago, and they are finally getting around to releasing it. I really enjoy Black Hood and The Fox, so I’ve been waiting for this and Hangman for a while.

Titans Hunt #1 – Another of DC’s Pre-52 books. Superman/Lois was great, and I am really looking forward to this one. As a fan of New Teen Titans, I really want to see what Dan Abnett can do with these characters.

Back To The Future #1 – I honestly have no idea if this will be any good, but I pretty much have to buy anything Back to the Future. It is one of my favorite film series and we’re celebrating the 30th anniversary. They are also doing a big three-movie marathon in certain movie theaters next week (happy birthday to my cousin Melanie, who is also a huge Back to the Future fan!!)

Invincible #124 – Even though it was teased for a while that the lead in to issue 125 was going to involve Invincible going back in time to when he first got powers, I still thought the end for issue 123 had a huge impact. Really curious where they are going with this. I can’t imagine Kirkman going a huge reboot, but who knows what happens next. I can imagine Mark definitely has some things in his past that he would want to change if he had the chance…and now he does.

Astonishing Ant-Man #1 – Ant-Man was such a good series that a friend of mine who once said he hated Nick Spencer has now come around to liking him. And we know people on the internet NEVER admit to changing their minds, so this should tell you how awesome the series is.

Karnak #1 – I have zero interest in the Inhumans, BUT I love Warren Ellis, so I will be holding my nose and buying this series. Hopefully it will be light on other Inhumans elements. If nothing else, Karnak has always had cool powers, and with Ellis onboard, this should be a real cool book.

Voltron From The Ashes #2 – I was looking forward to this series, since I like Cullen Bunn’s work quite a bit. I will admit the first issue didn’t quite win me over. There was a lot of cool ideas there, but they never really came together in a clear way. Hopefully this issue will shed some more light on what’s going on here.

Star Trek #50 – I can’t believe we’re already at 50 issues. This comic is set in the Star Trek “new universe” and has done a great job expanding on Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness. Since these movies seem to take forever to come out, this is about the only way we can enjoy the new Star Trek universe. I don’t know what they have in mind for issue 50, but I hope this series lasts for a long time.

Amazing Spider-Man #2 and Invincible Iron Man #2 – While I did enjoy both of these books, I am kind of getting sick of Marvel double shipping comics. It makes it real hard for me to keep up with books. Even worse, Journey To Star Wars The Force Awakens Shattered Empire released three weeks in a row. Come on Marvel, give the readers’ wallets a rest, or I’m going to be forced to stop being a customer.

Secret Wars – More Secret Wars series come to an end this week. 1872, Age of Apocalypse, and Weirdworld. They are also releasing a one shot called Agents of Atlas. Seems a little odd to release more Secret Wars books when the Marvel relaunch is already started in full force, but Marvel is dragging this out as long as possible, I guess.