Facebook and iTunes have the market cornered on useless updates, so we’re going to try something different here and update the format for a reason. Tonight we’re going to try out a new, more concise format for Comic List Highlights, one we intend to call 4 x 4. It’s simple, four facts about four new comics or trade paperbacks coming out the next Wednesday. Short. Sweet. Less of an eyesore.
Adventures of Superman #1
1. Ignore the hubbub about Orson Scott Card writing this book, because he’s been replaced on issue one by some of DC‘s best artists and writers, including Jeff Parker, Jeff Lemire, Riley Rossmo, and Chris Samnee.
2. Samnee’s Golden Age-esque style has been put to great use on Daredevil and The Rocketeer lately, and now does the same for Superman.
3. Contrasting Samnee’s style, Riley Rossmo’s (Bedlam, Debris, Cowboy Ninja Viking) sketchy style is exemplifies the high contrast of visual styles represented in this issue.
4. This anthology brings the baddies with stories about Lex Luthor, Bizzaro, and Zod. Oh, and maybe some Superman, too.
Thor, God of Thunder v.1 HC
1. Kansas City native Jason Aaron has been weaving a Thor yarn for the ages, destined to become a modern classic.
2. Split across three time periods, God of Thunder stars three incarnations of Thor, past, present, and arm-less, one-eyed, Odin-like future.
3. Esad Ribic’s painterly style lends an epic, tapestry-like quality to the series that enhances its mythic tone.
4. Thor. Loves. Ale.
X-Men #1
1. Forget testosterone, it’s all estrogen all the time thanks to the all female cast of X-Men #1.
2. Brian Wood has dabbled with the X-Men in the past on Ultimate Comics X-Men and the previous X-Men series, but now gets the keys to the kingdom in this Marvel NOW! series.
3. Olivier Coipel’s (House of M) slick, appealing style works equally well for dialog and action scenes, which, the last time I checked, are the X-Men’s bread and butter.
4. Milo Manara and Terry Dodson both have contributed variant covers for the first issue!
The Wake #1
1. Current writer of Batman and Superman Unchained, Scott Snyder, returns to his horror roots with the Vertigo series, The Wake.
2. In previous horror series Severed and American Vampire Snyder showed his vast talent for pacing scares on the comic page, not an easy task.
3. Sean Murphy of Joe the Barbarian and Punk Rock Jesus joins Snyder to tell this confined thriller which follows a marine biologist as she ventures into the icy waters of the Arctic Circle to explore a sunken oil rig…and what resides there.
4. Fans of isolated suspense movies like The Thing and Alien need to check The Wake #1 out!
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