Anything Finn can do, Fionna can do better.  And in knee socks.

The highly successful Adventure Time comic series gains another tie-in miniseries this Wednesday!  Written by co-creator and storyboard artist from the television show, Natasha Allegri, Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake brings the girl power!  Spinning out of a stand-alone episode where the regular protagonists, Finn and Jake, where gender bent into women, this miniseries gives them the spotlight for six whole issues!  As the previous Adventure Time series have sold out as fast as the Ice Queen sliding down a snowy slope, if you want a copy be sure to put your name on the pull before Wednesday or be at the store early!

Vampires have been the new hotness for quite some time now, but they’ve never been Marvel NOW!  Uh, until now.

With this week’s Morbius, the Living Vampire #1, another of Spidey‘s villains gets an empathetic make over.  After breaking out of The Raft prison in Spider-Man #699.1, Michael Morbius is attempting to find his inner good guy and satisfy his natural hunger.  Written by Joe Keatinge, up-and-coming author of Hell Yeah and Glory for Image Comic, the first issue showcases his unique blend of stylistic indy paneling and catchy, quick dialog as well as moody horror.  As is often the case, C-list characters commonly make for the best reads at the big two comic companies (for evidence, see Swamp Thing and Hawkeye), given that the writers have a leeway to put the characters through their paces in ways that the A-list characters can’t be.  Trust me, it won’t suck.  Except, you know, in the ways that a vampire book should.

The other Marvel NOW! release for this next week is Johnathon Hickman’s Avengers companion book, New Avengers #1. Like FF to Fantastic Four, this series will share characters with the main title, as well as some plot elements, making them a shared story, of sorts.  And if you’ve read Hickman’s first issue of Avengers or any of his Manhattan Projects series, you know he’s capable of giant sci-fi craziness and incredible plot twists, both qualities which he will bring to characters of New Avengers.  Starring The Illuminati, the secretive, behind-the-scenes puppet masters of the Marvel Universe, the series will feature Black Panther, Iron Man, Reed Richards, Namor, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, and Beast desperately struggling to halt the collision of two universes.  And fans of the New Universe concept of yesteryear should take note, as it’s rumored to return in this book.

Thanks to a little timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly stuff, the third series of Doctor Who Character Builder Miniatures materializes in the store this Wednesday!  Yes, we know series two hasn’t arrived yet, but, you know, time travel.  Anyway, it really doesn’t matter as each set features different characters or key characters in unique costumes.  Set three includes the Doctor in his fancy green longcoat (circa season five), Amy with Silence marks on her face, an alternate universe Rory, River Song, an Ood, and many more (check them all out to the right).  Each figure is compatible with Lego’s, if you wish to build your own Doctor Who adventure set, or feel free to pick up one of Doctor Who Character Builder playsets currently at the store.

 

The Avengers are dead.  Long live The Avengers!

After Brian Michael Bendis’ lengthy run on, basically, ever Avengers comic for the last ten years, it’s out with the old blood and in with the new as Johnathon Hickman takes over.  Riding a wave of success off of his acclaimed Fantastic Four run and current run on Manhattan Projects for Image, Hickman claims to be having the time of his life writing this new Avengers series.  If the writer’s having fun, that usually bodes pretty well for the book.  Plus, Hickman’s not leaving anything on the drawing room floor as he’s jam-packed his Avengers team with nearly twenty members, including Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Wolverine, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, to name a few.  If you’re going to pick up any Marvel NOW! book to get a taste of the reboot, this is it.

Read the next book with extreme prejudice.  Thunderbolts #1 is an assemblage of the lean,  mean, and extreme combining the toughest customers the Marvel Universe has to offer.  That includes Venom, Elektra, Red Hulk, The Punisher, and Deadpool.  The Red Hulk leads the team, but only as much as you can lead nutjobs like Frank Castle and Wade Wilson.  Written by Daniel Way, who’s been running the Deadpool book for the last four years, this series is certain to be spilling over with blood, guts, and guffaws.  Steve Dillon, artist on Garth Ennis’ legendary run on The Punisher series, lends his pencils to the book, which means both creators have ties to characters on the team and that makes for a good read.

The future is not a happy place in Image Comics‘ new post-apocalyptic series, Blackacre.  From the new creative team of Duffy Boudreau and Wendell Cavalcanti, the series focuses a lone, retired soldier, Hull, who must venture forth from behind the protective barrier of his home city, Blackacre.  Beyond the walls lie creatures and cults beyond recognition, all of which are ready to eat him alive.  Readers of Prophet and Planetoid will find a similar narrative of survival here, as Hull has to outlast and outlive the terrain and terrors of the wasteland.  

Mike Mignola returns to the character that made his career, Hellboy, this next Wednesday.  Not only is Mignola writing the series, but he’s also drawing the character for the first time in ten years.  Of course, if he’s going to return to the series, there has to be an amazing reason.  Hellboy in Hell #1 begins a new miniseries where Hellboy has died and returned home, along with the entirety of Great Britain.  And if you don’t know, Hellboy, as the son of the devil, has a throne waiting for him in the underworld, one that he’s not too keen to take back.  Like Halley’s comet, Hellboy comics don’t come around too often, especially not by its creator, so be sure to grab a copy and get your Big Baby fix.

 

This week is Marvel‘s week.  Beezees.  Word up.

Marvel NOW! is in full effect, as two of the cornerstone titles hit shelves this Wednesday.

First up, Deadpool #1.  Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan, two thinking man’s comedians, are writing the book (their first comic endeavor ever…that rhymed) while the legend himself, Tony Moore (Walking Dead), lends his beautifully twisted pencils to the Merc with the Mouth.  The premise for the first arc of this series is so unbelievable, I hesitate to tell you about it.

Okay, you’ve convinced me.  All the country’s deceased presidents are coming back to undead life and there’s only one man who’s jerk enough to re-kill them.  I think you know who it is.

That Tony Stark needs to learn how to hold onto his inventions.  Iron Man #1 by Kieron Gillen and Greg Land re-introduce Tony Stark to a whole new range of readers with this Marvel NOW! starting point issue, where Tony gets his Extremis technology stolen and must develop an entirely new suit of armor to get it back.  Gillen has been killing on the Uncanny X-Men AvX tie-ins, bringing the pathos and the action while Greg Land is just a beautiful, painterly artist who will make Tony’s armor look so polished you’ll think you can eat off it.  Anyone who loves the Iron Man films but has never read one of his comics NEEDS to check this series out.

If you missed this year’s epic Marvel brawl to end it all, Avengers vs. X-Men, all hope is not lost.  Coming out this Wednesday is the complete epic all in one hefty volume.  That’s twelve issues for the main series, folks, plus six issues of AvX: Versus, the all fights all the time miniseries that accompanied the main series, and (if that wasn’t enough) three AvX: Infinite issues, which have never been in print before.  The entire volume is a treasure trove of the greatest writers and artists working in comics today, featuring names like Jonathon Hickman, Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Matt Fraction, Jeph Loeb, Kieron Gillen, Ed Brubaker, Andy Kubert, Oliver Coipel, John Romita, Jr., and many, many, many more.  And this thing’s so thick after you get done reading it, you can use it as a coffee table.

You’ve read the novel.  You’ve seen the Swedish movie.  You’ve seen the American movie.  But have you read the graphic novel?

No, obviously not, it’s not out until this Wednesday.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo makes its way to comic shelves this week with a Vertigo graphic novel adaptation by novelist Denise Mina and artists Leonard Manco and Andrea Mutti.  If you nabbed the free sample comic from a couple months back, you know that this version of the story plays with silence and ambiance in way the previous incarnations have not.  And, if you’ve lived under a rock for the last eight years or so, then you should check the book out anyway as it is one of the best mystery, suspense stories of the decade.

 

Marvel and DC may be the big two, but, over this last year, they’ve lost some considerable ground to Image Comics. Largely that’s due to Image publishing The Walking Dead, but the publisher has also been gaining ground in “among of books published”. What’s most shocking is that, with this rise in titles, the quality of each book has not faltered from any where below excellent. Two of the books that have contributed to these two factors are coming out in trade paperback form this Wednesday. Allow me to introduce you.

Thief of Thieves is the best heist movie you’ve never seen. It also happens not to be a movie, but a comic. And it’s created by Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead). And it’s written by Nick Spencer (Morning Glories). Not surprisingly it is a quick-witted, snappy, twisty read that uses pacing and panel arrangement to the full effect of the medium. The first collection comes out this Wednesday and contains the first six issues.

Manhattan Projects is what everyone wishes history was like. An alternate retelling of the experimentation that lead to the creation of the atomic bomb, Manhattan Projects (written by Jonathon Hickman (Fantastic Four)) stars the likes of Albert Einstein, Joseph Oppenheimer, FDR, Harry Truman, and a bunch of other famous people you thought were scientists but are actually psychopaths. Plus, the atomic bomb isn’t all these geniuses are playing with; inter-dimensional gateways, robot samurai, aliens, and alternate realities all make an appearance. Each issue will have you picking your jaw off the floor repeatedly as shock after shock keeps the story moving.

Alan Moore has never had kind words for those who’ve adapted his work to film, but there was a time when he wrote his own movie. During 1985, only a year before Watchmen hit the shelves, Moore wrote a sprawling modernization of Beauty and the Beast, dubbed Fashion Beast, with the intention of it being produced as a movie. This never happened. But now, Avatar Press has acquired Moore’s approval and oversight to adapted his script into a ten issue comic series. So, if you want to read a fairy tale as only Alan Moore can tell it, you need to stop by Wednesday and grab yourself a copy of Fashion Beast.

Let’s get one thing clear: He does not talk to fish!

The “he” in that sentence is, of course, Aquaman. There are few other characters in the DC universe (or Marvel, for that matter) who are ridiculed and satirized as much as Aquaman. Well, Geoff Johns is here to make anyone who’s ever made a “Hello, little fish” joke eat crow. This first collection of the New 52 Aquaman series brims with intelligent retooling of the character’s backstory, now focusing on character moments instead of broad strokes, as Aquaman and his wife Mera attempt to control an invasion of undersea creatures known as The Trench. These creatures are not simple fishies, they’re more like walking piranhas. If Johns is good at anything, he’s good at giving readers reasons to love his protagonists and fear his villains, traits that he brings to play in this exceptional first volume of everyone’s favorite punching bag, Aquaman.

 

Infinity is a very long time.  I know some books (COUGH-Ultimate Comics X-COUGH) take that long to come out, and are worth it when they do, but, luckily, S.H.I.E.L.D:  Infinity does not live up to its name by arriving next Wednesday.

If you’ve been keeping up with Jonathon Hickman’s opus, then you’d be quick to tell others how insanely captivating it is.  Secret societies, Leonardo da Vinci using a steam punk jet pack, Galactus attempting to devour ancient China, it’s all in S.H.I.E.L.DInfinity is the first collection of short stories for the series and features art by a various and sundry group of up and coming individuals, include one Kevin Mellon, artist of Gearhead.  His work only gets better and better with time, folks.  Combine Hickman’s high concept writing style with Mellon’s wild page layouts and angles and you’ve got a must-buy book!

When I say Duela Dent, you might immediately think Harvey “Two-Face” Dent’s daughter.  You’d be right, but also wrong.  She has taken the moniker of “Insert Batman Villain’s Name” Daughter for a number of the Dark Knight’s rouge’s gallery.  The new Ame-Comi statue for Duela Dent has her in her most famous costume (the one she wore during her stint in the Teen Titans), that of the Joker’s Daughter.  Personally, I think the design pops!  You can never go wrong with a can and top hat.

If you’re a Walking Dead fan you probably all ready have a survival guide written out in case of a zombie apocalypse.  The new Walking Dead Survival Guide, however, is not that.  Instead, it is an encyclopedic collection of character bios, location descriptions, and other detailed explanations of information from Walking Dead‘s 80+ issue run.  This first volume (of four) contains entries from A to C.  If you do some digging on the Intro-webs you might be able to find some images of the pages contain within this issue and you will realize that they look swanky.  For a series as packed with detail as this one, a collection of this magnitude is well worth it.

And one for the kiddies.  If Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (either the movie or the book) appeal to you or your children, then the first digest collection of Courtney Crumrin might be worth a look.  Setting a tone similar to the aforementioned Gaiman work, Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things follows Courtney as she explores and investigates her mysterious Uncle Aloysius’ house.  Creepy, monstrous ghoulish are discovered and dealt with in a manner only a spunky adolescent girl can manage.  Ted Naifeh both writes and illustrates this series in a style similar to Eduardo Risso and Gabriel Ba.

88 miles per hour.  Find a way to get this new Back to the Future DeLorean minimate up to that speed and…you probably still won’t be able to time travel.  But you’ll have an excessively cool miniature version of the time machine from Back to the Future and a Marty McFly in radioactive gear figure.  If you’ve purchased any of the previous BttF minimate releases, they all are usable with this mini.  Who knows, it may nab you 1.21 gigawatts if your in dire straights.

Let a black cat cross your path.  Why?  Because with this new Bishoujo statue of The Black Cat is slick, stylish, and screaming to be in your collection.  Following in a tradition of beautifully designed statues, Bishoujo releases Spider-Man‘s gal pal bounding around in her classic catsuit over a tiny building.  If you’ve seen the Psylocke or Jean Grey statues, then you know that Black Cat is perfect for this manga-style statue treatment.

Finally, whom ever wields this Travis Charest poster of the upcoming cover to The Mighty Thor #1 gains the power of ultimate awesomeness.  Travis Charest is easily one of the truly talented artists working in the industry currently, so, as you can see, his version of Thor is stunning.  If you’re planning to make a Thor smock to wear to the upcoming Thor movie, then this poster could serve that purpose.  Or, you know, if you just want to put it on your wall, that’d be fine, too.

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