Before the whole brain-swapping shenanigans of Amazing Spider-Man #698-700, there was a character named Alpha.  A young, pompous teen granted exceptional powers (ringing any bells) decides to use his powers not to help people, but to gain stardom.  Peter Parker (RIP) eventually managed to reverse the accident that gave Alpha his abilities, leaving him disgraced and embarrassed.  Alpha Big Time picks up where that storyline left off, with Alpha attending high school far from New York.  Written by Joshua Hale Fialkov (Doctor Who), this series deals with what happens when your fifteen minutes of fame are up and all you’re left with is a gasping desire to reclaim it.

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Don’t you hate it when, after a hard night of drinking, you wake up in the savage land only to be attacked by a velociraptor?

Wolverine does.

Frank Cho’s Savage Wolverine #1 launches this week and features his talents on both writing and art duties.  As alluded to, the first story arc is going to revolve around Logan finding himself in the Savage Land, surrounded at every turn by enemies, and with no clue how he got there or why everyone is so angry.  Luckily, he has Shanna the She-Devil (come on, did you think Cho wasn’t going to stick a bikini-clad hottie into the book?) on his side for support.  Or, in simpler terms, it’s Wolverine versus dinosaurs.  The word you’re looking for is SNIKT!

Once more into the breach, dear friends.

Such is DC‘s thinking with their newest space anthology series, Threshold #1, launching this Wednesday.  Starring mostly Green Lantern universe characters, the series will span the galaxy of the DC universe, telling rip-roaring sci-fi pulp adventures with some of your favorite cosmic characters.  Each issue will also feature a backup story with everyone’s favorite greedy lantern, Larfleeze, who must find a way to reclaim all of his beloved stuff after it has been stolen from him.  A new addition to the Green Lantern CORPS is also introduced in the series, one who’s been disgracefully stripped of his ring and sent to compete in a game show where you have to run for your life.  And if that isn’t enough, Threshold will be the venue in which the former Captain Karrot is reborn as a gritty space pirating bunny called Captain K’Rot.

And finally, your moment of Deadpool statue for the night.

Enjoy.

 

Tonight you’re all getting a two-fer, the chocolate and peanut butter, the Bert and Ernie, the Penn and Teller of Comic List Highlights. Because not only are you receiving highlights of comics, but games, too (mostly because we didn’t have time to write a post last night).

To start things off, lets recite the oath: In brightest day, in blackest night… Yup, the first hardcover collection of the New 52 Green Lantern comes out Wednesday. Easily one of the best ongoing series of the relaunch, Green Lantern has focused more on Sinestro than regular protagonist Hal Jordan, which has enlivened the book. And the reason for the shift in hero is due to Sinestro being allowed to wield the ring again, while Hal cools his jets on Earth. Until, that is, Sinestro comes a’knockin’. Geoff Johns has been writing some of the best Green Lantern stories ever since he got on the book around eight years ago, but this new volume offers a perfect jumping on point for anyone who’s wanted to read up on the character.

Keeping the superhero/comic base at a boil, but mixing in a smidge of gaming, next up is the second volume of Mutants and Masterminds DC Adventures: Heroes & Villains. As the first volume contained all characters ranging from A to K, this second edition picks up with L and runs it all the way to Z. That means you’re going to get classic characters like Lex Luthor, Superman, and Plastic Man, plus icon teams like the Justice League and the Secret Six. Offering gamers a shortcut into the DC Universe, these volumes contain all the stats, histories, and information you’ll need to BAM BIFF POW your way through the DCU.

Re-releasing in a new swanky graphic novel collection is BOOM Studio‘s 7 Psychopaths. A greater hook has never been created: what do you do when you want to kill Hitler and end WWII? Send in seven of the worst human beings ever to hunt down and murder the bastich. Of course, not everything always goes as planned. A grim, gritty spy series with artwork from exceptional Criminal and Incognito artist, Sean Phillips, 7 Psychopaths makes for a great, moody read.

As deck building games boldly go where no game has gone before they reach the Star Trek the Next Generation game. Using the base premise of deck building developed in games like Ascension, Dominion, and Resident Evil, Star Trek puts players into the role of a star ship captain, commanding their meager crew toward victory. Do you recruit further crewmen? Develop your ship’s equipment? Conquer worlds or make peace with them? These are the choices you will need to make in either the base version of the game or its Next Phase expansion. Both are stand alone and both go boldly yadda yadda blah blah.

 

Take your wallet out of your pocket. Look at it. Compare it to the picture on the left. Now cry.

Don’t worry, I’m crying, too.

But there’s no reason to be crying after Wednesday, because that Batman Wallet ships along with many other Super Wallet options. For instance, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and more. Trust me, no will ever mug you with a wallet like this.

And when your money is carried in a wallet like the above it’s going to beg to be spent on a Batman comic. Luckily, a new miniseries called Batman: Arkham Unhinged launches this week. Tying into last year’s extremely successful Arkham City game, this miniseries will follow events leading up to the game’s storyline, focusing on Two-Face and Catwoman‘s rivalry.

Did you see who got voted off last night?

Probably not, because America’s newest popular reality show hasn’t launched yet.

But it does this Wednesday.

America’s Got Powers is a new creator-owned series from Jonathon Ross and Bryan Hitch (Ultimates, The Authority) that takes full advantage of America’s fascination with reality television and applies it to the superhero genre. Think The Hunger Games meets Running Man meets Survivor meets Teen Titans. Hundreds of teenage super powered kids will compete. One will win. All will cause property damage. Judging from the last couple of Image miniseries, this is a book you’ll want to pick up quick, because they will be gone soon after their release.

There has been a vast influx of horror comics over the last year, but none have been better than Scott Snyder’s Severed. A period book set during the Great Depression, Severed follows a young, musically-inclined boy who’s taken to the open road in search of his father. Along the way he runs into some very, very bad people. If you’ve been reading Swamp Thing or Batman by Scott Snyder, you understand how well Scott Snyder can write horror, as he posses a unique talent for pacing scares on the page. Back that up with extremely expressive artwork from Attilla Futaki and you’ve got the spookiest book of 2011.

Monster hunting can be a messy business. All sorts of fluids and grisley bits. Find out just how messy in the new Dark Horse miniseries, Alabaster Wolves. Based off of Catilin R. Kiernan’s best selling fantasy series, Alabaster Wolves stars a young girl named Dancy Flammarion who’s hunted creepy crawlies since she could walk. But she’s about to meet her match. Fans of Whiteout will be happy to see Steve Leiber’s gorgeous artwork return to comic pages, especially with a series that contains so much vivid imagery. Add to that the gorgeous painterly covers and you’ve got the whole package.

Finally, with so much horror and spookieness going about it’s only proper to end on a like-minded book for youngsters. Oni Press, after garner much acclaim for previous series, is launching an ongoing, color series for Courtney Crumrin. If you’re unfamiliar, Courtney’s adventures involve the dark, demonic, and nasty things of the world, making for a young readers book with a bit of bite to it. These new color issues look amazing and continue the series beloved by many. If you like the Series of Unfortunate Events novels, you’ll fall right into step with Courtney Crumrin.

 

COOOOMMMMMIICCCC LLIIIIIIISSSSSTTTT!!!!

That’s what I like to imagine this new Atrocitus Blackest Night mini-bust is screaming at the top of his lungs.  It could also be COOKIES or, the ever popular, KHAN.

Or it could just be a primal scream over the fact that the Green Lantern movie kinda sucked.

The idea here is, if you make this nifty mini-bust your new shelf buddy, you can imagine him screaming whatever you want.

Oh, and if we’re conversating about Atrocitus, it’s also important to note that the Red Lantern Light-up Prop Lantern and Ring is also coming in this week.  If you’ve been up to the store recently, you’ve probably seen the Green Lantern and Orange Lantern versions of these.  They rock the casbah.

Up, up, and destroy!  If you picked up The Cape one-shot from last year, you probably understand how that paraphrasing of the famous line fits in here.  A devilishly twisted superhero book, the new The Cape four issue mini-series is a must buy thanks to Joe Hill‘s talented penmanship.  Some of you might have heard us Pulp folk spouting off about Hill‘s incredibly brilliant series Locke & Key and that’s because this guy knows how to write a comic.  His grasp of panel usage, character, dialog, and theme prove that a his papa’s (Stephen King) writing talent seeped into his gene pool.  So, The Cape is basically Hill taking that same talent and applying it to the superhero genre the only way he knows how:  gory, dark, and sinister.

Will you open The Vault?  I’d leave it to the professionals, frankly.  Luckily, that’s exactly what The Vault #1 is about.  In the tradition of The Abyss, Sphere, and Alien, The Vault involves a crack team of archaeologists and treasure hunters who travel to the bottom of the ocean in search of a lost item that they believe will bring them fortune and glory.

That’s never the way, is it?  No, the item is a veritable “Pandora’s Box” that will bring about untold destruction and death.  So, it’s for kids.

So, you’ve got David Tennant‘s screwdriver and Matt Smith‘s (which is an actual screwdriver, by the way), but something’s missing.  The future, that’s what!  Next Wednesday the Future Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver travels back to the past and lands on the shelves of Pulp Fiction.  First seen in the “Silence in the Library” episode being wielded by River Song, this screwdriver is a perfect replica of the one seen in the show!  That level of detail includes a break-away panel that reveals a switch that changes the screwdriver’s LED color from blue to red.  Oh, and each color makes different sounds.

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