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Black Panther

The Pull List: Batman, Black Bolt, Deathstroke, Dodge City, Elsewhere, Infinity Countdown, Oblivion Song, Shade The Changing Woman, & more!

March 11, 2018 by krisis

The Pull List is holding strong as 33 issues this week thanks to a huge number of new pickups – including eleven new number one issues (plus two already-running series I finally caught up to reading)!

This was an intense Marvel Comics week on my pull list and a lighter DC week for me. Marvel had only two books out from titles I’m not up to speed on, where DC had a lot of comics out in lines I’m not yet caught up on and no “New Age of Heroes” books, plus only one new number one – a relaunch of Shade.

Meanwhile, it is a big week for new debuts from independent publishers – though a few of them weren’t to my tastes (and one was entirely unreadable!).

Artwork by Becky Cloonan.

Here’s The Pull List for the 7th of March, 2018. New adds to the pull list are marked with *; dropped titles are marked with #.

  • DC Comics
    • Batman #42
    • * Deathstroke #29
    • Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles #3
    • Justice League #40
    • * Shade, The Changing Woman #1
    • Superman #42
  • Image Comics
    • * Elsewhere #5
    • *# Gideon Falls #1
    • * Oblivion Song #1
    • * Prism Stalker #1
  • Marvel Comics
    • * Avengers – Back to Basics #1
    • Avengers #683
    • Black Bolt #11
    • Captain America #699
    • Doctor Strange – Damnation #2
    • Hawkeye #16
    • Iceman #11
    • Infinity Countdown #1
    • Rise of the Black Panther #3
    • Rogue & Gambit #3
    • Spider-Man #238
    • Venom #163
    • X-Men: Gold #23
    • X-Men: Red #2
  • Smaller Publishers:
    Aftershock Comics, Boom! Studios, Dark Horse, Humanoids, IDW Publishing, Oni Press

    • *# The Ballad of Sang #1, Oni Press
    • * Dodge City #1, Boom! Studios
    • * Exo #1-3, Humanoids
    • Giant Days #36, Boom! Studios
    • * Highest House #1, IDW Publishing
    • Incognegro – Renaissance #2, Dark Horse
    • Mech Cadet Yu #7, Boom! Studios
    • # Monstro Mechanica #4, Aftershock Comics
    • *# The Spider King #1, IDW Publishing

Before we begin, a reminder that 2.5 stars on my rating scale is an average comic book! It should be my most-assigned score, but I tend to err on thinking average comics are good (confusing, I know), so 3 stars is the peak of my very distributed bell curve of ratings.

That means a 2/5 comic is not bad. That’s my rating for “uneven.” So, don’t freak out and assume a comic book is terrible because it has 2 stars. “Bad” and “Terrible” are 1/5 and .5/5, respectively, and I’ve only given those scores to 2.35% of the comics I’ve read so far this year.

Picks of the Pull

Big Two (Marvel/DC) Pick of the Week: 
Infinity Countdown (2018) #1

4.5 starsThis galaxy-spanning series is ecstatic – maybe the first time I’ve felt like the comics incarnation of Guardians of the Galaxy has resembled the tone of movie since the first film was released.

This book is built on a year of Guardians plot, but it could not possibly be more inviting to a new reader. All of the action is massive, all of the jokes land, and Aaron Kuder’s style of subtle figures paired with ultra detail is the perfect match for big space blowouts. It’s definitely the first time I’ve ever liked Drax, and the issue is full of amazing moments for Groot.

The Guardians have split their attention between a showdown with the murderous Gardener and defending a massive Infinity Stone along with the Nova Corps. Drax and the Corps start out faring better defending the stone than the rest of the assembled Guardians do agains The Gardener, but as both fights wear on the balance begins to tip.

With the [hugely shocking spoiler] scene on Earth that ends this issue, I understand why Duggan got this story upgraded from being just a Guardians story arc to a universe-wide event. He’s a writer who has been in Marvel’s big leagues for a few years now, and it’s terrific to see him writing an event that touches so many of Marvel’s big franchises without needlessly interfering with their ongoing titles.

I am absolutely subscribed to Infinite Countdown from this point forward, and it has moved Duggan’s Guardians run even further up my “to-read” list.

(Why in heaven’s name would you put a Nick Bradshaw cover on a book with interiors by Aaron Kuder and Mike Deodato? It makes no sense to me whatsoever.)

Small-Pub Pick of the Week:
Exo (2017) Hardcover AKA #1-3, Humanoids

This is the first English translation of this work, originally released as three French graphic albums and here released by Humanoids as three digital issues or a single hardcover.

Exo is a sci-fi motion picture waiting to be optioned. It combines two seemingly separate plots into one perfectly tense story – one of a NASA scientist on Earth, the other of a military strike force on the moon.

John Koenig is a perfectly average scientist who happens to have located a potentially habitable planet in another solar system and tasked a probe to fly its way. His announcement makes for a sleepy press conference, since any potential findings from the probe are almost two years away. The discovery is just another day at the office for Koenig – he goes for a routine physical afterward, and the heads into LA to retrieve his adult daughter, who calls him John.

Meanwhile, a projectile arcs from the moon to Earth, shattering part of an International Space Station en route to crashing into a field in Colorado before it starts to… branch out. Unfortunately, one of its findings is a schizophrenia man named Charles, who it is unable to control.

As Charles’s new crew seeks John, the military responds to the projectile by putting boots on the lunar ground – but they aren’t ready for what they might find there.

That describes just a sliver of the first 40 pages of this 120 page graphic novel, and it doesn’t even include the drug trip!

Exo has the same third act struggles as any massive sci-fi plot, but the tension that proceeds it is makes it worth a read. Even if a lot of the story draws from familiar tropes, it has the brash inventiveness to combine them in a way that we all hope to see from sci-fi films (think: Arrival).

[Read more…] about The Pull List: Batman, Black Bolt, Deathstroke, Dodge City, Elsewhere, Infinity Countdown, Oblivion Song, Shade The Changing Woman, & more!

Filed Under: comic books, reviews Tagged With: Aftershock Comics, Andrea Sorrentino, Avengers, Batman, Black Bolt, Black Panther, Captain America, Chris Evenhuis, Christopher Priest, Damnation, DC Comics, Deathstroke, Dodge City, Elsewhere, Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, Giant Days, Gideon Falls, Hawkeye, Highest House, Iceman, Image Comics, Incognegro - Renaissance, Infinity Countdown, Jeff Lemire, Justice League, Marvel, Mech Cadet Yu, Monstro Mechanica, Oblivion Song, Prism Stalker, Rise of the Black Panther, Robert Kirkman, Rogue & Gambit, Shade The Changing Girl, Sjan Weijers, Spider-Man, Superman, The Ballad of Sang, The Pull List, The Spider King, Venom, X-Men Gold, X-Men Red

Black Panther Book Club, Week 4 of 4: Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates issues #1-12

February 27, 2018 by krisis

It’s our final week of Black Panther Book Club, where FanGirl and I read and discuss some of the stories that were the biggest influences on Marvel’s Black Panther film.

Our final week examines the 2016 run of National Book Award winner and first-time comics author Ta-Nehisi Coates. This is a slow, pensive run full of philosophy, where the action seems more like an interruption than a welcome break in the book’s thoughtful pace.

Want to catch up with the reading assignments all this month? Here’s our full schedule for the month – visit the Guide to Black Panther to learn how to collect these issues.

  • Tuesday, February 6: Fantastic Four (1961) issues #52-53 and Black Panther (1998) issues #1-12
  • Tuesday, February 13: Black Panther (1998) issues #13-24
  • Tuesday, February 20: Black Panther (1998) issues #25-35
  • Tuesday, February 27: Black Panther (2016) issues #1-12

Please join us next month as we tackle DC Comics’ Batwoman across her first decade in comics by reading all of her best stories! To learn how to collect these comics, visit my Guide to Batwoman – which might be my favorite comic guide out of over a hundred I’ve put together in the past six years! I cannot wait to read these comics with FanGirl (and with you).

 

Filed Under: comic books Tagged With: Batwoman, Black Panther, Black Panther Book Club, Ta-Nehisi Coates

Black Panther Film Club! (Warning: Spoilers!)

February 20, 2018 by krisis

After wrapping up tonight’s installment of Black Panther Book Club, FanGirl and I couldn’t resist turning to a conversation about the film! Watch out – spoilers abound in this free-wheeling, far-ranging conversation about Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther.

Have you been keeping up with the reading assignments to get to know some of the stories that inspired this film? Visit the Guide to Black Panther to learn how to collect these issues, and then check out our past three discussions.

  • Tuesday, February 6: Fantastic Four (1961) issues #52-53 and Black Panther (1998) issues #1-12
  • Tuesday, February 13: Black Panther (1998) issues #13-24
  • Tuesday, February 20: Black Panther (1998) issues #25-35
  • Tuesday, February 27: Black Panther (2016) issues #1-12

Filed Under: comic books, flicks Tagged With: Black Panther

Black Panther Book Club, Week 3 of 4: Black Panther by Christopher Priest issues #25-35

February 20, 2018 by krisis

It’s our third of four sessions of Black Panther Book Club, where FanGirl and I read and discuss some of the stories that were the biggest influences on Marvel’s Black Panther film.

In this installment, Black Panther butts heads with his sovereign peers in Namor, Dr. Doom, and Magneto as Klaw tries to thrust Wakanda into international conflict. And, the long-running conflict with former Dora Milaje and not-quite-lover Nakia comes to a head.

Want to keep up with the reading assignments all this month? Here’s our full schedule for the month – visit the Guide to Black Panther to learn how to collect these issues.

  • Tuesday, February 6: Fantastic Four (1961) issues #52-53 and Black Panther (1998) issues #1-12
  • Tuesday, February 13: Black Panther (1998) issues #13-24
  • Tuesday, February 20: Black Panther (1998) issues #25-35
  • Tuesday, February 27: Black Panther (2016) issues #1-12

Filed Under: comic books Tagged With: Black Panther, Black Panther Book Club

Black Panther Book Club, Week 2 of 4: Black Panther by Christopher Priest issues #13-24

February 13, 2018 by krisis

It’s our second of four sessions of Black Panther Book Club to read some of the stories that seem to be the biggest influences on Marvel’s Black Panther film, out next week.

In this installment, we follow the Black Panther through some rote Avengers adventures and then watch as he code-shifts to hang out with his fellow 1970s black Marvel heroes (and Iron Fist). Then we meet Erik Killmonger, back from the dead again and ready to usurp T’Challa’s reign.

Want to keep up with the reading assignments all this month? Here’s our full schedule for the month – visit the Guide to Black Panther to learn how to collect these issues.

  • Tuesday, February 6: Fantastic Four (1961) issues #52-53 and Black Panther (1998) issues #1-12
  • Tuesday, February 13: Black Panther (1998) issues #13-24
  • Tuesday, February 20: Black Panther (1998) issues #25-35
  • Tuesday, February 27: Black Panther (2016) issues #1-12

Filed Under: comic books Tagged With: Black Panther, Black Panther Book Club, Book Club, Christopher Priest, Killmonger, Marvel Comics

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