Fred Van Lente

The Pull List was slightly lighter this week than the past three, partially due to me not managing to pick up any additional ongoings from Marvel or DC. I made a heroic effort to catch all the way up with Doctor Strange, but fell an arc short.

This week’s comics felt a little ho-hum for me, with even typical standouts like Flash and Paradiso falling flat. However, it also brought not one but two near-perfect comics, plus one unexpectedly great debut.

Here’s The Pull List for the 14th of March, 2018. New adds to the pull list are marked with *; dropped titles are marked with #.

• DC Comics
  • Action Comics (2016) #999
  • Batgirl and The Birds of Prey (2016) #20
  • Detective Comics (2016) #976
  • *Eternity Girl (2018) #1
  • The Flash (2016) #42
  • Mister Miracle (2017) #7
  • Sideways (2018) #2
  • Suicide Squad (2016) #37
  • Titans (2016) #21
  • Trinity (2016) #19
  • Wonder Woman (2016) #42
• Image Comics
  • Bonehead (2018) #3
  • *#Dry County (2018) #1
  • *Infidel (2018) #1
  • Paradiso (2017) #4
  • #Sleepless (2017) #4
  • Slots (2017) #6
  • VS (2018) #2
• Marvel Comics
  • All-New Wolverine (2016) #32
  • Astonishing X-Men (2017) #9
  • Avengers (2017) #684
  • Marvel Two-in-One (2018) #4
  • New Mutants – Dead Souls (2018) #1
  • Old Man Logan (2016) #36
  • Weapon X (2017) #15
  • X-Men: Blue (2017) #23
• Smaller Publishers: Aftershock Comics, Archie Comics, Black Mask Studios, & Boom! Studios
  • Judas (2017) #4, Boom! Studios
  • *Come Into Me (2018) #1, Black Mask Studios
  • *Vampironica (2018) #1, Archie Comics
  • *Betrothed (2018) #1, Aftershock Comics

Before we begin, a reminder that 2.5 stars on my rating scale is an average comic book and my bell curve distribution peaks at 3/5 stars! Don’t freak out and assume a comic book is terrible because it has 2 stars. That means it’s just a hair below average (and there are a lot of those this week)

Picks of the Pull

Big Two (Marvel/DC) Pick of the Week:
Action Comics (2016) #999, DC Comics

Dan Jurgens leaves us with a truly perfect, contemplative issue of Superman that puts a wrap on his stellar Rebirth run but also addresses his writing from over 25 years ago, as beautifully rendered by artist Will Conrad and colorist Ivan Nunes.

In Metropolis, Lois is newly reunited with her estranged Army General father after saving him from execution in the last arc. It’s his first time meeting Jon (sort of), but General Lane isn’t in on the Superman secret, so he thinks Jon is a regular kid. That makes it even more tense as Lois and her father square off across the dinner table about the philosophy of Superman. Jon has never been exposed to this kind of hatred and xenophobia about his father before – which is also, by extension, aimed at him.

Meanwhile, Superman is in space dealing with a routine chore of breaking up an asteroid that will stray a bit too close to Earth for STAR Labs liking. Superman is thinking about fathers – General Lane, his own father Jor-El, as well as Zod – all of whom were tangled in the cross-time plot he just wrapped with Booster Gold.

Superman can see the errors in the ways of each of those parents and they in turn reflect his errors back upon him. Clark Kent is good-natured to a fault, but he’s not always right. General Lane isn’t entirely wrong about him – sometimes his absolute power corrupts him, both in how he metes out justice and in how he isn’t accustomed to apologizing for his actions.

As a result, Superman decides to put right two wrongs. One is with Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman, who he currently has imprisoned in the Phantom Zone. The other, eventually is General Lane. [Read more…] about The Pull List: Action Comics, Avengers, Eternity Girl, Infidel, Judas, Marvel Two-in-One, Vampironica, & more!