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This Week in Comics 02/01/10

Welcome to This Week in Comics, where every day is a comic book. And some of them are naaaasty!

So Kick-Ass #8 DID come out last week. Who read it? Show of hands? Wasn’t it VIOLENT? Fantastic. Yes, my tastes can be very simple.

MONDAY

First Issues

Milestone Forever #1 (of 2)

(Dwayne McDuffie/John Paul Leon/MD Bright/Romeo Tanghal/Others)

DC Comics

Milestone Media: a comic company headed by minority creators who struck a publishing deal with DC Comics only to have their books totally written off by comics’ inherently racist readership. In the years since their comics folded, one property, Static, became a pretty good cartoon called Static Shock and a couple of years ago DC Comics announced it was absorbing the Milestone Universe into the DCU. Which means, of course, that DC bought more characters it can ignore and use as cannon fodder in big crossovers. Dwayne McDuffie must be so proud.

But Milestone Forever looks to be a last hurrah for the universe, with many of the original creators of Milestone’s books (there were a lot of them, including Icon, Static, Hardware, Shadow Cabinet, and Blood Syndicate among others) coming back to reveal just how the original stories ended, most of which were abruptly canceled in 1997. At least the fans will have this before Icon gets killed in Blackest Night or something.

TUESDAY

New Manga Day

Ultimo Vol. 1

(Stan Lee/Hiroyuki Takei/Daigo/Bob)

Viz Media

So some high schooler named Yamato comes upon a puppet called Ultimo who comes to life and battles a villain called Vice for the fate of the world or something. I don’t know very much else about this book, but I hope that Stan Lee wrote this in the Marvel method, giving Hiroyuki Takei a synopsis to draw from and then dialoguing the thing once he gets the completed pages. But Stan’s a busy guy. He probably didn’t do that.

WEDNESDAY

Mainstream Superhero Stuff

Ultimate X #1

(Jeph Loeb/Art Adams/Array)

Marvel Comics

…and my morbid fascination with the Ultimate Marvel Universe continues. Ultimate X may or may not be about the state of X-Men and mutantdom in the post-Ultimatum era — Marvel won’t say, thus making the mysterious premise the one reason for reading the book. Is that a good sign? Regardless, the thing features interiors by Art Adams, which makes it worth a look — but not necessarily a READ, if you get my meaning. The first issue promises a new character that will shock you. I bet it’s the return of Wolverine.

THURSDAY

Not Quite Friday, but Still Exciting

Invincible Iron Man #23

(Matt Fraction/Salvador Larocca)

Marvel Comics

“Stark: Disassembled” is a bit like Captain America Reborn in the sense that you KNOW Tony Stark will emerge from his “persistent vegetative state,” don the Iron Man armor, and punch some bad guys the same way that we always knew Steve Rogers was going to come back and throw his shield at someone. However, it’s the HOW that makes the book irresistible, as Matt Fraction has his protagonist face insurmountable odds whilst evaluating just what it means for this character to be absent from the lives of those around him.

FRIDAY

TGIEverything About This

Demo Vol. 2 #1 (of 6)

(Brian Wood/Becky Cloonan)

Vertigo/DC Comics

The one nice thing about mainstream success for comic creators is that it drums up interest in old indie properties. For example, Brian Wood doing DMZ and Northlanders affords a return to his old series Demo, a series of one-shot stories about young people. I’ve never read Demo before, but knowing how good Brian Wood is now I really, really want to. Thanks Vertigo!

More importantly, Becky Cloonan returns to draw the stories. This excites me even more because she’s one of my favorite artists and draws in a pseudo-manga-influenced style with lots and lots of energy. Here’s KGB, the webcomic she does with Hwan Cho: http://www.kgbcomic.com/

SATURDAY

Read a Graphic Novel in Bed or Something

Crogan’s March

(Chris Schweizer)

Oni Press

I wasn’t sure what to feature for Saturday this week, and then I came across Crogan’s March, which follows a Legionnaire called Peter Crogan who gets trapped in a cave with a monster. And I’m so sold you don’t even know.

SUNDAY

Last Issues

Ghost Riders Heavens On Fire #6 (of 6)

(Jason Aaron/Roland Boschi)

Marvel Comics

Hold up: Jason Aaron is writing Ghost Rider, Wolverine, AND The Punisher at the same time? It’s like he has a monopoly on Marvel’s badass characters. Also, why hasn’t he done a hilariously violent crossover yet? Regardless, this is (apparently) the end of his run on Ghost Rider, which nobody’s given much attention to so I can call it underrated and consider myself cool for being in-the-know about how fun the book is. Because I have to take an Indie mentality on every medium I like. But seriously, I bet this ending is EPIC. Download some metal records to listen while you read.