NEW COMICS WEDNESDAY

Yes, the new comics will be in store and on the shelves when I open at 11:00 this Wednesday, as usual.

Yes, this means most Canadians will be reading their comics a full day before American fans. This on a week full of high profile releases. As such, I implore everyone to exercise discretion when posting reviews and comments. Its not like the Americans have ever spoiled a story for us when they got them early.

For instance, Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men. The wrap issue to Joss Whedon and Cassaday's fantastic(yet terminally delayed) run on the only X title not to be mixed in with all the X-over confusion and event specials of the last 3 years. I'm sure the last page of this book will be blogged unto death by Thursday morning.

I just hope that a decent percentage of the readers stick around for the Warren Ellis run beginning in a couple months. Marvel really should have gotten ahead on this one and had issue #25 ready to ship a week or two after the special to minimize drop-off.

How about the first issue of Final Crisis. I know most fans are joking that they hope this really is the last Crisis, but all hype aside, this is one of the highest pre-order comics I've ever had at the store. Even starting the series with Hal on the cover has bumped sales a little because for some strange reason, Marvel fans like Green Lantern. I'd never been sure why, but to be honest I was never a big reader of his as a kid, and it wasn't until the recent releases of Archive, and now Showcase, editions that I've learned what a whiner Hal was back in the day. Many of his early stories are so riddled with angst filled thought ballons that you could almost imagine they were crafted by Stan Lee.

This series has Grant Morrison at the helm however, so you can expect almost anything to happen (and it probably will). Lets just hope it all makes sense in the end, not like Seven Soldiers.

Marvel 1985 gives us the premise of the Marvel heroes and villains exploding thru to the "real" Universe. The title could be significant as that was the year in which the tail end of Marvels memorable series Secret Wars debuted. I can only assume that with the type of cosmic powers that ran rampant through that epic series that dimension hopping would not be unthinkable.

The story deals primarily with the young boy featured on the cover being "Earth Prime's" last defense against super-powers suddenly appearing in a world totally unprepared for them.

The biggest news about this series however is the recent rumours that it somehow will connect with Mark Millar's current run on Fantastic-Four and his upcoming "Old Man Logan" arc of Wolverine.

The other major release this week is the first volume of the Starman Omnibus. Being a collection of material more than a decade old,there is no worries of spoilers with this item. But its still a fantastic product that is more than worth its price. Starman was one of those rare series that fit firmly in the DC universe but always felt more like a Vertigo title. Writer, James Robinson seemlessly fit disparate elements from decades of DC history into a seemless whole that was an enjoyable read from start to finish. I especially loved his development of a previous second string villain like the Shade, into a fully realized being with more personality than most title characters.

Robinson will be starting his run on Superman soon, and I'd like to stress that anyone who turns down this series because they've never liked Superman before, may be missing out on a real gem.