NEW COMICS WEDNESDAY

Just to let everyone know, new comics will arrive as usual on Wednesday for the next two weeks, despite the July 1st and 4th holidays. Again, some Americans are getting cranky that we lowly northerners will be reading and enjoying are funnybooks while they sit and wait for theirs.

I say "tough luck", we suffered through delays several times last year and even for stupid non-holidays like Presidents Day.

Comics & More will be closed as normal on Monday and on Tuesday for Canada Day(Yea, 2 days off).

Here's some of the stuff we'll be enjoying while the Americans sit and fume.

I have to say I haven't been overly excited with the new crop of all ages titles DC has been introducing lately, especially considering what they cancelled to make room. I was enjoying Teen Titans Go! and Justice League Unlimited was one of my favourite reads each month. In their place we got kiddie toy tie -ins the Superfriends, and the too cute to read,Tiny Titans.

I'm all for expanding the available reading material for the younger crowd, but the titles that were cancelled were true ALL-AGES books that were fun for kids and still had some appeal for the older crowd as well.

Here's hoping that the newest entry,Billy and the Power of Shazam fits the bill. The description for this first issue seems to connect it to the recent Jeff Smith Shazam series, which if it does will mean it will be the only Jonny DC series to feature internal continuity. Definitely a step in the right direction.

The art as well looks simple enough for kids to enjoy but not so childish as to scare off adult readers.

There's two Batman items this week, the first is the 3rd instalment of Batman R.I.P. which seems to be moving along well. Grant Morrison is definitely getting a better reception on this than his Final Crisis stuff.

This here is the Alex Ross cover. Looks like Bruce is really falling for his new girlfriend Jet.

But more importantly is another volume of classic cheese from the 60's. Perfectly timed I guess to fit in with the current Batman storyline. Now that's a cover guaranteed to make you want to grab the book of the stands and start reading.

Aside from Batman and Robins inevitable death you get about 500+ pages of true B&W genius all for less than the price of 6 new comics. I'm pretty sure most of Grant Morrison's best stuff is stories he's homaged(stolen) from the Showcase reprint line.

Astonishing X-Men lives on after Joss with new regular writer Warren Ellis. I guess Whedon was a tough act to follow, but Ellis has a pretty solid following (judging by sales on his Avatar stuff)

The big problem is that it looks like the Astonishing title will be tying into current X-Men continuity. I still think one of the biggest selling points of this series first 24 issues is that a reader could pick this book up and get his mutant fix without having to follow 6-8 other titles every month.

On the plus side, it might help if the new team can get the book out more than 6 times a year.

Speaking of late books, Squadron Supreme fell so far behind they just decided to cancel it and start over.

This volume 2 series appears to completely ignore the dangling plot and starts up the story from where Ultimate Power left off.

See it even has a Greg Land cover just so you know. Apparently Ultimate Nick Fury was left behind in the Supreme Universe, I can only assume he's been working on a Secret War or something.

Avengers/Invaders has been a great read so far. Check out the battle of Namor VS. Namor in issue #3. The best part is this stuff totally fits in with current Avengers post Civil War. Tony Stark has been getting all weepy- eyed at the thought of Cap being back. I doubt if this story will have any lasting impact in the end. As usual with time travel stories, everything will be reset to normal in the end, but it's a fun ride getting there.

One last book to mention is Jonah Hex. This title is consistently great with some fine artists gracing the covers over stories that are for the most part done-in-one.

This time around Jonah travels to the frozen north of Canada and must evade the mounties on his trail. I think it's safe to assume there'll be beavers and lumberjacks somewhere in there as well. Canadian Darwyn Cooke draws this one which is even more appropriate considering the holiday.

Enjoy your holiday and your comics, and please keep any spoilers to yourself. Those fiesty Americans have invaded other countries for less reason.