NEW COMICS OCTOBER 9TH

Halloween is on the way, judging by some of this weeks biggest books.
Walking Dead enters its bi-weekly run as the groups all head to war. You can tell its an important story because it comes with about a dozen different covers, which apparently fit together as a large poster.
Archie gets in on the zombie action as Afterlife With Archie begins. A new regular series where Arch and his gang all get undead. Showing a little restraint it only has 4 different covers on this one.
Proving they can still do a good horror comic, Vertigo has another new entry this week with Coffin Hill, the story of a girl growing up under a curse dating back to the Salem witch trials.
 The Forever Evil spin-offs begin as Arkham War #1 ships. This one ties together elements from the various Villain month issues, as the Arkham inmates battle the Blackgate inmates for control of Gotham ( with Bane waiting on the sidelines to take out the winners).
DC starts another obvious team-up book, Superman/Wonder Woman. Written by Charles Soule ( Swamp Thing)and art by Tony Daniels(Batman),this one looks like an easy sell.
Keiron Gillen has some experience writing about 3 warriors from his stint on Journey into Mystery and Thor. But his newest work is titled simply Three. Its the story of 3 slaves attempting to escape from 300 of the finest Sparta has to offer.
Just to be different, Image sends us the first issue of Rocket Girl, a sci-fi series involving time travelling cops, by Amy Reeder.



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Look kids...comics. ( Not actually for kids)

Hinterkind #1

Hinterkind is the new ongoing Vertigo series from Ian Edginton and Francesco Trifogli. It's technically a post-apocalyptic story, but not one of endless wastelands or crazed infected zombies.

The end of the world in Hinterkind wiped out most of the population of earth, while simultaneously covering it in trees, plants, shrubs and other greenery. Skyscrapers are jungles and highways are gardens. The story focuses on a group of remaining humans as they live day-to-day, evading encounters with the feral wildlife that now populate earth.

Humans are not only an endangered species, but are also closer to the bottom of the food chain. There also seems to be more than just wild animals inhabiting the planet though, as trolls, ogres, giants, dwarfs, and other fairytale creatures are a part of this world. It's kind of reminiscent of Fables in a couple ways, so fans of that book might enjoy Hinterkind.

It's a good first issue, and it clocks in at 28 pages of story and art. Because the book is set in a lush green paradise (which is kind of nice for a post-apocalyptic book) the artwork is vibrant and strong. The writing is equally well done, and this first issue sets up the rest of the series pretty well. Hinterkind is a good value for the $2.99 price tag.

The Witching Hour #1

Perfect for October reading, The Witching Hour is an oversized issue containing nine short horror stories from various writers and artists. There's a lot of variety in this book, as it's not just stories about ghosts, goblins and witches.

The Witching Hour is definitely for mature readers, and not because it's too scary for the youngsters.

There are more than a few heavy mature subjects in some of these stories. Sexual orientation and sexual abuse are a couple of the themes in this compilation, and they can be laid on fairly heavily. Sometimes the scariest stories are rooted in reality, so a couple of the shorts in The Witching Hour aren't about monsters, but rather people. Relationships, abuse, and war are all present.

Sure enough, there's also the classic spirits/witches/demon stories, and the psychological thriller stories with twist endings. There's even an alternate reality story about Arthur Miller's famous play, The Crucible. It's a pretty contrasting glance at the parallels between the Salem witchcraft trials and Communism.

Kelly Sue Deconnick delivers a creepy monster story about a woman obsessed with spiders, and there's an interplanetary horror story focusing on astronauts stranded on Mars. It's a great compilation for fans of horror and Halloween, and definitely for mature readers

NEW COMICS OCTOBER 2nd

Well Villain month is over, but Forever Evil continues with issue #2. Just what chance does Earth have when all the heroes are gone? Well as we learned this month, NOT ALL Villains are Evil.
Marvel up to their usual tricks, only ships 2 X-Men books this week, and they are the same title. All New X-Men #17 is the next chapter of the Battle for the Atom, while All New X-Men Special is an Annual sized book that is the first part of a tie-in with Hulk and Superior Spider-Man.
Captain America Living Legend is a 4-part mini-series by Andy Diggle. Could be a great read even if you're not normally a Cap fan.
Marvel also delivers another Max title as Fantomex from the X-Men gets the Mature treatment. The Max comics I've read so far usually have very little resemblance to the main comics versions of the characters, so fans of his from Uncanny X-Force may be disappointed.
Vertigo continues to expand with the new series Hinterkind. Years after most of Humanity is wiped out, creatures of Myth and Legend begin to reappear.
Also from Vertigo is another one of those giant sized anthology books. This time its The Witching Hour, with 9 stories in its 70 pages by creators like, Chiang, Sturges, and Buckingham.
Marvel Knights Spider-Man brings back a title from a few years back with  writer Matt Kindt promising an all out slugfest as Spidy battles 100 foes.
Archie comics delivers a neat item for Thor fans this month as that crazy teenager does a parody of Thor(just in time for the new movie of course). The story is written by Marvel legend Tom Defalco, and It even comes with a Walt Simonson cover!!
DC Essentials -Batman, is the first of a line of $1.00 reprint comics from DC that will include the first issue of the current series, as well as a list of paperbacks and hardcover collections to help you follow up on the characters.
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Sex Sells

Sex Criminals is the new Matt Fraction book from Image Comics, and is geared towards older readers due to the adult themes and crude humor in the book.

Sex Criminals is about a young woman named Suzie who has a rather interesting ability - sexual pleasure of any kind gives her the ability to stop time. This first issue is a look at Suzie's life as a young teenager, discovering what her abilities are and how they work. Suzie goes through a ton of questions, from parents to peers, asking about her feelings and abilities. Of course, no one is any help to Suzie and she must learn about both sex and her powers on her own accord.

Fans of crude humor and adult oriented stories will get a kick out of this book. It's not one the kids should be picking up, despite the friendly, vibrant artwork from Zdarsky. In fact, the publishers make that pretty evident with the giant text on the back cover. In true Fraction fashion, Sex Criminals uses some fun storytelling tricks and interesting panel/page layouts. The story is great, and the writing follows suit. 

Fraction has been on a roll with his recent creator owned books, and Sex Criminals is a great addition to his works. Hopefully, all of the creator owned ventures won't disrupt the quality of his Marvel titles, most notably Hawkeye, which has been great from day one.

NEW COMICS SEPTEMBER 25th

Final week for the Villains of DC specials. Couple of the best were saved till last.
Superman/Batman-Doomsday looks like a good one( if you saw the last page of the Darkseid issue you may have an idea of whats coming).
A lot of attention being paid to Jokers Daughter,not sure exactly why. She showed up at the end of last months Catwoman and the story should continue in Catwoman #24, but Catwoman is not a huge seller,so I cant see a major new character coming out of that title.
The Sinestro should sell well, although I'm not sure how they will number the first issue of his on-going series in a few months.
Image is fascinated with sex lately. This week we get issue #7 of Sex, and the first issue of
Sex Criminals. This one is billed as a comedy for adults by Matt Fraction who has a pretty solid audience.

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SEPTEMBER 25TH

100 PENNY PRESS LOCKE & KEY #1
A PLUS X #12
ACTION COMICS #23.4 METALLO REG.
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #5
AQUAMAN #23.2 OCEAN MASTER REG.
AVENGERS #20 INF
AVENGERS ASSEMBLE #19 INF
BACK ISSUE #68
BART SIMPSON COMICS #86
BATMAN #23.4 BANE REG.
BATMAN AND ROBIN #23.4 KILLER CROC REG.
BATMAN SUPERMAN #3.1 DOOMSDAY REG.
BATMAN   KNIGHT #23.4 JOKERS DAUGHTER REG.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #4 ELIOPOULOS
CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT #3
CLIVE BARKER NEXT TESTAMENT #4 (OF 12)
COMIC HEROES MAGAZINE #20
CRIMINAL MACABRE EYES FRANKENSTEIN #1 (OF 4)
CROSSED BADLANDS #36
DARK HORSE PRESENTS #28
DC 66 BATMAN 6IN BATMAN AF
DEADPOOL #17
DETECTIVE COMICS #23.4 MAN BAT REG.
DR WHO MAGAZINE #464
EAST OF WEST #6
EMPOWERED SPECIAL #5 NINE BEERS
FANBOYS VS ZOMBIES #18
FATALE #17
FF #12
GAMBIT #17
GARTH ENNIS RED TEAM #5
GI JOE #8
GI JOE SPECIAL MISSIONS #7
GODZILLA RULERS OF THE EARTH #4
GREEN LANTERN #23.4 SINESTRO REG.
GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #6
INFINITY HEIST #1 (OF 4)
INJUSTICE GODS AMONG US #9
ITTY BITTY HELLBOY #2 (OF 3)
JUDGE DREDD CLASSICS #3
JUPITERS LEGACY #3
JUPITERS LEGACY #3 CVR B HITCH
JUPITERS LEGACY #3 CVR C PHILLIPS
JUSTICE LEAGUE #23.4 SECRET SOCIETY REG.
JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #7.4 BLACK ADAM REG.
KING CONAN HOUR O/T DRAGON #5 (OF 6)
LIFE WITH ARCHIE #32 HASPIEL VAR CVR
LIFE WITH ARCHIE #32 REG CVR
MARVEL PREVIEWS OCTOBER 2013
MARVEL UNIVERSE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #18
MIND MGMT #15
MISS FURY #6 CVR A TAN
MISS FURY #6 CVR B SYAF
MISS FURY #6 CVR C WORLEY
MISS FURY #6 CVR D CHEN
MOUSE GUARD LEGENDS O/T GUARD VOL 2 #3
MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #11
NOVA #8 INF
PEANUTS VOL 2 #12
POWERPUFF GIRLS #1
POWERPUFF GIRLS #1 BOX SET
POWERPUFF GIRLS #1  VAR
PREVIEWS #301 OCTOBER 2013
PUNISHER TRIAL OF PUNISHER #1 (OF 2)
REVIVAL #14
SAGA #14
SCARLET SPIDER #22
SEX #7
SEX CRIMINALS #1
SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #19
STAR TREK ONGOING #25
STAR WARS LEGACY II #7
STITCHED #16
SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM UP #3 INF
SUPERMAN #23.4 PARASITE REG.
THE LONE RANGER ANNUAL 2013
TMNT ONGOING #26
TODD THE UGLIEST KID ON EARTH #5
TOM STRONG PLANET OF PERIL #3 (OF 6)
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #27
UNCANNY AVENGERS #12
UNWRITTEN #53
WAKE #4 (OF 10)
WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #36
WONDER WOMAN #23.2 FIRST BORN REG.
YOUNG AVENGERS #10 NOW

PBKS & HRDCVRS
AME COMI GIRLS TP VOL 01
ARCHIE 1000 PG COMICS EXTRAVAGANZA TP
BEN 10 OMNIVERSE GN VOL 01 GHOST SHIP
CRIMINAL MACABRE FINAL NIGHT 30 DAYS NIGHT
CYBER FORCE REBIRTH TP VOL 01
DARK TOWER GUNSLINGER TP LAST SHOTS
DC THE NEW 52 TRINITY WAR AF BOX SET
DOCTOR WHO PRISONERS OF TIME TP VOL 02
HARBINGER TP VOL 03 HARBINGER WARS
JUSTICE LEAGUE HC VOL 03 THRONE  ATLANTIS
JUSTICE LEAGUE TP VOL 02 THE VILLAINS JOURNEY (N52
LEGENDS THE DARK KNIGHT JIM APARO HC VOL 2
MARVEL UNIV. ULT SPIDER-MAN DIGEST TP VOL 04
PREACHER TP BOOK 02
RED SHE-HULK TP VOL 02 ROUTE 616 NOW
SAILOR MOON TP  BOX SET #1 VOL 1-6
SHAZAM HC VOL 01 (N52)
SIMPSONS COMICS TP VOL 05 STRIKE BACK
SIN TITULO HC
SPAWN ORIGINS TP VOL 19
SPIDER-MAN 2099 TP VOL 02
STARDOLL GN VOL 01 SECRETS AND DREAMS
THUNDERBOLTS TP VOL 02 RED SCARE
ULTIMATE COMICS DIVIDED WE FALL  TP
WALKING DEAD 100 PROJECT TP
WHAT IF AVX TP
YOUNG MARVEL TP LITTLE X-MEN

New Comics SEPTEMBER 18th

Not much extra to mention this week. The DC Villain issues continue to amaze and confuse, the coolest one this week will be Dial E, with 20 different artists contributing work on 20 different villains. Too bad you wont get to enjoy the fabulous Bolland cover in 3D as this one is probably one of the lowest printed of the villain issues of the month. Well worth picking up even in regular old 2D though.
 There seems to be hardly any Marvel titles at all on the list.
Zero, is an espionage action title from Image, written by Ales Kot who was the new guy on Suicide Squad for a couple issue recently.
Century West is an original one-shot graphic novel by Chaykin, centered around the Wild West at the turn of the 20th Century.
The Unwritten Hardcover on the list is also an ALL NEW story. Its always a little hard to get monthly issue readers to pick up these solo Hardcovers. Its just not a format they are comfortable with.
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Reviews on 2 new Marvels

Mighty Avengers #1

As the latest addition to the Avengers titles, Mighty Avengers is a solid read that fits into the Marvel Universe quite well. The timing with Marvel's Infinity event helps make this new ongoing seem quite important as well. With the current Avengers teams busy in space, the Earth needs as many heroes as possible. This makes Mighty Avengers feel like an integral part of Infinity as well as the Marvel U.

Luke Cage has been out of action since the previous New Avengers run wrapped up, so it's nice to see a familiar face leading the team. Added into the mix are White Tiger, Power Man, and Spectrum. This first issue focuses on the banding of the team which starts out as a Heroes for Hire gig, but morphs into a full on Avengers team. Spider-Man joins in to stir things up, and there's also a mysterious new hero called The Splendiferous Spider Hero who dawns a knock-off Spider-Man costume. It sounds crazy, but it's a ton of fun.

While this issue ties into Infinity, it's not necessary that readers follow the Marvel event to enjoy Mighty Avengers. A member of Thanos' Black Order serves as the main villain for this story, but the recap page will get you up to date if you haven't read any of Infinity. While Avengers and New Avengers have become pseudo space opera type books, Mighty Avengers seems more down-to-earth, with a group of heroes fighting villains week to week in New York. It feels like the Avengers books before Hickman took over.

Al Ewing does a great job with the dialogue and characters. It should be interesting to see where the relationship between Luke Cage and Spectrum (previously Captain Marvel) leads, as it's been stated that their relationship will be a large part of this title. Since New Avengers concluded, Cage has been a 'family above all else' kind of guy, so it'll be interesting to see how his time as a father has changes his mentality while in the field.

So far, Mighty Avengers is a fun addition to the Avengers family.


The Hunt #1

Written by Matt Kindt with art by Steven Sanders, The Hunt #1 is a four issue miniseries that focuses on the school and academies within the Marvel Universe.

In an effort to better connect all of the schools, the headmasters have instated a friendly competition. Select students from each school will be chosen and placed on an island together, where they will represent their school in a number of challenges and games. The premise sounds a little like Avengers Arena, but a it fits into the Marvel U a little better.

The competing educational institutions are: Avengers Academy, The Future Foundation, the Jean Grey School, Braddock Academy, The Wakandan School of Alternative Studies, The Pan-Asian School for the Unusually Gifted, and the Latverian School of Science. This first issue introduces all of these schools as well as as some of the competing students. The Atlantean School was supposed to be in the competition, but due to recent events between them and the Wakandans, alternate plans were made.

It appears that The Hunt will tie into the recent events (and possibly upcoming events) of Infinity. While not necessary to enjoy Infinity, The Hunt looks as if it'll add a nice little mini story to compliment the events taking place in the Avengers titles, as well as the main Infinity book.

Kindt does a great job establishing the schools and characters. The idea of all of the schools coming together for four issues is a great one, and likely to be a ton of fun.