JLA review

Justice League of America #8 marks the first issue of Matt Kindt's run, and gives us a look at where the Justice League are after the events of Forever Evil.

This issue is a must for anyone currently enjoying Forever Evil. It not only ties into the event, but it seems to be an important part of the story. The issue follows Martian Manhunter as he awakes alongside Stargirl in what seems to be a super-prison. Manhunter visits the "cells" that contain some of the Justice League members and realizes that this is not so much a physical prison as it is a psychological one. It looks pretty bleak for the heroes.

We see Wonder Woman in a perpetual state of war, Superman trying to reverse time, and Shazam immersed in a regenerating city with no one to tell him what he can't smash. Some of the "prisons" are personal heavens and some are hells, but either way, the Justice League is trapped and Manhunter might be the only one who really knows it. All the other heroes seem oblivious and helpless.

Matt Kindt did a great job with his Villains Month titles, and he's off to a fine start with this first issue. Fans of his writing should enjoy this one, and it's also a great place to jump into the JLA for those who haven't yet. The JLA and the Justice League will be working together closely during this event, making Justice League of America #8 a great jumping on point in the series.

HALLOWEEN TREATS

Its that time of year again when the ghosts and goblins or more likely Sheriff Rick and Carl (and maybe Michonne) will be banging on your door, looking for treats.( Scariest of all will be the Miley Cyrus wannabees)

Well you know what I always say,

"Rot their brains, not their teeth"


This year, give the little ghouls a real treat and stick a comic book in their pumpkin. A comic book will last them a lot longer than candy or chips, and is a lot less messy to save or share. And unlike peanuts or milk chocolate, very few kids are actually allergic to printed words and colourful pictures.
 We have 2 different kinds of  pack this year.   10 regular sized comics for only $2.00.

OR 20 mini-size books for $3.00
 Either way its cheaper than almost any sugary treat you could buy.

Shop early to get the best selection, I know from past experience, these packs sell fast. And don't underestimate how many you'll need. There's 2 more benefits to the comics, they won't go bad if you get stuck with a few leftovers, and you won't be tempted to eat them yourself.

While you're here, pick up a treat for yourself. There are plenty of horror related titles available in store, Marvel Zombies, for one, would make a great read to pass the time between visitors. Or catch up on your Walking Dead. The comic is different enough to the T.V. series that you won't have to worry about spoiling the show for yourself.
 

NEW COMICS OCTOBER 16th

A little quieter this week, but a few first issue to mention.
Forever Evil Rogues Rebellion leads off from the Villain month issue that explains most of Flash's foes are bad guys...but not actually evil.
Justice League of America #8 starts off the new era of JLA, with the big heroes gone, Martian Manhunter has to rebuild the team with the help of Stargirl.
Indestructible Hulk Special #1 continues the Arms of the Octopus trilogy started in the All New X-Men Special from a few weeks ago. LET ME KNOW ON THIS ONE.. it will not be ordered in X-Men quantities and may sell out fast.
DC Essentials Wonder Woman, is the 2nd of a series of $1.00 reprint comics with the paperback collection guide added.

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The Week in Review

Superman / Wonder Woman #1

Just when you think Charles Soule can't possibly handle another ongoing title, Superman / Wonder Woman hits the shelves. Just like all of Soule's other titles, this one is fun from start to finish. It's a great new addition for either Superman fans or Wonder Woman fans.

Superman / Wonder Woman focuses on the relationship between the two characters, but manages to stay action packed almost the entire time. Some readers were worried that this title would be more of a romance comic than anything else, but that's not the case with issue #1. Soule manages to throw in some action sequences even when the two are spending their downtime with each other.

Superman / Wonder Woman #1 features a favorite Superman villain as the main antagonist. It'll be fun to watch, over the next few arcs, how the two team up to take on their toughest villains without the help of the Justice League. More interesting still will be how their personal relationship grows or decays as a result of their teamwork.

The art (Tony Daniel with Matt Banning) is another great addition to this book. Even the more quiet scenes are fun to look at. The three page spread that comprises the cover is beautiful as well. And at no extra charge, it's a great value too. Now we just need a new Green Lantern / Green Arrow book and DC will have three excellent team-up titles to choose from, along with the current Superman / Batman.

Coffin Hill #1

From from the new line of Vertigo ongoings, Coffin Hill is great for fans of horror, mystery, and cop stories.

Eve Coffin is the daughter of a wealthy high class English family, though you'd never know it. She's
a brash, outspoken police officer and more interestingly, she's possibly a witch. The first issue of Coffin Hill takes place, for the most part, in the past. We see Eve's upbringing and get some insight into who she is. The Coffin family has deep roots which serve as somewhat of a legend to the locals. Clearly, some dark secrets have been buried in their front yard.

The writing is quite mysterious, in that many questions are presented and none answered. It looks promising for fans of long payoffs. The writing is clearly for a mature audience, and the artwork suits it well. It's a gritty looking book with a macabre feeling to it, complementing the writing very well.

The title says it's an "extra-sized issue" though it clocks in at 24 pages. of course, it's only a $2.99, and the story is well written, making Coffin Hill a great new choice for mystery horror fans.

Rocket Girl #1

After the Halloween Eve one-shot from a while back, Amy Reeder and Brandon Montclare successfully funded Rocket Girl on Kickstarter. This first issue is an awesome sci-fi time travel story set in both 1985 and a dystopian 2013.

Dayoung is a 15 year old cop in the year 2013, and she's fed up with the way the world works. She decides to travel to 1985 and apprehend the scientists responsible for her frightening corrupt world, only to end up befriending them. It's a nice twist on the time travel revenge tropes that have been recycled many times over. Better still, the book is very well written.

Rocket Girl #1 features a small crew of characters and a ton of action. Montclare paces the issue very well, establishing character motives, skills, personalities and more, all while delivering some great action sequences. The art from Reeder make the book as much fun to look at as it is to read. You can tell that the two creators work incredibly well with each other.

The characters are well written, the plot is strong, and the art is absolutely awesome. Image made a smart move working with Reeder and Montclare in releasing this new title. Rocker Girl is an excellent choice for sci-fi fans looking for something new, fun, and interesting. Even non-sci-fi fans will enjoy Rocket Girl for the great writing and artwork.

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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