A lot of books being picked up this week. High expectations for Punisher, X-23, Rachel Rising, iZombie, and Swamp Thing.

-Marvel-

The Punisher ended on a great teaser page last month and I’m excited to see how the rest of this story continues. So many potential ideas and directions this book can go now. Rucka has been phenomenal. 

Uncanny X-Men is going to be a one shot. So soon? Anyway the initial story arc did not thrill me. Sinister is back is up to sinister things (couldn’t help myself haha). I really want to know how they plan on fixing Emma’s arm.

X-23 continues towards the big finale. :( Humbug! I’m eager to see which side X-23 lands on. Probably her own considering she hasn’t been mentioned in West Coast X-Men or East Coast X-Men. Still not reading Avengers Academy by the way.

X-Men I only started picking this up because it has Storm, Psylocke, Warpath, and Domino in it. It’s been good so far. I guess this will replace X-23 on my pull list.

-DC-

Action Comics Superman begins! Okay not really but this has been a cool look back at a young Superman in the new DC Universe. If Grant continues to write this count me in.

Batwing Last issue we got back story on David and what a violent past it was. This is turning out to be a really good book with an awesome story. Still very excited about a person of color wearing the Bat symbol.

Huntress Not that I’m complaining but I wonder why this was chosen as the first mini to get released after the big change. Perhaps it says something about the popularity of the character or DC’s plans for characters like her. Of course it seems this was written before the New 52 though. Chances for a Huntress ongoing? That would be neat.

iZombie Zombies, monsters, vampires, ghosts, ghouls, were people, a talking monkey, monster hunters, and whole lot of awesome craziness in this book. A damn fun comic worth the asking price.

JLI Has had a solid although somewhat stereotypical team comic book start. I’ve enjoyed it though. I’m really eager to see where this book goes from her. I like the team a lot, but a really dynamite story could cement keeping this title.

Red Lanterns The big red book. It’s been interesting. Atrocitus does a lot of inward thinking, he talks to a corpse, and worries a lot about just what the hell he’s going to do.

Swamp Thing One of the creepiest books I’ve ever read. Snyder has thought up some wild stuff here. It’s a really unique look at dead things and living things. I predict this book will make someone lose their lunch one day. Great sci-fi, paranormal, gory stuff.

-Indy and Etc-

Rachel Rising I reblogged some covers from this book and this is another creepy book I love. Terry Moore has proven to me that horror comics can make me uneasy. This might be the first book that gets read and then read again.

G.I. Joe has been at risk of getting dropped. The Cobra Civil War event just finished and it seemed to be overshadowed by other books. The idea behind the event was kind of cool. Maybe I’ll see where stories go from here.

Well week 3 is upon us and I had fun putting together a post about the new books that were available last week and my thoughts on them. So here’s a look at week 3 and dropping is a book that I’ve been waiting to read literally for YEARS! On a side note I wonder if new readers are more likely to pick up books featuring characters like Grifter, Swamp Thing, Deathstroke than they for books like Batman, Flash, and Wonder Woman?

• BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
• BATWOMAN #1
• DEATHSTROKE #1
• DEMON KNIGHTS #1
• FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. #1
• GREEN LANTERN #1
• GRIFTER #1
• LEGION LOST #1
• MISTER TERRIFIC #1
• RED LANTERNS #1
• RESURRECTION MAN #1
• SUICIDE SQUAD #1
• SUPERBOY #1

Batman and Robin I think was pretty popular before the relaunch. I did drop it after Morrison finished his stories, but figure this book will do okay. I don’t see why fans of the book before the relaunch won’t return and even a few new readers might check it out. I am curious as to where this fits in with the other Batman books. A number of the books seem to have different start dates as far as the plot is concerned.

Batwoman Yes! Finally! After years of waiting, delays, starts, and restarts it’s finally here. My God it has been a long road to get this book on the shelf and Wednesday is the day. J.H. Williams and Amy Reeder are collaborating on this title. The DC website says J.H Williams and Haden Blackman and no mention of Amy. I thought for sure she was sharing art duties with Williams. After Rucka and Williams incredible Detective Comics stories featuring Batwoman I expect this book to be great. Highly Recommended.

Deathstroke One of the more infamous villains in the DCU. Deathstroke was always written as a complete merciless bad ass and very deadly. The solicitation says he’s a mercenary so I guess he works for the highest bidder similar to Deadpool. Maybe this time he blurs the line between hero and villain? I think this is a title that could attract some new readers and Deathstroke fans as well. This one could be good. I’m imagining the violence and brutality of the Punisher with the mercenary stories similar to Deadpool, but without the humor.

Demon Knights I’ve been reading about this book quite often and it’s supposed to be one of the best titles available Wednesday. It’s set in the Dark Ages of the DC Universe so I can see how the stories could get really interesting. Looks like the demon Etrigan and Madam Xanadu will star. Not familiar with Xanadu, but I love the way Etrigan is written. He always speaks in this rhyming poetic format; it’s really cool. I may check this out based on the buzz it’s gotten lately. In store decision with this one.

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E is full of monsters doing the super heroic stuff. What’s not to love about that sentence? I’m giving this book a shot because it sounds really cool and the Frankenstein Flashpoint mini series was pretty good. Book kind of seems like a toss up. I mean the premise may attract some sci-fi fans, but I’m not familiar with Frankenstein’s popularity pre-Flashpoint. I’m still sticking with it because it has a fun twist on ordinary super hero books.

Green Lantern has been one of DC’s best book for YEARS now under Geoff Johns. The man knows the Green Lantern universe inside out. This book should continue that excellence where the last Green Lantern book left off, which happened to be at a pretty big and shocking cliffhanger. Highly Recommended.

Grifter is another Wildstorm Universe import and I think it was mentioned that he was one of the easiest characters to bring into the new 52. Not familiar with Wildstorm characters, but maybe big fans of those books will check this out. Sounds like an interesting opening story, so maybe this does okay with new readers. This one does’t really speak to me though.

Legion Lost features super heroes from the 31st century. I don’t know much about the Legion characters, but I do know they are quite popular and have been for some time. I’ve read some pretty good stories featuring them, but I don’t think I’ll be getting this one. I’d expect this to attract more old fans than new. 

Mister Terrific is a book that I’m not sure about. Not a fan of the character really but the solicitation sounds cool. I mean here you have an intelligent, successful, African-American character headlining his own book. I almost feel obligated to try it (haha)! I do love stories with that sci-fi/tech edge to them. In store decision!

Red Lanterns are a fun group of characters if you like violence aliens that puke rage that burns even in space. These are from the Green Lantern universe and rather new to the DCU as a whole. I did enjoy reading about them in the Blackest Night and Green Lantern comics. I may check this one out simply because I dig the Red Lantern premise. Who doesn’t enjoy some mindless vengence/violence from time to time?

Resurrection Man I know very little about. But he sounds cool (every time he dies he comes back to life with a different power). Also Dan and Andy are talented writers. I loved their Guardians of the Galaxy book. Maybe this book does okay in attracting new and old fans. This one didn’t really speak to me either.

Suicide Squad has been quite controversial. A big hoopla was made about Harley’s clothing or lack thereof. Also the look of King Shark who appears to be a mix of a Hammerhead Shark; previous appearance he looked like a Great White but that never really was cleared up. Gail Simone often tweets jokes about King Shark being a shark. So yeah I don’t know how this book will do. It sounds crazy and sometimes crazy works right?

Superboy It seems weird to me to launch Superboy after an Action Comics issue that takes place in the past and before the Superman title. Shouldn’t Superman’s presence be established before Superboy and Supergirl show up? Maybe it’s just me. Being Superboy and having a plot that sounds interesting could make this a winner. Seems like a far cry from the Superboy that was in the previous DCU though.