My Pull List For 2/5/14 - Steve Paugh

Hi again, Bastards! It’s Uncle Steve, back again to push my Pull List! Caveat Time: I’m not counting the book I’m reviewing this week as one of my pulls, so if you’d like to see what I thought about J. Michael Stracynski and Bill Farmer’s new Image book, Apocalypse Al #1, check out my review on Wednesday. Otherwise, here’s a list of the books I’ll be picking up this week. Let me know what you think. Oh, and hey, hit me up with anything you think I missed and feel free to let a brother know what I should be reading, too. This door swings both ways!

Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight #5

Grindhouse Doors Open At Midnight #5 Cover

Hey, y’know how you’re SUPER-pumped for Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Image book Bitch Planet to drop because it’s a “new comic book spin on an old sexploitation trope by a renowned female creator?” Well guess what, sunshine? That thing already exists! And it’s fucking exceptional. Having previously tackled murderous Martian bee-people (beeple?) and IMPRISONED SPACE BITCHES, issue five in this great collection of short-form pastiche storytelling will undoubtedly see writer Alex de Campi further cleverly celebrate and suitably besmirch exploitation flicks in what Dark Horse calls the series’ “most disturbing tale yet,” which is saying a lot. “Bride of Blood,” as this issue is called, promises regular readers the tale of A Woman-Scorned literally going medieval on the deserving. If every single issue of this book is any indication, Grindhouse: Doors Open at Midnight #5 will be deeply disturbing, crazy violent and absolutely satisfying.

Reality Check (Trade Paperback)

Reality Check vol. 1

It’s time to give you guys my own little “reality check” - I am a known trade-waiter. I understand that those of us who partake in such a practice are ofttimes derided for our patient proclivities, but such is sometimes the financial state of play in life that our desires do not match our incomes, let alone storage space. Unfortunately, Reality Check was one of those books relegated to the back-burner. I read (and enjoyed) its first issue, but now that it’s hit trade, that long wait is over. Its premise, which sees a comic book writer set at odds against his suddenly real (not to mention lovelorn and thoroughly disenfranchised) main hero, always interested me, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this story played out in the end.

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter #1

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Even though Turok has been around for quite a while (2014 apparently marks his 60th birthday), I only have basic knowledge of the character, with most of that experience coming from randomly owning a copy of Valiant’s gold foil first issue when they owned the rights to the character in 1993. Still, it’s a story about a Native American who beats the snot out of dinosaurs, which is always gonna be a good time. It also doesn’t hurt that it has such a strong creative team attached. Writer Greg Pak is turning out some excellence in what, at least on the surface, seems like a similar book in Valiant’s Eternal Warrior, so it’ll be interesting to see how he differentiates the two titles. I’m also a big fan of artist Mirko Colak’s style, and being that he’s a Conan regular, something tells me this thing’s gonna look just fine. Be sure to check out what the Comic Bastards think of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter in this Wednesday’s Group Review, or as I like to call it, “The Comic Bastards Comic Bookkake!” Not quite sure why that hasn’t caught on...

Devil’s Panties GN (Vol. 7)

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Wait, did you guys know this was a thing? The solicit includes the following: “There's explosions and the policemen who love them, politics [...] weddings and fires, singing penises [...] Well, maybe we were lying about singing penises, only one of them was singing, the others were in the brass section.” What?? Yeah, I’m in.

Forever Evil #5

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Reading Forever Evil is like watching a YouTube video of a car flipping over and over and over again; you don’t want to watch, but you have to see where the damn thing’s gonna end up, and just how bad the explosion will be. I will further qualify its purchase by likening it to a pack of cigarettes or a machine that repeatedly punches you in the genitals; you know it’s bad for you, but you just can’t seem to help yourself. Seriously though, and without the use of simile, this being the post-halfway mark of Forever Evil, I sincerely doubt it’s going to pick up to any measurable degree, but now Sinestro’s in the damn thing, so I have to buy it, regardless of how middling it is. Well played, DC!

Green Lantern / Red Lanterns #28

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Otherwise known as “Supergirl Has a Heavy Day,” this double issue flip book dealie combines both fairly unremarkable-to-mediocre series in what will probably be one gigantic disappointment. Much like in Forever Evil #5, though, I just can’t stop my damn self from following the exploits of my favorite DC character set. I also admit that I’m pretty interested in seeing where they’ll take this whole “Red Lantern Supergirl” thing. At very least, it’ll give us all a break from her atrocious New 52 costume, the ridiculous “crotch flap” of which is unforgivable. Also, doesn’t everybody miss good Green Lantern stories? I sure do...

Ms. Marvel #1

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Okay, so my feelings on this book may be a bit contentious, but I’m of a mind that race, gender, creed and color have unfortunately been unjustly appropriated and turned into gimmicky money-makers rather than vehicles to attain true diversity in comics. This new Ms. Marvel title, however, feels different; less cheap or kitsch. Will it be rife with White Western Man Guilt? Almost certainly! But as a jaded / shamefully-desensitized middle class American white male, I’m pretty used to that by now. Judging by the treatment I’ve seen thus far in the previews Marvel has released, though, it looks like this new character will be handled with not just respect, but a sense of fun that I think has to dominate this book. That way, it doesn’t end up sounding to the uninformed like a convert’s mouthpiece for anti-Islamophobia; a worthy task, for sure, but one that comes at the risk of being preachy and thus off-putting to those it actually should inspire. With that, writer G. Willow Wilson and artist Adrian Alphona are burdened with the task of treading a fine line for many different reasons, and I don’t envy them there. I will be one of the throng jumping aboard to see how they manage, but at the same time hopefu that they can get past the hype and make a good book.

Wolverine #1

Wolverine #1 2014

I know, I know. I can’t believe I’m picking up a Wolverine book either, but hear me out. Like I do Batman, I hold a healthy dislike for Wolverine as a character, mostly because every writer plays him up to be the biggest Billy BigDick in the world, tempering him either with a by-now overwrought series of oscillating tragedies or some or another saccharine vulnerability. So, given how many fucking titles he’s on, for me, he’s the equivalent of that overplayed song you hate. So why in the blue hell am I grabbing this book? I’d say about 87-93% of the reason is Ryan Stegman’s art. I just really like it. So there. Story-wise, I am happy to see that Wolverine’s no longer swinging an unbreakable bat after the events of “Killable” (which [SPOILER] I didn’t read), so he’s going to have to change his mentality, fighting style and general approach, which may be fun to watch. I guess it depends on how much license the team is given to evolve the character and this could just be another classic Wolverine story, but I’m very surprisingly interested enough to pick this one up.

Backup Pick-Ups:

-  Archer & Armstrong #0 -  Lobster Johnson: Get the Lobster #1 -  Loki: Agent of Asgard #1 -  Punisher #1 -  Dial H Volume 2 TPB