New comics are due to hit the shelves on Wednesday so here’s a look ahead at some of the books we’ll be picking up this week. To see what’s available at Paradox this week, click here.
Matt C: There's an argument that Matt Fraction produces his best work when he tackles more out there concepts, and while I believe that argument has a lot of validity, it sort of discounts some of his incredible work on Invincible Iron Man and Hawkeye. That said, you can't ever overlook a new series from the man behind Casanova and Sex Criminals, and ODY-C #1 looks like it's going to be a mind-bending, lysergic sci-fi necessity. That's just for starters, as this week also sees Image put out the next instalment of my current favourite comic, Lazarus. I'm sure no one else needs convincing of its brilliance, so I'll just leave it at that. C.O.W.L., on the other hand - returning from a short break to allow the first TPB to fill the gap - needs to be placed in the hands of many more people. Power, corruption and superheroes in mid-20th Century Chicago, this is smart, human storytelling that deserves a far wider audience than it appears to be getting. Pick up that recently released trade and the latest issue to see what I'm talking about. Oh, and while I'm here, after last week's abundance of riches, this week I'm not getting a single Marvel comic. They need to think about spreading they're great titles more evenly across the month! (What's that you're saying about subjectivity...?)
Stewart R: I have to admit I'm not entirely sold on ODY-C #1 this week. While enjoying Sex Criminals I've not been following any of Fraction's other works in the past two-odd years and did find the last arc of Casanova we received to be just a bit too hard to follow/stomach (so much so that I'm not sure I'll be investing in the next new batch come the dawn of 2015). Ward's art on Infinite Vacation was a good fit for that dimensional-hopping series, and he might well ace this one, but this remains a very last minute pull-list call for me. The definitive stand out on the list this week actually finds a damn fine series come to something of a sad, yet apparent end as Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber bring Superior Foes Of Spider-Man to a close with #17. This, quite honestly, has been the series to draw the most amused giggles, chuckles and guffaws from this reader through the last year and a bit and I never believed that I would find the antics of Boomerang, Shocker and their squad of hapless villains to be so engrossing. Yet here I am, genuinely saddened by the approaching end of this book, eager to see how things draw to a close and accepting of the fact that Nick Spencer has pretty much said that he was happy to get this far in the run, on a book that could have easily disappeared from the shelves after eight or so issues. Along with the likes of She-Hulk and Elektra (not to mention Mark Waid's Daredevil if Marvel's solicitations for the new year are to be believed) it's a shame to see these titles that sit high on the critics' charts, yet low on the sales reports getting culled by the Marvel machine, but - and it's poignant this week (Happy Thanksgiving to our US readers!) - I am thankful that we got a chance that the foes of a Spider-Man can indeed create a superior read!
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