Shorter Than Expected

*Not that I'm upset.

LAST WEEK'S REVIEWS:

This site was dominated by -

Best of 2007 Adventure Parade

While another site was hit by -

column #15 (concerning the lessons learned by Sunday Press' recent Little Sammy Sneeze: The Complete Color Sunday Comics 1904-1905)

Legion of Super-Heroes #37 & The Punisher MAX #53

Batman #672

And that site was The Savage Critics. And that car held the boy's own parents!!

*New stuff out on Friday again in the US. Not too much that catches my eye; this may be the lightest week I've seen in the better part of a year (er, last year). I do notice there's a ton of manga coming. Or maybe it just seems like a ton since there's not a lot else? I've heard a few nice things about Kazune Kawahara's High School Debut, but shōjo romance is really not my thing...

THIS WEEK IN COMICS!

Gravel #0: Warren Ellis, however, has a decent week coming. Marvel's got a new issue of his Thunderbolts, plus the debut of Ultimate Human, a four-issue Ultimate Hulk/Iron Man miniseries he's doing with Cary Nord, and Avatar has issue #4 of the ongoing Doktor Sleepless. And then there's this ongoing series for William Gravel, a 'combat magician' character Ellis has been writing for nearly a decade across various short series under the Strange Kiss or Strange Killings banner. It's also been a long collaboration, since Avatar mainstay Mike Wolfer has been aiding in the writing while providing the art. Gravel, however, sees Wolfer primarily tackling the writing (from detailed Ellis treatments) while Ellis' Crécy cohort Raulo Caceres provides the art. As with Ellis' Black Summer, this #0 issue actually appears to be the proper first issue, only shorter (16 pages) and cheaper ($1.99) for promotional purposes. Preview sprinkled around here.

Lucha Libre #3: More good-looking stuff sprung from the brow of Métal Hurlant. Now I just need to track down a copy of issue #2...

The Black Diamond #6 (of 6): Concluding the AiT/Planet Lar miniseries. I'd like to see where this goes.

Omega: The Unknown #4 (of 10): Always worth a look.

Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus #5 (of 5): Like clockwork, this Hellboy universe series wraps up just as another one, the new B.P.R.D. (a flashback side-story, with art by Paul Azaceta), preps to begin next week. This wasn't exactly the richest of Mike Mignola stories, but it's been a diverting tour of pulp fiction tropes, and last issue saw some particularly striking use of Dave Stewart's colors on Jason Armstrong's lines. February will bring the next 'character' miniseries, Abe Sapien: The Drowning (art by Jason Shawn Alexander), while Richard Corben and Duncan Fegredo prep their returns to the core series later in 2008.

JLA: Kid Amazo: Oh, this is that JLA Classified story that Peter Milligan wrote. I haven't heard many good things about it, but you know I'm always willing to give Milligan second (third, fifth) chances. Seems oddly inexpensive at $12.99, so it might be worth rolling the dice.