The First Page
Welcome to another great week of comic books, everyone! As promised over the last few weeks, the new series from some of your favorite heroes are starting up and that makes the stories that just ended hurt a little less.
Don’t know much about Captain Marvel? Well, grab your copy today and you’ll have two or three under belt when she hits the big screen on March 7. I have my ticket already for an early March 8 showing.
Other series new this week include Die #1 from Image, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 from Marvel, Turok #1 from Dynamite, and many more.
My suggestion to you is to do what I do. If you see something that looks interesting, pick up a copy and read it. Try to find a number one if possible so you can see how it starts and for God’s sake, do your local comic book proprietor a favor and buy the book to read it. No one likes the creeper standing in the corner reading for free.
That being said, let’s move on…
New This Week
Captain Ginger #4 (of 4) Ahoy Comics
Birthright #35 Image
Blackbird #4 Image
Die #1 Image
Laguardia #2 Dark Horse
Duck Tales #16 IDW
Euthanauts #5 IDW
Batman Kings of Fear #6 (of 6) DC
Green Arrow #48 DC
Green Lantern #3 DC
Justice League #15 DC
Avengers #12 Marvel
Captain Marvel #1 Marvel
Domino #10 (of 10) Marvel
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 Marvel
Iceman #5 (of 5) Marvel
Miles Morales Spider-Man #2 Marvel
Spider Gwen Ghost Spider #4 Marvel
Thor #9 Marvel
Red Sonja #25 Dynamite
Turok #1 Dynamite
Wizard Beach #2 (of 5) Boom!
By Night #7 (of 12) Boom!
Go Go Power Rangers #16 Boom!
Doctor Who 13th #2 Titan
Life Is Strange #2 Titan
Faith Dreamside #4 (of 4) Valiant
Conspiracy #2 (of 5) Zenescope
Grimm Fairy Tales #25 Zenescope
Van Helsing Sword of Heaven #3 (of 6) Zenescope
Hitting Shelves Next Week
Grimm Fairy Tales #26 Zenescope
Burnouts #5 Image
Deadly Class #36 Image
Outpost Zero#6 Image
Black Hammer #1 Dark Horse
Dick Tracy Dead or Alive #3 (of 4) IDW
Star Trek vs Transformers #4 (of 4) IDW
Flash #62 DC
Hawkman #8 DC
Goddess Mode #2 DC
Justice League Dark #7 DC
Supergirl #26 DC
Wonder Woman #62 DC
J.R.’s Weekly Pull List
Miles Morales Spider-Man #2 Marvel
Grimm Fairy Tales #25 Zenescope
Bully Wars #5 (of 5) Image
Red Sonja #25 Dynamite
Van Helsing Sword of Heaven #3 Zenescope
Batman Kings of Fear #6 (of 6) DC
Green Lantern #3 DC
Justice League #15 DC
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 Marvel
Spider-Gwen Ghost Spider #4 Marvel
Iceman #5 Marvel
Daredevil #1 & 2 Marvel
For some reason, #1 & 2 were issued on the same day
Venom Trade Paperback with issues 1-6 of current series
Review
Batgirl #30 DC
She’s no longer working directly with Batman, n fact, they’ve divided and conquered. Batman still skulks in the night over Gotham, whereas Barbara protects the neighboring community of Burnside.
Batman has all his fancy toys and while Babs (her nickname in the comics) has some of that, she is a tech genius and relies on that. She eschews the traditional Batman utility belt and instead opts for the more fashionable (?) pouches on her uniform.
But onto the review.
Several years ago Babs had an accident leaving her legs paralyzed. With the aid of a microchip, she got her legs back and was able to resume crime fighting. In the issues leading up to 30, she had another that rendered the chip wonky and she again lost the use of her legs.
In issue 30 she gets her legs back and that’s bad news for the hooligans hired by a corrupt politician running for office. Barbara pulls double duty on this one, volunteering at the creep’s campaign headquarters during the day to search for intel and doing the Batgirl thing at night.
What happens next? Sorry. You’ll have to read and find out. I can say this, however. If you’re a fan of anything Bat, this is worth reading. If you have a daughter, as I do, Batgirl is a great female role model and is written by a woman.
Check it out and why not start subscribing? Mairghread Scott’s storytelling is amazing and the artwork of the rest of the team is awesome as well.
Character Profile
Ant-Man, A.K.A. Scott Lang Marvel
Turns out the old guy is Dr. Hank Pym, formerly of SHIELD and the creator of the Ant-Man suit, a suit that lets you shrink to the size of an ant or, as we saw in Captain America Civil War, 65 feet tall.
Scott is the guy that most of us can feel for. He’s a single dad who wants to do right by his daughter; but in an attempt to get the things he needs to have that great life with her, he makes some boneheaded decisions.
Like me, Scott only wants to do the right thing, but sometimes loses sight of the short term, while looking at the end game. After for some reason being forgiven for stealing the suit, Lang begins getting trained by Dr, Pym and his daughter Hope Van Duyn. Pym’s wife and Hope’s mother, Janet Van Duyn, was the original Wasp. More on that in a future issue.
Scott goes from small-time crook and part-time dad to saving the day and possibly the world before joining up with the Avengers and eventually The Wasp, this time with Hope Van Duyn in a new updated Wasp suit.
Probably my favorite line from the movie Ant-Man and the Wasp is when Wasp goes on a retrieval mission, leaving Pym and Lang in a van outside, watching. As Lang starts seeing her use blasters on her arm, a look of befuddlement crosses his face. Moments later she flies.
Lang looks at Pym and says, “I guess you didn’t have that tech available when you built my suit.”
To which Pym replies, “No. I did.”
If you’re looking for something fun and appropriate for the family, I definitely recommend the Ant-Man character (The Wasp too). They will soon become your favorite bugs!
Bonus Review/Preview
Captain Ginger 1-4 (complete series) Ahoy Comics
The reason I call this review/preview is that issues 1-3 are already on the streets and issue 4, the final issue in the current Captain Ginger sage hits shelves on January 16.
Opening up the PFD of issue 1 I found that the artwork was better than I expected. No disrespect to Ahoy comics, the company that produces this book, but I had never heard of them. My policy on new companies is to go in with no expectations. That way I can have an open mind.
The basic story is this. Somehow the Feeders (humans) were all wiped out from Earth, making the planet barren. Before the end of the world, a scientist known as the Maker developed a way to breed cats to be like humans. They walk on two legs, talk, think, plan, and live their lives aboard a starship once belonging to the humans.
Remembering that I am NOT a cat guy, it only took a few pages for me to start snickering. I’m not giving the whole story away as I think you should absolutely go and get he series and read it for yourself.
Some of my personal highlights include:
A female officer, in a meeting of senior officers having her litter during the meting and telling Captain Ginger just to keep on with the meeting because it’s no big deal.
Cats got put on ship-wide litter box duty, a job no one wanted. Ever.
Senior cat officers are discussing how to eliminate the feral cat problem on the ship and how to control the mounting kitten problem from too many pregnancies.
Don’t cats have The Price Is Right in space? Did they never see Bob Barker beg for spaying and neutering? Just a thought, people at Ahoy.
There’s a Chief Mousing Officer, they all talk like they’re from any space show you’ve every seen and even for someone who isn’t a cat fan, I’ll definitely read Captain Ginger when it comes out again.
If a non-cat guy likes it, imagine how much cat lovers will dig it? Issue 4 hots shelves this week!
The Back Cover
With two reviews there’s not a lot of room left to talk about much, so I’ll leave you with this. In the upcoming weeks,I want to have discussions about diversity in comics, but I want your input and feedback.
Please use the comment section below to let me know if you think there is enough diversity in comics today or not enough and why. Let’s get a meaningful discussion going.
See you next week!
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However, you engage with The Good Men Project—you can help lead this conversation about the changing roles of men in the 21st century. Join us!
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Photo credit: Joe Golem photo courtesy Dark Horse Comics. Spider-Man Deadpool photo andCaptain Marvel courtesy Marvel. Batgirl courtesy DC. Captain Ginger courtesy Superfan Promotions.
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