Toothwatch Release Listings : 11.03.04
Jim Connick
11th March 2004
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The aim of the Toothwatch Release Lists is to identify new comic books
(released to comic specialty shops through Diamond Distributors) whose
creators have worked on 2000AD related projects.
For links, cover art, and news, visit the Toothwatch website.
http://www.toothwatch.co.uk
Archived lists are currently offline, but available at the Toothwatch Yahoo
Group :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toothwatch
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D'oh! Forgot to mail this out this week. Better late than never I s'pose.
Nothing much worth getting excited about this week.
DC Comics
* Batman - Legends Of The Dark Knight #177 : Written by Devin Grayson, art
by Jean-Jacques Dzialowski, cover by Jock.
* Coup D'état Afterword [Wildstorm : Eye Of The Storm] : Written by Mike
Carey, Ed Brubaker, and various. Art by Whilce Portacio, Sean Phillips,
Carlos D'Anda, Chris Brunner, and various.
As the dust settles, catch up on the aftershocks of February's Coup
D'état with Coup D'état Afterword, a 32-page Special featuring write-ups and
art by top talent, including Mike Carey, Ed Brubaker, Whilce Portacio, Sean
Phillips, Carlos D'Anda, and more! The Coup D'état Afterword features a pair
of 6-page previews of red-hot upcoming WildStorm projects: Wetworks and
Sleeper Season Two, plus various character bios and pin-ups.
* Fables #23 [Vertigo] : Written by Bill Willingham. Art by Mark Buckingham
and Steve Leialoha. Painted cover by James Jean.
Boy Blue nurses a broken heart, Prince Charming recruits more Fables
for his mayoral campaign, and Bigby and Snow team up to get to the bottom of
Red Riding Hood's story. Meanwhile, the mysterious trio of Hugh, Drew, and
Lou continue to wreak havoc in Manhattan. Meatheads beware: This time they'
ve got guns.
[Back to the regularly scheduled story after last month's brief diversion.
Still liking this book loads, especially when Bucky is drawing it.]
* Hellblazer : Son Of Man TPB [Vertigo] : Written by Garth Ennis. Art by
John Higgins. Cover by Glenn Fabry.
After setting the comic industry on its ear with the compelling and
bizarre adventures of Jesse Custer in Preacher, acclaimed writer Garth Ennis
turned his attention to another roguish Vertigo character: John Constantine.
Now, Ennis's final Constantine adventure is presented in Hellblazer : Son Of
Man, a 128-page Vertigo trade paperback collecting Hellblazer #129-133,
illustrated by Ennis's Pride & Joy collaborator, John Higgins, with a cover
by Glenn Fabry.
John Constantine's pulled a lot of shady stunts over the years, but
perhaps none as bad as the time he "resurrected" organized crime boss Harry
Cooper's 5-year-old son, Ronnie. Since his magic couldn't actually bring
someone back from the dead, Constantine brought "something else" into
Ronnie's lifeless body. Now, 15 years later, he's got to deal with the
ungodly consequences of his actions as the grown-up Ronnie prepares to bring
an unprecedented evil into the world.
[Woo, DC finally finish collecting all of Garth Ennis' Hellblazer issues.
Any chance we can get TPBs of the rest of Hitman now, you shower of useless
bastards?]
* JLA #94 : Written by Chris Claremont & John Byrne. Art by John Byrne &
Jerry Ordway.
The legendary creative team that produced some of history's most
fondly remembered comics - Uncanny X-Men's John Byrne and Chris Claremont -
reunites for the 6-part saga "The 10th Circle," kicking off in JLA #94 and
shipping biweekly beginning in March! In "The 10th Circle," written by Byrne
&Claremont with art and covers by Byrne & Jerry Ordway , the JLA
investigates a rash of child disappearances.but soon begin to disappear
themselves! Before long, Superman is brainwashed and in the hands of a
fanatic cult that worships an ancient, vampiric evil. With things looking
dire, the JLA may just have to call on the aid of a mysterious new team that
has been shadowing their every move.but are they a force for good, or evil?
[Somehow I seriously doubt the re-teaming of Claremont and Byrne will be
anywhere near as good as they were together back in the good old days on
X-Men. On the plus side, someone has had enough sense to get an inker for
Byrne instead of letting him do it himself.]
* Promethea #29 [America's Best Comics] : Written by Alan Moore. Art by J.H.
Williams III and Mick Gray.
The Painted Doll is back, a bit more profusely than expected, and this
time it's multi-personal! As New York comes under siege, Promethea settles
in to the business of fulfilling her duty - which just happens to be ending
the world.
[I still look at the book thinking that the art looks marvelous, but reading
it has varied between dull and painful on the ones I've tried.]
* Reload/Mek TPB [Wildstorm] : Written by Warren Ellis, art by Paul Gulacy &
Jimmy Palmiotti and Steve Rolston & Al Gordon, covers by Gulacy and Rolston.
Two tales from master storyteller Warren Ellis in one great volume: an
espionage thriller that pushes action to its ultimate limits and a tale of
revenge set in a not-too-distant future in which robotic enhancements have
become the latest rage! The Reload/Mek trade paperback is wholly unique,
printed in a flipbook format with each story featuring a separate cover.
Paul Gulacy & Jimmy Palmiotti provide art for Reload, the story of Secret
Service Agent Chris Royal. He thought the worst part of his day was going to
be resisting the urge to smoke a cigarette, but before lunch, the President
of the United States will be dead and Washington will be under siege.by a
single woman!
On the flip-side, Ellis is joined by artists Steve Rolston & Al Gordon
for Mek, a tale of cultural decay and murder. Sarissa Leon, one of the
progenitors of mek culture, has returned home to find her city overrun with
technological marvels - her "cyborg" children. But her return isn't for
nostalgia - she's in town to investigate the murder of her former lover RJ
Coin.an investigation that will lead her down a road she could never have
predicted!
[I really wouldn't bother if I was you. Mek really quite poor, with art that
didn't work with the story well (and I really like Rolston). Reload was just
very bland. I still don't get what's so good about Warren Ellis, but I'm
well aware I'm a minority on that point, so i wont go on about it.]
IDW Publishing
* CSI Demon House #1 (Of 5) : Written by Max Allan Collins. Art by Ashley
Wood and Gabriel Rodriguez.
When a real body turns up in a charity haunted house, the members of
Las Vegas's CSI team-already busy on a series of armed robberies-finds
themselves pulling double duty.
* Popbot #5 : Art and writing by Ashley Wood.
10 years on from Popbot Book Four, everything has changed. Canada is
now run by deepcore rapper Mo Prostate, Warhol is a revolutionary on the
planet CHE, Popbot is running around, and Kitty has gone all puritan. wow,
the kids are gonna love it! Popbot is now in full color!
[Full colour? Wow! I bet it's still drawn in murky nigh unreadable sepia
tones though. I suspect that Ash Wood took Rolf Harris too seriously in the
past. Can you tell what it is yet? Sure, it's a cloud of fog dancing with a
bush, isn't it?]
Image Comics
* Powers #37 : Written by Brian Michael Bendis. Art by Michael Avon Oeming.
[Last issue of Volume One. *ahem* Yes, I know I said that about #36, but
it's true this time.]
Marvel Comics
* Avengers/Thunderbolts #1 (Of 6) : Written by Kurt Busiek & Fabian Nicieza.
Covers & Pencils by Barry Kitson.
Marvel's Most Wanted - the villains-turned-would-be-heroes known as
the Thunderbolts - are back! But which side of the law are they on this
time? If they're up to their old villainous ways, the Avengers are
determined to find out about it - and stop them before they get started! But
which side is Hawkeye on?
[There's an evil bastard part of me wants to see this book bomb really badly
with regards to sales, just to annoy all the people who bitched and
complained about the new (enjoyable, but staggering stupid idea to put it in
Thunderbolts) direction the Thunderbolts series went in for it's last few
issues.]
* Incredible Hulk #68 : Written by Bruce Jones. Pencils by Doug Braithwaite.
Covers by Mike Deodato Jr.
"Bury Me Not" Parts 3. There's something big and weird and downright
nasty out there in the desert.and it wants everything Bruce Banner has .
everything!!
[God this is a slow moving book. I'm still buying it though, and getting
just enough enjoyment for it to stay on my buy list. Only just though.]
* Punisher The Movie #2 (Of 3) : Written by Peter Milligan. Pencils by
Pat Olliffe.
[See last week for comments.]
Haven't bought anything new in weeks again, so still nothing to review. I'd
like to heartilly recommend Battle Royale II though. If you liked the first
one, and can play a Region 3 disc, go forth to ebay.
--
Jim
http://www.toothwatch.co.uk