NEW #1's

 DAREDEVIL #1: The same creative team a month later on the same book. What's the difference? Marvel may try to tell you that the location is different so it's new and bold and more exciting! No, the difference is the same exact book is $3.99 instead of $2.99. It's twenty-pages (what? no bonus pages for the premiere?). I will admit that this issue is a lot better than the last arc that featured the dull Serpent organization. The final page is a strange cliffhanger of sorts. Matt Murdock is now in San Francisco. The book looks great (Chris Samnee on art). I miss the dark days of Daredevil, though. **1/2

 AMERICAN VAMPIRE: SECOND CYCLE #1: Writer Scott Snyder promises that there will not be a third cycle in the afterward, so if you're a fan of this title, enjoy it while it lasts. I remember years ago when I bought the first issue and the clerk mentioned that he couldn't wait to read it since it was Stephen King's first comic book that he's written (he wrote half of it, Snyder wrote the other half). I was letdown, not sure about the clerk, but this book was a little too silly and too dull to interest me. During it's run I would read ecstatic reviews and think I was missing out and then read an issue (Pacific battles during WWII but with vampires! A James Dean-esque vamp hunter in the 1950's!) or two and realize that it just wasn't all that great and I was indeed not missing out. This issue, set in the 1960's U.S. and Mexico, is good but as usual nothing special nor exceptional. The art, by Rafael Albuquerque, is better than the story. We have Pearl, the female vamp, on a farm in the midwest that's a sort of orphanage for vampires. Meanwhile, Skinner Sweet ends up running into the new big bad, The Gray Trader (dumb name), who whips people up into the sky in a tornado (or something). I still don't know why people rave about this.  **1/2

 STARLIGHT #1: Mark Millar is back with a new book about an old, ex-superhero that is grieving his dead wife and living the dull, regular life of a senior citizen. The catch is that he was magically transported one night to a far away planet and ended up saving the day there. He came back to Earth and no one believed his adventures. Now he finds himself alone when a spaceship appears in his backyard. A new adventure in space is about to begin. What a great, old-fashioned adventure. Certainly it's a rip-off of the John Carter books and Flash Gordon and probably a ton of others...but it works. It's sublime. The artwork, by Goran Porlov, is awesome stuff. A delightful first issue. ***1/2

VEIL #1: Writer Greg Rucka's newest is an odd one. It's akin to the girl-raised-by-wolves plot but also the popular "amnesia" story. A girl wakes up in the NYC subway surrounded by rats. She has no idea who she is or where she is and she's naked and can barely speak. A young, black dude helps her out a bit but the catch is that she can make people do things against their will. When some thugs show up at this black dude's apartment, the girl makes them shoot and kill each other. Uh...okay. It's strange, sure, but what helps it out is the beautiful, lush, painterly quality of the artwork by Toni Fezjula. I am curious to see where it goes, but so far it's more weird than compelling. *1/2

STRAY BULLETS: KILLERS #1: What a glorious return for David Lapham. If you remember, he wrote and drew forty issues of Stray Bullets and then had to support his family so he left to work for the big companies, doing various work on things like Crossed, Detective Comics, and Deadpool MAX. Well he's back working on his baby, finishing the storyline in Stray Bullets #41 and starting a new series with Stray Bullets: Killers. I admit that I only ever read the first issue of his old run. This new issue is incredibly good, though, and he's apparently lost nothing. This book is weird as hell, very sadistic and very funny. The thing Lapham does best though is get kids right. The way they talk, act, bully. So spot-on. It's a one-in-done story about a boy that follows his father to a strip club. His old babysitter just happens to be a new stripper there and this babysitter's brother is friends with the kid. It just gets more violent from there. Terrific black and white art and a what-the-fuck ending that could provide more answers perhaps but it doesn't matter too much. Awesome stuff. ***1/2

NEW MARVEL BOOKS

Marvel has a new "idea." Their brilliant new idea is that people only like new things...so why not keep the new things coming? The past few months have brought a slew of cancelled titles: Journey to Mystery, Venom, Scarlet Spider, Morbius: The Living Vampire, FF, Cable & X-Force. A few other titles are going back to #1: Wolverine & the X-Men, Daredevil, The Amazing Spider-Man, X-Force. Their idea is that a book numbered in the hundreds is for suckers. Whatever. I still miss those big numbers. Besides returning books back to #1, they're putting out some new books as well (last year they brought out new titles like Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy, this year it's stuff like Magneto, Silver Surfer, Elektra, and New Warriors). So Marvel is trying to push sales higher by all new all the time. Like DC's "new 52" two and a half years ago...this kind of stuff is only good in the short term. What you really need is a good writer/artist and keep them together on the same book for the long haul.

Here's a few reviews of new titles that recently hit:

LOKI: AGENT OF ASGARD #1: Written and drawn by two guys I've never heard of, this one features the adventures of the jerk/teen Loki. The finale has the original, older Loki showing up which I guess is a good thing (remember J. Michael Straczynski had a hot female Loki parading around during his Thor run?). It's simple, okay to look at, fairly forgettable. Eh. * (out of ****)

EMPIRE OF THE DEAD #1: Written by George A. Romero with art by Alex Maleev, this is a zombie tale set in NYC. The catch? There's vampires in it. I hope werewolves aren't far behind...but Romero does a good job here. He's not a bat-shit crazy zombie writer, he builds worlds with real characters and heavy tension and suspense. It's creepy, a bit silly, but feels like one of his films. The stark, dirty dark art by Maleev fits perfectly here. Probably rough being a vampire in a zombie world...or perhaps it's easier. And can you become a zombie vampire? ***

THE PUNISHER #1: I miss the old days when there were multiple monthly Punisher books. These days we're lucky to even have one good one. The last one was the short-lived, critically raven upon Greg Rucka written book...that I didn't care for. We had Jason Aaron's awesome short-lived MAX title. Garth Ennis' bland run was long. And don't get me started on Franken Castle. This new one is pretty basic but it does feature a new locale; L.A. Other than that it's Castle against bad guys. The plot also has a group of secret police that are going after him. The art, by Mitch Gerads, is simple, effective. The script by Nathan Edmondson is paint-by-numbers but it works here. Nothing exceptional, but that's okay. **1/2

WINTER SOLDIER: THE BITTER MARCH #1: Hmmm...instead of cancelling The Winter Soldier title, why didn't they just shoehorn this awesome story into that title's run? Either way, Marvel loves #1's and this is a new mini-series written by Rick Remender and drawn by Roland Boschi. It's more a Nick Fury story, though, since it takes place during the Cold War when Bucky Barnes was the Russian's secret spy/warrior/killing machine known as...the winter soldier. I think Ed Brubaker was the one that made Bucky and the winter soldier the same person, which is ingenious, and so we get to see the "evil" Bucky at work here. The story is great; an evil mansion on a snowy hill-top filled with henchmen, a James Bond-esque opener with fisticuffs on skis. This is pure fun stuff. I could do without Madame Worm (Remender is known for his ridiculousness), but the rest is top notch. ***1/2

SHE HULK #1: Jeez...how long is this book going to last? I know that Marvel cancelled Red She-Hulk last year...and I didn't even know that existed. I thought I was up to date on comic books. Sigh. This new book got great reviews...but probably will sell half as many copies as a Spider-Man book. Charles Soule, the new go-to writer is writing this (he's currently writing Swamp Thing, Thunderbolts, Superman/Wonder Woman, Red Lanterns...and he's a lawyer in NYC). Which is good...because She-Hulk is a lawyer by day (but always with green skin). This book is basically a rip-off of Matt Fraction's , which is a good thing. This means it's light, comedic, and focuses on She-Hulk's daily life instead of her superhero stuff. This first issue was slick, enjoyable, but nothing outrageously good. Javier Pulido's art is cartoony, adequate, pretty. Soule does not have the good sense of humor Fraction has, though, so it feels a bit like a cheap version of Hawkeye. A good start, though. ***

Best Comic Book of 2013: SAGA

For the second year in a row, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staple's sci-fi/fantasy/romance comic book is the best book of the year. One of the reasons is the fact that it has everything and can't really be labeled. It has emotion, romance, action, humor, comedy, heroes, villains. It's totally bizarre, too. There's a lying cat, royal family members with talking heads, a one-eyed author, a cut-in-half ghost nanny. This book is insane but beautiful, highly entertaining, pretty to look at, funny, engrossing, hard to put down, easy to jump into. This is a masterpiece in the making.

Best Cover: HAWKEYE #8

David Aja is just killing it on the artwork for Hawkeye. There's not much to say about this killer cover except that the point of a good cover is to get your attention. THIS will get your attention. I love everything about this cover: the colors, the frayed edges making it look like an old-school, 70's porn mag, the image that makes you dying to know what's inside. Perfection.

Best Writer of 2013: BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

Saga is, quite basically, Romeo & Juliet in Space, and his "hero", Marko, is, more or less, Yorick from Y: the Last Man. But Vaughan still continuously surprises, excites, and entertains. His whip-smart quips and colorful characters are not all that he's good for; this book has a deep well of emotion running through it. The best scene from Saga was a simple scene when Marko is reminiscing about his now-dead father, remembering when he taught Marko how to fly an alien-creature (you know...like riding a bike). Just a perfectly written sequence.
Besides Saga, Vaughan launched a new book, The Private Eye, that takes place in a future where people wear masks and the internet is dead and gone for good reasons.
Everything Vaughan writes is super entertaining, emotional, humorous, action-packed, visceral, engaging, and fun. Hell, he even writes one of the best letters columns in the business.

Best Artist of 2013: ESAD RIBIC

Jason Aaron writing Thor: God of Thunder probably would have been enough, but my God, the glorious, beautiful, epic art work of Esad Ribic. Panels that look like famous paintings, covers that look just as bad-ass as they do enthralling. The artwork on this book was simply put, legendary.

Best Issue of 2013: AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE #1

I suppose you could be sick of zombies by now...but when a zombie book/film/show is done right, it can be insanely creepy and totally entertaining. This issue was both. The reason it was creepy and unsettling in a sense is because Archie and Jughead and Betty and Veronica and the crew from Riverdale are as innocent and carefree as can be. "Let's fuck up their world!" is not really something anyone has probably ever said (unless you're, like, evil). When a zombie outbreak occurs in their world it's not just a gimmick, it's something fresh and new. Writer Roberto Aguire-Sacasa (a play write and Glee writer) does a terrific job at creating a realistic way that a zombie outbreak would happen in this world (how many zombie movies or TV shows or comic books give a reason for the outbreak? NONE!). And the way he writes all of the characters makes it feel like a typical, gee-shucks Archie book except there's a sadistic undercurrent that bubbles up towards the end. The art, by Francesco Francavilla, is super-spooky and perfectly atmospheric. It's such a cool concept that it's almost a shock that it turned out as great as anyone thought it could've-should've-would've been.