Crystal Ball: March 2007 Solicitations, Part I

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My monthly look at select comic books being solicited for release by the major direct market publishers in March 2007. Independent publishers will follow in a separate post. Links to full solicitations from almost every publisher can be found at MillarWorld.

[NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your local comic book shop (LCBS) offers a pre-ordering service, download a convenient order form from Diamond and be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com]

DETECTIVE COMICS #829 & 830
Written by Stuart Moore, Art by Andy Clarke, Covers by Simone Bianchi
Issue #829 on sale March 7; issue #830 on sale March 21 o 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Overall, I really liked Stuart Moore’s work on Firestorm, and while Paul Dini’s run on Detective has been solid, I think this title works best when multiple creators take a stab at the Dark Knight and company.

BATMAN AND THE MAD MONK TP
Written by Matt Wagner, Art and cover by Wagner
Advance-solicited; on sale April 18 o 144 pg, FC, $14.99 USBATMAN AND THE MONSTER MEN TP
On sale March 7 o 144 pg, FC, $14.99 US o Relist

Some of the best Batman stories DC’s published in a long while, I hope Wagner has many more in him.

THE BLUE BEETLE #13
Written by John Rogers, Art and cover by Rafael Albuquerque
On sale March 28 o 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

One of the best things to come out of Infinite Crisis, I’m looking forward to Rogers’ solo take on the character and his intriguing backdrop.

Dark Horse

FEAR AGENT VOLUME 2—MY WAR
RICK REMENDER (W) and JEROME OPENA (A)
On sale May 30, FC, 136 pages, $14.95, TPB, 7 ” x 10 “

Collects issues #5-10 of one the best titles Image had going…now residing at Dark Horse. I switched to trade-waiting on this one after the first arc and the artist/publisher switcheroo was announced, and am looking forward to checking in on the latest adventures of Heath Huston.

STAR WARS: LEGACY #10
JOHN OSTRANDER (W), COLIN WILSON (A), BRAD ANDERSON (C), and DAVE ROSS (Cover)
On sale March 14, FC, 32 pages, $2.99, Ongoing

I never thought I’d get into any of the Star Wars comics, much less on a monthly basis, but Legacy has been too good to wait for the trade. Colin Wilson steps in art, an rather extreme change from Jan Duursema, so it will be interesting to see if/how Ostrander changes the tone to keep things flowing smoothly.

Image Comics

DYNAMO 5 #1
story JAY FAERBER, art MAHMUD ASRAR, cover MAHMUD ASRAR & RON RILEY
32 PAGES, FC, MARCH 7, $3.50

There are some people who think superheroes are best left to Marvel and DC, but I wholeheartedly believe that there is still a ton of untapped potential in the genre and this sounds like it could be interesting: “Captain Dynamo, the greatest super-hero in the world, was not the most faithful husband. Now he’s dead and his family is trying to piece together their lives. As his enemies descend on his unprotected city, Captain Dynamo’s widow rounds up his five illegitimate children, each of whom have inherited one of their father’s super-powers.” I’ve never read Noble Causes — which is up to issue #25, so Faerber has a track record for keeping an indie title going — but I’ve heard good things about it, and Dodge’s Bullets was a solid read, so I’ll be checking this one out.

CASANOVA, VOL. 1: LUXURIA TP
story MATT FRACTION, art & cover GABRIEL BA
144 PAGES, 2C, MARCH, $12.99

If you’ve not already jumped on the Casanova bandwagon, here’s your chance to take a wild ride in one fell swoop. Collects the first 7 issues of Fraction and Ba’s incredibly addictive series.

THE CROSS BRONX, VOL. 1 TP
story by MICHAEL AVON OEMING & IVAN BRANDON, art & cover by MICHAEL AVON OEMING
136 PAGES, FC, MARCH 7, $16.99

The first issue piqued my interest a bit, but then I went on hiatus and missed the next two and decided to wait for the trade. Kind of pricey for a four-issue mini-series, and disappointingly timed for release after next year’s NY Comic-Con, though, which would have been an ideal time and place to release it. Maybe Brandon and Oeming will have some copies available?

Marvel Comics

SPIDER-MAN: BACK IN BLACK HANDBOOK
Written by MIKE FICHERA, RONALD BYRD, AL SJOERDSMA, STUART VANDAL, ANTHONY FLAMINI, MICHAEL HOSKIN, JEFF CHRISTIANSEN, SEAN MCQUAID & MADISON CARTER; Cover by AARON LOPRESTI
48 PGS./NO ADS/Rated T+ …$3.99

With the recent returns of Bucky and Jason Todd, it’s clearly true that no one stays dead in comics. There are still a couple of characters whose deaths need not be retconned, and this questionable issue’s solicitation info refers to one of them: “Are the rumors of Uncle Ben’s return from the grave true?” I really hope not…

DAREDEVIL #95
Written by ED BRUBAKER, Penciled by MICHAEL LARK, Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

One of a small handful of core Marvel titles not solicited blindly as “CLASSIFIED INFORMATION!” bodes well for Ed Brubaker’s ability to keep DD as separated from the Civil War nonsense as possible.

HEROES FOR HIRE #8
Written by ZEB WELLS, Art by AL RIO & TOM PALMER, Cover by WILLIAM TUCCI
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

I’m not familiar with Zeb Wells’ work, so I haven’t decided whether or not to drop this when Palmiotti and Gray move on, but this issue’s cover is so ill-conceived that it’s almost funny. Almost…

HULK AND POWER PACK #1 (of 4)
Written by MARC SUMERAK & PAUL TOBIN, Art by DAVID WILLIAMS & CHRIS GIARUSSO, Cover by DAVID WILLIAMS
32 PGS./All Ages …$2.99

Marvel and Marc Sumerak keep churning out adventures of my favorite kiddie team, though this time without Gurihiru providing the visuals, which is a little disappointing. Nevertheless, it’s the Hulk and Power Pack, so it should be a fun romp, untainted by Civil War.

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #4
Written by ED BRUBAKER & MATT FRACTION, Pencils and Cover by DAVID AJA
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

Upon reading the first issue, Ed Brubaker officially became The Man, and Matt Fraction is the man next to The Man. It’s Iron Fist, but it’s better than it has any right to be. David Aja does nice visual work, too. My only fear is Brubaker’s workload will begin to take a toll on him and either the quality of his work or the level of his output will begin to suffer. Of course, he could just be pulling a Giffen (see Blue Beetle), setting Fraction up before stepping away and letting him roll with things. Based on the first five issues of Casanova, that wouldn’t be a bad turn of events.

INCREDIBLE HULK #104
Written by GREG PAK, Penciled by CARLO PAGULAYAN, Cover by LADRÖNN
32 PGS./Rated A …$2.99

Hopefully Pak can maintain the fun factor of Planet Hulk as it nears ever-closer to returning the green goliath to the center of the Marvel Universe via World War Hulk. Fingers crossed, not terribly hopeful…

MOON KNIGHT #9
Written by CHARLIE HUSTON, Penciled by MICO SUAYAN, Cover by DAVID FINCH
32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$2.99, FOC – 3/1, On-Sale – 3/21/2007, USE THIS CODE TO ORDER: NOV062306

So, as expected, David Finch couldn’t even last a full year on Moon Knight, bowing out midway through the second arc. Lame. I’m glad, though, because his hyper-steroidal style was testing my affinity for the character and Huston’s appealing take on him. New artist Mico Suayan looks like a nice discovery, though.

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.

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