The Talking Comics PULL LIST – April 20th, 2016

The TALKING COMICS PULL LIST 

Every Wednesday, the Talking Comics collective will post a mega-list of the comics they’re most excited to pull off the shelves that week. With the wide range of personal tastes on our staff here, you know there’s bound to be something worth sampling come New Comic Book Day!!!

Then, check back on Thursday and Friday to see if the comics on the Pull List met the team’s expectations with reviews and quippy quotables!!!

New Comic Book Day – April 20th, 2016

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AFTERSHOCK COMICS

Black Eyed Kids #1 – Written by Joe Pruett , Art by Szymon Kudranski

• It’s been a good year for horror comics and it’s been a GREAT year for the burgeoning Aftershock Comics. This new creator-owned work from Eisner winner Joe Pruett and Spawn artist Szymon Kudranski focuses on those times you answer the door and two little kids with completely black eyes (no irises… just blackness) ask to come in. That hasn’t happened to you? Well slap down your $1.99 and pick up this first issue! (PS – $1.99!!! A new comic for $1.99!? Crazy.) – Joey

BOOM! STUDIOS

Joyride #1 – By Jackson Lanzing & Marcus To 

• Described as perfect for fans of Young Avengers and Runaways, this looks like a story of kids trained to be soldiers rebelling against an oppressive regime. High hopes for this one! – HUW

Lumberjanes #25 – By Shannon Watters & Brooke A. Allen.

• It’s Lumberjanes and it’s an oversized issue, what more could you want?! -HUW
• What the junk!? – Mara

Jonesy #3 (of 4) – Written by Sam Humphries, Art by Caitlin Rose Boyle

Jumpin’ Jehosaphats! Jonesy has quickly become one of my favorite comic books from BOOM, and it’s already halfway done! According to solicits, this issue sees Jonesy pining not for love, but for a tattoo of her favorite anime character! What could go wrong? Between the spunky visuals and the even-spunkier heroine, Jonesy #3 is definitely at the top of my list this week. – Joey

DARK HORSE COMICS

Dept H #1 – By Matt Kindt 

• After thoroughly enjoying Mind MGMT and it’s crazy, mind-bending twists and turns I’ve been looking forward to this one. It kind of looks like Matt Kindt does The Abyss and that’s okay with me! – HUW

DC COMICS

Justice League #50 – By Geoff Johns & Jason Fabok

• After nearly 5 years Geoff Johns is saying goodbye to Justice League and he’s doing so in a 50 page epic. The ride started out pretty bumpy, but for well over 3 years Johns has been turing out great Justice League stories. To top it off, issue #50 marks the end of the long running, and oft delayed, Darkseid War.  Johns along with artist Jason Fabok have been a great match together and I’m intrigued to see how they resolve a story with so many moving parts. – Bobby

Action Comics #51 – By Peter Tomasi and Paul Pelletier, Sandra Hope Archer, and Tomeu Morey

• Hey, you wanna read Superman again?  Oh good, because the crossover “Super League” is incredible so far. Superman is dying is trying to find protectors to guard the earth after he’s gone What makes it stand out is Peter Tomasi is writing every issue of this “event”, which is a great thing.  He gets what makes a good Superman and this has made me very excited for Rebirth.  -JUSTIN

Superman: Lois and Clark #7 – By Dan Jurgens & Lee Weeks 

• I feel like this comic doesn’t get much love, and that’s a shame. It’s no secret that Dan Jurgens can write a terrific Clark and Lois, having wrote them for nearly a decade. Seeing that version of Lois and Clark hiding out in the New 52 universe has been an awesome story so far, especially with the reveal that their son, who isn’t aware of his parent’s old life, has powers of his own. As cliche as the Mark Waid adage of “You can’t hurt Superman, but you can break his heart” has become, this series is a perfect example of how true it is when it comes to top shelf level Superman storytelling. -Matt

Superman: American Alien #6 (of 7) – Written by Max Landis, Art by Jonathan Case

• You might not know it but the best Superman story to come out of DC Comics in a long time is almost over. This miniseries from Max Landis has had me hooked since the first issue, with a new snapshot in the Man of Steel’s life presented every month and drawn by a rotating cast of A-list artists to boot! This month Jonathan Case takes the reigns as the book’s interior artist while the story follows the rise of the “Superman” phenomenon taking Metropolis by storm. If it’s anything like the previous issues, this one won’t be as simple as it sounds.  – John D.

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

Twilight Zone Shadow #1 (of 4) – By David Avallone 

• The pulp/radio hero The Shadow is caught in the Twilight Zone! Pretty much all I needed to get invested in this mix of pulp and classic sci-fi. The Twilight Zone usually puts people into allegorical situations, while the Shadow is a hero who’s always in control, so I’m not sure how these two properties will mesh, but I’m excited to see how it pans out. -Angela

IDW PUBLISHING

Godzilla Oblivion #2 – By Joshua Fialkov, Brian Churilla & Jay Fotos

• An alternate earth where the Kaiju rule and Godzilla is the true undisputed King of the Monsters, Godzilla fan heaven! First issue was a hoot and managed to cram in Rodan, Mecha-Godzilla and King Ghidora as well as Big-G himself. Great art from Churilla, too! – HUW

IMAGE COMICS

Cry Havoc #4 – By Simon Spurrier and Ryan Kelly

• Cry Havoc has taken the werewolf concept and injected it with fresh and exciting ideas. Simon Spurrier has weaved a clever mystery box of interconnected time lines and tantalizing innuendo, but it’s Ryan Kelly’s art that is the star here. His rendering of our shape shifting main character is beautiful to behold. He is aided by three colorists Matt Wilson, Lee Loughridge, & Nick Filardi who bring their own pallets to each part of Lou’s life seal the deal in making this one of the best looking books out there. The solicit for the 4th issue merely reads “Mything in action” so sign me up! – Bobby

Huck #6 – By Mark Millar and Rafael Albuquerque

• Millar has been on some kind of roll lately and the charming Huck is no exception.  This issue concludes the miniseries and I expect it to be as awesome as the first few issues.  I’m hoping the conflict wraps up quickly so we can see more of aw-shucks Huck before our time with him ends. – JUSTIN

Invincible# 127 – By Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker

• Secretly, the greatest superhero book on shelves. I mean it.  Invincible is great because it moves the characters forward.  We’ve gone from a teenage hero to a mid-twenties one with a family.  Except that family thought he was dead for years and now he returns to them in this issue.  Did he miss too much time? Have they moved on without him?  OH THE FEELS!!!!! – JUSTIN

Switch #3 – By Stjepan Sejic

• The first two issues of this re-vamp of Witchblade were the usual Sejic quality mix of high-concept/high fun quotient, so it’s great to see this come out after a bit of a delay! – Bob

MARVEL COMICS

Mighty Thor #6 – By Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman, Rafa Garres, Matthew Wilson

• This month Aaron and Co. are taking un on a trip in the wayback machine. What they are dubbing “Throwback Thor’s Day.” We get a tale of young Thor adventuring in the age of Vikings and Loki conjuring Viking Hulk. At this point I’d read a Jason Aaron Thor book about anything, so I’m up for this month’s diversion. – Bobby 

  

Captain Marvel #4 – By Tara Butters & Kris Anka

• High stakes for Carol as her command of the Alpha Flight seems to be on rocky ground. Still waiting for this volume to really grab me… hopefully this’ll be the issue that finally sees it hit it’s stride. – HUW

Captain America: Road to War #1 – By Will Corona Pilgrim (best name ever!) & Andrea Di Vito

• Taking a chance on this one, with it being a $4.99 book (or £3 to us Welshies). Seeing Cap and Black Widow train Avengers is what has me interested for this one. It fills the gap between Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, so fingers crossed it’s a decent read! – HUW

Power Man & Iron Fist #3 – By David Walker & Sandford Greene

• I felt a little lost after the first issue of this, good though it was. The second made up for that and this book is shaping up to be a top-of-the-pile quality read. If you haven’t checked this book out yet, what in the fiddle-faddle are you doing?! – HUW

Howard the Duck #6 – By Chip Zdarsky & Joe Quinones

• This is the second part of “Animal House,” the epic crossover between Howard the Duck and Squirrel Girl (for the first part, reading Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #6). The first part featured a cosplaying villain (her actually-working cosplay props are epic) and Kraven the Hunter’s van (which is somehow even epic-er). I don’t usually pick up Howard, so this crossover (which usually backfires for me) has actually worked! -Angela

VALIANT COMICS

Divinity II #1 – Written by Matt Kindt, art by Trevor Hairsine, Ryan Winn, and David Baron 

• Divinity was one of my favorite comics of last year so I’m pretty pumped for round 2. The first go around dealt with a lot of interesting ideas of humanity and loyalty. All while wrapping itself in an almost Grant Morrison level of weirdness. This second arc promises to be a good jumping on point as it tells the tale of another member of the deep space Cosmonaut program. This time though she has no emotional ties to the world and that raises big questions for the future of humanity. Kindt is great at telling this kind of story and Hairsine’s art is stunning so all signs point to this being another win. – Bobby
• Last year’s Divinity was a mind trip and not typical of most of Valiant’s titles. Matt Kindt created something wholly original for the rebooted Valiant Universe, and it was impressive. We haven’t seen much of the character Divinity since the first mini-series (outside a brief cameo in Imperium). I’ve been waiting in anticipation to see what is next for a character with near god-level powers, but still attached to humanity and love of his family. Trevor Hairsine is one of my favorite artist over at Valiant, and I adored his work on Divinity and X-O Manowar. Fellow Valiant veterans, Ryan Winn (inks) and David Baron, will surely add to the quality of the art. – Adam

VERTIGO

Clean Room #7 – By Gail Simone, with art by Eric Canete and a cover by Jenny Frison

• Gail Simone’s ultra-creepy sci-fi/horror tale centering on a mysterious “self-help” organization dives into the back-story of its leader, Astrid Mueller which, knowing Ms. Simone’s work, will probably deliver more questions than answers! – Bob 

  

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And that’s our Pull List for this week!!! If you happen to pick up any of these books, please join the conversation here or on twitter and let us know what you think! As we update the site with reviews and verdicts on these comics, we’d love to include your input!

#READCOMICS