This Week In Comics: 01/17/2007

[Clayface]

Welcome to This Week in Comics for January 17th, 2007 - January 23rd, 2007!

This is the place to discuss the comics you've bought this week, whether it be a brand new title or old back-issues. We also welcome and encourage talk about comics in general - news you've read on comic news sites, the state of the industry in general, upcoming issues you're excited about, etc. All we ask is that you please use spoiler brackets in the event that your comments get too detailed concerning a particular storyline. This way the book won't be ruined for anyone who hasn't read it yet.

For a list of the new items shipping this week, please consult Diamond Comics' Shipping List (http://www.diamondcomics.com/shipping/shipping_011707.txt).

To find a comic book store near you, check out the Comic Shop Locator Service (http://csls.diamondcomics.com/).


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Highlights of the Week!




Clayface's Pick:

http://www.boom-studios.com/img/stardustkid/SDK-5-cover-BW-web.jpg (http://www.boom-studios.com/stardustkid.html)
Stardust Kid #5 (of 5)




wonderfly's Pick:

http://www.boom-studios.com/img/stardustkid/SDK-5-cover-BW-web.jpg
Stardust Kid #5 (of 5)




Ace the Bathound's Picks:

http://www.onipress.com/covers/laafl6.jpg (http://www.onipress.com/graphicnovels/gn.php?id=141)....http://www.edwick.com/comics/CastleWaiting4.jpg (http://www.fantagraphics.com/artist/medley/medley.html)
Love as a Foreign Language #6...............Castle Waiting II #4....




"Theme Week" Highlights of the Week:



Clayface's Pick for "Best Ed Brubaker Story Ever":

http://comics.toonzone.net/solicitations/2003-07/batman/t-detective784.jpg (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=80256)http://comics.toonzone.net/solicitations/2003-08/batman-superman/t-detective785.jpg (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=84289) http://comics.toonzone.net/solicitations/2003-09/batman-superman/t-detective786.jpg (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=87351)
Detective Comics #784-786: "Made of Wood"



Guest "Pick of the Week" by rggkjg1:

http://www.dccomics.com/media/covers/6714_180x270.jpg........................http://www.idwpublishing.com/titles/startrek/STNG_01_Calerosm.jpg (http://www.idwpublishing.com/titles/startrek.shtml)
Sandman Mystery Theater: Sleep of Reason #2.......Star Trek: TNG - The Space Between #1


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[wonderfly]

I think it's time we brought back the tradition of mini-reviews here in the "This Week in Comics" thread! This week, I'll be picking up:

Conan #36: The end of a two-part tale set in the days of King Conan. It's interesting enough, but feels like another diversion from the main plotline, (of Conan's younger days). Can we just get around to the classic "Rogues in the House" already?!? But if I must judge this issue on it's storytelling alone, it's a fun tale, (Tim Truman has proven to me he can write Conan) but it doesn't feel like a true sequel to "The Phoenix on the Sword", (the villian of that story was Thoth Amon, yet here Conan turns his quest for vengeance against the Picts...Roy Thomas did a perhaps better sequel years ago in the pages of Savage Sword of Conan). On the other hand, there's a nice nod to the history of King Kull in this issue, and Paul Lee's artwork is very nice, so it's a decent enough read...but seriously, (I'll say it again), CAN WE GET ON WITH "ROGUES IN THE HOUSE" ALREADY?!?! Grade: B+

Conan and the Midnight God #1:

Fantastic Four #542: It's Dwayne McDuffie's first issue on the book, and we FINALLY get a real explaination for why Reed supports the Registration Act! We're off to a good start here...if we can just leave the shadow of Civil War behind, this book will definently be a "must read" for some time to come! Grade: B

Sensational Spider-Man #34: See the talkback thread for my thoughts on this issue...

She-Hulk #15:

Spider-Man: Reign #2: See the talkback thread for my thoughts on this issue...

Stardust Kid #5: (I'll get it if my store remembered to order it after all this time...)

Reviews to follow as I read them!

[Ed Liu]

Look, I like him and all, but it's official...the hype about Sen. Barack Obama (http://obama.senate.gov/) has Gone Too Far:

http://obama.senate.gov/img/superman.jpg

OK, it's all just clowning (http://obama.senate.gov/photo/001122.html), apparently, and the comparison makes at least as much sense as being put alongside Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwDlTkWtJZ4).

-- Ed

[wonderfly]

Quick question: Does anyone know how many Conan TPB's Dark Horse has released by now, and what issues are collected in which TPB's? They've thrown in so many "side stories" into the main Conan comic book, (to give Cary Nord time to finish his artwork) that I'm no longer sure where stories officially end or begin, for that matter...

[Ed Liu]

Quick question: Does anyone know how many Conan TPB's Dark Horse has released by now, and what issues are collected in which TPB's? They've thrown in so many "side stories" into the main Conan comic book, (to give Cary Nord time to finish his artwork) that I'm no longer sure where stories officially end or begin, for that matter...

3 TPBs with a fourth solicited for advance order this month (I think it hits in June). The only stories that haven't been collected yet are the Kurt Busiek/Greg Ruth "Born on the Battlefield" stories, which I'm pretty sure Kurt has said will be collected in one volume once they're all finished. Full details (including what issues are included where) can be found at the Dark Horse Comics Conan books page (http://www.darkhorse.com/search/search.php?frompage=userINPUT&sstring=Conan&match=all&scope=products&type=tpb&startmonth=all&startyear=all&endmonth=all&endyear=all&genre=all). The only really weird decision was to split issue #7 between 2 different trades, although the split is pretty seamless as far as I can tell.

New production blog entry by Jeff Smith about Shazam and the Monster Society of Evil, this time focusing on Talky Tawny the tiger (http://www.boneville.com/2007/01/18/shazam-production-journal-gzopb-gzdmb-gsv-grtvi-grtvi/):

http://www.boneville.com/wp-content/uploads/TT1.jpg

Now that's a talking tiger! Man, everything I see about this series makes me more and more impatient to see the final product.

Also contains some extra stuff on how Smith puts a page together. Neat stuff.

-- Ed

[rggkjg1]

i'll do some comments on my picks:

STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION: THE SPACE BETWEEN #1 - the first of six one shot stories that will span through out the timeline in TNG. this first issue takes place durring the first seaon of the show and features 2 of the most used and popular cliche's used in star trek. meeting a new civilization who recently opened up communications to the federation and time travel. this is not necessarily a bad thing. what better way to begin a new series by introducing a new civilization? throwing in some time travel couldn't hurt i guess. it seems everything can be sloved these days if you could simply go back in time. i think this series will be easily accessible to a "casual" fan, which is possibly why they chose the time travel and new civilization approach.

i look forward to future issues of the space between. since these stories will be self contained, i really hope we see a mirror universe TNG story. either in the space between or a TNG mirror universe mini series. this is one of the most popular concepts used in start trek and i feel it's been rarely used. TNG crew has to meet their evil counterparts.

comicbookresources.com talks with writer david tischman and reveals about upcoming issues. also discussed are the next 2 star trek comic books to be coming later this year. also featured is an 11 page preview of the space between #1. check it out.
http://comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=9370

[Ed Liu]

Marvel Month-to-Month Sales in November 2006 (http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2007/01/23/marvel-month-to-month-sales-november-2006/). Best quote of the whole thing:


ULTIMATES 2
12/02 #9 - 101,811
12/03 #12 - 104,572
12/04 #1 - 146,271
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12/05 #9 - 94,493 ( -1.5%)
01/06 —
02/06 —
03/06 #10 - 94,900 ( +0.4%)
04/06 —
05/06 —
06/06 #11 - 96,751 ( +2.0%)
07/06 —
08/06 —
09/06 #12 - 99,538 ( +2.9%)
10/06 —
11/06 —
12/06 — Late again. December saw the second anniversary of issue #1. Isn’t that sweet?Quick, someone find a quote from Mark Millar from 2004 when he talked about how important it was that Ultimates 2 wouldn't ship late :evil:.

-- Ed