Four Comics I Want for NCBD: 2016/04/06

By comicconjohn: on April 5, 2016 • ( 0 )

This week was tough. There were soooo many good issues out this week that your wallet could be feeling a lot lighter after this Wednesday (I know mine will!).

Gold Key: Alliance #1 (of 5) ($3.99, Dynamite Entertainment): Solar, Man of the Atom, Magnus, Robot Fighter, The Mighty Samson and Turok, Dinosaur Hunter. All together in one book! I am so in on this one. The classic covers from Solar that were painted by George Wilson knocked me out when I saw them as a kid but I never had any of those books in my collection. My first real experience with Solar, Magnus and Turok came when they each had a resurgence with Valiant in the mid-nineties but Dynamite now has the license on these characters and they are bringing them back in a big way.

Writer Phil Hester and artist Brent Peeples will be unifying these heroes against a common foe in our world and in our time. I’m very curious as to how these characters all come together and how quickly it will take them to get along. Superheroes tend to fight when they first meet (see every team movie every).

Phil will be here next month for Planet Comicon and Brent is a regular there but hasn’t been announced so there is a good chance that the creative team on this one could be in Kansas City in May to autograph the first two issues of this bad boy.

Wonder Woman Earth One Volume One ($22.99, DC Comics): I have already had a chance to glance through this book (but not yet read it) when I interviewed Yanick Paquette at C2E2 last month. It is GORGEOUS. Paquette’s style with Fairbairn’s colors makes you feel like you are reading a dream. The designs of Themyscira look like a Greek Paradise Island indeed and mark a stark contrast to the world of men. Paquette even draws himself into the book as a doctor that keeps being ignored as Diana talks to the female nurse that clearly must be in charge.

Oh yeah and some bloke named Grant Morrison wrote this book. Morrison stated that he wanted to get back to the roots of William Moulton Marston’s vision of the character. Marston was a very interesting cat so this should be intriguing. Is the world of men ready for Diana? Is the world of comic readers ready for Morrison and Paquette’s version of Diana? We shall see!

Black Panther #1 ($3.99, Marvel Comics): One of the characters that I’m most excited to see in the upcoming Civil War is Black Panther. T’Challa is the King of the African nation of Wakanda and this book will be focused on his duel role as monarch and defender of one of the world’s most technically advanced cultures. A superhuman terrorist group and a violent social among her people may force Wakanda and her leader to change, but how?

MacArthur Genius and National Book Award winner Ta-Nehisi Coates writes this story and is teamed up with legendary artist Brian Stelfreeze and colorist Laura Martin. I’ve read that you do not need to be up on all the history of Black Panther to get into this one but I’ve also read that this story line is going to run 12 issues so you do need to be ready for an epic journey! Don’t wait for Civil War to get your taste of Black Panther!

Empress #1 ($3.99, Marvel Comics) Mark Millar is a blockbuster idea machine and (in my humble opinion) his best work has been his creator owned work done at Image and under Marvel’s Icon line. Millar returns to Icon with this series about a woman looking to take her three children and escape from her dangerous husband. Oh, BTW, her husband happens to be an evil galactic dictator ans she is the Queen of the Earth of 65 million years ago. Don’t let the sci-fi setting fool you though, this is very much a story about human experiences.

Artwork on this book is provided by Stuart Immonen following up his run over on Star Wars. I have loved Immonen’s work since his Legion of Super-Heroes and he has only become more masterful since then. Wade Von Grawbadger will join in on inks with Dave McCaig on colors.

The series is set to run in three 6-issue arcs so settle in for this one!

As always, WCPE is happy to be publishing #FCIW with the support of Elite Comics in Overland Park, KS. William and the Elite Crew run a friendly, clean, and safe comic shop which is welcoming to all and supportive of many local and national non-profits including The Hero Initiative. Stop in, pick up these four books, and let the gang at Elite Comics know that the Worst. Comic. Podcast. EVER! sent you over.