Coming This Week: "Miss Jones Taught Me English, But I Think I Just Shot Her Son"

Is it just me, or does this seem like an extraordinarily light week? In any case, I’ll certainly be picking up Joe The Barbarian #1 (DC/Vertigo). I don’t know about you, but new Grant Morrison for just a buck seems like a no brainer. The previews of Sean Murphy’s art look intriguing and I’m tempted by the notion of sorting out fact from delirium inside the kid’s mind. Considering Marvel just announced their cancellation of S.W.O.R.D. with issue #5, I guess we really won’t be getting any more Kitty Pryde in that book. Perhaps the announcement of her return in Uncanny X-Men #522 makes a tad more sense now, different book and different creative team not withstanding. Just when I was ready to give up the title because of the (at times) competent writing and sub-par art, I’m back in at least until I gets me some Kitty Pryde. [Cue raspy Al Pacino as Michael Corleone: “Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in!”] So, I’ll be picking up Uncanny X-Men #520 (Marvel) this week. Also of note is Young Liars TPB: Volume 3: Rock Life (DC/Vertigo), which I believe will collect the last chunk of the series before it was cancelled. I picked up most of the run out of a dollar bin a while back and I enjoyed it. I can’t say I always understood it, but I enjoyed it. David Lapham’s pencils are always a treat (especially in color) and seeing him channel his inner Grant Morrison on the storytelling front, ducking and weaving all over the place, was fun. I know this series has some die hard fans out there, so it’s great DC is promptly collecting this. Unlike say… [cough!] nine issues of Automatic Kafka [cough!] still never being collected despite [cough!] pretty big name creators like Joe Casey and Ashley Wood and a rabid fan following [cough!].