01.30.12 Shipping Report

Mara #2 (Image) is the only sure-buy single for me this week. It’s the tale of a superpowered athlete who has her life turned upside down and I dig the Kirbyesque retro 50’s romance cover from Ming Doyle. The other single that is a maybe is Deathmatch #2 (Boom!). I’m not sure I’ll like it for full price, but Paul Jenkins is always a capable writer and I found the $1 #1 issue to have more depth than the basic bracketing-off gimmick would suggest, so I’ll give it a hard look. I’m also pleased to recommend Global Frequency TPB (DC) which collects all 12 issues of the old WildStorm title in one volume for the first time. It’s Warren Ellis performing the lost art of the done-in-one while a larger story lurks in the background, with a buffet of cool artists, and original covers designed by Mr. Brian Wood.

UPDATE: I missed these the first time around (blame the flu!); the X-Men: Blank Generation TPB (Marvel) and Ultimate Comics: Divided We Fall, United We Stand HC (Marvel) are both out this week too. I can wholeheartedly recommend the former with artist David Lopez, which will surely give all you new fans some idea of what the impending X-Men run (yeah, the one with all the women) from Brian Wood will likely feel like. The Ultimate Comics HC is a huge piece of entertainment, collecting the X-Men, Ultimates, and Spider-Man recent activity in the Ultimate Comics world.