4.01.15 [#PicksOfTheWeek]

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Welcome to Picks of The Week for April 1, 2015! In the top slot this week, the Distinguished Competition is offering the long-awaited Sinestro Annual #1 (DC). If you’re following the series as closely as I am, then you know that a mysterious traitor has been lurking in the Sinestro Corps for some time. And, if you’re anything like me and my good friends Daniel Elkin and Keith Silva, you know that the cover can hopefully only mean one thing. It’ll be even more ret-conned Lantern Lore, perhaps the reveal of the peace-loving horticulturists, the Almond-Beige Lanterns, and their attempt to take down our favorite character in all of comics – Larfleeze! (aka: Agent Orange, aka: “Gonzo,” who DC Comics Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns ingeniously created by combining the words “lard” and “sleaze.” Classic!)

I would also be remiss in not recommending the visceral violence in Deathstroke #3 2nd Print (DC). Deathstroke is really an underrated gem of a title (and character in general), full of the inherent irony of a contract cape-killer who never quite seems to hit his mark and actually kill who he was hired to kill. It’s the epitome of the glorious illusion of change we all love in mainstream comics. While I do already have the first print of this issue, I’m such a completist when it comes to The New 52 Universe titles that I’ve been slowly picking up every printing, of even these second tier non-key issues, in order to have the complete set for maximum collectability. Check out that cover, with blood-spattered globules suspended in mid-air!

I’ll also be picking up Convergence #0 (DC). I’m not sure who’s writing or drawing this one because it’s done in that homogenous DC House Style I just love, but what’s important is that it’s the kick-off of the latest mega-crossover event from DC Comics (when I was a kid, these events were reserved for summers, so I’m glad they’re now year-round and one just leads right into the next, ad infinitum), with plenty of ancillary one-shots and off-shoot mini-series to pick up. I don’t understand why some of the haters out there complain about endless DC Event malaise when they’re this exciting. It promises to be “the biggest event in DC History,” and I believe it this time when they say this will resolve continuity once and for all. From The Wild West Justice League to Captain Carrot & The Amazing Zoo Crew, “Every Story Matters” according to the truthiness of the solicitation copy!

At The House of Ideas, I’m really excited for Spider-Gwen #3 (Marvel). Not necessarily because it features a modern female protagonist with a fresh creative team that first made their name in indie comics, and is a title bringing throngs of “civilians” into the LCS every week, but because this sucker will probably fund my first-born’s college tuition! I’ve already pre-ordered 30 copies of this book from my retailer, that’s 27 of the regular cover, with all 3 variants, and I plan to submit those for professional grading and slabbing through CGC before hitting eBay. I never got around to actually reading it, but I’ve made a small fortune on the first 2 issues and the sky’s the limit (and that’s not even counting my sales of Edge of Spider-Verse #2, her first appearance!). Has anyone even read this? Is it really that good?

Marvel also has Return of The Living Deadpool #3 (Marvel) available this week. It promises a planet overrun with Deadpools and a tummy sore from laughing! Haha! I definitely love that kind of non-cerebral pratfall sight-gag humor in my self-aware superhero meta-fiction, and I can only hope we’ll see more of Deadpool (and Wolverine, for that matter) in the comics and movies and video games and toys and classy hooded sweatshirts and Funko Pop! Figures and Zombie Variant Covers and Ryan Reynolds homages to Burt Reynolds because I think he might be just a touch under-exposed and under-utilized as an IP at the moment. Pro Tip: There’s money to be made here, Marvel.

My regular readers know that I don’t veer away from beloved Marvel and DC characters very often (and I especially try to avoid that weird creator-owned stuff as a general rule), but when I do branch out, it’s usually because I love adaptations of TV shows, even if they’re based on a mediocre series from 1999. That’s right, it’s Angel & Faith Season 10 #13 (Dark Horse). Some people might be confused by the continuity, but it’s basically just the continuation of the previous Angel & Faith comic book series from Dark Horse (which was a continuation of the Angel series from IDW Publishing), AND picks up from the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Nine comic book series, which was a make-believe “continuation” of the original TV show that spawned the Angel spin-off TV show in the first place, which this title obviously features characters from. Easy. In addition to vampires being such a hip new concept to explore, this arc has showcased a very original idea, the return of magic, and what could be more clever than Angel acting as the Sheriff of a place called “Magic Town?”