With So Few Interesting Comics, I Might Have To Go Outdoors In June

Who wants to be outside during the summer? Marvel's wrapping up War of Realms and Age of X-Man. There are about two dozen comics connected to the former (including Unbeatable Squirrel Girl), and at least a half-dozen to the latter. Of course, Marvel's already announced they're going to do an event comic about Carnage(???) later this year, not to mention they're bringing Jonathan Hickman back to do another event comic.

Because Secret Wars and Infinity were just so gosh-darn awesome. I'm actually surprised I remembered Infinity. The one where Thanos turned out to have a kid on Earth, and, uh, hmm. I don't actually remember anything else. There was some sort of alien collective that was a threat to all other life in the universe? Eh, whatever.

The only two new things I might buy are the Guardians of the Galaxy Annual, and the new Black Cat ongoing by Jed MacKay and Travel Foreman. The Annual might focus on cosmic characters I actually care about, which I don't think the ongoing is doing. You cannot make me care about Gladiator or Starfox, quit trying Marvel.

I'm concerned about Foreman as artist on Black Cat. The last thing I bought he drew was the second half of Immortal Iron Fist (after Aja/Brubaker/Fraction had all left), and I did not enjoy his work. It's done with a very gritty texture, and I would like this to look sleek and cool, what with being about a cat burglar. Maybe it will. Or they'll pull the old bait-n-switch on artists after the first arc.

Two notes on collections being offered. One is a complete tpb of Not Brand Ecch!, which might interest some of you. The other is a $100 omnibus of Marvel Universe by Rob Liefeld, which I'm sure will also interest someone. They could probably every comic in it for significantly less than that hundo out of back issue boxes, easily.

DC, Dial H for HERO is still the only thing I think I'm likely to be buying, and even that's uncertain since I haven't seen the first issue yet. I didn't mention last month that DC is doing their own Marvel Zombies, called DCEASED. I'm actually impressed they waited this long to go to that well. Oh, and Bendis is working with Alex Maleev on an event comic, Leviathan. Because Bendis-written event comics always go so well. Like that instant classic, Secret Invasion.

Kee-rist, let's move on. Dark Horse has a hardcover of Raule and Gabor's Isabellae, about a half-Japanese, half-Irish swordswoman searching for her lost sister with their father's ghost as company. Sounds kind of cool, and it's three volumes collected as one.

Boom is quiet this month, with Coda done, and Smooth Criminals seemingly on a skip month. That just leaves Giant Days and it looks as though it's going to be a sad issue. Damn comics, trying to make me have feelings.

Vault Comics has a new series by Christopher Sebela and Jen Hickman called Test, where the main character is a future junkie, and hears about a town that somehow has things that shouldn't exist for decades.

That was pretty much it. Quiet month, unless some of the stuff that's been badly delayed I've been waiting for decides to appear out of the blue.