Prospects Bloom As Spring Moves Forward

With the arrival of the solicitations for April, there's finally a decent number of comics I'm actually interested in. Why the hell all these people waited until spring, when people will want to be outside doing activities, to release these comics is beyond me. Winter is the time when we need reading material!

Anyway, Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson have a new series through Image, Adventureman, about a forgotten pulp hero type, and then a young boy and his mother remember and start getting tangled up in his old adventures. Which reminds me a bit of Fraction and Dodson's Defenders series, which I really didn't enjoy at all, but maybe it would go better with their own characters. The first issue of Jonathan Hickman and Mike Huddleston's book Decorum actually comes out in March, but the cover for the second issue caught my eye more effectively, since it depicts and old-school Western showdown in the street. Unfortunately, the solicit for issue 2 is identical to issue 1, which by itself was too vague to get me interested. Plus, I generally don't care for Hickman's writing. Hope there aren't any other books in here that are written by him!

The only thing I saw from Dark Horse was Chelsea Cain and Elise McCall's four-issue mini-series, Spy Island. At least one of the covers is done up to look like a time-worn cheap paperback, like some Alistair MacLean or Robert Ludlum book. The concept sounds generic, but if the execution is there, that won't matter. I'll probably at least give the first issue a shot.

DC has the third issue of the Amethyst mini-series, and the third issue of Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage. So that's two right there. In other news, Bendis is going to add new characters to the Legion of Super-Heroes. I know that's traditional, I just don't know if it's a good idea for him to add even more characters to the mix, since I can't imagine the book's moving at a blazing pace as it is. And the Teen Titans Annual suggests Damian Wayne might get fired as Robin. What?! You mean Bruce might actually hold his snot-nosed, sociopath kid responsible for some of the questionable shit he's done over the years? Will wonders never cease.

Seriously though, the first time he put on a Robin outfit, he killed one of Batman's foes. And Bruce let him be Robin. Compared to the arbitrary shit he used to penalize Cass and Stephanie Brown for, that is 19 different varieties of bullshit.

Moving on, Marvel is giving the Black Widow another ongoing series. I know she's got a new movie coming, but seriously? This is like the 5th attempt in the last decade, not counting various mini-series. It's not working. Speaking of bad ideas, Ed Brisson is going to bring Barracuda, the character introduced by Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov's Punisher MAX run, into the regular Marvel Universe, for a mini-series where he fights the Punisher. Why?

So Marvel has this "Outlawed" thing going, but they're also doing another event called Empyre? No, I didn't make a spelling error, that's how they spelled it. Where the Kree and the Skrulls decide to work together to attack Earth. You would think these idiots would just leave well-enough alone.

In news about things I'm actually buying, the Black Cat is going to rob Tony Stark, Deadpool is visiting Krakoa uninvited, and the solicits say a new arc begins this month, so I guess I'll start buying Runaways in April instead of March. I also noticed Travel Foreman and Chris Bachalo aren't listed as artist for Black Cat or Deadpool, respectively. Not surprised about the latter, but I am about the former, a little bit. Jed MacKay's writing a Taskmaster mini-series, with Alessandro Vitti as artist. I've had good luck with Taskmaster mini-series in the past. There's a New Warriors mini-series tying in to Outlawed by Daniel Kibblemsith and Luciano Vecchio, neither of whom I'm familiar with. The concept sounds a little dodgy, but I'm weak, so what the hell. I'll at least try the first issue. There's also a Nightcrawler one-shot, with art by Alan Davis (woo!) and written by. . . Jonathan Hickman? Aw crap.

Outside that, there's a few things carrying on from previous months. Wicked Things, third issue of Canopus, Sera and the Royal Stars #8. The solicit for the second issue of the seventh volume of Infinity 8 says the ship has been destroyed, which would seem to make it impossible to cancel this timeline if it turns out to be bad. Assuming I understand how the giant alien squid captain's power works.

The only other new thing I might consider is Cullen Bunn and Andy MacDonald's Rogue Planet book. MacDonald's work was not at fault for that trainwreck of a Multiple Man mini-series two years ago. I've never found Bunn's writing all that interesting, but I'm not sure what I've read of it that wasn't Marvel stuff. Maybe he's more engaging with his personal projects.

All told, that could add up to 14 comics, which is pretty good considering I'm not sure I'll be at 20 total for January through March.