On The Shelves: 03/28/07, by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Reprinted courtesy of Comic Book Commentary.

Reading is fundamental. Read what you like; don’t waste your time reading bad comics out of habit!

My weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 3/28/07. The full shipping list, as always, is available at ComicList.

[NOTE: Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your LCBS offers a pre-ordering service, be sure to take advantage of it. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com]

PICK OF THE WEEK

Joe & Max #2 (The Guardian Line)

DARK HORSE COMICS

Conan and the Songs of the Dead TPB
, $14.95

Star Wars: Boba Fett--Man With A Mission
, $12.95

Star Wars: Legacy #10
, $2.99

Joe Lansdale pens an entertaining take on my favorite barbarian, with Tim Truman matching his bloody tone step for step, and I’ll be picking up a copy of the TPB for my father-in-law who loves the regular ongoing series. *** Boba Fett remains my favorite character from the Star Wars franchise, and last year’s Overkill one-shot was a fun read, so I’m looking forward to this collection. *** John Ostrander continues to weave an intriguing tale of chaotic neutral Skywalker progeny, Cade, and the future of that galaxy far, far away that’s been already more entertaining and imaginative than the three previous movie sequels combined.

DC COMICS
Blue Beetle #13, $2.99
Firestorm The Nuclear Man #34, $2.99

Two of DC’s more prominent minority, B-list characters are heading in opposite, though equally entertaining directions, as John Rogers has exciting plans for Blue Beetle’s second year, and Dwayne McDuffie aims to give Firestorm a proper, if untimely, send-off.

GUARDIAN LINE
Code #2, $2.99
Genesis Five #2, $2.99
Joe & Max #2, $2.99

The problem with bi-monthly serialized comics, especially new ones, is that it’s easy for them to fall off the radar before they have a proper chance to make an impact in the marketplace. That said, the debuts for all three of The Guardian Line’s inaugural titles were solid reads and I’m hoping they find not only the black, Christian audience they’re targeting, but a larger one beyond that who find the underlying concept, “heroes who try to do the right thing”, appealing.

IMAGE COMICS
Strange Girl #15, $3.50

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a million times more: Strange Girl is a criminally underrated and under-read series, one of the best Image is publishing these days.

MARVEL COMICS
Captain America 2nd Ptg Epting Var #25 CW, $3.99
Civil War Initiative 2nd Ptg Silvestri Var, $4.99

Daredevil #95
, $2.99

Despite their inescapable connections to the craptacular Civil War, Captain America #25 and Civil War: Initiative couldn’t be more glaringly different in their handling of their plot-hammered editorial objectives, as the former tells a compelling story that resonates emotionally (especially in context of the larger story Ed Brubaker’s been telling from the first issue), while the latter is a blatant cash-grab of offensive proportions. *** Meanwhile, over in Daredevil, Brubaker has quietly and satisyingly wrapped up his first year of post-Bendis surgery while pretty much avoiding Civil War, and now gets to move forward into the new Marvel Universe relatively unencumbered by outside influences.

VIRGIN COMICS LLC
Walk-In #4, $2.99
Virulents (One Shot) #1, $4.99

Walk-In started to lose me last issue and its whacked-out premise really needs to find some firm footing in this issue or I’m bailing out. *** Virulentsreally vague description sounds intriguing, and the preview pages look interesting, but I can’t imagine its pre-orders were very high based on that limited information. I’m lucky enough that Midtown surely ordered a good amount, but I’m guessing the average LCBS shopper won’t even have the opportunity to give it a flip-through.