The Summer of Valiant is almost over but X-O Manowar is ramping up for the fight of his life, Batman Beyond Unlimited Universe jumps ahead a year in Neo-Gotham, plus Triple Shot favorite Mark Waid gives Indestructible Hulk the Doctor Who treatment and drops him into the Wild Wild West.
Wash it all down with 12 pages of The Fez from Roger Langridge found backstage at Babette’s Supper Club.
X-O MANOWAR #16
WRITER: Robert Venditti
ART: Lee Garbett
Publication Date: August 21, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Valiant Comics
UPC: 85899200303101611
Buy it HERE
Aric of Dacia has returned from rescuing slaves from The Vine on Planet Death, and now he’s home.
A flashback to the Visigoth Aric looks much like Thor the Mighty Avenger on the title page, being schooled by his former mentor, Gilad The Eternal Warrior.
Flash forward to present day Romania, where Aric breaks into the National Museum of History to reclaim his father’s throne and fulfill his destiny as king.
Two of the most powerful heroes in the Valiant Universe go head to head as The Eternal Warrior sees firsthand the might of the alien X-O armor.
This series is the lead-up to the fall Unity event at Valiant that will pit Aric against Ninjak, Toyo Harada (Harbinger), The Eternal Warrior and more. Aric is on the path to reclaim not only his throne, but conquer the Earth itself, fulfilling the destiny of his people.
The Valiant crossover event looks promising with Matt Kindt at the helm, and this main book by Venditti and Garbett continues to impress with great stories and art.
BATMAN BEYOND UNLIMITED UNIVERSE #1
WRITER: Kyle Higgins, Christos Gage
ART: Thony Silas, Iban Coello
Publication Date: August 21, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: DC Comics
UPC: 76194131789200111
Buy it HERE
There are two full stories here, collecting the digital first comics Batman Beyond 2.0 and Justice League Beyond 2.0. Both stories jump ahead one year after the reveal of the new Batgirl Beyond and the 10000 Clowns storyline.
Kyle Higgins (Nightwing) kicks off his run on Terry McGuinness with a re-opening of The Arkham Institute, a mid-air Man-Bat fight and a ‘round the table introduction to the people most important to keeping Batman Beyond out there on the streets, Dick Grayson and Commissioner Barbara Gordon.
Where’s Bruce? He’s there, but observing. For the first time, Bruce Wayne is not in the mentor role, as reported by the writers, to shake things up a bit.
Terry and Babs tackle a murder at Arkham, with Grayson advising from his acrobatics gymnasium. This story is off to a great start and if you care to read this digitally, you will be ahead of the print readers. Kyle Higgins knows Nightwing so his interpretation of the older Grayson is fun to read.
Some of the coolest Superman stories are those in which he is weakened by Kryptonite, or otherwise de-powered.
What is happening in Beyond is that something is wonky with how Superman is processing his solar energy and he is losing control over his powers. In an ode to a Cyclops mess-up, Supes nearly takes out Aquagirl with his heat vision and is forces into exile in his Fortress of Solitude.
Micron helps out with his physiological problems and returns Clark to one of his previous New 52 professions—a firefighter. Unable to use his Kryptonian powers, can he rescue a cat this time? It might be hard! Christos Gage is at the helm of the JLB, and the two books compliment themselves nicely and exist in the same space and time.
Bruce is the one who tells Superman to go away, of course!
INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #12
WRITER: Mark Waid
ARTIST: Matteo Scalera
Publication Date: August 21, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Marvel Comics
UPC: 75960607908701211
Buy it HERE
No big deal, its just that Bruce Banner’s consciousness is floating around in a robot orb, and Hulk proper is fighting a dinosaur in the 1800s as Western Marvel heroes Two-Gun Kid, Kid Colt and Rawhide Kid stand aghast!
Heck, throw in a little Back to the Future III train track for good measure, why don’t ya?
Waid is a huge Doctor Who fan, and it shows in the latest issue of Indestructible Hulk.
Matteo Scalera absolutely slays on art here with a style and line similar to Lenil Yu.
Hulk smashes the CHRONARCHISTS before being jumped Quantum Leap style into his next issue where he is to face off against The Black Knight and the Knight-Exiles of Lost Camelot!
The issue is dubbed “Agents of T.I.M.E.—part Two”, but I believe this to be a great one an done time travel Hulk adventure tale that is a great jumping on point for people who aren’t already reading this book starring a Hulk that’s used as a weapon of S.H.I.E.L.D., and a Bruce Banner as their lead scientist.
THE FEZ #1
Writer/Artist: Roger Langridge
Price: $.99
Imprint: Hotel Fred Press
Page Count: 12 Pages
Digital Release Date: 6/26/13
Age Rating: 12+ Only
BUY IT HERE
If you’re gonna spend a quick dollar on a digital comic, I may as well be good, right?
The iTunes model for spending a buck on a song will also get you some amazing pages for a song! Eisner Award winning cartoonist and writer Roger Langridge (Thor: The Mighty Avenger, Popeye, Snarked!) shows us his mastery of the short-form tale in The Fez #1.
Our hero The Fez is an invisible man with not only a fez but a monocle floating in front of his face.
Part Claude Rains, part Mr. Peanut we see him spook a crook vampire all day and then he meets a lady after drinking an mysterious bottle he discovers in his underground lab!
The illustrations rival Crumb’s, and the vignettes are like an olde timey movie. So fun!
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