Weekly Comics to Come - August 31, 2005:
ALREADY READ:
Captain America #9 (The "Winter Soldier" stuff is killing my interest, but otherwise, this book has regained my attention. Some great action this issue as Cap, Sharon Carter, Nick Fury and a SHIELD team launch a covert attack on Russian badguy Lukin)
Runaways #7 (Great issue of Runaways, with guest art by Takeshi Miyazawa. A couple big subplots have big turning points, the cliffhanger ending promises a really fun story and I love any book that can make such great use of C-level villains as Swarm)
Slop Anacleta Tp (Gorgeous and quirky piece by Dave Crosland and Debbie. Review HERE)
Smoke & Guns Gn (Insanely fun and beautifully drawn, definitely one of the top picks of the week. Review hopefully up by Monday.)
Wha Huh (Half self-congratulatory stupid, half actually funny, with a couple pages that are really, really funny, all with great art by Jim Mahfood)
Young Avengers #6 (A great (if unfortunately late) ending to the first story arc. Six issues is a long time for setup, but I love a lot of things about this book, and I'd almost buy it just to piss off the homophobic shitheads polluting the letter columns with their "I'm droppin' the books 'cause I don't like gays in my comics" bullshit)

HAVEN'T READ:
30 Days Of Night Bloodsuckers Tales Vol 1 Tp (Need to check this out if only because Matt Fraction comics work is all too rare)
Astonishing X-Men #12 (Whedon and Cassaday conclude their first arc. I confess that I've lost a fair amount of interest, but I'm still curious to see how they wrap it up. I'm guessing there will be a huge gap between arc one and arc two to give Whedon and Cassaday time to get ahead again)
Astro City The Dark Age #3 (I'm enjoying this look at the darker side of Astro City, although I confess that I'd almost rather have it as the bright spot against the modern grim 'n gritty, the way it was a bright side to the late '90s grim 'n gritty)
Bprd The Black Flame #1 (Hooray! The previous two miniseries by this team were fantastic, and more Guy Davis artwork is always a good thing, especially when it comes with Dave Stewart colors)
Death Jr #3 (The conclusion to this surprisingly fun story of Death's son. Given the quality of story and art, you'd never guess that it was a videogame tie-in)
Desperadoes Banners Of Gold Tp (I lost track of this around issue two or three, so I need to catch up and read the whole thing)
Emily The Strange #1 (This is sitting in my stack waiting to be read. Looks goth-y)
Ex Machina #14 (Seems like it's been a while since the last issue of Ex Machina... maybe it's just that the cliffhanger had me chomping at the bit to see more)
Expatriate #3 (Going to give this one about a guy on the run from the CIA another shot and give it another chance to win me over)
Flash #225 (The last Geoff Johns Flash. Truthfully, ever since Kolins left the book (and even slightly before), the stories sort of went off in a direction I wasn't as interested in, but I'll still be reading to see Johns give a farewell to a book he really put a personal stamp on)
Green Lantern #4 (Another one, only two weeks later? Guest artist? At any rate, so far this is mostly Infinite Crisis-free, and last issue's showdown between Hal and two Manhunters was great superhero stuff)
Hero Camp #4 (The last issue of one of the more enjoyable miniseries I've read this year. Definitely hoping to see more of this series and its creators)
Hero Squared #2 (I liked the first issue quite a bit, curious to see where it all goes. Since I have this sitting in my "to read" stack as well, I guess I'll find out when I get home)
Losers #27 (The penultimate arc, I believe. This book really hasn't missed a step since the beginning. I'm glad to see it getting a definitive end, as that's sort of key to a great Vertigo book, but I'll be sorry to see it go.)
Love As A Foreign Language #3 (Another chapter in the entertaining saga of Joel, English teacher who hates the country he's stuck in but might stick around for a girl he's got a crush on. Beautiful art on this one from Eric Kim)
Seven Soldiers Shining Knight #4 (And the first Seven Soldiers mini concludes. Curious to see this, if only to see if it's a definitive ending, or more of a "Read the rest of Seven Soldiers to find out!" kind of thing. I'm guessing the former, although issue three of all the series did bring a little bit more crossover between all of them)
Silent Dragon #2 (The first issue was a little weak, storywise, but it looked beautiful, and Diggle's work on Losers and Adam Strange earns him at least two or three issues worth of chances from me)
Solo #6 (Of all the books I wish I'd gotten to read in the DC Preview Pack (which I didn't get this week), this is the one I miss the most. The first four pages, previewed over at Mile High Comics, look great. This book is a DC treasure that far too many people haven't discovered yet)
Usagi Yojimbo #86 (More of the latest Usagi epic, which has thus far featured some really great samurai action and new revelations about supporting cast members like Tomoe and Motokazu)