Tracie's Pull List - Week of May 4, 2011

This is it! The week you've/we've all been waiting for! THOR opens in U.S. theaters Friday! Free Comic Book Day is Saturday! You'll see Comicbook Crossfire report back from both of those events sometime early next week, I'd imagine.

Meanwhile, lets not forget that tomorrow's still Wednesday and that means NEW COMIC BOOK DAY!

(which is maybe not as exciting as FREE but still pretty exciting)

(also tomorrow's Star Wars Day, everybody! Utinni!!)



Avengers Academy Giant-Size #1

I'm not a regular reader of Avengers Academy... Which I know makes me one of the worst people around. I'm sorry. I WAS impressed with the first issue, after I read the reprint of it that appeared in... uh... whatever book that was. (Uncanny X-Men? That seems weird, but it was, right?) I liked what I read enough that my chances of picking up a trade are quite high. But I'm buying this little oddity because it's actually the shelved Avengers Academy/Young Allies crossover in disguise. And I love me some Young Allies. This was originally solicited as a mini-series. Then Young Allies got canceled and it got shelved until Marvel decided what to do with it. Well, now it's back, all crammed into one Giant-Size comic and with a new cover by Ed McGuinness. Though I believe the original covers by Chris Samnee are now available as a gatefold variant or something. It's written by the writer of the soon-to-be-canceled Spider-Girl and drawn by the artist of the already canceled Nomad. It's a great time to be a non-mutant teen superhero.

Fear Itself #2 (OF 7)

Odin has sent Thor to the corner (in chains) to think about what he did and it looks like we may finally get to meet The Worthy. Stuart Immonen draws it up all purdy.

Fear Itself Home Front #2 (OF 7)

Again, for someone not reading Avengers Academy on a regular basis, I do find myself compelled by Speedball's plight here. Gage and Mayhew are doing an excellent job dealing with Speedball's return to Stamford, after the explosion that launched Civil War and lead SB down the path to becoming Penance. He's trying to atone for all of that but The Fear has Stamford residents turning on him quite brutally. Also, we get a continuing Agents of Atlas story, where Atlas goes looking into the Red Skulls actions in World War II that have lead to Fear Itself.

Irredeemable #25

Mark Waid and Peter Krause. Doing their thing. Being awesome. Giving you haunting images of a Superman gone mad. If you've never tried Irredeemable or it's companion book Incorruptible, now's your chance to give it a shot. Boom! is releasing $1.00 "Boom Blast!" editions of their first issues.

Moon Knight #1

I know the squeaky wheeled Moon Knight fans are all ready to hate this, but I've never been a Moon Knight reader. I always thought he looked cool when drawn by guys like Sienkiewicz, Platt, and Finch were drawing him, but I've never read a single issue. I HAVE, however, read everything that Bendis and Maleev have done together (including their Halo mini-series) so I'm a shoe-in for this and I'm curious on what they'll do with the character. It seems like they could do any book they wanted so the fact they picked Moon Knight seems to mean that they have a take they think is going to be pretty special.

Ozma Of Oz #6 (OF 8)

One of the things I love most about art/comics can be seen in charting the growth of an artist like Skottie Young. It's really spectacular to look back at his beginnings with Iceman and Venom and follow it to his career-changing work on the Oz books.

Secret Six #33

I probably won't get any argument from anyone calling Secret Six Gail Simone's best book. It keeps the quality up and keeps the surprises coming. Daring stuff for a mainstream tights-and-capes comic. Makes for a fine companion to Mark Waid's equally dark and morally questionable work in Irredeemable. (but Secret Six is funnier and has more shark people)

Superboy #7

My favorite thing about the new Superboy series, thus far, is that the creative team has done a pretty great job at making Smallville actually look and feel like a small town. A lot of time whenever Smallville's depicted, it rarely seems to actually feel as small as it's name implies. Maybe it's because creators who've lived their lives in New York or California have never been to a small, midwestern town before or maybe it's just that, being from Nebraska, I'm more sensitive to it. But when I open up this comic, it actually feels like it's taking place in Kansas. And I think the kind of drab coloring actually plays into that. I know it's a very atypical-looking superhero comic, especially for one that sports an S-shield, but it works for me.

Sweet Tooth #21

I couldn't ask for a more appropriate follow-up than Sweet Tooth. Along with Superboy, we get a double-shot of Jeff Lemire and this book actually took place IN Nebraska, at least initially. The characters have since moved on from there, but Jeff is clearly a guy who understands small towns and bleak wilderness. He's Canadian.

Uncanny X-Force #9

Magneto has found out about X-Force and because he is such a stand-up guy, he is going to ask for a little favor in exchange for his silence. It's totally okay for charming, former genocidal maniacs to ask favors of secret wetworks teams. It's probably just something like watering his plants while he's on vacation in space.

X-Men Prelude To Schism #1 (OF 4)

I don't care what you say about the X-Men or X-Men events or event fatigue or what have you, Schism is pushing way too many of my X-nerd buttons for me to possibly look away. Cyclops and Wolverine fighting over Xavier's dream? A possible return to a blue-and-gold-like team divide? Jason Aaron writing X-stuff! This prelude mini is just there to whet the appetite and it's being brought to you by Paul Jenkins, who I generally like quite a lot, if you ignore The Sentry: Fallen Sun. I don't know why we need a prelude but clearly they are publishing it just for suckers like me.

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That's all for this week! After the MOUNTAIN of comics that shipped last week, I'll take it.

Don't forget to stop by your local comic shop on Saturday and pick up some great Free Comic Books (including Langridge & Samnee's last Thor comic and the first taste of Flashpoint) and maybe throw a little money their way as well. I know a lot of shops are doing some pretty great deals, on top of the free books being offered.

If you're in Omaha, Nebraska, I'm going to be doing free sketches along with many other talented area artists at Krypton Comics. Robb and Monty will be doing a bit of a tour around town so if you see them, say hi and wave for the camera.