In comics this week, Marvel does Something That Makes A Lot of Sense and hands Greg Rucka the keys to Frank Castles. Also, new crazy alternate timeline Batman and a bookshelf collection of Rocket Raccoon stories to display prominently at dinner parties.
First Issues
A high-profile release this comes from a duo of Roberts. Mssrs. Kirkman and Liefeld release The Infinite, a time travel tale that promises fellows with big guns and no Sports Almanacs — check out our interview with Kirkman here.
Dark Horse releases the new Vadercentric title Star Wars: Dark Times - Out Of The Wilderness, and Thor: The Mighty Avenger helmsman Roger Landridge takes on Lewis Carroll in his new fantasy series Snarked. Also at Image is Scott Snyder and Scott Tuft's historical horror series Severed, which features a cannibal on the loose in early 1900s Americana.
Finally, at Marvel Air writer G. Willow Wilson scripts to CrossGen series Mystic. Oh, and Greg Rucka pens a new The Punisher series, which is Marvel's narrowcasted attempt to just vacuum the money straight out of my wallet.
Other Releases
DC Comics takes their Retroactive series of one-shots to the 1980s with Mike Barr penning Batman, William Messner-Loebs on Flash, and Roy Thomas writing Wonder Woman. And for more modern DC shenanigans, there's the fourth issue of Flashpoint, Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's bad-ass Batfamily freakout Batman: Knight of Vengeance, Peter Milligan's Secret Seven, and (tear) the final issue of Gail Simone's Secret Six.
Marvel's releasing the über-hyped latest issue of Ultimate Fallout (which had a spoileriffic big reveal this morning) and a .1 issue of Nick Spencer's Iron Man 2.0
Other potential pick-ups this week include I, Zombie, Sweet Tooth, Gates of Gotham, The Boys, Irredeemable, and S.H.I.E.L.D.
Graphic Novels
Some wacky retro releases on the docket include a Rocket Raccoon hardcover from Marvel, an Acts of Vengeance omnibus, a collection of Gerry Conway's 1970s Firestorm: The Nuclear Man stories, and Walter Simonson's Mighty Thor: Artists Edition (here's our our recent interview with Simonson). Other graphic novels being released are Earthworm Jim creator Doug Tennapel's shipwrecked series Bad Island and Oni Press' Grigori Rasputin assassination plot graphic novel Petrograd.
As usual, here's the list of everything being released to comic stores tomorrow, and you can find your nearest comic retailer here. Rock over Kandor, rock on Boneville! The Daily Bugle — the most menace per paragraph!