E3 may be dominating headlines this week, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get stoked about the cavalcade of comic book goodness coming our way today. Besides, there’s a brand new Batman game on the way and Powers was greenlighted to series on Sony’s PlayStation TV, so there’s even some comic book news sprinkled among the video game madness. More importantly, though, today is Comic Book Day and, as such, we’ve got another edition of the Pull List to help guide you through the thicket to make sure your hard-earned cash is well spent at your local comic book store.

Top Picks

The Empty Man #1 | BOOM! Studios | Cullen Bunn, Vanesa R. Del Rey, Michael Garland, Ed Dukeshire

Review by Dan Casey

Two paths diverged in a yellow wood. One path, steeped in reality, bad religion, and alcohol abuse lead to True Detective. Cullen Bunn and Vanesa R. Del Rey took the one less traveled by, a police procedural steeped in the kind of creeping, macabre horror and biological monstrosity that would give John Carpenter or Shinji Mikami a run for their money. The result is their new BOOM! Studios series The Empty Man, a gripping, discomfiting tale of a joint investigation by the FBI and CDC into a series of killings linked to the mysterious Empty Man, a name given to an emergent pandemic, a form of contagious insanity that leaves its victims psychologically shattered and physically mutilated. In short, it’s the kind of maddening, abject horror that is too often described as Lovecraftian, but is oddly fitting in this instance.

Once again, Cullen Bunn crafts a tremendously enjoyable, compelling narrative, making us come to know and care about Special Agents Jansen and Langford in a relatively scant amount of pages. Jensen is a by-the-books, no nonsense type whereas Langford seemingly has a one-liner or witty riposte for every possible situation. It’s a fun, endearing dynamic that immediately lets the reader know the stakes and their relationship without getting bogged down in needless exposition. But their partnership, enjoyable though it may be, is merely our conduit into the increasingly unnerving world of the Empty Man.

Vanesa R. Del Rey’s artwork, with its rough hewn pencil strokes and tense atmosphere, provides the perfect visual aesthetic for The Empty Man. Ever since first seeing her work on Hit, Del Rey has been one of my favorite up-and-coming artists, so it’s great to see her get a chance to flex her considerable creative muscles.

What exactly the Empty Man is, well, is a mystery, and that is by design. To our heroes, it is a disease, an emergent pandemic that needs to be contained and stopped in its tracks. To others, it is a living god, an avatar of violence and cleansing that inspires the fringe element to orgiastic worship. And, in the closing pages of the issue, we get the sense that it may be something far worse than any of us could have imagined, and that’s the beauty of The Empty Man #1. So many doors are opened just a crack, allowing a shaft of uncomfortable light to seep in, and we’ll just have to wait patiently to see which door Bunn and Del Rey will open for us. Fortunately, patience is a virtue, and The Empty Man #1 is well worth the wait.

Infinity Man & The Forever People #1 | DC Comics | Dan DiDio, Keith Giffen and Scott Koblish

Review by Eric Diaz

You gotta hand it to DC… Jack Kirby’s “Fourth World” creations from the early seventies (which consists of The New Gods, Mr. Miracle, and The Forever People) is a mythology that has never seemed to really work without Jack Kirby at the helm, and yet, God bless ’em, they keep trying. Infinity Man and the Forever People is the latest attempt , the first regular series using Kirby’s “Fourth World” characters and concepts since the New 52 reboot began. (Darkseid and some of the Apokolips characters have shown up in Justice League and Earth-2, but this is the first ongoing series.) Of all those Fourth World concepts, the Forever People is maybe the most dated: a group of young “New Gods” from the world of New Genesis, all who dress like hippies and have names like Mark Moonrider, Beautiful Dreamer, and Big Bear travel around Earth spreading free love and drugs the wisdom of “the Source” to improve humanity. From the looks of this first issue, it doesn’t look like DC wanted to update this concept at all. Might as well still be 1970, except they all now live in Venice Beach, California. Why not? That’s where half the hippies left over can still be found, makes sense to me.

The first issue is written and plotted by DC Editor-In-Chief Dan DiDio and Keith Giffen, who does the art chores. The first issue doesn’t really bother explaining the concept of the New Gods and New Genesis to newbies; despite the fact that the New 52 is supposed to be new-ready friendly, If I wasn’t already a long time DC fan I probably wouldn’t know what the heck was going on or who these people were supposed to be. The Fourth World is a pretty complicated mythology all together, and it just doesn’t even feel like they tried to give us the Reader’s Digest version of what it’s all about. As a longtime DC fan I found the issue enjoyable, but I wouldn’t recommend it to new reader who only knows Darkseid of all of Kirby’s DC creations.

Keith Giffen’s art is the highlight of the issue, although I think for a lot of modern readers it might be the low-light; Keith Giffen is purposefully evoking Jack Kirby’s seventies style, and although Kirby is considered “the King” his artistic sensibilities are probably not in line with most modern readers. But as a Kirby fan, you couldn’t find a better “cover artist” than Kiffen. I applaud DC for at least trying to publish a new ongoing book not set in Gotham, Metropolis or featuring the Justice League, but there wasn’t much to make me want to read issue #2 here, despite the best intentions of everyone involved. The real question is, just how long will DC keep trying to make “fetch happen” when it comes to the Fourth World?

Bloodshot and H.A.R.D. Corps #23 | Valiant | Duffy Boudreau & Christos Gage, All Barrionuevo, and Brian Level

Review by Charles Webb

The impossible longevity of Wolverine has always been one of the most compelling and occasionally tension-stunting elements of the character. How do you take down someone that’s pretty much impossible to kill? When it comes to Valiant’s resident unstoppable assassin, Bloodshot, the answer is simple: you just break the problem – and your character – down into smaller pieces.

But apparently, it doesn’t last as we find out almost immediately, as Project Rising Spirit CEO Morris Kozol answers some hard questions about how things went south in the desert outside of the spooky paramilitary group’s desert facility and possible dissension in the ranks among the H.A.R.D. Corps. Outside of (spoilers) getting Bloodshot free of P.R.S., main body of this issue is light on incident – or that’s to say, it doesn’t really move any major pieces forward. Writers Duffy Boudreau and Christos Gage offer Bloodshot an out and hint at the change in direction of the H.A.R.D. Corps’ future, but other than that, a few action beats are played out and that’s about it.

What to make of the H.A.R.D. Corps? By the end of this issue, Kozol is threatening to make it something more morally flexible and potentially dangerous to the psiots of the Valiant U. How long until Palmer and his team have enough and break free? More importantly, will Bloodshot ever be motivated to come back and deactivate the bombs implanted in their brains? And even more importantly, with Harada’s secrets laid bare in Harbingers, will the H.A.R.D. Corps become a big, public thing – the equivalent of the Sentinel program for the Valiant U?

As the capper to any of the ongoing storylines involving Bloodshot, this issue doesn’t offer much. But as far as laying the groundwork for future stories involving the nanite-powered anti-hero and the team (now) tasked with killing him, I’m intrigued.

Pull List

DARK HORSE COMICS

APR140013 ABE SAPIEN #13 $3.50
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FEB140101 CRIME DOES NOT PAY CITY OF ROSES HC $19.99
APR140022 EDGAR ALLEN POE MORELLA MURDERS RUE MORGUE ONE SHOT $3.99
FEB140044 EVE TRUE STORIES HC $12.99
FEB140015 MICHAEL AVON OEMINGS VICTORIES TP VOL 03 POSTHUMAN $17.99
FEB140103 NEW LONE WOLF AND CUB TP VOL 01 (MR) $13.99
APR140056 STAR WARS #18 2013 ONGOING $2.99
FEB140062 STAR WARS DAWN O/T JEDI TP VOL 03 FORCE WAR $19.99
FEB140020 TWO PAST MIDNIGHT TP $9.99
APR140045 X #14 (MR) $2.99

DC COMICS

APR140290 ASTRO CITY #13 $3.99
APR140221 BATGIRL #32 $2.99
APR140206 BATMAN ETERNAL #10 $2.99
APR140227 BIRDS OF PREY #32 $2.99
APR140294 COFFIN HILL #8 (MR) $2.99
APR140182 CONSTANTINE #15 $2.99
APR140213 DETECTIVE COMICS #32 $3.99
APR140216 DETECTIVE COMICS #32 COMBO PACK $4.99
FEB140291 DMZ DELUXE EDITION HC BOOK 02 (MR) $29.99
APR140297 FBP FEDERAL BUREAU OF PHYSICS #11 (MR) $2.99
APR140235 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #32 (UPRISING) $2.99
MAR140255 GREEN LANTERN CORPS TP VOL 03 WILLPOWER (N52) $16.99
APR140156 INFINITY MAN AND THE FOREVER PEOPLE #1 $2.99
MAR140266 JLA TP VOL 05 $24.99
APR140166 JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #2 $3.99
APR140169 JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #2 COMBO PACK $4.99
APR140251 LEGENDS DARK KNIGHT 100 PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR #3 $9.99
APR140163 NEW 52 FUTURES END #6 (WEEKLY) $2.99
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APR140300 ROYALS MASTERS OF WAR #5 (MR) $2.99
APR140284 SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #46 $2.99
APR140249 SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 LANTERN #3 $3.99
APR140199 SUPERBOY #32 $2.99
APR140194 SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #9 (DOOMED) $3.99
APR140196 SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #9 COMBO PACK (DOOMED) $4.99
APR140185 WORLDS FINEST #24 $2.99
MAR140261 WORLDS FINEST TP VOL 03 CONTROL ISSUES (N52) $14.99

DC COMICS/DC COLLECTIBLES

JAN140400 BATMAN ARKHAM CITY RABBIT HOLE BATMAN AF $24.95
JAN140398 SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL STATUE BY ED MCGUINNES $79.95

IDW PUBLISHING

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APR140447 CHICACABRA TP $17.99
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APR140396 TRANSFORMERS ROBOTS IN DISGUISE #30 DAWN O/T AUTOBOTS $3.99
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IMAGE COMICS

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APR140517 GODLAND TP VOL 06 GOODBYE DIVINE $19.99
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MARVEL COMICS

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APR140665 AVENGERS UNDERCOVER #5 ANMN $2.99
APR140710 CAPTAIN MARVEL #4 $3.99
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APR140735 NIGHTCRAWLER #3 $3.99
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APR140667 SECRET AVENGERS #4 ANMN $3.99
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APR140718 UNCANNY X-MEN SPECIAL #1 $4.99
APR140740 UNITED STATES OF MURDER INC #2 (MR) $3.99
APR140729 WOLVERINE #8 $3.99

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

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APR141438 ARCHER & ARMSTRONG TP VOL 05 MISSION IMPROBABLE $14.99
MAR140837 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #251 $3.99
APR141414 ARMOR HUNTERS #1 BLANK CVR $3.99
APR141409 ARMOR HUNTERS #1 CVR A REG (AH) $3.99
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APR141166 ASH & THE ARMY OF DARKNESS #8 EXC SUBSCRIPTION CVR $3.99
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APR140958 EMPTY MAN #1 $3.99
APR141514 GFT ROBYN HOOD LEGEND #4 A CVR LAISO $2.99
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APR141326 SAN HANNIBAL #2 $2.99
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FEB141344 SHEENA #2 $3.99
APR141169 SHERLOCK HOLMES MORIARTY LIVES #4 $3.99
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APR140973 SONS OF ANARCHY #10 (MR) $3.99
APR141044 SPONGEBOB COMICS #33 $2.99
APR140935 STITCHED TP VOL 03 (MR) $19.99
APR141482 TIGER & BUNNY GN VOL 05 $9.99
APR140946 UBER #10 WAR CRIMES CVR (MR) $5.99
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APR141290 WASTELAND #55 (MR) $3.99
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FEB141388 WWE SUPERSTARS ONGOING #5 $3.99

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What’s on your pull list this week? Let us know in the comments below.