Another week, another slew of exciting announcements for comic book fans: the Sorcerer Supreme found a director in Scott Derrickson, Michael Moreci and Vic Malhotra unveiled their new creator-owned Roche Limit comic, Archie Comics embraces its dark side with a Sabrina series, and Eric managed to dig up an old copy of Wizard to break down how far comic book movies have come. Not too shabby, huh? Still, we’re nerds and as such our desire for new content is as insatiable as Galactus at an all-you-can-eat planetary buffet.

Top Picks

Big Trouble in Little China #1 | BOOM! Studios | John Carpenter, Eric Powell, and Brian Churilla

Review by Dan Casey

Making a licensed comic tied into or based on a movie can often be a grim business resulting in lazy cash grabs and half-baked ideas. Thankfully, BOOM! has a pretty sterling record as far as licensed comics are concerned and Big Trouble in Little China is another sterling addition to its catalog. Written by the incredible tag team of John Carpenter and The Goon‘s Eric Powell, Big Trouble in Little China #1 picks up in the immediate aftermath of the film. Remember that little stowaway clinging to the back of Jack Burton’s truck? Well, we find out just what it was that was clinging to the Pork Chop Express and the action only intensifies from there with big weddings, gang rivalries, and even a demonic warlord or two. But, hey, it wouldn’t be Big Trouble in Little China without it, right? Smartly written, frequently funny, and a pitch perfect extension of the original film brought to life by Brian Churilla’s amped up, action-packed artwork, Big Trouble in Little China is a fantastic foray back into the wacky underworld of the original film and a comic well worth you time.

Batman ’66 Meets The Green Hornet | DC Comics & Dynamite Entertainment | Kevin Smith, Ralph Garman & Ty Templeton

Review by Eric Diaz

In an alternate universe, there is a version of Batman Meets the Green Hornet that is Kevin Smith writing about Christian Bale’s Batman somehow running into Seth Rogen’s Green Hornet, who then makes lots of dick jokes and cusses a lot, while Batman just stares and grumbles, and it’s just all really awkward. This is not that comic, although I would really like to read that. Nope, Batman ’66 Meets the Green Hornet is set firmly in the camptastic world of the original Batman television series, so Kevin Smith has to reign in his propensity to cuss a lot and make lots of crude sexual remarks. Thankfully, he brought along his buddy Ralph Garman to co-write and keep things (mostly) G-Rated.

This first issue (first print issue I should say; the first two chapters of this story were released digitally first) is good silly fun, and that’s really all it could be and should be. Essentially, this is a sequel to the two part crossover episode of the sixties Batman television series with the Green Hornet, who also was starring in his own series which aired in 1967. The original Batman show, once it took off and became the pop culture juggernaut it became, was the place to be for character actors who wanted to chew scenery and play a villain. We’re talking people like Joan Collins, Ciff Robertson and Zsa Zsa Gabor. One of those actors was Roger C. Carmel, better known to Star Trek fans as Harry Mudd, the only villain to appear twice in the original series. The producers created an all-new villain for him to play, Colonel Gumm, a bad guy with an obsession with stamps and glue (his weapon was a Undetachable Glue Pad.) He only ever appeared that one time, fighting off Batman and the Green Hornet in what was maybe pop culture’s very first on-screen superhero crossover.

So it only makes sense that Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman would bring back the good Colonel for this mini series, although due to legal circumstances, they had to do it with a bit of a twist; while DC Comics has the rights to all the characters that were newly created for the Batman show (and there were quite a bit) they don’t have all of the actor’s likeness rights. One of the ones they don’t have the rights to is Roger C. Carmel. So Smith and Garman came up with a very Batman-esque solution. They gave a Colonel Gumm a new tragic backstory, one where while tinkering with his latest super glue formula, it explodes all over his face, leaving him covered in glue that won’t ever come off…glue that, conveniently, completely covers his face. Of course, due to his tragedy and new found commitment to villainy, Colonel Gumm gives himself a promotion to General Gumm. Why not?

Both Kevin Smith and his co-writer Ralph Garman are huge fans of the classic Batman show, and their love for that series is all over this book. (Seriously, look at Garman’s collection of Batman sixties memorabilia. It’s epic.) They nail the tongue in cheek tone of the show perfectly. This isn’t so much a story as it is a 22 page homage to a time gone by, but it’s all done well and with sincere love. I will say though, that maybe the best parts of this book aren’t really the writing, it’s the art by Ty Templeton, best known for his work on the Batman the animated series comics from the early nineties. He manages to evoke all the actor’s faces without making it look like he’s tracing old photos on a light board. And the cover by Alex Ross is simply beautiful, but that should go without saying. If you loved the old Batman show, this should provide a pleasant enough diversion for an afternoon read. Just be sure to have the old theme song playing in the background when you do. It really does help.

Great Pacific #15 | Image Comics | Joe Harris and Martin Morazzo

Review by Charles Webb

Out in the muck of a futuristic trash pile, writer Joe Harris and artist Martin Morazzo have found Deadwood. I don’t mean the two have stolen from that great show, but that Great Pacific shares a lot in common with it: the intrigues, the bloody politics, the easy violence. This issue, our heroes learn the difference between a clever man and a cunning man.

If you’re not familiar with the series, it involves the state of New Texas, founded on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. A potentially toxic wasteland, converted by its founder and leader Chas Worthington into a thriving community. It’s also one that’s a target for any number of other governments and killers out to get a slice of what Chas has cobbled together.

This issue sees one such party, the wall of a man named Baston Duvalier, entering New Texas with the offer to hunt on its grounds. First off, if anyone speaks so passionately and, well, thoroughly, about hunting, you might not want to trust them. If they look like Vandal Savage, then make sure you don’t have your back to them. Duvalier is there for his own purposes – he’s got a connection to the Garbage Patch and the nukes guarded by child soldier Little Chief and her tribe, and we learn he’s not the kind of man who can be stopped.

I’m heaping a lot of praise on a book that I didn’t set eyes on until today – it’s just that good. Between Chas’ attempts to negotiate the status of the nukes and his interactions with bestie/confidante Alex and whatever Zoe is to him, I was hooked. I mentioned Deadwood because like that show, Harris and Marazzo have created a dense space to tell a story about sharply-drawn characters. That I could get a sense of them over a year into the book’s run is a testament to both artist and writer’s work.

Oh, and if Chas is half as smart as he seems here, I’m betting Duvalier is going to learn really quickly that you don’t mess with New Texas.

Pull List

DARK HORSE COMICS

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FEB140028 NEXUS OMNIBUS TP VOL 05 $24.99
FEB140085 ROBERT E HOWARDS SAVAGE SWORD #8 $7.99
FEB140081 TOSHIRO TP $19.99

DC COMICS

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APR140183 EARTH 2 #24 $2.99
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DC COMICS/DC COLLECTIBLES

DEC130358 DC COMICS BOMBSHELLS BLACK CANARY STATUE $124.95

IDW PUBLISHING

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APR140412 GI JOE ORIGINS OMNIBUS TP VOL 01 $24.99
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IMAGE COMICS

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MARVEL COMICS

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COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

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APR141064 WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW HC (MR) $20.00
APR140964 WOODS #2 $3.99
MAR140843 WORLD OF ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #40 $3.99

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