We shouldn’t just collect or flip books, we should also read them. A good story can make your purchase well worth the money spent if you ask me. After all, we buy books to read for entertainment right? Even if you can’t flip them, reading is just as rewarding.
We tend to focus on mostly the floppy copies each week and kind of ignore the trades and hardcovers that come out week after week.
These can be one off books, collected editions or special editions. I go into these picks of mostly just the solicitations provided from the publishers. These are the ones that caught my attention coming out this week or within the next couple of weeks.
A lot of comic book enthusiasts, fans and readers love the What If? series that Marvel puts out, particularly the older stories. The stories that twist the original timeline stories if things went a different direction.
So this first pick is a must for any What If fan in a collected edition.
What if Classic Complete Collection TPB Vol 03
Classic stories reimagined in wild and wonderful ways by legendary creators! Imagine…what if Gwen Stacy had lived? What if Captain America was elected president? What if Phoenix had not died? What if Wolverine had killed the Hulk? What if there were no Fantastic Four? What if Bullseye had not killed Elektra? What if the Avengers were the last super heroes on Earth? And perhaps most startlingly of all, what if Dazzler became the herald of Galactus?!
Plus, years before the Clone Saga rocked Peter Parker’s world, what if Spider-Man’s clone had survived? And yet more trips into the infinite possibilities of the Multiverse featuring Thor, Man-Thing, Ghost Rider, Iron Man – and Matt Murdock, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.!
Plus: The hidden history of the Eternals…and a classic all-comedy issue exploring the wildest What Ifs of all! Collecting WHAT IF? (1977) #24-35.
This next pick I’ve been waiting for the trade of this to check out and possibly a great pickup for the young ones, if you got’em.
Cassandra Cain, teenage assassin, isn’t exactly Batgirl material…not yet, at least. But with Batgirl missing from Gotham City, can Cassandra defy her destiny and take on a heroic mantle of her very own?
She’ll have to go through an identity crisis of epic proportions to find out. After a soul-shattering moment that sends Cass reeling, she’ll attempt to answer this question the only way she knows how: learning everything she possibly can about her favorite hero-Batgirl.
But Batgirl hasn’t been seen in Gotham for years, and when Cass’s father threatens the world she has grown to love, she’ll have to step out of the shadows and overcome her greatest obstacle-that voice inside her head telling her she can never be a hero.
Sarah Kuhn, author of Heroine Complex and I Love You So Mochi, takes on one of her favorite heroes for a new audience of readers. Featuring the edgy art style of Nicole Goux, Shadow of the Batgirl tells the harrowing story of a girl who overcomes the odds to find her unique identity.
I have never read Earth X so this new printed edition is on my hit list. From the brilliant Alex Ross.
Spawned from the brilliant creative mind of Alex Ross, EARTH X is one of Marvel’s greatest epics.
Along with writer Jim Krueger and artist John Paul Leon, Ross breathes life into and gives amazing detail to every facet of the EARTH X mythos – exploring the depths and heights of the Marvel Universe, from the roots of its humble beginnings to the peak of its ultimate potential. Collecting EARTH X 0-12, X.
Even if it’s not a spec hit, you can’t go wrong with a Jason Aaron indie book. I read Sea of Stars #1 and it’s just one of those books I wait for the trade to finish reading the first arc.
So it’s arrived and ready for pickup this Wednesday the 29th of January.
Being a space trucker may sound like a cool job, but in reality it can be boring as hell. So when recently widowed Gil gets a long-haul gig across the universe, he figures it’s safe enough to bring his young son Kadyn along for the ride.
But when their ‘big rig’ gets bitten in half by a gigantic Space Leviathan, Gil is separated from his young son-with a breached suit that’s venting oxygen at an alarming rate. He’ll have to defy the odds and stay alive long enough to rescue Kadyn. But Kadyn seems to be getting all the help he needs from a talking Space Monkey riding a Space Dolphin… or maybe it’s the strange powers he’s suddenly manifesting.
From the writing duo of JASON AARON (SOUTHERN BASTARDS, Thor) and DENNIS HALLUM (Cloak & Dagger, Vader: Dark Visions), with dazzling art by STEPHEN GREEN (Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.) and cosmic colors by RICO RENZI (Spider-Gwen) comes an intense, galaxy-spanning adventure with all the scope and heart of the The Neverending Story crossed with imaginative weirdness of Miyazaki. Collects SEA OF STARS #1-5