Welcome back to Conskipper’s New Comic Day Picks for the week of March 31, 2021!
The day before April Fools Day bring a ton of serious selections for the discerning reader, with DC Infinite Frontier in full swing, along with a ton of new material from Marvel Comics. This week should appeal to fans that have been reading comics for multiple decades, so get ready for some blasts from the past!
–The Flash #768 (DC Comics): For all those fans who haven’t agreed with the direction of the former Kid Flash, Wally West (particularly in Heroes in Crisis) in recent years, The Flash #768 may be just the comic that you are looking for. Those who grew up reading the flash in the late 1980s and over the next two decades will be happy to see West return to prominence (and his heroic ways) in Jeremy Adams’s script, which brings him back for at least one more mission with his mentor Barry Allen. The art by Brandon Peterson and Marco Santucci is just as engaging as Adams’ storytelling and hopefully this story further redeems many people’s favorite speedster.
-Beta Ray Bill #1 (Marvel Comics): If you are a Thor, chances are you have had some problems with your hammer in recent years, and the original “alien Thor” Beta Ray Bill in no exception. With Bill’s hammer, Stormbreaker, recently destroyed at the hands of a new All-Father, the most famous Korbinite must find a suitable replacement for his precious Stormbreaker, especially with a Knullified Fin Fang Foom to contend with. Writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson and colorist Mike Spicer are up to the task in this issue, brining all of the granduer and spectacle one expects from a classic Thor/Beta Ray Bill story. As a bonus for veteran fans, the first issue also contains a conversation between Johnson and Beta Ray Bill’s creator Walter Simonson about the origins and inspirations for Bill.
-X-Men: Legends #2 (Marvel Comics): When you walk into your local comic shop this week, you may wonder why your favorite owner decided to put a comic from the 90s in with the new releases. Early April Fool’s joke? Nope, and in fact, the joke’s on you if you pass by this throwback style piece of nostalgia. X-Men Legends #2 by long-time X-Men scribe Fabian Nicieza and artists Brett Booth Adelso Corona captures all of the excitement from the days right before the comics crash. This one brings back some classic villains like Erik the Red and the Shi’ar, forgotten heroes like Adam X (the X-Treme), and the perennial favorites: The Starjammers! If you long for those early 90s X-Men tales, this one will satisfy you, and as an added bonus, fit into the continuity of those tales from yesteryear.
-Silk #1 (Marvel Comics): Writer Maurene Goo and artist Takeshi Miyazawa take on one of the first new Spider characters to emerge in 2014 before the advent of the Spider-Verse, the intrepid Cindy Moon, otherwise known as Silk. The new series finds Cindy as a reporter for the new media empire Threats & Menaces under her old boss, J. Jonah Jameson. And unlike the original photo-snapping Spider-Man, Silk’s interest in journalism fuels her crime fighting career, as she looks to solve a series of gangland murders. Part Peter Parker, part Ben Urich, Goo and Miyazawa take the popular hero in a new direction, further cementing the character as a player in the modern Marvel Universe.
-Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing #1 (Marvel Comics): Long-time DC writer Steve Orlando makes his Marvel debut with an unlikely cross-over event involving the cult favorite monster The Man-Thing. This issue with the Avengers (to be followed by one-shot continuations starring Spider-Man and the X-Men) bring the much monster to the forefront once again, right in time for the character’s 50th anniversary. This series is an excellent introduction to the character and Orlando’s accomplished scripting abilities. The writer is joined by artist Marco Fialla and cover artist Daniel Acuna. If you love old swampy, be sure to pick up the first of three issues in hopes that we will someday see another on-going Man-Thing title.
That’s it for this week. Be sure to support your local comic shop in a safe fashion.