It’s that time of the week again! The time where I take a look at the releases for the week and tell you which five comics you shouldn’t miss out on. This week finds me in an unusual position as it is my light week as far as my pull list goes, so it is the time of month I get to pick up a couple of titles I normally don’t follow.

PATHFINDER #01

Pathfinder has long been this writer’s RPG of choice, so when Dynamite announced that they would have a monthly title based on that universe, I took notice. Issue one, Written by Jim Zubkavich, with art from Andrew Huerta, will feature 22 pages of story with 12 additional pages of game information and a pull-out map. So, in addition to what is looking like a kick-ass fantasy title, we gamers get a little something extra. It’s like Christmas in August!

DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #12

Fabian Nicieza penned this Kid Flash tale, with art by Jorge Jimenez. Taking place between issues 11 and 12 of Teen Titans, this story will feature Bart taking on three Human/dinosaur hybrids who got loose during the Titan’s latest adventure. Does Bart having his own solo book mean that they will be revealing any of this enigmatic characters back story? Nicieza says, “We toyed with doing a couple of things to ‘advance’ those revelations, but decided within the context of a single issue, we were better served focusing on Bart’s core strengths: his sense of humor, his impulsiveness and keep the pace going fast, faster, fastest!”

BEFORE WATCHMEN RORSCHACH #01

It’s true, I’ve not been too kind to the Before Watchmen line of titles in the past. So why am I recommending Rorschach #1 sight unseen? First, with the creative team of Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo, even if it turns out to be not-so-good in the grand scheme of things, it will still be better than 80% of the stuff out there. Secondly, Rorschach, out of all the characters in this project, is the one we know the most about. We’ve seen all of the sordid details of his origin, and what made him the cold-bean-eating hero he ended up being. So, with this story, we have the chance of just having a good, old-fashioned, beat-em-up comic story. And that’s fine with me.

DAREDEVIL #17

Guest artist Mike Allred joins scribe Mark Waid for this issue. Last time saw Matt Murdock getting fired from Nelson & Murdock after Foggy found Matt’s dad’s bones hidden in Matt’s office. What will follow? Well, of course, the next logical step is an all out fight with Stilt-Man! This book has been consistently fantastic and, as I said about the annual, is what has brought this reviewer back into the Marvel fold. If, like me, you wrote off Marvel years ago for focusing too much on events, and not enough on stories, check this title out, it may renew your faith in “The House of Ideas”.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #691

Spider-man faces down the Lizard. Again. “Only one man on Earth has a chance of helping Spider-Man stop the Lizard. And his name is Curt Connors. ” Yawn. So why am I suggesting you pick up this book, when I obviously have no interest in the story? Marvel has promised us big things for this title’s #700 issue, and the seeds of those lie in these very pages, written by Dan Slott, with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli.  So, while the story itself threatens to put me to sleep just by reading the description, this one is worth getting just to have the issue that leads to the big #700!

These are my pick for the five comics not to miss this week. Think I picked something that doesn’t deserve to be here? Did I leave one of your picks out? Check out what else is coming out this week, then voice your dissent in the comments below!

About Mark Driscoll

When not ranting about the current state of his favorite comics or working on L33t, Mark spends a majority of his time renovating his newly purchased, 120 year old Victorian house. Badly. He is very bad at talking about himself in the third person, as he thinks it make him sound pretentious.

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