SHOWCASE PRESENTS: ROBIN, THE BOY WONDER VOL. 1 TP
Written by Gardner Fox, Bob Haney, Leo Dorfman and others
Art by Mike Sekowsky, Neal Adams, Gil Kane and others
Cover by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson
Don’t miss this massive volume collecting stories from Batman #184, 192, 227, 229-231, 234-236, 239-242, 244-246, 248-250, 252, 254, Detective Comics #386, 390, 394-395, 398-403, 445, 447, 450-451, Jimmy Olsen #91 and 111, Justice League of America #50 and 91-92, Teen Titans #14, Brave and the Bold #83 and #100 and World’s Finest #195 and #200!
Advance-solicited; on sale January 9 • 512 pg, B&W, $16.99 US

Just like the Batgirl Showcase book, this excites me much more than the Showcase Presents: Batman books. It’s too bad this comes out after the holidays as a big book of solo Robin stories is just what I would want under the Christmas tree.

BATMAN: FALSE FACES HC
Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Scott McDaniel, Scott Kolins, Rick Burchett, Marcos Martin, Karl Story, Mark Pennington and others
Cover by McDaniel & Andy Owens
Don’t miss this hard-hitting volume from award-winning writer Brian K. Vaughan (EX MACHINA, Y: THE LAST MAN, Lost), collecting Batman #588-590, Detective Comics #787, Wonder Woman #160-161 and Batman Gotham City Secret Files!
In the first of these tales of the DCU, Bruce Wayne adopts the guise of Matches Malone — the seedy identity he uses to infiltrate the Gotham underworld. But when Matches is shot, it’s up to Batman to determine what really happened…and how Scarface is involved! Plus, in other stories, Batman takes on the Mad Hatter, and Wonder Woman and Donna Troy square off against Clayface!
Advance-solicited; on sale February 6 • 160 pg, FC, $19.99 US

To anyone who is confused why these seemingly unimportant Batman stories are being reprinted in a hardcover trade, I will remind you that Brian K. Vaughan rules all. Do not question the might of the Vaughan, just ask how you can be likewise awesome.

BATMAN #672
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Tony Daniel & Jonathan Glapion
Cover by Daniel
The Gotham Police HQ is taken over by the mysterious Third Batman who begins to kill cops, working his way towards Jim Gordon as he tells his tale and waits for his prize: the life of the Dark Knight, in exchange for the lives of the precinct cops. What dark secret from Batman’s past lies behind the creation of the Impostor Batmen? Guest starring Bat-Mite!
On sale December 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

You know what I like about Grant Morrison’s Batman? I like how there are no cleanly wrapped up, four-part story lines. The Black Casebook story arc picks up right where it left off in #665, returning to one of the most captivating–whoa, wait! Does that say “Bat-Mite?” MORRISON!!!!

CRIME BIBLE: THE FIVE LESSONS OF BLOOD #3
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Matthew Clark
Cover by John Van Fleet
Renee Montoya returns to Gotham as The Lesson of Greed comes to light. But when the Penguin attempts to auction off a copy of the Crime Bible, the Question will find herself battling the Batwoman for the elusive Black Book of the Dark Faith!
On sale December 26 • 3 of 5 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

WOMEN OF THE DC UNIVERSE SERIES 2: BATWOMAN BUST
Designed by Terry Dodson
Sculpted by Jim Maddox
The popular WOMEN OF THE DC UNIVERSE line of cold-cast porcelain busts continues with the addition of Terry Dodson’s Batwoman bust! This crime-fighting partner of Batman appears here standing atop a gargoyle base and ready to throw the batarang clutched in her fist. This Batwoman Bust measures approximately 5.5” tall x 3.5” wide x 2.5” deep and is packaged in a 4-color box.

Not only is Batwoman appearing alongside The Question in a 52 milking miniseries, but she allow is getting her own statue. Could this mean that Batwoman will actually become a relevant character in the future? Or did DC just run out of women to make busts of?

GON VOL. 3
Written and illustrated by Masashi Tanaka
CMX. Gon frolics with some watery friends until a school of piranha tries to put the bite on him — but they’re the ones who will feel the pinch. Later, Gon leads a pack of baby wolf cubs to seek revenge against a vicious tiger for the death of their mother. Then get ready for some far-out fun in the forest, as Gon and friends consume massive quantities of mushrooms!
Advance-solicited; on sale January 23 • 5″ x 7.375″
148 pg, B&W, $5.99 US • TEEN

I love Gon. You should too.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #546
Written by Dan Slott
Art & Cover by Steve McNiven
Variant Cover by BRYAN HITCH
AMAZING! AMAZING! AMAZING!
This is it, Arachnophiles!!!! Prepare for what promises to be the most pulse-pounding piece of four color fiction to be delivered unto the Mighty Marvel Minions in decades! You asked for more Spidey! You demanded it! And, by Buckley, you’re gonna get it! After the devastatingly heartwarming events of ONE MORE DAY, Peter Parker puts the past behind him and sets forth on a BRAND NEW DAY! Starting with Amazing Spider-Man #546, you now have THREE times the action! THREE times the villains! THREE times the danger! Amazing Spider-Man – Now 3 times every month! Bank on it, buck-o! And if that weren’t enough: ASM #546 goes double-sized to bring you back-up features that introduce you to the new players in the lives of Peter and his family!

So Amazing Spider-man is going to be almost weekly? How long is this going to last? I mean, it’s great to have the flagship Spider-Man title get so much action, but is this only so Marvel can rush through a story line and get to a new status quo? Does this new status quo mean cutting Spider-Man back to one title? So many questions…

HULK VS. FIN FANG FOOM ONE-SHOT
Written by PETER DAVID
Penciled by TBA
Cover by JIM CHEUNG
Prepare yourself for a showdown of epic proportions. The gamma irradiated goliath, the Hulk, faces off against the mighty Marvel monster, Fin Fang Foom. This action-packed double-sized one-shot will take two of Marvel’s BIGGEST… GREENEST monsters, and pit them against one-another. And you can be sure that when these big brutal beasts collide, ain’t nobody gonna be happy. So place you’re bets folks, cause this one’s going to make it into the last rounds…
My money is on the FOOM! Plus, classic slugfests from the past!
48 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

No question, this is awesome.

INCREDIBLE HULK #113
Written by GREG PAK & FRED VAN LENTE
Penciled by KHOI PHAM
Cover by ART ADAMS
CLASSIFIED
32 PGS./Rated A …$2.99

Seriously? We’re doing this crap again?

WHAT IF? CIVIL WAR
Written by ED BRUBAKER, KEVIN GREVIOUX & CHRISTOS GAGE
Penciled by MARKO DJURDJEVIC, GUSTAVO & HARVEY TOLIBAO
Cover by MARC SILVESTRI
Wraparound Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC
When a stranger appears in front of Iron Man, visiting Captain America’s symbolic grave at Arlington, he is told of two diverse ways CIVIL WAR could’ve concluded. The first: What If CAPTAIN AMERICA led all the heroes against the Registration Act? The second: What if IRON MAN lost the Civil War?
Join writers Ed Brubaker (Captain America, Daredevil), Kevin Grevioux (New Warriors, the movie-Underworld) and Christos Gage (Civil War: Casualties of War, World War Hulk: X-Men, TV’s Law & Order: SVU) in a giant-size issue that answers the questions Iron Man never wanted to ask!
With interior art by superstar cover painter Marko Djurdjevic, artist Gustavo (Marvel Age Spider-Man, Green Lantern, TMNT and The Amory Wars) and newcomer Harvey Tolibao (Iron Man Annual, Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic), this issue will fulfill your Civil War withdrawal!
56 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Finally those maddening teaser images are explained. I’m looking forward to this. It should be fun. But who are these people with “Civil War withdrawal?”

WOLVERINE #60
Written by MARC GUGGENHEIM
Art by HOWARD CHAYKIN
Cover by ARTHUR SUYDAM
“LOGAN DIES,” Part 3
Scimitar, the newest super-criminal organization in the Marvel Universe, went after Wolverine and killed his girlfriend and, shockingly, him. Now Wolverine’s back and he’s out for blood. The last time Wolverine went on a Vendetta, it was a commercial and critical smash. Just wait ’til you see what happens now! Marc (Wolverine: Vendetta) Guggenheim reunites with his Blade collaborator, the industry legend Howard Chaykin, for the most shocking Wolverine story ever!
32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$2.99

I just like the “OMFG” expression on Logan’s face on the cover.

X-MEN: THE COMPLETE ONSLAUGHT EPIC VOL. 1 TPB
Written by MARK WAID, SCOTT LOBDELL, TERRY KAVANAGH, JEPH LOEB & PETER DAVID
Penciled by ANDY KUBERT, PASQUAL FERRY, JOE MADUREIRA, MIKE WIERINGO, MIKE DEODATO JR., ADAM KUBERT, STEVE SKROCE, ANTHONY CASTRILLO, IAN CHURCHILL & ANGEL MEDINA
Cover by ADAM KUBERT
It begins here! The saga that literally re-made the Marvel Universe of the 1990s is collected in chronological order across four volumes! The psionic force of nature known only as Onslaught sprang forth from the fractured psyche of mutant mentor Charles Xavier and the genetic terrorist called Magneto. Powered by his progenitors’ rage, Onslaught laid siege to humanity — touching off a cataclysmic conflict destined to deprive a world of its most revered icons! Collecting X-MEN #53-54, UNCANNY X-MEN #334-335, AVENGERS #400-401, ONSLAUGHT: X-MEN, X-MAN #18, X-FORCE #57, CABLE #34 and INCREDIBLE HULK #444.
272 PGS./Rated T+ …$29.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2823-6

I understand the need to collect the complete Age of Apocalypse crossover. It was fun and has tons of fans. But Onslaught? Who has been writing to Marvel demanding a complete collection of Onslaught?

And my pick for Potential Feminist Cover Outrage of the Month is….

American Virgin #22! The cheesecake cover of Ms Marvel #22 was a top contender, but American Virgin’s half-naked, anorexic cover girl takes the cake. I don’t read the series, which is famously about sex, but I sure hope that the character on this cover is actually supposed to be anorexic.

When Frank Castle received his own ongoing series in 1987, he was walking the earth like Caine from Kung Fu and righting wrongs that inevitably come across him. After killing a few dozen drug runners in Bolivia, Frank finds himself in the midwest looking for a little bit of downtime. Even obsessive vigilantes need to have their batteries recharged now and again. While in Missouri under the alias of Arnold Groetsch, Frank find himself in persuit of a gang of highly organized bank robbers. It turns out that the robbers are members of a neo-Nazi group called the Army of the New American Revolution. Frank decides to pay the leader, Colonel Fryer a little visit.

Much of Mike Baron’s Punisher involves Frank winning over the trust of his targets by telling them exactly what they want to hear. The results in Colonel Fryer spiting out every thing you would expect a neo-Nazi to say and Frank tossing it right back, unfortunately sounding like far too many Americans I actually know.

The thing that is a bit troubling about this issue is how the Punisher never condemns Colonel Fryer’s militate racism. I would assume that genocidal racism would piss off Frank just as much as any criminal trait, but it seems that he is more concerned with Fryer’s habit of robbing banks than what he has in store for anyone not white or Christian.

This is not to say I think Mike Baron was trying to dance around the deplorable nature of racism. Baron could have chosen to have Frank take on weapons dealers or even a serial killer but he chose to have him kill some Nazis. In his Badger series, Baron has two of the major antagonists become white supremacists. It’s clear that Baron dislikes racists but it’s still interesting that Frank never really called Fryer out on it. Perhaps Marvel did not want to release a book that directly equated militant racism with evil intent. It’s a slippery slope for the freedom of speech, to be fair.

Plus, the whole “Groetschburg” thing is pretty funny. Oh, anti-Semites and their special brand of paranoia!

That said, Fryer does get his, complete with one of the best narration boxes in comic book history.

If you’re interested in reading the entirety of this issue and other old school Punisher stories, you can find it in the newly published and fully awesome Essential Punisher, vol. 2.

Imagine yourself as a comic book fan in the late summer of 1982. “Eye of the Tiger” is burning up the Billboard charts and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn is beaming into theaters. You’re in your favorite comic book specialty shop or drug store when you stumble across the newest issue of Marvel Two-In-One starring the Thing.

That’s right: Holy fucking shit, it’s Batman!

You grab up the issue, pay your $0.60 and high-tail it home, all the while anticipating some epic Bat on Thing action. Not since 1976’s Superman vs. Spider-Man has the promise of an awkward pairing of completely unrelated inter-company characters filled you will such excitement. Marvel Two-In-One was the poor man’s Marvel Team-Up but it looks like Ben Grimm is done teaming up with Valkyrie and Wonder Man and is now running with the big guys.

The story begins with some trouble going down at an archaeological dig in Egypt when a familia, pointy eared silhouette descends upon the diggers. Could it be that Batman is under some sort of min control? Elsewhere, Doctor Strange observes some odd mystical energies coming from Egypt. Instead of going there himself and talking care of the sort of thing that is his specialty, Dr. Strange taps The Thing to check out what’s going on. Likewise Mr Fantastic is to busy talking about weird stuff in Egypt to actually go there. The Thing goes by himself and in promptly ambushed.

Batman is able to take down Ben Grimm without much trouble. That seems about right but his bloodthirsty dialogue and lack of a cape indicate that something is seriously wrong. The whole “You should be dead” thing is also kinda weird. But let’s see how this plays out.

Later, the Thing awakes in chains, face to face with his capturer…

…The Sphinx?! Who this fuck is the Sphinx? Whoever he is, he is not Batman! That’s for damn sure.

After experiencing the crushing disappointment of the potential team up with one of the greatest comic book characters of all time turning out to be nothing more than some lame ass villain who usually fought Nova, you spend ten seconds flipping through the remaining pages. The Thing and the Sphinx fight. The Thing wins. Big fucking deal.

Shut up, Sphinx! You are everything that is wrong about the comic book industry!

You would be so angry that you’d swear off comics forever if not for the last few panels of the issue. Somehow a flying pyramid makes everything all right.