What’s On Your Pull List? December 16, 2015

Marvel’s Star Wars books have been really strong, and Darth Vader has been part of an excellent one-two punch each month. Kieron Gillen has crafted an excellent mythos for Vader and the Emperor that ties the austere and aloof Vader of the original films with the Anakin of the prequels. And with Lenil Francis Yu on art, this will be one beautiful book.

Descender #8 by Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen
I’ve enjoyed every single issue of Descender, but the cliffhanger on issue 7 really ramped up my interest. Another robot in the Tim series? And Tim’s brother is doing what now? I can’t wait to get my hands on it! And Dustin Nguyen always delivers. Lemire and Nguyen make for a great creative team and they’ve really hooked me with the deepening mystery surrounding this great sci-fi world. It’s like A.I. meets Blade Runner but also totally different.

The Goddamned #2 by Jason Aaron, r.m. Guéra & Giulia Brusco

I was really taken with the first issue of this biblical epic/tale of barbarian revenge and I’m very interested to see how Aaron’s vision of Noah plays out. And r.m. Guéra’s art was a real defining aspect of why I liked the book. It’s beautiful and dirty, horrible yet enticing. It’s turning into a week of good looking books.

Ivar, Timewalker #12 by Fred Van Lente & Pere Perez
Ivar has been one of my favorite reads of the past year and this final issue promises to end all of history, time and space in just a few pages. The time-spanning, universe-jumping series has been a lot of fun to read and Dr. Neela Sethi has quickly become a favorite as we’ve watched her burn all of time from both ends to save her father and to save Ivar. The conclusion promises to be just as zany and fun and emotionally wrenching as the previous issues. Hopefully this won’t be the last outing of Ivar and Neela.

Justice League #46 by Geoff Johns & Francis Manapul

I’ve been having a lot of fun with the “Darkseid War” mini-event happening in the pages of Justice League and its associated one-shots. It’s not great, but it has offered some rather great character beats, especially for Wonder Woman. Francis Manapul on art means this book will be stunning.

Lucifer #1 by Holly Black & Lee Garbett
The original Vertigo Lucifer runs is one of my favorite comics of all time. Horror, psychological and philosophical twists and turns and a devilishly charming protagonist that is at once revolting but incredibly sympathetic. I’m very interested to see what Holly Black has in store for the character and where they will take him that will set this book apart from its predecessor while not completely rejecting it. I’d be reading this one even if I weren’t doing the Vertigo breakdowns with Dave!

Squadron Supreme #1 by James Robinson & Leonard Kirk
The Squadron Supreme are just analogs of the Justice League, but there’s something about them I’ve always been drawn to. Perhaps it’s the Watchmen-before-Watchmen story from the late 80s that reinvented the team into something more. Perhaps its the archetypical characters lead to bad ends theme. Maybe it’s a fondness for J. Michael Straczynski’s reboot in the early 00s. Maybe I’m hoping James Robinson will deliver something similar to his early days on the JSA. Maybe I just love stories about multiversal teams made up of solitary heroes who survived their own world. I’m hopeful this series will scratch an itch for the team that I haven’t been able to sate in many years.