Triple Shot: SIDEKICK #1, LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #11, SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN #2

JMS takes on the dark twist of a superhero sidekick plunged in to the depths of despair after the assassination of his hero in Sidekick #1, Paul Jenkins returns to Batman in Legends of the Dark Knight #11, and Nick Spencer’s misfit Scooby game of super villains are still one short of being Sinister until the Punisher shows up!

SIDEKICK #1
WRITER: J. Michael Straczynski
ART: Tom Mandrake
Publication Date: August 7, 2013
Price: $2.99
Publisher: Joe’s Comics / Image Comics
UPC: 70985301407200111
Buy it HERE

We’ve seen the fall from grace story a few times recently, in fact these are some of or favorite superhero books.

From Irredeemable to The Mighty and The Boys we see a super being turning bad and turning on the world he’s sworn to protect.

This most recent JMS superhero story focuses on Barry Chase aka Flyboy—sidekick of The Red Cowl.

At a parade in his honor, The Red Cowl is assassinated and Flyboy is left alone. Chase is left living in a tenement apartment trying to fund his career with Kickstarter, seeking the company of prostitutes, and staging saving the day with fake crimes for his public reputation.

Needless to say, life sucks when you are a sidekick and are living under the shadow of the hero you served with, even when that hero is gone. Things aren’t looking up for Flyboy as he struggles with his identity in Sol City.

Straczynski’s return to comics is strong with this title and Ten Grand. Here’s to hope he continues his streak with The Protectors in November.

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THE ANSWER! #2 (OF 4)
Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Mike Norton
Colorist: Mark Englert
Publication Date: February 27, 2013
Publisher: Dark Horse
Price: $3.99
UPC: 7 61568 22480 1 00211

My favorite punk band, Swingin’ Utters released a new song this week, “The Librarians are Hiding Something”.

We know it’s true, right. I mean why do we have to be quiet all the time? Are we going to wake Cthulhu in there?

Devin McKenzie has a secret in her library. She loves to stay up late playing computer quiz puzzle games. What Devin didn’t know was that those games were an aptitude test for a suspicious secret organization called the Brain Trust.

Our costumed hero, The Answer, is decked in all black with utility belt and merely an exclamation point on his mask.

At the end of issue #1, The Answer has rescued Devin, for now because all of her gaming has flipped an alarm and send bad guys after her. The Answer makes with the punching and rescuing as issue #2 opens up in a bus station in Cincinnati, a few cities away from her native Chicago.

The Brain Trust wins this round it seems because Devin is easily seduced into the cult of literati, and The Answer is drugged and locked down by Brain Trust for observation.

Lots to enjoy here with this book and if only four issues will make a fun trade for those that like their superheroes quippy like Deadpool and Spidey. Right now we know more of Devin, and she is smart so likely she can think her way out of any impending threat or trap. No origin or backstory provided for The Answer himself but the dialog and jokes about spandex are hilarious.

You honestly can’t go wrong with the creative team. On art is Mike Norton (Battlepug, It Girl andThe Atomics) and on the script is Marvel NOW! writer Dennis Hopeless (Avengers Academy, Cableand X-Force). This is super fun comics and we can appreciate Devin for the strong and smart female lead that she is.

DOCTOR WHO: PRISONERS OF TIME #2 (OF 12)
Writer: Scott and David Tipton
Artist: Lee Sullivan
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Publication Date: February 27, 2013
Publisher: IDW
Price: $3.99
UPC: 82771400416800221

The 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who is here, and IDW celebrates with a limited series starring each Doctor inDoctor Who Prisoner of Time, Issue #2 out this week.

This book is a treat for Who fans, and offers a great introduction to the other Doctors.

Most of us perhaps grew up with Tom Baker episodes and reinvigorated our fandom with the 2005 series. This issue stars the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton, and two companions Zoe and Jamie.

The trio Vworps into an intergalactic shopping mall, where one store sells various and sundry Police Boxes. Theirs being the only TARDIS, the ship is disguised among the merchandise as they explore the bazaar.

Suspecting illegal slave trade, by a species called Voraxx, the Doctor cruelly sets up Jamie as bait and the companion is captured. Zoe and The Doctor peruse bikes in the shoppe, (one bike being a replica of the iconic penny farthing trike from The Prisoner, a cult BBC spy show on television the same time as the second Doctor’s series).

The Voraxx beam away as Zoe and The Doctor follow them onto their Prisoner Slave ship. They spring Jamie and discover a pair of classic Who monsters - The Ice Warriors! (http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Ice_Warrior)

Lots of classic BBC action and a right tribute to the classic Doctors from brothers Scott and David Tipton (IDW Star Trek, Star Trek/Doctor Who: Assimilation).

DEATHMATCH #3
Writer: Paul Jenkins
Artist: Carlos Magno
Cover: Whilce Portacio
Price: $3.99
Publication Date: February 27, 2013
Publisher: Boom! Studios

Looks like a new sub-genre of versus battle comics has arrived. Also shipped to stores this week was the more high profile Marvel NOW! Avengers Arena #5.

Both books are based on the Hunger Games/Battle Royalepremise of pitting contestants and in both comic book cases, superheroes,against each other to the death in order to survive.

Paul Jenkins and Carlos Magno have set up their own comic book universe wherein there are a variety of heroes and anti-heroes who may have been fighting for years.

While the Avengers book is using Marvel properties, Jenkins created 32 new characters with dossiers and faux ‘first appearance’ info featured at the back of each issue.

Vol. 1 of the trade paperback has been solicited from Boom! for April 17 at a bargain $9.99.

Onto the battle for this issue! Hater has preternatural sense of his surrounding and also PTSD from military service. He would be a match to The Punisher mixed with some of Daredevil and Wolverine’s powers. Hater has been pitted by the unseen puppet masters against The Mutate. The Mutate is a beastly human with a catlike face. The Mutate is dedicated to worldwide peace, though proves here that he can follow his killer instincts when attacked.

A fun part of the book is the tournament bracket pages on the back right before four of the character dossiers. Each issue you can make your own bets as to where the tournament is headed.

Also in this issue are reveals of who or what is holding our new favorite heroes in the DEATHMATCH arena. Will the fedora-sporting Rat (think Watchmen’s Rorschach … ‘HURM’) break the code of ‘The Game’?

Keep on this one in issues, folks. The trade will be fun but the cliffhangers will kill ya.

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