This week offers up some big books–none bigger than Dean Motter’s Mister X: Razed.

Wait.  What?

You did a double-take, didn’t you?  You were expecting to read Spider-Gwen at the end of that superlative statement, weren’t you?

Ugh.

• Colder: Bad Seed #5 (Dark Horse): Nimble Jack is back, baby!  Maybe that’ll add a little oomph to an otherwise lethargic exercise.  Tobin and Ferreyra cultivated a creepy tone early on but kind of got stuck in one place.  Man, I’d give the finger to this series, but I’d be worried about getting it back.
• Mister X: Razed #1 (Dark Horse) Just I&N and I&N Demand It’s the first time a book has earned both enviable distinctions!  Oh, yeah, baby!  Mister X is back, and we couldn’t be any more excited!  One reason–and it’s a good one: back in 2013, Dean Motter delivered the brilliant Mr. X: Eviction, which earned the coveted #1 spot on our highly respected Top Ten list, beating out the likes of Mind MGMT, Six-Gun Gorilla, and Saga.  Now that’s gotta tell you something.  Can’t wait to see what Mr. Motter has to tell us this time around.

• Bodies #8 (DC/Vertigo): Gosh.  #1 hit the shelves with such promise.  Unfortunately, the damn thing collapsed under its own weight and, as a result, has been a four-pronged slog ever since.  Glad it’s over.
• Suiciders #1 (DC/Vertigo): Lee Bermejo’s doing his own thing.  Would be silly not to try it.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #43 (IDW): Reptilicious fun!  All sorts of backstabbing going on.  Good thing our favorite turtles have shells–and madd ninja skills.
• Low #6 (Image): I’m still pretty high on Low.  Remender’s not ringing my bell anywhere else; but this diving bell of a book is tintinnabulous!
• ODY-C #3 (Image): This gender-bending blitz on Homer’s epic is a damn siren’s song; it’s a party with the local lotophagi.  Didn’t dig it so much after the first issue.  Good thing I stuck around.
• Rasputin #5 (Image): I’m riding it out ’til the end of the arc.  There isn’t much here that’s keeping my interest.
• They’re Not Like Us #3 (Image) I&N Demand Deadly Class only wishes it was this good.  How would you act if you had superpowers?  Eric Stephenson’s got the answer.  Heck, it’s like a team full of feisty and rather petty Ozymandiases.  What’s going to happen when the stakes get raised?  Can’t wait to find out.
  

• The Wicked & The Divine #8 (Image) I&N Demand The book’s got attitude.  Yeah, this book’s a real bitch–a beautiful, effing bitch–one you’ve just desperate to have.  But even when you have it, you don’t really have it; it has you.
  

• All-New X-Men #38 (Marvel): Chapter 4 of “The Black Vortex” crossover.  Yeah, I’m out of that loop.  Probably going to leave it on the shelf.  Hindsight is 22/22: should’ve done the same with the Ultimate waste of an arc.
• Daredevil #13 (Marvel): Despite some strong work from Chris Samnee, the Stunt-Master arc wasn’t particularly exciting.  Reminds that Waid’s missed the mark some since making the move to the Left Coast.  This issue kicks off the final chapter of Waid and Samnee’s run.  I say perfect timing.  Speaking of perfect: how about Samnee’s cover:

• Darth Vader #2 (Marvel): #1 was fine.  Was the Force with it?  Not so sure about that.  Got to give Gillen another go-round to see just how dark his helmet gets.
• Men Of Wrath #5 (Marvel/Icon): I’ve enjoyed it enough.  Father-son stories always hit me where it hurts.  It’s like “Cat’s in the Cradle” but the cat’s been blown to furry bits by a blast of buckshot.  “When you comin’ home son, I don’t know when, but I’ll fill you full of lead, dad, you know I’ll shoot you in the head…”
• Spider-Gwen #1: Ha!  Made you look!
• Thor Annual #1 (Marvel): I’m leaning toward passing.  Annuals rarely offer anything of worth–and are rarely worth the inflated price.
• The Black Hood #1 (Archie): Duane Swierczynski and Michael Gaydos (who took a great turn on Zero) go all X-rated for Archie Comics?  That’s right: the images, the synopsis–I’m thinking X, Swierczynski’s violent vigilante haunt over at Dark Horse.  I mean, right?
• Evil Empire #11 (BOOM!) I&N Demand I love Evil Empire!  This month’s not-so-sheepish cover from Jay Shaw:
  

• Quantum & Woody Must Die #2 (Valiant): As much as I wanted to not want to want to play this game of life and death with the Valiant brain trust, #1 wasn’t bad.
• The Twilight Zone: Shadow & Substance #2 (Dynamite): Mark Rahner and Edu Menna have huge shoes to fill, mostly because the recently–and brilliantly–wrapped-up The Twilight Zone‘s Straczynski and Vilanova have big-ass feet.

 Avery’s Pick of the Week

• Abigail and the Snowman #3 (BOOM!): My daughter’s kind of scared of the Snowman.  She has to convince herself that it’s just a cartoon–the same way she talks herself down when Marshmallow shows up in Frozen.  Still she’s made it her pick of the week.

What are you looking forward to this week?

Turning pages,

Scott