DC certainly held up it’s end of the bargain this week and Dynamite might have shipped everything they had, but your stack may have been a little light this week if you’re mostly reading Marvel comics. The shipping juggernaut that is Marvel seems to have slowed it’s roll a little bit as of late. Which is probably a good thing. As to the actual comics, plenty of surprise endings to be found but I don’t know that many of my nominees will surprise you today.

Nominees!

AMERICAN VAMPIRE #23 – As expected it was excellent. Do have a bone to pick with the issue.  Our rock-n-roll teenage vampire hunter had a flashback this issue. Fifteen years ago. Which makes him at most four years old in the flashback scenes? Not so sure that worked. Dates and ages do get tricky at times. But that’s nitpicking. Hey! What else ya gonna do when a books this good! And if you are looking for a non-super hero book to read they don’t get much better than American Vampire.

ANGEL & FAITH #6 – The first of our surprise (and also fantastic) endings on the list today. Was titled Daddy Issues Part one. Got a flashback with Giles as a young man dealing with his daddy. Faith’s daddy came looking for her. And while Angel’s daddy didn’t show up, he’s got some daddy issues of his own! Won’t spoil the ending here. I loved it. The reveal was great. The twist was better. Can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

AQUAMAN #5 – Because I think dealing with Atlantis, the sinking of Atlantis and Aquaman’s history under the water is the direction the title needs to go and this issue got us headed that way.

FANTASTIC FOUR #602 – Because Barry Kitson’s art looked awesome, Galactus was flat out cool, Sue Richards was flat out cool and that was quite a space battle.

I VAMPIRE #5 – As expected, excellent. Think I’ve nominated every issue so far and our second vampire book of the week. Third if you count Angel & Faith. Would not consider myself a “vampire” fan. But good is good and all three titles are excellent. And radically different. I Vampire is probably a little more of what you would expect from a “vampire” book. Art certainly tilts it that way. But Batman showed up this issue and the conversation/fight between him and Andrew, our immortal vampire on the side of good, was great. Plus Andrew showed off his sweet Jedi mind powers. Those aren’t the droids you’re looking for!

JUSTICE LEAGUE #5 – So many cool bits once again. Flash and Superman trying to outrun Darkseid’s omega beams was super cool. As was Superman catching one in the back! Green Lantern totally got punked, again. For a second I thought Darkseid was going to rip off his arm, Invincible style! That would have been even better! Batman going to get Superman was a great Batman moment. Please pick me up Mr. Parademon! And Wonder Woman had the line of the week. “It’s settled then. We blind him”. Whoa. Settle down, chickadee. Don’t let that Amazon blood go to your head. Liked it all. Almost. Batman de-cowling and declaring to Hal, “My name is Bruce Wayne” was bad enough. But the history lesson and psychoanalysis, in the middle of a very exciting fight, was just horrible. Good still out weighs the bad! I’m a glass well over half full kind of guy.

SUPERMAN #5 – The second of our surprise (and also fantastic) endings on the list today. When we first saw Superman he was battling to contain the Fire and Ice forces that we have seen throughout the first four issues. And he succeeds. Threat averted. Superman then declares, “I have a city to save” and flies away. What follows is Superman destroying a stash of killer robot parts, then killing Titano, then killing the Sky Raiders gang, then he drops a newscaster off a building killing him! What is up with Superman? Has he gone mad? Is he possessed by an alien entity? Wasn’t sure what was going on. And I loved the last page!

ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #6 – As expected, excellent. So much is going on and it was an all talk issue! Loved how Reed Richards reacted to the Falcon’s infiltration attempt. Um…your captured. Feel free to look around and report back on what you see, we have nothing to hide. Just be aware that human kind is now an endangered species and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Take that! The funny thing is I may actually believe the evil villain boast this time! I don’t see the Ultimates beating them. Actually hope they don’t. Hope it’s a permanent status quo change. I like how the new world order is shaping up. And the rest of the issue was just as good. I’m always up for a good bust on Tony Stark. Unnamed evil corporate lady says, “Keep it up and I’m going to think you’re super-power is actually impuissance”  Wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. Knew it couldn’t be a compliment. Had to look it up. What it means is…Quit crying Tony! So what if twenty-seven million people died, it was all part of our plan to ruin the world’s economy! We used to own 1.7% of the worlds assets. Now we own 9%. We’re rich-er! Get it together man, we’re trying to take over the world!

VOODOO #5 – The third of our surprise (and also fantastic) endings on the list today. Always thought there was something a little weird going on with Voodoo. I know it’s the new 52 and all that but she just didn’t seem quite right to me. And now we just might know why.

WALKING DEAD #93 – After Andy’s highlights, Shawn’s Showcase and my Best Covers I finally got to read it. Wow. Did I laugh. Rick you are one crazy dude. I warned you. Run. Run. Run. Totally awesome! And on page three I knew I was reading the Best Book of the Week!

Poll tomorrow! If you want anything unusual listed, like Transformers or Witchblade, you got the next twenty four hours to send in your nominees!

See ya!

Rusty