The Pull List (4-16-08): Return of The Damned

There doesn't seem to be a lot of comics on this week's pull list, but I'm honestly excited about reading every one of these titles. Like what, sez you? I sez — to the list!

The Damned: Prodigal Sons #1 (of 3): First off, I've got a complaint: Why didn't I know about this until I checked the solicitation list? Am I going to have to start buying Previews now? I would've hoped Oni Press would be promoting the hell out of this, because if there was ever a book that deserved it, it's The Damned.

The first limited series ingeniously blended 30s gangster noir and demons from hell to produce a creepy crime thriller with all the grit of a cigarette ground under your heel. Brian Hurtt's black-and-white artwork has always been a favorite, but his use of shadowing and stark contrasts in scenes that are detailed but never crowded look like his best work to date. And believe me, that's saying something.

Cullen Bunn had impressed me with the previous series, but his scripting on Prodigal Sons seems to have taken him — and his characters — from solid to self-assured. It feels as if Bunn has really gotten under the skin of his various mobsters, gunsels, molls and demonic hitmen, and his writing is muscular and fluid. Things start off fast and brutal in this book, and I get the feeling it's going to be that kind of ride straight to the finish. Strap in and go read the preview.


The rest ...

The Brave and The Bold #12

Captain America #37

Cthulhu Tales #1

Infinite Horizon #3 (of 6): I love this book — go read the preview of issue #1.


Trading up ...
(Titles I either am, or will be, picking up in trade)

Annihilation: Conquest #6 (of 6)


Maybe ...

'76 #3 (of 8): Is this any good? The fact I don't remember hearing anything about this title makes me leery, but I like the blaxploitation feel so I'll be flipping through it in the shop.

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1: On the plus side, there's Doctor Doom taking Iron Man to hell. On the negative, it's apparently the "long-awaited conclusion of 'The Camelot Legacy.'" I don't even know what that means.

Pigeons From Hell #1 (of 4): Joe R. Lansdale is one of my favorite writers, and the idea of him adapting a Robert E. Howard horror story called Pigeons From Hell might be more than I can resist. Judging just from the preview, I'm not sure what I think about the art (it seems to have a real 90s-era Vertigo vibe to it) but the real test will be the actual horror scenes. I've got my fingers crossed.