The Pull List! July 29, 2009

Well, folks, it’s that time again, where we take a look at the comics you need to pick up.  Marvel did exactly as we expected, dumping every single “Dark Reign” related book this week, as well as finally releasing the final issue of the easily forgotten “Ultimatum” event.  Meanwhile DC actually eased off it’s current event, “Blackest Night”, probably because it’s two strongest books, “Superman” and “Detective Comics” come out this week.  All in all, a somewhat disappointing week for the Marvel Zombies, but Johnny DCs are going to be foaming at the mouth.  Hit the jump to find out what’s notable this week, and remember that just because I didn’t put it on the list doesn’t mean it isn’t good.

BLACKEST NIGHT: TALES OF THE CORPS #3 (OF 3) DC Comics

Official Solicitation: “In this 3-issue miniseries, writers Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (GREEN LANTERN CORPS) reveal the secrets behind the Lanterns of BLACKEST NIGHT! Bear witness to Blue Lantern Saint Walker’s pilgrimage of hope, Star Sapphire Carol Ferris’ sacrifice for love, Green Lantern Kilowog’s courageous beginnings, Red Lantern Vice’s source of rage, Orange Lantern Blume’s bizarre creation, and the first appearance of the mysterious Indigo, leader of the Indigo Tribe!”

DARK REIGN: HAWKEYE #4 (OF 5) Marvel Comics

Official Solicitation: “From the pages of DARK AVENGERS! As Ben Urich learns the awful truth about the terrorist cell operating in New York City, Hawkeye finally confronts the mysterious antagonist who’s been haunting his dreams. But is he just a figment of Bullseye’s diseased imagination? And if so, where the hell did all these dead bodies come from? You want some wicked Dark Reign fun? The dastardly duo of Andy Diggle (THUNDERBOLTS) and Tom Raney (SECRET INVASION: INHUMANS) hit the mark!”

DARK REIGN: SINISTER SPIDER-MAN #2 (OF 4) Marvel Comics

Official Solicitation: “The name’s Mac Gargan, and the whole city of New York thinks I’m Spider-Man. They love me and I can do anything I like. What I like is making J. Jonah Jameson’s life a living hell. Well, that… and eating people. But that seems to have ticked off some folks. Turns out even super-powered criminals have feelings, and they’ve all teamed up with this nutjob scientist named The Redeemer to kill me. Also, who the heck is THE HIPPO? By Brian Reed (Ms. Marvel) and Chris Bachalo (New Avengers).”

DARK X-MEN: THE BEGINNING #2 (OF 3) Marvel Comics

Official Solicitation: “UTOPIA TIE-IN Who are the Dark X-Men and how did they come to be? FIND OUT HERE! Each issue has 3 11-page stories, each dedicated to one of the Dark X-Men and how they came to be part of the team. This first two issues focus on Emma Frost, Mimic, Cloak & Dagger, Daken, Weapon X and Dark Beast!”

DETECTIVE COMICS #855 DC Comics

Why You Should Care: Last month, we received the shock of our lives. Greg Rucka, along with art contributors JH Williams III and Cully Hamner, produced easily the single greatest comic to come out so far, and will likely stand out as the best comic of 2009. The revamped “Detective Comics” is, quite simply put, a thing of beauty. If you’re not picking this up, you’re missing the one reason to justify the death of Bruce Wayne: putting Batwoman and The Question front and center of the DCU, where they belong.

Official Solicitation: ““Elegy” part 2 of 4 by Greg Rucka and JH Williams III! Batwoman captures her enemy, a madwoman known only as Alice who sees her life as a fairy tale and everyone around her as expendable extras – including Kate! But when the tables are turned, Batwoman finds herself in a hallucination slamming the present into a collision with the past, and the hints of a threat that will claim the lives of every man, woman and child in Gotham City.

And in the all-new co-feature starring the Question, Montoya’s quest to find a missing young girl turns deadly.”

FANTASTIC FOUR #569 Marvel Comics

Official Solicitation: “Double-Sized Finale to “The Masters of Doom!” featuring the last stand of the ragged FF before the triumphant Marquis of Death, as only the mind of Mark Millar could conceive it! And should Marvel’s first family survive that, they’ve got the wedding of the Thing to look forward to!”

FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH: INK #3 (OF 6) DC Comics

Official Solicitation: “Things are not looking up for Mark Richards, the Tattooed Man. His family is in trouble, his powers are out of control, and his city is looking to him for help before it goes up in flames. Too bad Mark is too busy getting his face kicked in by a couple of new villains to do anything about it. This is the part where being a hero gets tough, and Mark realizes he might not be up to the task.”

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #35 DC Comics

Official Solicitation: “The cards are stacked against the remnants of the Justice League! And those cards are the Royal Flush Gang! Can even Superman and Wonder Woman save a team whose luck has run out? Featuring the deadly return of an old foe.”

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #29 DC Comics

Official Solicitation: “A new era begins for the Justice Society of America as writers Bill Willingham (FABLES) and Matthew Sturges (BLUE BEETLE) take over the series with new artist Jesus Merino (SUPERMAN ANNUAL) just as two new recruits make their debut with the team! Strange happenings at the JSA Mansion are weird precursors to an all-out attack on all members of the team — all but one! And what is the strange connection that new members King Chimera and All-American Kid might have with the turmoil?”

NEW AVENGERS #55 Marvel Comics

Official Solicitation: “Ultimate Spider-Man artist Stuart Immonen rejoins series regular Brian Bendis for this all-new blockbuster Avengers story. One of the Hood’s gang has found a way to power drain the New Avengers and it turns the tides of the Dark Reign in ways no one would have expected it. Plus the new Sorcerer Supreme has a lot to learn, and they’re going to learn it from…Spider-Man?”

SECRET WARRIORS #6 Marvel Comics

Official Solicitation: “The shocking conclusion to the earth-shattering first arc of Marvel’s coolest new series in years! It’s the ultimate Marvel super-hero spy experience. No one is safe! Don’t believe everything you’ve been told! You will be lied to!”

SPAWN #194 Image Comics

Why You Should Care: There’s a new Spawn in town. All signs certainly don’t seem to point to him being a reborn and displaced Al Simmons, but still, who knows? Classic Spawn foe The Violator shows up to fight with the new Spawn, and to remind us all how awesome the early 90s were. Need more reason to pick up this book, series creator Todd McFarlane announced recently that he’d be doing the art on the forthcoming “Spawn”#200.

Official Solicitation: ““Endgame,” Part Ten
Get ready for Violator vs. Spawn! Violator returns to have his first encounter with the new Spawn. Meanwhile, the Clown continues to manipulate from behind the scenes.”

SUPERMAN #690 DC Comics

Official Solicitation: “As media mogul Morgan Edge fans the flames of Earth’s distrust of all things alien, Mon-El wrestles with his looming demise and what to do with his remaining life. At the same time, forces from the future must prevent Mon-El from meeting Sodam Yat – the Green Lantern from Daxam known as Ion – for the sake of tomorrow. And General Lane rolls out his plan to ensnare our hero by lining up a vicious crew of villains – but to do this, Steel must fall. It’s a wild ride setting up next month’s crossover event in the SUPERMAN books!”

TEEN TITANS #73 DC Comics

Official Solicitation: “n the first feature, the team attempts to rescue Wonder Girl from the new Fearsome Five, as Calculator enacts his revenge on the team for not protecting his children. In the 10-page co-feature, Ravager faces the drug problem that could kill her!”

THE LAST DAYS OF ANIMAL MAN #3 (OF 6) DC Comics

Official Solicitation: “Enter the League of Titans! Buddy Baker is cracking up, but can he rely on a little help from his friends? Or should a wounded animal just slink away to die? Starfire has an opinion on the subject, and she’s never been one to keep her feelings to herself…”

THUNDERBOLTS #134 Marvel Comics

Official Solicitation: “It’s Thunderbolt vs. Thunderbolt in “Widowmaker” part 2 of 4! Black Widow II leads the hunt for renegade ex-team-member Songbird, but one of her own squad of blood-thirsty killers is carrying a deadly secret! Who holds the secret, what is it, and how will it explode the delicate balance of power within Norman Osborn’s black-ops hit squad forever? There’s no going back after the latest chapter in the book that IGN.com calls “the vilest, most wicked book on the stands!””

ULTIMATUM #5 (OF 5) Marvel Comics

Why You Should Care: Everything you know about the Ultimate Universe is over with. The Wasp, Valkyrie, and Professor Xavier are dead. The culprit: Magneto, twisting Earth itself like a mad God to avenge the death of his children, Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch. Despite it’s annoying overuse of shock deaths and painfully slow release dates (I honestly forget about “Ultimatum” until I see the solicit for the next issue), Jeph Loeb’s sprawling epic conclusion to the Ultimate Universe has certainly set the bar high, as the Ultimates and the X-Men face off against the super-pissed Magneto.

Official Solicitation: “Is this what the end of the world looks like? You better believe it!!
As only Emmy & Eisner award-winning writer Jeph Loeb and superstar artist David Finch can deliver, it’s an apocalyptic conclusion where every, and we mean EVERY, score is settled! The Ultimate heroes have faced their final judgment…and when the dust settles will they be found wanting? If you can handle the growing body count, stick around as ALL is answered in this explosive series finale that will shock fans for years to come!”

WAR OF KINGS: ASCENSION #4 (OF 4) Marvel Comics

Official Solicitation: “What happened at the end of WAR OF KINGS #4, and what did Darkhawk have to do with it? Only Chris Powell knows the terrible deeds the Fraternity of Raptors will carry out to protect their so-called “Great Purpose”, but who will believe or trust the paranoid warnings of a lone young Earthman? The entire universe thinks he’s committed an appalling crime—and now Darkhawk is cosmic enemy #1!”

WEDNESDAY COMICS #4 DC Comics

Official Solicitation: “In July, DC Comics gives a fresh twist to a grand comics tradition with WEDNESDAY COMICS, a new, weekly 12-issue series by some of the greatest names in comics today!

WEDNESDAY COMICS is unique in modern comics history: Reinventing the classic weekly newspaper comics section, it is a 16-page weekly that unfolds to a sprawling 28″ x 20″ tabloid-sized reading experience bursting with mind-blowing color, action and excitement, with each feature on its own 14″ x 20″ page.”

WOLVERINE NOIR #4 (OF 4) Marvel Comics

Official Solicitation: “New York, 1937. On a dark train platform, in the hellish skid row called the Bowery, Private Eye Jim Logan gets one last chance to crack the case that’s been tearing his guts out. But even if he finds his missing partner Dog, Logan’s own shattered life may never be the same.”

WONDER WOMAN #34 DC Comics

Official Solicitation: ““Birds of Paradise” part 1 of 2! After the status-shattering events of WONDER WOMAN #33, the world’s most sensational team reunites, as Wonder Woman and Black Canary go undercover among some of the worst villains of the DC universe! It’s gonna be a bad day for some bad men when the two toughest women in comics join forces!”

X-MEN FOREVER #4 Marvel Comics

Official Solicitation: “The mansion is still reeling from the events of the previous issue; having just scraped through the Fabian Cortez mission by the skin of their teeth, they were completely unprepared for a psychic blast from Jean, which rendered them all unconscious, and even less prepared for the subsequent surprise visit from one of their greatest nemeses, SABRETOOTH! But as the dust from the battle between the X-Men and this invader—culminating in a brutal battle between Sabes and a particularly vicious Storm—all may not be as it appears… Plus, what secret is Kitty hiding up her sleeve? Don’t miss comics legend and New York Times Bestselling Author CHRIS CLAREMONT’s thrilling return to the X-MEN!”