Pre-Reviews for the Week of March 28, 2007.

We’re using Midtown’s list again and formatting things a bit differently, so here’s the outstanding picks for the week of March 28, 2007. Again, I’m not picking out every comic worth buying, just saying “Hey, here’s what’s interesting.”

Dark Horse

Mail Vol 3: I’ve been very much impressed with the supernatural manga that Housui Yamazaki has been involved in. His art on Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service captures the matter-of-fact, deadpan tone of the title perfectly. I may like his solo title title a bit more, though: Mail has got a fantastic hook and a sense of zip that I wish stateside franchises in the same vein (The Dresden Files, anyone?) had.

DC

Batman #664: While the previous issues pulp excursion didn’t bother me that much, outside of the fairly dodgy CG art (probably because of my love for the homaged material,) I’ll be happy to see Morrison doing what he does best.
Batman: Snow: I’m buying this purely for the Seth Fisher art, which I’m quite sure is going to be gorgeous. There’s a strange bit of coicidence involving death and Batman here, isn’t there?

Hyperion

Houdini: The Handcuff King: The first book from the Center of Cartoon Studies released to the open market, and it looks to be a heck of a slam-dunk with writing and layouts by Jar of Fools creator Jason Lutes and art by Nick Bertozzi. Since I read Carter Beats The Devil a few years ago, I’ve had a rekindled fascination for the days when escape artists like Houdini could cause an entire town to shut down while they performed their stunts. You can see a preview here.

Image

Pirates Of Coney Island #5: My love for this book is almost unholy. So beautifully lurid and gleeful in its brutality.

Marvel

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane Volume 1: The best Spider-Man title on the stands, in oversized format so it slides neatly besides my Runaways trades. It appears that the digests have done well for Marvel, but this is my preferred format for the series.