Buffy The Vampire Slayer

From X-Men to Countdown to Buffy, we select ten sizzling books to enjoy in the shade.

US, May 10, 2007 - The mere thought of summer being here makes us salivate. No, we’re not interested in the fact that school is out or the beaches are warm and inviting. We’re thinking of the conventions, blockbuster movies, massive comic book crossovers and everything surrounding those hype machines. With the massive movie season kicking off last weekend with Spider-Man 3, and with World War Hulk and Countdown kicking off, we thought we’d take a look at the biggest and best comic books that will hit from now until (roughly) September.

How did we go about narrowing hundreds of titles to ten (with some additional suggestions)? We primarily looked at three criteria: Hype, Affiliated Quality and Potential. Hype is pretty self-explanatory. We’re looking at the books that publishers are pushing hard. The more hype we see (which we pass along to you guys), the more excited we are! But hype can be tempered by our other two areas. Affiliated Quality refers to the books that are related to this series. If we’ve been bored with what came before this event, or it’s been uneven, we might be more wary of what’s to come. We want to suggest books that are (with any luck) going to deliver. Titles that are often late or ship with uneven creative teams are going to sink on our list. We think that’s pretty fair. Lastly we’re taking a look at the potential of a series, which is basically our personal take, factoring in the previous categories, on whether a series is going to be worth your while.

One more note before we get started. There are a ton of great books in the industry. This list isn’t really trying to list the best books, just the "hottest" ones (though we do want them to be good). Something like Archaia’s The Killer won’t be listed because it just doesn’t have the buzz that Captain America does. We can list off dozens of similar examples. We also can’t list everything. But perhaps we forgot that key title? Perhaps there’s that one book that exceeds everything else on our list? E-mail us by clicking here, and let us know your thoughts. Above all else we hope this supplements our Power Ranking and C-Note features to help guide you towards some of those major books that everyone will be talking about.

#10 - Buffy: The Vampire Slayer - Dark Horse Comics
We’re hoping you, as a fiction/literature/pop culture aficionado, have discovered the work of Joss Whedon. Perhaps you’ve seen Firefly or Serenity. Maybe you’re a devoted fan of Astonishing X-Men. Whatever the case might be, we seriously hope you have tried Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you haven’t, we highly recommend you test the concept with Dark Horse’s new series. The book, which has only shipped three issues as of this article, serves as an official "eighth season" to the television show which ended several years back.

If you’ve never experienced Buffy, don’t assume you know what it’s about. There certainly are vampires and lots of slaying, but the heart of the series exists in the franchise’s wonderfully diverse roster of characters. Whether it’s the bold, determined and charming Buffy Summers or her antithesis, Faith (pictured to the right), there’s a personality for everyone. Action and gothic intrigue come second to the wonderfully moving drama. Several episodes of the TV series ("The Body" and "Hush" come to mind) are among the best in the history of any fictional outlet, movies included. With credentials like that, and with the comic series continuing that great tradition, we absolutely guarantee this is going to be one of the best books throughout the summer.

#9 - Thor - Marvel Comics
We’ll be up front about this one: we don’t know very much about the upcoming return of the Thunder God. We know he’s on his way back and that J. Michael Straczynski (JMS) and Olivier Coipel will be handling his new book. We know the first issue ships in July. Perhaps we’re generating all of this hype on our own, but Thor’s return is going to be fantastic. JMS was excellent on Fantastic Four and has routinely delivered brilliant arcs with Amazing Spider-Man. Combine that with the fact that Asgard and Loki are inevitably coming back (in some fashion anyway), and you have a recipe for success.

#8 - Annihilation: Conquest - Marvel Comics
Though it was completely overshadowed by Civil War, one of 2006’s best events was Annihilation. Marvel crafted an epic battle in space which redefined several characters - Silver Surfer once again became a herald of Galactus, the entire Nova Corps was annihilated save for Richard Rider, Thanos was killed and entire civilizations were destroyed. Now a new threat is rising. Marvel remains quiet on the details, but the publishing formula is the same. Three new mini-series will launch in July. Those books, along with the ongoing Nova series, will form the build-up to Annihilation: Conquest, a six-issue event that begins in the fall.

The characters involved are a bit different this time. Star Lord involves a rag tag team of adventurers which includes Rocket Raccoon. We don’t know about you, but the second we heard a raccoon would be trying to save the universe, we were so totally sold. A fresh character called Wraith and the new Quasar will also receive their own limited series. Annihilation reminded us just how cool some of Marvel’s galactic characters could be. We can’t wait for the sequel.

#7 - Justice Society of America - DC Comics
Yeah, yeah, the other Justice book has Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Honestly that star power isn’t nearly enough to make us favor Justice League over Justice Society (though League is still quite good - we recommend it). We can recite the concept of the book time and time again. This is about a family of heroes. Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham have taken the time to assemble a wonderful crew that has a limitless amount of chemistry. We could keep going. Instead we think you just need to buy this book.

Try the first five issues. If you haven’t fallen in love, you can mock us for as long as we have this job. We know that many of you have the urge to stick to the characters you know and love. Trust us when we say that you will quickly find yourself enamored with another dozen heroes when you dive into this wonderful team title.

#6 - Fables - DC Comics - Vertigo
If you’ve been reading IGN Comics for at least the last few months, you know that we love Fables. The series received our Best Ongoing Series of 2006 award and had the spotlight in January when we interviewed series creator Bill Willingham. The imagination at work here is absolutely incredible. All of these characters have been borrowed from old literary works, but the application of these classic concepts is where the originality comes in.

It’s far too easy and far too modest to just claim this is a twisted version of folklore. Sure, seeing the Three Little Pigs get beheaded does prove that - but only to a point. If you tried to categorize this Vertigo series by its dark moments, you’d be missing the wonderful love stories that blossom throughout. You’d be missing the incredibly funny moments and the thrill of discovering where so many legendary characters are placed. You’d be missing the politics of Fabletown and its struggle against the wicked, oppressive empire. You’d be missing Mark Buckingham’s astonishing artwork. Like so many other wonderful fictional concepts, Fables is easy to box in with a simple label. Sadly that limits its appeal as one simple word simply isn’t descriptive enough. Actually, we can think of one word: magnificent. Of course, it takes time to sort these things out in hindsight, but we are quite certain that Fables will be seen as one of this industry’s greatest accomplishments when all is said and done.

#5 - Avengers: The Initiative - Marvel Comics
Take Brian K. Vaughan’s excellent Runaways series. Now take the brilliant Young Avengers by Allan Heinberg. Create a spiritual successor to those, entrench it in the modern Marvel Universe, and add a militaristic setting to the mix. We weren’t entirely sold on Avengers: The Initiative when it was first announced. It sounded great on paper, but who could say if it’d really be worth our time? By the second issue we were blown away. This book brings back the original thrill that Vaughan and Heinberg brought to the comic book shop monthly. Like any good series, there’s a mix of action, drama, sadness and comedy. The cast involved is full of new and old faces, and the vast majority of the fresh ones are incredibly engaging. Initiative looks to be a key cornerstone of the Marvel Universe - and it’s easily the most entertaining.

You’ll notice our additional suggestions below. Thunderbolts is probably the least critical of these in terms of relating key Marvel events, but it’s easily the best written. New and Mighty Avengers (both written by Brian Bendis) will allegedly feature some major, major revelations in the near future. We’ve heard things about symbiotes and Dr. Doom in Mighty while New apparently unveils some vast conspiracy. Even the possibility of those concepts coming to fruition, even if they are massively subdued, is enough to warrant making our list. Bendis is a very gifted writer; we’re just waiting for his Avengers books to take off. Lastly, we’ve listed Captain America. The title hero might be dead, but his legacy lives on. We’re extremely curious to see where Ed Brubaker takes this superb series.

#4 - Amazing Spider-Man - Marvel Comics
Outside of Captain America, who’s dead, we can’t think of another major Marvel character that has endured as many radical changes as Peter Parker has in the last couple years. He’s died, come back to life, unmasked to the world, witnessed the attempted assassination of his aunt and is currently looking to kill the Kingpin to get revenge. According to Marvel’s Spider-Man editors, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Maybe Cap was the lucky one after all. We’ve heard from any number of sources that this will be the "Year of Spidey" by the time some of these major events happen. We’ll be picking up every single wall-crawler book until we get our answers.

Two quick notes about our suggested books: Ultimate Spider-Man is the title to get if you’re looking for a high school Peter Parker, and Sensational is the place to see the return of Eddie Brock. Both are high on our lists this summer, even if they don’t quite measure up to J. Michael Straczynski’s Amazing.

#3 - X-Men - Marvel Comics
Like Thor, what’s coming for the X-Men is incredibly vague. We know some major villains are coming. Names like Sinister and Magneto keep popping up. Before you dismiss Magneto, take a look at one image with us. Head to this article’s gallery (bottom of the page) and look at the group shot of mutants. We don’t think Magneto is holding a glow stick, do you?

Details are scarce, but we’re excited for the direction of the X-titles. The "Endangered Species" storyline is actually running through all of the books as a backup story, and all of that is building to an unnamed event in the fall. Most of the X-books have been quite good recently, so this just adds to our recommendation. Incidentally, you’re probably wondering why we chose Mike Carey and Chris Bachalo’s X-Men over the Whedon/Cassaday Astonishing. There are several reasons. First, X-Men #200 kicks off the major changes that build to the fall event, and it will be tied into that the entire way. Astonishing is not. Second, Whedon and Cassaday’s book doesn’t ship as often. Third, Whedon and Cassaday are winding down their run. The excitement with this major event is just about to begin. That said, we think you should buy Astonishing as well. Why deprive yourself of a great book?

#2 - World War Hulk - Marvel Comics
The World War Hulk (WWH) event eclipses what’s happening with the X-Men and Spider-Man because it encompasses more books. We think all of them have an incredible amount of potential, but Hulk’s quest for revenge covers every hero including Spider-Man (in the Avengers books) and the X-Men (in the WWH: X-Men mini-series). Perhaps you were like us and weren’t hyped for the Green Goliath’s return. We honestly don’t blame you. As strong as "Planet Hulk" started, it began to lose steam and felt fairly repetitive. We were ready for the emperor to die last summer.

But our opinion of WWH has changed lately. After reading the WWH Prologue and Incredible Hulk #106, we’re quite confident we’ll see the range of emotion that will move this from a dull action-heavy story to something far more complex. This definitely has the hype and potential to be one of the best stories of the summer. Plus there’s always a part of us willing to see Hulk smashing something, even if we don’t want to see it all the time.

#1 - Countdown - DC Comics
One year ago we would have easily declared Civil War a hotter prospect than 52. This year our choice was pretty easy again. Countdown’s ambitious plan and strong first issues are easily enough to secure our top spot. Though we will caution you that the end result could be markedly different, Countdown trumps WWH in hype, potential and affiliated quality. The weekly event draws heroes from every DCU book and will likewise affect many books. 52 was a very strong weekly series, but it was mostly filling in history for fans. Countdown takes place in current DCU time, has an established storyline, is the spine of the DCU and is being helmed like a television show, with writers assigned to each issue. By contrast, World War Hulk is designed to be a smaller, more focused event than Civil War. There’s nothing wrong with that, but when we’re looking at the buzz of a book, ambition pays off.

When both Countdown and WWH wrap, it will basically be impossible (and rather illogical) to try and compare them. The two operate on entirely different levels, and the quality and satisfaction for fans will be related to that. That said, those different levels do affect anticipation. We can’t help but be a little giddy when we think of a "Great Disaster" hitting the DCU. Mary Marvel is in for some rather remarkable changes as well. We do love the thought of the Hulk taking the Illuminati down a few inches (or feet), but something about the potential death of Jimmy Olsen is even more thrilling. Sorry, Jimmy.