Wednesday's New Things: Red Rover, Red Rover, A Pretty Good Crossover

1) The general consensus on Jonathan Hickman's relatively new Avengers comics is that New Avengers is pretty good, but that Avengers is something of a mess. I'd strenuously disagree with the latter claim, but I'm also the only person I know who would. New Avengers, though, is pretty good, generally, although I thought last month's issue was basically incomprehensible. Still, everyone gets a little leeway for a bad comic now and then, particularly Hickman. Moreover, given that the Infinity crossover has so far been of a perfectly acceptable quality, it seems like a shame to skip out on that story right now. The decent crossover comic is just such a rare thing. 

2) Rick Remender is wrapping up his first, extraordinarily long, arc on Captain America. The comic has, generally, been pretty good, although it's notable mostly for just how different its goofy sci-fi beats are from Ed Brubaker's long standing super spy take on the character. I do hope that some of the characters we've been introduced to carry through, although with the "dramatic death" promised in the solicitation that seems unlikely. Still, its nice to see a ten month long serial wrapped up completely, meaning that its able to pick up next month with a completely new, though presumably connected, story. Another thing to note is that John Romita Jr.'s work here has been excellent; because JRJR has been making public noises about leaving Marvel and he's being replaced by Carlos Pacheco (himself an excellent, although very different and much more traditional, artist) next month, this maybe the last chance you have to see these characters drawn in this way for a long time.

3) Also being released this week is Chuck Forsman's The End of the Fucking World, collected and retitled the safe for bookstores TEOTFW. I've heard a lot of really good things about Forsman, and I think I'll probably check this one out sooner rather than later. One thing I wonder, though, is if the fact that this material was originally published as a minicomic was part of the appeal. Does the book, published a different, more formal way, call to the same people? I very much hope it does. If it doesn't, or if it finds a different audience in this format, it'll mean something interesting things about the divide between comics subcultures.