The siege of Asgard continues, Indigo becomes the new choice of color and Captain America “officially” returns in this latest edition of The Pull List Comic Reviews! Due to time constraints and unforeseen delays, this week’s column is abbreviated. As always, WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

PULL OF THE WEEK:

Atom & Hawkman #46
DC Comics – $2.99 US
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ryan Sook
Score: 9/10

Ray Palmer, known better as the Atom, has been knocked down more than most during his career as a costumed crime-fighter, but he always manages to pick himself up. Not surprisingly, that compassion of his has earned him an Indigo ring, and with the dead seemingly winning the war, Ray has figured out a way to swing the battle to the good guys; even if the good guys aren’t all necessarily “good” to begin with.

I would never have thought that, of all the Blackest Night-themed “continuation” issues, this would be the best of the bunch (so far), but with Geoff Johns at the helm, I should have known better. Johns uses a This Is Your Life presentation of Ray Palmer’s history as a canvas to show just how much the character brings to the table, and in doing so, the writer sets the stage for what could be the turning point in war against Nekron.

Artist Ryan Sook simply crushed this issue. Everything in this issue was pitch-perfect, from Ray’s past to the horrific present – every panel led to the next without skipping a beat. Instead, the body of work in this issue touched on varying types of visual storytelling that not only worked incredibly well, but also showed the artist’s vast range of skills.

Wrap all this up and throw in the aforementioned revelation of the Indigo rings, and you’re left with a can’t-miss issue that’s also the Pull of the Week.

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For those of you who don’t know who Grant Morrison is you’re likely to be made aware of him soon.  The groundbreaking comic book writer behind such legendary runs on X-Men, Animal Man, and Doom Patrol is getting his own biopic, and the director of that movie, Patrick Meaney, is profiled over at Wired.

In the profile, Meaney says Morrison is about to become one of those creators that will receive mainstream recognition that only creators such as Alan Moore and Frank Miller have enjoyed.

“Most ‘civilians’ that I talk to about the project still don’t know who Grant Morrison is,” Meaney said in the interview, “but Moore is definitely a name they recognize, as is Frank Miller. I feel like we could soon be seeing a bunch of Morrison film projects in the not-too-distant future.”

Currently in-development is Morrison’s work WE3, which is a favorite among many of us Morrison fans. The story involves pets enhanced with cybernetic weaponry to become assassins who rebel against their programming and their creators. The project is currently being handled by Kung Fu Panda director John Stevenson.

Morrison’s sensibilities lends well to the screen, however, his ideas are far left of Richard Kelly-weird so I’m not sure how well they are likely to be received by the bigwigs in Hollywood, or by audience members for that matter.  But I applaud any would-be producer in developing an idea of Morrison’s, it shows a willingness to take chances and I appreciate that. But if WE3 gets a true to form adaptation for the screen, I would suspect many parent’s groups raising holy hell over it.

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International Creative Management (ICM) has started zeroing in on the comic industry’s more notable assets, with the announcement of signing writer Grant Morrison. Being one of the world’s largest talent and literary agencies, ICM already boasts an impressive list of clients such as actors Jodie Foster and Al Pacino, director Woody Allen, television personality Ellen DeGeneres, author Patricia Cornwell and musician Beyoncé, to name a few.

As detailed by The Hollywood Reporter, Morrison has 20 years under his belt, penning fan-favorite works like JLA, X-Men, Doom Patrol and the current Batman and Robin. The spotlight has shined on him even more lately thanks to his ‘Batman: R.I.P.’ and Final Crisis projects, and the gaming world got a dose of Morrison thanks to his classic Arkham Asylum: A Serious Place On Serious Earth graphic novel that became the inspiration for the hit video game Batman: Arkham Asylum.

The newly formed DC Entertainment also counts on Morrison’s contributions and consulting as their goal of emulating Marvel Studios’ approach to comic movies intensifies. Other notable comic creators under ICM’s management are Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and legendary artist Neal Adams, who signed with them in August.

Happy Wednesday! This week there is a great mix and mash of comics, and we hope you’ll at least give a look at a few of these. First off: ever wonder what it would be like if the writer/artist of The Dark Knight Returns teams with the artist of Watchmen? Now you’ll know this week as Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons team up for The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the 21st century. The thing is PRICEY though, so at keep an eye out for a cheaper version when it hits stands.

From DC Comics this week, we have Philip Tan replacing Frank Quitely on Batman and Robin. Its worth getting to see the difference. There’s a Quitely cover at least. The good news is that Grant Morrison’s collaborator on Seaguy Cameron Stewart will be joining the team following Tan. Fortunately, Quitely is staying on as the cover artist, and every week he turns in a new cover I can’t help but make that my computer background. Just look at that sucker.

Also, from DC is Blackest Night #3, this juicy and horrific tale is crazy weird.  Almost Howling or Piranha-like but in comics. Not cheesy horror, but outlandish horror.

The final five issues of Brian K. Vaughan’s brilliant Ex Machina series starts this week and I kinda feel like I did when Y: The Last Man was ending. Something really special is ending and we’re never going to see it again.  Well, that’s a mixed bag. Though we’re going to have movie versions of these comics I just mentioned, Vaughan is slipping away from comics. With his Roundtable script being on this year’s Black List and selling that script for six figures, plus leaving the Lost writer’s room, I can only imagine that hopefully this means more comics for Vaughan but I fear that’s probably not the case.

From Marvel, the only thing really worth it is Ed Brubaker’s Captain America Reborn. What I like about Ed Brubaker is that while he’s a slow burn and you have to be ultra committed to sticking with him, and this book’s case it is painfully so, its always worth it in the end.  Its time to move the story forward, we get Captain America is Quantum Leaping through his life, now lets move forward from that.

As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read, so leave us a comment and let us know what you liked/didn’t like from this week’s comics. For a more complete list of what comes out this week, Midtown Comics has a great listing of everything.

I can safely say that this week, I am looking forward to ONE really big release. And because I care about what comics you read, and so does everyone else here, you simply must buy this book:

Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s Batman and Robin #1. The team that brought you the stellar and perfect All-Star Superman is now ushering in the new age of Batman and Robin.  With Bruce Wayne now “dead,” Dick Grayson has taken over as the Caped Crusader with Bruce’s murderous son Damian as Robin.

In a recent interview with IGN, Morrison described the book this way:

It was taking that aspect of the Batman TV show and then trying it in with David Lynch and Twin Peaks. [laughs] And creepy European cartoons and marionettes and stuff like that. That bad dreamlike feeling of a Marilyn Manson video in the ’90s, or like Chris Cunningham’s video for ‘Windowlicker’. [laughs] Again, it was about trying to fuse those two things together into a bad trip, Lewis Carroll kind of world. I realize I give a massive, long answer every time we speak, Dan. But that was kind of what obsessed me about Batman and Robin going into it – to take these weird elements and marry them together to see what we could get.

I don’t know about you, but I think that sounds like the sh*t. Morrison is a very good salesman but, to say the least, when he is teamed with Quitely, they pretty much always deliver great stuff.

My second recommendation is something quite different than superhero, its Jason Aaron’s  Scalped #29.  Drawn by R.M. Guera, this Vertigo title is near perfect. It follows an undercover FBI agent on an Indian Reservation. Part Sopranos and the natural successor to 100 Bullets, Scalped, like a firmly executed noir, tickles a bone that is really only rivaled by Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips’ Criminal series for Marvel/Icon.

Other than that, there isn’t much else going on this week. As always. feel free to head over to Midtown Comics to check out what else is coming out this week. And be sure to leave us a comment telling us what you liked, and didn’t like,  from this week’s comics.