Change, as they say, is inevitable. So it is with most things, including super powered suits worn by members of The Avengers. Case in point this new, improved armor design for one of our favorite flawed heroes: Iron Man.

The new suit, according to our friends at Marvel:

” . . . signals a new era for Tony Stark and the Marvel Universe! From the minds of Eisner Award-winning series writer Matt Fraction and Ryan Meinerding, designer on the Iron Man and Thor films, comes the most bleeding edge, out of this world armor you’ve ever seen!

Following the sold-out “Stark Disassembled” storyline, the Marvel Universe still needs its armored champion and a new mission requires a new kind of armor! But when you see just what Iron Man has planned for the Marvel Universe, your jaw will be on the floor! There’s never been a super hero like the new Iron Man!”

The all-new Iron Man makes his debut in Invincible Iron Man #25, which hits stores on April 25. In the meantime, click through to check out a larger pic of the new armor.

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The Brazilian “Wonder Twins” of comic art, Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, give us their first Vertigo book in the form of Daytripper #1 this week. These guys have worked with top talents in the industry like Joss Whedon (Dark Horse’s Sugar Shock), Matt Fraction (Casanova), and Gerard Way (Umbrella Academy).

Here we have their first solo work in the tradition of Vertigo focusing on the small psychological things of daily life like “how does a down on his luck obituary writer get out of the shadow of his famous father?” Apparently the ending to the first issue is a twist for the fantastic, and not at all expected. I’d expect nothing less from these extremely creative guys. Anytime these guys come out with something new, I can’t snatch it from the stacks fast enough.

The rest of the week is fairly light.  The other book I’ll be getting is Invincible Iron Man, in which we finally come to figure out how Thor and Captain America “reboot” Tony Stark. I think I’ve exclaimed enough how much I love this book, and to say the least Fraction and Larocca have not slowed down at all.

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Welcome to another edition of The Pull List Comic Reviews! This week, the Blackest Night event takes center stage, Bendis and Oeming make a triumphant comeback and Archie gets married (again). As always, WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

PULL OF THE WEEK:

Blackest Night #5 [of 8]
DC Comics – $3.99 US
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ivan Reis
Score: 9.0

The mastermind behind the dead rising stands revealed as the Blackest Night prophecy inches towards becoming true, but will the unified heroes of the world have enough to stop it? Not if a late dinner guest bearing gifts has anything to say about it.

Geoff Johns welcomes you all to hell. How could he not? In the thirty plus years that I’ve been reading comics, I can’t remember a time when things looked so grim in a story thanks to this issue. The big guns of the Justice League arrive in time to assist the Flashes – Barry Allen and Wally West – in confronting Nekron as the Black Lanterns’ power battery reaches full charge. Fast forward to the end of the issue and only two heroes remain standing while the rest are chomping at the bit, dying to feast on some good, old fashioned heart muscle. And this is only the fifth issue in an eight-issue series?!? Wow.

Johns, along with artist Ivan Reis, are obviously toying with us and giggling madly along the way. The re-emergence of “Bruce Wayne” – his name was in quotations in the issue as well – signaled that the next phase was about to begin, but what he did to heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, etc I don’t think anyone saw coming, characters and readers alike. The sixth issue cannot get here fast enough, if you ask me.

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If last week was light, this week is heavy.

From DC Comics this week, we have the latest in Blackest Night event books with the main book and Green Lantern. Considering Spike TV’s SCREAM AWARDS aired last night (I think) and Geoff Johns did win Best Comic Book Writer, its probably within reason that you ought to pick these books up.

Though some dude from the Twilight “saga” did also win Best Breakthrough Performance over Chris Pine, so maybe those fans shouldn’t be trusted. Blackest Night is some good fun.

Today is MarvelFest in New York City, and this is certainly Marvel’s week for comics.  I mean Dark Avengers Ares written by the awesome Kieron Gillen. Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham’s awesome take on Fantastic Four is back, as well.

If you, like me, were waiting for the trade of Old Man Logan than you want to get the edition that comes out this week, as well as the first trade to the awesome “World’s Most Wanted” arc in the Eisner winning Invincible Iron Man. You want to pick that up.  Also Esad Ribic joins Jason Aaron on the Dark Reign The List Wolverine.

As I said, today is MarvelFest, where they are going to suspend the motion comic of Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s first issue of Astonishing X-Men three stories high on the old Virgin Megastore building. As I write this it is cold, rainy and generally miserable here in NYC, but the good news is there are plenty of umbrellas and rain coats to go around and the show will go on.  I’m looking forward to it. Should be quite a sight and a fun time.

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, check out the one at Midtown Comics.

Welcome to The Pull List Comic Reviews! It was a great week for comics as every issue got a really good score, including a surprising (for me, anyway) Pull of the Week. As always, WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

PULL OF THE WEEK:

Sugarshock – Dark Horse Comics – $3.50 US
Writer: Joss Whedon Artist: Fábio Moon
Score: 9.5

Being the lead singer and guitarist of a band can require quite the juggling act, but what if one of those tasks involved saving the Earth? Luckily for us Earthlings, Dandelion has it all under control… somewhat. You see, her band, Sugarshock, has been requested in a battle of the bands, except there are no bands, and they’ll be battling to the death with the planet’s future on the line. Will they save the day or fall between the cracks into obscurity, or worse?

This isn’t your ordinary band, however. The drummer goes by Wade, who also happens to be an alien princess who looks human and can’t say “no” to groupies. Her “mystically enhanced bodyguard,” L’lihdra, doubles as the band’s other guitarist and the bassist is Robot Phil, which pretty much says it all. If there ever was a more rag-tag team of misfits, I’ve yet to see it.

I don’t know where to even begin with this issue. Originally appearing on MySpace’s Dark Horse Presents anthology in 2007, the three-part story is collected here along with Fábio Moon’s sketchbook and Editor Scott Allie’s notations, making for a nice, complete package. In other words, this is as close to perfect as I’ve seen since I started writing the Pull List Comic Reviews. Joss Whedon, who has always had a firm grip on female leads, inflects his usual witty banter but ups it to a whole new level. His characters are, in some cases, out of this world, and you can’t help but fall in love with every single one of them.

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Jeez, a whole lot of nothing this week.  I can safely say I will be buying THREE books this week.  

From Marvel, I’ll buy the final issue to “World’s Most Wanted” in Invincible Iron Man. I don’t know, they milked the story into what, thirteen parts? Who cares! The previous issue finally went farther than “I’m Tony Stark and I convinced a computer to give me Alzheimer’s so I can save all of the heroes on the list I created from Norman Osborn.” You know he’s going to get it all restored at the end of this issue, but I just want to see how actually ends.

There’s another Deadpool book, its by the far the funniest and wild and that’s Victor Gischler’s Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth.  I say that if Daniel Way (who is doing a stellar job on the main Deadpool book) leaves the book he should be replaced by Gischler.

And the last book I’ll be getting is Joss Whedon and Fabio Moon’s Sugarshock.  This originally premiered on Myspace Dark Horse presents and it was a wild ride.  This is the Joss Whedon we all know and love, and is a truly wonderfully fun story.

Other than that, this week is a pretty light load.  I suppose there is plenty of Blackest Night books and Dark Reign books but I haven’t been reading those spinoffs so its disingenuous for me to recommend them. 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, check out the one at Midtown Comics.

To check out yesterday’s reviews of “things that should stay dead”, make sure to click here for yesterday’s The Pull List.

Fall Out Toy Works #1 – Image – $3.99

Score: 7.0

When Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance had a hit on his hands with two successful runs of The Umbrella Academy miniseries with more on the way, it was inevitible that other musicians would give it a go in the comic world. Like Claudio Sanchez from Coheed & Cambria who will be debuting Kill Audio soon (whom we will be posted an interview with soon), Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz has thrown his hat in the ring as the co-creator of a work “inspired by the ideas & lyrics of Fall Out Boy” called Fall Out Toy Works. A struggling toy maker who only makes one of a kind robotic toys is approached by a man referred to as the Baron.

The Baron, who has made his money through somewhat questionable means as well as mass production wants the Toy Maker to create a robotic woman for him as his team’s previous attempts have ended less than favorably, like the most recent robotic wife letting herself fall out the window of a high rise building. Inspired by the Fall Out Boy song “Tiffany Blews”, the book also features one of the Toy Maker’s other creations a depressed robotic boy in a bear suit as well as a sentient cell phone who looks like a bee in a bowler hat and acts as the consciousness of the Toy Maker at times.

While well written by Brett Lewis, the concept doesn’t feel new. For the most part, the story feels like a traditional Japanese anime or manga story. Not being a huge fan of manga, it takes a little while to get in to the story as even the futuristic landscape shares that style at times. At the same time, there are a lot of deep layers examined throughout the course of the issue especially focused on creating “a woman” and basically playing God.

These questions are looked at subtley and are often repeatedly hit over the head of the reader as the Toy Maker faces this moral dilemma to work for the Baron or let his factory go under. Through the issue, the Toy Maker is explored thoroughly as he questions not only his ability to make what the Baron is looking for, but also the effects doing so might have on him as he succeeds. This is accomplished really well as he sits with a Japanese server at the Baron’s Doll House establishment.

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Like some other Marvel characters recently (and characters from across the aisle), is Tony Stark dead? Judging from the cover of Marvel’s upcoming comic Invincible Iron Man #20, it kinda looks that way. Although, he could just be sleeping. . . or passed out drunk, so who knows.

Still, Thor looks positively grief stricken and forlorn, so you never know. Sure, the God of Thunder can be a bit morose and angry at times, but he’s not exactly known for his sensitive side, so the fact that he’s in attendance at Tony Stark’s bedside means that some serious stuff might be happening. I’m sure I’m probably reading a lot into this brand new Patrick Zircher cover but still, its fun to try and guess the storyline given only this clue.

Good news or bad, we’ll find out soon enough when this comic, written by Matt Fraction with art by Salvador Larroca, hits store shelves in November. Until then, let the guessing games continue.

Be sure to click through for a must bigger look at this great cover after the break.

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If last week was a bust, this week certainly isn’t. There is a ton of new comics to look forward to this week.

Doom Patrol #1 hits stands this week with stories by Keith Geffen, J.M. DeMatteis, Kevin Maguire and Matthew Clark. Frankly, I think its next to impossible to top Arnold Drake or Grant Morrison and their runs on the books, but I do think this first issue is a worth a shot.

My second recommendation comes is the softcover release of Joe Hill’s Eisner nominated series Locke & Key.  I hear nothing but awesome things about this book, so I am going to pick up this trade paperback. Next, from Image Comics, we finally have the trade of Jonathan Hickman’s Pax Romana. About a time-traveling crew of super soldiers out to save Christianity.

If you’ve read Hickman’s The Nightly News, than you already know that his design sensibility in regards to books where he handles every aspect of the production is nothing short of ground-breaking. There is also the critically acclaimed Chew, which I have not read but definitely really looking forward.

My final recommendation is highly milked “World’s Most Wanted” arc of Invincible Iron Man. I think this has gone on for something like eight parts now or more and it does feel like its run for a long time. However, I’m totally fine with it because its extremely compelling and has, by far, been my pick of the week every time a new issue comes out.

As always, we here at The Flickcast care about what you read, so with that in mind leave us a message letting us know what you liked or didn’t like in this week’s stack. For a better idea of what comes out this week check out Midtown Comics.

It looks like Comic Con broke this week’s comics, because there is a whole LOT of nothing to read this week.

Sure, I suppose you could find reason to get Detective Comics #855, because it was (quite honestly) the best book to come out last month.  I don’t think  you’ll get a better schooling in comic book design sense than reading this book.

Then there is the new trade paperback of the Eisner-award winning Best New Series Invincible Iron Man: World’s Most Wanted, but if you know what’s good for you you already have these single issues. Also, congrats to Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca on their win for that series.

Really,  however, you should just buy The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone, which is a prequel to the original series, that the movie (starring Bruce Willis) is based on.  Don’t know anything about this comic or movie? Check out our coverage.  

Though if you really think about it and are willing to try new things, there’s probably something this week for you. If you want to see for yourself Midtown Comics has a great listing of what comes out this week. As always we care about what you read, so let us know what you liked/didn’t like from this week’s or any week’s comics in the comments.

Happy reading!