Can't Wait for Wednesday

This week sees DC's long-delayed Superman Batman #25 and All-Star Batman #4 arrive in stores, along with the first issue of Shadowpact. Marvel brings us an eclectic mix of books, with everything from an Official Handbook for their '70s characters to a fairy-tale take on the X-Men to, um, an Edgar Allan Poe MAX book. From Image comes the final issue of Bomb Queen and the latest issue of Fell, while Dark Horse offers a high-priced and thorough Sin City collection.

Let's see what our merry band of contributors are excited about this week ...

Stephanie's Pick of the Week

Rival Schools #1: I've been eagerly awaiting a Rival Schools comic since June 2003, when Dreamwave first announced they will be publishing the Capcom title. Since then, UDON picked up the license but only released a short Rival Schools story in the Capcom Summer Special in 2004. It's been a few years but it's finally coming, and with Corey "The Rey" Lewis working on it, I'm willing to bet the long wait was worth it.

Chris Hunter's Pick of the Week

Majestic #17 - Hate to see this series go, to be honest. Abnett & Lanning have crafted a fantastic story with Majestic that had so much depth and scope you felt like they were really just teasing you with what they had in mind for the character and Googe was just hitting his artistic stride. Here's hoping that something will become of the character in the Wildstorm relaunch later this year.

Tom's Pick of the Week

I'm strangely drawn to the Marvel Legacy 1970s Handbook. Marvel in the '70s did a lot of weird, wild stuff -- spinoffs of its big characters (Spider-Woman, She-Hulk), the integration of licensed characters into the MU (Godzilla, Shogun Warriors, ROM), and more idiosyncratic titles (Howard the Duck, Tomb Of Dracula, Omega The Unknown, Killraven). I'm interested to see what makes the OHOTMU cut.

Kevin's Pick of the Week

I'm looking forward to Slave Labor Graphics' Wonderland #1, which picks up where Disney's animated Alice in Wonderland left off, with the Queen of Hearts trying to figure out how a little girl turned her kingdom upside-down. It's written by Tommy Kovac (Autumn) and beautifully illustrated by Sonny Liew (My Faith in Frankie, Malinky Robot).

JK's Pick of the Week

Kurt Busiek has produced some wonderful stories during his tenure on Conan, and this week we see that tenure come to an end with an extra-special story in honor of Robert E. Howard's 100th birthday. Throw in art by the Goon's Eric Powell, and this one is a can't miss.

Michael's Pick of the Week

Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #42: I'm looking forward to this one for rather diabolical reasons. I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not I like the new sword-and-sorcery take on Aquaman and here's where I'm going to draw a line and decide which side to stand on. On the one side, I love the IDEA of an underwater sword-and-sorcery series set firmly in the DCU; on the other, there've been two issues and it hasn't started getting good yet. Crunch time.

What are you most looking forward to this week? Check out the Diamond shipping list and let us know!