Comic Shop Picks: A new era begins for Batman, as Secret Wars heats up Marvel

There’s a new Batman in town, kind of, in this week’s Batman #41.

Clearly the biggest book hitting the stands this week, is DC Comics’ Batman #41. The latest in the post-Convergence revamps that have seen Superman take a massive power hit and Green Lantern go on the run, Batman #41 recasts the role of the bat. A new character (who you know well) takes up the mantle as a city-funded project to keep a Batman on the streets in the face of the real thing’s apparent demise at the conclusion of Endgame.

Whether Batman is really dead or not (ahem) is besides the point for now, as the new Dark Knight dons a mechanized suit of Bat-armor developed with the goal of kicking some criminal butt. Snyder and Capullo have steered Batman to some new heights under the New 52 banner, and it looks like this radically different direction  will be equally interesting as New-Bats is already getting some excellent buzz.

Just how long it’ll be that the new Cape-less Crusader stays in the suit is anyone’s guess, but this is definitely one to enjoy for the time being as the book should bring a whole new attitude to the city of Gotham.

On the other side of things, we have the massive universe-twisting epic of Secret Wars. Marvel’s biggest event book in a long time is also shaping up to be one of its best. And even if you’re not into crossovers, it’s one to keep an eye on as there’ll be an all-new, all-different Marvel U left in its wake.

This week sees a ton and a half of Secret Wars crossover issues, so pick up what you like, but make sure to take a look at Ultimate End #2 and Secret Wars Journal #2 as both should have a decent level of expansion for the main story.

Those are my can’t misses of the week, but here the rest of my picks for today’s trip to the shoppe, and here’s the full listing, should you like to peruse.

Marvel Comics

• Ultimate End #2 – Battle of the Hulks!
• Secret Wars Journal #2 – Weird, weird, weird stuff abounds with Matt Murdock as Mr Sinister’s top chef (yep) and Kraven in action.
• Secret Wars 2099 #1 – What’s not to like here? The Avengers 2099 go head-to-head against Hulk 2099.
• Ghost Racers #1 – Ghost Riders from across the multiverse compete to the last in a race to end all races.

DC Comics

• Batman #41 – See above
• Batman/Superman #21 – Truth continues as the de-powered Man of Steel goes looking for his friend and meets the new Batman.
• Constantine: The Hellblazer #1 – John returns in a new series with a new lead to investigate, his own past.
• Detective Comics #41 – The Bat task force joins the new Batman with Bullock and Montoya at the lead.
• Earth-2: Society #1 – If you liked the heroes from Earth-2 in Convergence, this is their new lease on life.
• New Suicide Squad #9 – the Squad takes on a splinter faction from the League of Assassins.

Dark Horse Comics

• Harrow County #2 – Emmy years some dark secrets from the creeptacular Tattered Skin.
• Rebels #3 – Seth explores his not-so-terrific past.

IDW Publishing

• Miami Vice Remix #4 – More madness from the sunshine state.
• Transformers Windblade – Combiner Wars #3 – The final act of the Combiner Wars is here!

Valiant Comics

• Unity #19 – A brand new villain emerges to threaten the modern world and the lives of Unity’s finest.