Each week, MK2Fac3 and Henchman21 read a lot of comics. Seriously, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. They look forward to some more than others, I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of their pull list, grab some issues and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of April 20, 2011. Single issues and trades, they’re all here. This week is kind of slow, so Henchman21 is flying solo.

Henchman21

ISSUES

Deadpoolmax #7 (of 12) (Marvel/Max – $3.99) If you had told me a year ago that a Deadpool book would be one of my favorite titles, I would have said you were crazy, but David Lapham and Kyle Baker‘s Deadpoolmax has made me a believer. Everything that readers love about Deadpool is here, it’s just cranked up. Add to it Baker’s unique art style, and you get a crazy, entertaining book that I can’t get enough of.

X-Factor #218 (Marvel – $2.99) I was talking to someone at last year’s New York Comic-Con, and they said they were looking for a socially relevant comic and didn’t know if there was one, and the first book I told them about was X-Factor. Writer Peter David uses each issue to tackle a wide variety of modern subjects, while still telling fun adventure stories with a cast of characters I have come to love. If I had a complaint about the book it is that it can’t hold onto a regular artist to save its life, but the series has maintained such a high story quality that I forgive it.

DC Comic Presents: Legion of Super-Heroes: Legion of the Damned (DC – $7.99) Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have made their mark on the Marvel cosmic universe in the last few years, but they had made their mark years earlier on DC’s Legion of Superheroes. DC is releasing a hardcover of their Legion Lost run, and this mini-trade serves as the lead in to that hardcover. The Legion can be intimidating to a lot of readers, what with the massive number of characters and numerous reboots, but I’ve always found it to be an enjoyable corner of the DCU. The other draw for me here is the early art by Olivier Coipel who has gone on to big success with Marvel, and I’ve never read any of his DC work before, so I’m curious to see how it has evolved since these issues were originally released in 2000. A word of warning: this may have been delayed and your store may not have it due to a printing error.

Collections

Hitman Vol. 4 Ace of Killers Paperback (DC – $17.99) I missed Hitman when it originally came out, but I am so glad that not only is DC releasing the series in trades, but they haven’t stopped after the first couple. It looks like we will get the full run of Garth Ennis and John McCrea‘s series about an amoral hitman who gains a few super powers but continues in his chosen profession. This trade collects issues 15-22 of the series and sees Tommy Monaghan face off against an army of creatures from Hell. Ennis has always had a somewhat mocking tone in his superhero work and it continues here. There is a great cast of characters and just enough of the DC flavor to remind you that this is set in a shared universe. I’m glad that I am now able to catch up on one of the best series of the last 20 years.