Each and every week, I, “Snow, snow, go away” Henchman 21 and “Come again another day” Empress Eve read a lot of comics. Seriously you guys, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. I mean, it is possible”¦ theoretically. Naturally, we look forward to some more than others. I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of our pull lists, grab some comics, and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of March 12, 2014. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

Spring is almost here, you can feel it in the air. Birds are singing, bees are trying to have sex with them, or so I’ve been led to believe. It’s that special time when a young man’s fancy turns thoughts of love…for comics. And there are some comics to love this week, with some new series, some kind of new series, and the return of a classic series. It’s enough to warm your heart and your soul, even as we get one last push of winter, at least in my neck of the woods. Initiate: The GoD List!

Henchman 21

Stray Bullets #41 (Image Comics – $3.50) It’s a big day for fans of David Lapham’s independent crime series Stray Bullets as Image releases three entries in the series. First up is Stray Bullets #41, which brings the first volume to a close. It’s been almost a decade since issue #40 came out, so it’s understandable if you can’t remember what’s coming out, although this is probably only going to appeal to absolute completists, who have all the other issues of the old series. New readers are going to want two other items that Image is releasing on the same day. The first is the Uber Alles Edition trade paperback, which collects all 41 issues, including the issue that comes out today, of the original series for $60 dollars. This will get you all caught up for the all new volume which launches with Stray Bullets: Killers #1, which is also out today for $3.50. This is the ideal jumping on point to one of the great crime/noir comics series. While I haven’t read a ton of Stray Bullets before, I know enough about it by reputation to be excited to read the new series. If you miss Ed Brubaker’s Criminal, this is the book to fill that void in your comics reading life.

Avengers Undercover #1 (Marvel Comics – $2.99) I recently caught up with most of Dennis Hopeless and Kev Walker’s Avengers Arena (haven’t read the end, don’t tell me exactly what happens), and wasn’t necessarily surprised by how good it was, because I had heard a lot of good things about it. I was happy to find that it was as good as I had heard, with plenty of action, good character interaction, and a story that wasn’t as dark as it could have been. And while I’ll be waiting to read the end of Avengers Arena before picking up Avengers Undercover, I’m very much looking forward to it. In this series, the surviving characters from Arena go, as the title would tell you, undercover with the Masters of Evil. It’s basically a clever reversal of the original premise of Marvel’s Thunderbolts. I expect the same character work from Hopeless, and the same fantastic art from Walker. It’s a very good move on marvel’s part to keep this team together, and if they want to change the series every year or so, I’m totally cool with that. Marvel should do whatever it takes to keep the series fresh.

Beasts of Burden: Hunters and Gatherers (Dark Horse Comics – $3.50) It has been a little while since the last Beasts of Burden one-shot, and it is great to see our favorite furry ghost hunters return, with the next in the series, Hunters and Gatherers. If you’ve never read Beasts of Burden before, it’s about a group of neighborhood dogs (and a cat) and they deal with all variety of paranormal events. What makes the series special is the way that writer Evan Dorkin brings the animal characters to life. If you’ve ever owned a dog before (or a cat) you’ll see things that your pet has done in the past, and your heart will melt. To go along with Dorkin’s deft writing if the breathtaking art of Jill Thompson. Her water color art style is gorgeous, and the expression that she gets out of the canine characters is incredible. Dorkin may write a group of awesomely realized characters, but it is Thompson that brings them to life. You don’t need to have read the series before, you just need to love a good story.

Magnus Robot Fighter #1 (Dynamite Entertainment – $3.99) Dynamite Entertainment continues their revival of a bunch of old Gold Key characters this week with a new version of Magnus Robot Fighter. I will mainly be checking this out because of the writer, Fred Van Lente. Van Lente is one of those writers who can make any series an utter joy to read. Each series he writes has plenty of humor mixed with a lot of action. Van Lente is a smart writer, but first and foremost he knows how to tell an enjoyable series, which is what I’m here for. It helps that this is all about a martial artists who fights robots, and there is nothing about that sentence that I don’t want to read a million times.

The Six Million Dollar Man, Season 6 #1 (Dynamite Entertainment – $3.99) According to my sources, and by sources I mean fellow geek of doom Jimmy PS Hayes, there are two reasons to buy The Six Million Dollar Man Season 6 #1; 1) because it’s fantastic, and 2) there’s no Fall Guy comic yet. Now, Dynamite had pseudo Six Million Dollar Man comic a few years ago, when they adapted a Kevin Smith screenplay as The Bionic Man, but this is an actual continuation of the original series. I know this isn’t going to be everybody’s thing, but if you liked the show or just like goofy action, this should be fun. Plus it’s got a villain named Maskatron, which is awesome.

Empress Eve

Monster & Madman #1 (of 3) IDW Publishing – $3.99 What happened to Frankenstein’s Monster at the end of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein? Well, horror master Steve Niles and artist Damien Worm are about to tell us in Monster & Madman #1. This 3-issue miniseries ties in the famed Monster’s fate with that of another popular literary villain – Jack The Ripper. We’ll just have to wait and see how Saucy Jack fits into all this, but it undoubtedly will be worth finding out. You can read our review of the issue here.

Quick Picks

– Howard Lovecraft & Kingdom Of Madness GN (Arcana Studio – $14.95)
– The Crow Pestilence #1 IDW Publishing – $3.99
– Lucifer TPB Vol. 03 DC Comics – $29.99