Welcome once again to Can't Wait for Wednesday, our weekly look at what you can expect to find in your local comic shop tomorrow. To see what Kevin, Chris and I have to say about this week's comics, read on ...



Kevin Melrose's pick of the week: First Wave #1 (of 6)

I have little to no interest in Doc Savage, or a Spirit by anyone other than Will Eisner (or Darwyn Cooke). Yet I'm still intrigued by DC's "shocking new pulp universe" in which there's no supermen -- or, more specifically, Superman -- largely, if not entirely, because it's written by Brian Azzarello. In addition to being a fan of 100 Bullets, I hold an unwavering belief that Batman: Broken City, by Azzarello and Eduardo Risso, is superior in every way to the "Hush" storyline that preceded (and overshadowed) it. I'll fight anyone who says different. So I'm thrilled to read Azzarello again write Batman -- excuse me, "The Bat-Man" -- especially as a "brash, cocky, inexperienced and daring" vigilante. Also: the under-used, and under-appreciated, Blackhawks! (DC Comics)



JK Parkin's pick of the week: Kevin Smith's Green Hornet #1

It's kind of pulp week in this edition of Can't Wait for Wednesday, I guess ...

You may remember hearing some time back that Kevin Smith was working on the script for a Green Hornet movie ... which turned into a non-starter as Miramax lost the rights to the film. That story is now being resurrected in the form of a 10-issue comic book from Dynamite Comics, the first of which arrives this week. It features some pretty excellent artwork by Jonathan Lau, as he teams with Smith to tell the origin of Green Hornet and his sidekick, a female Kato.

Read more about it here and check out a preview here. (Dynamite Comics)



Chris Mautner's pick of the week: MW

It's a somewhat quiet week, so I'll go with this paperback edition of Osamu Tezuka's way, uber, uber crazy thriller about a brutal serial killer who's out to destroy humanity and the Catholic priest who loves him. Oh, and the reason the killer is crazy is because of a poison gas created by the American government. Oh, and in addition to being a brutal killer, he also indulges in bestiality. With a dog. That bites off people's testicles. Really, the book just sells itself, doesn't it? (Vertical)

Milestone Forever #2

JK: I dunno how much interest this two-issue mini-series would bring from folks who weren't around or didn't read Milestone the first time around, but as a fan of those books, I was not disappointed in issue #1 and I'm looking forward to seeing it all wrap up. Check out a preview here. (DC Comics)



Sparta USA #1 (of 6)

Kevin: Writer David Lapham (Stray Bullets, Young Liars) and artist Johnny Timmons (Wolverine) team up for a story about a seemingly idyllic middle-American town and the star quarterback who left, returning only to expose Sparta's rotten core. (Wildstorm)

Swan Vol. 15

Chris: Someday, when I have nothing but free time on my hands, I'm going to do a feature dedicated to the great, unjustly ignored comics, similar to Shaenon Garrity's Overlooked Manga series, and Swan is going to be at the top of my list. (CMX)



Underground #5 (of 5)

JK: This issue wraps up Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber's excellent mini-series about park rangers fighting to save a cave from exploitation and themselves from the exploiters. There's nothing supernatural or science fiction-y going on here -- just a really compelling story. Check out a preview here. (Image Comics)

Black Widow: Deadly Origin Premiere Hardcover

The Invincible Iron Man #24

The Invincible Iron Man, Vol. 1 hardcover

Iron Man: Armor Wars (new printing)

Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle (new printing)



Kevin: Determined to have plenty of stock available by the time the Iron Man movie sequel opens on May 7, Marvel keeps issuing and reissuing collections of all things related to the Iron Avenger and Black Widow. Of course in doing so, the publisher risks the problem that's plagued so many superhero adaptations: Faced with countless collections, where does the elusive new reader, fresh from the theater, begin? Surely not with new printings of the classic storylines "Armor Wars" and "Demon in a Bottle." As good and important as they may be to the overall mythology of Iron Man, they're not really a starting point.

Luckily, though, Marvel does provide movie-goers with a flickering (and a little pricey) sign in the form of hardcovers for Black Widow: Deadly Origin and The Invincible Iron Man. The former collects the four-issue miniseries that provides a glimpse into the past of the Soviet super-spy turned superhero -- it even has "origin" in the title -- while the latter gathers the first 19 issues of the acclaimed Matt Fraction-Salvador Larroca monthly series that manages the same look and tone of the Iron Man movie universe. And on top of all of that, the "Stark: Disassembled" storyline concludes this week. (Marvel)



Girl Comics #1

Strange Tales hardcover

JK: Marvel's all-female creator anthology kicks off this week, featuring comics by Colleen Coover, Robin Furth, G. Willow Wilson, Lucy Knisley, Val D'Orazio, Devin Grayson, Trina Robbins, Stephanie Buscema, Nikki Cook, Ming Doyle and Agnes Garbowska, and a cover by Amanda Conner and Laura Martin. It's an awesome group of talented folks; ComicsAlliance has a preview.

This project also seems to be the sister to last year's Strange Tales anthology, where indie creators tackled some of Marvel's characters ... and, incidentally, is also collected this week into a hardcover. (Marvel)



Civil War Adventure Volume 1

Chris: This retelling of the Battle of Bull Run and other early Civil War exploits comes courtesy of History Graphics Press, a new publishing line founded by Chuck Dixon and Gary Kwapisz with, as the name suggests, a decided nonfiction bent. Looking at the previews on the site, I'm picking up a distinct EC vibe. (History Graphics Press)

One Piece, Vols. 34-37

Kevin: Another month, another four volumes of Eiichiro Oda's bestselling comedy-adventure manga. (Viz Media)



Our Sentence Is Up: Seeing Grant Morrison The Invisibles

Chris: Grant Morrison devotees (and you know who you are) will no doubt want to check out this in-depth look at one of his seminal Vertigo series, written by Patrick Meaney and featuring an interview with the big bald guy hisself. (Sequart Research & Literacy Organization)

Stooge Pile

Chris: Another entry in Drawn and Quarterly pocket sized Petit Livres series of art books, this one focusing on work by Seth Scriver. (Drawn and Quarterly)

Unlovable Volume 2

Chris: Esther Pearl Wilson continues the adventures of teen-ager Tammy Pierce, whose diary she found in a gas station long ago and decided to adapt into comics. Poignant, cringe-inducing comics, to be sure. (Fantagraphics)

Find out what else is coming out this week on Diamond's website.