1. GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #1
If the surprise ending of last week's
Green Lantern #12 was anything to go by, Hal Jordan may not have a lot of time left, especially as this annual will see the Guardians of Oa finally unleash the mysterious "Third Army" to replace the Green Lantern Corps. Hal and Sinestro have been mysteriously absent from promotional art focusing on the upcoming event, and the cover above certainly seems to indicate that one or both of them will meet their maker. While Doug Mahnke's stunning pencils in the main
Green Lantern series are a perfect match for Geoff Johns' writing, longtime fans will definitely be excited to see Ethan Van Sciver's return to the title before the crossover begins following September's #0 issues.
2. JUSTICE LEAGUE #12
At first, it didn't appear that
Justice League #12 would be anything more than another quality instalment of the series from writer Geoff Johns and artist Jim Lee. Well, as you're sure to have heard by now, the issue will actually see Superman and Wonder Woman become an item as they share a kiss and radically alter the status quo of both the series and arguably the DC Universe itself. What their relationship will ultimately mean for
Justice League probably won't be explored until after next month's #0 issue, but this one is well worth picking up (especially as the media attention will more than likely result in its value shooting right up).
3. UNCANNY X-FORCE #30
One of Marvel's best titles, the brilliant Rick Remender continues his epic run on
Uncanny X-Force as Daken and his new band of Brotherhood of Evil Mutants continue to plot against the covert team. Fantomex has already fallen, and the last couple of issues gave us a glimpse of the bleak future which may now await the Marvel Universe because of their actions. Who else will fall? And more importantly, now that the Brotherhood have their hands on "Kid Apocalypse", will the villain finally return? It's likely that Remender will be leaving the series behind as the Marvel NOW! relaunch gets closer, so make sure you pick it up while you have the chance!
4. AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #11
Since Zeb Wells stepped aside to allow other writers to pen Spider-Man team-up's, there has been a noticeable drop in quality of
Avenging Spider-Man (although Kelly Sue DeConnick and Terry Dodson's Captain Marvel tale made for a fun read). Thankfully he's back for this special 50th anniversary issue which will feature a very special team-up with Aunt May! Worryingly, a preview released for the issue made it seem as if some of the plot points touched upon here will be a rehash of what JMS covered in "The Conversation" a fair few years ago, but there's no reason not to have faith in the writer who has brought us such incredible tales featuring the character. With Steve Dillon (
Punisher MAX) on pencils, this promises to make for a great read.
5. SUPERMAN ANNUAL #1
The quality of
Superman has been generally rubbish since issue #1 was released last September. For that reason, you may be wondering why on Earth anything to do with the mediocre series has found its way into the top five. Well, this annual will see Scott Lobdell (
Red Hood and the Outlaws take over writing duties before his #0 issue next month and then #13 onwards. This will hopefully mean that
Superman is about to take a massive increase in quality and this comic book should give us an idea of whether or not that will be the case. The solicitation also teases an appearance from Earth's new Green Lantern ('Baz') so there may be more than one reason to give the series a chance if you haven't already.
THE BEST OF THE REST...
6. JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #642
7. THE FLASH ANNUAL #1
8. BEFORE WATCHMEN MINUTEMEN #3
9. AQUAMAN #12
10. CAPTAIN MARVEL #3