Alex, Justin & Pete review PunisherMAX #1, S.W.O.R.D. #1, and Strange #1!

After last week’s successful impulse buy of Punisher: The List (rocking book, with a second printing on the way–check it out), I decided to pick up a few more older new books with my weekly pull to play catch up with those sometimes-forgotten, but always on my mind corners of the comic universe. (I stuck with Marvel this week, apparently still content forgetting the corners of their distinguished competition.) So I grabbed the no-longer-recent 50th issue of X-Factor to see what Peter David, Jaime Madrox, and friends were up to since I dropped the book more than a year ago.

Turns out X-Factor Investigations relocated, not just to another town, but to another time! And this issue was the conclusion of what seems to have been an epic journey to the future that saw the Multiple Man, with an all-growsed-up Layla Miller, at his side battling an evil tricked-out uber-dupe, a senile and sinister old Doctor Doom, and a part-cyborg Cyclops who has been hacked for villainy by the bad Doctor. Helping Madrox and Layla in this future imperfect are Ruby, Cyclops’ future daughter (with Emma Frost?) and Trevor Fitzroy, whom I remember was a key villain in not-appearing-in-this-comic Bishop’s oh-so-90’s time-travelling origin story. I was hoping to see my old favorite X-Man Longshot in this issue, as he appears on the cover, but he was only name-dropped. How the heck did he get pulled into this?

Sideshow has released this teaser video for their hot X-23 vs Lady Deathstrike Polystone Diorama. Talk about hot girl-on-girl action!

Sideshow has released a video preview for its latest Marvel universe Premium Format Figure, Wolverine. We’ve got the teaser vid, plus plenty of pics. Estimated shipping date: Q2 2010.

Part man. Part machine. All cop. The future of law enforcement returns!

Dynamite Entertainment presents the dynamic debut of their Robocop series written by Rob Williams (Cla$$war) with art by Fabiano Neves (Marvel Zombies vs. the Army of Darkness)!

Dynamite goes back to basics as it unveils the dystopian, deeply satirical, and all-out violent world of Robocop.

This Robocop series picks up where the first movie left off and boasts high action and extreme violence with a touch of conspiracy theory.

Plus: the return of ED-209!

We couldn’t be more excited to see our favorite crime fighting future policeman back in print, so we put our noggins together at TFAW Headquarters to give him an appropriate send-up.

While supplies last, you can pick up the first issue of Dynamite’s new Robocop series and get a FREE mini Robocop figure complete with busted ED-209!

The Robocop #1 Book and Figure Set is the same price as the the comic by itself (just $2.80 when you pre-order), but most customers will see $0.50-$1.00 difference in shipping (since we can’t send the figure in a flat mailer).

Stay tuned to future TFAW.com Newsletters to learn about the next Robocop Book & Figure set! Click here to sign up for the TFAW.com Newsletter.

Great news for DarkStalkers fans — UDON announced today on their blog that they’ll be kicking off the new year with a DS three issue mini!

After the hugely positive response to the Darkstalkers Tribute art book, fan outcry for more Darkstalkers stories became clear. Now, the ghoulish monsters and sexy seductresses of Darkstalkers are coming back to comics! This January, UDON bring fans more tales featuring creatures of the night with an all-new 3 issue miniseries titled Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors.

Gene Yang, creator of the award-winning American Born Chinese and author of The Eternal Smile — two books I recommend to anyone anytime — is getting his early comics work collected in an omnibus early next year.

The past few years have been a whirlwind of success for American Born Chinese author Gene Luen Yang, and now SLG Publishing is collecting his earliest published comics works, Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks and Loyola Chin and the San Peligran Order, in an omnibus, Animal Crackers, to be released by SLG Publishing in January 2010.

Read the full press release

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #611: In this issue of Amazing Spider-Man, Joe Kelly once again writes Deadpool. Sold! Seriously though, I’ve complained/commented on this the past few weeks, that as much as I like Daniel Way’s take on the character, I really feel his triple narration bubbles should be confined to his book, his particular take, and other writers should do whatever the heck they want with the ol’ DP. So it’s really nice to have Kelly back on Deadpool, writing an entirely different view of the character than the one in Deadpool’s (god help us) three other ongoing titles. And the issue works just how you would want a battle royale between Spider-Man and Deadpool to go. It’s fun, funny, dangerous, and great to see Spidey shoved into the straight man role. This is also Kelly’s most solid issue of Spider-Man in a while, and well worth a pick-up, whether you’ve been following the main plot line or not. Oh, and Eric Canete’s art is nicely Humberto Ramos-esque, without feeling ripped off.

A TFAW.com Exclusive!

If you’ve been keeping an eye on comic news lately, you’ve probably heard whispers (and shouts) about 45, an intriguing title from Com.X that hits shelves on December 23rd. And if you’re anything like me, you read the praise for this title, such as in the November 2009 issue of Wizard where 45 is listed at #17 on the list of “Top 50 Things You Need To Buy,” and you started to get more than a little excited.

First off, there’s the premise–a journalist expecting his first child, who may or may not be super-powered, interviews 45 super-powered individuals from every walk of life to get an idea of what he might expect. And then things begin to get complicated. But beyond this intriguing idea, there is something else that sets 45 apart. Each and every vignette is illustrated by a different artist, for a total of 45 artists, including seasoned industry veterans and hotshot up-and-comers, contributing to one book.

Are you starting to see why we’re so excited? Well then, here’s the coup de grace: we have an exclusive interview with Andi Ewington, writer of 45 (his debut title, if you can believe it), giving TFAW.com’s viewers the lowdown on what we can expect and a hint to the mysterious identity of the 45th artist.

Alex, Justin & Pete review The Marvelous Land of Oz #1, Stumptown #1, and The Great Ten #1.