Book of the Month
Avengers: The Initiative #1 (Marvel)
From looking ahead at the May previews and from the odd interview or two online, it looks as if War Machine will play a big part in this new series, as will Dan Slott’s new character Gauntlet. So I figure that’s just barely enough to make it this month’s notable book.

Other notables:
Justice League of America #8 and Checkmate #13. Mr. Terrific figures prominently in two major crossovers that kick off this month: JLofA/JSofA and Checkmate/Outsiders.
Civil War: X-Men TP. What Bishop and the X-Men were up to during Civil War, now in trade paperback.

The list:
Buffy TVS #2. Pencils by Jeanty.
Firestorm TNM #35 and World War III Part One: A Call to Arms. The latter is the beginning of a 52-related event. In this issue Firestorm figures prominently in it. The former written by McDuffie.
Robin #161. The Boy Wonder gets his butt kicked by some new black supervillain.
Nightwing #131. Pencils by Igle.
Justice #11 (of 12)
Outsiders Annual #1. A Black Lightning story.
Tales of the Unexpected #7 (of 8). Lead story art by Battle.
Gen13 #7. Caldwell only does the cover this month.
Stormwatch PHD #6
Welcome to Tranquility #5
Ant #12. Art by Gully.
Bomb Queen III #2 (of 4). Story and art by Robinson.
Spawn #169
Walking Dead #38. Featuring Rick’s right-hand man Tyrese.
Ultimate Vision #5 (of 5). Featuring the Falcon, who I suppose has been part of the story all along, only this month he’s actually on the cover…
Blade #8
Black Panther #27. Written by Hudlin.
Fantastic Four #545, Marvel Spotlight: Fantastic Four. The former written by McDuffie, the latter is a special magazine thing to hype up the movie which also has a McDuffie interview.
Heroes for Hire #9, Heroes for Hire: Civil War TP
Squadron Supreme: Hyperion vs. Nighthawk #4 (of 4)
X-23: Target X #5 (of 6). Don’t know who that is on the cover with X-23, but she looks like she’s probably black.
Punisher Presents Barracuda #3 (of 5)
Gold Digger #84, GD Power Wall 2-pack, GD Sourcebook #5, Pirates vs, Ninjas #4. Story and art by Perry except for PvN, which he wrote only.
Scarface: Scarred For Life #5. Art by Crosland.