Wednesday Number Ones is a weekly feature here at Comic Pants. We take the books that are premiering a first issue from that week and give a quick opinion on them. From time to time we may also include more than issue number ones in this feature. If a noteworthy one-shot or the first issue of a new story arc is released, we may talk about it in this feature.

This week, on a Thursday instead of Wednesday due to Memorial Day delays, we will cover Black Coat: Or Give Me Death #1, Drawing From Life #1, Kiss 4K #1, Ray Harryhausen Presents Wrath of the Titans #1, The Ride: Die Valkyrie #1, Silver Surfer Requiem #1, Spawn Godslayer #1, Spider-Man Fairy Tales #1 and White Picket Fences #1.

Nick Budd Read and Thought:

Kiss 4k #1
Writer: Ricky Sprague
Artists: Kevin Crossley & Daniel Campos
Company: Platinum Studios Comics

If you were to take the notion of Kiss, transplant the band and their relative popularity into a sort of Spawn like setting and then chuck in a few odd story ideas, like that the members of the band were once notable historical figures like Casanova and Constantine, the end result should at the very least fall into the “Campy Fun” category of entertainment. Kiss 4k doesn’t even come close to that idea and instead opts for a story that feels, in more ways than one, disjointed. Truth be told, there’s just too much going on in the book and not enough of it really captures the reader’s attention, other than a few pages of flashbacks with which the art that is exceptionally done. All in all, not a strong first issue and unless you’re a die-hard Kiss fan, it’s one that can be missed.

The Ride: Die Valkyrie
Writers: Doug Wagner & Brian Stelfreeze
Artist: Brian Stelfreeze
Company: Image Comics

All told, a darn good start. Doug Wagner and Brian Stelfreeze have concocted a pleasing and well crafted story that stars a trio of women trying to escape their boring lives and go enact some well deserved revenge on a cheating boyfriend. Then just for fun, a gaggle of nuns, a gun toting teenager and a scar-faced bad guy that feels exactly like the typical über bad-ass that you want for your antagonist, are added to the usual trimmings you might expect from a crime story. The only downside to the whole experience is that on occasion, Stelfreeze’s art gets to be a little to oversimplified. Other than that, if you’re in the mood for a crime caper with a bit of mystery, The Ride: Die Valkyrie is a book for you.

Dave Farabee Read and Thought:

Spawn: Godslayer #1 of 4
Writer: Brian Holguin
Artist: Philip Tan
Publisher: Image Comics

I’ve got a lot of love for sword ‘n’ sorcery, but I’m sick to death of fantasy writers getting caught up in the trappings of the genre and forgetting to tell a story that has any real entry point or relatable human characters. Case in point - Spawn: Godslayer. It’s more of an exercise in dark world-building and overwrought narration than anything else, Philip Tan supplying the metalhead visuals of various gods and doomed mortals that you won’t be caring about. Kind of a shame, really. Not that there’s a bad Spawn comic (what’s one more?), but that it’s written by Brian Holguin. His various Aria miniseries have always been much more approachable fantasy yarns. Look for ‘em in trade and skip this misfire.

The Black Coat: Or Give Me Death #1 of 4
Writer: Ben Lichius & Adam Cogan
Artist: Francesco Francavilla
Publisher: Ape Entertainment

For those unfamiliar with The Black Coat, it’s a swashbuckling period piece adventure set during the American Revolution, the titular hero being a sort of Paul Revere by way of Batman. In the previous miniseries he’d taken down the bad guys but seemingly lost his own life in the process, and this next miniseries picks up immediately after. The Black Coat himself doesn’t get a ton of screen time, but there’s a strong, action-packed opening featuring his ladyfriend kicking British ass to get him back in the game, and from there, the game is afoot once again. It’s a fun, straightforward action series that I think still needs a little something extra to really take off, but it’s definitely worth a look if you’ve got a fondness for pulp adventure. Also noteworthy is Francesco Francavilla’s gray-toned art, reminiscent of the EC Comics level of illustration.

Dan Grendell Read and Thought:

Spider-Man Fairy Tales #1 of 4
Writer: C. B. Cebulski
Artist: Ricardo Tercio
Publisher: Marvel Comics

If you were to cast Spidey characters in Little Red Riding Hood, some choices would be obvious. Mary Jane is a redhead, so she’s Red. Aunt May is old, so she’s the grandma. Peter is a hero, so he’s the woodsman. Then you just retell the story, right? Well, not so much. To spice things up, Cebulski adds some new elements, some of which work (a village with a spider fetish because the mysterious “Spider-Man” protects them in the dark woods, led by Jameson, who counsels against relying on him), and some of which don’t (weird candy-stealing freaks). There’s also elements of the Spidey story that didn’t need to be included, like Mary Jane’s dead friend Gwen. It really feels like Cebulski tries to do too much here, with MJ’s story of trying to be an independent woman in a hidebound village and Peter’s attempt to be a strong hero outside of costume all layered on top of the normal fairy tale. The art is a cool, odd style, looking like it was done entirely in Adobe Illustrator or a similar program, resulting in a cartoony, made from pieces of construction paper look. That funky art is the real draw here; too bad it’s backing up a so-so story.

Wrath of the Titans #1
Writers: Darren G. Davis and Scott Davis
Artist: Nadir Balan
Publisher: Bluewater Comics

I really wanted to love this book. When I was growing up, the movie Clash of the Titans was on cable all the time, and I would sit and watch it over and over, mesmerized by the cool Ray Harryhausen effects and what I thought was a great (if unoriginal) story. When I heard there was a new sequel in comics form, I was stoked. Unfortunately, the book just doesn’t deliver. The artwork isn’t particularly bad, but it doesn’t feel like it fits too well. The writing is fairly boring, failing to engage me much. There’s a real reliance on ideas from the movie or myth- scheming goddesses, fighting a hydra, overthrowing a kingdom to rescue a loved one- and while that can make a great story, here it just seems like filler. The one exception is Perseus and Andromeda having a baby, which shows a new side of the characters. As much as I wish I could recommend Wrath of the Titans, for Greek myth stick to Age of Bronze.

Randy Lander Read and Thought:

Drawing From Life #1
Writer/Artist: Jim Valentino
Publisher: Image Comics

Drawing From Life is a selection of autobiographical short stories by Jim Valentino. Valentino has some wit, a solid cartooning ability and some at least mildly interesting stories to tell, and so the book is a fairly enjoyable read. However, the book really could have used some kind of thematic element to tie it together, because for all that the stories are somewhat interesting, they jump around in time, don’t really connect with one another and generally come across as a bit rambling. There’s not really much of a point to the whole thing, and without some kind of hook (be it “true romance” or “my Hollywood adventure” or whatever), autobiographical stories tend to be most interesting to those who lived them, which is a pretty small audience. Valentino’s stories are also off-beat enough that most won’t find them terribly relatable, which is the other thing that can give autobio a hook. Drawing From Life is a solidly crafted book, but a little more focus beyond telling random stories would have made it considerably stronger.

White Picket Fences #1
Writers: Matt Anderson & Eric Hutchins
Artist: Micah Farritor
Publisher: APE Entertainment

Owing a hefty debt to EC Comics and ’50s science fiction in general, White Picket Fences is a smart, fun, all-ages friendly adventure book. It has the same retro ’50s with a modernist outlook that made Iron Giant such a joy, and like that film, it doesn’t shy away from portraying the uglier side of a brewing Cold War in amidst the more innocent vibe of the era. The story shows what happens when an average kid unwittingly unlocks a potential alien menace and draws down the military on his small town. Anderson and Hutchins write innocent, likable and most importantly believable kids (like any of us wouldn’t have swiped a weird alien device we found in a barn), but they also write some interesting suburban dad interaction and one-upmanship and a pretty nifty take on ’50s military paranoia as well. Micah Farritor, meanwhile, provides a stylized look that perfectly captures the era, using a washed-out and unusual color palette to great effect. Clever and funny, and with a nifty Buck Rogers-esque space adventure as a backup, White Picket Fences is worth a look for anyone with a sci-fi jones.

D3 (David Martindale) Read and Thought:

Silver Surfer Requiem
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Esad Ribic
Publisher: Marvel Comics

The new Fantastic Four movie is on the horizon, and Marvel, in a very timely move, decides to release the first new Silver Surfer book in quite some time. Unfortunately, it disappoints. The painty art style that tries to give the story a larger than life quality merely achieves a static, flat, unemotive feel to the story. The art is technically proficient and would work very well for a Silver Surfer poster, but it fails to add emotion or excitement to the story. Straczynski’s script and dialogue don’t fare much better. It’s obvious that Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm are supposed to delivering comedic lines, but it just ends up feeling forced. I just can’t help but read every line in a slow, monotone voice. The worst offenders are Sue and Reed who are supposedly overcome with grief, but they deliver their lines with about as much emotion as a drive through attendant asking if I want fries with that. To top it all off, Marvel decides to mark the return of the Silver Freakin’ Surfer to the Marvel 616 proper in book with no villain. Yep, Marvel’s great idea was to have him get space-cancer… O’rly? Ya’rly. Oh, and I hate to sound like such a fanboy, but the book starts off with the Surfer introducing himself as a former herald when he assumed the position once again in Annihilation and has not yet stepped down from the position. If you want to read a good Silver Surfer story, go see if you can track down a copy of Annihilation: Heralds of Galactus #2, the second volume of the Annihilation hardcovers, the last couple issues of Fantastic Four by Dwayne McDuffie, or almost any other recent appearance of the character, but do not pick up this book.