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, we will cover Captain Britain And MI 13 #1, Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein #1, Genext #1, Guardians Of Galaxy #1, Huntress Year One #1, Lost Boys Reign Of Frogs #1, Newuniversal Shockfront #1, Secret Invasion Fantastic Four #1, Soleil Sky Doll #1, Warhammer Condemned By Fire #1 and X-Men Origin Colossus.

Nick Budd Read and Thought:

Secret Invasion Fantastic Four #1 of 3
Writer: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Artist: Barry Kitson
Company: Marvel Comics

Welcome to the first of what will no doubt be a whole slew of Secret Invasion tie-ins, which depending on who you ask, may or may not be a good thing. What the first issue of this mini-series does is do a continuation of the scene from the first issue of SI, the one where the Baxter Building gets sucked into the Negative Zone. As story ideas go, I like the notion of continuing such a small scene, giving it some more room to breathe. In that regard, Aguirre-Sacasa (Sensational Spider-Man/Nightcrawler) turns in a fairly intriguing mystery, adding in bits of cool dialogue, character bits, and a heck of a cliffhanger ending that if you’ve enjoyed FF stories of old, you’ll want to come back to see what happens next. The main star of this issue though is Barry Kitson’s artwork. He outdid himself with his work on The Order, but his work is always worth looking at, and he doesn’t skimp on the cool factor at all. His Human Torch is one of the cooler iterations I’ve seen lately, and really, just his innate attention to detail is amazing. Overall, I’d say that if you’re digging Secret Invasion, this is a comic you’ll enjoy. If you aren’t, it’s certainly safe to skip it.

Lost Boys : Reign of Frogs #1 of 4
Writer: Hans Rodionoff
Artist: Joel Gomez
Company: Wildstorm Comics

I can’t quite comprehend the reason why people thought we needed a book that revisited the Frog Brothers, those hot-headed scamps from The Lost Boys…But I’m sort of glad they did, as Rodionoff and company pull off an entertaining and darkly fun vibe for the book. Reign of Frogs isn’t perfect by any means though. There are some weak moments spread throughout the issue, but for the most part, seeing Corey Feldman’s character recount vampire history and past missions that include an altercation with a coven of vampire Senators and Congressmen to a young boy wanting to be his apprentice is a whole hell of a lot of fun. The art is solid enough. My only complaint about it would be that the nature of the story may have benefited from it more if Gomez’ approach had been less clean and more rough, sort of like Jonathan Wayshak and Randy Mayor’s cover. Really though, Rodionoff captures the feel of The Lost Boys and expands on some of the movie’s ideas, despite the glaring omission of Nanook, the vampire killing dog. If you have any love for the movie, like I obviously do, check this one out.

Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: Prodigal Son #1 of 5
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artist: Brett Booth
Company: Dabel Brothers Publishing

As novel adaptations go, this one could be described as mediocre story sprinkled with some eye-shattering art. For those who haven’t read the trilogy of books penned by Koontz, his take on the Frakenstein mythos is definitely an updated version of Shelly’s classic tale. This first issue centers around the original monster, now going by the name Deucalion, who has become something more than just your average monster and is searching for the means to live a normal life. That plan goes all to hell when a close friend is murdered and he is forced to move back to New Orleans to investigate. Dixon tells that portion of the tale and the portion that deals with two criminal investigators tracking down a new serial killer as best he can, adhering to the actual story, but nothing feels special about anything. It’s all very forgettable. What hurts the book most though is the art. I know that there are people who enjoy Booth’s style, but it’s too elongated and Top-Cowish, not to mention just being blah, to mesh well with the story being told. As one can imagine, this one is for die-hard Frankenstein fans only.

Dave Farabee Read and Thought:

Guardians of the Galaxy #1
Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Artist: Paul Pelletier
Company: Marvel Comics

It’s good. Really good. There’s been lots of talent helping reinvigorate Marvel’s cosmic characters of late, but has anyone taken to it so enthusiastically and prolifically as the writing duo of Abnett and Lanning? Who better, then, to ring in Marvel’s first cosmic team book since…was it Warlock and the Infinity Watch? Yikes. As the story begins, the galaxy’s on the precipice of chaos in the wake of the Annihilation wars, with key heroes looking to get more proactive in bringing stability. They include: Peter Quill (aka Starlord), Drax the Destroyer, the new Quasar, Adam Warlock, Gamora, and vying with each other for weirdest addition, Rocket Raccoon and Cosmo the sentient Russian space dog. In a neat bit of structuring, the issue bounces around between a fun recruitment arc, the team’s first mission, and the post mission debriefing. And that first mission is big-time action aboard a starship powered by faith (cool!), but the heart of the book is the characters themselves - arguing, bantering, trying to figure if the belong on the team, and forming unlikely friendships. I was a little bugged by the Whedonesque banter that felt a little too interchangeable, but beyond that, it’s smooth sailing. On the art front, artist Paul Pelletier gives Guardians a slick, modern look that balances Euro sci-fi slickness with the dynamics of American superhero comics. It’s a pretty strong package. I think you should check it out.

Batman #676
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Tony Daniel
Company: DC Comics

After the mess of DC Universe Zero, I’ve been really nervous that the big DC storylines coming up would be similarly unapproachable. This first installment of “Batman R.I.P.” is thankfully no less approachable than any slightly-obtuse Grant Morrison book, but it hardly sets the world on fire either. Certainly if it’s intended to bring in an audience unfamiliar with Grant’s run, it missed some steps. Right, so first off we’ve got a new host of villains introduced - the Black Glove. Then we find that there’s an epidemic of gimmick villains springing up in Gotham - lame-o’s unworthy of Batman’s time, but problematic nonetheless. There’s a new Batmobile (that looks a lot like older Batmobiles), a serious romantic interest for Batman that’s wholly new to me, some follow-through on the “son of Batman” story that didn’t register for me, and some portentousness with the Joker. It’s…a lot of stuff. And Tony Daniel is an artist who continues to improve, moving forward on the Jim Lee advancement track. Altogether, though, it’s unfocused and obtuse. I think DC may be taking a serious risk in putting an auteur like Morrison in charge of an event that really needs to be a crowd pleaser. Even as someone who’s more often than not a Morrison fan, my reaction comes down to “meh.”

Newuniversal: Shockfront #1 of 6
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Steve Kurth
Company: Marvel Comics

From what I can tell this is just a continuation of the six extant issues of Warren Ellis’s Newuniversal. I read a few of them and found ‘em solid enough, but a little too typical of Ellis doing superheroes: mystery + hyperviolence + cynicism + small pockets of humanity. Actually that might be his formula for everything. Anyway, if you liked the old stuff, chances are you’ll like the new. Three of the characters’ stories just continue on even as two new superhumans arise. Very Heroes season one, if a bit gorier. There’s even a “Hiro teleports” moment (”Yatta!”). For me the most interesting stuff was the incidental dialogue, especially the comic shop stuff and the musing’s on Chinese comics, manhua. Beyond that, it’s solid Ellisy stuff all around. Steve Kurth takes over the artistic chores from Salvador Larroca and showcases a similarly photoreferenced style - he’s just not as slick as Larroca yet. Anyway, it’s fine. Not sure it brings anything new to the table, but if you enjoy realistic looks at superpowers you could certainly do worse.

Dan Grendell Read and Thought:

GeNext #1
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artists: Patrick Scherberger and Norman Lee
Company: Marvel Comics

This is kind of a cool idea. It’s sort of like a what-if series, looking at the X-Men as if they aged in real time and jumping forward a number of years. The focus is a new team of mutant kids, the next generation after the current kids, as they go through training and struggle to deal with being mutants and the choices that their legacies force on them. Some of the characters are fairly familiar- there’s Rogue and Gambit’s son, for example, and Colossus’s grandson- but others are mysteries. Each issue looks to focus on a specific character; this time out it’s Becka Munroe, Storm’s daughter. This type of story is very much up Claremont’s alley and he does a decent job with it, though I didn’t feel like he was stretching at all. Scherberger’s artwork is energetic and fun, with an exaggerated style that I dug. The book is oversized to fit sketches and a short concept write-up of all five characters, as well as a short story from X-Men First Class; the bonus stuff was nice, but I’m not sure it was worth an extra buck. Overall, this is a decent start to what looks to be a fun story.

Huntress: Year One #1 (of 6)
Writer: Ivory Madison
Artists: Cliff Richards and Art Thibert
Company: DC Comics

I really kinda think DC has gone overboard with these year One books. That being said, I don’t think that’s the case with this one. There have been Huntress origins before, and Greg Rucka’s in Cry For Blood was pretty definitive. This mini doesn’t try to replace that story, though, so much as build on what was put forward there- the details of what happened between Helena being trained by mafioso assassins and actually becoming the Huntress. Madison fills in some holes, while giving a deeper psychological look at the effects of Helena’s childhood. Make no mistake, this is a dark book, and Richards draws it in a way that accents that. I really liked it, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

Warhammer: Condemned By Fire #1 (of 5)
Writers: Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton
Artist: Rahsan Ekedal
Company: BOOM! Studios

Before I even get to the contents of this book, let me note that there’s a scratch off strip inside the cover that gives a 1 in 5 chance of entry into the Warhammer: Age of Reckoning MMORPG Beta Test. I really wish we had known about this a month ago, when we ordered, because then we could have, you know, ordered extra to meet the demand. As it is, we found out last week, and got screwed. That aside, this was a great issue. Magnus Gault, Witch Hunter of the Empire and total badass, goes seeking one servant of Chaos and finds an entire corrupt town instead. That’s just the beginning of the trail he must follow, though, and he’s definitely up to the challenge. Ekedal has the Warhammer fantasy look down pat, bringing the lands of the Empire to life, and Abnett and Edginton write with a quasi-formal cadence that draws the reader in like poetry. An excellent first issue.

Randy Lander Read and Thought:

Captain Britain and MI 13 #1
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artists: Leonard Kirk & Jesse Delperdang
Company: Marvel Comics

I didn’t read Cornell’s previous series, Wisdom, but the first page pretty much catches me and any other newcomers up with the status quo, just in time for the first issue to launch into a look at what’s going on in England while the Skrull invasion happens. Bit of odd timing that we’re seeing the invasion here while Secret Invasion hasn’t quite gotten to it, but it’s a nice, action-packed look at superheroes fighting off super-powered alien invaders and Cornell has an interesting take on B- and C-list British (and expatriate American) heroes like Captain Britain, Wisdom, Spitfire and the Black Knight. Basically, it’s Marvel’s take on a British superteam, not a bad premise for a book and certainly one that Cornell seems up to writing. The “in the middle of an invasion” thing keeps it from being a standard “gathering of the team,” but it also unfortunately distracts from the most interesting aspect of the issue, the black ops Pete Wisdom and the more straightforwardly heroic Captain Britain and their push-pull relationship. Art is by Leonard Kirk, who does a great job on the super skrulls, complete with easter egg hunting for readers who want to guess whose powers they’re emulating, as well as capturing the wartorn setting meets superhero team vibe of the whole thing.

Soleil Sky Doll #1
Writer/Artists: Alessandro Barbucci & Barbara Canepa
Company: Marvel Comics

Marvel deserves credit for trying to bring some of the gorgeous European comics to the American market, but I don’t know if they’re going to find much more success than others have. Sky Doll is not unlike a lot of the offerings of previous Euro-entry Humanoids Publishing, a wild science-fiction concept with fantastic artwork and a not-entirely catchy story. Barbucci and Canepa aim for a mix of social metaphor, humor and adventure, and while they succeed in places, their far-flung sci-fi world is just a bit too alien to fully engage this reader, and their characters are mildly interesting riffs on familiar archetypes. The visuals, and indeed some of the ideas, like a massive religion that features concert-sized audiences with their papal goddess, are impressive, and Sky Doll looks gorgeous. But the plot, characters and especially dialogue are a bit vanilla, as familiar and dull as the artwork is bright and fresh. Worth a read for the gorgeous artwork and for a genre that Marvel generally doesn’t delve into, but don’t expect too much from the writing… the story offers up lots of flash and sizzle, but not a lot of substance.

X-Men Origin Colossus
Writer: Chris Yost
Artists: Trevor Hairsine & Kris Justice
Company: Marvel Comics

Given that the last Colossus miniseries ridiculously tied him to the mad monk Rasputin, and that few seem to really get the character who was once one of my favorites, I was skeptical of this one-shot. However, while X-Men Origin Colossus isn’t a strictly necessary story, it is a pretty decent look at what happened to Colossus before that fateful run-in with a tractor in Giant-Sized X-Men #1. Yost ties in the “Soviet Nick Fury” Vazhin’s origin, the loss of Colossus’s brother Mikhail and the effect that had on his relationship with his sister, sinister black ops and the look at Colossus first manifesting his power for a pretty good look at the events that formed Colossus’s life before he was an X-Man. Hairsine and Justice provide lush artwork that is particularly good at the character-centric, human moments that make up much of the story, although their grounded realism makes the fantastic moments (like Colossus using his powers or the attack by a black ops military team) a bit hum-drum. As I said above, it’s not a strictly necessary story, but if there are Colossus fans who would like to see more of the character, this is a pretty good story about his early days that fills in a few blanks.