After helping General Manager John Laurinaitis get a win over John Cena at Over the Limit, the Big Show appears to be firmly in the pocket of the man who fired him two weeks ago. A turn as a villainous giant might be a good direction for both the Big Show and Raw.

On this Memorial Day, everyone at MLD thanks those who’ve given their lives in service to the United States throughout its history. As we take a day to ourselves, this abbreviated edition of the Warm Up comes on the heels of a less than memorable edition of Raw last week following the Over the Limit pay-per-view. Hopefully, tonight’s show in New Orleans does more to distinguish itself in the weeks leading up to No Way Out.

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You’ve heard of the The Cult. You’ve probably heard the mid-eighties track “She Sells Sanctuary” on car and Budweiser commercials and the tune “Fire Woman” from their Sonic Temple was a staple of rock radio and MTV during its initial release in 1989. The band is back this week with their first album in five years, Choice of Weapon. Are you prepared to worship at the “Sonic Temple” again?

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This volume of I Don’t Even Like Marvel will be far shorter than the previous volumes because basically… I don’t even really like Marvel all that much and Heroics is a terrible line of toys in which to invest so much time and energy. Especially considering we’ve put almost no energy into discussing truly great lines like Funko Pop! or Mattel’s Action League. Having said all of that, I recently stumbled over a third set of Heroics figures at a local Toys ‘R Us.

This time the line was based on Disney’s Avengers major motion picture. I was tempted to buy the entire set just for the purposes of writing this article and because the figures looked pretty great in the artwork on the box. Luckily I came to my senses and realized that there was no real glory in continuing this mad pursuit of becoming the world’s foremost authority on the intentionally lowest quality line of comic book toys ever created. (I would have given that honor to DC’s Blammoids, but that line definitely wasn’t intended to be so low quality). Another reason I bailed on picking up more Avengers Heroics was that these were 20 percent more expensive than the previous lines. In the end, I decided to just pick up Hulk and Captain America which you may remember were the two characters I was so desperate to find back in Volume 1.

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Weekly comic books are a big part of my life and below is a list of what I’ll be picking up this Wednesday along with cover artwork and previews courtesy of Comixology’s Pull List app.

Only six new books this week after a string of longer lists. The theme this time seems to be books I’ve fallen behind on.

• AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #686 – The Ends of the Earth storyline continues as Doctor Octopus threatens to destroy the world. I’m almost too embarrassed to tell you the last issue I’ve read of this series, yet I continue to buy it.
• AQUAMAN #9 – I’ve been less interested in this title after the first arc, but I’m sticking with it to see where Geoff Johns takes the secret history of Atlantis.
• ASTONISHING X-MEN #50 – This book is getting some mainstream attention with the announcement of Northstar’s wedding. I’m not sure if that will make it more difficult to find, but I know I have to read about eight issues to get caught up.
• JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #638 – Another chapter in the Exiled crossover with New Mutants. The weekly shipping schedule has taken me by surprise and there’s some catching up to do here as well.
• SECRET AVENGERS #27 – Captain Marvel returns! Again… I enjoyed the first part of this AvX tie-in, but I wasn’t crazy that the story spilled into Avengers #26 last week. I’m interested in what writer Rick Remender is doing with the title, so I won’t be going anywhere. Plus, this looks to be the story that will lead into Ms. Marvel‘s new series and that certainly has my interest.
• ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN #12 – I don’t normally read this title (or any of Marvel’s Ultimate line), but is that Havok on the cover?

Check back every week to see what’s on My Latest Pull List and please share your thoughts on these titles and everything you’re reading this week in the comments.

Last night at the Over the Limit pay-per-view, WWE Champion C.M. Punk defended his title against Daniel Bryan. The controversial finish promises that we'll see more tension between two of the best on the roster tonight on Raw.

Monday Night Raw rolls into Richmond, Virginia tonight on the heels of last night’s Over the Limit pay-per-view and a lot of build up from last Monday. Friday’s edition of Smackdown also drove forward the rivalries between C.M. Punk and Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship as well as a burgeoning feud between Sheamus and Randy Orton for the World Championship. Both of those titles along with the Tag Team and Divas Championships were successfully defended last night, but we’re sure to see more from the principals involved tonight. It’s also a safe bet that we’ll see more of new Intercontinental Champion Christian and former champ Cody Rhodes.

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