As promised…
Rather than depend upon my patchy awareness of when my own titles are coming out, and in order to provide space for fans of all genders, races, religious persuasions, lack of religious persuasions, sexual preferences, lack of sexual preferences, nationalities, political leanings, political indifference, height, weight, intelligence levels, hair and eye color (I’m sure I missed something and that’ll be what I’m anti) to talk about, y’know, comics: Every Wednesday I will be providing this space for fans to discuss their weekly stash.
On the touchy subject of spoilers: I think it has to be acknowledged by anyone reading this thread that they’re going to run into spoilers that will be unavoidable because of the current set up. On that basis, I would far prefer it if contributors tried to be as restrained on specifics out of consideration to fellow fans. Glenn tells me that we may be able to implement threaded comments. When that happens (and for all I know they’re already in place) it won’t be as much of a problem since fans won’t have to worry about having key plot points being ruined for them against their will.
This is your space, but–since it’s my board, I figure I am at the very least entitled to express my preference–I would really like to see commentary that’s a notch above, “This is what happened! Cool!” or “This is what happened. Meh.” Reviews and commentary rather than summary. Stretch beyond saying that you liked and disliked something, but rather WHY you liked and disliked something. It’s up to you.
And you know what else I’d like to see this thread as a haven for? Strident disagreement with the opinion rather than the opinion holder. Expressing dislike of a comic without assaulting the character of the person/people producing it. Again, I won’t step in; I would like to give people credit for being self-policing.
So…knock yourselves out.
PAD
• 
Um, I just saw “Watchmen”. Does that count?
Weekly stashes arrive in Australia on Fridays, but thanks for the opportunity, PAD!
I haven’t done a weekly stash, but I did use some of my tax money to grab The Walking Dead hardcover Vol. 4 and the new TPB Vol. 9.
Man… People are saying that BSG’s last few episodes were dark, but that’s nothing on the story so far (insofar as the hardcover & TPB) in Walking Dead.
This could be a fun idea, but the thread will likely be a bit slow until evening, after people get home from the LCS.
hi, an X-Factor question :
is there something planned about Skids and Maddrox’ team ?
friendly yours,
Jarrod–sure. Knock yourself out.
Alan–yeah, I know. But I promised I would put it up and I wanted to do it while I was thinking about it.
PAD
“the thread will likely be a bit slow until evening, after people get home from the LCS.”
Unless they download…
Don’t shoot! I’m only kidding.
PAD – Just got the Kindle App for my IPOD Touch. You have an impressive list at Amazon.com of digital books. Is the reduced prices for digital devices (I.E. Kindle or the Kindle App) good, bad, or indifferent for writers such as yourself? I just want an opinion from you on this new format. I know Stephen King wrote a novella just for the Kindle, so he must like it… Keep up the good work and waiting on the next New Frontier novel. This spring?
PAD – Just got the Kindle App for my IPOD Touch. You have an impressive list at Amazon.com of digital books. Is the reduced prices for digital devices (I.E. Kindle or the Kindle App) good, bad, or indifferent for writers such as yourself? I just want an opinion from you on this new format. I know Stephen King wrote a novella just for the Kindle, so he must like it… Keep up the good work and waiting on the next New Frontier novel (this spring?).
TRINITY – my pick for the classic, late 70s-early 80s style of comic books. Plot heavy and intricate.
SECRET SIX – my pick for sick and twisted characters you love to get squicked by. (And pretty much a reflection of PAD’s stated preference for writing lesser known characters–what you DO with them matters. You can introduce real change and progression, and what they do will almost certainly surprise the readers).
I’d like to talk about one of my favorite comics out these days. Which unfortunately, as is usually the case with good comics, is going to be cancelled soon. (don’t even get me started on the crime to comics that DC is doing by cancelling Blue Beetle*grumble*)
But let’s leave Blue beetle for another time and talk about Amazing Spider-Girl 29. I was worried when they used the arc title, Brand New May, mostly because I feared it was going to be some reference to the suckiness that ruins Spider-Man aka Brand New Day, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case.
ASG29 went on with the situation where Norman Osborn’s plan has come to full blow. With him taking over Peter’s body, while May is dealing with a second May, once again bringing up the question of who’s the real Spider-person.
The art, as usual (unfortunately) is a bit unperfect and outdated, but the story made full use of the series fully established and strongly characterized supporting cast.
Using characters like the Black Tarantula in a way that goes back to the original Tarantula as he was first shown, rather than the fraud pretending to be him in recent Daredevil issues. No offense to anyone who likes that version of the char, but honestly he’s got little connection to the aristocratic version that originally appeared in Spidey issues.
Using the full wealth of character growth that Spider-Girl thankfully relies on, we get a strong image of the horror felt by May and her allies as she has to fight her father’s body with Norman Osborn in control. Feeling like a much more interesting version of Osborn, than the one currently boring us, well me, in Dark Reign.
Either way, this issue was definitely worth my money and makes me feel sorry for Marvel as it loses yet another part of its soul. And I’m not sure if I’m willing to pay the money for a full issue of Amazing Spider-Family, knowing that there’ll be BND crap inside of it, just so I can keep reading about May. I’ve bought the first issue of that series for the same of the Mr and Mrs Spider-Man miniseries, but I don’t know if I’d get enough worth for my money, if I have to pay the full price of an issue (or more if I well remember), just to get a few good pages, added to BND crap that just ends up in the garbagebag, and some pages of a reprint.
As long as it’s on topic, I’ll make a short comment about She-Hulk #38…
You know, in all the history of Tuckerization, I don’t recall anyone ever doing it TO Wilson Tucker.
Well played, Mr. David, well played.
And BTW, they’re still rebuilding the Allentown judicial district.
Recently I’ve been reading Barefoot Gen vol. 1-6 from my library. It’s an autobiographical comic about what the author went through as a child witnessing the dropping of the atom bomb on Japan and the aftermath.
This is the best comic I’ve read in some time because:
1) It’s based on real events so I care more a lot more about the people in the story.
2) It doesn’t pull any punches. It shows the horrific death and disfigurement, chaos, panic, and doesn’t let anybody off the hook. Japanese society falls apart in that area with people turning on their neighbors (and family members) left and right. There are some decent American G.I.’s and many vicious ones. The protagonist shows the guilt of the imperial Japanese government, the warlike attitude of his neighbors and their persecution of pacifists (sound familiar?) the way the Koreans were treated like absolute garbage, and how horrific the occupation forces were.
3) Despite the betrayal and horror all around (sometimes the emotional aftermath is as bad as the physical with people trying suicide from all they’ve lost) the main character tries to treat people well, even with all of his failing and dark moments. Some characters band together to form close knit impromptu families for survival’s sake and occasionally manage to find a little prosperity and happiness among all of their catastrophic setbacks.
Pretty much the book is a strong exploration of what human beings will do to survive under the worst possible conditions, what kind of compromises they will make and when they choose to be charitable or vicious. Every now and then the dialogue gets a little clunky but I’m used to that with translated comics.
The first volume has an introduction from Art Spiegleman and it makes sense, given that this Comic and Maus are probably the most important graphic novels ever written (and I normally try to stay away from hyperbole like that.)
There are ten volumes in all and I must read the final four.
Sadly, I pick up my books on a bi-weekly basis, and on Fridays or Saturdays, both due to my “local” comic shop being 45 miles away; the former to save gas, and the latter because I can’t make it to the shop in time on Wednesday or Thursday. Maybe I’ll chip in every other Wednesday with comments on books from previous weeks.
Honestly, I would have moved to subscription or some other mail-order service a while back (I was certainly tempted when gas prices were soaring), but I have a friend who’s roughly the same distance to the east from the LCS as I am to the west, and it’s easier on gas for both of us to converge on the shop and get some dinner afterwards than to make the full trip for home visits on a regular basis.
Chuck
Alan Coil: This could be a fun idea, but the thread will likely be a bit slow until evening, after people get home from the LCS.
Luigi Novi: What’s LCS?
Isn’t the the stuff that Kirk told Gillian that Spock took too much of in the 60’s in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home?
Alan Coil: This could be a fun idea, but the thread will likely be a bit slow until evening, after people get home from the LCS.
Luigi Novi: What’s LCS?
Library Computing Services. They’re in the back.
Local Comic Store
OR
Lookmom CaptainAmerica Sucks
I guess the former.
Luigi: I think Kirk said “LDS”.
Everyone else: Peter told me to knock myself out, so please stop reading if you don’t wish to hear Watchmen thoughts.
I loved the film. The reverence to the source material was palpable. Exact scenes, exact dialogue, were recreated throughout. However, it was jarringly obvious whenever some non-Moore dialogue was used. Now, I don’t know if that’s just me (and it’s very probable that it is) so it’ll be interesting to hear if non-devotees can discern the difference.
Pre-movie, my biggest concern was the ending. We’ve heard that Mr Snyder is not partial to calamari. But in that case, what the Hëll was he gonna serve instead? The answer was acceptable, and I think it worked okay. It was still frightening but I feel it lacked much of the emotional investment that we took from the graphic novel. Understandably, the movie simply couldn’t include every subplot and every character. The Bernards were there but since we never got to know them in the movie, their loss wasn’t felt as strongly. It would’ve been nice, too, to see the world’s perspective on Adrian’s screens, rather than one delivery.
The production values were superb but in this day of CGI there’s no excuse for them to be otherwise. My biggest concern comes from the performances. I honestly think Mr Snyder put every ounce of blood, sweat and tears into getting this movie made – and getting it made correctly – as near as absolutely dámņ accurate to the graphic novel as possible – and ensuring the details and minutiae were correct – but then seemed to forget sometimes to direct his performers’ delivery. So many characters were soft-spoken – it was sometimes difficult to understand. Jon whispered many of his lines; Rorshach did a great job but, admittedly, his voice is constantly muffled; Adrian had some weird inconsistent accent and unfortunately came off as the worst of the bunch.
And I hope I’m not being too pedantic but I felt there was a tendency to just say the lines rather than feel them. As one example, Laurie seemed only mildly annoyed to suddenly find herself in a menage a trois. Other emotional moments seemed also to lack gravitas.
I really, really, REALLY want this movie to succeed. I want the general public to go along and enjoy it – to realise what comics can be. I’d love if they can be as blown away by the movie as we were by the graphic novel, but will very happily settle for them wanting to go off and read the graphic novel for themselves (apparently Mr Snyder’s wish, also).
I did not ever get bored nor wonder what the time was. The two hours and 40 minutes just disappeared. It is dense, and it makes you think, and it makes you concentrate. I hope that’s a good thing. Much is often said of spoon-feeding the audience but I think – hope – that cinema audiences have matured. The Dark Knight did not spoon-feed us and it’s become the second-highest-grossing movie of all time. I like to think that today’s audiences appreciate something they can sink their involvement into.
I hope the general public loves it. I hope my concerns over the performances are unfounded. Mr Haley, Mr Morgan, and Ms Akerman are superb. In fact, Mr Morgan almost comes off best through his bravura performance. However, one other aspect that may be offputting is the violence. It is brutal and gory – even moreso than the source material. My friend said, “You could tell it was directed by the guy who did 300.” I’m a little concerned about taking my wife to see it (and I do want to see it again) because certain scenes are so in-your-face explicit. I guess the intention was “hey, this is the real world, violence isn’t pretty”. It certainly isn’t. There were frequent audible gasps and groans throughout the cinema. I wondered how many people there went in thinking, “Great! A comic book movie! I loved Iron Man!” (Not to dis Iron Man – I loved it too – but it was a completely different animal.)
But then, hopefully, this will be the movie (along with The Dark Knight) that dispels the popular opinions that comics = Archie. Perhaps the general public will realise that, 24 years after the rest of us.
Go and see the movie. You know you want to. In my humble opinion it is well worth it. It’s abbreviated, and it’s not quite as good as the source material, but then we all knew with certainty that that was going to be the case. It is a worthy homage and accompaniment to a work of art that has touched us all.
Now, I don’t know if that’s just me (and it’s very probable that it is) so it’ll be interesting to hear if non-devotees can discern the difference.
Haven’t seen Watchmen yet, but I know exactly what you’re talking about. The movie(s) that spring to mind for me with this problem are some of the lines in Lord of the Rings. An incredible adaptation of the trilogy (even if I didn’t like everything about it), but some lines still made me cringe because they were so obviously not Tolkien or anything like his style. 🙂
Well, I wasn’t able to make it to my LCS, but DC did send me a copy of “Superman: World of Krypton”, which hit shelves this week, so I’ll talk about that for now.
I thought the issue was a winner. The idea of Superman no longer “orphaned”, happy to be among his people, renouncing Earth and leaving his mother and wife behind was wll done in the “New Krypton” crossover.
In this issue, it is neat to see Superman among 100,000 of his own people and no longer “special” in the eyes of the society he lives in. It is also neat to get a look at Kryptonian culture and seeing Supes embrace or reject it based on the norms he is used to and being torn between his adopted planet and his native people.
Without giving anything away, it is really cool to see them touch upon how special Supes is, even when he is now on an even playing field powers-wise.
The book also has a priceless cliffhanger last page that deserves to be framed, which promises a year of entertaining stories for the next year and beautiful art to complement the strong story by James Robinson and Greg Rucka. What more could you ask for?
Two comics in my stash (which never passes six a week).
Gotham Gazette 1 was readable with great art by many hands. Nicieza does a good job with the voices of the four Gothamites he portrayed, and sets up things nicely for Battle for the Cowl. But the narration is a bit dense and unsubtle.
Buffy 23 is by yet another former series screenwriter, Drew Greenberg, and it’s better than the scripts turned in by Jane Espenson and Steven DeKnight, but is still not a great issue. The focus is on Andrew, and while the voice is accurate, we are reminded of why so many fans cannot stand him. There is a plot, but it’s almost incidental. After a great first year, this series has begun to sputter. Maybe a 40 issue arc covering one “season” wasn’t such a great idea.
I have to agree with what you said about Buffy, Simon. The first several story arcs, up until the Fray storyline, were incredible. They captured the feel and excitement of the television show, while still making full use of the comicbook format.
Recent issues, however, have left me feeling like this isn’t necessary anymore. The overall story hasn’t progressed too much, and the most significant development–humans being aware of vampires, with public sentiment turning against the Slayers–was treated as a joke (I did enjoy the light-hearted tone of the issue, but it just didn’t seem to fit with the content for me).
The issues certainly aren’t BAD. I’m just not excited for them anymore, and I think I’m at the point where I’ll just be buying the trade collections.
Honestly, I’ve disliked the Buffy s8 series from the start. The characterisation quite simply has felt wrong from the start. And I disliked the focus on the multitude of personality lacking slayers, along with Andrew who had already ruined a bit part of s7 for me.
Add to that that even after 40 issues we still don’t know wether or not Buffy knows if Spike’s alive or not…
Compared to Angel After the Fall, I can only say that the Buffy series has been extremely disappointing.
@ Luigi–You made my day!
Luigi Novi: What’s LCS?
As mentioned in the above possibilities, Local Comics Shop (Store). That you didn’t know this makes my day for 2 reasons. One is that I recently had to ask what RL meant (Real Life). It was something I had never seen before. Now I don’t feel as if I am the only not-in-the-know person on the internet. The other is that it was something I knew that you did not. This is not said in a snarky manner, but an admission that I am usually a step or two behind you in many conversations, thus being able to bring something new to the fore, no matter how small, is personally satisfying.
Jarrod Buttery–
I didn’t read your post about the Watchmen movie because I want to wait until after I see it. However, next time could you please put a larger spoiler warning label on any post containing, obviously, spoilers? Perhaps in all caps. Thanks, and looking forward to discussing the movie after I see it tomorrow.
I haven’t read this week’s Buffy, but I, too, am finding my interest to be falling a bit.
It’s comic book related, so I’ll talk a little about the new WONDER WOMAN animated movie. (My full review is at
http://thearmchaircritic.blogspot.com/ ; shameless plug, ‘cept I have no shame.) Overall, I thought it was pretty good — and far better than most of the other recent DC Comics animated movies. Keri Russell was good, Nathan Fillion was amazing, and the action showed why WW is one of DC Comics’ big three. It’s a enjoyable (if very violent) romp through the world of comics.
STUFF THAT MAY BE SPOILERS: How did the Amazons, who seemed to be at the technology level of ancient Greece, manage to create a working jet fighter — and why make it invisible? Shouldn’t it be impossible to kill a god? And considering how WW seemed to have no problem with killing anyone, would this mean she’d kill any villains she comes across? Bad luck for Cheetah!
The Angel comic, like the TV show it came from, has been rewarding but only if you stick with it through a lot of convoluted plotting. Brian Lynch did a great job with the characterization, though, and I hope he comes back after Kelley Armstrong’s run. Her first issue was pretty good, though a bit odd in the direction it went.
Still, I also look forward to this comic more than the Buffy comic, much as I started to enjoy Angel more than Buffy on TV.
I didn’t like Angel Aftermath as much as I like Brian Lynch’s issues, but then I really like the way Lynch writes Spike, who on top of that was missing in 18. Admittedly, a huge part of why I don’t like the Buffy issues so much, is because Spike isn’t in them. He is after all the main reason I got hooked on Buffy in the first place.
Liliaeth wrote: “Add to that that even after 40 issues we still don’t know wether or not Buffy knows if Spike’s alive or not…”
Forty issues? The current Buffy is #23.
Buffy is currently the only comicbook I’m reading in single issue format now that Fallen Angel is on hiatus. And as I said on the thread for Fallen Angel #33, I don’t get the rationale for stopping the book and then relaunching it under a slightly different title months later.
Anyway, with regard to Buffy, I continue to enjoy it overall. And one thing I particularly like is that it has something all but extinct in comics these days– the letter column. In some ways, they are far superior to computer message boards or blog posts. Anyone wanting to read comments about, say, Buffy #5 online would have to go to a particular website, then search back through the archives to find the relevant thread(s). On the other hand, if you pick up, say, issue #7 in a back issue bin, you turn to the back and there you find some letters about issue 5. And such letters would always be in that issue, whether you buy it when it comes out, a year later, 10 years later, whenever.
And maybe the content of those letters gets you interested enough to seek out issue #5. I know that the decision to buy most of the back issues I’ve bought over the years came about in part because of the letter column in a later issue.
With regard to Watchmen, I re-read the trade this week in preparation for Saturday’s schedule viewing of the film. It’s the second time I’ve read the story in its entirety. The first is when I bought the trade a few years ago. For reasons I don’t remember, I never bought the individual issues when the series came out. I was aware of it at the time (it was the “cover story” of the Sept. 1986 edition of DC’s Direct Currents newsletter), but I guess it didn’t interest me enough to add it to my pull list.
Rick
Like I said, I haven’t been liking much, so I don’t keep up with the numbering, was taking that number from someone else in the thread*g*
I don’t like the letters column in the Buffy issues because they’re so biased. It makes it clear the book’s editor is a Buffy/Angel shipper who seems rather anti-Spike. I’m saying this, because I know several Spike fans who wrote in pro-Spike letters, after some serious anti-Spike letters got posted. The anti-Spike stuff gets into the readers thing, the pro-Spike stuff doesn’t.
Since I utterly despise the Buffy/Angel pairing, seeing that bias made clear kinda turned me against reading the letters page (and the comic in general)
Honestly, just some sign of Buffy mourning Spike would have made me like her better, but since Joss doesn’t seem to think that’s necessary, he lost my interest. And the new slayers just ain’t worth bothering with. I read books for the characters, not for plottwists. It’s one of the reasons that the recent X-factor issues have been losing my interest.
If nothing positive ever happens to Jamie, then why should I keep reading? Yeah, I know, it’s noir and all that nonsense, but I get enough drama and negativism in real life. I read comics to read about heroes overcoming the odds. (it’s a main reason that Marvel is losing more and more of my interest. The past few years it seems that the bad guys always win, the good guys rarely get to keep anything good in life. And any character that is even remotely dark, will fall for that darkness, rather than strive to be better.
Characters like Wolverine just… bore the hëll out of me. And to see a character I used to love like Bishop, turned into a massmurdering monster regardless of his excuses for it…
Just the idea of the X-men killing, and Spidey being turned into an incompetent good for nothing loser. It just makes me want to give less and less of my money to Marvel.
By now both the X-men and the Avengers need some major victories, just to keep the moral from the company being. “If you’re a good guy, you’ll lose. Only killers and anti-heroes will ever accomplish anything. And forget all about happiness. Because the only ones who’ll ever get it are the ones who deserve it the least. And oh yes, women are just disposable scenery not allowed any personality, and if they dare to get uppity and actually gain a personality, we’ll just retcon them, so they’re either written out of the book, or lose any character they’ve dared to gain over the years. ”
To see Terry written as if she’s weak in X-factor, Mary Jane and the marriage written out of Spider-Man, Aunt May turned back into the boring cliché old lady who serves no purpose whatsoever anymore. To see the whole May/Jarvis subplot just utterly ignored… And don’t even get me started on the boring crappiness that is Lilly Hollister. What purpose does that character even serve other than being affected by men. She has not a grain of personality beyond her daddy or her boyfriend.
Sorry, got on a rant there. But I really really dislike the direction that Marvel is heading into. And to then see that a comic like Buffy, that used to be a series about strong women, turned into eyefodder for men…
I mean, the guys get Buffy/Satsu, what do the girls get?
When do we get to see Xander end up in bed with Dracula, or hëll, even Andrew? When do we get back to the nakedness being about naked men, rather than naked girls?
It’s like the comic seems to forget that Buffy’s target audience used to be women.
And no, Mockingbird being back will only be a good thing, if they don’t stick her in boring conspiracy stuff. (and please for gods sake, get rid of boring Jessica, I’m a how many triple, quatre, whatever agent, Drew. I hate her character. But then I hate conspiracy stuff in general.
Right now, the only hope is Faiza over in Captain Britain.
Ðámņ I hate it when you can’t edit and even after rereading a few times, you still only find your mistakes after posting *grumble*
By now both the X-men and the Avengers need some major victories, just to keep the moral from the company being.
Should be
By now both the X-men and the Avengers need some major victories, just to keep the moral from the company from being:
Small mistake, big difference.
Peter: Regarding your upcoming Spider-Man 2099 collection and the Newsarama series on it, let me second the suggestion from that thread that, should the Spidey 2099 trades sell well (or even if they don’t), Marvel should commission an “epilogue” trade(s) from you and Rick Leonardi to properly finish Miguel’s story, ignoring anything that happened after your run.
Personally, I’d like to see your version of the Goblin 2099 story with Father Jennifer as the Goblin.
Eric
Question for all, since this point came up in the Scans Daily thread: How many of you have a local comics shop that carries back issues? If so, to what degree?
I’m lucky in that regard. My main comic shop (Time Travelers, in Berkley, MI) has a good collection of backstock, both bagged and boarded as well as loose issues that are pretty much just reading copy quality.
Three other area shops (Detroit Comics in Ferndale, Warp 9 in Clawson, and Comics Archives in Rochester) also have backstock, but to a smaller degree, since those are smaller stores.
I would suspect that most of the backstock in any of these stores consists more of older comics than those from this decade. Just because stores in general are ordering fewer copies. Time Travelers’ at least keeps several months worth of some comics on the shelf on the wall.
But how is it for others, in terms of finding back issues in general at a comics shop?
Rick
Rick–both of the LCS’s I fondly formerly frequented filled full(aw, crap, enough alliteration and I can’t think of any more f’s) shelves with back ish’s behind the current for several months.
Here’s a question for all the older bunch–other than the run in Boy’s Life, was the Tripod series ever adapted into comic form? I was thinking about those this morning as I left work and thought the comics MIGHT not intimidate the kid as much as the prose.
Here’s a question for all the older bunch–other than the run in Boy’s Life, was the Tripod series ever adapted into comic form? I was thinking about those this morning as I left work and thought the comics MIGHT not intimidate the kid as much as the prose.
What an awesome series.
As far as comics go, here’s what Wikipedia says:
“In 1985, the BBC initiated BEEB, the BBC Magazine, and started to present additional adventures of Will, Henry, and Beanpole on their way to the White Mountains. Each issue contained two colour pages and one black and white page. The strips were drawn by John M. Burns. The BEEB magazine folded after 20 issues (approx 6 months), leaving the three heroes in the middle of an adventure. There was no resolution.”
That’s not really an adaptation, though.
I hope you know about the BBC series that adapted the first two books — do you? They’re really terrific, IMO.
TWL
Detroit also has the good fortune to have a decent sized convention every spring, and several small one-day shows a year. Makes finding back issues a little easier than some places.
I shop in Toledo, Ohio, which has 3 comics shops, 1 of which has a decent enough supply of old comics, and the other 2 have many, many boxes of older comics.
I’m hoping that people won’t actually use this space to spoil things. I suppose it is inevitable that individuals will want to talk about speicific points in things they’ve read.
I’d rather talk about what I bought and why I bought it.
These are the books I purchased this week (haven’t had time to read any of them yet — but that is what the weekend is for):
Trinity #40 (DC)
I have thoroughly enjoyed this title since it started. I think Jeph Loeb has done a great job establishing the various aspects of the Trinity. Not every issue has been a winner, but a vast majority of them have. I think overall the series has been a great concept. I also like being able to go into my LCS every week knowing there is at least one book I can count on to be something I’m going to enjoy.
Dreamer #5 (IDW)
I can’t tell you how much I thoroughly dislike paying $3.99 for a comic. I really feel like the value is not there for a four dollar book. That is a big reason I have avoid BOOM! Studios and IDW books in large part (yes PAD, that includes Fallen Angel, sorry). This particular title caught me with the first issue solicitation. I decided to check it out even though it was at the high price point I dislike. My understanding is that this particluar title first began as a webcomic (and might still be going in that format — I haven’t taken the time to go digging around to see if that is the case). I’ve been very pleased with the story and equally impressed with the art. So even at four bucks an issue, I’m sticking around for now (with gritted teeth).
House of Mystery # 11 (DC – Vertigo imprint)
I was originally not planning on buying this title. But then I saw that Jill Thompson was illustrated one of the stories in the second issue. So since I was going to have to buy that issue, I picked up the first issue as well. And I’ve been reading it ever since. Great main arc with a few interesting side stories mixed in. And having different art teams handling the side stories also makes for a nice mix. This is just a good product all around.
Echo #10 (Abstract Studios)
Terry Moore is just pretty much kicking the ášš of everything the Big Two are producing with this title. I’d never read any of his previous works prior to checking out the first issue of this title, but I quickly became a convert. This is just a dámņ good book (easily worth the $3.50 cover charge).
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23 (Dark Horse)
Funny thing is that the only season of BtVS I ever watched was the first one. I saw an episode here and there of other seasons, but I never was really a hardcore follower of the series (not because I didn’t enjoy it, I just don’t do well following TV series … I tend to drift away rather easily unless something just grabs me in a death grip — like BSG did). Given that I missed most of what went on in those later seasons, I wasn’t a likely candidate to start reading this series. But I picked up the first issue anyway. And then the second. And third. And I’ve been coming back every month. I guess it has just been good enough to keep me in the fold.
So that’s my list this week. No spoilers. Nothing about what is actually in the individual issues. Just what I bought and why.
Liliaeth Says:
March 6th, 2009 at 3:03 am
“And no, Mockingbird being back will only be a good thing, if they don’t stick her in boring conspiracy stuff. (and please for gods sake, get rid of boring Jessica, I’m a how many triple, quatre, whatever agent, Drew. I hate her character. But then I hate conspiracy stuff in general.”
In fairness, the Jessica Drew we knew wasn’t Jessica Drew, so who knows how the real one will play out… My only real disappointment with Secreted Inversion was that no really mainstream players turned out to have been phonies for years. C’mon, Scott Summers is running a kill squad and boinking the White Queen! No one even wonders?
In Buffy, I thought Angel & Spike were getting equal billing in flashbacks and fantasies, but wouldn’t swear to it. Male here, so pretty much oblivious to that topic. Did think the Buffy/Satsu thing was total fanwank catering though.
Best buy of the week for me, Terry Moore’s Echo. Loving the leisurely pacing, the character nuances, everything that was so dámņ good in Strangers in Paradise is still here. Also nice to see someone who was successful without spandex being happy to do something which – while not full blown super heroic – is definitely deep into X Files country.
(True confession moment; the fanboy in me would actually quite like to see an Echo/The Sword crossover. How sad is that?)
Closing now, with a quick plug for Warren Ellis’ Freak Angels, a free weekly comic from http://www.freakangels.com
Cheers.
She-Hulk #38 was was ruined by the terrible puns on the last page.
PAD, please learn some restraint.
In Buffy, I thought Angel & Spike were getting equal billing in flashbacks and fantasies, but wouldn’t swear to it. Male here, so pretty much oblivious to that topic. Did think the Buffy/Satsu thing was total fanwank catering though.
Not really, it’s subtle, but there’s definite a bias towards B/A.
(True confession moment; the fanboy in me would actually quite like to see an Echo/The Sword crossover. How sad is that?)
Hmm, I haven’t read Echo yet, but I do love the Sword. It’s a title I can’t wait to read every month.
The Mighty #2
Ok, it’s an unrelated DC Universe book.
Ok, it’s a creators-owned title.
Ok, Peter Tomasi’s Batman & the Outsiders Special kinda hum… sucked.
But remember Final Crisis: Requiem.
But remember Tomasi was the editor of Ennis & McCrea’s Hitman..
But remember that good surprises just happen somtimes.
This ongoing presents a world with only one super-hero. And he is very very creepy. Not in a vilain way. He’s just so above humans that he is creepy. And he is not really the main character. He is the focus but we follow his damage control team. Well, it’s more a damage control corporation and we see how they work to present always the good side of Alpha One interventions. It seems pretty easy since he always do “good things” but they are alwyas injured when you stop a train or this sorts of things. And the conclusion of this second issue promesses more diffciculties for the corporation and his newly promoted Captain.
It’s a very good read with great art from Snejbjerb. Tr it, you can’t be disappointed.
Test post.
Test post.
Test post 2.
Test post 2.
I second that recommendation for the Mighty! Great book! And yeah, “creepy” is a good word for Alpha One! I can’t wait to see what happens! The two other new books I’m currently really loving are Tony Bedard’s R.E.B.E.L.S. and Jeff Parker’s Agents of Atlas.