This will be the first time I’ve picked up comics on a non X-Factor day in a while, hopefully there’s something there to make up for it!
Bobo picked up Ultimate Avengers, Blackest Night, X-Men Forever, Batman, and Uncanny X-Men. Bobo also picked up a ham & swiss on a roll because Bobo was hungry.
I got the latest issue of P.S. 238, and it was a pretty fun issue — plus one that didn’t revolve around Tyler! (Not that he’s a bad character, but it’s fun to see the folks with super powers figure things out.)
The kids are alright. That is, Superboy and (red) Robin. The first issue of Adventure Comics was good, though the LSH story was mainly set-up. Geoff Johns has a very good handle on Kon-El and seems to know what to do with him.
Chris Yost is likewise doing well so far with Red Robin, though this issue is a bit of a repeat in some ways of the first two. The strong part is that it’s still the same Tim Drake, just after Batman’s death has left him reeling again. My only qualm is that, with Superboy and Kid Flash alive again, more people should really think that Batman is around, too.
Also got Fables, which was a little scattered but starts what could be a fairly strong arc involving the Fabletown witches, and the FCBD reprint of the first issue of TMNT. For a comic by two relative amateurs from 25 years ago, it’s pretty good.
Got Incred. Herc, but I haven’t read it yet. I did read “Ultimate Comics Spider-Man” (but I didn’t see the word ‘comics’ on the title anywhere, it just looked like Ultiamte Spider-Man). Anyway, decent enough start, I loved seeing Peter working at a fast-food joint, and the new artist is different yet interesting. I’m still waiting for this giant twist regarding the identity of Ultimate Spider-Man, but I get the feeling Bendis was just jerking us around. Don’t really see the need for a new #1, but nice to see the book back again on a somewhat reasonable schedule (and coming very close on the heels of Ultimate Spider-Man Requiem #2). And Pete and Gwen-Not-Carnage hooking up? Twist-a-rooni!
This is going to be a somewhat sad week for me…not because of what I’m picking up, but because this is going to be my last regular trip to the shop that I’ve been patronizing for most of the last twenty or so years, which also happens to be the very first comics specialty shop that I ever encountered.
.
Long story short–due to friends moving and such, I am now the only one of my comics-reading circle who lives close enough to this shop for it to be local. With “local” in this case being about 45 miles away, it’s kind of a long and lonely haul just to go, pick up comics, and come home–especially when it used to be that friends and I would switch off carpooling, or meet up at the shop from disparate locations, and then discuss our stashes over dinner.
.
So, I’m setting up a pull list at a different shop, in a town about the same distance away that I visit regularly to see friends and such. I try to look at it from a practical sense–I go there for other things too, it cuts a couple of extra 90-mile trips out of my gas consumption every month–but I’m more than a little regretful that I won’t be frequenting the shop that my mom drove me to, lo those many years ago, so I could hunt for issues of Power Pack after it went direct-sales-only.
.
Chuck
I picked up the Simon and Kirby Sandman HC collection and opened it and…was perplexed. Not so much by the stories there (this collection includes all the “golden age” stories from the 1940s as well as the first issue of the 1970’s Sandman relaunch which marked the last pairing of Simon and Kirby), but rather by the quality of the reprints themselves.
I’ve purchased all the DC HC Kirby reprints, and this is far and away is the most murky one they’ve presented. When you pull the book open, its like you’ve stumbled across some badly aged comic books found forgotten in someone’s attic. The colors, in particular, are very faded, and the linework is similarly compromised. It’s because the stories are so old, right? The other Kirby books benefited, after all, from the fact that they were from the 1970’s, right? Wrong. Even the 1974 relaunch of Sandman looks about the same.
As I said, very perplexing.
Still, for those interested in getting their hands on yet another Jack Kirby (and Joe Simon!) treasure, this collection, until a better quality reprint comes along, is the one to get.
Picked up Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man, Volume Thirteen; the Paste-Pot Pete story is probably the best, as PPP is alternately a nuisance, a threat, and then right back to nuisance in a clever story. The other three are good, too, though; anyone not reading the MA line is totally missing out on some clever, fun, old-school superhero stories.
Also picked up Showcase Presents the Flash, Volume Three, but I’m only a few stories in. Silver Age Iris West continues to be an emasculating harridan, though, castigating Barry at every possible opportunity for his sloth and lack of ambition. What did he ever see in her?
Also caught up on my Buffy Season Eight trades. The series is still uneven, but has its moments.
I wound up getting X-Men Forever (yeah, I’m one of those guys), but I’m still torn between continuing it and dropping it. Am I finally burnt out on Claremont-isms (‘Ro), or will all these instant-u-turn plot changes keep me going?
Grabbed the new Fables trade too, haven’t had time to read yet, but looking forward to it.
What else was there…new Uncanny sets a lot of things up, but doesn’t do much. Tired of Norman Osborn. SO TIRED. Thanks for leaving him out of X-Factor Peter. So tired of him.
Picked up Blackest Night 2 as well – this will be my one DC series of the year I suspect – because I enjoyed the Sinestro War so much. So far, it’s ok ,but I’m hoping something picks up soon. I’m wary that making it “THE” event of the year ruined it.
New Guardians of the Galaxy was great, loving that series. Don’t know if it was from this week or last though, I only go every so often.
Picked up the final Captain Britain & Mi13 – really sad to see that go. It was my 2nd favorite x-title, after X-Factor. Such a shame that that gets canceled and things like well, I’ll be polite, but let’s just say other Marvel series that I find to be of rather low quality, continue. Sales sales sales, I know.
Man, I was sick of Normie right when he was brought back from the dead.
Captain Britain and MI:13 will be sorely missed. It was the only good thing to come out of Secret Invasion and just an overall fantastic series.
I was also sad to hear that the current Exiles series is coming to an end. Jeff Parker’s work there (and everywhere else) is fantastic. I don’t know if it didn’t sell because people were so turned off by the Claremont run, or if it partially due to the completely awful covers. Bullock has done good art elsewhere, but not on the covers. The fine artists that did the interiors should have been given the covers.
Lockheed and the Pet Avengers was yet again a nice highlight of the week’s reading, and I’m glad to hear that there will be more next year.
Blackest Night #2 was disappointingly slow, but the tie-in Green Lantern Corps issue was as solid as that series always is.
I’m always glad to hear someone else reading GotG, I’ve been a fan since the first issue of the 90s series. Everything done by Abnett and Lanning has been gold, and I’ve been doing my best to push it on people.
Totally agree on the Abnett & Lanning stuff, stellar all around. I don’t buy the Nova series though, just because I’m not into “solo” series in general. Sounds odd I know, but I don’t buy any series titled after a single character – one character just isn’t enough to keep me interested. I don’t know how else to explain it… can’t wait to pick WoK up in trades.
I agree on the Exiles comments too. I really think they would have done better if they didn’t look like bizarre kiddy-manga knock offs. I’m always happy to open to the interior and find something more to my tastes. The stories were pretty good too, and this deserved to last longer than it did.
I wound up getting X-Men Forever (yeah, I’m one of those guys), but I’m still torn between continuing it and dropping it.
.
I’m just not impressed in the least by X-Men Forever. It’s supposed to be what Claremont would’ve done had he continued on X-Men back in ’91 or whatever, but so far it just feels contrived.
Only read ultimate spider-man and blackest night thus far and both were pretty good. Bendis took a bad situation with Ultimatum and made, if possible, a better spider-man book. That’s what a good writer should be able to do. Blackest Night is also what a massive DC event should be and nothing like Final Crisis. It is coherent solid story telling.
I picked up the latest Fables trade, “The Dark Ages”, having gone to “trades only” with that series some months ago. Likewise with Jack of Fables, but I’ve yet to see a trade collecting issues published after I’d stopped buying that title each month.
.
Anyway, I’m about halfway through the book and liking it so far. It’ll be interesting to see what the short and long-term results of the empire’s demise will mean. I suspect that as was the case with the U.S. Civil War, reconstruction will last longer than the war itself.
.
By the way, does anyone know whether someone said (of Reconstruction) “the duration is going to be longer than the war.”? I can’t find a mention of it in any of my reference books, and the only thing that turns up online is the use of the line in Babylon 5. But I was pretty sure that B5 line was a quote concerning the U.S. Civil War.
.
In other comics news, a few weeks ago, I bought the book Spider-Man the Icon by Steve Saffel at my local comics shop; and I bought Batman the Sunday Classics 1943-1946 at Borders. I haven’t had a chance to more than skim though either.
.
Rick
I ended up spending a bundle this Wednesday. My most expensive week in a while. The comics that I have read so far that stick out the most is KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE NO. 153, and the Blackest Night titles. Really enjoyed the latest issue of the GREEN LANTERN CORPS. I also got a kick out of RED ROBIN and ADVENTURE.
I could have sworn I asked my shop guy to pull a copy of Halo: Helljumper for me when it came out. Wasn’t that supposed to be on Wednesday? I demand my alien-shooting! Wort wort wort.
Gunny, unfortunately, comics are delivered to your Local Comics Shop by UPS. UPS sometimes can’t get all the comics to the stores in a timely fashion. Even more unfortunately, Diamond, the distributor of comics to UPS, quite often can’t get all the different titles to all the stores in the same week.
.
Diamond ships out what they have in stock at any particular warehouse. They seem to have no method of holding a book an extra week so that stores across the country can get the comics in the same week. Just 2 weeks ago, a lot of Marvel comics didn’t make it to the west coast in time, so the customers in the east got to read their Marvel comics a week before the west.
.
So, it is possible that Halo was due out this week and that your LCS simply did not get any. If it is not there next week, ask about it.
Heya Gunny…
I used to curse my LCS for missing titles and pulls. Now that I am a LCS I curse Diamond practically every week. It is amazing to me that a business so poorly run can stay in business and remains unchallenged. Books missing. Books damaged. I can’t recall the last time I received an order that was not in some way botched.
I work 2 days a year at my LCS, both are Wednesdays when the owner is out of town for vacation. So, 2 days a year, I get to see up-close-and-personal the condition of the comics when they are delivered.
.
One recent week, about 30-40% of the order was damaged quite noticeably. On that same day, another comics shop in town sent the entire shipment back because the boxes were severely damaged.
.
There are almost always books missing, usually only 2-5 per week, but sometimes the whole order for one specific book. And sometimes an entire box gets delayed for a day or two. When that happens, sales for those issues go down. My LCS assumes that their customers are going across town to get the missing books.
.
If you look at the size of each delivery, 1 or 2 missing books is statistically insignificant, but still…it would be amazing to go an entire month without problems.
• 
This will be the first time I’ve picked up comics on a non X-Factor day in a while, hopefully there’s something there to make up for it!
Bobo picked up Ultimate Avengers, Blackest Night, X-Men Forever, Batman, and Uncanny X-Men. Bobo also picked up a ham & swiss on a roll because Bobo was hungry.
I got the latest issue of P.S. 238, and it was a pretty fun issue — plus one that didn’t revolve around Tyler! (Not that he’s a bad character, but it’s fun to see the folks with super powers figure things out.)
The kids are alright. That is, Superboy and (red) Robin. The first issue of Adventure Comics was good, though the LSH story was mainly set-up. Geoff Johns has a very good handle on Kon-El and seems to know what to do with him.
Chris Yost is likewise doing well so far with Red Robin, though this issue is a bit of a repeat in some ways of the first two. The strong part is that it’s still the same Tim Drake, just after Batman’s death has left him reeling again. My only qualm is that, with Superboy and Kid Flash alive again, more people should really think that Batman is around, too.
Also got Fables, which was a little scattered but starts what could be a fairly strong arc involving the Fabletown witches, and the FCBD reprint of the first issue of TMNT. For a comic by two relative amateurs from 25 years ago, it’s pretty good.
Got Incred. Herc, but I haven’t read it yet. I did read “Ultimate Comics Spider-Man” (but I didn’t see the word ‘comics’ on the title anywhere, it just looked like Ultiamte Spider-Man). Anyway, decent enough start, I loved seeing Peter working at a fast-food joint, and the new artist is different yet interesting. I’m still waiting for this giant twist regarding the identity of Ultimate Spider-Man, but I get the feeling Bendis was just jerking us around. Don’t really see the need for a new #1, but nice to see the book back again on a somewhat reasonable schedule (and coming very close on the heels of Ultimate Spider-Man Requiem #2). And Pete and Gwen-Not-Carnage hooking up? Twist-a-rooni!
This is going to be a somewhat sad week for me…not because of what I’m picking up, but because this is going to be my last regular trip to the shop that I’ve been patronizing for most of the last twenty or so years, which also happens to be the very first comics specialty shop that I ever encountered.
.
Long story short–due to friends moving and such, I am now the only one of my comics-reading circle who lives close enough to this shop for it to be local. With “local” in this case being about 45 miles away, it’s kind of a long and lonely haul just to go, pick up comics, and come home–especially when it used to be that friends and I would switch off carpooling, or meet up at the shop from disparate locations, and then discuss our stashes over dinner.
.
So, I’m setting up a pull list at a different shop, in a town about the same distance away that I visit regularly to see friends and such. I try to look at it from a practical sense–I go there for other things too, it cuts a couple of extra 90-mile trips out of my gas consumption every month–but I’m more than a little regretful that I won’t be frequenting the shop that my mom drove me to, lo those many years ago, so I could hunt for issues of Power Pack after it went direct-sales-only.
.
Chuck
I picked up the Simon and Kirby Sandman HC collection and opened it and…was perplexed. Not so much by the stories there (this collection includes all the “golden age” stories from the 1940s as well as the first issue of the 1970’s Sandman relaunch which marked the last pairing of Simon and Kirby), but rather by the quality of the reprints themselves.
I’ve purchased all the DC HC Kirby reprints, and this is far and away is the most murky one they’ve presented. When you pull the book open, its like you’ve stumbled across some badly aged comic books found forgotten in someone’s attic. The colors, in particular, are very faded, and the linework is similarly compromised. It’s because the stories are so old, right? The other Kirby books benefited, after all, from the fact that they were from the 1970’s, right? Wrong. Even the 1974 relaunch of Sandman looks about the same.
As I said, very perplexing.
Still, for those interested in getting their hands on yet another Jack Kirby (and Joe Simon!) treasure, this collection, until a better quality reprint comes along, is the one to get.
Picked up Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man, Volume Thirteen; the Paste-Pot Pete story is probably the best, as PPP is alternately a nuisance, a threat, and then right back to nuisance in a clever story. The other three are good, too, though; anyone not reading the MA line is totally missing out on some clever, fun, old-school superhero stories.
Also picked up Showcase Presents the Flash, Volume Three, but I’m only a few stories in. Silver Age Iris West continues to be an emasculating harridan, though, castigating Barry at every possible opportunity for his sloth and lack of ambition. What did he ever see in her?
Also caught up on my Buffy Season Eight trades. The series is still uneven, but has its moments.
I wound up getting X-Men Forever (yeah, I’m one of those guys), but I’m still torn between continuing it and dropping it. Am I finally burnt out on Claremont-isms (‘Ro), or will all these instant-u-turn plot changes keep me going?
Grabbed the new Fables trade too, haven’t had time to read yet, but looking forward to it.
What else was there…new Uncanny sets a lot of things up, but doesn’t do much. Tired of Norman Osborn. SO TIRED. Thanks for leaving him out of X-Factor Peter. So tired of him.
Picked up Blackest Night 2 as well – this will be my one DC series of the year I suspect – because I enjoyed the Sinestro War so much. So far, it’s ok ,but I’m hoping something picks up soon. I’m wary that making it “THE” event of the year ruined it.
New Guardians of the Galaxy was great, loving that series. Don’t know if it was from this week or last though, I only go every so often.
Picked up the final Captain Britain & Mi13 – really sad to see that go. It was my 2nd favorite x-title, after X-Factor. Such a shame that that gets canceled and things like well, I’ll be polite, but let’s just say other Marvel series that I find to be of rather low quality, continue. Sales sales sales, I know.
Man, I was sick of Normie right when he was brought back from the dead.
Captain Britain and MI:13 will be sorely missed. It was the only good thing to come out of Secret Invasion and just an overall fantastic series.
I was also sad to hear that the current Exiles series is coming to an end. Jeff Parker’s work there (and everywhere else) is fantastic. I don’t know if it didn’t sell because people were so turned off by the Claremont run, or if it partially due to the completely awful covers. Bullock has done good art elsewhere, but not on the covers. The fine artists that did the interiors should have been given the covers.
Lockheed and the Pet Avengers was yet again a nice highlight of the week’s reading, and I’m glad to hear that there will be more next year.
Blackest Night #2 was disappointingly slow, but the tie-in Green Lantern Corps issue was as solid as that series always is.
I’m always glad to hear someone else reading GotG, I’ve been a fan since the first issue of the 90s series. Everything done by Abnett and Lanning has been gold, and I’ve been doing my best to push it on people.
Totally agree on the Abnett & Lanning stuff, stellar all around. I don’t buy the Nova series though, just because I’m not into “solo” series in general. Sounds odd I know, but I don’t buy any series titled after a single character – one character just isn’t enough to keep me interested. I don’t know how else to explain it… can’t wait to pick WoK up in trades.
I agree on the Exiles comments too. I really think they would have done better if they didn’t look like bizarre kiddy-manga knock offs. I’m always happy to open to the interior and find something more to my tastes. The stories were pretty good too, and this deserved to last longer than it did.
I wound up getting X-Men Forever (yeah, I’m one of those guys), but I’m still torn between continuing it and dropping it.
.
I’m just not impressed in the least by X-Men Forever. It’s supposed to be what Claremont would’ve done had he continued on X-Men back in ’91 or whatever, but so far it just feels contrived.
Only read ultimate spider-man and blackest night thus far and both were pretty good. Bendis took a bad situation with Ultimatum and made, if possible, a better spider-man book. That’s what a good writer should be able to do. Blackest Night is also what a massive DC event should be and nothing like Final Crisis. It is coherent solid story telling.
I picked up the latest Fables trade, “The Dark Ages”, having gone to “trades only” with that series some months ago. Likewise with Jack of Fables, but I’ve yet to see a trade collecting issues published after I’d stopped buying that title each month.
.
Anyway, I’m about halfway through the book and liking it so far. It’ll be interesting to see what the short and long-term results of the empire’s demise will mean. I suspect that as was the case with the U.S. Civil War, reconstruction will last longer than the war itself.
.
By the way, does anyone know whether someone said (of Reconstruction) “the duration is going to be longer than the war.”? I can’t find a mention of it in any of my reference books, and the only thing that turns up online is the use of the line in Babylon 5. But I was pretty sure that B5 line was a quote concerning the U.S. Civil War.
.
In other comics news, a few weeks ago, I bought the book Spider-Man the Icon by Steve Saffel at my local comics shop; and I bought Batman the Sunday Classics 1943-1946 at Borders. I haven’t had a chance to more than skim though either.
.
Rick
I ended up spending a bundle this Wednesday. My most expensive week in a while. The comics that I have read so far that stick out the most is KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE NO. 153, and the Blackest Night titles. Really enjoyed the latest issue of the GREEN LANTERN CORPS. I also got a kick out of RED ROBIN and ADVENTURE.
I could have sworn I asked my shop guy to pull a copy of Halo: Helljumper for me when it came out. Wasn’t that supposed to be on Wednesday? I demand my alien-shooting! Wort wort wort.
Gunny, unfortunately, comics are delivered to your Local Comics Shop by UPS. UPS sometimes can’t get all the comics to the stores in a timely fashion. Even more unfortunately, Diamond, the distributor of comics to UPS, quite often can’t get all the different titles to all the stores in the same week.
.
Diamond ships out what they have in stock at any particular warehouse. They seem to have no method of holding a book an extra week so that stores across the country can get the comics in the same week. Just 2 weeks ago, a lot of Marvel comics didn’t make it to the west coast in time, so the customers in the east got to read their Marvel comics a week before the west.
.
So, it is possible that Halo was due out this week and that your LCS simply did not get any. If it is not there next week, ask about it.
Heya Gunny…
I used to curse my LCS for missing titles and pulls. Now that I am a LCS I curse Diamond practically every week. It is amazing to me that a business so poorly run can stay in business and remains unchallenged. Books missing. Books damaged. I can’t recall the last time I received an order that was not in some way botched.
I work 2 days a year at my LCS, both are Wednesdays when the owner is out of town for vacation. So, 2 days a year, I get to see up-close-and-personal the condition of the comics when they are delivered.
.
One recent week, about 30-40% of the order was damaged quite noticeably. On that same day, another comics shop in town sent the entire shipment back because the boxes were severely damaged.
.
There are almost always books missing, usually only 2-5 per week, but sometimes the whole order for one specific book. And sometimes an entire box gets delayed for a day or two. When that happens, sales for those issues go down. My LCS assumes that their customers are going across town to get the missing books.
.
If you look at the size of each delivery, 1 or 2 missing books is statistically insignificant, but still…it would be amazing to go an entire month without problems.