My Weekly Pull - September 14th

As you can see below, the second week of September only got worse.  While I was still buying an exorbitant number of DC Comics, my Marvel crop managed to balloon with a potent combination of series ending, beginning, and a glut of Spider-Man books. 

Marvel Comics
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #669 SPI
CRIMINAL LAST OF INNOCENT #4 (OF 4)

DAREDEVIL #3
JOHN CARTER A PRINCESS OF MARS #1 (OF 5)
MYSTERY MEN #5 (OF 5)
SPIDER-ISLAND AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #2 (OF 3) SPI
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #1

DC Comics
AMERICAN VAMPIRE SURVIVAL OT FITTEST #4 (OF 5)

BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
BATWOMAN #1

DEATHSTROKE #1

DEMON KNIGHTS #1
FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF SHADE #1

GREEN LANTERN #1

GRIFTER #1

LEGION LOST #1

MISTER TERRIFIC #1

RESURRECTION MAN #1

SUICIDE SQUAD #1

SUPERBOY #1
SCALPED #52
UNWRITTEN #29

Everyone Else
BALTIMORE CURSE BELLS #2
GLADSTONE’S SCHOOL FOR WORLD CONQUERORS #5
MAN WHO GREW HIS BEARD GN

The worst part about the sheer volume of Marvel titles is that they were all great.  I'd be happily following Mystery Men and Criminal for the better part of the summer, and their finales lived up to the expectations created by those earlier issues.  I've been a huge sucker for Spider-Island titles, but that is partly because they're all so damn good, and this week's crop was no exception.  While this Spider-Girl mini hasn't grabbed me quite as strongly as the short-lived series from earlier this year, it's still a fine read.  Ultimate Spider-Man was great, although I dropped the title due to the fact that they were charging $3.99 for 20 pages, which I just can't get behind.  The only title I wasn't completely sold on was John Carter.  As much as I love Roger Langridge, I just couldn't get into the story that he was adapting.  That being said, Mark Waid's Daredevil has been, and continues to be, pure magic.

DC was a lot less rosy, to be certain.  I bought way too much and way too few of those books were worth a damn.  Of course, American Vampire, Scalped, and Unwritten, my Vertigo books of choice, were all amazing, but the same could not be said for the main DC books.  I was rather partial to Batwoman and Demon Knight, and while Frankenstein didn't grab me quite as strongly as I would have expected, I was generally pleased with that book.  The problem was everything else.  Pretty much every other title DC came out with this week completely blew, which is still rather disappointing, although it is a relief to my wallet in the long run.

Special kudos must go to Legion Lost #1, which was the worst comic I read this week.  I thought that it would be the worst comic of the relaunch, but the month was yet young and DC still had a lot of trash to release.

My purchases from the other companies were relatively satisfactory.  Baltimore is signature Mignola, so I'll be there come hell or high water.  I must confess to really enjoying Gladstone's, but I don't know if I can rationalize continuing to purchase the book when I'm buying so much else.  I hate to say it, but I might be done with that one.  As for that last title, The Man Who Grew His Beard is a fascinating collection of short comics from a single creator that I still haven't had time to read all the way through.  To be honest, I picked it up based on title alone, as I've been meaning to write a story about beards for a long while (as evidenced by one of my earlier 1C100W entries).  Still trying to find time for that one, too.

So this posting wasn't necessarily the creative entry I was hoping for when I said I'd be updating this site a bit more often, but it is nice to just put a straight summary of how my comic book reading was for a particular week.  Look for another one of these soon.  If luck holds, we'll eventually catch up to the present day and I'll have to find something else to write about.  Or so goes the theory.