My Weekly Pull - October 5th

The second month of DC's New 52 brought with it some relief to my nearly depleted wallet, but somehow I still managed to spend an exorbitant amount of money.  It's as if I really like comics and continually manage to find new ones to spend all my hard earned cash on.  Kind of a problem, really.

Marvel
MYSTIC #3

DC Comics

ACTION COMICS #2
ALL STAR SUPERMAN TP
ANIMAL MAN #2
BATWING #2
OMAC #2
SWEET TOOTH #26

Everyone Else

HARK A VAGRANT HC
CHEW #21
REED GUNTHER #5
ROGER LANGRIDGE’S THE SHOW MUST GO ON TP

ROGER LANGRIDGE’S SNARKED #1
SEVERED #3

SKULLKICKERS #11

A pretty big drop for Marvel, relatively speaking, but that's okay, because I'm absolutely in love with Mystic. I've been singing the praises of this book to anyone who will listen to me, and while I think you all recognize that it doesn't always take that much for a comic to win me over, Mystic is on a whole other level. As I said over at The Weekly Crisis, I feel like this book is akin to a classic Disney movie: it's a children's story, but it is really smart and can be appreciated just as much by an adult reader. Once the last issue drops, I will definitely be foisting this upon people I know. So watch out for that people I know.

Despite not having to buy all of DC's books for review purpose, I managed to get four of their new series. While I was happy to do so for Animal Man, O.M.A.C., and Batwing, Action Comics was a big let down for the main reason that I paid $3.99 for 22 pages of story. I hate doing that, and the only book where I'm really comfortable doing so is Amazing Spider-Man. It was especially maddening because I didn't realize the back part of the book was filler until I turned the last story page. Argh.

You'll also notice that I picked up the All-Star Superman trade, which was long overdue, as I didn't actually own this fantastic series until this week. I'll have to read through it again in the near future, but for now it can sit on my bookshelf, waiting for me to find the time.

Sweet Tooth kicked off a new story arc that was completely different from the rest of the series up until this point. Jeff Lemire jumped almost a hundred years back in time, changed his writing style, and brought in a guest artist to really insist on how dramatic of a shift it was. It's still too early for me to really say if the move was a success or no, but I appreciate the lengths he went to metatextually to support his story.

Apart from All-Star Superman, it was really the other companies that did me in this time around. I couldn't resist Kate Beaton's Hark a Vagrant (though I didn't actually get my copy until October 5th), and I had ordered Roger Langridge's "The Show Must Go On" months before. The same is actually true of Snarked!, which was a super cute comic by Langridge that was very much in a vein similar to his work on The Muppets, which I also enjoyed.

The rest of those books are mostly old standbys of mine, so it's not too surprising that I couldn't say no to them. Chew was, as always, wonderful. Reed Gunther #5 was a pretty solid conclusion to the opening arc, but it might also be where I get off. Will have to see what the solicitation for Reed Gunther #6 is like, I guess. Severed isn't actually that old of a standby, but I'm too busy buying everything Scott Snyder does (with the exception of Swamp Thing, which didn't really grab me) to not pick it up. And finally, Skullkickers was hilariously great, which is exactly what I was expecting. Awesome.

With that, we're one step closer to catching up to my present-day comic buying habits. They're still in a bit of flux, but I think I'm making strides to reigning it in. At least sometimes.

My Weekly Pull - September 28th

The fun adventure never ends!  This time, we get to look at the books I picked up to close out September, and I gotta say, I was feeling particularly exhausted at this point.  DC's New 52 had been going for too long and I'd been reading too many poor to middling books, so I was feeling rather burned out.  The only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that it would soon be over and that I could complain about how terrible these books were to a wide audience.

But enough about me, let's look at the books, shall we?

Marvel
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY #622
FF #9
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #670
VENOM #7 SPI

DC Comics

ALL STAR WESTERN #1

AMERICAN VAMPIRE #19

AQUAMAN #1

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #1

BLACKHAWKS #1
FURY OF FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MEN #1
FLASH #1

GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #1

I, VAMPIRE #1

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #1

SAVAGE HAWKMAN #1

SUPERMAN #1

TEEN TITANS #1

VOODOO #1

Everyone Else
DUKE NUKEM GLORIOUS BASTARD #3

SEVERED #2

Sigh.  It's just too many DC books, and not nearly enough good ones...

Anyways, at least Marvel was kind to me this week, offering four different titles that I totally dig.  Spider-Island madness continued with Amazing and Venom, both of which were wonderful.  I've loved every moment of Brubaker and Samnee's Captian America & Bucky work.  And while I've been back and forth about FF, the ninth issue was quite the treat, so that was a plus.

Severed was a treat.  I'm really enjoying Snyder's slow build on this one.  Duke Nukem is maybe one of the most ridiculous books I've had the pleasure of reading.  It's perfectly in line with the tone of the book: hyperviolent, full of cuss words, and offensive as hell.  Love it.

American Vampire, as always, was stellar, and I enjoyed Flash, although it wasn't quite as exciting as I had hoped it would be.  Aquaman, All Star Western, and Justice League Dark had their moments, but none of them were good enough to get me back for a second issue.  Everything else was a pretty big letdown.

Superman was way too wordy and boring to boot.  Teen Titans had some early promise, but lacked any real sense of direction.  Batman: The Dark Knight had bad art art, worse writing, and was like every other Batman story that's ever been told, except that this one was really cruddy.  Blawkhawks was interesting, but didn't do enough to separate itself from the dozens of other books that came out that month.  Green Lantern: New Guardians was almost interesting, except for the fact that there are three other Green Lantern books coming out at the same time.  I, Vampire was just confusing.  Savage Hawkman actually started really strong, but then ended with the main character "dying", which I can't abide.  Fury of Firestorm was actually a huge disappointment, with none of the signature Gail Simone writing that I was looking forward to.  And finally, Voodoo was terribly offensive, acting as a pathetic excuse to draw women in compromising positions.

Sigh.

Fortunately, next post will be October, where I was finally able to purchase only books that were worth a damn.  Unfortunately, the restraint I was looking for didn't quite come with that returned freedom.

My Weekly Pull - September 21st

We continue our whirlwind tour through my comic book buying habits by looking at week 3 of September.  The DC Reboot was really in full swing at this point, and I was starting to get real tired of reading all these books.  Seriously, way too many of them sucked or were straight up mediocre, which when you're reading 52 books, might as well be the same as sucking.

Marvel Comics
SPIDER-ISLAND CLOAK AND DAGGER #2
DAREDEVIL #4
SPIDER-ISLAND SPIDER-WOMAN #1

DC Comics
BATMAN #1
BIRDS OF PREY #1
BLUE BEETLE #1
CAPTAIN ATOM #1
CATWOMAN #1
DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #1
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1
LEGION OF SUPER HEROES
NEW YORK FIVE TP
NIGHTWING #1
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1
SUPERGIRL #1
WONDER WOMAN #1

Everyone Else

THE ASTONISHING SECRET OF AWESOME MAN GN
GAME OF THRONES #1

From Marvel, I totally dug Daredevil, which isn't any surprised, as Marcos Martin is just as amazing as Paolo Rivera on art, so the trade was pretty wonderful.  Mark Waid's writing continues to blow me away as well.  Nick Spencer and Emma Rios continued to do some fantastic things on Cloak and Dagger, although the second issue wasn't quite as tight as their first.  Spider-Woman wasn't quite as exciting, acting as yet another instance to make me question whether I think Fred Van Lente is as great of a writer as I thought he was.  Seriously, the guy absolutely killed it with his Taskmaster mini last year, but everything I've seen since this has been rather regular.  Not bad, but not nearly as great as Taskmaster was.  Could it have been a one time thing?  Only time - and potentially me getting burned once or twice more - will tell.

The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man was actually an illustrated children's book written by Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which is what got me on board.  The story was really cute, though obviously far more appropriate for a child reader than for myself.  It definitely made me want to share it with potential future children of mine.  That or find a present child and give it to them.  We'll see how that one plays out, I guess.

Game of Thrones was completely terrible.

Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as terrible as most of DC's books for this week.  I'll spare you most of my displeasure and focus on the books I actually liked for the moment.  Scott Snyder's Batman was amazing, which is completely unsurprising considering his amazing run on Detective Comics.  It's a bit lighter than Detective, which is nice change of pace.  And Brian Azzarrello and Cliff Chiang did what I thought they would and created a great Wonder Woman comic.  I can't wait to read the second issue.

I liked Blue Beetle, but looking back on it, I liked it less in retrospect than I initially thought I did.  We'll see how issue 2 plays out.  Supergirl wasn't bad, but it wasn't good enough to warrant buying a second issue.  Unfortunately, the same can pretty much be said for almost every other issue that DC dropped this week.  Well, DC Universe Presents just sucked.

Red Hood and the Outlaws fails for rebooting Starfire not even as a person, but a female object who only wants to have sex.  Catwoman fails for a similar reason, in that is just had a ton of cheesecake shots of Selina throughout, climaxing (pun intended) with her fornicating with Batman on the final page.  It was pretty terrible.

That being said, the absolute worst book of the week, and the entire month for DC, was Legion of Super Heroes.  The entire "New 52" was supposed to be a big reboot to bring in new readers, which is all well and good, except for the fact that Legion was completely unreadable.  It feels like it picked up in the middle of a storyline, and the entire thing was completely undecipherable.  I came out of the issue wondering what the hell had just happened, but not at all caring.  Sigh.

Anyways, the problem isn't that I didn't read any good comics (I read a bunch), the problem is that I read a bunch of terrible ones - and paid way too much to do it.  We'll see that this didn't change much for the last week of September, but there could be an upswing in the near future.

Riveting stuff, I know.

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.

My Weekly Pull - September 7th

Below you can find the terrible beginnings of what I like to call "my month of buying way too many comics."  It's not a terribly catch title, but as you can see, it's hauntingly accurate.

Marvel Comics
MYSTIC #2 (OF 4)
PUNISHER #3
SPIDER-ISLAND AVENGERS #1 SPI
SPIDER-ISLAND I LOVE NEW YORK CITY #1 SPI

DC Comics
ACTION COMICS #1
ANIMAL MAN #1
BATGIRL #1
BATWING #1
DETECTIVE COMICS #1
GREEN ARROW #1
HAWK AND DOVE #1
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #1
MEN OF WAR #1
OMAC #1
STATIC SHOCK #1
STORMWATCH #1
SWAMP THING #1
SWEET TOOTH #25

Everyone Else
ATOMIC ROBO GHOST OF STATION X #1 (OF 6
GODZILLA GANGSTERS & GOLIATHS #4 (OF 5)
MORNING GLORIES #12
REED GUNTHER #4

The Marvel purchases are within the realms of sanity, and I really dug all of those books.  Like, really, really dug them.  I was going to say which one was my favourite, but they all rank pretty well.  Mystic has been a phenomenal series that I wish more people were reading, I've been enjoying Punisher like it's nobody's business, and Spider Island is one of the best events I've read.  Ever.

The titles from the other companies are also pretty reasonable.  Godzilla has been an alright romp, although I'm losing a bit of interest as it limps towards its finale.  Morning Glories is fascinating, but if I'm going to continue buying it, I'll have to move to getting it in trade, because individual issues do virtually nothing to explain what's going on (frankly, I just read issue #13, and the answers still aren't really coming).  Reed Gunther is one of the best children's comics coming out right now.  And Atomic Robo is the best comic coming out right now.

The problem comes when you move to my DC list.  For The Weekly Crisis, I figured I could read through every single one of the New 52 that came out in September, and this is one of the worst decisions I've taken in a while.  Long story short, I read and reviewed all 52 of those titles, and there was only one that surprised me in a positive manner.  There were a ton of books that disappointed me, but only O.M.A.C. turned out to be better than expected.  And while I really like O.M.A.C., it was not worth looking at all those other awful books.  Never again.

There's also the problem that buying those books wasn't too kind to my wallet.  He's still a little upset by the whole thing.

Excuse the Mess

Hello?  Is anyone still out there?

It's hard to say at this point, and of course, the fault lies squarely on my shoulders.  I've been a busy bee writing on a regular basis for thought balloons and The Weekly Crisis (the 52 Pick Up stuff for Septebmer was especially time consuming), but the biggest reason for my complete forsaking of this blog is the fact that I'm once again employed full-time.  And getting into the groove of the new job has made balancing things a little challenging.  Unfortunately, the aforementioned writing responsibilities had to take precedence (especially 52 Pick Up once again), since I was invited to join both of those sites, while the Thought Wrangler was mostly for me.

Anyways, long story short is that I'll hopefully be able to manage putting things up here with a bit more regularity in the coming weeks.  It probably won't be the same frequency as what I was doing this summer, but it will definitely be more often than the never that I've been doing of late.

Since I know that there aren't all that many people who frequent this site (if any, at this point), one of my first orders of business will be to put up all of the Weekly Pull postings that I've skipped these past few weeks.  I might add a bit of commentary, but in general it will be "ouch."  I've been buying way too many comics of late, so hopefully adding this back into my routine will help me restrain myself a bit.  But who knows?

Either way, I hope you'll excuse the mess as I try to get this site back in order.

My Weekly Pull - August 31st

So finally coming to the end of the busiest week ever.  Bought all my new business clothing, moved into my new place, and started some exciting articles for September at the Weekly Crisis, and starting my new job tomorrow morning.  In all the hubbub, I totally forgot to do my continually less relevant Weekly Pull article.


Rectifying that oversight now.


Marvel

SECRET AVENGERS #16

JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #626 POINT ONE

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #668 SPI

DC Comics

FLASHPOINT #5 (OF 5)

JUSTICE LEAGUE #1

Other Companies

BODYSNATCHERS #3

BUTCHER BAKER RIGHTEOUS MAKER #6

SKULLKICKERS #10

A relatively light week, but that's mostly because DC only published two comics (both of which I bought, you'll note).  I've given my thoughts on both of the titles over at TWC here and here (you can also see short reviews for Secret Avengers and Journey Into Mystery at the latter link).  Suffice it to say, they were pretty good.  Flashpoint was actually infinitely better than I would have expected, and I would go so far as to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Spider-Man was amazing as always (ha!).  Seriously, Dan Slott is killing that title.  I don't like paying 3.99 for a 22 page comic book, but he makes it worth my time and money, so I can barely complain.

I keep buying Butcher Baker, and I keep enjoying the experience, but I'm never quite sure what it is I like about it.  I should really sit down and figure that out at some point.  Maybe write a review of an arc or something.  It'll happen one day, maybe.

Also, I feel the need to reemphasize how amazing Skullkickers is.  I discovered this book by accident when Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics linked to it a few weeks before it released.  Picked it up on a whim and have loved every moment of it.  It's a fantasy book with a healthy mix of Dungeons & Dragons mentality thrown in for good measure.  The plots are always exciting, and the book is always hilarious.  Cannot recommend it enough.

Unfortunately, I have decided that I'm going to buy all 52 of DC's new comics coming out this month, so the small list you see here will be a thing of the past (at least for the new four weeks).  Expect my next column to have twenty-plus comics.

Thank god for that new job...

My Weekly Pull - August 24th

As we quickly move towards the last week of August, I'd like to take a moment to take a look back at what I picked up last week.  So let's do that.


Marvel
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY #621
FF #8
MYSTERY MEN #4 (OF 5)
PUNISHER #2 

DC Comics

AMERICAN VAMPIRE #18

BATMAN GATES OF GOTHAM #5 (OF 5)

BATMAN INCORPORATED #8

FLASHPOINT PROJECT SUPERMAN #3 (OF 3)

Other Companies

DUKE NUKEM GLORIOUS BASTARD #2 (OF 4)

INTREPIDS #6

SKELETON STORY #5 (OF 5)

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #1

As always, you can find my previews for these books here, and my thoughts on a few of them here.

Following those links, you'll notice a few things.  Firstly, Skeleton Story #5 is not in my Preview column.  That is not at all a comment on the book (which I absolutely adore), but more a consequence of renown.  Skeleton Story's publisher, GG Studios, is kind of super small, and I couldn't find any solicitations for their forthcoming books.  Consequently, I couldn't find a cover or any information about the book online.  It's really a shame, because it means that fewer people will know about what is possibly one of my favourite books coming out right now.

As far as I can tell, this is actually a reprint / translation of a story that was originally published in Europe (in Italian, as far as I can tell), but that doesn't take anything away from it.  The translation works pretty well, but more importantly, the art is mind-blowingly good.  It's absolutely beautiful and unlike anything else coming out in North America.  So there might be some mild hyperbole there, but take a look at one of the pages I found on GG Studios' deviantArt account (click to embiggen).

That's just a random page from the first issue (with the original Italian in tow), but it still looks amazing.  The images are cartoonish, but done with all the care of a painting.  The character designs are awesome, and the panel layout is surprising.  I love the hell out of this book and wish that more people knew about it.

The week as a whole was incredibly good.  The weakest book I got was probably Batman Inc. #8 (as explained at the Weekly Crisis), and even it wasn't all bad.  Just super weird.  Gates of Gotham #5 surprised me by regaining my waning interest in the book.  A solid ending.  Project Superman had the same.

I could continue by giving you a laundry list that would repeat all the titles I listed above with a few words explaining what it was I liked about them, but I'll spare you that this time around.  Suffice it to say, the books you see above are some good ones.  If you aren't reading them, you should try to get your hands on them one way or another.

This month we have the highly anticipated arrival of the DCnU, which could really go either way at this point.  It's hard to say whether it will be good, bad, or simply mediocre.  I imagine it will be some combination of all three, but the question will be how much of each possibility it will be in the end.  We shall see.

Going Back on my Word

So that claim about no more delays?  Perhaps given a little hastily.  It looks like I will not have time to put anything up today in the way of stories, and I apologize for that.  If you're dying for some wonderful words penned by yours truly, you could always give a look at the latest article up at The Weekly Crisis, where the team (including myself) give their thoughts on some of the comics coming out come November.

If that's not quite your style, I'd invite you to swing by thought balloons to take a look at all the Riddler scripts we have up this week.  I must say, I've been blown away at the quality of some of these pieces.  Not because I doubt my fellow thought ballooners (perish the thought), but because I was unsure about the character.  But everyone has brought their A-game and then some, making for some great reading  My script will be going up later tonight (4 am), so if you're wanting to give it a gander, you'll have to wait for tomorrow.

But fear not, I'll be back soon, and I'll bring some fresh words organized specifically with The Thought Wrangler in mind.  Believe you me.

My Weekly Pull - August 17th

Just back from a nice little vacation, so this one is a little later than usual, but as I've mentioned before, these posts are as much for my benefit as anyone who is willing to read through them.

Anyways, compared to some of my previous weeks, I barely bought any comics at all this time around.  Try as I might, there simply weren't that many series that I followed / was interested in trying out.  Consequently, I have a pretty sparse list for this past week.

Marvel Comics

DAREDEVIL #2

SPIDER-ISLAND AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #1

VENOM #6

DC Comics

BATMAN #713

POWER GIRL #27

Image Comics

GLADSTONES SCHOOL FOR WORLD CONQUERORS #4

As mentioned in my reviews, Batman was a complete bust, Power Girl was a fun read, and Daredevil continues swimmingly.

As for the other books, both Spider-Island tie-ins were great.  Spider-Girl picked up right about where Paul Tobin left off with his recently-cancelled ongoing series, and Venom had a quality story and an interesting revelation that could have some big impacts on the main title.

Finally, Gladstone's was really good.  My interest had been waning a little bit, but this last issue was really enjoyable.  Really, it was just a study session between all the kids, but it was pulled of perfectly.  There was even a wonderful page offering what I assume is the writer's feelings on the importance of comic books that was quite eloquently stated.  Of course, it also had a great joke to follow it up, giving a good amount of tongue in cheek.

A light week on my part, it looks as if things will be ramping up again come this Wednesday.  Feel free to check out The Weekly Crisis for my thoughts on those books tomorrow, and if we're lucky, stay tuned to this page for the next installment of our heroes' quest, which should continue without interruption until its conclusion (whenever that may be).

My Weekly Pull - August 10th

Wow.  I literally bought all the comics this week.  It's ridiculous how many issues I came away with.  In fact, there were a few issues that I'd missed out on in earlier weeks, so this is actually just a partial list.  As always, you can check out my thoughts of anticipation of each issue here, while my reviews for a handful (5) of the books can be found here.

Now let's look at that list, shall we?

Marvel
ALPHA FLIGHT #3 (OF 8) FEAR

CRIMINAL LAST OF THE INNOCENT #3 (OF 4)

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #667 SPI

SPIDER-ISLAND CLOAK AND DAGGER #1 (OF 3) SPI

SPIDER-ISLAND DEADLY FOES #1 SPI

DC Comics

AMERICAN VAMPIRE SURVIVAL OT FITTEST #3 (OF 5)

BATGIRL #24

DETECTIVE COMICS #881

FLASHPOINT DEADMAN AND THE FLYING GRAYSONS #3 (OF 3)

FLASHPOINT FRANKENSTEIN CREATURES OF UNKNOWN #3 (OF 3)

THUNDER AGENTS #10

UNWRITTEN #28

Other Companies

BALTIMORE CURSE BELLS #1

GODZILLA GANGSTERS & GOLIATHS #3 (OF 5)

HELLBOY THE FURY #3 (OF 3)
MORNING GLORIES #11

REED GUNTHER #3

This is perhaps the most comics I have ever bought in a single week.  All told, I picked up 17 comics this week.  In that total, I have three numbers 1s and six concluding issues.  Everything else is something in between the two, I suppose.

I already raved about Cloak & Dagger over at the Weekly Crisis, but that book is just too good to not continue talking up.  You should be buying it.  Nick Spencer and Emma Rios are both great creators, and they are at their best in this book.  I've loved Nick Spencer's T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents and Morning Glories (both of which I also picked up this week - they were both excellent), but this might be the best thing I've read by him.  And Rios's art is simply out of this world good.  I want all comics to be so well drawn and so creatively composed.  Just looking at it makes me feel inspired.

American Vampire is as good as always, which is unsurprising considering how talented Scott Snyder and Sean Murphy are.

On the Flashpoint note, Frankenstein continued to be as good as always, while The Flying Graysons disappointed just as I imagined it would.  It's too bad that series couldn't keep up the momentum it had going with issue #1.  I guess J.T. Krul just couldn't manage it.


I really enjoyed issue #0 and #1 of Alpha Flight, but I'm starting to have my doubts about this series.  One of the things I enjoyed the most about it was the high degree of verisimilitude it has had.  And for a book about Canadian superheros whose secret base in underneath Parliament Hill, that's saying something.  Everything that was happening seemed like it was based in reality and it was clear a lot of research had been going into the book.  However, this issue was a definite step down in that department, as it spent a lot of time on the streets of Ottawa, and sometimes I questioned whether the artist had ever seen the city or even looked at Google Street View for longer than six seconds.  The skylines left a bit to be desired, especially in the area around Parliament.


The worst offense, however, was a scene that took place inside Centre Block.  It was the Prime Minister scrumming in the House of Commons Foyer, but it was one of the worst depictions of the Foyer I could imagine.  It had the general idea that there were arches of some type and that the walls had a general pattern of laid stone; however, the colouring was completely off, making the interior resemble a medieval castle.  I was waiting to see a sconce hanging on the wall.  Additionally, there was a portrait hanging on the wall, but it was clearly not a former Prime Minister (and definitely not Mackenzie King or sir Robert Bordon).  Yes, I'm being a bit nitpicky, but when you're getting everything else right, such a flagrant error stands out even more.  It took me right out of the story and only led me to examine other representations of Ottawa even closer.

It was also unfortunate that Alpha Flight's big plan to counter the corrupt Canadian government was to seek out the help of Wolverine.  I was kind of buying this book because I wanted Canadian superheroes other than that guy, and it doesn't really help their credibility that at the first sign of danger they go running to Wolverine for help.  Doesn't make them seem all that heroic, you know?  Again, disappointing.

On the plus side, virtually every other book I picked up was absolute gold, so there is that.  When you buy 17 comics and only two of them are let downs, I gotta say that you're doing pretty alright for yourself.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), there's only five or six books that I'm interested in for next week, so it looks like I'll be able to save some of my money instead of spending it all on comics.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

My Weekly Pull - August 3rd

As I mentioned last time, I am now throwing up my pull list over at the Weekly Crisis, and if you'd like to look over some of my anticipatory thoughts on the books I bought this week, you can check them out here.  Additionally, you can look over my reviews for a number of these books right here.

As you can see, I had quite a number of books to pick up for the opening week of August.

Marvel

MYSTIC #1 (OF 4)

OZ MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ TP

PUNISHER #1

DC Comics

BATMAN GATES OF GOTHAM #4 (OF 5)

FLASHPOINT #4 (OF 5)

FLASHPOINT BATMAN KNIGHT OF VENGEANCE #3 (OF 3)

SCALPED #51

SWEET TOOTH #24

Other Companies

GREEN WAKE #5

HERO COMICS 2011

ROGER LANGRIDGE’S SNARKED #0

SEVERED #1

If you were to compare this list to my preview article, you would notice that both The Marvelous Land of Oz trade paperback and Hero Comics 2011 are absent from the latter.  That's because I decided to pick these two books up on a bit of a whim.  I still haven't gone through The Marvelous Land of Oz, but I am really excited to get the chance.  I absolutely adore Skottie Young's art.  Relatively recent to the comic book scene, he has a gorgeous style that is unlike anything else going on right now.  Can't wait to read some comics drawn by his hand.

Hero Comics 2011 was an odd kettle of fish, because it was an anthology book to benefit the Hero Initiative, which exists to help out comic book creators when they are in financial crisis.  A fine organization, they managed to get some fine creators for the book.  I decided to grab it when I heard that the original Sandman creative team of Neil Gaiman, Mike Dringenberg, and Sam Kieth were collaborating on one of the stories within.  I haven't actually read Sandman (something I hope to soon rectify), but I do know that if those folk are working on something, you should be reading it.  Their short piece, "My Last Landlady" was pretty darn fine and worth the cover price alone.  As an added bonus, I discovered that John Layman and Rob Guillory made an original Chew story for the book as well, which was great.  Anthologies are always fun, in my opinion, because you get to read work by a number of different creators, and you sometimes discover authors that you had never heard of before.  Not so much the case this time, but a fine read nonetheless.

It was a pretty big week, but if the solicitations for the rest of the month are any indication, my book purchasing looks like it will only continue to rise in the next few weeks.  We'll see how able I am to resist the siren call of event tie-in books.  If my track record is any indication, I'm going to be shelling out a lot of dollars.

My Weekly Pull - July 27th

So this post is purely for my own interests, to give me on online record of what I picked up last week.  Hope that's cool with you guys.  Not that you have much choice in the matter.


Marvel
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY #620

CRIMINAL LAST OF THE INNOCENT #2

FF #7

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #666

VENOM #5

DC Comics

AMERICAN VAMPIRE #17

DETECTIVE COMICS #880

FLASHPOINT PROJECT SUPERMAN #2

Other Companies

BUTCHER BAKER RIGHTEOUS MAKER #5

INTREPIDS #5

THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN - CENTURY #2 1969
SKULLKICKERS #9

You can see my thoughts on a few of these comics over at The Weekly Crisis (if you happen to be one of what I imagine to be the incredibly few people who read this blog but not my work over there).

For the comics not covered in that link, let me say that Detective Comics #880 and Criminal: Last of the Innocent #2 were both phenomenal.  Everyone working on those books are at their absolute best.  If you missed out on either title, you are missing out on quality comic books.

My Image books (Butcher Baker, Intrepids, and Skullkickers) continue to treat me well.  I'm a little on the fence for Butcher Baker and the Intrepids, but I'll stick with them for at least a little longer.  I have no such qualms for Skullkickers.  I love that book without reservations.  Every issue is good comics.  Not necessarily classic comics, but it's damn fun, which is just as good in my opinion.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is getting more and more introverted as it goes along.  What started out as a neat idea of "what if fictional characters from the Victorian era were real?" has slowly evolved into "what if all fictional characters ever were real?  And what if they replaced some historical figures entirely?".  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the books are becoming so withdrawn into themselves that they are becoming a chore to read.

I've read a few comments calling Century "Family Guy for smart people", and I can't really contest the claim.  It used to be that these allusions served the plot, but that seems far less important than it used to be.  At this point, these references distract from the story just as often they add to it.  I'm still enjoying my time with the series, but it's not nearly as fun as it was all the way back in Volume 1.

My Weekly Pull - July 20th

A bit of an odd week for me.  After what seems like forever of buying way too many books, I'm actually getting relatively few this time around.  Of course, despite the small number of comics, because one of them is a graphic novel, this will still wind up costing me somewhere in the 50 or 60 dollar range.  But that's what I get for pursuing an interest that releases on a weekly basis.

Without further ado, here are the titles I'll be working my way through this week.

Marvel
DAREDEVIL #1
SPIDER-ISLAND SPOTLIGHT

DC Comics
BATMAN GATES OF GOTHAM #3 (OF 5)
FLASHPOINT DEADMAN AND THE FLYING GRAYSONS #2 (OF 3)
POWER GIRL #26
THUNDER AGENTS #9

Other Compaines
DUKE NUKEM GLORIOUS BASTARD #1 (OF 4)
ONE SOUL HC
MISADVENTURES OF ADAM WEST #1

As you can see, I'm picking up 8 floppies and 1 hardcover.  I don't know much about One Soul aside from the fact that it is apparently 18 different narratives that take place in parallel throughout the 170 plus pages of the graphic novel.  I couldn't really imagine what that would look like, so I had to pick up the book to figure it out.  I'll be sure to tell you how it goes.

On the single issue front, only the DC books are ones that I pick up regularly.  And as much as I love my Batman, Flashpoint, Power Girl, and THUNDER Agents action, 4 books just isn't enough for a weekly pull in my mind.  Consequently, I decided to take a chance on 4 other books that I knew little to nothing about.

T-that plan made more sense in my head.

Either way, that happened, and I am cautiously excited for Daredevil #1.  I've never really been a Daredevil man, myself, but Ryan Lindsay has been hyping up the character for ages, so I figured the least I could do is give the new series a chance.  The only downside is, if I really like it, that means I'll have a new book I have to pick up every month, only adding to the ever-growing number of comic books that I own.

I don't know much about the Spider-Island Spotlight, but I figured that if I've been following the rest of the Spidey titles thus far, I might as well go all the way and pick that one up too.  We'll see how that one works out.

As for Duke Nukem and Misadventures of Adam West, I do not have terribly high hopes for either of these books.  I definitely added these to the list on a whim, thinking that they might make for some good popcorn reading.  However, I think it is just as likely that they will be completely unreadable.  I'll try to go into them with an open mind, but who knows what will lie within?

So those are the books that I'm picking up this week.  What about you?  Any titles that you've been eagerly anticipating?  Or, like myself, have you gone out on a limb on any issues, hoping to find a gem in the rough?  Let me know!

My Weekly Pull - July 13th

Well, it's going up a little later than it usually does, but below you will find the list of comics I bought this week.  I actually picked them up this morning, but have yet to make my way through a single one.  I will probably be doing that shortly after posting this little update for whoever cares to peruse it.

Marvel
ALPHA FLIGHT #2 (OF 8) FEAR
FF #6
MYSTERY MEN #3 (OF 5)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #665

DC Comics

AMERICAN VAMPIRE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST #2 (OF 5)

BATGIRL #23

DETECTIVE COMICS #879

FLASHPOINT FRANKENSTEIN & THE CREATURES OF THE UNKNOWN #2 (OF 3)

UNWRITTEN #27

Other Companies

GLADSTONES SCHOOL FOR WORLD CONQUERORS #3

GODZILLA GANGSTERS & GOLIATHS #2 (OF 5)

HELLBOY THE FURY #2 (OF 3)

No new series this week, which means I have another batch of comics that I believe will all be varying degrees of amazing.  Not going to lie, pretty excited about that.  Of all those books you see up there, I might be the most pumped to work my way through Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths #2.  I've never really been a huge Godzilla fan, but John Layman's first issue was picture perfect, and left me wanting more.  Now more has come and I can't wait.

That being said, I expect great things from virtually every issue in this list, so I probably shouldn't delay too much longer.  I'm off to sink my teeth into these books.  Until next time.

My Weekly Pull - July 6th

It's starting to look more and more like, when it comes to my comic book buying habits, June was the exception and not the rule.  I thought I was finally managing some restraint when it comes to opening my wallet on a weekly basis to satisfy my sequential storytelling fix, but these last two weeks seem to be proving the folly of that thought process.  Not only am I buying a relatively high number of books (12), a number of them are larger one-shots costing 5 or 6 dollars, if not complete trade collections running a little higher than that.  You can see the list for yourself below.

Marvel
CAP AND THOR AVENGERS #1
HEROES FOR HIRE #9 FEAR
SPIDER-GIRL #8

DC Comics
FLASHPOINT #3
FLASHPOINT BATMAN KNIGHT OF VENGEANCE #2 (OF 3)
GOTHAM CENTRAL TP V2 JOKERS AND MADMEN
SECRET SIX #35

SWEET TOOTH #23

Other Companies
BLUE ESTATE #4
CHEW #19
GREEN WAKE #4 (OF 5)
REED GUNTHER #2

TRAILBLAZER

Once again, it's hard to say what I'm most excited for. I'm awfully tempted to go with Secret Six #35, since it remains the best series DC is publishing at present, even if there are only two more issues (including this one). Of course, the release of the second Gotham Central trade is also means for celebration. This is one of the best series DC has ever published, in my opinion, and I'm glad to see that it's getting a re-release so that I can finally own every single issue. That being said, more Sweet Tooth and more Chew is always a good thing, so those should be some good reads, as well.

There's a couple of books on this list that I'm trying out based on very little information, which is always an exciting thing. With no expectations, a book can really blow you away or really let you down. We'll see how that plays out for Cap and Thor: Avengers #1, Reed Gunther #2, and Trailblazer. I'm picking up Cap and Thor based solely on the fact that Fred Van Lente wrote it. His Taskmaster series from this year was pure brilliance, and I've been trying out most any title he's involved with to see that magic recaptured. It hasn't quite worked out thus far, but you never know. All I know about Reed Gunther is that it's an all-ages books, I missed the first issue, and the protagonist is a cowboy who rides a bear. If that last part doesn't get you the least bit excited, I don't know what will. Trailblazer came to my attention purely by accident, but it's a modern western science fiction penned by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, the two gents who have been writing Jonnah Hex for pretty much ever. Although I haven't read much of their work in that particular book, I loved what they did with Power Girl, and I'm willing to experiment a little - especially when the entire story will be told in this one-shot.

Those are my books for the week. Anything you're really looking forward to this week? Alternatively, depending on when you're reading this, anything you've already eagerly read through?

My Weekly Pull - June 29th

Oh man.  After a month of relative restraint, it seems as if I am back to buying all of the comics.  It kind of crept up on me, but there have been a number of factors that didn't help matters.

For one thing, it seems as if Marvel is saving every single Spider-Man title I follow for a single week, so I find myself picking up FF #5, Amazing Spider-Man #664, and Venom #4.  Not that I'm complaining, because all of those books have been absolutely top-notch of late.  I'm also super excited for Incredible Hulks Annual #1, which will be finishing John Layman's (of Chew fame) epic three annual spanning tale featuring Spider-Man, Deadpool, and the Hulk.  The first two parts of this story actually came out, like, over a month ago, so I almost missed this one on the solicitations for the week.  I'm glad I ended up finding it.

Over on the DC front, it seems as if they've done the same thing as Marvel, except it's Batman books instead of our friendly neighbourhood webhead.  The only difference is that I'm actually more excited for Batman Incorporated #7 and Detective Comics #878.  Grant Morrison's run on Batman has been nothing short of legendary, and Scott Snyder's more recent take on the Caped Crusader in Detective is almost as good.  Of course, I can't just buy one of Snyder's books, so I'm continuing to pick up my monthly dose of American Vampire with number 16.  You'll also note that I'm picking up every single Flashpoint book that's coming out this week.  After buying almost every other tie-in, I figured I might as well give the rest of the series a shot (especially since two of these are one-shots).

There is also a healthy dose of smaller company books on my list, as I'm picking up one Dark Horse and two Image books.  I've been enjoying Butcher Baker Righteous Maker thus far.  It's a superhero book with an attitude unlike most everything else on the stands.  I've really enjoyed every single issue of Skullkickers that's come out and have high hopes for number 8.  And though I've never bought an issue of Goon, I've read my fair share through library and friend borrowing.  I'm excited to see something new after two years away for the series.

You can see all fifteen books I'm buying below.

Marvel

FF #5

INCREDIBLE HULKS ANNUAL #1

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #664

VENOM #4

DC Comics

AMERICAN VAMPIRE #16

BATMAN INCORPORATED #7

DETECTIVE COMICS #878

FLASHPOINT GREEN ARROW INDUSTRIES #1

FLASHPOINT HAL JORDAN #1 (OF 3)

FLASHPOINT PROJECT SUPERMAN #1 (OF 3)

FLASHPOINT THE CANTERBURY CRICKET #1

SCALPED #50

THUNDER AGENTS #8

Other Companies

BUTCHER BAKER RIGHTEOUS MAKER #4

GOON #34

SKULLKICKERS #8

As stated above, I'm excited for almost every single book on this list and I've spoken about most of them.  However, there are two that I've left out until now: THUNDER Agents #8 and Scalped #50.

As some of you may recall, the first review I wrote for this blog was THUNDER Agents #7.  It was a phenomenal issue, and I've been eagerly awaiting the next one since that time.  When DC announced all 52 titles for their relaunch and Nick Spencer's THUNDER Agents wasn't there, I was pretty crestfallen, so I was quite happy to hear that it would be back in October with all new issues to continue the wonderful story that he has been telling.  Knowing that there are lots of issues left in this series makes me very, very happy, and if you aren't picking this book up, you definitely should be.It was an exciting process for me, and one I continue to enjoy.  Taking a closer look at that book  like to think that I've gotten a bit better since that time, 

As for Scalped, I must give credit where credit is due.  I had read through the first two volumes earlier this year, but really wasn't grabbed by the story.  However, two weeks ago, Ryan K. Lindsay suggested the series' protagonist, Dashiell Bad Horse, as the subject over at thoughtballoons.  In preparing for my script, I ended up reading every single issue through a combination of borrowing from the library and friends (and picking up an issue or two along the way).  All that said, I have yet to buy an issue the week it hits stands.  I'm very excited to be starting, especially with the 50th book in the series.  I don't know if it'll be any longer or if it'll acknowledge how many issues have come out, but it doesn't matter.  Jason Aaron is writing one of the best comics out there right now, and you should be following this one, too.

(As a side note: you should go check out the scripts that dropped for the Dashiell Bad Horse week if you haven't already seen them.  We have a talented crew over at thoughtballoons, but the pages they put up that week were some of the best I've seen.  You can find 'em all conveniently listed at this link here)

My Weekly Pull - June 22nd

Another week, another pile of comics to take home.  While I was drafting my list, I noticed that I didn't have all that many single issues (only five this week), so I decided to pick up a graphic novel or two.  To be fair, that's only half true.  I've talked a little bit about how much I've been enjoying Judd Winick's run on Power Girl, and since I don't own all the issues, picking up the first trade seems like a sound plan.  On a similar bent, I figured I might as well keep up the Girl theme and pick up Gingerbread Girl.  Okay, that's mostly a lie.  I heard about Paul Tobin and Collen Coover's project a few months back at Top Shelf's website, but kind of forgot about the whole thing shortly after.  I don't really know all that much about it, but now that it is coming out in print, I figured I would give it a look.  (If you follow that link, you can actually read the whole comic online - just so you know).

You can see the rest of my picks below.

Marvel

MYSTERY MEN #2 (OF 5)

DC Comics

BATMAN GATES OF GOTHAM #2 (OF 5)

FLASHPOINT KID FLASH LOST #1 (OF 3)

FLASHPOINT LOIS LANE AND THE RESISTANCE #1 (OF 3)

FLASHPOINT THE OUTSIDER #1 (OF 3)

POWER GIRL BOMB SQUAD TP

Other Companies

GINGERBREAD GIRL GN

As you can see, my habit of purchasing Flashpoint tie-ins remains unabated.  I've enjoyed checking out most of these issue 1s, but I don't think I'll be following them all through to issue 2.  Of the ones dropping this week, I really only expect to be buying the next issue for Lois Lane and the Resistance, but we'll see how it goes.  Gates of Gotham 1 was a little underwhelming for me, but I've signed on for the second part of the story due to my faith in Scott Snyder's storytelling.  Hopefully that gamble pays off.  Despite all these uncertainties, if Mystery Men 2 is anything like Mystery Men 1, I know I will have at least one good comic to read this week.

Fingers crossed.