Immeasurable bacteria, I flew through my comic stash in two sittings this week!
30 Days of Night: Eben and Stella #1
I would probably be better off just waiting for the trades, because they're cheaper and it would fit in with all of my other 30 DoN tpbs, but this series is just such a load of fun. In general the plots play out like an old pair of comfortable socks, partially transparent, comfy and really easy to get into. It's not like it's really amazingly rewarding to read, 30 Days is, at best, escapist storytelling and masturbatory-style gore art. If you're into that. And sometimes I am. Also, the art in this is a really cool blend of computer-assisted coloring and real time paints, sort of like J.K. Woodward's work. If you're not into vampires and conspiracy theory mysteries and horror storytelling, you'd really be wasting your time, but if you want a mini to dive into and forget about reality entirely, this is really great stuff.
Action Comics # 849
While Nicieza's story isn't bad, I'm really still wondering what the hell happened to the last son of Krypton story and what about Zod and all those Kryptonian assholes that came back, threatening to kill Clark. That's really why I was reading Action, I'm not really much of a Superman fan, but that sounded really interesting to me. Plus, Adam Kubert made my childhood liveable. Anyway, it's good storytelling, considering I think Superman is a fairly boring character, the art is good and I can deal with this, but I want that story back. I wonder if they switched it to Superman or something? I know only one dude is going to read this, so I guess I'll just have to look elsewhere for my WTF answers.
Batman # 665
I cannot express how much I love Grant Morrison as a writer. He's the reason I started reading Batman, previous to this year, I had never purchased a single batman comic book before, but I've been a regular reader for nearly a year now. I see no signs of stopping.
Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #5
Fuck. Yes. I haven't seen a comic drawn by Jim Lee since the first issue of Wild C.A.Ts last year, before that it had been a decade or so. Frank Miller is writing it, you can't go wrong there, and it's old OLD Batman stories, which seems to be Miller's favorite kind. The newly formed Justice League are hunting Batman on suspicions of violent vigilantism and he's incredibly violent and emotionally disturbed. I don't know why I didn't pick this series up before, but as soon as I finished the book, I ran to the tubes, got on Ebay and managed to win issues one through four and the variants by Lee. FOR THE WIN. You should read this book. For serious.
Countdown #s 50 & 49
The organization of DC is currently astonishingly impressive to me. Other than "stuff happens to people", it has no central theme, the essential function of Countdown appears to tie all of the DCU books together to make them more cohesive, but the incredible part is that, if you're not reading all of the books, you can still enjoy the stories. I read action, batman and the justice books, but other than that I don't read that many DC books, but Countdown ties everything from the entire universe of DC together in a neat little weekly package. With covers from Andy Kubert and the organization of Paul Dini, God, I really couldn't be more enthusiastic about a book like this. In the past two issues I got stories about Superman, Batman, Nightwing, The Joker's daughter, a bunch of Justice characters and some pretty interesting unknown stories, as well as stories that tie into the JSA/JLA "Lightning Saga" that's happening right now. I'd highly recommend this before it sells out. And it's a weekly, you don't have to wait so long for the compendium!
Futurama #31
It's pretty much the only bi-monthly I read that's a straight up comedic book. Or, at least it's the only bi-monthly left that's still being published and is strictly comedy. I enjoy it all the time.
Gargoyles #4
I can't say I totally grasp what's happening, other than the gargoyles are struggling to survive, there's a halloween costume party, Goliath has an evil son and there's lots of fighting, guns and explosions. It's a lot of fun, but I don't know the full extent of the plot because there have been something like three to five months in between issues. Even for a Slave Labor book it's inconsistent, which is the most fucked up thing you could say about a comic. Over all, the art is worse and the story could use some better organizing, but none of that's going to do much if the book never ships on time. I really want this book to be great, but right now it just kind of teeters on acceptable, which is sad.
Godland #16
It was only sixty cents! I had to try it out, but it's one of the only books I haven't dug into yet. Anyone else reading it?
JLA #9
The JLA/JSA crossover is starting to heat up and I like it. Legion of Superheroes in the 31st century are really cool and I can't decide if they've come back to stop something or start something. And all this business of Karate Kid beating up on Batman is a hell of a lot of fun.
Sidekick #5
Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell #2
The Klingons mini is going a lot like the current TNG is being played out, these one shots, much like the episodes. This series is all about Klingon culture and their history, which is pretty damned rich, developed and mapped out. As someone who has only been into Star Trek for about six months, I'm really enjoying it, because I don't know much about them.
Uncanny X-Men #486
WTF! Okay, so after a 12 issue arc that was totally bad ass as all get out, they end it in a lame "tune in next time for not the ending some more!", so this better lead to another massive arc with Alex and crew hunting down Vulcan. I'm happy that they repowered Charles and I really hope they make Corsair's death count and use it as a psychological/emotional narrative tool in the coming year. It could be really great if Whedon doesn't kill Scott. Before this arc started I was ready to stop reading both the flagship X titles, but they both exploded with awesome art and fantastic narration and haven't let up for about a year now, I'm pretty happy about that, I just hope they don't switch writers or anything stupid, not after a year of being so incredibly invested in this story.
Unique #3
What a shitty ending. The problem with minis is that they're so compact, I understand not everything can be resolved, but this felt like a great Star Trek episode that ended with them beaming back to the ship and running the hell away.
X Factor #19
I can't believe it's been 19 issues already! This series has been such a treat to read, every single issue has just been fantastic. I really love that Peter David is making Jamie slowly gain all his dupes back and he's exploring the fact that the dupes aren't just these soulless clones he made- they're real people with real lives and complex problems and Jamie has to deal with that. And I love to hate Quicksilver, David makes him so hateable too. And the rest of the team is great and they are so personalized and well developed. And Layla Miller. God, I love X Factor.
X-Men #199
I feel like these past two arcs have been good, but like they're just a preface for something that they're brewing that's going to be heartbreaking or sinister. I fucking love the art in this book, it reminds me of the Kubert style art of the 90's x-books. And I love that Iceman is such a fucking bad ass. Oh, and Wolverine is sparse and not as annoying as he used to be.
X-Men: First Class Special
Haven't dug into it yet, it made it into my stack, but I haven't really liked the past few issues. This willl be the make or break decision for the new upcoming monthly. I'll probably get the first few issues and then bail, there are so many great series right now and it's got to be really good to make it into my subscriptions list if it's a monthly.
Walking Dead #26
This is the issue from last month, I managed to find it, so now I have 34 to current, which, you know, is nice. I can't wait for the next issue.
Wasteland #s 8 and 9
Yes! ZOMG I love this book so much! I have to go to the bigger/lamer comic shop to get it because my little nicer shop doesn't carry many titles by Oni Press, who are the lovely publishers of Wasteland. I have been absolutely in love with this comic since I grabbed the trade a month ago, which collects the first six issues for just over ten dollars. It's well worth the money and significantly cheer than buying the issues individually, which is a trend I hope catches on outside of the indies. The story takes place 100 years after all civilization is wiped out by a massive amount of water, but the real event isn't actually covered. Because technology has been wiped out and the earth has changed in a massive way, nobody remembers what life used to be like, the bulk of the story takes place in a barren desert. There are cool mystic religions remniscent of the indiginous religions of the Americas before white people destroyed the continents. There are healers and sneaky slimy shadowy figurese who may be good guys and there are slave runners and horrible totalatarian rulers who try to break the old religion of the sun people. God, I can't say enough good things about this book and I was really happy to find it on Friday. And to top it all off, Ben Templesmith does the covers. GET IT NOW
Wetworks #9
Everyone knows the comic is ending, but nobody seems to be saying when, and the lost? They fucking lost? I wonder if this is just going to evolve into a few minis to wrap up the story. But there are a whole lot of murderous vampires on the loose. In some ways, I'm glad this is ending, but in other ways I really want to see it develop and find out what happens to everybody. Not like I have a choice now.
I also picked up some trades, which I haven't read yet.
Bear: Demons
This is the second volume of Bear, which is the funniest comic book I have ever read in my life. It follows an immortal teddy bear who is the victim of a sociopathic, murderous, hateful house cat, named Looshkin and the guy who owns them. Jamie Smart is, in my opinion, the funniest cartoonist ever. These are done in strips, it's all collected in a cheap TPB for fifteen dollars, put out by SLG. Highly recommended, seriously.
TMNT: Soul's winter
This book has such a different look, I loved the current TMNT book byt Peter Laird until it disappeared, this looks like it's in a much moe serious old school ninja tone. It should be ineresting, the black and white art looks phenomenal.
Magician: Apprentice
Dabel Brothers via Marvel are doing really cool things with fantasy stories. This is a hardcover collecting the first six issues of the series about two friends, one who becomes a knight's apprentice and one who becomes and magicians apprentice and who both go to war against another world. I read the first two books of this and I have to say, I'm really digging it. There's a high level of characterization, not too much wasted action and some fairly likable characters to follow, I'll definitely be jumping on board for issue seven. The art is by the same guy who does the artwork for Anita Blake, which I hear gets bitched about a lot, but I don't really see anything wrong with it, it's more realistic than a lot of traditional comic book art is, perhaps that's everyone's problem. Anyways, this seems like a really strong title and I hope it's not some 12 issue mini that wraps up without any closure, in fact, I hope it's an ongoing or at least part of a series of minis or maxis. This is seriously good stuff. Plus, a collection nof six issues in a hardcover for $20? WIN!
I also realized that I have the first two volumes of the league of extraordinary gentlemen on my bookshelf and they've never even been touched. Shame on me, I have to get reading.
30 Days of Night: Eben and Stella #1
I would probably be better off just waiting for the trades, because they're cheaper and it would fit in with all of my other 30 DoN tpbs, but this series is just such a load of fun. In general the plots play out like an old pair of comfortable socks, partially transparent, comfy and really easy to get into. It's not like it's really amazingly rewarding to read, 30 Days is, at best, escapist storytelling and masturbatory-style gore art. If you're into that. And sometimes I am. Also, the art in this is a really cool blend of computer-assisted coloring and real time paints, sort of like J.K. Woodward's work. If you're not into vampires and conspiracy theory mysteries and horror storytelling, you'd really be wasting your time, but if you want a mini to dive into and forget about reality entirely, this is really great stuff.
Action Comics # 849
While Nicieza's story isn't bad, I'm really still wondering what the hell happened to the last son of Krypton story and what about Zod and all those Kryptonian assholes that came back, threatening to kill Clark. That's really why I was reading Action, I'm not really much of a Superman fan, but that sounded really interesting to me. Plus, Adam Kubert made my childhood liveable. Anyway, it's good storytelling, considering I think Superman is a fairly boring character, the art is good and I can deal with this, but I want that story back. I wonder if they switched it to Superman or something? I know only one dude is going to read this, so I guess I'll just have to look elsewhere for my WTF answers.
Batman # 665
I cannot express how much I love Grant Morrison as a writer. He's the reason I started reading Batman, previous to this year, I had never purchased a single batman comic book before, but I've been a regular reader for nearly a year now. I see no signs of stopping.
Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #5
Fuck. Yes. I haven't seen a comic drawn by Jim Lee since the first issue of Wild C.A.Ts last year, before that it had been a decade or so. Frank Miller is writing it, you can't go wrong there, and it's old OLD Batman stories, which seems to be Miller's favorite kind. The newly formed Justice League are hunting Batman on suspicions of violent vigilantism and he's incredibly violent and emotionally disturbed. I don't know why I didn't pick this series up before, but as soon as I finished the book, I ran to the tubes, got on Ebay and managed to win issues one through four and the variants by Lee. FOR THE WIN. You should read this book. For serious.
Countdown #s 50 & 49
The organization of DC is currently astonishingly impressive to me. Other than "stuff happens to people", it has no central theme, the essential function of Countdown appears to tie all of the DCU books together to make them more cohesive, but the incredible part is that, if you're not reading all of the books, you can still enjoy the stories. I read action, batman and the justice books, but other than that I don't read that many DC books, but Countdown ties everything from the entire universe of DC together in a neat little weekly package. With covers from Andy Kubert and the organization of Paul Dini, God, I really couldn't be more enthusiastic about a book like this. In the past two issues I got stories about Superman, Batman, Nightwing, The Joker's daughter, a bunch of Justice characters and some pretty interesting unknown stories, as well as stories that tie into the JSA/JLA "Lightning Saga" that's happening right now. I'd highly recommend this before it sells out. And it's a weekly, you don't have to wait so long for the compendium!
Futurama #31
It's pretty much the only bi-monthly I read that's a straight up comedic book. Or, at least it's the only bi-monthly left that's still being published and is strictly comedy. I enjoy it all the time.
Gargoyles #4
I can't say I totally grasp what's happening, other than the gargoyles are struggling to survive, there's a halloween costume party, Goliath has an evil son and there's lots of fighting, guns and explosions. It's a lot of fun, but I don't know the full extent of the plot because there have been something like three to five months in between issues. Even for a Slave Labor book it's inconsistent, which is the most fucked up thing you could say about a comic. Over all, the art is worse and the story could use some better organizing, but none of that's going to do much if the book never ships on time. I really want this book to be great, but right now it just kind of teeters on acceptable, which is sad.
Godland #16
It was only sixty cents! I had to try it out, but it's one of the only books I haven't dug into yet. Anyone else reading it?
JLA #9
The JLA/JSA crossover is starting to heat up and I like it. Legion of Superheroes in the 31st century are really cool and I can't decide if they've come back to stop something or start something. And all this business of Karate Kid beating up on Batman is a hell of a lot of fun.
Sidekick #5
Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell #2
The Klingons mini is going a lot like the current TNG is being played out, these one shots, much like the episodes. This series is all about Klingon culture and their history, which is pretty damned rich, developed and mapped out. As someone who has only been into Star Trek for about six months, I'm really enjoying it, because I don't know much about them.
Uncanny X-Men #486
WTF! Okay, so after a 12 issue arc that was totally bad ass as all get out, they end it in a lame "tune in next time for not the ending some more!", so this better lead to another massive arc with Alex and crew hunting down Vulcan. I'm happy that they repowered Charles and I really hope they make Corsair's death count and use it as a psychological/emotional narrative tool in the coming year. It could be really great if Whedon doesn't kill Scott. Before this arc started I was ready to stop reading both the flagship X titles, but they both exploded with awesome art and fantastic narration and haven't let up for about a year now, I'm pretty happy about that, I just hope they don't switch writers or anything stupid, not after a year of being so incredibly invested in this story.
Unique #3
What a shitty ending. The problem with minis is that they're so compact, I understand not everything can be resolved, but this felt like a great Star Trek episode that ended with them beaming back to the ship and running the hell away.
X Factor #19
I can't believe it's been 19 issues already! This series has been such a treat to read, every single issue has just been fantastic. I really love that Peter David is making Jamie slowly gain all his dupes back and he's exploring the fact that the dupes aren't just these soulless clones he made- they're real people with real lives and complex problems and Jamie has to deal with that. And I love to hate Quicksilver, David makes him so hateable too. And the rest of the team is great and they are so personalized and well developed. And Layla Miller. God, I love X Factor.
X-Men #199
I feel like these past two arcs have been good, but like they're just a preface for something that they're brewing that's going to be heartbreaking or sinister. I fucking love the art in this book, it reminds me of the Kubert style art of the 90's x-books. And I love that Iceman is such a fucking bad ass. Oh, and Wolverine is sparse and not as annoying as he used to be.
X-Men: First Class Special
Haven't dug into it yet, it made it into my stack, but I haven't really liked the past few issues. This willl be the make or break decision for the new upcoming monthly. I'll probably get the first few issues and then bail, there are so many great series right now and it's got to be really good to make it into my subscriptions list if it's a monthly.
Walking Dead #26
This is the issue from last month, I managed to find it, so now I have 34 to current, which, you know, is nice. I can't wait for the next issue.
Wasteland #s 8 and 9
Yes! ZOMG I love this book so much! I have to go to the bigger/lamer comic shop to get it because my little nicer shop doesn't carry many titles by Oni Press, who are the lovely publishers of Wasteland. I have been absolutely in love with this comic since I grabbed the trade a month ago, which collects the first six issues for just over ten dollars. It's well worth the money and significantly cheer than buying the issues individually, which is a trend I hope catches on outside of the indies. The story takes place 100 years after all civilization is wiped out by a massive amount of water, but the real event isn't actually covered. Because technology has been wiped out and the earth has changed in a massive way, nobody remembers what life used to be like, the bulk of the story takes place in a barren desert. There are cool mystic religions remniscent of the indiginous religions of the Americas before white people destroyed the continents. There are healers and sneaky slimy shadowy figurese who may be good guys and there are slave runners and horrible totalatarian rulers who try to break the old religion of the sun people. God, I can't say enough good things about this book and I was really happy to find it on Friday. And to top it all off, Ben Templesmith does the covers. GET IT NOW
Wetworks #9
Everyone knows the comic is ending, but nobody seems to be saying when, and the lost? They fucking lost? I wonder if this is just going to evolve into a few minis to wrap up the story. But there are a whole lot of murderous vampires on the loose. In some ways, I'm glad this is ending, but in other ways I really want to see it develop and find out what happens to everybody. Not like I have a choice now.
I also picked up some trades, which I haven't read yet.
Bear: Demons
This is the second volume of Bear, which is the funniest comic book I have ever read in my life. It follows an immortal teddy bear who is the victim of a sociopathic, murderous, hateful house cat, named Looshkin and the guy who owns them. Jamie Smart is, in my opinion, the funniest cartoonist ever. These are done in strips, it's all collected in a cheap TPB for fifteen dollars, put out by SLG. Highly recommended, seriously.
TMNT: Soul's winter
This book has such a different look, I loved the current TMNT book byt Peter Laird until it disappeared, this looks like it's in a much moe serious old school ninja tone. It should be ineresting, the black and white art looks phenomenal.
Magician: Apprentice
Dabel Brothers via Marvel are doing really cool things with fantasy stories. This is a hardcover collecting the first six issues of the series about two friends, one who becomes a knight's apprentice and one who becomes and magicians apprentice and who both go to war against another world. I read the first two books of this and I have to say, I'm really digging it. There's a high level of characterization, not too much wasted action and some fairly likable characters to follow, I'll definitely be jumping on board for issue seven. The art is by the same guy who does the artwork for Anita Blake, which I hear gets bitched about a lot, but I don't really see anything wrong with it, it's more realistic than a lot of traditional comic book art is, perhaps that's everyone's problem. Anyways, this seems like a really strong title and I hope it's not some 12 issue mini that wraps up without any closure, in fact, I hope it's an ongoing or at least part of a series of minis or maxis. This is seriously good stuff. Plus, a collection nof six issues in a hardcover for $20? WIN!
I also realized that I have the first two volumes of the league of extraordinary gentlemen on my bookshelf and they've never even been touched. Shame on me, I have to get reading.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
jack_g:
the Boys #7 and the trade paperback are definitely out to. I unpacked them at work earlier.
jeremeyes:
you work at a comic shop? LUCKY