Monday, June 25, 2007

What I’m Getting Wednesday

Week #4 in a four week month. A ton of stuff is coming out this week and I have almost no time to get around and read it as I’m taking a long week-end Saturday to Tuesday to go to the Jersey Shore. A lot of good books coming out, but a somewhat quieter week after this week’s death of Bart Allen and the prior week’s Electra is a skrull stuff.

Amazons Attacks #3 (of 6) I have no strong reason to tell you why I’m enjoying this series but I am. This issue Supergirl and Wonder Girl join the fray. Curious to see how they resolve this as it is obvious that Hippolyta is either demented or under someone’s control.

Blue Beetle #16 – Back to the regular creative team after a rather bland fill-in issue. Countdown issues are front and center as Eclipso shows up to make Jamie’s life a little more complicated. This series continues to be a rock solid good book.

Countdown #44 – Monarch is starting to play a role in all of the multi-verse madness. It is very cool that Monarch is now who he was going to be way back when DC first created the Monarch concept. Last issue was slow, but this is still a good series.

JSA Classified #27 – I enjoyed part 1 of the Wildcat story and look forward to the ending in this issue. I really love Wildcat as a hero as he is so very basic, but a true hero in every sense of the word. Ted Grant is the man in the DCU.

Green Lantern Sinestro Corps Special – I’m a big fan of many independent books, but the super hero stuff still gets me jazzed and I’m very anxious to see this book. Geoff Johns has really made Green Lantern a very good book again and the Sinestro Corps and Star Sapphire stuff is really building up into a great story.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super Heroes #31 – The Mark Waid / Barry Kitson era is over and Tony Bedard takes over as writer. Not sure who the “regular” artist will be yet, but Kevin Sharpe is doing the interiors in this issue. Waid left the book with a good break point, so we should get a feel for where Bedard wants this book to go fast.

Showcase Presents Batman Volume #2 – I’m not sure if any of this overlaps in the Dynamic Duo Archives, but this was some fun and crazy stuff from the Silver Age of Batman. Plus the cover just sells the whole book. 500 plus pages for $17 – you can’t go wrong.

Superman/Batman #37 – New arc by Alan Burnett and Dustin Nguyen. Called "Torment" and apparently is a saga involving the New Gods. Burnett is a decent writer usually and Dustin Nguyen has a style that I usually enjoy. Curious to see if this picks this series up.

Teen Titans #48 – An Amazon Attacks tie-in, which is fine as we are waiting for the new writer and a direction to start in issue #50.

Wonder Woman #10 – The official hype “Jodi Picoult's sensational run reaches its gut-wrenching finale! Amid a war between the United States and the Amazons on American soil, Wonder Woman must race to save Paradise Island from total ruin! But the traumatic repercussions of her decision to slay Max Lord bring the Amazon princess full circle, as she realizes there's only one way to stop the war. Can Wonder Woman cross that line once more, or will lives continue to be lost?” But at this point I’m really waiting for Gail Simone to take over.

Wetworks #10 – A new creative team comes in and I have heard that this book was cancelled, but the solicitation for #13 does not indicate it is the last issue. For the most part the re-launch of the Wildstorm universe has been a failure. Wetworks I considered a partial success, but losing the writer after the initial arc is finally over does not bode well for this book. Still J.M. DeMatteis is a good writer, so I’ll judge it when I read it.

Crossing Midnight #8 – The trade comes out this week and I encourage those who have not read the book to get the trade and try it out. It is a dense story, but worth the investment. The official hype for this issue is “Trapped in the mortal realm, Toshi discovers that Tokyo by night has rules and rhythms that its daytime inhabitants scarcely dream of. But will the people she meets and the things she learns be enough to defeat an adversary who is one of the five faces of death?”

Crossing Midnight – Cut Here – TP – The first collection and it is only $9.99. The solicitation does not say how many issues is collected, but even if it only 4 issues it is still a bargain. I’m buying this to pass on to my other daughter as I think she will like it as much as Gwen and I do.

Deadman #11 – I liked this book and then it started to frustrate me as no resolutions were occurring and we just kept getting more and more questions. I was thinking that I might cancel this book, but DC beat me to it with issue #13 being the final issue, so I can hang in there till the end.

Jack of Fables #12 – Last issue was the best issue ever for this book. Mr. Revise comes back in the picture and Jack is finding out the cost of fame for a Fable. Should be a good issue. Jack of Fables is ultimately a tough book because like Marvel’s Ant Man the main character is not a nice person at all and both are very self centered.

Criminal #7 – This is a really good series and possibly Brubaker’s best work to date. This arc is on part 2 and is about Tracy Lawless trying to find out who killed his brother. This should have been the first arc in this series. Really a good read and this maybe a great series. Brubaker is striving for making a great film noir comic with artist Sean Phillips.

Daredevil #98 – Another good series by Brubaker. I have issues with Daredevil, but now that it has been basically reset (a soft reset as opposed to many hard resets) I’m enjoying the story of the Gladiator and what has caused him to go nuts. I just think they need to ignore the new martial law status quo in the Marvel Universe.

Fantastic Four #547 – You know I can actually remember buying issues of this book at around number 20 or lower over 500 issues ago - geez. Of course given the numbering crazes Marvel has gone through that could be last week. Okay part of the official hype for this issues is “Meanwhile, the current FF deal with the aftermath of their battle with the Marvel Zombies”, which is a story from the Black Panther book and I hate when I feel forced to pick up another book when I’m trying to follow just the FF. Nice cover for this issue.

Iron Fist #6 – This book has been so well done I’m tempted to pick up the hard cover of this book. Especially since an issue I had was this book had so many ads in the earlier issues it killed the flow of the book. Brubaker/Fraction and Aja have done a nice job of building more history and legend into Iron Fist. The “Golden Age” Iron Fist has been a great add and I hope he remains a supporting character as the book continues.

Legion of Monsters: Satana – Also this issue has a Living Mummy story. I have to say that Marvel is doing a nice job with these little used characters from various genres and giving them a little spotlight and then publishing a hard cover book with extras thrown in. So far the “Legion of Monsters” series has not been that great, but they are a light read and fun to see this “C” list characters.

Marvel Masterworks Sub-Mariner – Wrapping up the Tales to Astonish issues of the Sub Mariner in the Silver Age and his first solo issue. Contains Bill Everett artwork. A lot of fun late Silver Age material.

Marvel Illustrated Last of the Mohicans #2 (of 6) – I could not even read issue #1, but I’m continuing to get this book strictly to mail off to my daughter Gwen.

Spider-Man Fairy Tales #2 (of 4) – Same as above. Gwen works and is going to school, so I try and supply her entertainment, maybe she will write a post on the blog and let us know what she thinks of these books. (HINT, HINT)

She-Hulk #19 – Dan Slott is leaving this title on issue #21. Hopefully we are back on track as this issues focuses on Mallory asking Jen to help defend the Leader. I was thinking of dropping this book once Slott was off it, but Peter David is the new writer and he may be able to keep this book fun.

Silent War # 6 (of 6) – It’s funny how on Marvel’s web page they never acknowledge this is a mini-series or say the thrilling conclusion or any hint that it is a mini-series. It has to be planned and seems disingenuous. Still this has been a really well done story and I’m looking forward to the ending.

Thunderbolts #115 – Concluding the first arc since Ellis has taken over this book. It will be curious to see how all of this plays out. Osbourne is obviously mad, Moonstone is uncontrollable and everyone is ready to stab anyone else in the back. I still think the premise is inane, but Ellis makes it interesting.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #43 – Part 2 of the Silver Surfer story line. I’m starting to fall off this book as I can't really buy into these characters as the Fantastic Four, I’ll make a call on this book soon.

Ultimate Visions #4 (of 5)– I have no clue anymore as the last issue was a long time ago. If this thing was any longer I would not even bother finishing it.

WW Hulk X-Men #1 (of 3) – If Christos Gage was not writing this I would have not even bothered with this added on mini-series. Gage failed to make his WWHulk Iron Man fill in issue interesting, so this is another tough test of his abilities as a writer. I think it is hard to make certain things interesting, especially when they are obvious editorial ideas and not your idea.

X-Factor #20 – The best x-book on the stands continues, although the last issue or so this book has not been as strong. Maybe all the forced cross-over stuff that is coming down is hurting this book. Still David has a real strong handle on this book and the worse issue of this series is still a decent book.

X-Men #200 – The cover has Phoenix on it, I know she is called Phoenix, but can we move on. Big issue numbers mean some sort of event occurs or some sort of lame ass retrospective book is done. Instead of eagerly anticipating this issues, I now wonder whether they will be any good at all.

X-Men First Class #1 – Now an unlimited series. Can’t wait for this book as I really enjoyed the mini-series and thought Jeff Parker had done a wonderful job of updating and still keeping true to the spirit of the original X-Men.

Fallen Angel #17 – This book has been hurt by the weak art. I was enjoying the story arc about the prior protector of Bette Noir, but the writing and stories have to pick up even more with such a weak artist.

Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer #3 (of 6) – I picked up this mini-series because I heard it was good and I read the first two issues and was hooked. Interesting tale being told about a character that was just a picture. Julie Schwartz is smiling somewhere.

Invincible #43 – After last issue’s new jumping on point almost bored me to death I hope we are back on track. I’m sure we will be, last issue was just a bad marketing idea for this book, now back to one of the best super hero titles on the stands.

Breathe #3 (of 4) – I missed issue #2 because this is such a small press publisher my store was unable to get an additional one on re-order as he only orders enough for the actual orders he gets. This points out why it is so hard for a small press book to gain any audience.


Nightly News #6 (of 6) – Great freeling series and I have already signed up for the trade paperback. Should be a good issue ot see how the how Voice thing wraps up. Can’t wait.

Hellboy Darkness Calls #3 (of 6) – Slowly, slowly I’m getting back into Hellboy. It has gone beyond a monster hunting exercise for the character.

Boys #8 – The book I love to hate. I may drop this book soon regardless, but I want to continue to buy to see if it can rise above being anything more then just a “I hate super heroes” book. Plus if I don’t read it and people say it is good now, I have no reference.


Grimm Fairy Tales Return to Wonderland #1 (of 7) – Zenoscopes attempt to franchise Grimm Fairy Tales but building a longer story arc and giving it much more depth. The preview issue was good and I’m looking forward to this book. I also think it was smart to do this as a separate mini-series and keep the regular book going as a long story that failed in the regular book could kill it. I worry that these "good girl" covers actually turn off some of their perspective audience as the interiors have not been reflective of the covers (pun intended).

Grimm Fairy Tales #15 – Simple fun books. I enjoy these one and done issues. They took a fairy tale and re-tell it and tie it into a modern day story (that is only about 4 pages and acts as a framing device).


Sheena #1 (of 5) – This is just a simple stupid guilty pleasure book. The zero issue was okay and they have her in a modern setting, still I have low expectations for this book, but still look forward to reading it.

Snakewoman: Tale of the Snake Charmer #1 – My favorite series from Virgin comics is back. I think they are now doing this book as a series of mini-series and I hope the switch in format works. This is a cool story that should have a definite end.

And that is a wrap for a very big week of comics. A lot of really decent books coming out and it should be a good week.

2 comments:

  1. your hints are so subtle...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks - I like the subtle approach best, sometimes I worry I may not be direct enough and people may miss my subtle suggestions.

    ReplyDelete