The List - July 2013

A mite tricky this month, writing the post on my wife's laptop rather than my usual computer access.  Hopefully I'll be able to get everything in place.  No doubt work will not allow for me to work on it this week, after being on vacation last week.  Right, then.  Off we go.

1. Invincible 104 - Ok, the Angstrom Levy story line seems to have ended sooner than I anticipated, but then again, 'Vince is going to try to pursue him into one of the dimensions of his conquering alter egos.  Mohawk guy's not one I would have picked to be the survivor of the crazy alternates, but there you go.  I'm sure more than a few reviewers aren't going to be buying into Kirkman's resolution of Eve unable to use her powers to defeat Levy, but I liked it.  Kirkman's always been talk heavy in his books.  Clearly he values what his characters say as much as what they do.  It's never been all about the fight, which is all the Big Two seem to have left in most of their books.  Eve's ability to reason with Levy is in keeping with both her character and his.  Mark wanting to pursue Levy to save him from Mohawk version is what I'd expect from his character as well.

2. Fables 131 - The beginning of Camelot continues the effort to return Bigby, but clearly that's going to take a long, long time, if it proceeds as planned.  More immediately, Brandish isn't dead.  Not that anyone but Swineheart and Mrs Spratt know that.  The conversation, amid autopsy, in which Swineheart makes his rational proposition for Mrs Spratt to have sex with him, now that she's attractive, is amusingly conceited.  Rose Red's discovery of how to implement her mission as an instrument of Hope is, as always with her, grand in conception.  Execution, I'm sure, will be another matter.

3. The Unwritten 51 - The alternate version of the war with Mr Dark in the realm of Fables is straight on into sacrifice of major characters.  Like most alternate reality stories it's safe to kill of a lot of your favorite, major characters, knowing they won't be effected in the main story.  Unlike such things in most superhero stories, these Fables run the risk of being killed off in their own book anyway, such as Boy Blue and Charming.  Killed off and possibly never brought back, that is. None of the usual superhero return after being dead a short while.  Tommy and friends may make an important change in the fight, but then again, maybe not.

4. The Walking Dead 112 - Is there anyone left who thinks Negan is just a clone of the Governor?  Clearly he's a far different character now.  A far smarter character than anyone gave credit, including Rick. Now, I do wonder about the wisdom of having his advance team come out of hiding when he's explaining his preparations to Rick.  Rick has shown himself to be a wild card, fully cable of using Andrea to take out Negan and his no longer under cover boys, even if it might mean his own demise.  We'll see what next issue brings.

5. Sex 5 - Ok, now we're moving into some good character interaction, the nature of our characters having been well established.  Graphic sex for this issue consists of some oral action in a men's room, and I must say that's one persistent woman, considering Cooke's drunkenness and ambivalence about the activity.  That she got him aroused is something of a minor miracle under those circumstances, especially a man of his age.  Lagravenese's showing her age, too, as her employees are so helpfully pointing out for her.  Ok, really, not a lot happens this issue, but it is amusing.

6. Uncanny  2 - This made a big leap on The List from last month because it suddenly hit me that this is the X-Men made more interesting than they have been in more than a two decades, for me.  So far we have characters with the powers of Rogue and Wolverine, reversing the genders on both.  They appear to have been born with these abilities.  They don't live in a tights and capes world, though.  They live in a world much like ours and are similarly competent or incompetent, as their personalities dictate. I like what Diggle and Campbell are doing with these characters, much like Casey is doing with the Batman mythos in Sex, though without the sex, at least so far.

7. Watson and Holmes 1 - I reviewed the first 3 issues of this series not long ago.  It was good enough that I went ahead and bought the paper version, having read the issues in a plastic format.  For those who missed the review, this is a version of the Doyle characters in which the setting is present day Harlem in NYC.  Watson is actually the lead character, though he still serves as the doorway to understanding Holmes.  This Holmes is less a creature of his own mind and more comfortable interacting with the rest of the world than most depictions of Holmes.  In this first issue little is known about him beyond his occupation as a consultant with the police and that he's brilliant in his observational and deductive abilities.

8. Wonder Woman 22 - This version of the New Gods is so much better than what I've seen in other iterations.  True, we've only had Orion and now High Father, but they're much more interesting than other presentations of them.  Azzarello clearly has flair for making pantheons fresh and interesting.  This High Father isn't to be trusted, in his relation of the history of his world or his intentions for Zeke or Orion.  The constant put downs of Orion are harsh and, to all appearances so far, unwarranted.  And yet, in the end, he appears to have acted the ass as a tactic.  Now all our band has to do is survive being face to face with the First Born again.

9. Brother Lono 2 - World's sexiest nun continues to give Lono problems with his vows, but no more so than his inclinations to brawl.  He should probably add drinking to the things he won't do, even though it's not strictly part of his vows.  In the meantime, LA drug distributor meets a really nasty end when he proves himself unwilling to simply accept the terms of the drug lords who supply him.  Who the drug lords are speaking with in a phone conversation will undoubtedly be both interesting and significant to the resolution of the story.  Not even Lono seems to think he's going to be able to maintain his vows.

10. Thor: God of Tunder 10 - I'm sure no one is surprised that Gorr has become a god, abhorrent as the thought is to him.  I almost wish the godbomb would actually wipe out all the gods throughout history, just to see if it takes him with it.  I'm sure it won't go off, considering this series is supposed to continue beyond the next issue and all that.  Having committed murder of a close confidant who made the mistake of worshiping him as a god, Gorr is fully in god mode now.  Over reaction to slight infractions is the hallmark of a deity.  And always remember, biting off your own tongue is more painful than you might think.

11. The Shadow: Year One 4 - A battle of wielders of the power to cloud men's minds is obviously going to be the course of this book.  The Shadow and his nemesis appear to be acquainted with one another, and the power is an addiction, which goes along way to explaining the Shadow's aloof nature.  Not that Margo knows that.

12. Fairest 17 - I have to say, this arc with Charming as the Maharaja feels like it's dragging a bit.  Then again, disintegrating maidens is interesting.  It's the trek across the desert and back to the village that is taking too long.

13. Lazarus 2 - Ok, I'm enjoying the story and the family interactions.  And Rucka has laid out a time line for how this world came to be as it is.  I'm not buying into that time line, mind you.  Populations rioting because of disastrous government and corporate malfeasance don't turn to the corporations to run things, not to mention hand over every freedom, no matter how illusory those freedoms may have been under the governments.

14. Collider 1 - I picked this up on a whim.  I have no familiarity with Simon Oliver or Robbi Rodriguez.  It was an interesting start to a sci-fi adventure involving disruption to the laws of physics in localized events, apparently the results of a scientific group's experiments 20 some odd years previously.  The localized nature of the events reminds me a bit of Fringe.

15. The Bounce 3 - Stoner superhero adventures continue.  Next issue's fight with a stony, desperate, Spanish speaking guy should be entertaining.

16. Dark Horse Presents 26 - I've really been enjoying the return of Trekker.  I like that Randall hasn't done away with her '80s influenced shoulder pads and knee guards in her costume, either.  There was more to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer's subsidiary characters arc, too.  Several other good stories round out the issue.

17. Ten Grand 3 - And now I know the difference between a button man and a hit man.  It was all about the back story this issue.  Kind of sweet, actually.  That was a surprise.

18. Thief of Thieves 15 - Big caper time in the offing.  This issue was set up to the big caper, including our twice burned FBI agent going rogue to pursue Redmond and his gang.

19. The Massive 14 - Like Lazarus, I don't find the semi-end-of-the-world reality of the book all that credible.  Worldwide government collapse just isn't that easy.  Whatever.  The Kapital is sailing up Broadway, having shaken off the rogue elements of the US Navy, and now tracking down a rogue crew member with a nuclear sub.

20. Batwoman 22 - DEO assistance or not, I find it unlikely that and Firebird would be able to subdue Bane so easily.  Then again, I haven't seen Bane used well anywhere but Secret Six.  After this arc in which the DEO is trying to control Batman, I'm not sure I'll be staying on board.

21. Miniature Jesus 2, 3 - Finally picked up issue 2 and then read issue 3.  This is a trippy book. I think it'll all come together in the end, and be very interesting, but reading it one issue at a time is challenging.  Must say I loved the Pythonesque Finger of God that squashed the church, though.  I'm going to have to re-read the whole thing once it concludes to see if it really does come together.

22. Damsels: Mermaids 3 - Suddenly, 3 issues in, it occurs to me to wonder why it's called Mermaids when we only have the story of one mermaid.  Eh.  No big deal.  Despite coming in last on The List I enjoyed this issue a lot more than the previous issue.  A good sea monster fight and a betrayal go a long way.  It was just a tough month of competition.

The List - June 2013

I'm probably going to be rather brief this month.  It's vacation season and I bought more than usual in June.  A lot of interesting new titles out, and that doesn't even include Miniature Jesus where I missed the second issue and am holding off on mentioning issue 3 until I get 2.  Off and running.

1. American Vampire: The Long Road to Hell 1 - I'll freely admit that this probably isn't the best title of the month.  It's just that I've not had an American Vampire fix in a few months since the book went on hiatus.  This one shot set in 1959 doesn't even have Skinner or Pearl in its pages.  No Felicia, either.  Mostly it's about a young couple who wind up turned into vampires but who try not to eat anyone who doesn't deserve it.  They find a lonely young boy in an orphanage who can tell who deserves to be lunch, but the boy isn't what he seems.

2. Invincible 103 - Anstrom Levy's back!  Angstrom Levy's back!  Hot

damn.  Somewhat disappointingly, though not entirely surprisingly, so's a Mauler Twin, who's given up on the whole twin business and claims to be the original, non-clone incarnation.  Now, I always found the Mauler Twins highly amusing and entertaining but when Oliver killed them it was a major story point.  Bringing them back, or at least one, is undermining that story.  Sure, the constant cloning always allowed for that back door, and it's in keeping with the superhero core of the Big Two, but this is Kirkman, not the Big Two. 

3. The Walking Dead 111 - Well, the cover alone is reason for this to by high on the list.  Inside Negan shows himself to be far more perceptive than the Governor ever was, despite his appearance of being far more insane than the Governor.  I have to say I was far happier with how Kirkman decided to resolve the attempted betrayal of Rick than I was in seeing the Mauler Twin back, and this book would have been over Invincible but for Anstrom Levy.  Kirkman is showing Negan to be a much more complicated character than the cut out villain he first appeared.  The Governor will have real competition in TWD lore when Kirkman finishes this story line.

4. Dia de los Muertos 3 - Riley Rossmo's cultural celebration in anthology

form is almost epic.  The variety of stories by various writers is engaging everytime, but Rossmo really anchors it with his art in every single one of them.  That's a lot of art.  As I've mentioned previously, he alters his style with each story to suit the nature of the story.  I particularly liked the Kirby-esque "Day of the Dead 3000" in this issue.

5. Fables 130 - "Junebug" is another in the long line of Fables tradition of one issue stories that serve as important points in future tales.  Young Junebug is under foot for her parents moving into the newly restored Fabletown, post Mister Dark, and is sent off to explore on her own in the large building.  No one believes her story of creatures in the basement plotting something nefarious until her parents find scratches on her back...

6. Brother Lono 1 - I was late to the 100 Bullets train but read the entire

series in trades.  No way I'm waiting around for Lono's new story to be collected.  We're in Mexico now and Lono is a Brother.  Hard to believe, but then again we have the sexiest nun (named June) since "Two Mules for Sister Sara".  Of course dead bodies are cropping up and fingers are coming off live ones.  It is the 100 Bullets mileu after all.

7. Atomic Robo: The Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur 1 - Come on.  It's a Dr Dinosaur story arc.  What's not to like?  A nice bit of Mole Man reference to start things, too.

8. Sex 4 - The least of the title activity so far.  The story's moving along

with some nice developments but not much action this round.  The stark cover is appropriate.

9. Wonder Woman 21 - First Born fighting has led to the death of Lennox.  Well, probably not.  No one ever dies in Big Two world, and it's not explicit that he's supposed to have died here. 

More interestingly, we end up on Orion's home world, bowing before Highfather.  For once I'm looking forward to a story involving these characters.

10. Thor: God of Thunder 9 - "Then it rained hammers.  And Thors."  Not

looking so good for the Thors Three.  This is one of those books where you know what has to happen in the end, because nothing every actually changes in Marvel (or DC), but it's a fun ride pretending that something might actually happen.  Of course, it doesn't hurt to have Jason Aaron telling the story.  Even his letters column responses are fun.

11. Unwritten 50 - A larger than usual issue for the landmark numbering and the start of a cross over into the Fables realm.  I'm not a big crossover fan, and the last time there was one involving Fables and Jack of Fables I was sorely disappointed.  This one is taking the tactic of having Tom's appearance alter how things went with the fight against Mister Dark.  In this version surviving Fables are on the run, hiding from Dark and his minions, which includes all Mundy's who are still alive.  So far it's a better start than the Jack of Fables one, and I think it helps that there's no portion of the story occurring in the Fables title.  If you just want to read Unwritten, that's all you need to do.

12. Fairest 16 - The India adventure continues with Charming.  Kind of drawn out this issue with Charming and Nala chasing the dhole to try to beat them to her village.  Not sure who the guy is working with the dhole.

13. Mouse Guard: Legend of the Gaurd (vol 2) 1 - Another 4 issue set of guest creators in Mr Petersen's world.  Lots of nice little tales here by Stan Sakai, Nick Tapalansky, Alex Eckman, and Ben Caldwell.

14. Bodie Troll 2 - Still a lot of fun in the all ages realm.  Plenty of dirty roots to go around.

15. The Wake 2 - Merpeople are fishy.  So are the survace people.  Snyder and Murphy will tie this altogether, I'm sure, but it was a little bit standard set up this issue.

16. Dark Horse Presents 25 - Lots of good stories but if you go into this expecting a Buffy story, and the cover on some issues showing her fighting vamps, you're going to be disappointed.  The Buffy story is of some tertiary fighter I don't know from the TV show.  Looks like Slayers include gay males now, not just females.  Wonder how they wrote that into the mythos.

17. The Black Beetle 4 - This was a really good, fun noir superhero series.  It's very much in the spirit of the old pulp stories, rather than a superhero, really.  Good work by Francavilla.

18. Ten Grand 2 - A lot of good books this month, obviously, for this to be down this far on the List.  The question of who's actually seen an afterlife and whether the manipulators behind the mission are who they say they are is already smacking our hero in the face.

19. The Massive 13 - The Kapital traveled a long way between issues.  When we finished 12 we were trapped in ice in Alaska.  Now we're in flooded NYC.  An aircraft carrier group is making things interesting. 

20. Batwoman 21 - This was an all Killer Croc episode.  I've seen so many versions of his origin I'm hardly paying attention to what it's supposed to be this time.

21. Mara 5 - Mara seems to be reaching Superman levels.  Killing her brother probably wasn't a good idea.

22. Lazarus 1 - I'm generally a big Rucka fan but I can't make the economics of his near future world work.  Maybe I'll be able to ignore it in future issues or it'll become clearer.  Discussiong for another day.

23. The Bounce 2 - Having a stoner as your lead character, and following things in a somewhat disjointed fashion, makes some sense but can be hard to follow.  Bouncing is certainly what we're doing so far.

24. Jupiter's Legacy 2 - It sure is pretty but the story of disaffected superpowered second generation and a jealous brother aren't exactly new.   A couple more issues and if something more interesting hasn't happened, I'll have to move on.

25. Uncanny 1 - This was a last minute impulse buy.  I like the powers the hero has and the art by Campbell is very good.  Lee thought it failed for ending at a point that completed a story so a reader could just jump off.  I think there's more than enough plot dangling to come back.

26. Damsels: Mermaids 2 - Much as I was pleasantly surprised by the first issue, I felt like there was too much reference in this issue to events that had gone on elsewhere.

The List - May 2013

With the end of some questionable books, either by design or lack of readership, I've added some new titles to my reading.  Some of them are the result of successful FCBD promotions.  One is a recommendation by Jim.  One is an addition because the writer has garnered my interest in another title.  All that being said, I found that this month's selections were largely on par with one another.  There's not a bad one in the bunch.

1. Fairest 15 - A new story arc this month.  The Return of the Maharaja doesn't surprise in who the Maharaja is, even though he isn't seen until the last page.  That's because he's on the cover.  Between the hero, Nalayani, whose tale told to Charming is the currency of the issue, and the return of Charming, Fairest went to the top of the List of what I enjoyed reading this month.  Nalayani's story is one of strength and determination in the face of perilous danger.  Charming is his expected charming in his brief moments in the book.  Nonetheless, it's great to see him again.  I haven't read any stories with him since he died in the pages of Fables.

2. The Walking Dead 110 - So now the complaints about a guy having a tiger

can stop, right?  Ezekiel's back story, told to Michonne, lays it our perfectly why he has such a big cat, why it doesn't kill him, and why he's the leader of his community.  Actually, I'm kind of eager to see what the letters column response is in a couple of issues.  Beyond Ezekiel's story, Jesus saves the day when he stops Kal from betraying the plan to Negan's people.  I'm a little disappointed we have no Negan and his multifaceted F bombs this issue, though.  No doubt he'll be bombing away shortly.

3. Fables 129 - Hoo-rah!  Snow's in kick ass mode and Brandish is down for the count!  Of course, no battle goes without collateral damage, and this is no exception.  Ok, I for one don't believe this damage is permanent.  We've seen the damage Jack can take and Snow herself was shot by Goldilocks in the early days of the book, with a wound that would have been fatal to a Mundy.  Willingham, Buckingham and Leialoha have nicely dovetailed the end of this story with the end of the Therese arc, as she shows up at the door in her adult form just as she did at the end of her story.  Clearly there is no shortage of stories in these guys' minds.

4. The Unwritten 49 - Another great return with Lizzie back in this book.

  Bonus for the ever villianous Pullman returning, too.  As alway, Carey and Gross pull in a great literary reference in the course of the story.  This time we have the tale of Orpheus in the escape from Hades.  All of this reminds me of their great work on Lucifer, of course.  Regardless, Tom's plan seems sound.  I wonder who it is who provided the push in his plan when none of his companions seemed willing.  More importantly, I hope this cross-over with Fables works out.  The Jack of Fables/Fables cross-over was my least favorite span of the Fables saga.  I hope this works better.

5. Sex 3 - Considering not a lot happens in this issue, I quite liked it.  Really, not much plot advanced.  The Alpha Brothers do a little cleaning of a mess.  The old man is crazy as hell and pulls a guy's teeth out to make sure he doesn't have a transmitter in them.  Our young couple have some nice sex and our Catwoman stand in enjoys a favorite toy while remembering/fantasizing about a past meeting with our Batman stand in.  It's just that the characters are so interesting to watch, whether or not they're having sex, that it's a fun read without a lot of action.  Can't say there's no action, as a guy gets shot in the head and teeth get pulled, as well as the aforementioned sex, but it's not wall to wall slugfest or anything.

6. Wonder Woman 20 - I would never have thought of Dionysius, of all the

gods, being so malevolent looking.  He's been in the book a few other issues but it struck me with the opening sequence in this issue, what with the pointy teeth and red eyes.  And now we know who the woman with the First Born is.  The gods and godlings here spin their histories like any politician, as Cassandra makes clear, if the conversations between Ares, Apollo and Dionysius didn't make it clear.  I must say, I prefer this weary version of Ares over the heedless warrior of the Perez version from the '80s.  Not that the Perez version wasn't the best thing to happen to Wonder Woman at the time, but this version is so much more interesting and multidimensional.  Next issue we get to see the conflict between an irresistable force and an immovable object.  Excellent.

7. Atomic Robo Presents Real Science Adventurs 8 - Annie Oakley and Wong Kei-ying blow up a train.  Do you need more description than that?  Ok.  It's a near constant battle throughout the issue.  This is your high action book, with a couple of pages of nefarious plotting thrown in for good measure.  The backup story about Robo and crew in Egypt is brief and amusing, with the rest of the pages taken up with a preview of the returning Neozoic (which came out before this book).  Aside from wanting more pages in the main story, a very enjoyable read.

8. Thief of Thieves 14 - Andy Diggle is on board as writer for this arc.

  Unlike the transition between the first and second arcs, which were really separate stories, the transition from the second arc to this third arc is seamless and a continuation of the same story.  Redmond's got a new mission to save Augustus from his own idiocy and has his ex-wife joined in for the massive con that will be needed to save the boy.  Will that be lots of tension leading to a nostalgic roll in the hay for them or a punch in the face for Redmond whenever she has the chance?  Maybe both.

9. Thor: God of Thunder 8 - Gorr's boy explains the rationale for the god bomb.  Can you say god bomb and not enjoy the sound of it?  I can't.  Throw in Thor's trio of daughters and young Thor's Tarzan look and you've got a great looking book, too.  Oh, don't forget space sharks.  Who doesn't like space sharks?  Best line of the month: "Nay.  The time for words has past.  Now we let the hammers talk."

10. The Wake 1 - And now we get to one of the month's new books.  This is

something I thought for a time there might not be any longer - a new Vertigo title.  Granted, it's a 10 issue series, but still.  Scott Snyder as writer is the obvious draw.  In fact, Snyder is a much better reason to read this than the previews that have been running in Vertigo titles this month.  The preview doesn't present any of what is the main story line in this issue.  That line is far more interesting than the high seas future that's in the preview and comprises the first several pages of this issue.  The rest of the issue is about gathering a team to resolve a problem Homeland Security has.  I did find the view of Homeland Security as some bottomless pit of money, oil explorer, and high fashion bastion highly amusing.  The only real drawback, though, was that seeing Sean Murphy's art just made me miss American Vampire.

11. Damsels: Mermaids 1 - This was one of the books that was the result of a successful FCBD promotion.  Despite the cover this is no T&A book.  Or T&F in this case.  There's a very good fantasy story here, written by Matt Sturges with art by Jean Paul Deshong.  A depressed mermaid and a deposed prince become companions and allies and set off on adventure.  Wizards and goblins appear at different points.  I like our lead characters already, so I'm going to see where this goes.

12. Memorial: Imaginary Friends 3 - Thus concludes a brief story in the Memorial 'verse.  I don't think the story forwarded the larger quest that M is on, but it was a nice little story all the same. 

13. The Bounce 1 - Because I'm enjoying Sex I decided to give this Casey title a look, too.  It has some similarity to Sex in that it's a superhero world that works off the Big Two premises but takes things in a different, unfettered direction.  There's no retired hero here.  This one is more Spider-man-esque with his banter and quick movements.  There's some grand conspiracy going on with some dude who eats small lizards whole guiding things, if not in charge.  An interesting start.

14. Ten Grand 1 - This was the Jim recommendation I tried.  A good recommendation, too.  I may actually come off my reluctance to read JMS penned singles if this book continues at its level of quality and comes out with some regularity.  Ben Templesmith's art doesn't hurt matters, either.  A veteran hit man who charges $10k for each job and who is taking jobs to redeem himself to one day be with his dead girlfriend is an intriguing premise.

15. Neozoic: Trader's Gambit 1 - It's been years since the original Neozoic came out.  It was a great book, and it did at least conclude its opening arc, but there was clearly a lot more to tell.  This issue is jumping on where the original left off.  It's planned for 4 issues and is starting off well.  I just hope there isn't such a long gap to the next arc after this one.

16. Bodie Troll 1 - Red 5 has more on my list this month than it has ever had.  This is another FCBD promotion success, as this 4 issue series is going to be a lot of all ages fun.  Can a too cute troll overcome the limitations of his appearance to become a scary troll?  Probably not because his personality matches his appearance.  Bring on the floor rolled roots for lunch!

17. The Shadow: Year One 3 - Dynamite's making a good showing this month, too.  Doesn't hurt to have Matt Wagner writing a book for you.  Dr Zorn looks like the opposite number to The Shadow.  The funny thing is that the name seems like an actual name rather than a nom du guerre.  If you like good girl art, check out the covers for the next issue, too.

18.  The Massive 11 & 12 - I'm not sure how I ended up with two issues this month.  Then again, I don't know how environmental distress brings the return of a Megalodon, either.  Issue 11 featured the ongoing search for The Massive but with Mary handing the reins of Cal's captaincy to Lars in anticipation of Cal's demise.  Something of a land shark moment in the book, too.  Stretch credibility a bit.  Issue 12 has more of a mental demise than physical for Cal.  It also shows some of Cal's origin, all while the Kapital is stuck in polar ice.  Mary may have made Lars captain but she's in charge now.

19. Dark Horse Presents 24 - Blackout is previewed this issue.  It's a beautiful book with a good hero premise.  Alabaster, Bloodhound, King's Road, Nexus, and Brain Boy all continue, too.  The most interesting thing for me, though, was the return of Ron Randall's Trekker.  I have the original issues from back in the '80s, when black and white was the thing.  I thnk Randall's writing and art have both improved in the intervening decades.  It's good to see Mercy St Clair back again.

20. Batwoman 20 - Ah, a truly comic book superhero, or in this case supervillain, return to life.  I'll let the magic sarcophagus bit go because I want to see more about Alice, but it's this kind of thing that makes superhero stories so impermanent.

The List - FCBD Special Edition

My son went along with me to FCBD this year.  Cards, Comics and Collectibles in Reisterstown made a real event of it, having a local radio station broadcast from there for some time and having several creators in to sign autographs.  I'm not a big autographs guy, and I already buy things very regularly, so for me it was just a foray for the free books.  While my son only got a Sonic the Hedgehog book I found several things of interest and a few that were just a flier.  Here's how they stacked up.

1. Mouse Guard/Rust - A new story by David Petersen is always going to do well with me, even if it's half of a free book.  Archaia did the old trick of printing half the book upside down, relative to the other, to separate its two stories, aka a flip book.  The other story was Rust by Royden Lepp.  I don't know anything about Rust but it was a nice self contained story about a world with at least one functional jet pack and a dilapidated robot.  It was more about the relationship of two kids with a somewhat suspect older kid.  The Mouse Guard story was a fable of sorts about a perfect woman's search for a husband.  It was both a warning to its listener and a celebration of love and persistence.  There were a few shorter stories, too.  One was Jim Henson's Labyrinth, which didn't do much for me, while the other two were Flip and Bolivar, both of which I enjoyed for their child centered insights.

The List - April 2013

The paring down of less than adequate reads means that, outside the top ten, the books are largely on par with one another.  Only the last one was particularly disappointing, though even that disappointment has to be tempered with the expectation that it wouldn't amount to much.  Anyway, short story is that all these books but one are quite good.

1. Invincible 102 - As much as I just went on about disappointment, albeit expected, I was suprised in a very pleasant way with this one.  In fact, this issue of Kirkman, Ottley, Rathburn, and Rauch's long running story is far more significant than the events of milestone issue 100.  I totally did not expect what happened here.  I'll not reveal anything, but this really did have an event that will alter the course of the book.  Of course, unlike the Big Two there won't be a revision a few years down the road that makes it all go away, unless Kirkman suddenly drops dead.  And for those of you into that sort of thing, lots of gore in the fight in this issue.

2. Saga 12 - It makes sense to keep the artist up to speed, but it's still a little

deflating when Saga reaches another hiatus.  It's worth it because it means no substituting another artist for Fiona Staples.  Doesn't mean I like it, though.  With the cliff hanger we got from this arc to the next I'm particularly eager for the hiatus to end, too.  Seriously, if you're not reading this, get on board.  If you think of it like a novel, which it is, you're only 2 chapters in.  You can get those and get right up to speed.  Funny how we had a minor controversy about the gay sex in the last issue but there's nothing about the exploding head this go round. 

3. The Unwritten 48 - Lots of good back story this issue.  Pauly Bruckner, foul mouthed ruler of a hell, finally learns how he ended up a rabbit in a children's book.  Heh.  Not that he believes it.  Pauly sure is good for some amusement, so long as you're not on the receiving end of one of his disjointed diatribes and attendant violence.  Better yet, we have the return of two very important and interesting characters from the book's original story run about Leviathan.  Next issue should be very interesting indeed.

4. Fairest 14 - This was a stand alone issue about Reynard's attempt to date a

dryad.  Willingham wrote this one, with Barry Kitson doing the art, so it's as good as you might expect.  I love the little things you don't usually think about in inter-species romance.  Can someone overcome revulsion at the object of affection's diet?  What kind of breath is too bad for smooching?  Is a fox really that picky, considering what it'll eat?  And, being in the great tradition of its progenitor, Fables, this stand alone issue also has some hints of future larger machinations in the Fables world.

5. Wonder Woman 19 - Hmm.  Orion's face.  A bit of his heritage showing through, there.  No Cliff Chiang art this issue, but Goran Suzuka and Tony Adkins do a good job filling the gap.  They maintain similar lines to what Chiang does so it's not a jarring difference.  Anyway, the story is a little light on action.  Lots of talking about what to name the baby, Orion storming out, Lennox taking his leave, Apollo trying to save his own butt from the baby, and First Born being re-directed from his attack on Poseiden, and likely Hades, to Apollo, Diana, or both.  No one beats pagan gods for political infighting.  The gatefold cover was unnecessary, but ok.  At least it accuratey represented things that occurred inside, albeit out of order.

6. Todd: The Ugliest Kid on Earth 4 - Todd gets a sister.  A sister who also

wears a bag on her head.  The funniest visit to a world of total disfunction you're likely to read any time soon.  Quote of the month, too.
Todd: "Lost loved ones should be kept alive in your heart with cherished memories." (quoting Buddha about dead people)
Teacher: No, Todd.  Don't be racist.  Buddha may have been a bald fatty, but he was wise.  He said, "Push dead people out of your mind and replace them with alive people." 
I'm sure that's just how it went.

7. The Walking Dead 109 - Cool.  Maggie and Sophia.  Haven't seem them since you-know-who died in 100.  But, man, they're not in a good place.  Gregory is creepy and weak.  Kal appears to be a mole for Negan.  Looks like this bunch is going to be the death of the plan to take out Negan.  Then again, Kirkman and twist, you know.  Definitely some big confrontation on the horizon, one way or another.

9. Thor: God of Thunder 7 - God Bomb.  Not just a
name.  Not just a potent drink.  Shadrak the mentally broken god of some forgotten world is god of bombs.  Gorr wants to kill all the gods.  Not a good combination for present Thor and future Thor as they seek to confront Gorr, of course not knowing that past Thor is Gorr's prisoner.  Man, all that time stuff.  It's only going to get worse when all 3 are together fighting Gorr at the same time.  Aaron's going ot have to work to keep this from being a total chronal cluster, but I'm enjoying to so far.

10. Sex 2 - Blase stroll through orgy room.  These are some very jaded iterations of Batman and Catwoman.  The hints of what's happening in the larger plot continue.  I hope it picks up pace a bit soon, though.  Aside from shooting out a motorcycle there's not a lot of action.  Well, there's a lot of action if you consider a naked chick awaiting our hero at his penthouse, but since he sent her on her way without partaking, it's not really much action there.  Clearly I'm doing something wrong in my life that I don't have this many good looking naked people around as a regular occurrence.  Or maybe it's something wrong in his life that he does have that but doesn't appreciate it.

11. Fables 128 - You know it's a quality month for books when Fables

doesn't make the top ten.  It's not like this was a bad issue.  And the cover's really good, hence the bonus outside the top ten.  It didn't move things forward as much as I'd like, but that's mostly because I'm eagerly anticipating the eventual demise of Brandish.  He's an irritating tool.  Makes me nostalgic for Mister Dark.  Bigby gets his ass handed to him quite a bit fighting Brandish this issue, which is a bit unusual.  Fortunately, it looks like Snow is going to put an end to it next issue.

12. Atomic Robo Presents Real Science Adventures 7 - This was a surprise to me.  First, I thought the original 6 issue limited series was all there would be.  Second, where the original issues were a collection of short stories, some running over multiple issues, this is just one story.  I guess it's because it's about Tesla rather than Robo that it's not part of the regular Atomic Robo book.  Anyway, it's good.  Clevinger is writing with Erica Henderson on art.  It's a story of an attack on Tesla before he made Robo.  Westinghouse and Edison are featured prominently but there's a new crew of derring do that arrives at the end.

13. Mara 4 - Something Jim wrote had me thinking this was the last issue of this book, but it has 2 more issues, at least as planned so far.  It's picked up more in this issue and the last, so I'm hoping for a fast and furious finish over the next two.  Mara's fled her military handlers and is appearing quite the superwoman by the time we reach the end of this issue.

14. Dia de los Muertos 2 - Once again, a nice collection of short stories centered arround the holiday with all of the art by Riley Rossmo.  I was particularly impressed with the first story, Mine, by Joshua Williamson.  It appeared to be one thing then became something radically different, all seamlessly and logically.  Nifty.  Just as nifty, Rossmo's art style changes in each of the three stories.  You can see some common elements, but he plays with how he's presenting the stories to fit the tennor of each. 

15. The Black Beetle 3 - Still a beauty to behold with a good, tight script.  My noir choice right now.

16. Thief of Thieves 13 - A little weird that this is ending an arc and a new writer is coming in because the arc doesn't really end.  Sure Augustus's girlfriend is rescued but that's a minor thing compared to what's going on with the new villain who's so bad ass he scares his underling into killing himself rather than delivering news of a failure.  Whatever happens next with that, at some point in the near future the pursuing agent has to either meet with some success or get canned because the way things are going with her this is turning into Perry Mason or The Fugitive (TV version).

17. Batwoman 19 - The pretty of the art on this book is bringing it further up the List than it might otherwise be.  Twists and turns in the plot boil down to Kate being driven from her family by the DEO and being forced to try to capture Batman, which we know isn't going to go well.  At least we may see Beth again next issue.

18. Miniature Jesus 1 - Well, that was a bit trippy.  Any or all of this could all be in one man's disturbed head.  It's nice to look at and is moving along well but I'm going to need more story before I can tell whether it's any good.  Fun so far, though.

19. Jupiter's Legacy 1 - Another new book that needs room to grow before I can render judgment.  It looks great with Quitely's art, but I've seen this generational conflict among super powers other times, so I need something to keep my interest.  Right now Millar hasn't provided that hook, and I certainly hope the hook is something more than a bunch of blood and gore.  That's not new, either.

20. Dark Horse Presents 23 - A lot of new stories this go round.  Bloodhound: Plain Sight by Dany Jolley & Leonard Kirk, Brain Boy by Fred Van Lente and Freddie Williams II, King's Road: The Long Way Home by Peter Hogan and Phil Winslade, and Nexus: Into the Past by Mike Baron and Steve Rude are all starting new stories.  There's a couple of stand alones, three third chapters and one fourth chapter, too.  Eden by Jim Alexander and John Higgins was particularly good, though its modus operandi was a bit suspect if thought about too long.

21. The Shadow: Year One 2 - Well, Cranston has devised his now famous costume, though not taken the name The Shadow, yet.  I suppose that'll be next issue.  It's a good story but I found the Black Beetle to be the more interesting noir story this month.

22. Memorial: Imaginary Friends 1-2 - I missed the first issue last month so we get two this month.  Em and friends are now involved with a family whose daughter has disappeared into one of the other lands.  Seems there's a family history of being able to contact these other realms.  Looks good so far, but again a bit early in the narrative to say how good.

23. Before Watchmen: The Comedian 6 - Well, I have to say it ended quite well.  Where Rorschach didn't develop anything new about the character, in my opinion, this book brought to light a lot that explains why Blake was the way he was in Watchmen.  It should keep conspiracy theorists happy for years.

24. Saucer Country 14 - I'll re-read all 14 issues sometime in the near future, but my feeling coming out of this concluding issue is that not only did this book not go as long as intended, it didn't come close to resolving any of its story.  Arcadia is elected president, giving her access to all the government secrets on aliens.  Well, we're not knowing any of those secrets.  The only thing that resolved in the 14 issues was that the professor was being conned using some sophisticated tech and a couple of naked actors.  Arcadia and her ex being kidnapped by aliens at some point is still an unresolved thread.  Kind of hard to believe, considering how heavy the book has been on exposition over action.

The List - March 2013

Another month ends, another List rises from the depths.  End of the line for two books this month, and nearly there for a third.

1. Saga 11 - I can't think of a reason not to read this, unless you automatically write off books with sex and violence.  That's a shame if you do, because you're missing the most alive characters in comics.  Starting with the conception (or at least implying that it's starting with the conception) of book narrator Hazel and running through Marko's father's death, the book touches so deftly on how we experience these major moments in life, even in the extraordinary circumstance of fleeing persecution for breaking a society's taboos.  These people with horns growing out of their heads or wings out of their backs are so much like people we might know it's as though this is a non-fiction narrative instead of sci-fi.  Marko's memories of his childhood with his father are touching while Marko and Alana having sex is not only aluring it's also very real in the post coital worries.  Oh, and best quote of the month: "The giant evil space fetus just shot black goo from its eyes!"

2. The Walking Dead 108 - For all those who've complained that Negan

is just a repeat of the Governor, time to bring your mea culpas.  He's a whole other kind of crazy, and this story line that Kirkman, Adlard and Rathburn have developed is totally different from the Woodbury story.  There are now a minimum of three large communities in the area surrounding DC's remains, with Negan controling the others largely becausse they didn't know where his community was, as well as his brutality.  With Ezekiel's Kingdom and the Hilltop added to the community Rick leads, we're looking at a conflict of shifting alliances.  It's European History through World War II on a smaller scale.  Should be lots of opportunities for great stories there.

3. Todd: The Ugliest Kid on Earth 3 - Still hilarious.  And, no, he's not

from the old DC multiverse Earth 3, despite how it looks there.  Todd doesn't actually appear in a lot of this issue.  We have more with his mother and father, each off on her or his own shenanigans, and the chief of police who inadvertently tracks down the actual serial killer, ensuring fulfillment of his long held desire to be TV famous.  Todd does get invited to his first blanket party, though.  It's always nice when a kid gets invited to a party, especially when he's spending his first days in jail.

4. Fables 127 - Man, I so cannot wait until Brandish gets his comeuppance.  In the meantime it's nice to have a reappearance of Ghost.  Good thing Snow didn't let him kill Brandish.  Wouldn't want to have lost Snow.  Now that Snow's firmly painted into a box she can't escape and Bigby's arrived to tear Brandish a new one, I'm sure we'll have an unexpected resolution to the problem.  Also anticipating Beast's nifty plan to escape the clutches of the Blue Fairy.  Doesn't seem like Geppetto's going to like the plan much.

5. Invincible 101 - Ah, jocularity.  Love the deceptive cover "1st Issue"

display.  Looks like Robot is overcompensating for his own actions in the Flaxan dimension when he attacks Mark for having worked with Dinosaurus, too.  Super powered midwife says Eve has to stop using her powers while she's pregnant?  Yeah, that's probably not going to happen.  On the whole this was an intermediate issue, wrapping up the big events from 100 and leading into what's going to be a nice, kick-ass fight between Thragg (Viltrumite Freddie Mercury) and Nolan.

6. Sex 1 - I hadn't originally bought this when it came out but fortunately I actually read Jim's reviews of what he's bought each week as he singlehandedly attempts to keep the industry afloat.  His review of Joe Casey's and Piotr Kowalski's new book intrigued me.  This is definitely a skewed view of superheroes, at least from the traditional paragon perspective.  Probably not so skewed today.  I'm not sure what the big upset is in some circles about lesbian superhero sex.  For one, the women having sex weren't superheroes.  They were dressed as superheroes for the titilation of the man who paid to watch them.  Adventures in Saturn City should be interesting.

7. Wonder Woman 18 - Clearly the best book DC is publishing these

days, Lee's wistful desire to revert to books of 25 years ago notwithstanding.  The third arc in the book concludes with this issue.  Diana fails to recover her infant half sibling from Demeter after a great fight with Hermes.  She's fortunate to have Orion come to her aid in that fight, but her training by Ares when she was a kid shines through in defeating Hermes.  Still, Ares beat her to the punch in recovering the child, which should give her pause, considering his disdain for all these affairs up to this point.  I think First Born needs a real name, too.  It's a bit awkward for Poseiden to keep calling him that when they're fighting.  Second best quote of the month, from Orion: "I'm just saying.  It'll be easier on me if I have to destroy a boy baby rather than a girl baby."

8. Thor: God of Thunder 6 - I can't bring myself to write the numbering of this book as 006, as Marvel insists on doing.  Are they trying to evoke Bond?  Are they saying the book won't make it to 1000 issues?  What book has?  Anyway, it's a distraction, whatever its intent.  This issue gave us Gorr's origin.  That was fairly pedestrian.  More interesting was Volstagg's presentation of a logical conundrum to Gorr.  Gorr's goal is to kill all gods because his society's own gods let him down.  That's a bit of a twist on those who become atheists because they're disappointed in God, but different and ultimately futile, as Volstagg reveals.  By killing all the gods, and becoming an immortal himself in the doing, Gorr has become a god himself.  Hmm.  From the persective of some, it can be argued an atheist does the same.  Lots of fun philosophy in this book.

9. Fairest 13 - Rapunzel's saga comes to its conclusion.  It's a more

peaceable solution than expected.  All the major players actually survive, despite the spirited, bullet and sword filled fight.  This arc really did make Rapunzel an interesting character, particularly with her relationship to Totenkinder.  I'm hoping she'll show up again in the post Empire world to possibly resolve her loves and losses.  I must say, this arc affirmed for me that Jack is much better as a supporting character than he was as a lead in his own book.  He's just too shallow, and should stay that way, to be a lead for long.

10. The Unwritten 47 - Hades ruled by our favorite homicidal rabbit is a capricious place.  It would be far more dangerous for Tom if he had his memory and Paulie knew who he is.  Amnesia has a benefit here.  I rather liked the confusion of the minions of Hades who aren't quite sure what to do because Tom is alive and they can't kill him if he refuses to do what they order.  Obviously the masked minion who leads Tom to the surprise resident of Hades at the end isn't one of the minions, though.

11. Dark Horse Presents 22 - This book remains an intimidating buy at

$8 an issue, but it also remains worth the bang of the buck.  This issue has very amusing stories by Kel McDonald, Shannon Wheeler, and Steve Moncuse that are one offs, as well as an interview with Geof Darrow (by Mike Richardson, who interviews himself almost as much as he does Darrow), and a very interesting alternate history story about Gen. Custer by Howard Chaykin.  That doesn't even include the ongoing chapters of stories by Caitlin Kiernan, Michael Avon Oeming, Geoffrey Thorne, and Denis Medri.  The Darrow cover was good enough to give this month a bonus cover in the List, too.

12. Batwoman 18 - We're deep into tricks and double tricks now, as Batwoman is firmly in the grasp of the DEO, deeper even than Hawkfire knows.  I'm not too certain on how much I'll keep going, especially without Williams doing the art for this one.  Trevor McCarthy is good, and he uses a lot of the Williams layout style, but he's not quite there.  The plotting was interesting in having a DEO agent in Batwoman's ear while Kane's dad was in Hawkfire's ear, without either knowing what the other was saying.

13. Mara 3 - Wood has this story moving much better now and it's starting to move up on the List.  I'm starting to like our eponymous hero and want to know where her nascent powers are going to take the story.

14. The Massive 10 - The other Brian Wood entry, and the older one.  It's taken longer to get to a point where I want to know what's happening next issue.  A mutiny is definitely an attention grabber.

15. Joe Kubert Presents 6 - The final issue in this anthology mini-series, I particularly like the ending to Spit.  It's so Kubert.  A friend caught a glance of it and commented just how alive the art is.  I used to love his Kamandi stories, but the one he co-wrote with Brandon Vietti is lacking because Vietti is the artist rather than Kubert.  It's not bad art.  It's just on Kubert.  I'm not so sure about the story, either.  The anthropomorphic animals are a product of Etrigan's demon sorcery?  I like a sci-fi explanation for Kamandi's world better.

16. Dia de los Muertos 1 - This one is thanks to Lee for taking note of an upcoming issue when we were reviewing the Image previews.  I've liked Rossmo's art since his work on Proof, so I gave this a look.  The three stories are unrelated but for adhering to the Dia de los Muertos theme.  All are a joy to read.

17. Before Watchmen: Rorschach 4 - This was probably the most disappointing of the minis that I bought in the Before Watchmen milieu.  The art by Bermejo is beautiful and Azzarello's scripting is appropriately gritty, but the plot didn't reveal anything new about Rorschach's character that we didn't already know from Watchmen.  I'm afraid the Comedian book is facing the same problem, but we'll see how it concludes.

18. Saucer Country 13 - I'm torn by this issue.  On the one hand, I think we have way too much of the Professor and not enough of the Governor, who's supposed to be the central character of the book.  On the other hand, we finally find out how it is the Professor is seeing Man/Woman.  I guess the final issue next month will tell us why they were leading him around by the nose.

19. Swamp Thing 18/Animal Man 18 - SPOILERS - Just in case anyone was actually reading this other than me and Jim, Abby is the avatar of the Rot now.  Not a megalomaniacal avatar like her uncle Anton, but an avatar dedicated to balance between the Rot, the Red and the Green.  That's the big change that we sat through 18 issues to reach.  Meh.  In the other side of this Buddy's son Cliff is killed by the Arcane brat.  He was always a third wheel of sorts, so who cares?  Both books smack of the editorial control that Jim and Shawn bemoaned last week.  I'm done with both books now.

The List - February 2013

List time again.  Our usual suspects and a few new things.

1. Mouse Guard: The Black Axe 6 - The conclusion of this latest Mouse Guard installment was as excellent as expected.  David Petersen has the rare ability to have months pass between issue and yet telling a sufficiently engaging stroy that I remember what was happening that last time an issue was out.  As to the story itself, I suppose its resolution isn't unexpeced.  The search for the Black Axe and the subsequent search for a worthy bearer of the axe resulted in the wielder I expected.  That doesn't matter.  The journey is so well told an expected result is far from disappointing.  Of course, Petersen's art and lettering are thoroughly evocative of the Middle Ages for our protagonist anthropomorphic mice so that it's easy to fall back into the story, too.

2. Todd: The Ugliest Kid on Earth 2 - Danny Trejo!  Like this book wasn't great enough, Trejo is the basis of Caesar, the inmate who Todd meets during his incarceration awaiting trial as a serial killer.  Naturally, Todd, now that he's infamous, has groupies who love him and want to have sex with him.  Nevermind that he's an elementary age kid.  A little homage to the Shawshank Redemption, too.  Now, I haven't done best quote in some time, what with the demise of Secret Six, but Todd's got some great ones, so here we are: "As the good book teaches - elimination of engrams from my thetan core made my breasts larger and my vagina smaller."  Ah, parody.  Love it.

3. Saga 10 - Marko and Alana's romance back story shows the power of reading, whether it's a good book or not.  Good to see Izabel back in our present storyline, too.  No surprise she's more than a little peeved at Marko's mom.  Apparently Alana's culture teaches about the finer points of infant umbilical cords just as much as our own culture, given her lack of knowledge about the matter.  Best of all, though, the planetary sized infant is called a Timesuck.  Vaughan has some great language in this book, creating a lot of new terms for his sci-fi denizens but grounding them in the vulgar of our own daily language.  Easily relatable, just like his characters and the wonderful art by Staples.  Sure hope Lying Cat is ok.

4. Fairest 12 - And now a run of myths and fables based books.  Rapunzel's story is weirder than I thought.  Her children are bezoars.  Nasty.  On the other hand, I love the guards at the Hidden Kingdom Fables tower in Tokyo.  They look straight out of a '70s kung fu movie.  Good back story on Tomoko and Katagiri splitting the Japanese Fables community after their exile due to the Empire's invasion.  And now it's a civil war.