What I'm Getting Wednesday

I always make a list of what I'm getting to make sure I don't miss picking up something and also to try and check out an independent book that may have escaped my notice.

DC this week has 52 which is at the halfway point. I have to give DC a hell of a lot of credit for making this book a reality. Also this book has become really interesting again. My biggest problem is that so many ideas are being floated and how many will actually have a chance to flourish. Time will tell.

Adam Strange Archives Volume #2. This was one of the all time great series from the Silver Age. Adam Strange is just a regular guy who happens to transport to the planet Rann via a Zeta-beam and has to figure out how to defeat some new menace every time. He was called the thinking man's hero and I think the book still holds up very well.

Then we have Atom - a good slightly odd ball series with Gail Simone as writer. American Virgin a decidedly offbeat (even for Vertigo) book that is tracking the trials of a young evangelical man who has vowed to stay a virgin until marriage. His girl friend was murdered and he is now tracking the killer and it has taken him to the underside of society. Battle Britton, a nice mini-series about WWII by Garth Ennis. Blue Beetle which is an okay series that is tracking the adventures of the newest Blue Beetle. Detective Comics, which is now a consistently solid book.

Exterminators is out a solid Vertigo series about bugs and other things. Jonah Hex, which begins an origin story of Hex, a great western series. JLA the relaunch, which while a pretty book, it has yet to pull me into the story. I have a feeling it maybe 12 issues before the team ever actually has a meeting. Midnight, the Authority ultra powerful killer and gay lover of Apollo is getting his own title, no expectations going in on this one. Mystery in Space which is a great mini-series by Jim Starlin and friends focusing on Captain Comet. Nightwing, issue #2 by Marv Wolfman, Other Side the second issue in the Vertigo series that is looking at a soldier from either side of the Viet Nam War and working towards their inevitable meeting. Outsiders the team title by Winick. Seven Soldiers #1 - the end of Morrison's magnus opus makes it to the rest of the country. Supergirl and the Legion, another book that we should have had last week and a really well done version of the Legion. Superman Confidential starts by Cooke and Sale, which I have high hopes for and maybe causing me to look forward to three Superman books a month.

Marvel has Agents of Atlas, a terrific mini-series by Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk which I'm sure no one else is getting, but everyone should be getting. Avengers Next, the M2Universe, I believe, which I have low expectations for, but it is a version of the Marvel Universe where we have next generation heroes (which I would want, but I want the whole line to go that way and the top creators on those books). Fantastic Four The End, Alan Davis' mini-series on the last days of the FF, usually I skip these series, but I love Alan Davis' artwork. Hulk, continuing on with his adventures on another world, Ant-Man, issue #2 and already planning on dropping this book, She-Hulk, fun series by Dan Slott, Uncanny X-Men a so-so version by Ed Brubaker and company. I may get What If Avengers Disassembled because Jeff Parker is writing and I have really enjoyed a lot of his work.

Also on the independent front we have Fallen Angel, Peter David's continuing story of a Fallen Angel, good solid book. Local a terrific series by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly from Oni press, this is a really nice book and I would encourage anyone to pick it up and check it out. Finally Wormwood Gentleman Corpse by Ben Templesmith, the twisted series that is half humor, half horror and just a bizarre masterpiece. Ben's artwork really shines and the story makes me worried about how he comes up with his ideas. This week I also may pick up Nightly News, but I have to see what it is at the store before I decide.