What I'm Getting Wednesday

In a shocking, for me, turn of events the last week of the month is a lighter (relatively speaking) week for me. Normally the end of the month is crushing, but not this month. Still it contains more then enough. Last week’s highlight was the Justice Society of America #4 and Brave and Bold #2, both beautifully executed books.

Today I read a sad piece of news from Newsarama that Marshall Rogers died over the week-end and he was only 57. His run on Batman with Steve Englehart was one of the most memorable runs ever done on Batman and it is a shame that he died so young.

52 Week #47 – This book has really gotten hot and is right now one of the better books on the stand. Last issue's story of Black Adam charging the mad scientist island was just really cool and fun in an over the top comic book way. The build up to WWIII has been exciting comics.

Action #847 - A total fill-in issue while we wait for whomever has slowed the progress of this book down. The lateness and fill-in issues are really slowing down my enthusiasm for the regular Superman books (Action and Superman).

Batman #664 - Back to the Grant Morrison Adam Kubert run on this book. I have had mixed feeling as the Grant Morrison's tenure on this book, but I know he can turn out a monthly comic and I think DC should do what Marvel did on his X-Men run and just give two or three artists the job and let Morrison loose. This is another book where the fill-in (while well done) interrupts the flow of the book too much for my taste.

Blue Beetle #13 - The alien owners of the armour are coming back to Earth and only Jamie (The Blue Beetle) can see them. This maybe sacrilegious to some people, but the new Blue Beetle is more fun then Ted Kord ever was as a solo character. I'm really enjoying this book and think it has been a real bright spot in the DCU. It is a solid third generation book.

Catwoman #65 - Continuing Selina's theft from Lexcorp. Last issue we saw Lex himself show up at the end, so how she gets out of this and is it really Lex has yet to be determined. Will Pfeifer has quietly put together a terrific run on this book.

Connor Hawke : Dragon's Blood #5 (of 6) - Chuck (Action) Dixon is delivering another stellar story. Connor has to make the impossible shot to beat the dragon this issue.

Crossing Midnight #5 - Part 2 of "Cut Here." During the conflict with Lord Aratsu, the twins' father Yasuo has been alternately absentee, distracted and anxious. Now, in his effort to save Toshi, Kai will be brought face-to-face with his father's deadly secret as well as the extreme world of urban violence and yakuza treachery. - I lifted DC's hype verbatim. This is a book every one should be reading, it is really that good.

Fables #59 - A fun idea for this issue, this issue is a series of short stories cleaning up some open questions and dangling plot lines. Sounds like it could be a nice little issue.

Firestorm #34 - This is working towards the last issue of Firestorm (which is issue #35). The Female Furies are the bad guys in this book and they have always bored me a little.


Green Lantern #18 - Besides Star Sapphire being in a porn costume, this book has really come back into its own and is a really solid series again. I felt it has floundered for awhile in establishing a direction, but the book feels like it has an idea of where it is going now. We do need a few one and done issue and more focus on Hal and the cast, but it has gotten a lot better.

Hawkgirl #62 - Appears as the critter from last issue has turned Hawkgirl into a giant transformer type robot. This book is supposed to be cancelled and it is a shame as the re-launch 5 years ago really had a good thing going when it was Hawkman and Hawkgirl. This book totally lost its direction and was essentially ruined by dragging Hawkman and her into the Rann-Thangar War.

JSA CLassified #24 - Part 2 of the Dr. Midnight arc. This was an okay book last issue, but the artist is inconsistent and the artist drew some really funky panels, but I love Dr. Midnight so I'm really looking forward to this book.

Superman Confidential #4 - Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale doing the origin of Kryptonite. LOVE this book and can't wait. A really nice take on the early years of Superman.

Wetworks #7 - This book has grown on me and I'm enjoying the long battle between Vascar and his Vampires versus the Wetworks team.

Wonder Woman #6 - Written by Jodi Picoult, yes a new writer is being brought in and hopefully she can make Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman again. The mess that she has been left by one of the worse re-launches of a major character ever is certainly daunting, but I have hope. Of course it would be really hard be any worse.

Daredevil #95 - Okay now we begin Daredevil's new status quo and I'm interested to see how his status as a non-registered hero is going to play in Marvel's post Civil War world.

Fantastic Four #544 - I was so looking forward to Dwayne McDuffie's run and now it looks like it will be totally tied into Black Panther's book and it has put me off my hopes on this book. I hope I can read FF on its own and not have to bother with Black Panther or I will just drop FF again.

Heroes for Hire #8 - Zeb Wells is coming on as writer and hopefully he will eliminate Humbug as a member of the group, still my initial love for this book has already dimmed and I'm close to dropping this book also.

Marvel Masterworks : Golden Age USA - Marvel proudly presents more Golden Age goodness, collecting issues #1-4 of USA COMICS from 1941. The Defender! Major Liberty! Rockman! Rusty! The original Young Avenger! The origins of the Whizzer, Jack Frost and the Vagabond! Captain Terror turns back a deadly Nazi undersea invasion! Stan “The Man” himself chronicles the historic first meeting of the USA heroes! This hardcover collection remasters and restores these early adventures, some reprinted for the very first time! - I lifted Marvel's hype for this book to give you an idea of the really obscure stuff that is included in this book. To be honest I don't really know if it is worth it or not and I will probably not read it until years later, but what the heck.

Silent Wars #3 (of 6) - The continuing sage of the Inhumans and Pietro doesn't seem to fit into any Marvel continuity, but is has been a good little series.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #40 - Really enjoyed last issue and looking forward to part 2 of the FF versus the Ultimate Diablo.

Ultimate Spider-Man #107 - Now that we are past the clone saga, I'm back to enjoying this book and find that the personal character bits are my favorite part of this book. Last issue when Peter had decided to break up with Kitty and then she shows up in his school was priceless.

Unique #1 (of 3) - Dean Motter tells a tale of a one man who is a "unique". A "unique" is a rare individual who does not have a doppelganger in the nocturnal version of our world. A cabal of sinister individuals need uniques to affect events in either world and only uniques can make that happen. This is about one such innocent who gets dragged into a conspiracy. This story is also being developed as a movie by Touchstone Pictures. Which means they are underwriting their work on doing a storyboard, but as long as it is well executed, that's okay by me.


Grendel Devil by the Deed HC - A collection of Matt Wagner's first Grendel work that was done as back-ups in the Mage book. Only 48 pages, but the Grendel work is so cool, that I hope this is just the start of hard cover collections of the Grendel work.

Snakewoman #9 - Snakewoman continues to countdown the 68. She has 60 left to kill. A really nice book.

Also hopefully Heroes by Night #1 will make it to my store this week as it never did last week. As I said a small week based on the last 3 weeks, so I have time to do even more of my real job at home (oh joy!).