What I'm Getting Wednesday

Given the brutal killings that occurred at Virginia Tech today, I realize all of this is so trivial, but for myself I find it as a way of trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy in a world that has gone mad. It also strikes me as how much of a different world view one must have when you live in a country like Iraq is at the moment, when the number of dead from random attacks are daily what we only have to try and rationalize on an occasional basis.

This is no segue from that. Small side note attended a small gathering of comic art collectors as Lee's guest. Wow, was that a blast to see the art that these collectors have put together. Mickey was one such collector and he is a Legion fanatic to the nth degree and owns around 1,000 pages of Legion art. He didn't have of it with him, but it was fun seeing at least 100 pages of it, Kitson, Immonen and Giffen, great stuff.

52 #50 - World War III is here. I like that while we have four additional chapters tacked onto 52, that we have a big event over and done in one week.

World War III Part1, 2, 3 & 4 - The four additional chapters to WWIII in 52. Looking forward to reading these books.

Aquaman #51 - Will Tad Williams and Shawn McManus lose more readers or will anyone care anymore. I thought the transition was a little rough and I was being kind compared to most. I think McManus's style is almost an animated style and too light for what we have come to expect from this book. Still I don't know how long this book will last now.

Army @ Love #2 - The first issue was Rick Veitch at his subversive best, I hope issue #2 can maintain what # 1 delivered. I think this book might be a limited concept.

Birds of Prey #105 - The Birds of Prey versus the Secret Six. I know Gail had to let go of something to write Wonder Woman, but I hated to see her leave this book so soon. Still this issue should be a blast.

Brave & Bold #3 - Batman and Blue Beetle versus the Fatal Five. Just typing the words make me want to read this issue. Mark Waid and George Perez are doing a great job with this book.

Flash #11 - I'm now enjoying this book with the new writer. This issue the Rogues are all gathering against the Flash. Last issue we saw Iris West seemed to be the main villain. When your grandmother is trying to get you, life sucks.

Hellblazer #231 - In one issue Andy Diggle took over this book and made it his own. I think Diggle's run could be a really great run on this book.

JLA #8 - The beginning of the JSA/JLA cross-over. The yearly cross-overs between these teams were some of my favorite all time stories, so I look forward to this cross-over and hope it delivers at least some of the greatness of those early cross-overs. It was more fun when they were on separate Earths.

Manhunter #30 - What was to be the series finale, but Manhunter has again been granted a reprieve and will be back with an issue #31 at some point. Good solid series, glad that it is continuing.

Nightwing Annual - The answer to why Dick and Babs did not get married. No answer will satisfy me and I wish they would retro-con that Dick never wore the short pants. I want to retro-con some of my looks over the years also.

Robin #161 - The street gangs are super charged on a new drug and Robin is getting his ass kicked. Adam Beechen really makes this a rock solid series.

Superman/Batman #34 - The Metal Men and art by Pat Lee (whose art has never been impressive). A big - eh - I don't know.
Shadowpact #112 - Will Jim Rook (Nightmaster) survive. Enchantress is the only thing keeping him alive. When you are a minor character death could actually occur, I hope he lives (I mean he has a great first name).

Showcase Superman Volume #3 - More great Silver Age Superman stuff. These comics are great fun and have some amazing stuff that is fun to mock. A truly different time in comics and the books were written for a vastly different audience. Still some great artwork and a lot of story material that is still mined by today's writers.



Spirit #5 - I love this book. The official hype "The Spirit's likeness has been hijacked and slapped on a rather unappetizing little product called "Spirit Pork and Beans Spread," much to our hero's chagrin. The culprit is one Mr. Carrion, an eccentric con artist.But it seems Mr. C is in over his head this time after he's paid a visit by a decidedly more brutal member of the Spirit's rogues gallery… " - Should be fun.


Testament #17 - New storyline starts, but the book is one long continuing story. I hope this book has an ending in mind, because I want some resolutions to the stories being told.

Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Guilty Pleasures #6 (of 12) - Still an interesting book and still I feel like I missing a lot of what is going on.

Avengers Earth Mightiest Heroes #8 (of 8) - This book fell apart for me and became very pedestrian in the last couple of issues. If it wasn't ending I would have ended it for me.

Mighty Avengers #2 - So Tony Stark was transformed into a female Ultron at the end of last issue. Gender crisis and humanity crisis. Of course Ultron is female - Frank Cho is drawing this book.

Punisher Max Volume 7 - Trade Paper Back - Love Ennis' version of Frank Castle and this is one of the few books I do as a trade. For a weekly fix person, the wait between trades gets to be too damn long.

Squadron Supreme Hyperion vs Nighthawk #4 (of 4) - This has been an excellent mini-series and I'm looking forward to seeing how it ends.

Ultimate Spider-Man #108 - Daredevil's plan to take out the Kingpin is coming to fruition. This is a fun book, but still how easy is it to write stuff when you are just revamping and recycling old plots.

X-Factor #18 - This is just the best X-book being published. I love what David is doing with this book and look forward to every issue. Maddrox has become one of the most interesting characters in all comics under David's watch.

X-Men #198 - Rogue is dying. This story is a build-up to issue #200. So far this book has not excited me at all. It is well written, I'm just not invested in this group of mutants that much.

Blood Nation #3 (of 4) - A fun little mini-series that explores the vampire theme via the idea that a vampire nation has taken over half the earth. Art work has been weak, but the story has had some good moments. All in all though I do not believe this book has been worth the price of entry.

Invincible #40 - Best straight solo old time super hero book on the market.

Conan #39 - This series has slowed with too many gaps in the storyline. Hope we are getting to the Rogues in the House story soon.

Fallen Angel #15 - This should be a good issue as we found out that the Fallen Angel had a predecessor. I want to see how Angel deals with her "rival" and what happened to her? Really good series with Peter David as writer.