What I’m Getting Thursday

Well a short little vacation where my wife and I were the guest of a friend on the Jersey shore for a few days. Great to get away from the world at times and this was a great little vacation. Lee is still on a long vacation, but Lee and Brainic6 managed to help keep the blog have new content daily – many thanks to both of them.

Week #1 in a new 4 week month. After last week’s monster week, this week seems small in comparison but it still has a lot of really good books coming out. Also I’m finding by weeding out only a few books here and there it enhances my enjoyment of my comics.

Action Comics #851 – Geoff Johns/Richard Donner and Adam Kubert are back as is the Last Son story line. Also it is in a 3-D version, which is a great idea for a Phantom Zone book. Really looking forward to this issue. On a side note I hope Adam Kubert DC projects are all mini-series from now on as the delays have been killing the momentum for this story.

All Star Superman #8 – Wow back to back great Superman books on the same week. Issue #7 to me was the weakest of the All Star run to date, but still a weak issue of All Star Superman is still a joy to behold. This is part 2 of the Bizzaro saga running in All Star Superman and it is another book I’m looking forward to reading.

Atom #13 – The search for Ray Palmer kicks into gear and starts with the “Sword of the Atom” people that Ray hung out with before. Gail Simone has made this a really strong series and while I hope Ray can be found, I want Ryan to remain as the Atom.

The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen – A 192 pages soft cover collection of some of the wildest Jimmy Olsen stories. Based on the covers we are missing the multiple times that he disguised himself as a girl, a shame as they were also very funny. Still these are great stories to read and to mock. Of course this is only getting done since in Countdown Jimmy is also going through a lot of changes.

Batman: Ego & Other Tales HC – See DC has an automatic sale for me with this book, it’s Batman and it’s Darwyn Cooke’s Batman stories plus Selina’s Big Score. No-brainer collection for me.

Black Canary #1 (of 4) – The story line per DC “The League of Assassins tracks Black Canary to Star City in an effort to liberate the child, Sin, they believe to be the DCU's next greatest assassin. Luckily, Black Canary has other plans for Sin's abilities and future.” Glad to see they are addressing Sin as this was a big part of Canary's recent continuity that had been ignored in JLA and Green Arrow.

Countdown #43 – This is still my number one or number two read every week and I enjoy all the glimpses of stuff going on that we get to see, but I’m starting to want more clues and some basic answers to what is going on to be given.

Detective Comics #834 – The second part of the Batman/Zatanna story line. Last issue was brilliant and I never saw the Joker as the bad guy. This is the best Batman book on the stands lately. Great series and Don Kramer is becoming one of my favorite artists.

Dr Fate Archives #1 – The collection of the Golden Age Adventures of Dr. Fate. This has been delayed a couple of times and is a $75 Archive, but it collects all of the Dr. Fate golden age stories from More Fun Comics. Archives are still the absolute best in quality reproductions of the silver and golden age material.

Jonah Hex #21 – This book is consistently a good to great read month in and month out. It is the standard for what a western comic should be in today’s market. I think Michael Fleischer (who wrote almost of all Hex’s other run) would enjoy this series and it is a worthy successor to his work on the character.

Nightwing #134 – Continuing Marv Wolfman’s examination of the one year gap between when Dick Grayson dropped out of college and started the New Teen Titans. Last issue in the present day story line we saw a new Vigilante. The original Vigilante series was a little hard to read at times, but offered an interesting portrayal of what being that type of person would do to you. The ultimate choice the Adrian Chase made at the end (he committed suicide) was a fascinating way to end a series.

Outsiders #49 – The finale of the Checkmate/Outsiders cross over. In the last part we saw Batman show up at Mr. Terrific’s door and this is a prelude to what appears to be Batman taking over the Outsiders. Should be a good read.

Supergirl #19 – The official hype “Superstar writer Joe Kelly concludes his SUPERGIRL run with a grueling fight between Supergirl and Superman! Is the only way to save the universe to kill the Man of Steel?” Superstar writer Joe Kelly? – since when. This book is doomed from my list, yet I probably won’t cut it. No good reason why, it’s just that way.

American Virgin #16 – I would have bet money that I would have been over this series by now, but Steven Seagle has drawn me into Adam’s quest for his true love so well that I find myself looking forward to each issue.

Exterminators #19 – I hope these guys are not involved in the disturbing bee die off that has occurred in the US lately (http://enn.com/sci.html?id=934 ). This is a strange and different series, but how can a book about bug exterminators be anything but good.

Faker #1 (of 6) – This is a new Vertigo mini-series by Mike Carey and art by Jock. I like the writer, I like the artist and the official hype “In the numbing cold of a Minnesota winter, Jessie Kidby and her freshman friends kick off their second semester with a wild party. But in the aftermath of the big blow-out, things start to go horribly wrong for all of them. Jessie is troubled by nasty memories she's been suppressing for years, while her best friend Nick Philo has become an un-person: Nobody outside their tight-knit little clique can remember seeing him before, and his records have been erased from the college's computers. At first, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but it becomes increasingly obvious that one of them is not what he appears to be.” – is a good premise. Three for three, now let’s hope the book delivers.

Scalped #7 – Vertigo really does do a lot of different books and I wish they had higher sales numbers, but Scalped is a very good tough action type of picture, with a true anti-hero in Dashiell Bad-Horse. The grand opening of the casino is heating up the action.

Midnighter #9 – This series has now become a series of one and dones by different artist and writer teams. The first couple of issues were bad and the last one was good. I want an unlimited series to have a direction so this book is close to being cut regardless. Still this issue the writers are Palmiotto & Gray with art by Brain Steelfreeze, so it should be good.

Welcome to Tranquility #8 – Gail Simone spins three short tales with three different artists. This quirky little series is a good one, but I have a feeling it may not last too long – I hope I’m wrong.

Dynamo 5 #5 – This is a great series and such a good group book, that I can’t emphasize enough that super hero fans of DC/Marvel group books need to try this book out. Great new series and every issue has been very good so far.

Astounding Wolf-Man #2 – A new Kirkman book and number 1 was a give away at free comic day. Not perfect by any means, but Kirkman’s non-Marvel work is way better then his Marvel stuff, so I look for this book to get better with each issue.

Garth Ennis Chronicles of Wormwood #5 (of 6) – The continuing story of the anti-Christ and his battle with his Dad to not have to end the world and all sorts of other sacrilegious stuff. I have enjoyed this series so far.


City of Others #3 (of 4) – The story has been good enough, but for me it is just nice to see Bernie Wrightson drawing a comic again. I should have skipped the series and just gotten the hard cover collection.


Ward of the State #3 (of 3) – The end of what has been a very good little mini-series. A very odd premise for a series about foster children raised as assassins, but it has been a very good story. Look forward to this conclusion.

Daredevil Battlin’ Jack Murdock #2 (of 4) – I enjoyed the first issue, that I tried on a whim, and signed up for the series. Zeb Wells has crafted a good opening at the examination of the like of DD’s dad.

Essential Defenders Volume #3 – The black and white 500 plus page reprints are great ways to read some series that really don’t demand any better reprint format. The Defenders certainly fit that bill, but the series was entertaining in a quirky fashion.

Fallen Son Death of Captain America: Iron Man – Yes the final issue in a book that I should never have purchased. A true waste of money and a pointless mini-series.


Ant-Man #10 – This series has been cancelled with issue #12 and I have to say that I’m happy as I was very ambivalent about this book. So now I can just ride it out till the end. I think it was a mini-series and not an ongoing concept.

New Warriors #2 – I was pleasantly surprised by the first issue as I actually liked it and knew going in I would be off this book immediately. It played into the idea of a younger group being rebels to the new world order in the Marvel Universe and that sold me on trying a few more issues.

Invaders Classic Volume 1 Trade – Reprinting some of the old Roy Thomas / Frank Robbins work. These were new stories set in WWII starring Captain America, the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. Some fun stuff, but Robbins artwork is not the best in the business by any means, but he was a good story teller in his layouts.

Thor #1 - J. Michael Straczynski as writer is an iffy proposition for me, Oliver Copiel is a good artist and I have liked Thor at various point in his career, so this book is a strong I’ll judge it when I read it.

Ultimate Powers #6 (of 9) – Jeph Loeb’s three issues to end the series starts with the next issue, so that does not bode well. I should have skipped this book, but now I feel compelled to ride it out till the bitter end.

Uncanny X-Men #488 – This book is really close to a drop. Wow last week Marvel seem to have a better week in total then DC, but this week looks to be a big win for DC.

So that wraps up this week. Two hard cover collections and three soft cover collections plus 28 comics to look forward to too reading. I hope more independents start showing up as this week has very few of them. I'm tempted to count Vertigo titles as independents and then the count would be higher.