What I’m Getting Wednesday Feb 17

Over the years I have abandoned what I call the collector’s mentality, in that I only really collect hard cover collections. Even some of the hard covers I send on to be enjoyed by others and of course all of my monthly books and most trades once read are usually sent on. Some trades that have not gotten the hard cover treatment I will hold onto, but for the most part I have purged myself of the need to hold onto everything. The people I send stuff to enjoy the books and often pass them on again or hold onto some for their own purposes. All of this is a prelude to the fact that one thing I still get that I have no strong clue why I get them are action figures. Now I don’t keep them in boxes but I used to have them all at my office. Where I worked moved and the new office configuration I have may not work for the action figures. My wife loves me and all, but she is not very accepting of having over 100 action figures being displayed. Yet I’m still getting the Blackest Night Series 3 Figures this week, which includes a dead Aquaman figure. As Lee once said, “nothing quite tops a dead fish” or something to that effect. I think more action figures may have to head off to Florida.

Blackest Night kicks off this week as it heads towards the finish line with Blackest Night The Flash #3 (of 3), Green Lantern #51 and Green Lantern Corps #45. I can’t believe I’m still having this much fun with this event and hope that we do see some long lasting repercussions out of this story. A sign of a good book for me is that I actually remember how the last issue ended and book GL books had memorable endings. I’m curious to see how Guy is taken down and I know DC has bigger plans for him again as Peter Tomasi will be writing a new GL book soon that features Guy. Guy Gardner has been one of the more interesting characters in the DCU over the years as his character has morphed and changed over the years.

Vertigo has two books that I’m getting with Joe the Barbarian #2 (of 8) and Hellblazer #264. I know that I heard a lot of people had mixed feelings about Joe the Barbarian, but I thought it was a great beginning and promises to be a very strong effort from Grant Morrison. One day I will make my case for why Grant maybe the top comic book writer of all time. I know everything he has done has not been perfect and I have never even read The Invisibles, but the body of work that he has put out and the amount of ideas that he thrown around are astounding.

The rest of the DCU is well represented with Batman #696, Batman Streets of Gotham #9, Outsiders #27, Justice League of America #42, Power Girl #9, Supergirl #50, Superman Batman #69 and Starman Omnibus HC Volume 4. Add into that list Authority the Lost Year #6 (of 12) from Wildstorm and that completes all of my DC purchases. Power Girl still continues to impress me and if anything I like this book more than ever. Since it is a more light hearted approach to telling comics it still flies a little under the radar as opposed to books where some major change is happening or a Vertigo book like Scalped. No matter, Month in and month out this is one of the best reads on the stands and more often than not it will make you smile.

The independents have a decent week after a couple of weeks of almost nothing. For me Astounding Wolf-Man #21 and Invincible #70 lead off my list. Wolf-Man is ending with issue #25, but at least it is ending with an ending. It has been a quirky series, but one that I have enjoyed. I’m curious to see where this leaves Wolf-Man at the end. Of course Invincible is moving towards the all out "The Viltrumite War” and you know that will have to be bloody. Invincible is a book that is at the top of its game and has been for over a year, this is the last issue before the eight part story of the War begins.

The rest of the Independent material is a varied bunch with Devil #1 (of 4) from Dark Horse, Atomic Robo Revenge of the Vampire Dimension #1 (of 4) from Red 5 Comics, Farscape #4 and Incorruptible #3 from Boom Studios, GI Joe Cobra II #2 (of 4) and Locke and Key Crown of Shadows #3 (of 6) from IDW and Battlefields #3 (of 9) featuring the conclusion of the Happy Valley story from Dynamite Entertainment. One thing this shows is how many publishers there are out there and many of them are producing some great books. Each book on this list has some great things going for them and it is worth looking around your stores to find these books. The Devil by Dark Horse is something I’m trying new and the solicitation copy is what sold me as it says: “Manga artist Torajiro Kishi (Maka-Maka) and blockbuster anime studio Madhouse (Trigun, Paprika, Ninja Scroll) love comics. So much so that they've decided to publish an original, Western-style comic exclusively with Dark Horse! Enter Devil, a thrilling, sci-fi take on the vampire genre.
A virus is raging across the planet, turning people into bloodsucking superhumans referred to as "Devils." Most victims die within days, sometimes months, but there's a new strain, a new class of Devil that threatens to overtake mankind with power and bloodthirst. This new class of Devils derive from an experiment to clone a virus victim, and it looks like science has created a true monster this time. Can Takimoto and the Devil Investigation Section of the Tokyo police force stop this societal scourge? We'll just have to see.” It sounded cool enough that I wanted to give at least issue #1 a chance.

We end up this week with Marvel. My number one book from Marvel has to be Avengers vs Agents of Atlas #2 (of 4), plus this week the news about a new Agents of Atlas series was released. I don’t think Marvel ever planned to really cancel Agents of Atlas I just think they decided to integrate them more deeply into the MU and then bring them back to give the series its best chance of success. Whatever their plans I love this group of characters and this issue they are facing off against the original Avengers; it should be a great book.

To rest of the Marvel books are Daredevil #505, Dark Avengers #14, Doctor Voodoo #5 (last issue I believe), Captain America #603, Guardians of the Galaxy #23, Incredible Hercules #141 and Spider-Woman #6. I’m a little sad to see Doctor Voodoo bite the dust, but I also want to see Dr. Strange come back as the main guy in Marvel and would hope he gets a series again one day. Plenty of room for two magical characters, just Dr. Strange is the right Sorcerer Supreme in my view. Guardians looks to be a good issue of that series as we see Adam Warlock is still alive and perhaps the other Guardians, but Adam is now Magus.

This looks to be a very good week of comics with lots of books that I think are strong series. I mean not every title I get is a strong series and some weeks we see more of the top titles then we do on other weeks. Some series I get because I’m following a story to its conclusion or I’m trying something new out or I feel it is just a core book to following either the DCU or the MU. Still if any book does not cut it after a few issues it is gone. I no longer have any worries about completing any series.