What I’m Getting Wednesday May 26

This week is the end of a four week month and as is the norm this week is a huge week for me. The hardcover and trade collections are going to be killer. I have way too much still on order but I’m eliminating a lot going forward. Marvel Masterworks have hit the wall for me and unless it is prime material or something new I have pretty much stopped getting Masterworks. I’m also watching my orders for stuff like the various collections offered on older stuff from the fifties and all of that as I have more than enough of that in my collection. It is time to ease up and maybe actually read some of it. That being said I still love the hard covers and will continue to pick up solid offerings.

The premier hardcover this week has to be Wednesday Comics HC collection. This book is collecting weekly series that brought back the feeling of the great Sunday comic strips The solicitation covers it with DC saying “This is it! The oversized, hardcover collection of DC's 2009 weekly comics sensation that USA Today called "cool, classic-looking." Featuring composite cover art, the WEDNESDAY COMICS HC includes: ADAM STRANGE written and illustrated by Paul Pope • BATMAN written by Brian Azzarello with art by Eduardo Risso including additional panel art on each page!• METAMORPHO written by Neil Gaiman with art by Michael Allred • DEADMAN written by Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck with art by Dave Bullock…..” Not every strip was a winner, but enough to make this purchase a no-brainer.

The other hardcover I’m glad to see is Marvel Masterworks #137 which takes the Avengers run to issue #100 and is a great point to end the Avengers Masterworks collection on. In some ways this volume is the crowning jewel of the Avengers run, if nothing else for the artwork. The solicit says it all “Written by ROY THOMAS Penciled by NEAL ADAMS, SAL BUSCEMA, BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH & JOHN BUSCEMA Cover by BARRY WINDSOR-SMITH The Marvel Masterworks bring you the original be-all, end-all Avengers event-Kree/Skrull War-in the march up to Avengers #100! Caught in the crossfire, Earth has become the staging ground for a conflict of star-spanning proportions! For those eternal intergalactic enemies, the merciless Kree and the shape-changing Skrulls, have gone to war, and our planet is situated on the front lines! Can Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers, bring about an end to the fighting before humanity becomes a casualty of war? And what good are even a dozen super-powered champions against the vast military machines of two of the great empires of the cosmos? The key to victory lies with the expatriate Kree Captain Mar-Vell and his human host, honorary Avenger Rick Jones! And because one super-saga wasn't enough, we'll wrap it up with a three-part classic that assembles every Avenger from day one against the combined threat of Ares and the Enchantress in Avengers #100. Written by fan-favorite Roy Thomas and featuring the trend-setting artwork of Neal Adams and Barry Windsor-Smith, there's no disputing the fact they're Marvel Masterworks one and all! Collecting THE AVENGERS #89-100”

The other hard covers are the long delayed Eerie Archives #3, Captain Marvel Death of Captain Marvel HC, and The Torpedo HC Volume #2. Add to that list two trades of DC Greatest Imaginary Stories Volume 2 and Spider-Man The Complete Clone Saga Volume 2 and this week is a budget buster even without a single comic book. Not to mention Lee forcing me to buy some art this week. In order to cut down on all of this I will have to make a rule that no more trades unless I’m completing a run and no more hard covers that just collect a short series, like the Ghoul HC from last week. Solid well made archival type collections of the right material and OGNs should be it.

Marvel ends up being the lightest batch of books this week once the collected works are eliminated. I have already dropped the Avengers so I very curious to see if Secret Avengers #1 can make the grade. The advertisement for the book has not excited me as the group is a real grab bag of super heroes and on the surface appears lame, but Marvel has a strong talent on this book with Brubaker and Deodato so I’m willing to give it a chance. Marvel also has Fantastic Four #579, Secret Warriors #16, Thanos Imperative: Ignition, Thunderbolts #144 and X-Force #27, Second Coming Chapter #9.

DC is always broken into two groups for me with the main DCU and Vertigo. Vertigo has one of my favorite series with Madame Xanadu #23. Of course this blog has long been a fan of Amy Reeder and we should have something coming up soon that will give us a chance to highlight Amy. She will be doing the Supergirl covers in the future and I hope DC signs her to a long term deal as she is one of the best artists in the business. Also from Vertigo this week are two other very strong series with Northlanders #28 and Scalped #38.

The regular DC brings us the biggest selection of new comics and features a lot of BIG releases, but for me the number one book is Power Girl #12. This issue marks the end of Palmiotti, Gray, Connor and Mounts superb run on this title. I would have thought at the beginning this book would not work, but it is one of DC brightest new series and a book that is fun, smart, sexy, action packed and builds up great characters. The rest of the DC is packed with major books with The Return of Bruce Wayne #2 (of 6), Brave and Bold #34, Detective Comics #865, Gotham City Sirens #12, Green Lantern #54, Green Lantern Corps #48, Justice League Generation Lost #2, Justice League Rise of Arsenal #3 9of 4). Mighty Crusaders Special #1, Superman War of Superman #4 (of 4), Teen Titans #83, The Web #9 and Wonder Woman #44.

The other category has two launches that sound very cool with Mystery Society #1 by Steve Niles and Fiona Staples. IDW says “Nick Hammond and Anastasia Collins are the Mystery Society and bring new meaning to 'underground cult' status! Stealthily avoiding the authorities, this skullduggery duo spend their time and money righting wrongs committed in the world's underbellies. This issue, Ana defends their secret headquarters as Nick goes on a rescue mission breaking into Area 51 for a bounty that you will not believe!”

The other new series is from BOOM Studio, 7 Psychopaths #1. The premise is “From Criminal co-conspirator Sean Phillips! 7 men, 1 impossible mission - assassinate Hitler! With World War II in full swing, there's only one-way to draw the war to a quick end: kill Hitler. But who would be insane enough to try? Joshua Goldschmidt knows just the men to do it. Insane? Psychotic? Mad? Call them what you will, but the seven psychopaths are now the only hope the world has! In the vein of Inglorious Basterds, with art by the critically acclaimed Sean Phillips.” How can you resist that premise. The rest of the other category is Choker #3 (of 6), Proof #27, Chimichanga #2 (of 3), Green Hornet year One #3, Incorruptible #6 and Wolfskin Hundredth Dream #2 (of 6).

Damn that is a ton of comics. At least next month is a five week month and spreading the amount of books over five weeks after this month will be a blessing.