ncrl: may 2

Whedon week: Buffy, Runaways AND Astonishing. (And a little thing called World War Hulk starts this week too.)

dark horse:
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #3
CITY OF OTHERS #2

dc:
100 BULLETS #83
ALL NEW ATOM #11 (most likely)
EXTERMINATORS #17
MIDNIGHTER #7
SCALPED #5
SHAZAM: THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL #3
WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY #6

devil's due:
G.I. JOE AMERICA'S ELITE #23
ASTONISHING X-MEN #21
AVENGERS: INITIATIVE #2
DARK TOWER: GUNSLINGER BORN #4
INCREDIBLE HULK #106
IRON MAN #17
LONERS #2
PUNISHER #47
RUNAWAYS #26
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #41
WORLD WAR HULK PROLOGUE: WORLD BREAKER

weekly loot: april 25

I was planning on getting Wonder Woman when Gail Simone took over, but my girlfriend and I have been curious about this Picoult run (even though I'm hearing mixed things), so I went ahead and picked up #6-8 this week to see what's what for myself. I set them on the "TO READ" pile that has various comics and graphic novels that have built up. I'll get to them as soon as I can.

This week:

USAGI YOJIMBO #102
(w/a. Stan Sakai)
The assassin Shizukiri has been after our hero for months now, and at the end of last issue-- our hero injured and obviously at a disadvantage-- finally meets him face to face. This issue then opens... with a flashback?!?! Aaaarrgghhh!! Okay, it wasn’t that bad. In fact, it was a pretty rockin' issue, just a bit of a jolt as Sakai doesn’t normally use this kind of storytelling device. Regardless, we see what happened to Shizukiri and his captor (Mayumi, a love interest for Usagi) leading up to last issues meeting, and THEN we get to the fight. It was refreshing to see Usagi outsmart as well as outfight his opponent. Mayumi’s death was sad, but only because Usagi’s personal life is always in shambles. Just one more thing for him to deal with. I was not disappointed, and it was another good chapter in the Usagi epic. FAVORITE OF THE WEEK, mostly because I've been waiting for this confrontation for a long time.

POWERS #24
(w. Brian Bendis, a. Michael Oeming)
Over the years, Brian Bendis has BLOWN UP over at Marvel, and the buzz has long moved away from this book. But really, it continues to be probably the best book he does (there was a small battle with Ultimate Spider-Man for a while). Since Volume 2 has started, both characters now have powers, I.A. is all over Deena’s ass AND they continue to investigate gory-ass power murders. This issue, Deena finally finds out about Chrisitan's new powers, and she flips out. Christian doesn’t have time to deal with it, as he has to save the world. And by that, I mean finish whuppin' ass and outwit The Devil. Good times, and I can’t wait until Deena and Christian talk.




WORMWOOD GENTLEMAN CORPSE #7
(w/a. Ben Templesmith)
I think this book moves up my Read Pile with every issue that comes out. Underneath another amazingly simple cover, is the conclusion to the 3-part leprechaun storyline. The wacky characters and even wackier plots all come together nicely, with a little bit of a promise for future story goods. And I think I may have said this before, but I feel like this could almost take place in the Whedon-verse. Regardless, I think the book is taking a little bit of a break, and that’s too bad. With as many comics as I read, this book is especially refreshing because nothing else is like it. No, seriously: nothing.





GIRLS #24
(w/a. Luna Brothers)
The finale of this comic was delayed an extra week for me, since Diamond shorted my store their orders. But after another week of waiting, it finally arrives, and the Luna Brothers' second finite maxi-series comes to a close. And frankly, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. This series started with a spectacular series of cliffhangers that had me freaking out for the next issue. Eventually, the cliffhangers fizzled, and then we were left with the characters and their interactions amidst the oddest alien invasion of all time. The Luna Brothers come from the Robert Kirkman/Erik Larsen form of writing, which is: lots and lots of words, with characters sharing their subtext via dialogue, rather than letting the readers infer from action. Which is an old-school hallmark of the medium for sure (so it's not entirely out of place or anything), but at times I would turn a page and see what seemed like two pages of text covering the wonderful art. The simplistic style is really attractive and the Brothers have an excellent cinematic style with wide screen pacing, so I wonder why they didn’t show us more than tell us. Regardless, for me, parts of the middle and the last third of the story seemed to be in a holding pattern, with the main characters talking a lot about their horrible situation with no real answers coming. Maybe that’s because there really weren't going to be many answers, and the ones that were given made me indifferent. Lastly, I was a bit let down because I thought a book titled “Girls” which had men uncontrollably fucking naked female monsters would have some commentary about the sexes and how they interact. Unfortunately, I don’t think we ever got that deep, and that’s too bad. Ultimately, I think Ultra was a much tighter arc for the creators. Maybe this book didn’t need 24 issues after all.

FALLEN SON: AVENGERS: A better effort than the Wolverine issue, but really, the highlight for me was, again, the art.

WALKING DEAD #37

DAREDEVIL #96

CROSSING MIDNIGHT #6
(w. Mike Carey, a. Jim Fern)
I'm really starting to get into this series. Generally, horror books aren't my thing, but this one is so much more than your average horror book. Especially the blood splattered, flesh-eating zombie books that are the rage these days. This world that Carey is creating appears to be even larger than I thought it would be after the first storyline. Both of the twins, our main characters, seem to have their respective Masters of sorts, and things are getting more and more complicated. I look forward to the next storyline or two, to see more things answered and for the picture to get even clearer. The one thing that bugs me about this book is still the inclusion of Jim Fern. He's not a bad artist-- in fact, at times he is quite good-- he just lacks the creative design sense that would really make this book shine. (Perhaps a Chris Bachalo?)

EXTERMINATORS #16: Boy am I glad Laura dropped that chick of a cliff. Holy shit. Where is this book going?

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #5: What exactly is this crossover about?

WETWORKS #8

FANTASTIC FOUR #545
(w. Dwayne McDuffie, a. Paul Pelletier)
When McDuffie first took over, picking up those last two Civil War issues, I was really excited about what was to come, but two issues in and this title has completely fallen off of my radar. There are legitimate reasons, and there are personal ones. First, I still find the Reed/Sue interactions annoying. What happened to them during Civil War was serious damaging stuff, and things are just taken with a wink-wink. “Oh Reed, a Dream Vacation on Titan makes up for you cloning Thor, killing a hero (Goliath) and chasing others in a way that I completely disagree with.” It's just frustrating and lame. And I bet Pelletier has some fans, but he is just second-rate at best to me. Kind of like when everyone looked like a Jim Lee clone back in the day, for those that remember that. Waitasecond, wasn’t Pelletier ONE OF THOSE GUYS? Now, personally, I kind of hate the whole Black Panther/Storm thing. Okay, hate is not the right word. DESPISE. There. I’m not sure why either, 'cause I know that I’m an X-fan, and I miss not seeing Storm involved in those books. I just hate seeing her second fiddled to the Black Panther. (And I know that she will be back for the crossover, but she won’t be alone.) It still bugs me how shoe-horned the whole thing is. Whatever, I guess we are past that. And final personal reason, I don’t care about Gravity, Deathlok or the semi-sequel to a story I didn’t read, no matter how good it was. For the first time in a bit, I’m thinking of dropping this title.

SILENT WAR #4: Oh, HOLY SHIT. Blackbolt is piiiiiiiiissed.

WOLVERINE #53: – This is just awful. Simon Bianchi is being waaaaaasted on this. I would love to see him on Thor, or is that TOO obvious?

ncrl: april 25

ALWAYS excited when I see a new Usagi on the schedule, especially this one. This confrontation with the assasin following him has been months in the making. This also marks my first foray in to JSA, because I'm reading JLA. But I've bitched about that enough, I hope I'm not TOO lost.

Oh, and GIRLS #24 from last week should come in as well.

dark horse:
USAGI YOJIMBO #102

dc:
CROSSING MIDNIGHT #6
EXTERMINATORS #16
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #5
WETWORKS #8

idw:
WORMWOOD GENTLEMAN CORPSE #7

image:
WALKING DEAD #37

marvel:
DAREDEVIL #96
FALLEN SON: AVENGERS
FANTASTIC FOUR #545
POWERS #24
SILENT WAR #4
WOLVERINE #53

weekly loot: april 18

With back-to-back events such as Civil War, Dark Tower, Buffy, and the death of Captain America, it almost feels weird to have a couple of weeks in a row with nothing “major” happening. Just some good old-fashioned comic books. That is, until World War Hulk, I guess.

Also, my store was shorted Girls #24 from Diamond, so that will go onto next week’s pile.

X-FACTOR #18
(w. Peter David, a. Koi Pham)
Little Layla takes center stage here, even though she is mostly pulling the strings of her teammates off-panel. A good issue, although I was starting to get used to my Jamie “dupe of the month” gimmick. Layla continues to be a huge question mark, in actions and in words, and I can’t wait until Peter gives us more. (She should be fun in the X-Crossover later this year.) Pham’s art is really growing on me, and although I think Pablo Raimondi is still the regular artist, I will take Pham as an alternative.

DMZ #18
(w. Brian Wood, a. Riccardo Burchielli)
Has it really only been 18 issues since this series started? Matty has grown up a ton, and the kid that got here in issue #1 seems like a distant memory, really. Anyway, we have another storyline and another pretty damn good start. This storyline definitely feels like something I’ve seen on the news before, and that is one of the strengths of this book as far as I'm concerned. Looking forward to the rest of the arc. And damn, an awesome cover in a long line of good covers this series has had. MY FAVORITE OF THE WEEK

MIGHTY AVENGERS #2
(w. Brian Bendis, a. Frank Cho)
I had a similar problem with this book as I had with the latest New Avengers: by the end of it, we appear to be at the same place as we were at the end of the previous issue. I now have to wait for issue #3 for the THROWDOWN I was hoping to get here. In defense of this book, we do get some fun “this is how they joined” scenes, which Bendis excels at because he can have fun with his dialogue. Cho’s art looks great again, despite the female Cho-tron for the teen boys.

X-MEN #198: I love it when they make Sabretooth mean, scary and kind of cool. Loeb should takes notes.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #108: Fucking Brian Bendis and an ultimate Ronin. This joke is funny to just him, right?

INVINCIBLE #40

FALLEN ANGEL #15

EX-MACHINA #27:I was a bit underwhelmed, but I’m glad to have it back. I blame it on the mini-publishing gap, not the content.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #8
(w. Brad Meltzer, a. Shane Davis)
So, I liked it. I think it’s definitely on par with the things I liked about #0 and #7. And although I have no idea who Karate Kid is, or the Legion Heroes, it doesn’t seem to really matter because neither do the main characters. And let's be honest, I don’t have to know everyone to have fun with the double page splash where the two teams meet. Good old-fashioned team up stuff. Fun.

AQUAMAN: SWORD OF ATLANTS #51
(w. Tad Williams, a. Shawn McManus)
There are a variety of reasons I really shouldn't like this book, but two issues in, and I’m having a good time. The sidekick is ridiculous, and our new Aquaman is a bit of a bumbling idiot too. (At least, that’s how he comes across in these two issues.) And although this Aquaman kind of bugs me, and I’d rather be reading about the real Aquaman, I feel like I’m learning about this new fantasy-esque world WITH him, so it works for me on that level. The art is almost cutesy, but seems to work with the tone Tad has for the book. I’m glad they are still doing something with Sub Diego, which I thought was awesome during Pheiffer’s run (the last time I read the book regularly). So although I really like a more serious take on the real Aquaman (one that appears to have failed in recent times), I’m (for now) on board with the world building that Mr. Williams is doing.

SPIRIT #5
(w/a. Darwyn Cooke)
My experience with this book has been an odd one. I got #1 and #2, liked them, didn’t love them, but ultimately figured that I read enough comics and any new titles have to knock me off my feet to make my pull list. Then I hear that #3 was great, and my girlfriend wonders where the book is, because she enjoyed it a lot, so I caved and got #3 and #4. Both of those were excellent, and to me, better than the previous two. So, I’m really happy (and so is the girlfriend) that I am getting it again. Then there is this issue, which I think is the weakest one yet. The Spirit canned goods and the villain with a Vulture sidekick were too much for me. Sometimes I hear people talking about how well Cooke is adapting the old characters, but since I don’t know the old series, those kind of connections are lost on me. Did I miss something here? Regardless, just a bit of a stumble backwards. As usual, the Cooke art was great, and the cover was awesome, though it isn't the one I show here. For some reason, the one that was floating around/solicited was different.

CABLE/DEADPOOL #39

MOON KNIGHT #9

ULTIMATE X-MEN #81
(w. Robert Kirkman, a. Ben Oliver)
Man, I’m really bored with this book. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: This book has basically struggled since Mark Millar left. It had an attitude and swagger that the 616 X-universe (which I love) didn’t have. For Shiva’s sake, Wolverine tried to KILL Cyclops. So since then, the book has just slowly spiraled closer and closer to just another version of the 616 books. And that, A) just kind of sucks, and B) renders the Ultimate X-Men book pointless. Back to the book itself, we now have Xavier alive again AND Beast. Now, I know that Xavier wasn’t going to stay dead, but I was hoping he would. That would possibly give this book a new identity. Instead we are just inevitably heading back that way, and whatever we do here is treading water. The one thing I do kind of like is Bishop taking on the cause and finding an X-Men team, even if it might veer closely to Cable’s X-Force of the early 90s. But we’ll see. Aside from my plot issues, Ben Oliver is a solid artist, but I think he’s almost miscast here. Something more serious, maybe even a horror book, might suit him better

ncrl: april 18

I have put a (maybe) after JLA, but I kind of already decided I'm going to see the book through this next arc too. And fuck you DC for making me buy another title to read ONE title.

(Army @ Love comes out this week. And after the "is this really a satire, or is it just stupid" first issue, I have no interest in it anymore.)

dc:
AQUAMAN: SWORD OF ATLANTIS #51
DMZ #18
EX-MACHINA #27
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #8 (maybe)
SPIRIT #5

idw:
FALLEN ANGEL #15

image:
GIRLS #24
INVINCIBLE #40

marvel:
CABLE/DEADPOOL #39
MIGHTY AVENGERS #2
MOON KNIGHT #9
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #108
ULTIMATE X-MEN #81
X-FACTOR #18
X-MEN #198

weekly loot: april 11

It was a pretty big week, as far as I am concerned, so I'll get right to it. And as it turns out, there wasn't much drama at all as to what my favorite book of the week was.

ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #7
(w. Grant Morrison, a. Frank Quitely)
What can I say? It was another magnificent installment for a series that is having a legendary run. I'm almost a little sad that it wasn't a done-in-one issue, but that's just because of the wait between issues. Grant's take on Jimmy Olson continues to be one of my favorite things in the series,and I would without a doubt pay for an All-Star My Pal Jimmy Olson. (Or, Jimmy Olson, Agent of P.R.O.J.E.C.T.) Frank, one of the industry's best by far, dazzles again. Loved the bit with Superman releasing his pet Sun-Eater. Awesome. BOOK OF THE WEEK, easily.

FELL #8
(w. Warren Ellis, a. Ben Templesmith)
This was not my favorite issue of the series, but it was another really solid one. The gimmick worked for the most part, although it really felt like more of a taste of a story rather than a complete story. But that’s okay, especially with Warren’s intentions with the series. I continue to be interested in this good man in a bad world. The last page was great, especially on the heels of last issue, where we saw a hint of his hubris.

LOVELESS #17
(w. Brian Azzarello, a. a. Werther Dell’Edera)
This was part 2 of “Blackwater Falls” and so far, it's looking like it could be the best arc since the first. Recently, it seems that Azzarello has been playing the book more straight-forwardly than it has been in the past, but that’s fine, because he has done it without losing any of the book’s depth. The new villain that has been introduced is scary, and the drama of our main three characters continues. It looks like Werther has settled in as the new artist, which as I’ve said before, this book really needed. But I’ve been frustrated that there has been no mention of what happened to Frusin. I miss him.



NEW AVENGERS #29
(w. Brian Bendis, a. Leinil Yu)
This was an odd issue, since nothing really happened and we are exactly where we were at the end of #28. We spent the entire issue in a flashback about how the guys got away, even though we already know that they got away since they are on a mission in Japan. Still, I suppose some people want to SEE Tony’s Avengers actually trying to find the “law breakers,” and Dr. Strange came off as a bad ass which is always cool. Nice Yu artwork once again.




WASTELAND #8
(w. Antony Johnson, a. Christopher Mitten)
After a perfectly good one-shot drawn by Carla Speed McNeil we are back with part 1 of a new arc. And whew, a damn good one it is. The main characters are back front-and-center, although after arriving in New Begin and sold as slaves, they have been completely separated. We are introduced to new characters, which are melded with the old, and everyone has new motivations that play off of each other beautifully. Johnson places the chess pieces expertly, as this multi-layered fantasy epic turns into a hidden gem.



FABLES #60
(w. Bill Willingham, a. Mark Buckingham)
Another series that is back to its main characters, and it's all the better for it. Ambrose the Flycatcher is the focus here, and after his tragic tale in 1001 Nights of Snowfall, I’m ecstatic. The short was gripping, and his response has been, to say the least, a bit surprising. Will he kick some ass, or will his story end even more tragically? The rest of the cast is picking up on old plot threads themselves, with the two witches Baba Yaga and Frau Totenkinder both getting key scenes. And for anyone that hasn’t, please read the highly recommended 1001 Nights, as recent events with Bigby and the current plot threads with Flycatcher and Frau are playing off of those stories.


UNCANNY X-MEN #485

NEWUNIVERSAL #5

STORMWATCH PHD #6: I’m going to be sad to see Doug Mahnke go

THUNDERBOLTS #113: Osborn-type crazy is fun, but Ellis’ Bullseye-type crazy is why I’m paying the admission price, where was he?

SHE-HULK #17 – I don’t mind that she sleeps around, just her choice in men.

IRON MAN #16

NEW X-MEN #37
(w. Craig Kyle & Chris Yost, a. Scottie Young & Niko Hendrichon)
As a fan of the X-Universe, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with this book of late. Truthfully, it's been ALL OVER the place since House of M, with characters dropping like flies and plot arcs centering on the still mostly annoying X-23 character. But still, some little fun things have come through amongst the different characters and their interactions. (Granted I’m a sucker for the teen X-Book.) The new arc promises some of the fun secondary students more panel time: Pixie, Match, Anole and even Blindfold from Whedon’s Astonishing book. One of the best decisions of recent memory is to add Skottie Young (and his redesigns) to the title. I was always hesitant about his panel work in comics (his covers and pin-ups are awesome, stylized fun), but I think his youthful creative style fits these characters. I hope he sticks, honestly. And for this issue, Niko Hendrichon of Pride of Baghdad fame, was excellent in his scenes.


PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #6
(w. Matt Fraction, a. Ariel Olivetti)
This book was just so-so for me. In truth, I’ve been a bit confused by the series completely, but I guess that could be my bias towards the MAX take that Ennis gives us month-to-month. So far we’ve had a really good issue (#4) sandwiched between a few average issues doing Civil War from Frank’s POV (#1-3) and a couple of average books leading into Captain Punisher (#5-6). I’m in for the duration of this storyline (and the odd Captain Punisher outfit), but it’s going to be an uphill climb for this book for me. Again, my MAX Punisher bias might be too strong.


THE LONERS #1
(w. C.B. Cebulski, a. Karl Moline)
I’m in for the mini-series even though it didn’t blow me away. Cebulski does good dialogue, and Moline’s art is good enough, but the story so far is pretty much average superteenhero fare. I like a couple of the characters (Mattie and Darkhawk especially), but unfortunately so far the coolest thing about the book is the cover homages to 80’s Teen Movies. And was it me, or was there a lot of crying?





NOVA #1
(w. Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, a. Sean Chen)
Aside from the Annihilation Prologue, I’m yet to read anything from the crossover. But with bits and pieces here and there from online, I know the gist of what has happened. So I wasn’t lost at all here, but I don’t think I would have been anyway. It's rather simple, Nova is the last of his cop-kind and now, really powerful. We see that he’s extremely busy, and he needs a rest. Enter an Earth which has gone through a lot of changes since Nova has ben home. So it was GOOD, just not anything special. I’m in for the two earth issues (the Speedball reunion), but since I don’t read the Annihilation stuff, I might jump off before #4. (Fans of cosmic Marvel must be stoked: they are really pushing it, and doing their best to make it cool.)


GEN 13 #7: Um, I know that it’s the nature of the book, but the T&A was extra silly this time, and I kind of wish Simone would go in a different direction with the characters sometimes.

GRIFTER/MIDNIGHTER #2: All this does is make me yearn for a regular Authority series. (And a regular Wildcats series for that matter.)

WOLERVINE: ORIGINS #13: How long will I read this? Bets are being taken.

ncrl: april 11

An interesting week for me: I've given out a "Book of the Week" Award (inmyhead) since as long as I can remember. But I've only been doing it on paper since the first week of January 06. And only once on the ineternet, so this will of course mean nothing to anyone but me:

Both Fell and All-Star Superman have been my Favorite Book of the Week, every time they've come out since I started. But this is the first week that the two books have ever come out in the same week. OOOOH THE MOTHER FUCKING DRAMA!! Will one of these books win? Will some OTHER book come out of the Falkirk-esque melee to upset my favorite books? Who knows. But here are the contenders, in 19-book week:

dc:
ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #7
FABLES #60
GEN 13 #7
GRIFTER/MIDNIGHER #2
LOVELESS #17
STORMWATCH: PHD #6

image:
FELL #8

marvel:
IRON MAN #16
LONERS #1
NEW AVENGERS #29
NEWUNIVERSAL #5
NEW X-MEN #37
NOVA #1
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #6
SHE HULK 2 #17
THUNDERBOLTS #113
UNCANNY X-MEN #385
WOLVERINE ORIGINS #13

oni:
WASTELAND #8