Grading the Comics: Week of August 3

Hey there, seems like forever since I graded my comic book purchases.
Having a baby in the house will do that. I have books from two or three weeks ago that I haven't even read yet.
=sigh=
Anyway, here's what I'm planning to buy today:

• AGENTS OF ATLAS #9 - Darn it, I forgot to pick this up. Will try to snag a copy today.
• BOYS #33 - Sick, what Butcher does to Payback, but very entertaining. And there's material besides that sets up some interesting stuff ahead. B
• CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN #2 (OF 5) - Good stuff. Steve Rogers is on his way back (slowly) and yet--will he be Cap when he finally returns? A-
• DOOM PATROL #1 - Side by side with Metal Men, this is one wacked-out book. A must-read. A+
• HULK #13 - Bruce says bye to A-Bomb and we're thinking Ol' Jadejaws is gone...? B
• JUSTICE LEAGUE CRY FOR JUSTICE #2 (OF 7) - Haven't read it yet.
• SAVAGE DRAGON #151 - Geez, for a dead guy, Dragon sure can carry a book. B
• SUPERMAN: WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON #6 (OF 12) - Didn't have a copy at the store, hope to have it tonight.
• ULTIMATUM: FANTASTIC FOUR REQUIEM #1 - Ditto.
• ULTIMATUM: X-MEN REQUIEM #1 - Ditto.

As I've said elsewhere (I think), I'm probably going to let the WildStorm stuff fall by the wayside. "World's End" has been an interesting direction for the books but I'm ready to let it go.

Ditto the Ultimate line of books. I wasn't thrilled with the last issue of ULTIMATUM (see below), and now seems like a good time to let those titles slip off my reserve list. I'll keep an eye on the line to see what's happening, and reserve the right to change my mind, but... we'll just have to see.

Man, I sure didn't have a lot to say about the books this week-- but I'll fix that soon enough.

later!

San Diego next year?

Been talking with Kat and we're trying to decide on our big vacation next year. The less expensive choice (of the two we have now), oddly enough, would be four or five days in San Diego at San Diego Comic-Con.

It'd be fun and exhausting and all of that times ten. Plus it'd put a huge dent in our wallet.

=sigh=

Not sure what we'll do but it's something that's on our minds.

Ultimate Marvel: ...and that's a wrap!

Just read ULTIMATUM #5 (of 5). This is the biggest blowout of the Ultimate Marvel universe, folks. MAJOR deaths and a shakeup in the status quo that can't be paved over by the Ultimate Beyonder stopping by for Starbucks.

Big. Stuff. Happens.

Won't go into details, just suffice to say that this is a real ending point in where the UM had been.

It's also time I bowed out. Much as I enjoyed the books (mostly) over the years, this is where I say goodbye. It's not that I doubt the next wave of books--one a relaunch, the other two picking up Iron Man and the Avengers--won't be entertaining; it's just that I'm done with this world. Most of my favorite characters are now dead and the ones that are left... well, they're the ones I wasn't watching as much anyway.

I'm sure it'll be a fun ride but I'm stepping off the carousel now.

Grading the Comics- the Long-Overdue Edition

Hey folks!
Yeah, I'm back to grading comics. I have to write up my notes and see what's what this week. In the meantime, here's what I picked up:

• DARK AVENGERS #3 DKR - Starts out with some truly awesome face-to-face time between Norman Osborn and the Sentry, with some startling revelations and a bit of insight into both Norman and Bob Reynolds. Truly stellar. The rest of the issue, as the Dark Avengers face off against Morgan le Fay, is pretty good--but the first part puts this issue firmly into A+ territory.
• MYSTERIUS THE UNFATHOMABLE #3 (OF 6) - Not read yet.
• STAR TREK CREW #1 - Not read yet.
• STORMWATCH PHD #20 - A StormWatch ground team enters Eastern Europe, which is held by the Night Tribes, and finds things are vastly worse than they imagined. Expect a WetWorks appearance real soon. B-/C+
• SUPERGIRL #39 - Not read yet.
• TRINITY #42 - The Trinity aren't quite back to normal, even though they seem to be on the right side, and Gangbuster has a personal revelation courtesy of Tarot. B
• ULTIMATE X-MEN #100 - The series finale (sort of) sees the team battling the Multiple Man, who's been turned into a million-strong army of suicide bombers. Pretty strong ending. B++
• ULTIMATUM #3 (OF 5) - Not read yet.
• UNCANNY X-MEN #507 - Not read yet.
• X-MEN LEGACY #222 - Not read yet. This one bats clean-up, as I like to take my time reading Mike Carey's work.

Report back soon, ye army of loyal readers! I'll have comments and grades real soon.

Grading the Comics- December 17, 2008

All righty, what's on the menu for today?

• AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE #19 - hm... you're in the Avengers' own training camp and learned the guy in charge was a Skrull. I know it'd undermine my confidence in a federally-funded superhero career.
• DARK REIGN: NEW NATION- Gotta say, I like the "Illuminaughty" nickname that's been kicked around.
• STORMWATCH PHD #17- Random thought: having an orbital station sure makes for a gloomy spot to watch the end of the world, doesn't it?
• SUPERGIRL #36-NK
• TERRA #4- end of the mini
• TRINITY #29-
• ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #59- I'm betting Johnny Storm isn't really dead.
• WALKING DEAD #56- wonder how much longer Rick's gonna last. Any bets? I'm thinking a year, tops.
• X-MEN LEGACY #219- Professor X sits down with Juggernaut for a little brotherly heart to heart

Reviews to come...

Grading the Comics - December 3, 2008

Hey folks,
As Jeff points out in his comment, it's been awhile since I've done my usual reviews. So let me cue up what I'll be reading this week and (with luck) catch up later today/tomorrow on the huge mass of stuff I read last week.

UPDATED! All right, I have read my list for this week and here's what I think. (Drum roll please.)

• AUTHORITY #5 - Continuing the post-apocalypse storyline, this features the Engineer racing to save a handful of refugees from "Warhol fever" victims in the wreckage of the Carrier, while her teammates both help and hinder her progress. Sets up some nice ongoing tension within the ranks. B
• BATMAN #682 - a true Final Crisis tie-in and (I hope) the wrap up to RIP, this is a brilliant done-in-one about Batman's career--the start, the early days, the advent of Robin, the painful aftermath of Robin's departure, and the notion that something very wrong is happening inside Batman's noggin. Better than #681! A
• BOYS #25 - Wee Hughie learns more than he wanted about the expansive "G-Men" and their myriad franchise teams, while Mother's Milk talks about the job and Butcher contrives something interesting in the name of research. B+
• JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #21 - the $h!t is hitting the fan, boys and girls, with Gog setting a price for his miracles and the JSA deciding if they're going to pay it. And Superman-Grim punches a lightning bolt. Classic! And this is NOT yet the end of the story--that happens next month. A
• MARVEL ZOMBIES 3 #3 - as Machine Man confronts (and rips through) legions of Marvel zombies (including lots of the Inhumans, Ghost Rider, et al), Jocasta finds what they're looking for, even as ARMOR finds that they have a mole from the zombieverse. Solid storytelling and I like it MUCH better than MZ 2. B
• SECRET INVASION #8 - Wow, what a wrap up. Fans will love it or hate it; I thought it was pretty damn good. A major death very early on, a gigantic shake up to the status quo, and Iron Man pretty definitively falls from grace. A few loose ends and a heartwarming moment or two, all of which launch us into DARK REIGN, coming soon! A+
• TERRA #3 - interesting story, setting up a subterranean culture (something that AQUAMAN got around to doing very, very late) that justifies spending lots of time underground. Plus Terra explains her origin, Geo-Force gets slapped around some and "Diamond Boy" has some ups and downs of his own. B
• TERROR TITANS #3 - lots of fighting but not much to show for it, except an already-spoiled reveal on the last page. Three more issues of this? C-
• TRINITY #27 - again, not a lot happening. If this weren't a weekly, I'd have dumped it by now. C+
• WHAT IF... HOUSE OF M - "No more powers." Kind of says it all, except that a very old and very evil supervillain has an ultimate weapon that the nonpowered heroes can't fight. A pretty good look at what the heroic do when they don't have powers to prop them up. Plus a backup that'll run through all the What Ifs: What if the Runaways had become the Young Avengers? B
• X-INFERNUS #1 - Magik is back (okay, the Darkchilde is back; not exactly the same thing) and she's kicking butt. Colossus wants to go after and rescue his little sister Illyana but it looks like she doesn't need rescuing. Who does? Oh, probably the whole X-team, once a teleportal opens up in the wake of Pixie's discovery. Nice to see S'ym and Nastirh back again too. B+

And that's it for this week. Thoughts, comments, agree/disagree? I await word from you.

Drew

Last Week's Comics

=sigh=
Even with the best of intentions...
Turns out the new books did not come out yesterday, so I'll stall for time by listing the ton of books I got last week, plus some quick grading and thoughts.
First, though, a mini-rant.
I'm not enjoying reading comics as much as I did. Why? Partly because of a big sense of "been there done that" that infecting everything on the market now. There's no real sense of anything truly new breaking in (with sporadic exceptions).
It leads me to wonder how much longer I'll indulge my hobby on a weekly basis. Could be the time's come to make a break. We'll see, but 2008 has not stoked the fires of my fanboy heart.
Now, as for last week, what'd I buy? Well... (SPOILERS BELOW, FOLKS!)

• BATMAN #681 RIP - Okay, it's finally over. Batman meets the Devil (borrowing the image of his long-dead daddy) and blows up a helicopter. I'm surprised Nightwing and Robin bought it--this is the kind of faux-death that every Bat-villain has come back from bigger and badder than ever. Hell, the Joker does it every other month. Speaking of, let's retire the Joker for awhile, okay? I'm sick of that green-and-white freak showing up EVERYWHERE. B-
• BODY BAGS (ONE SHOT) - why the hell doesn't Jason Pearson do Body Bags more often? Geez! I love this guy's stuff and it shows up, what, every two or three years? How the hell does he make a living? It's frustrating as hell to enjoy a creator's work so much and get it so infrequently. Clownface and Panda absolutely rock. Buy this book and write to 12 Gauge--tell them you want more Body Bags! A
• HULK #8 - whew, talk about stinky cheese. Two stories that add up to more filler. Honest, is there any reason why three superheroes show up in Vegas at the same time as Bruce Banner and a busload of Wendigos? As for the other, I've lost any interest whatsoever in the Red Hulk (for the record, I think it's Talbot [aka Grey from Gamma Corps]) and just hope somebody will off this mort sooner rather than later. The art's nice (Art Adams and Frank Cho could illustrate the phone book, for my money) but the story's on life support and fading fast. D- (story), B+ art
• JSA KINGDOM COME SPECIAL THE KINGDOM #1 - most spinoffs and tie-ins have nothing to say; luckily, this is the rare exception. The killer final page gets to what Geoff Johns has been building to throughout this arc, setting up JSA for a big smackdown and some payoff to long-running plot threads. Gog shows who he really is and the JSA, divided along ideological lines, has never been this unready to meet the challenge. And the artwork rocks too! A
• PUSH #2 (OF 6) - Used to work with Marc Bernadin back in my freelancing days, when he was at STARLOG and I was scrambling for work. Now he's a bigshot comics writer (with a gig at ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, no less) and I'm... well, I'm reviewing his stuff. Dammit. At least (as I recall), he was always a nice guy; pleasure to find out he's so talented at writing too. Read PUSH and you'll have a whole new appreciation for the psychic/espionage microgenre. A
• REIGN IN HELL #5 (OF 8) - Can somebody make sense of this story? I'll settle for being told why any DC reader ought to care at this point. C-
• RUNAWAYS 3 #4 - This one is Kat's specialty. I'll post her comments when I get them.
• SAVAGE DRAGON #141 - A big climax to the Solar Man story, along with a new vs old superhero throwdown. Erik Larsen does what he does best. B+
• SECRET INVASION X-MEN #4 (OF 4) MD - Always a big fan of Mike Carey's work, and this does not disappoint. Sets up a classic "should we go there?" dilemma for Cyclops, with Beast acting as Jiminy Cricket, and a splashy payoff as the X-Men deal with the Skrull threat to San Francisco in a pretty definitive fashion. Next question: is Tony Stark going to ask for their final solution? B+
• SUPERMAN #682 NEW KRYPTON - This is probably the most interesting way to go with Kandor that's been tried in a long, long time. Unfortunately, it's still not holding my interest. We all pretty much know 100,000 Kryptonians are NEVER going to assimilate on Earth--and is there any other reason to send Superman into deep space (2009) than to find them a new homeworld? Didn't think so. B-
• TEEN TITANS #65 - Wonder Girl gets empowered and celebrates with a new look, as well as kicking the ass of her psycho nephew. Okay story but nothing I'll recall in detail three months from now. B-
• TRINITY #26 - Earth is falling apart without the Big Three, I get it. Next. C+
• ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #128 - More about Venom and Carnage finally got interesting. Also, a fairly intriguing return. B
• ULTIMATE X-MEN #98 - An Ultimatum tie-in with the X-Men convinced that three of their teammates are dead in flooded Manhattan. Not bad at all. B-
• UMBRELLA ACADEMY DALLAS #1 - Hilarious stuff, setting up a truly grim-feeling storyline. A
• WALKING DEAD #55 - Rick's finally getting his head together, even as the little caravan makes some interesting discoveries (why are some of the zombies getting weak?). B+
• WILDCATS #5 - We get inside Spartan's head a bit, with help from Nemesis and Voodoo, and see that Hadrian is not a happy camper (and is also suffering a bit of an identity crisis). Good stuff. B

And that's what went on last week, friends. Till tomorrow! DB

Grading the Comics: Week of October 22

Hey gang!
Let's see what I have to look forward to this week...

• FINAL CRISIS #4 (OF 7) - kind of weird that FC and SI are shipping on the same week, isn't it?
• FINAL CRISIS SUBMIT #1 - guess this could be more of the Anti-Life mob...?
• HULK #7 - more Rulk?
• RUNAWAYS 3 #3 - okay, this is really Kat's book
• SECRET INVASION #7 (OF 8) SI - see FC4 above
• SUPERMAN NEW KRYPTON SPECIAL #1 - is this a "very special" issue of Superman? will we see a message, like "don't sunbathe too long, Kryptonians!"?
• TRINITY #21 - Earth kind of sucks without the Big Three around
• ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #127 - after bonding with the Venom symbiote, I'm guessing Peter Parker is ready to kick back and relax. I'm probably wrong.
• WILDCATS #4 - oddly, I'm enjoying Wildcats more now than I have in a long time.
• X-MEN LEGACY #217 - yay, Mike! Go team go!

And on Wednesday, we'll see if my snark is borne out.

Hasta la bye-bye!
Drew

Grading the Comics: Week of October 6, 2008

Hey folks,
Okay, time to grade the books! What did or didn't do it for me this week...?

• ACTION COMICS #870 (pre-spoiled!) - you've probably heard the big spoiler, but apart from that final page, this issue featured a really cool throw-down between Superman and Brainiac, as well as Supergirl having a turning point moment of her own, plus Metropolis--in a bottle! Way cool. A
• FINAL CRISIS REVELATIONS #3 - Radiant, the Spirit of Mercy, has some trouble dealing with Anti-Life maddened mobs in Gotham, as Crispus Allen tries to sort out some issues and the Question gets beat up by Batwoman. Probably the best street-level view of how this Crisis is affecting ordinary folks. And dig that mob scene outside the church! B+
• GEN 13 #23 - a quintet of "what I'd be doing now if I wasn't with you guys," spotlighting each of the five kids. Kind of dull but probably a necessary deep breath before the series plunges into extreme action. C+
• WILD CARDS: HARD CALL #4 - Daniel Abraham and Eric Battle keep the story rolling, as Croyd (the Sleeper) Crenson tries to find the guy who's framed him for murder. A neat murder mystery set in a decades-old superhero anthology world. B+
• GREEN LANTERN #35 - more of "Secret Origins," with Hal standing up to the Guardians for the first (but not the last) time and Sinestro really getting serious depth. Plus snapshots of Black Hand and Hector "the Main Brain" Hammond. B
• GREEN LANTERN CORPS #29 - a new Star Sapphire is born and Guy and Ice have a date (and a fight--what else is new?), while a batch of Lanterns search for a child-snatching member of the Sinestro Corps. Truly meh. C
• MARVEL ZOMBIES 3 #1 - the Florida Initiative team is wiped out by zombies sneaking through from (you guessed it!) the "Marvel Zombieverse." Zombie Deadpool and his pack of flesh-hungry undead snack on newbies like Siege and Conquistador, while Jennifer Kale and Wundarr the Aquarian survive (barely). So Morbius sends Machine Man and Jocasta on a little mission... B
• SECRET SIX #2 (missed #1... darn it) - missed this one too. No grade.
• SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE VOL 2 #3 (for Kat) - Kat hasn't read it yet. No grade.
• TRINITY #19 - more of "Earth without..." and we see how the world is worse off when Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman never existed. Both stories focus on folks who kinda-sorta remember the missing Trinity, but don't move the story very much at all. C
• WALKING DEAD #53 - Rick and Tommy find some old friends and face some troubling realizations, along with an intrusion with an intriguing twist. A-

Agree? Disagree? The comment field is always open.

Baltimore Comic-Con: A Not-so-Live Blogging

I was at the Baltimore Comic-Con this year and wow, what a difference a year makes.
Some quick thoughts:

• Attendance appears to be WAY up; there was a definite San Diego vibe at one point, given how densely packed the aisles seemed to be. It didn't last all afternoon but... it felt a lot busier than last year.
• Adam Hughes is one of the most talented artists out there--he is also one of the nicest. Visit his website and buy his sketchbooks; they are a bargain at any price. And if you're lucky enough to get a commission from him, I envy you greatly.
• Darwyn Cooke is a riot. He was willing to chat with Kat on my cellphone while he signed my two volumes of DC: the New Frontier. He and his wife struck me as real nice, genuine folks. Consider me a fan.
• Jim Lee is immune to the passage of time, except that his art keeps getting better.
• Saw Pop Mhan again this year and enjoyed it even more than last year. He's an ex-WildStormer like me and it's great catching up.
• The bar at the Sheraton doesn't stay open late enough--though I was ready to bail at 12:30.
• Rain, rain everywhere. Lucky for us, there was a roof over the line going into the con on Saturday.
• the Kirkman-Bendis panel was great (you had to be there to see Kirkman pull out graphs of relative sales and how working for the Big Two doesn't necessarily mean a spike in your creator-owned work)
• So was the "Marvel: Your Universe" panel, where I asked a question about the way events lately seem to reset the status quo to a decades-past iteration OR strive to create a new status quo; Tom Brevoort, Brian Michael Bendis, Dan Slott and C.B. Cebulski were very good at answering the audience.
• Said hi to Jim Shooter, Bernie Wrightson and a flock of others (reminding them of either long-ago or trivial connections in the process; I interviewed a bunch of Shooter's team at Valiant back in the day and was working at Chaos! when he drew a story for our horror anthology mini).
• Thought Howard Chaykin was astounding in his Sunday panel with Adam Hughes. He gives Harlan Ellison a run for his money when it comes to snark.
• Caught a glimpse of Tim Sale, at the tip of a long line of fans.

And that's the quick notes from the con. I might blog a bit more later but... it was a fantastic two days.

I suspect Baltimore has been "discovered," though, which might be good or bad. The number and celebrity of the professionals here is amazing; plus, it's a comics-driven show (until SDCC, which has been Hollywood driven for a long time now).

If you have the chance, come to Baltimore next year. I think you'll find it is an event you'll want to revisit over and over again.

This Week in Comics: August 27, 2008

First, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister Beth, whose birthday is August 27. She's the best.

As for this week's comics, I'm looking at buying...

• AVENGERS INITIATIVE #16 SI
• DC UNIVERSE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT #1
• FINAL CRISIS ROGUES REVENGE #2 (OF 3)
• FINAL CRISIS SUPERMAN BEYOND #1 (OF 2)
• JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #18
• KICK ASS #4
• REIGN IN HELL #2 (OF 8)
• RUNAWAYS 3 #1 (Kat is a huge fan of the series)
• SUPERMAN #679
• TEEN TITANS #62
• TRINITY #13
• ULTIMATE IRON MAN II #5 (OF 5)
• ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #125
• ULTIMATE X-MEN #97
• WILDCATS WORLDS END #2

Like always, the titles in italics are maybes; if I don't get them, it won't break my heart.

Come back Thursday for my exciting and all new GRADING THE COMICS!

This Week's Comics

Hey folks,
What am I buying this week? Let's see...

• AUTHORITY #1
• BOYS #21
• DETECTIVE COMICS #847 RIP
• FINAL CRISIS #3 (OF 7)
• FX #6 (OF 6)
• HULK #5
• STAR TREK ASSIGNMENT EARTH #4
• TRINITY #10
• ULTIMATE ORIGINS #3 (OF 5)

Not much on the list is really blowing me away as "must read" material, I'll be honest. FINAL CRISIS probably comes closest, though TRINITY has been more fun than I expected and BOYS is enjoyable in a darkly perverse way.

Is DETECTIVE still "Heart of Hush"? If so... I'll pass. I don't care enough about Batman's twisted childhood friend to follow the story with my $2.99.

Looks like this is the (temporary?) end of FX-- it's been fun and has a very retro/Silver Age feel to it, so I hope it'll be back.

Grading the Comics: July 24, 2008

Okay, here's what we had this week...

• AVENGERS INITIATIVE #15 SI - In the last issue, a little wish really screwed over 3D Man, who might have become one of the major anti-Skrull heavyweights... but probably not any more. Thanks bunches, jerk. Overall, an okay story that doesn't much advance the Secret Invasion plotline so much as tell a peripheral character story. C+
• BLACK SUMMER #7 - End of the road for the Seven Guns, though Warren Ellis has enough left to continue if he chooses (but he probably won't). Interesting take on the extremes to which superpowered vigilantism can go. Nasty but a good ending. A-
• GREEN LANTERN CORPS #26 - End of the Mother Mercy story with a rather heroic (if out-of-left-field) effort by a GL. B
• JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #23 - The team gets its collective @$$ kicked by Amazo, whose use of their powers is inspired to say the least. Plus the first intimations that something is very wrong with Vixen after all. A-
• NUMBER OF THE BEAST #8 (OF 8) - The end of a protracted and not-very-great "end of the world" story. By itself, not interesting at all, but maybe it opens up some possibilities for WildStorm to break out of being just another superhero universe. D
• SUPERMAN #678 - Atlas kicks butt. Nothing special. C-
• TRINITY #8 - Bruce Wayne hosts a party and Despero entertains an offer. B-
• ULTIMATE X-MEN #96 - Big news for Wolverine (courtesy of a special guest star) and the X-Men have a little reunion. B-
• UNCANNY X-MEN #500 - the store sold out! Go figure!
• WAR HEROES #1 - Interesting kickoff: ongoing attacks inside the US result in a program that gives soldiers superpowers in pill form. Hm... Millar can't be making points about current events, can he? B
• X-MEN #214 - Despite the cover, which has nothing to do with the insides, Professor X gives a good accounting of himself, Gambit and Shaw bond and a new villain is unveiled. B+

Overall, not a bad week. Still wish I was at Comic-Con.

Last Week's Comics and This Week's Comics

Gotta say, friends, last week was lame for me. I bought all of three titles: ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #56, FINAL CRISIS: ROGUES REVENGE #1 and TRINITY #7. I know there were plenty of other worthwhile books on sale, but heck, I'm only one guy and I gotta tighten the belt when it comes to books.

As for this week:

• AMBUSH BUG YEAR NONE #1 (OF 6)
• AVENGERS INITIATIVE #15 SI
• BLACK SUMMER #7
• GREEN LANTERN CORPS #26
• JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #23
• NUMBER OF THE BEAST #8 (OF 8)
• SUPERMAN #678
• TRINITY #8
• ULTIMATE X-MEN #96
• UNCANNY X-MEN #500
• WAR HEROES #1
• X-MEN #214

Kind of interested to see where NUMBER OF THE BEAST will leave off-- sounds as if the WildStorm universe is going to be well and truly thrashed by armies of returned posthumans, giving our heroes something to do besides chase bank robbers and stray Daemonites.

Also figuring that the GL Corps will start setting up for the Red Lanterns story real soon.

This week is Comic-Con, folks, and I'm darned unhappy I won't be there. Kat and I had an absolute blast last year and wish we could make it in '09, but odds are good we won't be able to do it... for reasons I'll cover real soon.

later!

This Week's Comics

Okay, so I didn't grade last week's books.

Doesn't mean there weren't winners and losers in the bunch.

First, this week's books:

• ACTION COMICS #867
• BOOSTER GOLD #1000000
• BPRD THE WARNING #1 (OF 5)
• CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 #3 SI
• DETECTIVE COMICS #846 RIP
• JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #17
• NUMBER OF THE BEAST #7 (OF 8)
• SECRET INVASION #4
• TRINITY #6
• ULTIMATE ORIGINS #2 (OF 5)

We'll see which of these come out thumbs-up this week.

As for last week...

• BATMAN #678 RIP - Reminded me of an episode of Starsky and Hutch, where Hutch was addicted to narcotics by the bad guys; in the '70s, you could do that and the character would be "clean" by the end credits, while now it'd be the focus of a season-long story arc (with the possibility of backsliding). Very interesting... A
• BOYS #20 - What can I say, Ennis and Derenick keep this comic rolling, even in a story where the real "action" is two conversations and a clean-up job. A
• FX #5 (OF 6) - I'm a longtime John Byrne fan, so this series continues to please me. (See more below) B+
• SAVAGE DRAGON #136 - Erik Larsen would be getting a better grade if this book came out more than once in awhile, but I do like his stuff. B-
• STAR TREK ASSIGNMENT EARTH #3 - A story about Gary Seven and Roberta that shows some forward momentum for one character (plus a bittersweet flash-forward); some really good storytelling by JB. B
• TRINITY #5 - So far, the weekly isn't blowing the doors off my fanboy brain but it's holding my interest. So far. C+
• WALKING DEAD #50 - Man, Carl sure has grown up in the past four years. He really lets his dad have it, too, venting all the horror and suffering he's gone through to reach a point of being self-reliant. Great storytelling and a return to the big danger being--zombies! A-

Astute friends of the site will notice some deletions from the list I posted last week. So be it-- some titles were sold out, others I chose to drop at the store rather than purchase.

Anyway, that's this week AND grading the comics, so... make of it what you will.

This Week's Comics

Sorry I didn't post about last week's books-- there were some good ones in there but I had a lot to do and not much time for blogging.
But here's what I have my eye on this week:

BATMAN #678 RIP
BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #1
BOYS #20
FX #5 (OF 6)
SAVAGE DRAGON #136
SECRET INVASION FRONT LINE #1 (OF 5) SI
SQUADRON SUPREME 2 #1
STAR TREK ASSIGNMENT EARTH #3
STORMING PARADISE #1 (OF 6)
TRINITY #5
WALKING DEAD #50

The ones in italics are ones I'm not sure about. If I miss them or they sell out, I won't be traumatized but I might look for them in future weeks.
Got anything you're eager to see this week? Comment away!

A Light Comic Book Week for Drew!

I didn't really buy very much yesterday, but... here's what I got (with remarks):

• GEORGE R.R. MARTIN’S WILD CARDS #3 (OF 6) HARD CALL - haven't read it yet, want to take some time and enjoy this one
• JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #22 - is it me or is Dwayne McDuffie just not doing it in this title? I love the guy's work but his JLA run is disappointing me.
• TRINITY #1-3 - haven't read it yet; Kat borrowed issues 1 and 2 last night.
• ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #55 - what is the story with the new Salem's Seven? Geez, talk about an aggressive new superteam. Leave it to Mike Carey to reinvigorate a bunch I considered "morts" back in the day.
• ULTIMATE X-MEN #95 - last issue, the X-Men got their asses handed to them by one badass Alpha Flight; now we're seeing a bit more about the mutant-amping drug Banshee, Cyclop's first optic blast (in flashback, natch), a secret agenda at work, and Vindicator showing signs of being a serious A-hole. Hm.

I'll post more opinion here as I finish the week's books. In the meantime, I'm reading OUT OF THE WILD by Sarah Beth Durst (see the link to her site on my home page). It's as fun and wacky in its sensibilities as INTO THE WILD (her first novel) and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

Till then!

My Comics List, Week of May 14

Hey gang,
Here's what I picked up this week-

• BATMAN #676 RIP
• BOOSTER GOLD #9 (man, Earth is messed up 'cause of Ted Kord, huh?)
• CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 #1 SI (the Skrulls want to bomb Stonehenge?)
• FX #3 (OF 6) (love Byrne's art!)
• GEN 13 #20 (the end of the New York saga, finally)
• GREEN LANTERN CORPS #24 (the source of the Black Mercy flower--revealed!)
• NEWUNIVERSAL SHOCKFRONT #1 (OF 6) (further recreating Jim Shooter's pre-Valiant universe-building effort)
• NUMBER OF THE BEAST #3 (OF 6) (things is messed up where the High is hangin'... dawg)
• SECRET INVASION FANTASTIC FOUR #1 (OF 3) SI (okay, the ending you can see coming but getting there is kinda fun)
• TITANS #2
• WALKING DEAD #49 (the perfect antidote to happiness and optimism)
• X-MEN LEGACY #211 DWS (Xavier is still putting it together... with help from a madman, Phoenix and his wackjob sister)

Overall, thought it had some bright spots. I might do a rundown of my faves (and not-so-faves) before I run off to London.

What I'm Liking and Not Liking in Comics Pt 1

Okay, so I'm shelling out my hard-earned bucks for comics every Wednesday... and I realize this morning that I haven't read a chunk of what I bought two days ago.

That would have been unthinkable when I was in my 20s or even my 30s. Nowadays? I'm lucky if I read everything I buy period. Used to be I could only say that about novels (I own enormous tons of books and, sadly, have a considerable pile of "never-reads" in that papery black hole I call a library).

So what am I liking and what am I not liking?

Let me see.

LIKE
1. WildStorm.
I know, I'm surprised too. While NEW DYNAMIX isn't kicking it for me, I love that they're going all out on NUMBER OF THE BEAST and the shape of the world afterward. It's a very bold step and I hope it pays off immensely. Plus they've been trying all kinds of energetic and innovative things to recharge their classic books. Despite a couple misfires (WildCats, Authority), WildStorm is getting better all the time.

2. Green Lantern.
A couple of interlocked books that have a master plan-- how cool is that? Geoff Johns is just rocking it on GL. For a hero I kinda-sorta liked, this has become "must read" stuff.

3. Secret Invasion.
It's about time the Skrulls got serious about kicking Earth's ass. And man, have they been doing it! Reed splattered over his lab, the Baxter Building sucked into the Negative Zone, the SWORD space station blown to bits... the list goes on and on. And where are the Avengers? Chasing their tails in the Savage Land, while New York is ground zero for the Skrull ground strike. Good stuff-- I just hope they avoid what befell WORLD WAR HULK: awesome story, miserable ending.

4. Cyclops.
I think Scott Summers is poised to become the fan favorite mutant of 2008. He's shaken off his decades-long misery over Jean Grey (who seems to have been reborn like... a phoenix?... over in CABLE), hooked up with the older-but-still-hot Emma Frost (c'mon, Emma's got to have five or six years on Scott easy), and assumed real leadership of the X-Men. Thank God one of my favorite X-characters is back to being himself.

5. Ultimate Marvel.
Yeah, it's heresy for anyone who's read comics for more than, oh, four years to admit liking the Ultimate books... but hey, they're doing what Marvel used to do in the old days: shaking up the status quo, keeping you guessing, and not playing it safe. I like Bendis on Ult Spider-Man (Peter Parker should ALWAYS be a high school student! yeah I said it!), I like Mike Carey on Ult FF, and the other books have given me some smiles. Sure, I wish ULTIMATES was a more regular title-- heck, the delays on ULTIMATES II were criminal-- but overall I like the line a lot.


DON'T LIKE
1. The new Question.
I'll give Greg Rucka big props for being a great writer-- but his version of The Question isn't great. Renee Montoya evolved from being "that cop chick from BATMAN: THE ANIMATED ADVENTURES" into a complex character who'd hit rock bottom... only to begin a path toward self-knowledge courtesy of a dying Vic Sage (aka "Charlie"). Now, following the events in CRIME BIBLE, she's in charge of the Dark Faith. What the F?? C'mon, Greg, where the heck is THE QUESTION in this? Ditko's version, O'Neil's version... any version of a character searching for truth instead of punching her way to control of an evil religious sect. If you want to write "The Adventures of Renee Montoya, wannabe Cobra Commander" just do it, okay? Leave my favorite hero's legacy in peace.

2. Wolverine.
So... very... tired....

3. Captain America still dead.
C'mon, Ed Brubaker, bring Steve Rogers back already. You know you're going to.

4. Limitless crossover miniseries.
Once in awhile, it works. I kind of liked GAMMA CORPS, that WWH spinoff, and I'll buy one or maybe two of the FINAL CRISIS or SECRET INVASION tie-ins, but folks (I'm looking at you, DC and Marvel), too much is too much. It looks like FINAL CRISIS will keep it under control; let's hope SECRET INVASION does likewise.

That's all I have for now. We have a taping of FANTASTIC FORUM coming up at the end of the month. Maybe by the time I get back from London, I'll have more butt-whups in mind.

Countdown: The Wrap-Up

SPOILER WARNING
Boy, do I spoil COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS...

Well, DC's second consecutive 52-week comics project ended a couple of Wednesdays ago. It's taken me this long to come down from the experience.

Can't say it garnered a lot of conversation at Ye Olde Comics Shoppe, other than "oh, it's done?"
Frankly, that's how it went out-- with a whimper instead of a bang.

Here's what you missed, if you weren't reading:

• Darkseid got killed by Orion, who wasn't looking too healthy afterward, following week after week of a confusing (and ultimately pointless?) chess game with a rogue Monitor named Solomon;
• Superman-Prime came back, steroided-out and wearing all black, to torture Mr. Mxyzptlk, obliterate one Earth and get blown to smithereens when he tore open Monarch (formerly Captain Atom), who...
• had either gone crazy or "so sane he's crazy" and built a monstrous war machine, led by a handful of variant DC heroes, that...
• he blew to smithereens when torn open by Superman-Prime;
• Kyle Rayner, Donna Troy and Jason Todd (all of whom oddly seem more comfortable without superhero names nowadays) went kicking around the 52-verse searching for Ray Palmer in the company (briefly) of a treacherous Monitor named Bob;
• Palmer (it turns out) was hiding out on a "perfect" Earth, where he had married Jean Loring and enjoyed a world without superheroes (they'd solved all their problems and were in a Golden Age, which ended abruptly and tragically courtesy of Monarch [see above]);
• Palmer also had the inoculation against morticoccus (a transformative smart virus) in his blood and was seeding it across parallel Earths on his travels (something that turned out to be entirely pointless, as the morticoccus unleashed only consumed Earth-51-- yeah, the very same "perfect" Earth Monarch obliterated-- kind of sucks to live there, huh?)
• Oh, and that whole morticoccus thing set the pieces in place for Kamandi-Earth;
• the Earth's villains were mass-deported, a feat of brilliance undone by the heroes, who were feeling somewhat bereft of purpose, I suppose (honest, does anyone think Batman would ever in a million years go seek out the Joker to BRING HIM BACK TO EARTH?);
• the Atom (Palmer again) liberated the trapped souls of the New Gods, who were lending powers to Jimmy Olsen (who didn't die [truth in advertising, people!!] but did hook up with Forager [temporarily?], possibly the very last living native of New Genesis);
• Piper survived the villain purge (though Trickster didn't)... only to find he embodied some fragment of the Anti-Life Equation and can make Boom Tubes by playing his flute;
• Harley Quinn got a new BFF in ex-Catwoman Holly Robinson-- they survived faux Amazon training, a trip to Apokolips, the morticoccus outbreak and a final fight against Dark Mary Marvel (who got a share of Black Adam's power, then a dose of juice from the gods she helped liberate);
• Dark Mary, btw, managed to become evil TWICE in the course of this story, once by accepting Black Adam's "gift" and then a second time... by taking that same power back from Darkseid! This gal is just pathetic...
• Also btw, where is Shazam (aka Freddie Freeman) in all this, while Mary's shaming the Marvel Family? Man, I know you just wrapped up six epic feats to win your powers back--after they were somewhat arbitrarily taken away--but what a way not to defend the family honor...
• speaking of whom... my bet? Dark Mary gets seriously killed in FINAL CRISIS;
• in total-- ugh.

One conclusion? I'm swearing off weekly comics for awhile. Good luck, TRINITY.