Here 'tis. Haven’t gotten to mine yet.
This weekend I scored 21 of the 24 published isses of DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest for a buck and a half a pop. I’m awfully excited – I loved those books, the few that I’ve had, and they’re usually much more expensive when you can find them.
Furthermore, the haul includes a copy of digest #6, which I owned as a child, and from whence I got my fear of spiders (there’s a story there reprinted from DC’s “Ghosts” series about a man who destroys his nephew’s spider collection and then is killed by the ghost of one of the spiders he killed). I never had arachnaphobia as a kid until I read that story, so I have George Kashdan and Ernie Chua to thank for my paranoia. I always wanted to find a copy of the story somewhere (I have no idea where my original went – it was 20+ years ago), but not remembering it was in a digest or where I read it I had no idea how to track it down until I was flipping through the stack and saw it reprinted there.
gleeful
–Cliffy
Very good week for me.
Jonah Hex #2: Classic Hex. The bad guys all die horribly. I just want to see hex cross paths with Al Swearingen.
Mister Miracle #2: Ah. Now I get it. It’s the One Year Later New Gods. Very cool.
Y The Last Man #40: This is what I love about the book. A smart look at how the world would be turned around if there were no men (today’s focus: the Catholic Church) with a healthy dose of psychodrama, and just a little dreamlike surreality. I’m glad to see this character return, too.
I also picked up Secret Identity in TPB. Loved it. Touched on what I love best in Superman stories. Not so much a slugfest (which we know he’ll win, if he hasn’t been neutered), as an examination of the morality and effects on the person of having superpowers, and of Superman as an icon. Also, it gives him a proper ending. Not that I’d like the canon Superman to be retired, mind you. But I like having an assortment of endings for the epic of Superman to choose from.
The Maze Agency is back.
It’s only temporary, but there’s nothing more I need to say.
The Maze Agency is back.
God bless Mike W. Barr.
Two weeks worth of books to discuss here,…
New Books for 11-30-2005:
Time’s been short for me lately (and it doesn’t seem to be getting better) so once again I wll be quick. I def. agree with those who say, however much interesting Waid’s meta-revolution/invasion arc in Legion of Super Heroes and fun Winnick’s Red Hood storyline has been in Batman, both have dragged on for a bit too long dampening my enjoyment of this weeks issues, LoSH #12 and Batman #14. I look forward to both books winding up soon. I’m not sure if I’ll keep either on my pull and hold list afterward. JLA Classified #14 was a decent continuation of Ellis and Guice’s JLA story about dangerous text. I’m still digging Guice’s take on the individual members of the JLA, though I do wish he’d abandon the scratchy finishes, and I like Ellis’ take on Jonn Jonnz, and the way he gives Oracle near-equal time here.
Based on recommendations gleaned on the Capt. America topic thread in the M_llarworld General Forum, I picked up Ed Brubaker and Patrick Zirchner’s Batman-Alan Scott-Commr. Gordon “Made of Wood” story arc in Detective #784-786. Zirchner, a truly under-appreciated artist, turns in solid work here, nicely inked by Aaron Sowd. Personally I found the plot a bit predictable, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story, for the depth of characterization Brubaker brings to Batman, the original Green Lantern and ex-Commissioner Gordon. It’s all in the little asides, y’know?
I flipped through, but did not buy Wonder Woman #223. No offense to Richards, whose work here, like his work on the first six issues of the new Rogue title, is very good (though I wish they’d assign an inker who uses pens and brushes to his work – I think it looks better that way) but I might have bought this issue if Morales had illustrated the full issue. I really like the way Rags renders big battle scenes (see his run on Hawkman), and here, he really makes Artemis and the Amazons desperate battle against the OMACs look exciting (for about four pages). I also picked up Witchblade #92 (for the variety of artists working on this issue) and Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein #1 but haven’t had a chance to read either of them through. Doug Mahnke does interesting, fun work, but he doesn’t fit every title (for instance I still think assigning him a Cyberforce story was a mistake) but his work looks great here.
New Books for December 7th, 2005:
Love & Rockets Vol. 2 #15 - decent issue all around. Didn’t get the Luba reference,… when I have time I’m going to have to look for a blind man somewhere in the Palomar stories from volume one. Is it my imagination, or are Jaime’s characters aging at an accelerated rate all of a sudden.
Punisher #28 Decent, not quite as strong as the last couple of issues, but I figure this is the lull before the storm. I guess the intestinal thing didn’t scare me as much as the thought of the old man on a rampage. I look forward to something akin to Frank and O’Briens confrontation with the ugly woman enforcer from “Up is Down, Black is White”.
Supreme Power: Nighthawk #4Felt much the same about this issue as I did about the issue of the issue of the Punisher discussed above.
Team Zero #1 I think I might have liked this better if the inker had gone for a line quality akin to the rougher finish the person who inked Mahnke’s 7S: Frankenstein or JL: Elite lent those stories. It was okay, but oddly not very exciting. Not sure I’ll follow this one,…
Ultimates 2 #9 “The sh_t doth hit the fan.” However this turns out, there’s a message here about imperial arrogance, cloaked in all the widescreen action. I hope the intended audience soaks it up between prayer sessions, denials of responsibility and the temptation to stick one’s head in the sand.
Haven’t gotten to Outsiders #31 yet. Tradewaiting on the New Warriors miniseries. (I missed to many of the in-between issues.)
Me, I’d rather the author kept his politics out of his comics.
Somebody bring me back up to speed.
I set up my new office downtown here (about two blocks from the house) and a nice young man named Jordan just opened a comic shop around the corner. I think I’m keeping him in business at this point.
I’m reading ‘She Hulk’, God help me, and it’s funny but I can’t for the life of me remember who the therapist with green hair and the lightning bolt on his chest is. Someone do some outreach, will you?
Doc Samson.
I’e been reading a lot of old GI JOE: Special Missions issue lately. I bought a large lot off Ebay.
Just great adventure story telling and some honestly harsh political storytelling for at the time a comic geared toward kids.
If you like She-Hulk, you’ll like Thing and next week’s JLX-Mas Special, all by Dan Slott.
You’ll probably like Invincible, too.
Is it wrong for me to love Marvel Zombies, what little of it I’ve seen?
Also, I’m working on an Ultimates story that plays into this issue nicely, so I liked it.
LSH I just love, flat out.
I picked up Angel : Old Friends #1, just to see where the Buffiverse is these days. It’s… interesting.
I got Gotham Central #38, in the hopes it’s really foreshadowing a new h ost for the Spectre.
Mister Miracle #2 - Liking it a bit better, though I prefer Metron’s traditional interpretation.
**
Spider-Man/Black Cat : The Evil That Men Do** #4 - wasn’t worth the wait, but only because it was such a ridiculous wait.
Danger Girl : Back in Black #2 - Huzzah! Johnny Barracuda is such a hilarious character.
Wonder Woman #223 - I wonder what the weapon does, after all this buildup…
Batman #647 - GREAT issue. Great VU tie-in. Great to see Jason Todd and the Bat working side by side, if only temporarily. Some continuity oddity with Captain Nazi though.
Outsiders #31 - Donna brings them together, and then they all leave. A little odd.
Superman #224 - helps as a prelude to Infinite Crisis #2. Damn. Somebody should put together a timeline for all these DC comics…
Ultimates 2 #9 - Can’t wait to see how they get out of this one.
**JSA **#80 - Nice conclusion. I wonder about the fate of the Halls, though. (no pun intended)
**Powers **#15 - Nice twist at the end.
I also snagged Volume two of the What If? TPBs.
Yeah, I’m wondering about that too. Will they go with the (apparently) obvious? Because there’s a new candidate there now.
I’m also wondering about what’s happening with the Halls in JSA. I liked the trip through the Elseworlds too.
Freshmen #4: The least funny of the Freshmen to date. Having a character in the hosipital in a coma tends to be a downer. Still funny and more plot (Woo! Plot!). Love the Geoff Johns quote on the cover.
JSA #80: So cool. JJ looks terrible on the cover. Johns is leaving this title too? Damnit.
Check out the sneak preview of #82. The art is gorgeous and the story sounds good.
I also picked up a Penny Arcade one shot. Can’t go wrong for 25 cents. Not bad. If you like gaming or are at least familiar with it, you’d probably like it.
Newsarama says that Warren Ellis is doing a New Universe revivial.
No, it’s not a joke.
–Cliffy
Where did you see that? I’ve not seen anything about a permanent change in the creative team for JSA, just Levitz’ 6 issue run.
Anyway…thoughts on what I’ve read so far this week… (Some are from last week…)
LSH 12: I’m disappointed to see that Dreamie is, in fact, dead, but Atom Girl’s arrival was…beautiful. Vicious Vi. >_>
JSA 80: ‘Would it help if I said I was sorry?’ But speaking of vicious…Go Jakeem. That looked painful. Not that he didn’t deserve it, though.
Polly and the Pirates 2: I’m adoring this book. But, Ted Naifeh could illustrate his shopping list, and I’d adore it.
But Polly is a great character, very different from Courtney, and the secondary characters are a lot of fun. Polly’s discussion with Scrimshaw was priceless, so was nicking the boat.
Wonder Woman 223: I can’t fault Diana’s actions…But it’s not going to go well for her…