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No Comics Wednesday (for me)

Posted by under *mixed, Comics |

I can’t remember the last time this happened, but I have nothing on my pull list for this week. Plenty of books from all publishers will be on the shelves, but there’s honestly nothing that I normally read. Knowing that a week with no books shipping is likely scheduled for the Wednesday between Christmas and New Year’s Day again this year, it makes for a pretty bleak December of comic books for me.

In an attempt to compensate, Kevin and I thought we’d look at the shipping list for the today and next Wednesday (a lot of these books got pushed back to December 15th) and see what I could have bought if I had unlimited resources of time and cash. Even though we don’t necessarily read all of these books, there may be some spoilers to come.

KevinMLD: I actually have a number of pretty strong titles shipping this week.

PTB: It’s funny how that works out. We’re obviously both big comic book fans, but our tastes tend to run in very different directions. Let’s start with a book I was following until recently:

Angel #40

PTB: I gave up reading this tittle when, after falling hopelessly behind, it was suggested that the book was no longer in canon. I’ve actually collected every issue up to #39, and it was the lack of anything else on my list this week that led to my dropping the book as of the end of this sentence.

KevinMLD: Yeah it became pretty clear that this book wasn’t canon when Angel showed up as the villain over in Dark Horse’s Buffy title. Turns out Joss Whedon had almost nothing to do with this book almost from the beginning apparently, despite how it was marketed. That said, After the Fall was pretty great until they reset L.A. like nothing had ever happened.

Batman: The Dark Knight #1

PTB: David Finch gets his own Batman title as writer and artist. I’m sure this will look amazing, but it’s hard to say how it will read. Finch is new to writing comics and that move to writer doesn’t always go smoothly. Image started out on that foot and it’s fair to say the results were mixed. Tony Daniel recently debuted writing a Batman book as well.

KevinMLD: I’ll definitely buy this book and I’m sure I’ll write more about this once I’ve read it… but I definitely feel it’s a waste signing guys like Tony Daniel and David Finch to exclusive contracts and not teaming them with a top writer. Daniel’s Batman title was a thousand times better when written by Morrison.

Fables #100

PTB: I hear nothing but good things about this book, but I have yet to explore the world of Fables. What I do know is that this book always brings exceptional cover art. It always draws my attention when I see it on the shelves. Issue #100 is jammed with creators, but $9.99 for 100 pages seems high. Amazing Spider-Man #600 was 104 pages for $4.99. I’m sure this is a special format to justify the price.

KevinMLD: Fables is a pretty great series. I’m not sure it’s as good as it used to be, but I still really like it. I think you would really enjoy it. It’s definitely worth checking out. But if you do decide to try it, I suggest you give it at least two volumes before deciding how you feel about it. I remember being disappointed by the conclusion of volume one.

John Byrne’s Next Men #1

PTB: This was a real surprise to see on the list. I followed Next Men back during its original run and was only vaguely aware that it was returning. From what I recall, it’s the story of a group of powered individuals who are involved in an experiment where they exist in a virtual world that has been created for them. I recall thinking that awakening in The Matrix strongly reminded me of Next Men. John Byrne gets a lot of love from me for his X-Men work. Much of his other work that I’ve read falls a little flat. I may be heading to the store this week after all…

KevinMLD: I haven’t read a John Byrne book since his relaunch of Hulk was so unreadable. That was probably a decade ago at this point, which is really scary. He’s been doing some Angel work lately though too, which you might be interested in.

New Avengers #7

PTB: There are just too many Avengers books in Marvel’s Heroic Age, and this one had to come off my pull list. I fell behind early (like issue #2), and wasn’t that interested in the line up with the exception of Ms Marvel, and not even the TRON variant cover is going to bring me back. I’m already reading Avengers and Secret Avengers and they bring John Romita Jr and Mike Deodato to the table. Stuart Immonen is doing great work on this book, but he’s not enough to keep me coming back. Even though Secret Avengers is a departure from what Deodato had been doing, it has been great to follow him from Thunderbolts to Dark Avengers to Secret Avengers.

KevinMLD: You know I gave all of the Avengers book a try when they relaunched. The only book that I found I really enjoyed enough to keep reading, surprisingly enough was Avengers Academy. Not sure how that happened.

There are a lot of titles shipping this week that I’d normally pick up. Most of them are Bat-titles which I plan to write about later, but I figured I’d spotlight three titles here.

Incredible Hulk(s) #618

KevinMLD: Greg Pak has turned this into a team up book featuring Hulk, Skaar, Rick Jones, and the She-Hulks. The run started pretty great, but the current storyline features Hulk’s other post-Planet Hulk son, Hiro-Kala, attempting to crash a planet into the Earth to destroy the last of the “old power.” It’s all a little too cosmic for me. I hope we get back more standard Hulk stories soon. Having said that, since Jeph Loeb left Hulk, that title has really taken off. Jeff Parker has Steve Rogers sending the Red Hulk on a variety of missions teamed up with Avengers who have a grudge against him. It totally works and has almost redeemed the character.

PTB: The Hulk family of titles was an early casualty of my recent purchasing purge. I wasn’t crazy about how the line expanded after World War Hulk, but I did stick with Pak’s Skaar series and his return to Incredible Hulk for a while. Once things started gearing up for World War Hulks, I just couldn’t justify spending money on the books. Eventually I’ll get back to them on Marvel’s digital subscription service, but it’s good to know that the quality is improving in your eyes. The current story sounds like something I’d really be into.

Superboy #2

KevinMLD: I’m a sucker for the clone of Superman’s adventures in Smallville. The first issue of this title didn’t quite live up to the Geoff Johns/Francis Manapul’s Adventure Comics run, but it showed promise. I’m in for the next few issues at least.

PTB: The clone Superboy is an interesting character that seems to have been developed nicely by various writers since his creation after the Death of Superman. It was a shame that DC complicated his story by killing him off a few years back. His return seems to be going well, but a title like this or Adventure Comics is not something that I’m likely to start reading. They’re just a little too deep in the DC Universe.

Tiny Titans/Little Archie #3

KevinMLD: This book has been ridiculously fun teaming the Tiny Titans with tiny versions of the Archie crew. The series kicked off with Robin and Archie’s dry cleaning getting swapped due to both outfits featuring a large R prominently. Hilarity ensues.

PTB: That’s brilliant.

Other Wednesdays with no comics:

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  • Aaron Schantz said,

    I haven’t had a comics free week in forever. Though this was a light week for me. (Last week was well up in the $30 range though, so I welcome the respite.)
    I picked up Batgirl #16. Enjoying the series so far. It’s not the greatest book ever, but is enjoyable, light fare. I like the Oracle/Batgirl interaction. I figure this book will last maybe 45 issues before getting canceled for low sales.
    Got Flast #7. It was a Captain Boomerang origin issue. His oragin is pretty weak, and doesn’t even set him up very well as a sympathetic character. I considered this a waste of $$, but am hoping the book picks up speet. Maybe going into the next big Flash Crossover it’ll get better. I like the flash and really want him to have a good book.
    Got Lady Mechanika #1 (from Aspen Comics) to check it out. Thought a sexy steampunk chick would be neat. It’s not my cup of tea though. It’s set in a fictional 1870’s city that is basically as modern as today, only they call it the 1870’s. The creativity is a little lacking. Don’t think I’ll pick up issue 2.
    Red Robin #18 was also on my pull list, but the store was sold out when I went. I’ll get it this week from another shop. I really like Tim Drake as a Bat character, and am enjoying his time as Red Robin. He’s sort of filling the role Nightwing had in the batman books, now that he’s graduated from being Robin.
    Wondering if this character will last. Figure it’s only a matter of time before Dick Grayson goes back to nightwing, and wonder where that’ll leave Tim’s Red Robin character.

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