Been gone from comics for 2 years - what did I miss?

[gater]

Hey guys, so I had a few things happen in my life - quit my job, started teaching - had 2 kids and kind of lost track of comics for the last 2 years. The last thing I remember was 52 was happening in DC and Civil War was starting in Marvel.

Luckily (or unluckily) my on-line comic shop kept pulling my list and sending me books (my credit card held up I guess). I have posted my pull list below, so you can get a feel for what I read - but I'll read anything good.

So my question is this - what has been good? What arcs are must-haves? What new books have started since I've been gone? What writers have had good runs on previously bad books?

I need to go back and buy some back issues and re-do my pull list. I always come here for the best info on the net - so thanks in advance.

My pull list:

All Star Batman and Robin
Superman / Batman
Justice
Justice League of America
All Star Superman

Fables
Y: The Last Man

Marvel Zombies
New Avengers
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
Runaways

Powers

Ultimate Fantastic Four
Ultimate Power
Ultimate Spider-Man
Ultimate X-Men

Astonishing X-Men
Cable and Deadpool
Uncanny X-Men
Wolverine
Wolverine: Origins
X-Men: Legacy

[ashez2ashes]

You missed the awesomeness that was Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, and Manhunter. You also missed the dark day (the water turned to blood and dogs lay down with cats) when Cable and Deadpool was canceled for a solo Cable series. It was like Marvel ordered a piece, but then threw away the pizza and kept the box. No one buys the pizza for the box, it just happens to go with it.

[stealthwise]

Y the Last Man is over. The ending was awesome.

[Herr Mike]

Best set aside some time for all those issues of All-Star Batman & Robin you'll have to read through! Like, 10 minutes!

[siberia77]

The Annihilation series was surprisingly good, as has been the Nova ongoing series. Guardians of the Galaxy looks like it will be hot, jump on now!

[mrc1214]

I would just search the FAQ forums the Crisis forums. Youll be able to figure out whats going on just by looking around these boards theres a ton of info on here. And if you need anything else feel free to pm me.

[lead sharp]

Stick around, it's all going to look familiar again soon.

Actually it's kind of disturbing that someone can come back and not notice anything different.

[misterbonesy]

Don't bother going back and trying to catch up. Most of what you would read would be moot at this point anyway, it seems.

[COMIC GEEK]

my 2nd child was born this past march and I quit eating cake

[The Beekeeper]

If you were reading Uncanny and X-men, then you'll also want to buy the issues X-Men: Messiah Complex One Shot, X Factor 25-27, and New X-Men 44-46. All the (main) X-Books got embroiled in one big continuing storyline, so you'll have to read all of those in order, but don't worry because it was a very enjoyable read. A few books spin out of this, and they are (IIRC): Cable, Young X-Men, and X-Force. You should check these out, they can be somewhat hit or miss.

And I second Annihilation. The first event is availabe in trades now, as is the beginning of Nova, and both are really amazing. Annihilation:Conquest was only so-so, but what's coming out of it is great so far- Guardians of the Galaxy. All of this is really fun, huge cosmic stuff with a good amount of characterization and humor.

Another great book you should pick up is Avengers:The Initiative by Dan Slott, Christos Gage and Caselli on art. A lot of great new/old characters and then just then developing against this backdrop of the Initiative. There's a trade of the first six issues, and the initial big storyarc just wrapped up in issue 12, so you can jump on with issue 13 (which was a done-in-one with a kind of cute, kind of sappy ending) which came out a month ago. This is getting tied into Secret Invasion, but it should still be good.

In the Ultimate Universe, a mini came out a few months ago called Ultimate Human by Warren Ellis, and the first two issues were awesome, with the next two being a little bit worse. A lot of great writing and an exploration of how (physically) the Hulk functions.

On the DC side of things, there was a great arc in Green Lantern/GLC called "The Sinestro Corps Wars" which was incredibly good. Sinestro has formed a Green Lantern corps of his own, fueled by fear instead of willpower, and wages war against the Green Lanterns and earth. This happened in the Sinestro Corps special, Green Lantern 21-27, and Green Lantern Corps 14-19.
Congratulation on a wonderful two years!

[jesse_custer]

Here's what you need to know more than anything as far as monthly comics go: Jonah Hex kicks everything's ass.

And look into Manhunter. I just picked up the newest issue, which I'm told is the first new issue after a long, long wait, and it certainly got me hard. Great concept, story, characterization, art, etc.