What Did You Read September 2010

[dancj]

I was on holiday with barely any time for reading for two weeks so I didn't manage much last month, but here's what I did read...

Batman: False Faces - The collection of Brian K Vaughan's Batman and Wonder-Woman stuff. The False Faces story itself was quite good, but I thought the rest was quite weak.

Sleepwalk and Other Stories - A bunch of short stories from Adrian Tomine. He has a strange habit of stopping stories a little earlier than you expect and leaving you to fill in the blanks yourself. Sometimes this is really effective - Other times it just leaves the story feeling a bit lacking. Overall a good collection though.

Ultimate X-Men v19: Absolute Power - Really not very good.

Isaac the Pirate v1: To Exotic Lands - I didn't know what to expect with this little eBay bargain. From the art style I expected something humorous, but actually it was played very straight. It held my attention well enough, but it didn't grab me enough to make me follow it to any future volumes.

Grendel Black, White and Red - A right mixed back of artists ranging from excellent to downright terrible (but that's always been the way with Grendel). The stories though (being written by Matt Wagner) are mostly very good. I'll have to seek out the sequel now...

[pmpknface]

Ultimate X-Men v19: Absolute Power - Really not very good.

I remember being really satisfied with what Kirkman had been doing on this book and then this arc starts and it's all wiped clean like it never happened. That really pissed me off.

[De Carabas]

Blackest Night HC
Blackest Night: Green Lantern HC
Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps HC
Not easy juggling three trades simultaneously, but worth it. I have no regrets about skipping the 89 other Blackest Night collections, but these were damn good.
Thanks Jamie for the checklist from a few threads ago.

Flash Rebirth HC--Also good, but I have to criticize Johns for not mentioning HOW Barry came back. I hadn't read Final Crisis prior to this (and it ain't like I understood it anyway), so a two-panel summary in the first or second issue not only wouldn't have hurt, but I think is damn mandatory. Yes, the villain explains that he manipulated events to bring it about, but still no how. That critique aside, I liked it very much.

Superboy: The Boy of Steel HC--Again, with the good. I LOVED Manapul's art. That was the real highlight. I haven't been keeping track, but I hope there is more after this, since this ended on a very hopeful note. And here, there was at least a cursory explanation of Conner's return.

EM

[pmpknface]

No problem DC! ;) I'm glad I passed on all the other BN tie-ins too. I don't think I'm going to be getting brightest day either, as my sources tell me that if you don't care about the characters that came back, then don't bother. From here on out I'm goign with GL and GL Corps. At least until the next Gl crossover!

Oh, and I heard a few other critical things of that Flash story too. I've never really been a Flash fan, so more $ I saved on that one.

[torippu]

No problem DC! ;) I'm glad I passed on all the other BN tie-ins too. I don't think I'm going to be getting brightest day either, as my sources tell me that if you don't care about the characters that came back, then don't bother.

I dropped BRIGHTEST DAY with the order that I placed with DCBS yesterday! I would have stuck around if it was just an Aquaman or Hawk & Dove mini-series but just couldn't get too excited about Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter or Firestorm.

Oh, and I heard a few other critical things of that Flash story too. I've never really been a Flash fan, so more $ I saved on that one.

It was an OK story. My only complaint about the current series is that I still feel like Wally is under the mask and have to constantly remind myself that Barry is the main character in the book now.

[zryson]

Brightest Day #9.

[De Carabas]

Oh, and I heard a few other critical things of that Flash story too. I've never really been a Flash fan, so more $ I saved on that one.

Don't get me wrong, I did like it. Johns does a very good job of introducing Barry to new readers and re-establishes the Flash Family again, much like he did for GL. The one true objective flaw in this book is common to Johns's big story arcs; lots and lots of excellent character work and building tension, only for the final scene to happen in no time flat. It happened in the Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night Personally, I can live with that, because the middle "stuff" is far more interesting to me. If you can pick it up cheap (like I did at a con), absolutely grab it.

Now, what drove me nuts is a minor subjective flaw that is becoming a serious pet peeve of mine. I am getting annoyed to the point of irrationality with the assumption (or presumed assumption) that the reader has necessarily read everything prior the work in your hand. Johns is obviously aware that he needs to introduce Barry to new readers, but is blind to the fact that some of us may not have read final Crisis. Writers today will labor exhaustively to make sure the "old stuff" (i.e. stories more than 10 years old) is explained, but neglect to think about the "new stuff" (i.e. stories from this/last year).

EM

[De Carabas]

For work:
Azrael: Death's Dark Knight TP--Good. Better than I expected. Weak backstory, but otherwise good. Solid work from Nicieza.
Batman: The Bat and the Beast TP--OK. Milligan gets Bruce out of Gotham and does a neat job of showing how criminals in another city, Moscow, would react to Batman.
Batgirl: Batgirl Rising TP--Better than I thought it would be, but I have to say it is just good. If this was coming out when comics cost less, I'd really recommend it as a fun read. In another two years, I'd like to give this to my niece, but who knows what the status quo will be by then. Some very amusing dialogue/inner monlogues. That is this book's true strength.
Magog: Lethal Force TP--Giffen and Porter? How could I resist? Not sure if I liked it though. With only one minor subplot exception, Magog isn't moved past his 90s era Cable spoof personality.
The Mighty vol. 2 TP--Hands down, the best of everything listed here in this post. I was worried that after volume 1's reveal that this might get monotonous, but Tomasi is better writer than that. A very cool 12-issue series. Worth checking out.

EM

[torippu]

I wasn't as nearly productive over the long holiday weekend as I thought that I would be. First up, Image books:

Invincible #74 - Good stuff - it's about time that Mark was back in action.
Guarding the Globe #1 - Aside from the name change brought on by Marvel, this was a decent first issue. Ransom Getty's art was very nice, I like the new character designs and am looking forward to Kaboomerang in issue #2.
Sciene Dog Special - Nice recap/review leading into the next part in Invincible #75.
Haunt #9 - After a couple of really good issues, felt that the storytelling was off in this issue - some of the transitions weren't good at all. I'm still going to continue reading but my enthusiasm is not as high as prior to the release of this issue.
Dynamo 5: Sins of the Father #3 - The story in this arc seems very light. Also, despite some interesting layouts, I felt like the art was not as clean/finished as the previous couple of issues.
Savage Dragon #163 - Good fun! I'm excited to read future issues of the Emperor Dargon storyline. The art looked good as well.

[pmpknface]

I'm soooooo behind on Invincible. Vol. 13 arrived, and now that'll sit with V. 12 until I buy #11!

My DCBS box arrived and I read the SHADOWLAND stuff 1st. I'm really digging this story. First I read #3 - and I knew he'd try to do what he set out to do at the end of this issue! I just knew it was coming. Loved watching DD kick some butt.

After that I read the SL: Elektra 1-shot, which actually comes BEFORE SL #3 but didn't ruin the readin experience. Interesting lead it. Not THAT necessary, but was pretty cool.

Just read the Wolvie: Road to Hell book. It's an intro book that has lead-ins to the new Aaron written Wolive book, X-23, Daken, and Uncanny X-Force. I liked the X-Force story with Fantomex and the rest of the crew best. You can certianly see where it's going, if you didn't know already and do know your X-history.

Gorilla Man #3 was fun! We get the fleshed out backstory of Ken Hale and how he became the GM and then get another story at the same time. It was funny watching him talk to other gorillas. I loved the old SA Marvel backups too! I'm gonna miss ATLAS....

finished up American Son yesterday too. I was hoping Gabe would get offed, but that's ok. I do like that he's a complete wacko nutjob.

X-Factor finally saw Rhane with Richtor and Shatterstar - which was CLASSIC!

Ast. X-Men #35 - well, that's over. It came out so infrequently that it was just lost on me. And there's that OTHER Ast. x-book out at the same time too. I love Ellis, and all I can think is that this would have read better as 1 chunk. I did like the characterization and how the team interacted.

[jclaus]

Astonishing X-Men # 34-35 (Marvel): Publishing schedule absolutely killed this story. I liked the wrap up and probably need to re-read as one chunk. Jimenez's artwork was nice.

Time Lincoln # 1 (AP): Funny, cartoony book that grabbed my attention on the rack last weekend. Concept is there is something called "The Void" that allows you to travel through space/time if you can access it and/or see it. So, of course, key historical figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton (man he is getting around for someone his age), Nikla Tesla, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein know about it. Josef Stalin and Hitler appear to be the main big bads.

[De Carabas]

For me:
Realm of Kings HC--It nearly kills me to write this, but this was a disaster for me. 80% of my dismal feelings can be attributed to the terribly poor artwork. This book is ugly. Pablo Raimondi's issues were by far the best, and those weren't anywhere near as good as his X-Factor work (which I love). The best I can say is that at least his pages were boring, not hideous. Add in a four-issue Hiro-Kala story to the mix and this is the first time that I've seriously regretted buying a Marvel cosmic book.



EM

[torippu]

For me:
Realm of Kings HC--It nearly kills me to write this, but this was a disaster for me. 80% of my dismal feelings can be attributed to the terribly poor artwork. This book is ugly. Pablo Raimondi's issues were by far the best, and those weren't anywhere near as good as his X-Factor work (which I love). The best I can say is that at least his pages were boring, not hideous. Add in a four-issue Hiro-Kala story to the mix and this is the first time that I've seriously regretted buying a Marvel cosmic book.



EM

Did this collection contain the Imperial Guard mini? I became a big fan of Kev Walker's art in that book and led to me picking up his run on Thunderbolts with Jeff Parker.

[torippu]

Thunderbolts #147 - The conclusion to the plot line with the SHIELD agents being mutated by terrigen mist/crystals seemed rushed to add in the Scared Straight stuff but I am not complaining. I found the stuff back at the Raft much more interesting. I am little more worried with the book being pulled into Shadowland next month.
Avengers Academy #3 - Another really good issue. Strong art from McKone (I am biased, there hasn't been a book that he has drawn in the last couple of years that I didn't like). I do like how Gage has introduced each of the new characters in each issue. Very much looking forward to the next issue.
Captain America #609 - This book would be much more enjoyable if the art wasn't so uneven. I love Butch Guice but 2~3 inkers per issue are really affecting the art. Here's hoping that he can start inking himself or at least stabilize with just one person.
Avengers: Children's Crusade #2 - Gorgeous Jim Cheung art but I felt like there were some storytelling problems in this issue. I am not sure that there is enough interest in this book to keep me waiting 2 months for the next issue.
New Avengers #3, Secret Avengers #4, Avengers #4 - Keep reading, dropped & dropped. Too much Avengers is not a good thing. Sticking around mainly for Immonen's art.
Superman: Secret Origin #6 - Another amazing issue from this creative team! I loved this origin tale. I may have to go back and read the Johns/Frank issues of Action Comics again.
Amazing Spider-Man #639~641 - Found the reasoning behind the wedding not happening to be pretty lame but the story, as a whole, has been very good and I am looking forward to see how it ends. Joe Q's art is a bit strange looking in places (did he use himself as photo reference for Peter Parker?) but the stuff from Paolo Rivera is amazing, much better than I remember the art that he did in a previous BND issue.

And from the $0.50 bin at Lee's Comics in Mountain View, CA:
Ghost Projekt #1 - Planned on checking this out in trade form but found a reader copy for very cheap last week and was happy with what I read. Interesting mystery/premise and pretty Rolston art definitely have me planning on picking up the collected edition at a later date.
Youngblood #1 - Words can't express how much I loved this (very) short edition of this team from Alan Moore and Steve Skroce. 10+ years later and the art from Skroce still pops off the page with an amazing amount of detail - I know that I was bummed when he left Amazing Spider-Man for the movies and, eventually, this book but the results are amazing. I may have to see if I still have the rest of these issues in a long box somewhere.

[Typhoid Perry]

So far I read:

Sweet Tooth 1-12
I love this book!


Superman/Batman #75
a great issue, so many different stories, definitely unique perspectives.


Joe the Barbarian #1-3
I didn't like the way the imaginary characters talked so I don't think i will continue reading this.


DayTripper #1
I really enjoyed this comic, self contained book. A full story in 1 issue, I think I'll continue reading this.