Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Well, I do plan to re-read it in the near future. The prose just pulled me in.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

I finally picked up my books this weekend. A relativly small haul, with "Museum Of Horror" looking to be the high light. Anyone who's read the Manga "Uzimaki" well know that the Toemi storyline in this book should be special.

Previews is going to kick my ass in October! I have to bite on the "Absolute Sandman Vol1" as well as the "EC Archives Weird Science". I'm so glad they started with the Sci-Fi, as I've read the horror books already. Anyone on the fence with EC comics are doing themselves a disservice, they hold up remarkably well to todays books, and are very literate for a 50's comic. The "Complete Dick Tracy" well be mine as well as the "Kull" collected by Robert Howard.

A qeustion for the membership, has Ultimates Vol 2 #12 come out yet? A friend of mine said it had, but I missed it. If anyone knows, it could save me slumming around the local shops and would be much appreciated.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

No. It comes out at the end of September.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Thanks Greg, you greatly eased my mind.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

You're welcome. Marvel says if you do only one thing with your life, it should be reading this issue. I'm sure that's not hype, so don't miss it.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Heaven forbid the people at Marvel use any hyperbole to get someone to buy a book. It's the humbleness that really sets the company apart.

Excelsior!

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Fairly big week:

X-Men Civil War
Ghost Rider
Sensational Spider-Man
Marvel Adventures Avengers
Marvel Westerns
Thunderbolts
Ultimate Fantastic Four
Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual

Ghost Rider needs to excite me pretty quickly after the lackluster premiere issue. As for Marvel Adventures, I tried the MA Spider-Man after spiderfan.org gave it steady high marks over its lifetime. The issues I read were enjoyable, as was the MA Avengers preview in this year's Free Comic Book Day sampler. So, I decided to try the Avengers book.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Anyone else bummed by the Civil War delay? We aren't getting #4 until late next month, and the whole thing won't be wrapped up until the new year. I'm kind of bummed out, but at least they didn't just bring in fill-in artists to get it out on time. I'm liking McNiven's art a lot.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Read some oldies.

Noticed Simonson did an Elric mini-series that just concluded (after starting MANY months ago). I'm reading that tonight. Simonson and fantasy...just click

I did pick up New Avengers #22, because I heard that Luke Cage actually made sense taking the opposition viewpoint. They are stacking the deck LIKE mad...but he actually sold it. Fun issue as well. Luke Cage is good stuff.

Also read Superman from last week. As usual, I can read Busiek all day long.

Depressing about CW#4, but I'd really like to see McNiven finish the whole thing. The art is all that thing has going for it

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

This was a pretty weak week:

Ultimate Fantastic Four 32 - Millar and Land conclude their year on UFF, and I thought the ending was a little rushed and confusing, but with the new team on-board, they had to just tie up as many loose ends as possible. I'll miss Land's art on the title, but he moving on to do Ultimate Power (9-issue maxi-series about the world of Squadron Supreme meeting up with the Ultimate universe of characters.)

Runaways 19 - the aftermath to the demise of one of the characters felt a little forced, and I wasn't really enjoying the title as much, but there are some promising joint ventures, but if this new storyline doesn't do much for me in the next 2-3 issues, I'll be dropping the book.

52 Week 15 - The Booster Gold issue that had some cartoonish art that didn't sit well with me given the story being told, and not quite digging Supernova either. There's a 2-page origin of Steel, with art by John Bogdanove.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Not too much. Heroes for Hire, Wolverine, New Avengers, and Ultimate Spider-Man. I just put the USM away, because I'm only on issue 16 of that title right now and working my way up. There were also a couple of DCs, such as the new JLA and Wonder Woman, but I passed on those for now. Wolverine was pretty good. I couldn't stand Ramos's art when he was on Spider-Man, but it works better here. For one thing, it's still highly stylized, but not so much as it was on Spidey (old crone Aunt May, spirals for kneecaps). Plus, the colorist did a great job--the colors of the Atlantean city were really appealing to look at. Also,


Warning Spoiler! Click to show

Until the Civil War, I hadn't read a Wolverine book since about a year into his first solo ongoing. I may stick with this one for a while even after the event is over.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

I pretty much stick to trades these days, and lately I've just been trying to whittle down my rather huge stack (reading Essential Classic X-Men 2 right now), but I did finally get the first issue of Shark-Man that was released a few weeks ago.

It's basically a futuristic subaquatic Batman, which sounds goofy but is actually a lot of fun, and the main selling point is that Steve Pugh is using a new Photoshop-colored art style that's really eye-popping. I've liked his work since he did Animal Man and he's better than ever, IMO.

Thrillhouses's (I always think about Milhouse on the Simpsons whenever I see that name) other upcoming book, Cryptid, looks like it could be a lot of fun, too.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Supergirl 9 - ow, my head hurts, it was just so disjointed. I think I'm about done with this title. I'll check out #10, but if it don't catch my fancy, I'm dropping the title.

52 - Week 16 - Well, there's a wedding, and a bomb scare. Also a group gets off a planet they were stranded on for these 4 months. The Black Adam origin wasn't too bad.

Supergirl and the Legion 21 - Brainy still can't let Dream Girl go, and uses various Legionnaires in using a computational approach to bring her back, but it's just GIGO for Brainy. The Colossal Boy subplot wasn't all that interesting.

Jack of Fables 2 - Liked the sarcasm and narcissistic outlook Jack has (only for laughs). He's shagged Goldilocks, but couldn't wait to push her out the door, and gets the riot act read to him and Jack is not going to let anyone decide his fate.

Wonder Woman 2 - Finally it arrives, and it was a good read. We get a little bit more insight on Diana Prince becoming a Fed and allowing Donna and Cassie handle things while she watches from afar. Good action and loved the 2nd-to-last page before the reveal of the last page for the next "guest-star" in this revamped Wonder Woman.

Batman 656 - Another good Morrison setup for what will surely be an intriguing storyline to come. Batman has to deal with many Man-Bats and that leads him to having to face his past in an unexpected way. Can't wait for the next week. Kubert's art was taking on some of Neal Adams' energy and look.

Astonishing X-Men 16 - Kitty takes control of the situation but finds even darker forces at play. Wolverine continues to be a bit afraid of everything, but still manages to protect himself against a Beast attack. Not a bad issue, looking forward to the next issue.

Justice League 1 - It appears that the Red Tornado will be the lynchpin to the reformation of the Justice League, with the lineup decided by Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. It's a decent start. I am miffed about the 2 covers by Ed Benes, but another cover by Michael Turner. To get the "full" cover by Benes, you have to buy cover A and cover B to get the full line-up of past and possible JLA members, and that's just cheesy. Boo!

Birds of Prey 97 - Black Alice is the focal point, and she's got some evil flanking her on one side (Talia, Cheetah and Felix) and the Birds of Prey on the other (Black Canary Huntress, Zinda). I didn't much like the ending as it seemed a bit rushed, but the artwork was easy on the eyes.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Got a few nice comics (I am still like 6 issues behind in 52...I have them, but I haven't touched them).

Batman 656 was a lot of fun. I think Morrison is going to have a strong run on the comic. A somewhat (and only somewhat) lighter Bruce allows a greater variety of stories. I look forward to them.

Astonishing X-Men 16 - I am less enamored of Whedon's run than most. It doesn't help that I don't understand most of the relationships having skipped all X-titles for about 9 years. The art is nice, but Whedon loves his one or two themes...over and over and over.

JL #1 I enjoyed. I'm going to pull it. Agree with Patrick about the covers. I just got one. And I don't enjoy Turner's art at all, so any variant by him is happily skipped by me.

Samw with WW #2.

Absolute DK came yesterday. It's huge, and too expensive. But it's my favorite comic (well, DKR), and the oversized format REALLY complements the size of the storytelling.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

I bought Astonishing X-Men 16 yesterday because I liked the cover, but I didn't much like the story. Granted, it made little sense since I've never read the title before and have actually gone about 16 years without reading an X-title, but another factor was probably the fact that I'm not a Whedon fan. Never liked his dialogue, including the "yeahbuhwhat" from Kitty here. I've got a bunch of UltXM coming in the mail soon and if I like those, I'll read that title. Otherwise, I'm going back into X-hibernation.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

I think Astonishing started out well (although it's always been a clear step down from Whedon's debut, Fray) but as often happens with his work, he got sloppier as he went along. I jumped off after the Danger storyline, which, aside from being pointlessly contrived, featured the parapelegic Prof. X drive a truck into the villain.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Don't know if I can remember everything I bought today. I know it was seven books, since I had to use my last seven boards. Let's see:

Black Panther
Young Avengers/Runaways Civil War
She-Hulk
Action
Ultimate Fantastic Four
Ultimate X-Men Annual
Cable/Deadpool

Yay, got them all. The most disappointing so far was UFF. New creative team. I hated the art. It's gone from a really nice-looking book to crap in one issue. Didn't like the writing, either. I hate being dropped into a story that we don't know anything about with a language we don't know anything about. I guess if it was compelling, I wouldn't mind the gaps being filled in later in flashback. But, I just didn't like it. I also didn't like Young Avengers/Runaways, which is how I felt about the first book in the series. I am only reading them since they are tie-ins, and I'll probably stick with it, but I will probably never like it. And, it'll probably never be any kind of key to the story. I guarantee it ain't going to win me over to the individual titles.

Black Panther and She-Hulk were solid reads, and that completes the titles I've read thus far.

Actually, now that I've read Cable and Deadpool, I think I'm dropping out on that Young Avengers/Runaways tie-in for sure. I say that because I'm definitely not reading another issue of C/D. So, I might as well just make it where I don't read the tie-ins if I don't like them, unless they are completely crucial to the main event.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

I thought Action was OK, except for the hokey "is he-isn't he" resolution, which was obvious from a few issues back. I hate writer hero-worship. But the rest of the issue was solid. I do like Woods' art, but it seemed rushed here.

All-Star Superman #5 was a one issue Luthor extravaganza. As usual, a fun issue steeped in Superman lore (with some Morrison nuttiness).

Haven't read 52 or Justice. I did get the old New Avengers #23. I liked 21 and 22 quite a bit. 23 was dull (but then I'm not up on continuity), but I'll still try 24.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

I've been reading Essential Classic X-Men #2, and the other day I read the first appearance of the Cobalt Man, an inventor so jealous of Iron Man's success that he created a radioactive suit of armor that causes brain damage and self-destructs two hours after it's activated. If this guy isn't the most idiotic supervillain ever, he's got to be a serious contender for the title.

I love comics

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Picked up:

All-Star Superman - fun time with Lex and Clark in prison.

Action - seemed too rushed and confusing, and it does make you go "hmm..." as to how many Kryptonians are running around currently on earth.

She-Hulk - hate all the fill-in artists on this title, though the man-wolf development raised an eyebrow.

52 - Lobo, nuff said. Finally some other characters are featured. I was getting a little tired of Black Adam/Isis, Montonya/Question for the past month or so.

Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters - It takes 2 issues, but we get a brief intro to all the characters, and Uncle's putting the band back together with Father Time in the mix.

Justice - enjoyed this installment, but I will enjoy it more when I can read all 12-segments in a row.

Superman/Batman - haven't read it yet.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

I didn't like Action very much, nor did I like last month's. This alien auctioneer storyline just isn't my bag. I don't know if Nicieza is taking over Action soon, or if it's someone else (I think Busiek is staying on Superman), but I'll probably drop it when it happens. And then, Busiek has to keep me. I'm not just staying because I liked his Untold Tales and Thunderbolts years ago.

Heh. I think I posted about who will take over Action. Johns and Donner, right? We'll see how I like it.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

I've got a couple of boxes of comics that haven't been touched in about 20 years, and when I flipped through them, the bags were all sticking together. Is this because of acid breaking down the bag? I pulled out some sample comics, and they were fine. But, I'm going to need to replace the bags at some point. That's going to be expensive.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

I've had this on a few of my older comics as well. I have no idea what causes it, I figured it was from moving them around with me as I moved from place to place.

I finally got the missing issues of "Frank Millers ROBOCOP" That Avatar press put out last year so I could read the sereis. Steven Grant adapted Millers original script for Robocop 2 into a comic. If that's the case, than Robocop 2 was still going to be retarded. I'm a pretty big FM fan, but this was just shit. the art wasn't bad, but not worth picking up the series.

I'm eagerly awaiting the "Absolute Dark Knight", it should arrive any day now.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

I've been catching up on Ultimate Spider-Man, and I'm up to issue 44. Awesome book. The best Spider-Man I've read in a while. When you get into the 30s and they move to that ultra glossy paper, it's just a joy to read. Bagley's super clean pencils combined with the slick paper and the bright colors make it one of the most visually appealing comics I've ever seen. Plus, I dig the Bendis Peter Parker. And really, this book should be called Ultimate Peter Parker. There isn't a whole lot of Spider-Man here. I think it's noticeable because during quieter moments when Spidey isn't fighting somebody in the MU books, he's usually doing his thinking while swinging around. Peter's out of costume for much of this book. Those moments are some of the best, though. Take, for example, issue 13. Not only is there no Spider-Man to be seen, but the entire issue consists of a conversation in a single setting. And, it's top drawer Spider-Man. That's not to say that the action isn't exciting. The comedy is great, too. Just a fantastic book and worth the effort I've gone to lately to get it (floppys, but the trades would work fine for most, I suppose).

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Some interesting news from the Baltimore con and retailer meeting...

Joss Whedon's taking over Runaways.
Marvel will publish an Avengers/Guiding Light (yes, the soap opera) crossover.
JMS is the writer of the new Thor series.
Alan Davis is relaunching ClanDestine (woohoo!).
Marvel's also starting a "Classics Illustrated" line, with the first entry being a Last of the Mohicans adaptation written by Roy Thomas.
Marvel will also publish omnibus editions of Frank Miller's Daredevil run and a massive Spider-Man omnibus with all of Steve Ditko's run in one volume.

DC's coming out with a Fourth World archives series that will reprint the whole saga in chronological order in four volumes.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier has been delayed until next year (dammit!). The good news, though, is that Moore is planning at least two more volumes after that.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

Since last week was a busy one, didn't get to last week's comics until today:

52: Good issue dealing with Ralph and Dr. Fate's next revival, plus Montoyna's backtalk to Black Adam was good for a laugh.

Agents of Atlas 2: Another solid followup setting up more of the pieces of the agents coming together, where it's going, hopefully the next 4 issues will tidying it up.

Detective: I think Joe Benitez's stylistic art was a little tough to make it through the story, which was okay, but not as interesting as I had hoped from Dini.

Mystery In Space: Nice re-introduction of Captain Comet to the DCU. I'll be onboard for the rest of the 8-issue mini-series.

Y The Last Man: Good start to the next story arc, glad to see that the Doc knew what the traitor was up to, but seems to have conflicting issues with their relationship.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

I'd just like to chime in and say that I'm enjoying both Uncanny X-Men and X-Men right now. Astonishing is still the best, but these two have been much better recently.

Other news that came out of that conference:

Spidey's going back to the black suit next year (Marvel says it has nothing to do with the movie, but I suspect otherwise...)
And next year's big event? World War Hulk. Sounds awesome.

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

The Hulk thing might be good because they obviously put a lot of thought into it. The Illuminati thing and Planet Hulk are all the groundwork for this. "Hulk's back and he's pissed!"

Can't wait for the black suit to return! Always liked it. Though, of course, I'll be glad to eventually get back to the classic red-and-blues. I wonder if the black suit will somehow tie into trying to back off on Peter having revealed himself. I think they did something like that with Tony Stark when he first revealed he was Iron Man.

Avengers/Guiding Light. WTF?

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

I highly doubt the suit they put Spidey in for 2007 has ANYTHING to do with with the mega-release film Spider-Man 3.







That would be admitting that marketing drives some storytelling, which would be SHOCKING!

Re: Comics: The Weekly Rundown (was Heroes Con 2006)

But it will be interesting to see if it's actually Peter in the black suit.

I just know this is going to be how they cop out of Spidey revealing his identity.