Thursday, January 14, 2010

Comic gazing for: 1/13/10

Hey, today is Thursday, which means yesterday was Wednesday(how's THAT for deductive logic!). I completely forgot to check out which new comics I'll(eventually)be ordering from my online comic shop. After a quick stop at my online CB shop, here's the books I just placed in my shopping cart.

Action Comics #885: This issue crosses over with Superman, and I(unlike many fellow CB fans)have been enjoying both Action and Superman, even though Superman himself is appearing in neither title. I'm cautiously optimistic about this one.

Adventure Comics #6: This is Geoff Johns final story in Adventure(for now anyway), so that alone is reason enough to buy this!

Batgirl #6: I've been thoroughly enjoying this series, however, it looks like my least favorite member of the Bat-family(Damian)makes an appearance... Will that be enough to ruin this title for me? Hopefully not!

Batman #695: So far I've been VERY underwhelmed with Tony Daniel's run on this series, especially in light of how good the Battle for the Cowl(which Tony wrote)was. Some friendly advice for Tony, if you want me to like this series, PLEASE stop putting the Penguin in it!

Booster Gold #28: If we get more Booster and less Jamie Reyes, I'll be happy. See, I'm easy to please.

Catwoman #83: Blackest Night tie-in. 'Nuff said!

Green Arrow/ Black Canary #28: Hey look, it's another issue of Cupid's comic! I'm hoping that this issue FINALLY begins to spell the end of Cupid. Conventional wisdom tells me otherwise though...

Magog #5: This series has been OK, but out of all the books I pick up monthly, this one is probably the closest to getting dropped.

Power of SHAZAM #48: Blackest Night tie-in.

REBELS #12: This series is, believe it or not, one of my monthly favorites. Once this order arrives, this will be among the first comics I read.

Secret Six #17: Blackest Night tie-in.

Titans #21: I really don't have any reason for picking this one up other then the fact that I am, and probably always will be, a Titans fan.

Dark X-Men #3: Why am I picking this one up? X-Man is in this comic, and I've named this blog, X-Man's Comic Blog... Do the math! Seriously though, I am PSYCHED for this issue! So far, this mini has been extremely enjoyable.

Realm of Kings Imperial Guard #3: I probably won't read this issue until the entire mini-series is out, but I'm willing to spend the money without reading the work because I trust the writing team(Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning)that much.

Annnd, that's it. Wow, DC is getting WAY more of my hard earned money then Marvel this week. Although DC is getting most of my money, the comic I'm most looking forward to reading is a Marvel, more specifically, Dark X-Men #3. Well, that's it for me tonight, if you feel like sharing, let me know which books you have/will be buying this week. Long Live The Legion!

14 comments:

  1. I also picked up alot of these, loved Catwoman, Titans, Adventure Comics and Batgirl were also good reads. Gotta read Booster, Bat 695 and Shazam.

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  2. Man, we sure have the same taste in comic books! Out of curiousity, what exactly is Titans #21 about?

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  3. Batgirl is good as always (still maintaining being in my top five comics I would buy every month, even if it means I go hungry [and that's saying something for me], along with Detective Comics, Superman: Secret Origins, Cry for Justice and Blackest Night. Sure, I buy GA/BC every month, but I haven't been that keen on the writer, though his latest issue is better. But yes, Cupid is still in it, and includes her origin story this time, but I don't hold a hatred of her like you. I just meh her...), though whoever decides on the cover wording is an idiot... There was no battle for the cave, so, er, yeah...
    Am dreading the Christopher Yost (?) crossover in issue 10 of Red Robin.
    It's like you and your opinion of Bendis ;)

    AC was better then the last 2, though I haven't read issues 1-3 (just like Batgirl actually), and I do like the Superboy artist

    Bat 695 is terrible. The main Batman comic, and Batman and Robin actually are both pretty poor, saved by some good artwork or designs in places. And that's about it...

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  4. You know, you're not the only person to recommend Detective Comics, Nagash... When that book switched over to Batwoman, I stopped reading. I think it may be time to start searching for back issues.

    I just want the focus of GA/BC to go back to BC! Too many issues have revolved around Cupid for my taste... Now we get Cupid's origin! UGH...

    Oh, I detest Yost WAY more then BENDIS! I'll read BENDIS' work, but I refuse to read anything written by Yost. He's the only comic book writer whose work I am openly boycotting.

    I completely agree with you on the current direction of the Batman books. They've just been a mess since the Cowl mini-series. Being a big fan of Dick Grayson, I was hoping things would at least be decent while he was the Batman, but ouch, his Batman run has produced some really lousy stories. If not for Streets of Gotham, I'd be completely depressed!

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  5. I also dropped Detective Comics, I just can't get into reading about Batwoman. Titans 21 actually touches on Roy losing his arm and Starfire being asked to join the Justice League and a few other things as well.

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  6. See, I'm the opposite - I started reading it when she started appearing in it. I mean, sure, the artwork was a good pull for me, but I did like the character anyway. New costume is cool too, and Greg is a good writer.
    Yes, go and start reading it.
    Jason - any reason why?

    Yeah, it would be nice actually if we had 2/3 books - GA, BC and a GA/BC. And I don't like Speedy's new costume. Put her back in the red and yellow version of that please. K THNX BAI

    Yeah, I've flicked through all his Red Robin stuff, and it's just, nope, I ain't touching that stuff.
    See, I haven't worked out why you don't like Bendis, but then the only stuff I've read of his is Dark Avengers 1-6 and the stuff in Dark Reign: Accept Change. I think the premise behind Dark Reign is good, but it would be nice if Norman was actually being a good guy with not so good morales, and Goblin was not making actual appearances. Norman should be crazy, but only in ways where he slips up, kills people like the Swordsman kindof thing. Not collapsing on the floor hearing the Goblins voice...

    I actually haven't read Battle for the Cowl. Never buy that many singles still nowadays. Stuff I buy cause I really like it is quite small:
    Great Ten
    Batgirl
    GA/BC
    Detective Comics
    Cry For Justice
    Superman: Secret Origin
    Maybe one or two more, but most of the other stuff I get is cause I feel I oughta. Or is Gotham City Sirens, which is a guilty pleasure of mine :D
    Otherwise I'll just buy the collected editions (so I'm behind on both JSA and JLA, of which I prefer JSA, though the new JLA lineup does look pretty good, though a bit too much male and Titan influence for my liking. But it has both Ollie and Hal in it, so who am I to complain? ;))
    And haven't read Streets of Gotham. Haven't even picked it up TBH.
    Did you grab the 80 page Batman? I thought it was pretty good, unlike the JSA giant...

    I don't read Titans, not a fan on many of em really. Don't like Starfire, meh to Cyborg and Donna, like Roy (for obvious reasons ;)), and Dick is alright...

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  7. Jason: Thanks for answering about what was up with Titans #21, but my copy came before I even read what you had to say!

    Nagash: I'd be happy with a GA solo book and BC is a Birds of Prey type book, and yes, Speedy's new duds have GOT to go! Like Robin and Kid Flash, I don't think the Speedy look needs to be radically changed.

    You know, I've(for the most part)thoroughly enjoyed BENDIS's Dark Avengers series because it is what it is, a bunch of villains pretending to be Avengers. It worked when Busiek did it with the T-Bolts and it works now. It's just a great premise.

    I used to be a huge BENDIS fan way back when, but my problems with BENDIS began when he started up New Avengers. He's just HORRIBLE with his characterizations during his New Avengers run... He puts characters who either shouldn't be Avengers on the team(Spider-Man)or characters who have no business being on the team(Wolverine)at all. Plus his dialogue tends to get a bit too... Ultimate Spider-Man at times for my taste. It's like everybody has to talk at the same time. Characters talk over each other, they babble, and they'll often repeat themselves ad nauseum.

    As for Osborn, I just have a hard time accepting him in a role where he's seen as superior to characters such as Dr. Doom and Loki... Besides that, I just find it hard to believe the characters in the Marvel U would blindly put all of their trust in a man who used to ride around in a goblin mask tossing around pumpkin bombs.

    You're not the only one whose guilty pleasure is GCS! No, I didn't pick up the Batman 80 pager, after the JSA one, I decided not to bother.

    Hey, I hate Starfire too! I hate the idea that her and Dick are going to be working together again in the JLA... Dick should be with Babs, NOT Starfire! The rest of the Titans I'm cool with though.

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  8. Well Nagash, I'm not a fan of Greg Rucka, the two main things I read that I looked forward to reading by him were awful in my opinion. Both Wonder Woman Blackest Night and Hiketeia were horrible and that turned me off of Rucka, as well as the first issue of Detective Comics with Batwoman after BFTC didn't entertain me in the least bit.

    I picked up the Batman 80 Page Giant and I'm hoping we see some more of those new characters, I really liked them.

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  9. I mean, even though I wasn't that fond of the artist near the end of the first bit of GA/BC (with Judd Winnick writing), the stories themselves were better. Save for the last little bit with Sin, which was just a tiny bit WTF? But that was before they got married, so, um, yeah...

    See, I've been under the impression they have been members of the Avengers for a damn long time. But then my knowledge of the Avengers is pretty lacking. So I head over to Wikipedia, and I see it's a pretty big list.
    New Avengers looks an alright lineup to me, even though I detest Wolverine...
    Does follow the same problems the new JLA have: too much men in it ;)

    So you feel he's the Hideo Kojima of the comics world?

    I have problems with Doctor Doom, but can't really put my finger on them. And Loki, well, I just don't like him. Everything I've seen him in recently he (she?) hasn't done much whatsoever, and frankly, he's always looked stupid to me...
    And please, this is the Marvelverse, the place where superheroes get all pissy cause they're getting asked to register when they damn well should be. I don't give a damn what you think, if you've got powers, and want to use them in society, you need a license of some sort to use them.

    It's just silly, but good silly fun :) The Batman 80 pager was actually pretty good. I wasn't interested until I actually flicked through it and had a look. Was actually pretty good. Though was all about snow, and I've had enough damn snow!
    It also had a bit where Damian wasn't annoying :O

    The only time I liked Starfire was in the cartoon series, where they changed her from space stripper royalty to space alien away from home... Much better...

    See, I like Greg Rucka, but I didn't like WWBN when I read through it in shops, and I've never even heard of that second one...

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  10. While I've got to agree that BN WW was pretty bad, I've been relatively happy with the Rucka books I do read. Hell, I'm one of the few people who like his Action Comics work, so I guess that says something

    Nah, and trust me, I'm a bit of an Avengers historian on this:) Most of the characters who are currently serving as Avengers only joined up when BENDIS took over the writing duties. Besides killing off several longtime Avengers, and ruining others altogether(the poor Scarlet Witch...), BENDIS filled the team with Marvel's version of an all-star team. Spider-Man had never been a full time Avengers, only a reserve. Wolverine had never been an Avenger. Same with Luke Cage, Spider-Woman, Echo(Ronin), and Dr. Strange(I'm sure I'm forgetting a few). Since you're more of a DC guy then a Marvel guy, I'll put it like this, it would be like if a new writer took over the JSA and filled it with characters like Lobo, Supergirl and Green Arrow pretending to be Hawkman... The JSA, like the Avengers is rich in tradition, tradition which BENDIS has roundly ignored. That's what bugs me the most.

    Eh, I've always liked Doom and Loki, but I'm a real big fan of old school Marvel characters, so that should explain that. Plus in terms of raw power, Doom and Loki are like elephants, while Osborn is an ant.

    Oh man, don't get me started on the Civil War/registering stuff... How can you tell Captain America, a guy who's been fighting the good fight for 50 some-odd years that he can't fight crime unless he registers his identity, powers, etc with a governmental agency?!? Jeez, if I was Cap I'd say, "Hell no!" too! How do you think Superman or Batman would react to something like that coming from Gen. Lane?

    If you hate snow, you'd hate living where I live, Nagash! I literally don't see my front lawn from December to March/April! Everyday when I wake up, there's usually a fresh inch or so on the ground. Damn lake effect snow showers!

    Wow, I may have to look for that Batman 80 pager just to see what it looks like for Damian to not act annoying! :-)

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  11. Never have read Action Comics, so, er, yeah... Save for the Brainiac arc...

    Isn't that really what Avengers is? I mean, I can't think of another large group
    of Marvel heroes save the X-Men TBH...
    Was the Scarlet Witch thing the whole House of M thing?
    It's a tad different. Mind you, it shoulda been someone like Cyclops in the
    Avengers anyway. Even though I hate him too, he'd be networking or some shit
    like that...

    Cept you're forgetting one teeny thing. He's a soldier. To be one you have to
    sign up. Otherwise you'd be just a fighter.
    And in the world of superhero, if you don't register, you're a vigilante...

    If it were Batman, well, he is a vigilante. End of. See Search For Kryptonite
    for a more extreme version of this actual discussion...

    Well, I don't mind it too much. But I don't play in it cause it's cold, and it
    infringes on my ability to go to work. Yeah...

    I know, it's surprising. And it's got Alfred going regularly to a whore. (It
    makes sense in context ;))

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  12. With the exception of the Brainiac stuff, you've never read Geoff Johns AC run, Nagash? You missed some pretty good Superman work then!

    "Isn't that really what Avengers is?" You've got a point there... To be honest, I'm fine with some newbies joining the team, but I resented the way BENDIS turned over practically the entire roster. There are enough Avengers out there that a writer should be able to find at least 5 or 6 before filling the ranks with new faces. But then again, I'm a huge Marvel traditionalist, so whenever the status quo changes radically I get kind of pissed. And yes, the whole HoM thing was the Scarlet Witch who went from being a magic wielding mutant to being able to manipulate reality itself(another BENDIS change).

    Yeah, I guess Cap is a bad example. Still in all though, registering your identity as a super-hero just seems extremely risky. It would require complete and total trust in whatever agency oversees the registration effort(SHIELD I guess at the time). Then of course there's the issue of the database holding all of these identities being breached from the inside by a double agent or from the outside by someone like Dr. Doom. Going back to Batman for a moment, if he were to fail to register, he'd be branded a terrorist/enemy of the state. If he were to talk to Gordon, Gordon could be busted for collaborating with an enemy agent. Registration just makes things too messy for my tastes.

    You just sold me with the whole Alfred going to a whore thing!

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  13. No, I haven't. Not a very big Superman fan, if one at all...

    That was appalling grammar on my part though :(
    And anyway, it's the same with JLA atm you know ;) but yeah, I spose it makes sorta sense, but it's the stories that really matter, not the fact that the characters are new, right?
    Hasn't she always been unstable? Or is that just me. I know almost nothing about Scarlet Witch, save for the stave from the TV series...

    That's the issue with anything like that, but people like the army, police etc are all public servants and have to register. As does anyone with a weapon.
    Just because it's a tradition doesn't mean it's possible to actually work. Think if it were in the real world.
    To quote Frank Millar: "We've always been criminals"

    In other news: Chibi Batman punches frozen Chibi Man-Bat...

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  14. It's funny you mention the JLA, because you're exactly right, but I don't really have a problem with that. It all comes down to the fact that I've been following the Avengers since I was 10 years old, and I've only been reading about the JLA(and DC in general)for 2 years or so. Take one of your favorite longtime characters(say GA)and imagine if some writer came along and did a total hatchet job on him. Changed his hair color, switched up him gimmick, erased most of his past, etc. That's kind of like what BENDIS's New Avengers run has been like for me. In the beginning it was cool and new, but after a while the novelty of having Wolverine and Spider-Man as Avengers wore off, and it just seemed like BENDIS and Marvel were spitting on the proud Avengers tradition. Yeah, I know, I take my comic books WAY too seriously! ;-)

    Yeah, the Scarlet Witch was always a bit on the unstable side(even back during the West Coast Avengers)but although she was unstable, she was never capable of rewriting reality!

    "Think if it were in the real world." I think that one sentence sums up what bothers me the most about the whole Civil War/registration thing. It's impossible to compare the going-ons of the Marvel U with what's going on in the real world. To me, it's folly to even try. That's why the whole registration storyline in the Marvel U grates on my nerves so. Marvel wanted to do something to relate to current events when they did the whole Civil War storyline, but as Frank(or Batman)so astutely pointed out, pretty much all comic book super-heroes ARE criminals. By pointing that out, Marvel opened Pandora's Box, and I don't see how they can ever fully close it again. Once again, as a comic book traditionalist, I like my super-heroes as shining beacons of goodness, not hiding in the shadows, being chased down by the law for trying to do good deeds.

    "In other news: Chibi Batman punches frozen Chibi Man-Bat..." Huh, now you're starting to worry me!

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