Comic Gazing for: 1/20/10

Before I get into the good stuff(COMICS!), I have a few quick things to say. First off, today was the first day of Spring semester, so this blog is probably going to be a bit on the quietish(hey, that's not even a word!)side for the next few days. Between classes, meeting up with the financial aid folks, buying books, etc, I'm not sure when I'll be going back to my regular format of reviewing comics. I'm going to give Adventure Comics #6 a read tonight, and hopefully I'll do a post reviewing at least that comic by tomorrow. Besides that, I'm going to cede defeat to those goddamn spammers who seem intent on posting their annoying posts/links on my blog. I can't take it anymore!!! Everyday, I'm deleting upwards of 8 spam comments. It's a real waste of time, so from now on, I'm going to put the word verification back on this blog. Hopefully my regular commenters won't mind filling out the word verification thing, but like I said, I'm tired of dealing with these damn nimrods.

Alrighty then, on to some comic related stuff! I just finished reading Gail Simone's first few Birds of Prey comics(issues #56-75)and I've got to say, they were FANTASTIC!!! I don't have a single bad thing to say about ANY of the stories I read in those books, that's how much I liked them. The first few issues(which you can find in the Birds of Prey: Of Like Minds trade BTW)were simply flawless, and if I was scoring them, they'd easily get a 10 out of 10. They're that good. Unfortunately, the first Manhunter trade wasn't quite as good. I was expecting SO much from the Manhunter: Street Justice TPB, and I've got to say, I was pretty disappointed. I'd only heard good things about Manhunter, and I've been really enjoying her recent appearances in Batman: Streets of Gotham, but for some reason, the first 5 issues of the Manhunter series just didn't do it for me. I think the thing that bothered me the most was the fact that it was never really explained WHY Kate Spencer decided to become a murderous costumed vigilante... Most vigilantes have understandable reasons for doing what they do(see: Castle, Frank), but Kate just one day decided to steal some impounded super-hero equipment and go to town on baddies. Even after her son nearly dies due to one of her Manhunter weapons, she's right back on the streets the very same day! I'll probably begin reading the second Manhunter TPB pretty soon and hopefully things will begin to come together a little bit more sensibly in those issues.

OK, enough talking about the past, let's talk about the present! Here are the comics I'll be ordering this Wednesday.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #8: The main story with Zsasz has been extremely good, and the back-up with Manhunter has been awesome. What's not to like here?

Blackest Night Flash #2: Well, I didn't like the first issue, but I'm hoping this issue focuses more on the Rogues and less on Saint Barry Allen. If that's the case, I'll be happy.

Green Lantern Corps #44: Umm, all I need to say here are 4 simple words, Guy Gardner: Red Lantern!!!

Outsiders #26: I'm going to give Dan Didio's first few issues of this series a shot, but this series is on a very short leash, and if I need to drop a title, this one(and/or Magog)is going to be first on the chopping block... Oh, and BTW, am I the only one annoyed that Dan gave himself the writing duties for this series? The guy is already the Senior VP/Executive Editor at DC, why not give a young, deserving writer a chance to take over this title?

Phantom Stranger #42: Two words: Blackest Night.

Starman #81(!!!!!!): OK, for those of you who don't know, James Robinson's Starman series is my favorite comic book series. EVER. I've read and own well over 10,000 comic books, and Starman tops them all. When I heard this comic was being made, and that James was writing it, I started giggling like a little school girl before doing several celebratory backflips(OK, maybe not, but I think you get my point!). As much as I want to read this comic, I'm also a bit scared that this comic could be a huge letdown... Man do I hope this comic is good...

Captain America #602: I don't know what to say about this comic... First off, I guess I'll state the obvious. What the hell is Marvel doing putting this comic out before they wrap-up the Cap: Reborn mini!?! I mean come on guys, a little common sense please! Besides that, I'm kind of miffed that Marvel is putting a Nomad second feature in this issue. First off, it looks kind of pathetic(to me at least)that Marvel is blatantly ripping off DC's Second Feature idea, even calling it by the same name! Besides that, I have ABSOLUTELY no interest in this new Nomad... At all.

Dark Avengers #13: Two words: Siege crossover!

Dark Wolverine #82: See above.

Mighty Avengers #33: I like Dan Slott and I like this team, so that in a nutshell is why I'm picking this one up.

Nova #33: This comic has been great from the beginning, and although I'm not totally sold on the whole Realm of Kings storyline yet, I NEVER miss an issue of Nova.

Realm of Kings: Inhumans #3: Speaking of Realm of Kings... I'm only buying this mini because of the writers(Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning)involved with it.

Uncanny X-Men #520: I never thought I'd say this, but I really miss the bad old X-Men stories of the late 1990's... I just hate reading the X-comics nowadays... And before anybody asks, I only buy the X-books out of duty, not because I want to. Like a good addict, I HAVE to buy the X-books, no matter how awful things get.

That's all for this week, as always, Long Live The Legion!