New Comic Day! May 2nd edition.

Here we go again! It's X here, once again welcoming everybody to a new installment of New Comic Day! Huzzah! There should be some really good books coming out this week, and before I even check this week's comic list I already know what this week's Pick of the Litter is going to be! As usual, I'm currently at work, but when I get free, here are the comics I intend on getting... Stormwatch #9, Teen Titans Annual #1, Amazing Spider-Man #685, Avengers Academy #29, Avengers vs X-Men #3, Daredevil #12, Exiled #1, Invincible Iron Man #516, Venom #17, Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha and Omega #5, X-Factor #235. So 11 books... And let me just come right out and say it. Most of those books? They should be awesome! Seriously, when I get my comic books home, I always put them in three piles. The ones I can't wait to read, the ones I'm interested in, and the ones I expect nothing from. This week? There are at least FIVE books in the “can't wait to read” pile, and only two in the “expect nothing from” pile. That NEVER happens! As for this week's Pick of the Litter? It is, as I'm sure most of you expected, Avengers vs X-Men #3. I've enjoyed the hell out of the first two issues and the Vs issue of this event we've gotten thus far, and I'm hoping that Marvel keeps bringing the awesome with this issue. On the other end of the spectrum, this week's Runt of the Litter is Teen Titans Annual #1. It has two things going against it. The first is a story I'm not very keen on, while the second is a painfully high price... You see kids, THIS is the ugly side of being an obsessive collector! You end up getting stuck with something you KNOW you're going to hate, but are compelled to buy it in order to keep your collection complete. Yep, I'd be a shrink's dream! And there you have it. Tonight I'll be reviewing AvX #3(obviously) and Avengers Academy #29(again, obviously!). Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to get the posts for those two books up until VERY late tonight. Like 2-3 hours later than usual. But I'll do my damnedest to make sure those reviews are up tonight. As for tomorrow it's Exiled #1 and Iron Man #516. And that brings us to the end of this post. Until later, X out.

The (not so) Random Scan of the Week!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, back in the 1980's there was an X-Men vs Avengers mini-series! But let's ignore that for now... Check out Magneto's swank-ass boots!

New Comic Day! December 21st edition

I have a rather jam packed post to get through, so I'm going to skip the normal pleasantries and get right into which comics I picked up at the comic shop earlier today... Batman #4, Fables #112, Hellblazer #286, Nightwing #4, Red Hood and the Outlaws #4, Supergirl #4, Invincible #86, Amazing Spider-Man #676, Avengers #20, Daken: Dark Wolverine #18, Daredevil #7, Fear Itself: The Fearless #5, Incredible Hulk #3, Invincible Iron Man #511, New Mutants #35, Thunderbolts #167, Uncanny X-Force #19, Venom #11, Wolverine #20, Wolverine and the X-Men #3, X-Factor #229... 21 comics(it would have been 22, but upon seeing my bloated stack of books I put Generation Hope right back)? Really? That's absolutely ridiculous. And it's mainly all from frigging Marvel! Seriously, didn't an issue of Uncanny X-Force JUST come out LAST WEEK?! See, THIS is a real problem that I'm going to have to do something about... And by “do something about” what I'm really saying is “find Marvel comic books to jettison from my pull list!”. So unless something radical happens, I'm going to be dropping Generation Hope, Daredevil and POSSIBLY Incredible Hulk. The sad thing is that I've actually enjoyed the first two issues of Incredible Hulk, but I'm sorry, until Marvel stops putting out 4,956 books every single week, I'm going to have to make some strategic cutting, and since Incredible Hulk is still relatively new, I won't feel that bad about dropping it(plus it's one of those $4 comic books, which makes dropping it all the more appealing). Seriously, Marvel is making it VERY hard to keep up... On top of the three books I just mentioned, I may end up dropping Defenders, Ultimates and X-Men(which are all $4 books as well...). I mean I love my comics more than the next guy, but when I have to start cutting down on my grocery shopping to support my comic buying habit, it's probably time to start cutting back a bit. So kudos Marvel, you've managed to get me to drop a mess of your books. Good job!

Anyway, let's get this post back on track... This week's Pick of the Litter is Uncanny X-Force #19. Invincible and Venom also got some consideration, but Uncanny X-Force takes the honor this week. I'm mainly curious to see how Rick Remender handles that aftereffects of the Dark Angel Saga, which, for me at least, ended with a resounding thud just LAST WEEK!!! This week's Runt? That will go to Avengers #20. The last issue was one of those comic books that made me want to stab myself in the eyes with a rusty nail. It's safe to say that by this point I've completely lost all faith in Bendis' writing abilities... Again. And that'll do it. I have A LOT of comics to read and review. Seeing as that Christmas is this week, I'm not sure if I'll be able to stick to my schedule, but I'll give it a shot anyway. 21 comics means 3 reviews for the next 7 days. In a perfect world, that's what I'll be doing. But as I said, holiday festivities may interrupt that schedule, but as of right now I'm planning on 3 reviews every night for the next 7 nights. I'll leave you guys with this week's Christmas oriented (not so)Random Scan of the Week and say X out.

Random Scan of the Week!Christmas: Joker-style!

New Comic Day! December 14th edition

Another Wednesday, another New Comic Day! Not only that, but after today, there are only two more New Comic Days left in 2011, meaning it's almost time for X's epic, gala, fantastimazing year end awards! Yes, that year end post is so awesome it gets it's own made up adjective. But that's still roughly two weeks away(which means I'll probably start putting it together in roughly two weeks...), right now it's time to look into the comic bag and see what old X brought home with him this week... Batman and Robin #4, Deathstroke #4, Grifter #4, Suicide Squad #4, Superboy #4, Avengers Academy #23, Avengers: X-Sanction #1(!), Battle Scars #2, Iron Man 2.0 #11, Journey Into Mystery #632, Magneto: Not A Hero #2, SHIELD #4(I'm still collecting this?), Ultimate X-Men #4, Uncanny X-Force #18(!!). So 14 new comics, 13 of which are reviewable(I still haven't read SHIELD #1-3 yet). And that my friends, is the PERFECT amount of new comic books in my mind. Not too many(near 20), not too few(less than 12). Not only is that the perfect amount of comic books for me, the Marvel books I picked up are STACKED! There are three Marvel comic books here that could EASILY be named this week's Pick of the Litter. But alas, due to my own arbitrary rules, only one can take that grand honor. And so it is with great pleasure I give you this week's top pick, Uncanny X-Force #18. This issue is what pretty much this entire series has been building up to, and if it's HALF as great as the preceding issues have been, this one should be something special. Avengers: X-Sanction and Avengers Academy got some serious consideration, but Uncanny X-Force is definitely the comic I'm most looking forward to reading. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the comic book I'm least looking forward to reading, this week's Runt of the Litter is... Hmm... Let's go with Suicide Squad #4. It's not that I hate the Suicide Squad book, it just happens to be the comic I care the least about. Batman and Robin(after that awful “cliffhanger” last issue), Deathstroke(which has given us the exact same comic for three straight issues) and Superboy(which did pick up a bit last issue) all made an argument for that Runt status, but I see myself putting that Squad comic at the bottom of this week's pile. With 13 comic books this week, I'll review two books nightly until next Tuesday, when I'll only review one. As for tonight, expect reviews for Uncanny X-Force and Avengers X-Sanctions, probably around midnight or so. And that's that. Another New Comic Day in the books. Until next time, X out.

The Random Scan of the Week!You know, with Christmas right around the corner I think it's time to bust out the x-mas themed Random Scans, no?

New Comic Day! December 7th edition

Alright! It is FINALLY Wednesday, and you know what THAT means... It's New Comic Day!!! After last week's depressing pull saw me only pick up 6 comics, of which I only read 5(the sixth was for my sister), I'm expecting big things this week... How big? Well, let's open up this bag of comics I brought home and see what we've got! Irredeemable #32, Hellblazer Annual #1, Stormwatch #4, Amazing Spider-Man #675, Deadpool #47, Defenders #1, Fear Itself: The Fearless #4, Venom #10, X-Factor #228, X-Men #22. So 10 books this week. That's definitely better than only 6, but not quite where I'd like to be at. In a perfect world I'd pick up between 12 and 14 books every week, but what can ya do? Let's see, this week's Pick of the Litter is going to have to be Deadpool #47. The last issue was flat out brilliant, and I'm expecting more of the same here. I also gave consideration to Venom which has been rock solid since the beginning as well as Defenders, which I'm hoping turns out good. As for this week's Runt of the Litter... Huh. I guess I'll go with X-Men #22. I mean it's not like issue #21 was awful or anything, but out of the 10 books listed above, that's probably the one I least feel like reading. So it's the Runt in name only, I do expect it to be okay. With 10 new comics, all of which I'll be reading, I'll do 2 reviews for the next 5 nights, and then probably post scans or Retro-Reviews come Monday and Tuesday... Oh wait, I almost forgot, Teen Titans #2 & #3 were at the shop for me today!! So that means scratch that Retro-Review for Monday, I'll be reviewing Teen Titans #2 & #3 at that time instead. As for tonight, look for reviews of Defenders #1 and Deadpool #47, but a bit later than usual since I won't be able to get back online until after 11 or so. And that's that. Another NCD in the books. As always, I'll leave you guys with this week's random scan. Until later on tonight, X out.

The Random Scan of the Week!Is Cap shouting at that picture of Zemo in his mind? Because if he is he's got more problems than I originally thought...

New Comic Day! November 30th edition

Hey there X-Maniacs! It's Wednesday, meaning it's time for yet another New Comic Day!! I am, as always, your magnanimous blog-meister, The X. Before we get started, this is my 601st post of the year, making this year my second most prolific blogging year since I started doing this whole blog thing, oh so many years ago... With only one month before 2012, I doubt I'll be able to reach the magical 700 plateau, but hell, 600+ posts in a single year is damn impressive if I do say so myself! And I do!

Anyway, enough patting myself on the back for not having a life and spending an inordinate amount of time blogging, let's get to the heart of this post and see which comics I brought home from the comic shop earlier today! Here's what I got: Fables #111, Daredevil #6, Thunderbolts #166, Ultimates #4, Uncanny X-Men #2 & Wolverine #19... Wait... So I only brought SIX comic books today?! What the HELL is going on here?!?! Wow... And since I'm not anywhere near caught up with Fables, that means I only have FIVE reviewable books in front of me! Well, that'll make the Pick and Runt of the Litter pretty easy I'd guess... This week's Pick of the Litter, or the comic book I most want to read is Wolverine #19. The past two issues have been surprisingly hilarious, and I'm expecting this issue to continue that trend. See, you don't always need dark, gritty Wolverine, as Jason Aaron is showing with this storyline. As for this week's Runt? I'm going to go with Ultimates #4, simply because Jonathan Hickman has a tendency to confuse the hell out of me at times. I mean Ultimates #4 and Daredevil #6 were basically neck and neck for being named the Runt, but after a flip of a coin(yes, literally), Ultimates takes that “honor”. With only FIVE comic books to review, I guess I'll do two reviews for Wednesday and Thursday, one review for Friday, and then... Well, I have no idea. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it on Saturday. And that's it. It's time for me to sit back and start reading what few new comics I have to read. As always, here's a random scan, and until later, X out.

The Random Scan of the Week!“hippie cult”... HA!!! Alan Scott is SO old...

New Comic Day! November 23th edition

Hey all, X here with another edition of the craze that's not quite sweeping the Internet, New Comic Day! Last week ran the full gamut of scores, from 10's to 0's, which is pretty rare. If nothing else, last week was interesting, although with 20 comics, I guess that's not a huge shock. Will this week be the same? Well, hopefully we get some perfect scores... I could definitely live without those imperfect scores. Without any further ado, here's this week's pull... Green Lantern: New Guardians #3, Hellblazer #285, Justice League Dark #3, Voodoo #3, Invincible #85, Annihilators Earthfall #3, Avengers Solo #2, Captain America and Bucky #624, Daken: Dark Wolverine #17, Invincible Iron Man #510, Iron Man 2.0 #10, Kick-Ass 2 #5, Mighty Thor #8, Secret Avengers #19, Ultimate Hawkeye #4, Wolverine and the X-Men #2... So 16 comics this week, eh? It would have been 18, but since I'm STILL waiting on Teen Titans #2 and I, Vampire #2, I had the shop hold my copies of TT #3 and Vamp #3 since it's not like I can read them yet... That's not a terrible number of comics, it's a little bit higher than I'd prefer(I'd like to get around 12-14 comics every week), but at least it's not frigging 20 again! Unfortunately, most of the Marvel books are the $4 ones, which messes with my bottom line... Thanks, Marvel...

Anyway, this week's Pick of the Litter is kind of tough since there's not really a comic here I'm DYING to dig into... Um, I guess I'll go with Cap and Bucky #624. This series has been AWESOME from the start, I'm going to hope that trend continues here into Bucky's Winter Soldier days. I also gave some consideration to Avengers Solo #2, Daken #17(only due to the Runaways appearance), Wolvie and the X-Men #2 and Kick-Ass 2 #5, so expect to see some combination of those titles reviewed here over the course of the next two days. This week's Runt of the Litter was definitely easier to pick... I'm going with Secret Avengers #19. I can't wait for Warren Ellis to leave this series and Rick Remender to take over here... Let's see, with 16 books, I'm going to do 3 reviews for Wednesday and Thursday and 2 reviews for Friday through Tuesday. And that's gonna make this post a wrap. As promised, I'll be back later on tonight with 3 new reviews, so until then, X out.

The Random Scan of the Week!Man is Batman frigging annoying!

New Comic Day! November 16th edition

Hey X-Maniacs, I have a full day ahead of me what with playing Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and reading a whole slew of new comics! Yes, it's a good life for me. Since I'm eager to get back to my game, let me get right to what books I picked up for this week... Batman #3, Nightwing #3, Red Hood and the Outlaws #3, Supergirl #3, Morning Glories #14, Amazing Spider-Man #674, Avengers #19, Avengers Academy #22, Captain America #4, Deadpool #46, Fear Itself #7.3, Fear Itself: The Fearless #3, Generation Hope #13, Incredible Hulk #2, New Mutants #34, Thunderbolts #164, Ultimate X-Men #3, Venom #9, X-Factor #227 & X-Men #21. Well, that's more like it... I see the past two weeks of me only picking up something like 12 comics each week is over... We're back up to 20 books, with a staggering 15(!!) of them coming from the House of Ideas! That says a lot about how I feel about DC nowadays, doesn't it? Not only that, but out of those 15 Marvel books? I'd say that I am SERIOUSLY looking forward to no less than 6 of them. On top of that, the Image comic(Morning Glories) will probably be one of the first comics I dig into this week. The four DC books? I can honestly say that I'm not all that excited for them... Which is flat out bizarre considering they include Batman(the good series) and two of my favorite DC characters(Jason Todd and Dick Grayson). Tis sad. Anyway, this week's Pick of the Litter? That wasn't really that difficult, believe it or not. It's easily Avengers Academy #22, probably the best ongoing comic book I pick up... Yeah, that's right, I went there. Some consideration went to Venom, New Mutants, Morning Glories, Amazing Spidey and Fear Itself #7.3, but in the end Avengers Academy has been too strong not to pick. On the other end of the spectrum, this week's Runt of the Litter is Generation Hope #13. I figured I'd give this series about 3 issues with the Regenesis stuff and a new writer, and if it STILL doesn't appeal to me, I'll drop it from my pull list... Again. And that's it. With a robust 20 comics this week, I'm going to try to post 3 reviews every night until Tuesday, which will only see two. For tonight, I'll almost definitely be posting reviews for Avengers Academy #22, Morning Glories #14(told you I liked that series) and Fear Itself #7.3. Tomorrow will bring us New Mutants #34, Venom #9 and Amazing Spidey #674. One quick note before I end this post... I'll probably be posting my three reviews for today later than I usually do, probably about 3 hours later. Just wanted to let you guys know in advance. As for me, it's back to UmvC3, so until later, X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!Well? IS HE?!?!?

New Comic Day! November 9th edition

Hey there X-Maniacs, it's time for another New Comic Day! Last week I had a pretty abysmal pull(by my standards anyway) with only 10 new comics, I'm sure that number will be way higher THIS week... I man it sure as hell can't possibly be lower! On the plus side, out of those 10 comics from last week, THREE(!!!) received perfect scores from me(which is flat out insane!), while the rest were all very solid, not a single issue scored lower than a 6. So last week was REALLY good, but what about THIS week??? Let's take a look at what old X brought home from the comic shop today... Batman and Robin #3, Deathstroke #3, Grifter #3, Suicide Squad #3, Superboy #3, Battle Scars #1, Fear Itself #7.2, Journey Into Mystery #631, Point One #1, Uncanny X-Force #17, Wolverine #18 and Magneto: Not A Hero #1. So 12 books... My shop still hasn't gotten Teen Titans #2 and I, Vampire #2 in stock for me, so the owner of the shop said he'd give me Teen Titans for free, and if issue #2 was as bad as the first one, that's probably about what it's worth! 12 comics is about the perfect number of new comics for me, so yay me. Let's see, out of all of the books I brought home, the one I am most looking forward to reading, and the comic that is therefore this week's Pick of the Litter is Point One #1. The price tag for this one was rather steep($6!?), but it promises to have 7 new stories as well as set the stage for Marvel in the year 2012, so I'm hoping this comic was worth that steep price. On the other end of the spectrum, this week's Runt of the Litter, the comic I least want to read is Superboy #3... Which is sad because I used to love the Superboy character, but DC decided to turn him into something unrecognizable with the reboot... If this issue is sub-par, there's a VERY good chance I'll do the unthinkable and drop Superboy from my pull list... And there you have it. I'm considering doing 3 new reviews tonight, 3 new reviews tomorrow, and then dropping down to 2 reviews a night which should leave me with a day or two of Retro-Reviews towards the end of the week. As for me, I've got some comics to read, and some reviews to prep for later on. Until next time, X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!Yeah, I know I just posted this recently as part of a larger page, but I liked it so much it's also getting the Random Scan treatment.

New Comic Day! October 26th edition

It's time for a new installment of “How much money did X spend on comic books this week!” starring your most humble blog host, the magnanimous X. We have another full bag of comic books here, so let's see what I've managed to snag this week... Green Lantern: New Guardians #2, Justice League Dark #2, I, Vampire #2, Teen Titans #2, Voodoo #2, Amazing Spider-Man #672, Annihilators: Earthfall #2, Avengers Academy #20, Avengers Solo #1, Captain America and Bucky #623, Daken: Dark Wolverine #16, Daredevil #5, Deadpool #45, Incredible Hulk #1, Journey Into Mystery #630, Mighty Thor #7, New Mutants #32, Secret Avengers #18, Ultimates #3, Venom #8, Wolverine and the X-Men #1...So 19 comics? It would have been 21 comics but as you can see, I, Vampire and Teen Titans didn't show up at the shop today, so I'll be waiting on those until(hopefully) next week. That's fine though, because starting today I've begun to pare down the DC comics on my pull list, dropping Action Comics, Detective Comics, Batman: The Dark Knight, Legion Lost & Superman... And that's just for now! I still intend on dropping a few more DC comics(Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Deathstroke, Superboy and Suicide Squad also aren't safe yet) since they obviously aren't interested in keeping me as a fan. Hey, I'm MORE than happy to give Marvel more of my money as I added Incredible Hulk and Defenders today, and intend on adding Generation Hope next week. Now that the excitement of the reboot has past, DC has nothing of interest left to offer me, while Marvel keeps on rolling out event after event after event. Nowadays if I miss a Marvel comic it really feels like I'm missing out on something special, the polar opposite is true of DC. If I miss an issue it's no big deal...

Anyway, on to this week's Pick of the Litter! I'm going to go with Avengers Academy #20... Yep, that's right, the comic book that I'm MOST looking forward to reading is Avengers Academy. Not Wolverine and the X-Men(although that is a close second), not Ultimates #3, not any of DC's books, not even Cap and Bucky. That right there should tell everybody how incredible Avengers Academy is. So far I've managed to get at least one of my fellow bloggers into Avengers Academy(way to go, Alien!), and I won't rest until I've led even more comic fans to that wonderful series. As for this week's Runt, I'll go with Secret Avengers #18... I absolutely hated the last issue, why expect that to change until Rick Remender takes this title over? And that my friends, is that. As usual, I have a ton of reading to do for the week, so I should get reading. Until next time(which will be later on tonight with reviews for Wolvie and the X-Men, Avengers Academy and possibly Avengers Solo), X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!Okay, do you see the picture behind Merlyn? How the hell did he get that?! Seriously, why was there somebody snapping a picture of Speedy shooting up and Ollie reacting to it?! And how did Merlyn come in possession of said picture!?!

New Comic Day! October 5th edition

Man, lately I've been buying a load of comics every Wednesday. The past two weeks alone I've purchased 51 new comics... I can honestly say I'm hoping for something a bit more reasonable this week... Hey, that was a pretty sweet segue! Let's take a look at the comics I DID pick up this week! Action Comics #2, Detective Comics #2, Stormwatch #2, Invincible #83, Deadpool #44, Thunderbolts #164, X-Men #19, X-Men: Schism #5... What the hell?!? 8 comics?! Damn, that's nothing! I'm used to picking up 20+ books the past few weeks! 8... Wow... With such a small pull I guess I'll post two reviews a day for the next 4 days and then for the final 3 days I'll review some random stuff or post some pics.

Before I start thinking too deeply about later on this week though, let's finish this post first. This week's Pick of the Litter is X-Men: Schism #5... Since this is the final issue before the Great X-Split of '11, this comic SHOULD be really good... Here's hoping. On the other end of the spectrum, this week's Runt of the Litter is Action Comics #2. First off, what the HELL happened to DC “Holding the line at $2.99”?!? This comic is $4 for the second consecutive issue! This is one of the comics on life support for me. If it isn't way better than the last issue, I don't even know if I'll bother picking up issue #3... Maybe I'll just drop this series at #2 and be done with it. With Arkham City coming out soon, I could use the extra $4! And there you have it. Another New Comic Day in the books. As always, I'll leave you guys with THE Random Scan of the Week. Until next time, X out.

The Random Scan of the Week!The devil does love him some pretzels!

New Comic Day! September 21st edition.

It's Wednesday, so you know what that means... It's New Comic Day!!! Instead of killing time with an extended introductory paragraph shooting the breeze and talking about last week's comic books, I'm going to jump right into what I picked up from the comic shop a few minutes ago. Trust me, once you see this week's list of books, you'll understand why I'm rushing through this...

First, here are the two comics that I didn't get last week due to one of the boxes at my comic shop being late due to the epic flooding around my area: Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula #1 & Batman and Robin #1. And now here are the comics from THIS week that I snagged today... Batman #1, Catwoman #1, Fables #109, Hellblazer #283, Legion of Superheroes #1, Nightwing #1, Red Hood and the Outlaws #1, Supergirl #1, Wonder Woman #1, Avengers #17, Avengers: The Children's Crusade #7, Captain America #3, Captain America Corps #3, Daredevil #4, Fear Itself: The Home Front #6, Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #3, Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt #5, Heroes for Hire #12, Invincible Iron Man #508, Thunderbolts #163.1, Ultimate Comics Hawkeye #2, Ultimate Comics X-Men #1, Uncanny X-Men #543, X-Factor #225, X-Men #18 & X-Men: Schism #4... 26 comics(28 when you add the two from last week)?!? God DAMN, that's a new record... And may I also add this before I continue... Holy shit are there some AWESOME comics in this week's pile!!! I mean seriously, there are FIVE comics(Nightwing #1, Red Hood and the Outlaws #1, Children's Crusade #7, Youth In Revolt #5 & Ultimate X-Men #1) that any other week would EASILY be my Pick of the Litter! But only one of those can be this week's Pick, and to be honest, it's really not that difficult a decision when you really get down to it... This week's Pick of the Litter IS Avengers: The Children's Crusade #7, hands down. Let's put it like this... There have been 6 issues of the Children's Crusade mini released thus far, as well as one fill-in issue... Out of those 7 comic books, FIVE of them received perfect scores from me, while the other two? They ONLY received 9 1/2's!!! Avengers: Children's Crusade is the best thing(comics or otherwise) I have read in years, so yeah, it's this week's, this month's, hell, this year's Pick of the Litter. On the other end of the spectrum is the Runt of the Litter... That (dis)honor goes to Fear Itself: The Home Front #6. The last issue was brutally bad, and I don't expect this issue to be much better than that. And that about wraps things up. With a mind-blowing 28 comics to get through, I really need to try to push these reviews out as quick as humanly possible... But realistically, unless I review FOUR comics every night, there's no way I'll be able to review every comic listed here. I'll try my best, but even I have limitations... If worse comes to worse, and I can't get through all 28 of these new books by next Wednesday, I'll probably clump a bunch of them into a Best of the Rest type post, if only to get SOMETHING about those comics up and posted. Needless to say, I have some work to do! So until next time(which will probably be pretty soon...), X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!I know the feeling Daken...

New Comic Day! September 14th edition.

Hey X-Maniacs, X here with the fastest New Comic Day post I've EVER done! I'm going to completely skip over all of the stuff from last week and just leap headlong into what I picked up earlier today... Deathstroke #1, Grifter #1, Legion Lost #1, Suicide Squad #1, Superboy #1, Demon Knights #1, Amazing Spider-Man #669, Daken: Dark Wolverine #14, Daredevil #3, Deadpool #43, Fear Itself #6, Journey Into Mystery #627, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 & Uncanny X-Force #15. I was supposed to get Batman and Robin #1 and Fear Itself: Hulk vs Dracula #1, but my area has been smashed with flooding lately(we're even getting FEMA help in my county), and the comic shop didn't get all of it's boxes of books this week, so yeah... My top pick out of that bunch 'o books? It's gotta be Fear Itself #6. As for the comic I wish I hadn't bothered picking up? I'm going to say Deathstroke... I don't particularly hate ANY of the comics I snagged today, but out of that bunch, I have the lowest expectations for Deathstroke. And that my friends, is that. I'm hoping to get some reviews up in some way, shape or form(be it full reviews or a quick thoughts type of review) later on today, but that all depends on how smoothly things go for me... I'll try, but no promises. Here's this week's random scan, and until next time, X out.

The Random Scan of the Week!Awww... How heartwarming!

New Comic Day! September 7th edition.

Well. This is my first foray into the idiotic new rebooted DCU. And no, I'm not calling it the DcnU, because that's asinine to me. It's NOT new, it's old! Right there you should have a pretty good feel for what I think of the DC reboot in general, but I am picking up a load of DC books this month(something like 24 or so), so I AM giving it a chance. That doesn't mean I have to like it, like so many sad DC fanboys who will swallow anything Didio and Johns send there way, but I WILL give it a shot. With that little bit of cheerfulness out of the way, let's take a look back at last week, which was my first non-DC week since I started this blog nearly 3 years ago... Last week's Pick of the Litter was Ultimate Comics Hawkeye #1, which came away with a respectable 8. An 8 means the comic was SLIGHTLY above average, so while I'd want my top pick to be a bit better than that, it's still not a BAD comic. Last week's Runt of the Litter was Fear Itself: The Deep #3, which came away with the week's lowest score, a 5. As for last week's average? It was an AMAZING 7.83 out of 10, which blows my previous highest average, a 7.39(from July 27th), out of the water! I'm going to chalk that crazy high score up to two things... Number one, I only had 9 comics to average, which is a much smaller sample size than I usually have. The second thing? No DC comic books... I've seriously hated most of the DC series's I was reading since Brightest Day started last year, which is when the Johns Effect started in earnest. Here's hoping the DC books I picked up this week don't suck!

Okay, introduction done, let's get to the books I picked up this week... Irredeemable #29, Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #1, Static Shock #1, Stormwatch #1, Morning Glories #12, Fear Itself: Wolverine #3, Heroes for Hire #11, Thunderbolts #163, Wolverine #15, X-23 #14, X-Factor #224.1 & X-Men #17. So 13 comics? That's not THAT bad! I can deal with that! As long as we're under 15, I'm happy. This week's Pick of the Litter is pretty easy. It's definitely Wolverine #15. After issue #14(which I gave a perfect score), I'm dying to see the fallout from the Wolverine's Revenge! storyline. As for this week's Runt, it's ALSO from Marvel, and it ALSO stars Wolverine! I am least looking forward to reading Fear Itself: Wolverine #3. I haven't enjoyed this mini from the start, and I am quite happy that this is the last issue I'll be picking up. And for you DC fans, out of the rebooted DC titles, I'm most looking forward to Stormwatch #1, and least looking forward to Static Shock #1. And that'll do it for this week. Hopefully I get a few good books out of this week's batch. I'll leave you with this week's random scan and a hearty X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!Damn treacherous Canadians!!!

New Comic Day! July 27th edition.

Hey all, it's Wednesday, meaning it's time for the weekly New Comic Day post!! As usual, I picked up a ridiculous amount of books this week, add that to the fact that I am very deeply entrenched in Mass Effect 2(which is an amazing game), and yeah, this post is going to be uber-short! Before I get to the stuff I snagged today, here's a look back at last week. Last week's Pick of the Litter was Invincible Iron Man #506, and it delivered as expected, coming away with a strong 9 out of 10 score. On the other hand, last week's Runt of the Litter, Generation Hope #9, came away with an AMAZING 8 out of 10... Considering that book usually gets scores under 5 from me, an 8 is a minor miracle! Overall, the average score for last week's comic books was a 6.44, which was actually different than the past two weeks, which eerily came out to an identical 6.65. On the negative side though, that's the lowest average score I've ever had...

With that taken care of, on to this week, and the books I just picked up a few minutes ago at the comic shop... Action Comics #903, Detective Comics #880, Gotham City Sirens #25, Teen Titans #98, Wonder Woman #613, Invincible #81, Amazing Spider-Man #666, Captain America and Bucky #620, Fear Itself: The Deep #2, Fear Itself: The Worthy #1, Mighty Thor #4, New Mutants #28, Ultimate Comics Fallout #3, Venom #5, Uncanny X-Force #12, Wolverine: The Best There Is #8, X-Men: Schism #2 & Batman: The Dark Knight #4. So as usual, nearly 20 comics, as my summer of insane comic book spending rolls on. This week's Pick of the Litter was extremely easy, as it HAS to be New Mutants #28. This is really the make or break issue for this series for me, as this should have all of the fallout from the past three issues involving my all time favorite comic book character, Nate Grey. It could be insanely awesome, or it could be horrifyingly bad. I shall put all of my trust in the hands of the capable writers, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. As for the Runt of the Litter, that “honor” goes to Fear Itself: The Deep #2.... And let me tell you right now, that was a VERY difficult decision, because this is one of those RARE weeks when I'm looking forward to nearly every book I picked up... If you've been around this blog often, you KNOW that doesn't always happen! And that'll do it. It's back to Mass Effect 2 for me, before I get a few comics up and posted later on today/tonight. Here comes the Random Scan of the Week, and as for me, it's X out time.

The Random Scan of the Week!“I'm Jason Todd, and I ain't NOBODY'S bitch!!” JT, that was for you.

New Comic Day! July 20th edition.

Hey there X-Maniacs, it's the original Comic Book Malefactor, X, here with yet another New Comic Day post! Can you believe it's almost August already? Sheesh, the summer is just flying by... This is another VERY full week for me comic book-wise(as you'll see for yourself soon enough), so let's skip the smalltalk and get into the heart of this post. As always, let's take a gander at last week's comic books before I get into which books I picked up this week... Last week's Pick of the Litter, New Mutants #27, was as good as I'd hoped it would be, coming away with a nearly perfect score of 9 1/2 out of 10. Last week's Runt of the Litter, Ghost Rider #1, was actually better than I'd expected it to be, receiving a perfectly average score of a 6. As for last week's average score, it was a 6.65, which was the EXACT same average score as the week before!! How frigging weird is THAT?!

Okay, that takes care of last week, let's head into this week and take a gander at what comic books I came away with today... Batman: Gates of Gotham #3, Hellblazer #281, Justice League of America #59, Superman/Batman #86, Ultimate Comics Fallout #2, Zatanna #15, Avengers #15, Avengers Academy #16, Captain America Corps #2, Daredevil #1, Fear Itself: Deadpool #2, Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #2, Fear Itself: FF #1, Fear Itself: The Home Front #4, Generation Hope #9, Invincible Iron Man #506, Iron Man 2.0 #7, Uncanny X-Men #541, X-Factor #222... That's almost 20 comics again... God, the summer is hell on my comic buying budget... So what do we have here... A handful of DC books, a mess of Fear Itself minis and tie-ins, and a few comics that I'm not looking forward to at all. Hmm, for this week's Pick of the Litter, I'm going to go with Invincible Iron Man #506. Matt Fraction has been bringing his A game to this series since the Fear Itself event started, so I'm expecting at the very least a 9 for a score here. As for this week's Runt, there are plenty of suspects, but I'm going to go with Generation Hope #9. This series has sucked since the get-go, if it doesn't improve here, with all of the Schism stuff going on, I think I'll finally give up and drop this title. As usual, I have a mess of comic books to read, which means I have lots of comics to review for the blog. Before I go though, a quick note... After doing 20 reviews in 7 days last week, I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep that pace again this week... Sometimes it's nice to just read a new comic without having to worry about reviewing it as well. So don't be surprised if I don't post reviews for EVERY comic you see listed above. I'll try my damnedest to push out as many reviews as humanly possible, but I can almost guarantee I won't get to them all. And that'll do it. Until next time, X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!Um, exactly how does Two-Face plan on escaping? I mean it's a giant roulette wheel! That's probably not Harvey's best moment right there...

New Comic Day! July 13th edition.

Another Wednesday, another New Comic Day. Last week was a very Marvel heavy week, with the Fear Itself books taking a large amount of my time, money and attention. Looking at the books I picked up this week, that trend seems to be continuing. But first, before I take a look at what's new this week, it's always fun to look back at last week and see how good/bad the comics I read were. First up will be my top pick from last week, the Pick of the Litter. That honor went to Fear Itself #4, and if I'm being completely honest with myself, that comic was disappointing. Granted, it received an above average score of an 8, but for THE major comic book event of the summer, anything under a 9 has to be considered a subpar. On the other side of the coin, last week's Runt of the Litter was Uncanny X-Men #540, and it was just about the worst comic I read last week, clocking in with a 5 1/2. Overall, the average score for the 13 books I reviewed last week was a 6.65. As I said last week, anything under a 7 overall signals a bad week, so yeah, even though we weren't THAT far below a 7, we were still under that mark, meaning last week's books didn't impress... Hopefully that's not the case for this week's comics...

Speaking of this week's comics, let's take a look and see what I picked up from the comic shop earlier today! Batgirl #23, Batman: The Dark Knight #3, Birds of Prey #14, Detective Comics #879, Red Robin #25, Superman #713, Teen Titans #97, Amazing Spider-Man #665, Black Panther #521, Captain America #1, Daken: Dark Wolverine #11, Deadpool #40, FF #6, Ghost Rider #1, Journey Into Mystery #625, New Avengers #14, New Mutants #27, Wolverine #12, Ultimate Comics Fallout #1 & X-Men: Schism #1... 20 books?!?! That's a ridiculous number, even for me! Damn, I'm going to have my work cut out for me this week when it comes to getting reviews for all of those books done by next Wednesday! So out of ALL those books, and some of them are amongst my monthly favorites, which one am I looking the most forward to reading? Believe it or not, that's actually a pretty easy decision... This week's Pick of the Litter has to be New Mutants #27. A word to the wise... If Nate Grey appears in the comic, there's about an 85% chance that comic will be my Pick of the Litter. As for this week's Runt, there are a couple of valid choices there, but I'm going to go with Ghost Rider #1. The ONLY reason I'm even picking that series up is due to the fact that it's a Fear Itself tie-in issue... If not for that, I would have just skipped it. Boy, I should probably end this post and start reading some of these comics or I'll never get through them all! As always, I'll end this post with a Random Comic Scan, and the customary cry of X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!Hit him again for me!

New Comic Day! July 6th edition.

Hey all, once again, it's Wednesday, which means it's time for a brand new installment of New Comic Day! I've picked up a pretty good amount of comic books today, but the comics I'm most psyched for would be the FOUR Fear Itself related books I grabbed! So over the next two days, expect a WHOLE load of Fear Itself related stuff on this blog, as we get the fallout from Fear Itself #3, the next part of the exceptional Youth in Revolt tie-in, as well as two new Wolverine-centric tie-ins, a self-titled mini-series and an X-Force tie-in. So yeah, the next two days around here should be hopping! But I'm getting ahead of myself... Let's take a look back at last week's comics and how they did... Last week's Pick of the Litter was Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6, and it continued to dazzle me, EASILY getting a perfect 10 out of me. On the other hand, last week's Runt of the Litter was FF #5, which wasn't great, but wasn't that bad, getting a middle of the road score of 6 1/2. And now, a new addition to my weekly New Comic Day post, it's average score time!!! Yes, I am SUCH a math nerd... Anyway, last week's average score amongst the comics I read was a 7.07, so basically a perfectly, middle of the road score overall last week. While certain comics(Uncanny X-Men #539!) pulled that score down, others(Children's Crusade #6 & Ultimate X #5) made up the difference, and as far as I'm concerned, any week I average over a 7 is a good week!

Okay, that takes care of last week, let's take a look at this week. Here are the books I picked up a few hours ago... Irredeemable #27, Batman and Robin 325, Secret Six #35, Superboy #9, Titans Annual #1, Vengeance #1, Fear Itself #4, Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1, Fear Itself: Wolverine #1, Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #3, Heroes for Hire #9, Thunderbolts #160, Uncanny X-men #540 & X-23 #12.. So once again, a good amount of books, mainly Marvel comics, and plenty of comics I'm really looking forward to. The top comic? My Pick of the Litter? That's easy. Fear Itself #4 hands down. Depending on what we find out this issue(and if you read Fear Itself #3, you KNOW what I'm talking about!), I'll probably either love or hate this comic... Passionately... We'll see... As for this week's Runt, I'm going to go with Uncanny X-Men #540. I'm sorry to any Kieron Gillen fans, but I just don't like his writing. I haven't actually liked anything he's ever written, and honestly wish he'd move on to less mainstream comics than the X-books, because I think he needs some more seasoning before trying his hand at one of Marvel's premier titles. But that's just my opinion. And I think that's probably going to do it for this week. By the end of the day, I'll have my review for Fear Itself #4 up, possibly another Fear Itself comic, and don't be shocked if I bust out a bonus post talking about Fear Itself #4 by the end of the night. I think that takes care of everything for this week, so I'll leave you all with this week's random scan before giving a hearty, X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!I see Bruce is letting his inner Batman free here...

New Comic Day! June 15th edition.

Hey all, it's Wednesday, so you KNOW what THAT means... It's time for another installment of New Comic Day!!! Now this is usually the time when I ramble on for a while and then talk about the last week and such, but I have something ELSE to mention... Something pretty exciting that will hopefully make this blog that much better! As of today, I've opened X-Man's Comic Forum! Uncreative name aside, I'm hopeful that this forum will give those of you who read this blog another place to talk comics. The forum is still in it's VERY early stages, so it kind of sucks right now, but hey, it can't hurt to join up and make the place more lively, right?

Okay, back to the whole New Comic Day thing I'm supposed to be talking about... As always, we'll start with last week's books... Last week I chose Batman and Robin #24 as the Pick of the Litter, and MAN did it disappoint me! I wound up giving it a 7 out of 10, which pretty much means I thought it was average... I was expecting WAY better then a simple “average” from that comic... Last week's Runt of the Litter was Birds of Prey #13, and it was better than I expected, garnering a 6 out of 10 from me... So my Pick underperformed and my Runt over preformed... Welcome to Bizarro World everybody!

With last week out of the way, it's time to tell you guys what I picked up at the shop today! Batgirl #22, Hellblazer #280, Power Girl #25, Superman/Batman #85, Teen Titans #96, Invincible #80, Avengers #14, Avengers Academy #15, Daken: Dark Wolverine #10, Fear Itself: The Home Front #3, Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #2, Generation Hope #8, Invincible Iron Man #505, Uncanny X-Men #538, X-Factor #221, Alpha Flight #1, Captain America Corps #1 & X-Men: Prelude to Schism #3. That gives me a grand total of 18 books this week, a rather healthy number if I do say so myself! Now, this week's Pick of the Litter basically comes down to two books, Daken and Invincible... I'm going to give the SLIGHT edge to Invincible, simply because Daken might go through some growing pains as new writer Rob Williams tries to put his own spin on the series. This week's Runt was also kind of tough... There were LOTS of titles that could have gotten the Runt label, but I'm going to give it to Generation Hope #8. I normally LOVE teen-centric comics, especially teen-centric mutant titles, but Kieron Gillen just hasn't been able to get this series together, in my eyes at least. I mean this series is SO much worse than Avengers Academy it's not even funny... But then again, I'm not enjoying Gillen's Uncanny X-Men work either, so maybe my problem isn't so much Gen Hope, but the writer... So there we have it, another Wednesday in the books. Before I go, I'll once again ask anybody interested to check out the forum because if nobody goes/joins, it'll probably become a rather boring place! As always, here's THE Random Scan of the Week. Until next time, X out.

The Random Scan of the Week!God did I love the West Coast Avengers!

New Comic Day! June 8th edition.

Hello from a SWELTERING upstate New York, X-Maniacs! It IS Wednesday, which means it's time for the yet another installment of New Comic Day here at the blog! I'm planning on blowing through this post, as I picked up InFamous 2 yesterday, and plan on playing that as soon as this post is up and posted, so hold on tight, we're gonna be FLYING! Before I talk about last week's comics, I just wanted to mention how utterly bizarre it is that DC has already stated that they were rebooting their entire company... Think about it, it's only the beginning of June, and the reboot isn't until September. As a comic fan, it makes NO sense to read any DC comics between now and September, since in the long run, nothing happening in any DC comic right now matters. If nothing matters, what's the incentive to buy new DC books? To read about something that will have ZERO bearing on things in a few months? You've got to think DC's sales numbers are going to take a pretty drastic nosedive throughout the summer...

Last week I chose Fear Itself #3 as my Pick of the Litter, and although the ending pissed me off like CRAZY(especially since it appears that a certain character I LOVE really did die there...), I still gave it an above average score of 9 out of 10. Of course if that certain character really is dead, that issue of Fear Itself will probably go down as one of my least favorite single issues of the year... Last week's Runt of the Litter was Secret Six #34, which received a respectable 6 1/2 out of 10. That score is a MASSIVE improvement for that series, so I'll have to say that last week's Runt far surpassed my low expectations.

As for this week, here are the comics I snagged from the comic shop earlier... Ghost Rider #0.1, Red Robin #24, Birds of Prey #13, Journey Into Mystery #624, Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #1, Fear Itself: Deadpool #1, Deadpool #38, Annihilators #4, Batman and Robin #24 & The Iron Age Alpha #1. My shop still hasn't gotten in Irredeemable #26 from last week, and my copy of Morning Glories #10 didn't arrive in this week's shipment... So that means, only 10 comics for me this week... Seriously, for me, THAT'S a slow week! With such a small pull this week, this week's Pick of the Litter is pretty easy... I'm going to go with Batman and Robin #24. Why? Four words; Red Hood Jason Todd. It doesn't get any simpler than that. This week's Runt is kind of hard to pick, because there really aren't any comics I'm particularly dreading... I guess I'll go with Birds of Prey #13. The last issue was horrible, so it stands to reason that this issue will suck the big one too. And that's pretty much that. See, when I want to do a quick post, I can! I'll leave you guys with this week's random scan, and say, as always, X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!This right here is one of the most horrifying Joker pictures I've EVER had the misfortune of seeing... What the HELL is the matter with his mouth?!?!?

New Comic Day! May 18th Edition.

Hey X-Maniacs, it's Wednesday, meaning it's time for yet another installment of the blog post that's sweeping the known universe, New Comic Day! We'll do this the same way we usually do this, by first taking a look back at last week before moving onto which books I picked up for this week. Last week the comic I was most looking forward to was REBELS #28, and it came away with a perfect score. Unfortunately that was the final issue of REBELS, but hey, that just proves that the powers-that-be over at DC are a bunch of sorry clowns. Last week's Runt of the Litter, or the comic I was least looking forward to, was FF #3 and it surpassed my low expectations, with me giving it an above average score of an 8 out of 10.

So there we go, that was last week, what's on tap for this week? Earlier today I picked up the following comics... Batman and Robin #23, Batman: Gates of Gotham #1, Fables #105, Hellblazer #279, Justice League of America #57, Outsiders #39, Supergirl #64, Superman/Batman #84, Teen Titans #95, Zatanna #13, Amazing Spider-Man #661, Avengers #13, Avengers Academy #14, Generation Hope #7, Hawkeye: Blindspot #4, Invincible Iron Man #504, Namor Annual #1, Silver Surfer #4, Thunderbolts #157, Uncanny X-Force #10, X-23 #10, X-Factor #219 & X-Men: Prelude to Schism #2. 23 comics?! Sheesh, that's excessive even by my standards... Anyway, I had a bit of difficulty deciding on this week's Pick of the Litter... I was pretty sure it would be Batman and Robin #23, which features the return of Jason Todd... And then I saw that Hawkeye: Blindspot #4 was in this week's pile... So after some thought, I have to go with Hawkeye: Blindspot for this week's pick. That mini-series has been absolutely fantastic from the beginning, and with this issue giving us the final confrontation between Hawkeye and Baron Zemo, how could I NOT pick this? This week's Runt of the Litter was a very easy choice... It's Supergirl #64, hands down. I'm thisclose to dropping this series, and another bad showing here will probably be the last straw for me. And that's it. Another week in the books. I'll post the Random Scan of the Week, and then it's time to read some comics! Until next time, X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!This'll probably be the last new REBELS post I put on the blog in a long time...