Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 1/20/2o1o!

Hellooooooo.

And thus follows the perfunctory pull-list post of what I'm thinking of getting this Wednesday in my weekly comic-book store visit:

"the Amazing Spider-Man" #618
"Amazing" has been consistently good for about four months now. And that means a lot more than usual because it comes out three times a month. That's really more like a year's worth of stories from any other title. I ain't complaining.

"Web of Spider-Man" #4
It's the Spider-Man title that doesn't really feel like a Spider-Man title. Yeah his name's on it and yeah he shows up sometimes, but basically it's the villain of the month book now. I'll probably pass on this again.

"Avengers vs. Agents of Atlas" #1 of 4
I think this looks delightful. I haven't read much of Agents of Atlas, but Josh speaks well of it and I'm really getting even more into the Avengers as "Siege" ramps up.

"Incredible Hercules" #140
Continuation of "Assault on New Olympus", Marvel's other-other-other crossover 'event'.

"Spider-Woman" #5
So the new Avengers might be in here... or they might be more skrulls or whatever. We'll see.

"Dark Avengers" #13
Like Josh, I feel the siren song of the crossover 'event'. I want to know what Bendis will feel the need to hide in "Dark Avengers" that he doesn't put in "Siege".

"The Brave and the Bold" #31
The idea of the Atom and the Joker quote-unquote teaming-up makes little to no sense, but since JMS is writing it that actually means it's probably going to be remarkable.

"Cowboy Ninja Viking" #3
or
"Cowboy Ninja Viking" #4?
Or nothing. Both issues have been solicited for this week. Between the erratic release schedule and erratic tone of this title I'm falling further and further out of love with it.

"RASL" #6
"RASL" #6 might be coming out. This is another series that arrives when it feels like although it's far more worth the wait than "Cowboy Ninja Viking".

"Joe the Barbarian" #1 of 8
I can't help thinking "neato!" Because I'm sure twelve-year-old Jon Gorga would be absolutely enthralled by this title. We shall see what twenty-three-year-old Jon Gorga thinks of it.

Mind you I have no idea what I will really be able to afford... Check back here to find out!


UPDATE: 1/22/2o1o
So... this past Wednesday was a job searching day. I went to some of the comic-book shops in NYC I hadn't been to yet and as I wanted to make it clear that I read comics and love comics I bought a few at every store I visited while I dropped off resumes.

Long story short I'd spent more than I usually do on a Wednesday before I even got around to buying my new books. Mind you, I got some good deals. But money being tight I scaled back my purchases for the week to:

"the Amazing Spider-Man" #618

It was really the only essential buy for me this week anyway. Next week perhaps will be more exciting.

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 11/18/2oo9

I'm going to start including collections and graphic novels in these pull-lists because they're comics too dagnabit! You're just not going to see a review from me on one of them for SIX MONTHS. I'm slow.

The weeklies:

The usual Spideys!
"the Amazing Spider-Man" #612 (definitely)
I'm not too keen on any experimental re-envisioning of classic characters. So... apprehension is the word.

"Dark Reign: The List - Amazing Spider-Man" one-shot (definitely)
Dan Slott himself told me in person how excited he was to write this. I can't NOT buy it!

"Dr. Horrible" one-shot (probably)
I loved the web-video (or IPTV series) to which this is a prequel. Who doesn't right!?

"Cowboy Ninja Viking" #2 of 4 (probably)
This got pushed back. STILL haven't read issue #1...

"Drone" #1 of 4 (maybe)
This sounds smart and disturbing. A good combination.

"Tiny Titans" #22 (maybe)
Clare's editorial of last month made a big impression on me about this series.

The books:

"Pictures That Tick" (maybe)
I'm really fascinated by experimental comics, although I've rarely been able to handle a whole collection of them. I usually end up trying to take it slow to absorb each piece because they can and will be SO different. As a result... I never finish the damn things.

Strange week. We'll see...

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 11/11/2oo9

This week, new comic-book day is the day before my birfday! Huuray!

From the week's new books I'm...

Snapping up:
The usual...
"the Amazing Spider-Man" #611

"Comic Book Comics" #4
A continuing graphic ''text-book' history of the comic-book industry! I love stuff like this.

"Luke Cage: Noir" #4 of 4
I'm VERY much looking forward to this. See my two previous reviews of issues 2 and 3 to see why.

Considering:
"Supergod" #1 of 5
I've bought Warren Ellis' past two superhero mini-series and the man is a genius.

"Cowboy Ninja Viking" #2 of 4
Well... considering that I just bought the first one and haven't read it I dunno.

"Blackbeard: The Legend of the Pyrate King" #2 of 3
Another one I haven't had the time to read the first issue of. Yeesh.

"The Ghoul" #1
Unfortunately, I really can't afford to pick this one up too... but it looks very cool! Who knows...

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 11/4/2oo9

Oh my god this week is a shitload of shit I've got to buy...

First, the maybes...
"Batman: Widening Gyre" #3 of 6
Issue número two of this series was a bit disappointing but I think I'm going to try for the long haul. We'll see what this issue has in store for me.

"Black Widow: Deadly Origin" #1 of 4
This interview on Marvel.com with the mini-series' writer Paul Cornell makes this sound WONDERFUL. I will be taking a peek here.

"X-Men Origins: Iceman"
This series has been hit or miss in my opinion. The Jean Grey issue was amazing. The Beast issue blew more than it had any right to. We'll see.


Then, the definites...
"Assault On New Olympus: Prologue" one-shot
Not only is this a Spidey appearance, but it's also the beginning of a crossover event. Seeing as how I almost wrote my college dissertation on crossover events...

"Atomika" #11
Oh ho ho! The penultimate (yes, I know what that means) issue of this magnificent series.

"Strange Tales" #3 of 3
I enjoyed "Strange Tales" #2 more than #1 (as you'll find out when we get to reviewing it) so I'm excited for this last issue.

and lastly:
"the Amazing Spider-Man" #610

Now I ask you, how amazing is this?

(Click the image to make it open, legible, in a new window. Click here to see the program from whence it came.)

A Spider-Man issue. On the top 10 in THREE slots.
And it's the end of a story-arc picking up threads from the Clone Saga, the supposedly most reviled Spider-Man storyline of all time.
Wow. Just... wow.

UPDATE: 11/9/2oo9
I can now show you my haul, because I now have my books:
Why did I wait so long to pick up my books? And why so many? Because of the 25th anniversary sale at St. Mark's Comics, that's why! Among the many remarkable things about St. Mark's Comics: when they declare a sale, even their brand-new-THIS-WEEK'S comics go on sale. 25% off for 25 years on St. Mark's Place. I went with Clare, as it is her favorite shop in the city and she was home for the weekend!

Yeah, I broke and bought the "Sugarshock" one-shot. They even had that damn elusive "Cowboy Ninja Viking" #1 I've been trying to find. If you've been following the blog, you've probably gotten the feeling that I talk about picking up indie books and then never do. Well, that's because often I get to really buying the thing and I say "Ugh, this doesn't look like it's worth my money" and I end up buying most of my indie stuff at awesome conventions like the MoCCA Fest where you can meet the creators face-to-face and your encouraged to almost read the thing right there. These books look gorgeous and fun. So I bought them.

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 10/21/2oo9

Another blessedly light week. Although I have just been accepted for employment at one of NYC's most prestigious bakeries and hopefully that will work out for a few months and allow me to concentrate on this blog and my comic-writing!

I'm picking up:
"Ex Machina" #46
The final arc marches on.

"the Amazing Spider-Man" #609
The Clone Saga's spiritual return marches on equally.


The take-a-peeks:
"Cowboy Ninja Viking" #1
This was supposed to be out last week and got pushed back and I still want to see if it's as good as it sounds!
also:
A damn slew of possible Spider-Man appearances.
"Dark Avengers" #10
and
"Mighty Avengers" #30
I am in love with the idea at play in the first two pages of the preview you can check out: here.
and
"Spider-Woman" #2
Spider-Man guest-stars... for real this time?

This just looks cool:
"Superman/Batman" #65
A Halloween special of sorts.

UPDATE: 10/21/2oo9
I love how easy it is to find the wonderful Jim Hanley's Universe comic-book store in Manhattan. You just go to 34th street and look for the Empire State Building because Jim Hanley's is right off its south side! For someone as green a New Yorker as I still am, that's awesome! I took this photo as I walked down 34th from the East side.












UPDATE: 10/22/2oo9
Me bookies! The new "Amazing" and new "Ex Machina". And with the low number of books this week, I picked up the "Punisher" Annual from a few weeks ago that I kept forgetting to pick up.

Spider-Man, as it turned out, did not appear as a guest in any of the three titles he could have been in, including the one he was solicited to be in!