Wednesday's New Thing

Uncanny X-Men #1. More on this soon. 

Assembling To Protect A World That Loves and Hates Them

Next month, the Marvel universe is starting over, or, at least, parts of it are. There's a whole slew of new #1's, from an Avengers one pictured above, to new Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man volumes, some of it really interesting sounding and some of it, well, less so. What's going on, though, is not a hard reboot, like the kind DC did a little over a year ago with The New 52. It's not really even a soft reboot, either, since no continuity is being reset; instead, many of Marvel's characters are simply entering new phases of their ongoing stories, with new creative teams on the books that star them.

One series, though, is conspicuously absent from the books that have been solicited so far. There has not, at least not as of yet, been an announcement of a new Uncanny X-Men. That book, the flagship of America's second most popular superhero family,has been published with only two interruptions since it first emerged in the early Sixties, and, so, this disruption, the second in as many years, is much more interesting than any of the various and sundry renumberings that are going on, since, for example, this must be the seventh or eighth volume of Captain America and the above images represent, I think, the fourth volume of The Avengers, which is less ridiculous than the fact that we're on the third volume of New Avengers, a title that Marvel has been using for only seven years. Of course, the fact that there's no new volume of Uncanny is sort of explained by the new Uncanny Avengers series, written by Rick Remender, which is premised on a post Avengers vs. X-Men alliance between the two groups.

On its own, that seems like a typical big two throw-anything-at-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks sales strategy, but by publishing an Uncanny Avengers without publishing an Uncanny X-Men, that is, by shifting the Uncanny moniker away from its classic association and towards a new brand, I wonder if Marvel is tipping its hand. The whole thing sort of suggests a solidification of holdings, both in corporate and story terms, under the newly, massively, fortified Avengers brand. We've known for a while that Remender's book is going to prominently feature characters from both groups (and art from John Cassaday!). I remember reading a mention I can now no longer find of preview art for a Wolverine and the X-Men issue with a heavy Avengers presence in the Jean Grey school. And, oddest of all, in the interlocking covers for the first three issues of Jonathan Hickman's new Avengers series, Cannonball and Sunspot, two of the New Mutants, are the only featured characters who are not associated with the team in some prominent, iconic way.

This kind of synergy with the rest of the Marvel universe is sort of new for the X-Men, who were sort of left to do their own thing, particularly since they moved across the country and onto Utopia. The cynic in me says its about weakening a brand that the company doesn't totally control, and thereby strengthening the case for the inclusion of some of these characters in upcoming Avengers spin-offs, Fox be damned. I also suspect that, solely in the terms of the economics of comic books, it will be good for sales, since the two franchises are the best selling in all of American comics, and this sort of permanent crossover builds off of both the premise and success of Avengers v. X-Men. I don't know how wide ranging this effect will be, since I don't know how many New Mutants readers there are who don't already Avengers, but I guess you never know.

In story terms, this new synergy presents some interesting questions-- does the acceptance of mutants into the Avengers on a more general basis than Beast and Wolverine mean that mutants are no longer hated and feared by the society they're sworn to protect? Does that mean Xavier's dream is realized? And is that really only possible because the good professor is now, again, dead?*

All that, of course, sets up some really interesting possibilities having to do with Brian Bendis's All New X-Men series, and my whole theory might fall apart in the pages of that book. If it turns out that All New is Uncanny's replacement within the insular X-Men family, it won't be too surprising. But consider that these characters on the covers are all, excepting Magik and Emma and those two in the background**, iconic X-Men, ones that were used in the nineties cartoon, which is still probably the most recognizable group for much of the comics reading public, and certainly for my generation. They're also, again excepting Magik and the two question marks, characters that have been used in movie versions of the characters, so maybe we're not seeing a solidification so much as a kind of shift, which moves many of the excess X-Men under the Avengers umbrella. This could both strengthen the former brand and broaden the latter one, particularly if Bendis can build on the last few years' good work by Kieron Gillen and Jason Aaron, and if Hickman and Remender can manage the onslaught of characters effectively.

I'm surprised to find myself writing this, but I'm actually pretty excited for what comes now-- rather than feeling forced and random, like the New 52, this seems like almost a natural progression, everything seems to fit together, despite the fact that some of the decisions were probably made for artificial reasons. It's All New, and All Different, and that can't possibly be bad.***

----------------------
*I haven't read Avengers v. X-Men #11 yet, but, when I do, I suspect I'm going to have some very critical things to say about how the book handled the death of Xavier. As an idea moving forward, it's not bad, particularly in the context I'm talking about above, but it doesn't really ring true in terms of the crossover's plot, in part because he shows up absolutely out of nowhere in #10. I don't even think we've seen him since Matt Fraction left Uncanny and his death just doesn't have any gravity, given how unimportant the character's been since Joss Whedon chastised him a few years ago. But maybe they handled it really well. I won't know until I go to my LCS.

**Is that one on the far right Rachel Grey?

***By the way, the powers that be at Marvel, I have a request-- can we get the 616 Nightcrawler back?  Please?

Putting The Band Back Together For The First Time

There's a lot about these Season One books from Marvel that drives me crazy, not least of which is the use of the word "season," as if comics were like television. We've been dealing with comics being talked about in cinematic terms for forever and, now that we are at a moment when television is, and has been for a decade or more, an ascendent medium, someone has finally realized that comics-- or serial comics, at least-- are much more properly compared to television than they are to movies, so we're also going to have to deal with conversations about comics being conducted in those terms. I should also point out that, in this case, the analogy doesn't even make sense, since each "season," which implies something that must be encountered repeatedly over an extended period of time, has only a single release.

Anyway.

The second of these insipidly titled Season One releases is Dennis Hopeless and Jamie McKelvie's reimagining of the original Stan Lee and Jack Kirby X-Men stories. On the whole, it's pretty good, sort of exactly what you would expect from this kind of book-- cute girl joins the exclusively male X-Men, falls in love with one teammate and then another teammate falls in love with her, and then, at a critical moment and after a series of tiffs cause some rifts to form, she brings them all together, giving a critical half-time gipper speech that rouses the team to victory.

Well, except that we don't get to see them win-- Jean Grey's rousing monologue is where the story ends, and, because we know that the X-Men live to fight another day, Hopeless didn't have to find an almost certainly awesome but laughably implausible way for a bunch of barely-trained kids with powers to defeat Magneto and we're spared the inevitably syrupy sweet scenes that would follow. It's a clever trick, structurally, and the book is all the better for it; if nothing else, Hopeless knows how to play his audience's expectations and his narrative's structure against each other. The result of the fact that the book concludes its major conflict (that is, the possible dissolution of the X-Men before Beast turns blue, or Jean Grey dies twice, or Wolverine shows up) and ends before the end of the battle with Magneto is that, as a whole, the narrative feels tightly wound around one goal rather than two or three, and is much stronger for it. Some readers are almost certainly going to feel cheated by this, but they simply aren't reading the book right.

In terms of narrative content instead of narrative form, though, there's nothing particularly striking about Hopeless's writing; his characterizations are strong, sure, but they rely on foreknowledge of the traditional presentations of the characters more often than I would like; someone unfamiliar with the X-Men is likely to find them sort of half-formed. Since the purpose of these "Season One" books is to introduce old characters to new readers, this is a relatively serious flaw, and the most major one; there are more problems with the plot than just that, but most of them have to do with the fact that the story is just the right side of tropes that have been cliched since John Hughes stopped making movies. Accordingly, the writing feels sort of vaguely mediocre, even though what Hopeless does in terms of the structure of the story is fascinating.

With that said, the book is saved from the banality of the storytelling by Jamie McKelvie's art, which is so perfect for this kind of story that I can't believe neither of the major companies have employed him to do it before, although he is almost certainly aware of how good he is at it, since both his solo book Suburban Glamour and his work with Kieron Gillen on Phonogram are much more wholly interesting examples of this genre than X-Men - Season One ends up being. McKelvie, you see, has a handle on faces, and that, by itself, makes him one of the best narrative comics artists around. It's not just that his figures are perfect, and that his characters look like human beings should look, either; instead, it's how much he can do with a face because he understands that subtle differences, little lines, a slightly different curve of the mouth, can drastically change how we understand a character's emotions. McKelvie, in other words, is an empathic artist, in that he allows his reader to really see what a character is feeling the way that no other artist, particularly not any who use a cartoony rather than a photorealistic style, can accomplish. The key to this ability is his line, thin and clean, and his uncrowded compositions; although McKelvie is a master of detail (remember that splash page from Secret Avengers a few months back?), he doesn't feel the need to load every panel with it, making his compositions as geometric and, therefore, as simple as possible. That he does so much with so little is what makes Jamie McKelvie so impressive; it's a rare talent, his, and he doesn't try to do too much with it.

That's not to say that he's perfect, not by any means; his singular line makes his panels static. Since much of what he does is conversation, though, this is usually a boon rather than some kind of detriment, but it does mean that his characters don't always move like they should, so his action scenes often feel a little stiff and end up being less exciting than the writer might have been intended. He solves this problem here, for the most part, by using movement lines, which are all the more effective both because they're always perfectly straight and because they're usually contrasted with monochromatic backgrounds, which gives the illusion that the panel itself is moving at the same speed as whatever it's focusing on a certain realism that such panels usually lack. X-Men Season One, in other words, may very well be the best of McKelvie's work so far, because he's making monumental strides in dealing with the few, small, limitations that he's got.

X-Men Season One, with its beautiful art and its fun if challenging writing, is basically exactly what I was expecting, with the added bonus of a surprising, and very interesting, narrative structure; in some ways, it is pure entertainment, the exact thing that most mainstream superhero comics should strive to be. Stan, if he reads it, and Jack, if he could, would be proud.

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 1/13/2o1o!

Okay, in light of the epic kinda-sorta-defeat of last week I really should/will buy something this week. But I still need to finish some reviews for stuff from the end of last year, not to mention the 2oo9 year in review posts all three of us are working on!


The weeklies...
"the Amazing Spider-Man" #617
"The Gauntlet" moves on to revamping the Rhino.

"Batman: Wydening Gyre" #4
This Batman mini penned by Kevin Smith has been good fun so far. If the cover is to be taken as a real indication of the contents I think we're finally going to see a lot of the Joker in this title.

"Daytripper" #2
Issue #1 might be on all three of our personal best of 2oo9 lists. That should tell you everything you need to know.

"the Invincible Iron Man" #22
This series might just be the best in mainstream superhero comics right now.

"X-Men Origins: Cyclops" one-shot
Again, these "Origins" one-shots are hit or miss to me. I'll take a look and make a full report of my opinions to you, the consumer.

"Spider-Man and the Secret Wars" #2 of 4
Still haven't read ish #1, but it looks like the comics equivalent of french fries drowned in ketchup, salt, and vinegar. Smells a bit sour, tastes totally sweet, goes down easy.

The books...
"Ed Hannigan: Covered"
I've never heard this man's name but I do know that there were some awesome covers wrapped around some issues of "Peter Parker: the Spectacular Spider-Man" back in the 70s and 80s. So when you combine this with the fact that there's some money going to a guy in bad health who gave something to the industry and the medium, it is something we should all really pick up.

"Rocketbots: Trouble in Time"
This looks like good fun. Sounds like something Pixar would dream up, right?


Okay, the truth? Although I didn't buy anything out of the new material this past week, I ended up breaking and buying some ridiculously good deals yesterday.

I bought: "MySpace Dark Horse Presents" Vol. 3 (which includes an excellent "Serenity" story) and "Acme Novelty Library" #19 for $16.30! That would have been $36 at full retail price. Both were things I'd wanted and planned to get for a while, so I did good.


UPDATE: 1/14/2o1o
There are those weeks when I just think comics are getting better across the board and I'm just lucky enough to be along for the ride.

I picked up the "Ed Hannigan" booklet. It's nice to learn about someone in the industry who I'd never heard of before. I hope that if the day comes when I'm a professional on in years without pension that something like this would happen to give me some badly needed money and recognition.

I picked up "Daytripper" #2, "Widening Gyre" #4, "Amazing" #617, and "Iron Man" #22 because they are excellent comics. All of them.

I picked up "Spider-Man and the Secret Wars" #2 because it's continuing to flesh out one of my favorite stories from 80s Marvel history: "The Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars".

I passed on "Origins: Cyclops" because it just seemed to be running over territory we'd seen a billion times and trying to tie it into the current stories. I'm sure those current stories are great, but I don't see the point in structuring an origin revamping one-shot to lead-into ongoing stuff. Unless I missed something, I thought these "X-Men Origins" one-shots were supposed to be cool, timeless re-presentations of X-Men characters in their youth. Why can't they all be like "X-Men Orgins: Jean Grey"? Timeless and of high quality.

I also passed on "Rocketbots". Mainly because I couldn't find it to decide if I wanted to buy it or not.

When are the reviews coming, I could not tell you. But come they will. And they will be good.

We are all three really hard at work on whipping up year-end review posts for you. So be patient!

It's Astonishing

One of the advantages of going home for Thanksgiving was getting to finally pick up my issues of Astonishing X-Men, the last vestiges of the days when I used to get my books directly through Marvel. Because Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi only produced a few issues of that book in between July of 2008 and June of 2009, I still had seven issues left on my subscription when the Ellis/Phil Jimenez run began a couple of months ago.

Two (#31 and #32) of those issues were sent to my house in Chicago's suburbs, and there they sat- until this weekend, when I took them, brought them back to school with me, and read them.

They blew my mind.

I think that, at this point, it might be something of a cliche to say that Warren Ellis is a genius but I'm going to say it anyway: Warren Ellis is a genius. These two issues may be the most perfect comics I've read in a long time- maybe not the most interesting, maybe not the most fun, maybe not even the best- but certainly the most perfect. Everything that's good about comics, and about the X-Men in particular- action, adventure, soap opera, one liners, air harpoons-is in these issues.

From these pages it's clear that Warren Ellis gets the X-Men and furthermore that he gets what the X-Men are currently missing. The story (which is set in the near past, before Scott leads his people onto Utopia) is exactly what a comics story should be- that is, it's not trying to be something it isn't. It's big, it's bombastic, there are lots of explosions and cool aliens and spaceships and bio-sentinels and giant air harpoons and everything that makes comics wonderful, but at the same time it doesn't really stretch into absurdity.

Now, I understand that I can get in trouble saying something like that- comics are inherently absurd (did I mention that the book has air harpoons?). While it may be absurd, however, it takes itself just seriously enough. It's not too grim n' gritty, but at the same time it's not too ridiculous either.

Furthermore, Ellis gets the team dynamic just right. While Uncanny sometimes feels like a Scott Summers solo book, Astonishing really feels like a team book, like every member is contributing something and isn't just some mean to an end in Cyke's grand plan. The dialogue, the back and forth, the bickering, it's all there and it's all brilliant.

Phil Jimenez's art helps. While Simone Bianchi is an excellent artist, I think his work is just too pretty to make really good comics. It lacks that energy that Jimenez brings to the book in spades, and I think that such an energy was sorely needed- it pushes the book from fantastic to near-perfect. While certain artists seem to do static or dynamic but not both, Jimenez makes both look easy, and he transitions between the two seamlessly, page to page and even panel to panel.

If you're unhappy with the current X-Men status quo, pick the book up. If you like Warren Ellis, pick the book up. If you want to see crazy shit go down, pick the book up. I can't emphasize enough how unbelievably cool this stuff is, because it's a near perfect comic book. Ellis and Jimenez clearly have a story worth telling on their hands, and you're going to miss out if you aren't there to see it.

Meanwhile, at the Pull List of Clare!- 11/04/09

Another hefty week for me, but hey that's okay by me! The more comics I read the happier I am. So, let's see what's in store for me this week:

From DC this week comes a bunch of great titles. I was really interested by the first part of Leviathan so I'm looking forward to picking up Batman: Streets of Gotham #6. While I much prefer Dini, Yost is telling a great story with one of my favorite characters- Huntress. Then there's Tiny Titans #22, which we all know I'm quite fond of. Then there are the Blackest Night tie-ins! I'm totally excited for Adventure Comics #4. Not only do I love this book like crazy but it also marks the return of Superboy Prime after the events of Legion of 3 Worlds. Plus it comes with the Blue Lantern ring! The Blue Lanterns are my favorite so I'm psyched about that. Outsiders #24 is a continuation from Blackest Night: Titans and it comes with the Star Sapphire ring. Then there's Superman/Batman #66, I don't exactly get how an out of continuity book ties in but it's got Bizzaro and Solomon Grundy so I'll give it a shot.

It's one of those weeks where I have more Marvel books this week. From the Other Company I've got a few good ones. Amazing Spider-Man #612 has been solidly good since American Son. I'm not sure what Gauntlet is exactly going to be but I'll give it a shot. However, I know I'm going to enjoy Dark Reign- The List: Amazing Spider-Man. Let's be honest, this is the moment of Dark Reign that we've all been waiting for-- Norman versus Peter. Bring it on! says I. Dark Avengers #11 and Mighty Avengers #31 have been two books I've solidly enjoyed. Dark Avengers just started a new story arch and Mighty Avengers is wrapping up something pretty epic. Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth #5 is one of those books that I can't help myself with. Funny, stupid, mindless violence, hot chick with underwear showing (satirically, of course), and sweet movie-parody covers. What's not to like? Spider-Woman #3 is one of those books where I like where it's going but I'm not sure I'm in love yet. We will see! And wrapping up Marvel is X-Men Legacy #229, a book I believe to be highly overrated.

And let's top it all off with a nice cherry-- a Dr. Horrible one-shot explaining everyone's favorite villian's backstory. Nice!

Have a happy Wednesday, my loves! This weekend should hold a review of the first issue of Mark Waid's "Strange" from myself.

Aw yeah Wednesday!

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.

Already Tired of Tuesday 10/13/09

Last week was a huge week for me, and it was a damn good one too. Between the start of the new Criminal mini and the end of Planetary, I would be hard pressed to find a week that was quite that good in the recent past.

This week, for the record, isn't looking too shabby either.

I think I'll start out with Incredible Hercules #136, where I'll get to watch Thorcules battle Hercuthor, in what is sure to be a delicious battle for the ages. Then I'll get my Brubaker fix with The Marvels Project #3, which threatens to blow the top off of a wonderfully slow burning series. I'll round into the third course, Uncanny X-Men #516, looking for some Magneto action and I'll finish up with Fables #89 for desert.

Then, I'll wash it all down with a Coke and call it a night.

Already Tired of Wednesday

Comics come late this week, thanks to a holiday celebrating the Labor Movement.

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus #1:
Matt Fraction's big summer crossover concludes! Will Scott Summers' plan work? Will Norman Osborn rue the day that he messed with the X-Men? Will the coloring of Emma's diamond form be brilliant or awful? After a disappointing last issue, I'm hoping it picks up here.

Incredible Hercules #134:
More of the INCREDIBLE THORCULES! I loved the last issue of this arc, and with the addition of a cover homage to The Graduate, this one looks even better. It took me a while to pick up this book, but now I'm really glad I did.

Nomad: The Girl Without a World #1:
I'm a sucker for anything involving Cap somehow, even as peripheral as this is. I'll take a look at it, for sure, but whether or not I actually buy it is sort of up in the air. Still, it looks like an interesting piece to the Cap puzzle.

The Marvels Project #2
Everything Ed Brubaker touches turns to gold. This project, in particular, seems like its going to be an explosion of awesome after last month's wonderful introduction. I know Jon wasn't that fond of it, but Epting's art on its own makes this book worth a look.

Wednesday Comics #10
Karl Kerschel!

A quick note on what I'm NOT picking up: Dark Reign: The Avengers. Part of it is because I'm already picking up several four dollar books this week, but the other part is that I'm simply tired of this Dark Reign thing. If I care about the character, I might pick up the book, but I mostly just want Norman's rule to end. Right now. It was a good idea, but it has become both detrimental to the stories within some of the books themselves and REALLY REALLY EXPENSIVE. It needs to end now.

Meanwhile, at the Pull List of Clare!

Jeez, I look like such an expensive high roller type next to these guys I run this blog with. But hey instead of the sixteen books I picked up last week, 9 doesn't look so bad. (and yes, I picked up 16, not 15. Superman Secret Files actually had Codename: Patriot story.

But hey, more comics for me equals more happiness in my life, even if it means a little less money in my pocket.

Clare is purchasing...

Amazing Spider-Man #603

I've always gone back and forth with this title but I've started really enjoying it since the American Son story arch and Mary Jane has always been my favorite Spider-Man character. What can I say? I like red-heads just as much as Peter. Plus, #602 was REALLY good so bring it on!

Batman: Streets of Gotham #3

Despite what Josh says, this book is amazing. Unlike Morrison, Dini does not, you know, ignore all of the character history and the other events that have happened lately in the Bat-verse. All of that matters and Dini does a really nice job of tying it all together and putting a nice bow on it. I could go on about this but I won't (instead, I'll go into it on my post tomorrow where I'll rank the bat books.

Blackest Night: Superman #1

James Robinson is writing it. James Robinson has been doing an amazing job on the Superman stuff lately (Superman Mon-El and Superman: World of New Krypton), just like Tomasi was doing great stuff on Nightwing. Tomasi's Batman/Blackest Night was awesome so I see no reason that Superman/Blackest Night shouldn't be the same.

Mighty Avengers #28

I was very sad when Bendis went off this book, and then I started reading the Dan Slott stuff and I was a lot less sad. Slott is making Pym interesting and less of a total jackass. Plus, Jarvis. Plus, Stature. Plus, this current story arch involving the Inhumans seems really cool. I always want to like the Inhumans but they never feel just right.

Supergirl #44

This is the one Supes title that I do not usually get because Kara has never really held much interest to me. However, it is part 3 of Codename: Patriot and I loved the first two parts. I hate missing parts of stories.

Tiny Titans #19

Okay, this is honestly what I'm looking forward to the most out of all my books for the week. I love this book. This book is perfect. This book is everything good about all ages comics. Fun, light-hearted stories that little kids will just eat right up that just happen to be chock full of easter eggs that will have you geekgasming till next month. There has never been an issue that has not left a huge grin on my face.

Wednesday Comics #7

Because Josh and I are cooler than Jon and we get this book.

I'll be honest though, I haven't read this weeks yet. Though I always look forward to Amanda Conner's Supergirl! Teehee!

X-Men Legacy #227

Despite not always staying constant I have always really enjoyed Mike Carey's work. Plus, he is lovely man who truly cares about this book (he and I had a nice, long chat about it at NY Comic-Con) and I'm a Rogue/Gambit fangirl. So yeah, this book has been a nice big win.

That's all for me. See you tomorrow. Will I tear Grant Morrison a new one? Come find out!

Cheap Week- Pull List 08/19/09

Daredevil #500
-Ed Brubaker ending his run on one of Marvel's best, if least often seen, titles? What happens now? How is Andy Diggle going to ruin Matt's life when Ed is gone? Is the next artist going to be as good as Michael Lark? Why the hell isn't it David Aja? What does Lady Bullseye have to do with all of this? Does Foggy Nelson survive? Does anyone survive?

I'm excited. Can you tell?

X-Men Legacy #227
-Rogue, Gambit, and the sentient Danger Room are in San Fran, and the solicit promises a "dramatic new direction"

One wonders how many "dramatic new directions" this title is going to take before something finally sticks. This book is odd like that; every so often something fantastic happens inside here that gets ignored or undone by the next guy, or even by the same guy. Using this book as a Professor X solo title was one of those things.

Let's hope this is good enough to stick, because it wasn't the last time Cyclops asked Rogue to do something.

Wednesday Comics #7
-Everybody (everybody who isn't Jon, anyway) is buying this title.


It's a cheap week- I'm going to have a wander around my store and see if there's anything I missed, or anything else I want to review.

I'm Already Tired of Tuesday

Books to Purchase

Incredible Hercules #132
-Everybody, and I mean everybody, seems to be in love with this series co-written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente. The few issues I've read so far didn't seem to hold up very well, but the concept of Hercules impersonating Thor at the $2.99 price point makes me want to give this series another shot.

The Marvels Project #1
-Brubaker and Epting writing an espionage story set in the Golden Age about the beginnings of the Marvel Universe? Sold.

Uncanny X-Men #514
-This is an anniversary issue, of a sort: the first comic I ever bought was Uncanny #414 (which, by the way, I remember loving, and actually holds up better than most of Austen's X-run, I think). That isn't, however, why I'm buying it. I'm buying it because I like the X-Men, and I'm not going to make excuses for that. If I'm buying comics, I'm always going to be buying this book, no matter how bad it is. With that said, I really am enjoying the Fraction's run on the title, and the Utopia arc in particular. I'm excited about where this is going from here.

Wednesday Comics #6
-Who isn't buying this title?

Fables #87
-You have no idea how glad I am that the GREAT FABLES CROSSOVER is over with. It was painful. This issue: Flying Monkeys! Beautiful Covers (Seriously, I don't know who this new cover artist is, but I like this almost as much as I like James Jean, although that maybe because it looks like something James Jean would have done)! Mark Buckingham pencils! Did I mention Flying Monkeys?

DMZ #44
-I like the idea of DMZ on the whole, and I like the direction this arc is headed.

B.P.R.D 1947 #2
-I'm just going to say this flat out: Anything that Moon and/or Ba are illustrating I'm going to buy. Anything that Mike Mignola has a hand in, I'm going to buy. Which isn't to say that I'll buy this title twice- just that I'll think about it.

Books to Flip-Through
Captain America: Theater of War: To Soldier On
-Captain America is, for many reasons it doesn't really pay to go into here, my favorite character in all of comics. If it's got his name on it, I'm certainly going to be taking a look.

Dominic Fortune #1
-I love the way Howard Chaykin writes. I hate the way he draws. Thus, we have ourselves an issue worth flipping through.