What comics I'm reading.

[Zombie Survivor]

Hello everyone. Before I hop into the meat of my post I just wanted to introduce myself, since this is my first post. Dig the podcast, started listening back in August or September and I look forward to it every week. Figured I'd join the forums since it sounds like there's a lot of fun stuff happening here.

Anyways, figured I'd start with a thread about what comic books I'm reading. Comic books are one of my favorite forms of media. They're like the best parts of books and movies combined into one awesome experience.

Last night I re-read Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl, by Brian Michael Bendis. What a great series. If you haven't heard about it, think of it like Law & Order with super powers. This police procedural follows 2 homicide detectives, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim, who specialize in the investigation of super power related crimes. In this book they're trying to unravel the case of Retro Girl, a recently murdered superhero, one who is nearly indestructable even after death, which is revealed in a hilarious autopsy sequence.

The story goes into some dark places and what really brings it to life is that it's so believable. When you find out who killed Retro Girl, you think about it, and can imagine that if super powers really were real, that sort of thing would happen. Hell, you hear about similar stuff happening in the celebrity world.

the art is awesome in this book. It's a simple, stylized look. Michael Avon Oeming does pencils and ink on this book. He had so much work going on when he started this series, so he adopted this simple look so that he could fit another book into his schedule. If you haven't seen it, I find it similar to Batman The Animated Series with a bit more detail. There's some great use of panels in this book, which have some really unique ways of delivering the story. While you're riding shotgun with the 2 detectives, seeing intimately how they conduct their investigation, you're simultaneously delivered a news broadcast completely devoid of details, and built entirely around sensationalism. One thing I will say, if you can spend the extra cash and find the monthly issues, it's a lot better for the visuals than the trade paperback. The spacing and panelling are really designed for a book that folds flat, and in the trade, unless you break the spine open, you do lose a couple of the dialogue bubbles and a few transitions. Not a big lose as it's easy to extrapolate whats happening, but it is a lose.

Anyways, this is pretty vague but I would hate to spoil much of what happens; the fun of procedurals is watching the mystery unfold. Hopefully someone else here has read it and can add to this. I'll try and keep this thread going week to week as I read and re-read books.

[Pike]

Welcome aboard, ZS.

Is Powers an ongoing series? The title sounds familiar.

[The Operator]

Powers is probably one of my favorite comics series of all time. I've talked about it a few times on the forum...just OSSIM. Even after all this time, they still find ways to make it great!

Glad to see other fans on here as well. So welcome homie!

Cant wait fir the TV series on FX!

[Zombie Survivor]

Yes, totally forgot to mention it was getting a TV series. I can't wait, hopefully it's as good as the Walking Dead adaptation.

As far as I know Powers is an ongoing series. Not sure how many issues it's run, but I've read up to volume 4 so far.

[madamruppy]

I’m a bit behind on my comics but....

I Zombie
The Last Zombie
The Last Unicorn
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep: Dust to Dust
The Littlest Zombie
The Walking Dead - I buy the hard cover compilations
Return to Wonderland.

and...man I’m having brain fail

[Zombie Survivor]

I don't think there's a single reader who is really on top of comics. A few years ago I was going hardcore and dropping $40 a week on floopies plus trades on top of that occasionally. That didn't last very long. Now I almost exclusively read trades, and I'm just focused on 2 or 3 series' at a time. I'll grab the odd single issue from the archives if it looks like a fun read, but my habit is now probably around a book a week.

[Omra]

I only buy trades... The occasional Buffy Season 8, and Walking Dead. I followed Rising Stars which was exceptional and for awhile I followed 100 Bullets. I every now and then pick up a Astro City too, and I toyed with following Locke and Key.

[Zombie Survivor]

Locke and Key is an amazing run. For those who don't know, it's written by Joe Hill, which is the pen name for Stephen King's son, who's real name escapes me. It's an amazing psychological thriller following 3 siblings who witness the brutal cold blooded murder of their father. Now they're unlocking the secrets of their family's mansion, and their own minds. I'll reread volume one at some point and go a bit more in depth. That is one of the best runs going on right now.

I followed Buffy season 8 for it's first year, so I don't know if it continues to be as good as the show or not, but it was great while I was reading it. Not for the non fan to jump into, the first issue throws you right into the story, and is dependent on being familiar with almost the entire supporting cast from all 7 seasons of the series. This is a series I'll definitely start again at some point, but I'm waiting till I get caught up on what I've started areading already.

I have some 100 Bullets trades, but I haven't picked it up in a while. I liked it enough, just got side tracked.

I'll have to check out some of those zombie titles Madamruppy mentioned. Believe it or not I haven't read many zombie comics. I want to check out that Return to Wonderland as well at some point.

[CptMonty]

I'm one of those people who looks forward to buying the individual issues every week. I mostly read the superhero stuff (mostly Marvel with a bit of DC). I'm currently about two weeks behind on these.

Outside of the Big Two, I really enjoy The Boys. It is most definitely for mature readers but I've really got wrapped up in the story and the mystery behind many of the characters. And Garth Ennis is a great writer.

Also, I've started slowly collecting the trades of Invincible. I highly recommend this book. It's by Robert Kirkman and it is excellent. If your a fan of Walking Dead's writing, it's worth checking out Invincible.

[Zombie Survivor]

I definitely dig the superhero stuff as well. Xmen stuff is my favorite, I have a handful of Batman, and I've been grabbing the odd trade from the other heroes. I like monthly stuff as well but it's a lot more expensive, plus I go nuts about cliffhangers. I used to hate hitting a cliffhanger and waiting for a month to see the conclusion. If I can ever devote more cash to comics I'll definitely start on singles instead of collected works, or if I get a deeper discount.

[Sithwitch]

Yay, comics!

The Unwritten: Consistantly at the top of my buy pile every month, and a must-read if you're a literary nerd. I'm planning to do some in-depth nerding about two of my favorite issues elsewhere--a character who wouldn't be out of place in a Guy Ritchie movie gets dropped into a Beatrix Potter-esque world and things get weird and it's a fun diversion from the main plot of "What if Harry Potter/Christopher Robin were real and then the lines between fiction and reality got really blurry?"

Torso: Brian Michael Bendis is one of my favorite comic writers and I picked up this trade as an early birthday present to myself. It's based on the true story of Eliot Ness hunting down a serial killer in Cleveland, and it's superb.

Nonplayer: One of the guys at the store I buy at held the last copy for me, thinking I might be interested in it and I am so glad he did. It's absolutely gorgeous, almost art noveau. (Which, of course, means that it'll take forever to be complete, but I'm fine with that!) If you like MMOs and/or thought that the New Cap City plot of Caprica was awesome or ever wanted the Cylons' projecting abilities, you'll probably like this. Or if you just love good art.

Ex Machina: Finished last year and I'm not quite caught up, but I spoiled myself and know how it ends. I love Tony Harris' art, Brian K. Vaughan is another author I love, and it's a great story.

Fallen Angel: IDW is putting it out currently, though DC just released an omnibus of the 30 issues it ran. The current miniseries, "Return of the Son," is wonderful. And last year's miniseries was a crossover with Angel, featuring Illyria. Lee is one of the best written female characters I've seen, and the background characters are great. And it's Peter David doing the writing, which is awesome. I love theology turned on its head, which is also a big selling point for me but might be less so for others.

[Default Prophet]

I feel like Ex Machina kinda.....died off like the last year of release or so. At times it was REALLY good but not recently

[Zombie Survivor]

Woo! Friday was payday so I hit the local comics store. I grabbed, among other things, a copy of Xmen, Days of Future Past. I'm not exactly sure where this story took place in the timeline, but I think it's just before the Dark Phoenix stuff. You might remember this being adapted into a 2 episode arc on the mid 90s cartoon series. There was quite a bit of stuff changed for it to fit into the cartoon's xmen world, but it was done quite well.

This is basically Terminator, but replace "time machine" with, "psychic time machine." In the future, sentinels have taken over North America and forced all mutants into concentration camps. A few have escaped or evaded capture and operate as resistance cells. One of these groups, who's members includes Wolverine and Kitty Pryde, have a plan that may save them. By using a psychic link, they'll project Kitty's mind backwards through time, into her body when she had just joined the Xmen. Then she'll convince the Xmen to go and stop the catastrophic event that leads to the horrible future where mutant hating computers rule the world. Meanwhile, back in the future, Wolverine will have to defend Kitty's body from detection and attack, so the psychic link isn't severed before the job is done.

This is a really fun, fairly quick read. You have to know a bit about the Xmen supporting cast, but nothing major other than names and abilities. I found it to be basically the story of Terminator, with the characters from the Xmen. How could it not be good? It's also fun to note that this was written in 1981, 3 years before the release of the First Terminator movie. James Cameron's got some 'splainin to do.

[Omra]

It was after the dark phoenix saga (77-80), I remember because I was alive back then and still collecting X Men, yeah the alternate future thing was a big hit with the fans. And everyone freaked when Wolverine got toasted, all that was left was the smoldering adamantium skeleton, cool but sad...

And if I remember correctly it introduced some new villans as well. One of them could see a few moments into the future..

[Zombie Survivor]

Yes, this was before Wolverine was elevated to god-like power levels. When after he had a battle, he'd have to hang at the mansion drinking beer for the weekend to get back into shape. Now he can leap out of a spaceship and go through re-entry, and like 3 hours later he's all shiny again.

[Zombie Survivor]

I went back and cracked open my hardcover of Batman: The Widening Gyre. I read the floppies a while back, and 3-4 months ago I ordered a hardcover release direct from the artist. I'm not sure if he's still got the deal on the table, but you can call him and he'll autograph and do a doodle for you in the inside cover. At release he wasn't charging extra, but you'd ave to pay for shipping direct from his store. I've been talking to him about hockey all season, and so he was nice enough to put a Batman endorsment for the Canucks. So far, Batman's got a good pick for the playoffs.

http://imgur.com/PKfn7.jpg
http://imgur.com/mgHLC.jpg

The book is really fun, and I'd say that it's a good introductory book to someone who's familiar with the character, but doesn't know all the depth of the Batman universe. It's a great nostalgic romp through Batman's rogues gallery, showing off the big names like The Joker all the way down to Crazy Quilt. It's a follow up to Batman: Cacophany, which introduces the main villian for the 2 books, and there's a sequel in the works, which the artist has been hard at work on. I'm going to try and bug him for a preview picture, but I'm not holding my breath. Anyways, I loved the book a lot, and there's some crazy twists to the story so I don't even want to get into it for fear of spoiling any of it for the poeple who haven't read it. I really just wanted to show off my awesome custom backman drawing. If the Canucks manage to win the finals this year (could it really happen?) I'm going to fly to New Jersey and have the artist add a Stanley Cup to the picture for sure.

[Bucket]

I just started Green Lantern: No Fear. So far its pretty good, not as awesome as Rebirth, but plenty of nice Hal character moments and I think he's just about to start punching the blue suited angry guy (Don't know much about GL yet xD)

[Zombie Survivor]

I've been eyeballing some Green Lantern stuff. To be honest, I've never been a big DC fan. Vertigo books are generally amazing, but I never got into the superhero lineup. I only recently started reading Batman books, and Green Latern is another character that I was thinking about picking up. I'll add those to my list of future aquisitions.

Been reading through vol. 1 of Wolverine: Enemy of the State. Great story so far. I like a less stylized depiction of the Xmen, but the art is amazing, personal preference aside. If you're a fan of Wolverine and you haven't read this one yet, get it on your next trip to the book store. It does a pretty good job of introducing all the characters and factions involved, but if you have zero knowledge of the Marvel Universe, it might be better to wait till later to read this one.

[Bucket]

I've been eyeballing some Green Lantern stuff. To be honest, I've never been a big DC fan. Vertigo books are generally amazing, but I never got into the superhero lineup. I only recently started reading Batman books, and Green Latern is another character that I was thinking about picking up. I'll add those to my list of future aquisitions.

Been reading through vol. 1 of Wolverine: Enemy of the State. Great story so far. I like a less stylized depiction of the Xmen, but the art is amazing, personal preference aside. If you're a fan of Wolverine and you haven't read this one yet, get it on your next trip to the book store. It does a pretty good job of introducing all the characters and factions involved, but if you have zero knowledge of the Marvel Universe, it might be better to wait till later to read this one.

From my limited experiance, i'm leaning more towards DC than Marvel, mostly because of GL and Batman. But that might be because the two Marvel TPBs ive gotten (Civil War and Planet Hulk) have been dependent on mythology and really bad respectively. I have read a few issues of the Wolverine/Deadpool reprints they sell over here and liked it despite a bit of confusion, where would you recomend starting with Wolverine?

[Default Prophet]

From my limited experiance, i'm leaning more towards DC than Marvel, mostly because of GL and Batman. But that might be because the two Marvel TPBs ive gotten (Civil War and Planet Hulk) have been dependent on mythology and really bad respectively. I have read a few issues of the Wolverine/Deadpool reprints they sell over here and liked it despite a bit of confusion, where would you recomend starting with Wolverine?

Read Annihilation. One of the best events of recent years.


Also you didn't like Planet Hulk? It's great...

[Bucket]

Read Annihilation. One of the best events of recent years.


Also you didn't like Planet Hulk? It's great...

I'll definately look that up, thanks. And not really, Hulks whole revolution seemed to drag on for too long and his character didn't match what I thought it'd be, he seemed too resonable... which is really my own fault for going in with preconcieved notions about something I knew nothing about. Mainly I would've preferred seeing Bruce Banner pop out a few times and for it to be a few issues shorter.

[Default Prophet]

I'll definately look that up, thanks. And not really, Hulks whole revolution seemed to drag on for too long and his character didn't match what I thought it'd be, he seemed too resonable... which is really my own fault for going in with preconcieved notions about something I knew nothing about. Mainly I would've preferred seeing Bruce Banner pop out a few times and for it to be a few issues shorter.

Eh it wasn't a Banner story though. It was a ton of character development for The Hulk himself. Oh well. We'll have to agree to disagree

[Bucket]

Eh it wasn't a Banner story though. It was a ton of character development for The Hulk himself. Oh well. We'll have to agree to disagree

Indeed, my lack of enjoyment was probably down to the (probably wrong) idea i had stuck in my head that The Hulk was just some animal that came out and broke stuff every now and then anyway.

But anyway, No Fear is finished, on to Thor: The Mighty Avenger.

[Zombie Survivor]

If you want to start with Wolverine, I'd say start reading Wolverine Origins. It gives you all the details on the character, like why he's always saying "bub." I really enjoyed the series. I have no idea if it's available in trades, but the series is only a few years old so back issue hunting shouldn't be too difficult. I really enjoyed this one when I was reading it, never kept up with it, and at some point I'll reread it in trades.

Xmen is definitely a hard world to jump into because there's so much history, for so many characters. Since I don't read every book every month I'm still often lost, but after a while you know enough that you can kinda fill in the details in between. Just power through being lost in the story, and after 3-4 trades, you'll be able to piece together enough to get past it.

[Default Prophet]

If you want to start with Wolverine, I'd say start reading Wolverine Origins. It gives you all the details on the character, like why he's always saying "bub." I really enjoyed the series. I have no idea if it's available in trades, but the series is only a few years old so back issue hunting shouldn't be too difficult. I really enjoyed this one when I was reading it, never kept up with it, and at some point I'll reread it in trades.

Xmen is definitely a hard world to jump into because there's so much history, for so many characters. Since I don't read every book every month I'm still often lost, but after a while you know enough that you can kinda fill in the details in between. Just power through being lost in the story, and after 3-4 trades, you'll be able to piece together enough to get past it.

The way I got started into Marvel as the cartoons. Then when I got into the comics I started with ultimate. That's a really good way to do it to be honest. Not all of Ultimate mind you but like sometime before Ultimatum would be ideal

[Zombie Survivor]

Agreed, the Xmen cartoon (except season 5, which wasn't good) was a great intro to the series. It borrowed stories from the best comic book stories, and adapted them to the cartoon format. It was so different from any other cartoon. The very first episode, one of the Xmen dies. That's not something any other cartoon would ever do. This was my first introduction to the Xmen as well, and now that you mention it, Ultimate Xmen were some of the first comics my friend showed me.

I'd say to also go older, into some of the classic stories like the Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Futures Past. The older books are great because of the editor's notes. These would either give a quick 1 sentence explaination to the reference, or give you an issue # to pick up so you can catch up on what's being talked about. You don't see this as much anymore because there would have to be a footnote on just about every single panel now that there's 30 years more backstory.

[Default Prophet]

Agreed, the Xmen cartoon (except season 5, which wasn't good) was a great intro to the series. It borrowed stories from the best comic book stories, and adapted them to the cartoon format. It was so different from any other cartoon. The very first episode, one of the Xmen dies. That's not something any other cartoon would ever do. This was my first introduction to the Xmen as well, and now that you mention it, Ultimate Xmen were some of the first comics my friend showed me.

I'd say to also go older, into some of the classic stories like the Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Futures Past. The older books are great because of the editor's notes. These would either give a quick 1 sentence explaination to the reference, or give you an issue # to pick up so you can catch up on what's being talked about. You don't see this as much anymore because there would have to be a footnote on just about every single panel now that there's 30 years more backstory.

I disagree. I find it A LOT recently especially in X-men books. Uncanny X-men specifically it's like every issue they'll pop up a character 's name/power/what's going on recently.

[Bucket]

Agreed, the Xmen cartoon (except season 5, which wasn't good) was a great intro to the series. It borrowed stories from the best comic book stories, and adapted them to the cartoon format. It was so different from any other cartoon. The very first episode, one of the Xmen dies. That's not something any other cartoon would ever do. This was my first introduction to the Xmen as well, and now that you mention it, Ultimate Xmen were some of the first comics my friend showed me.

I'd say to also go older, into some of the classic stories like the Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Futures Past. The older books are great because of the editor's notes. These would either give a quick 1 sentence explaination to the reference, or give you an issue # to pick up so you can catch up on what's being talked about. You don't see this as much anymore because there would have to be a footnote on just about every single panel now that there's 30 years more backstory.


I disagree. I find it A LOT recently especially in X-men books. Uncanny X-men specifically it's like every issue they'll pop up a character 's name/power/what's going on recently.

I've seen bits of different Marvel cartoon series (like the excellent Silver Surfer one) but i've never seen the X-Men, or at least very little. And I might look into Uncanny X-Men, even if the explanations are thin on the ground, I usually stay near a computer with Wikipedia open while reading a comic I have reason to believe I won't understand. I sense my wallet being significantly lighter for the next few weeks....

[Zombie Survivor]

I disagree. I find it A LOT recently especially in X-men books. Uncanny X-men specifically it's like every issue they'll pop up a character 's name/power/what's going on recently.

Depends I suppose on the writer. Astonishing Xmen had almost 0 notes in it as I recall, whereas Uncanny does still have quite a few. I suppose that's because Uncanny is like issue 600, and Astonishing is a stand alone story that's only hit like 40 issues.

Also, trades are great because they usually fill out the back of the book with extra tidbits like character profiles, and other useful information.

[Bucket]

Making a second attempt at Batman: Long Halloween. First time I tried, I got halfway through, was bored and gave up. But holy crap, it's awesome this time. Can't believe I disliked the artwork first time, Batman looks stunning with the shading, the regular faces look nice and noirish and I love the black and white murder pages. Storywise its a cracker, best Batman as a detective story i've read and i'm actually looking forward to finding out who the killer is (which is a feeling that most pieces of cop/detective can't bring out).

I broke out the change jar and ordered GL: Secret Origin and the second Thor: The Mighty Avenger, so I should be able to tear into them right around the start of the holidays.

[Default Prophet]

Making a second attempt at Batman: Long Halloween. First time I tried, I got halfway through, was bored and gave up. But holy crap, it's awesome this time. Can't believe I disliked the artwork first time, Batman looks stunning with the shading, the regular faces look nice and noirish and I love the black and white murder pages. Storywise its a cracker, best Batman as a detective story i've read and i'm actually looking forward to finding out who the killer is (which is a feeling that most pieces of cop/detective can't bring out).

I broke out the change jar and ordered GL: Secret Origin and the second Thor: The Mighty Avenger, so I should be able to tear into them right around the start of the holidays.

I'm pretty sure you ripped this straight from my own brain. Catwoman costume still sucks though right?

[Bucket]

I'm pretty you ripped this straight from my own brain. Catwoman costume still sucks though right?

That it does, its always the ears that seems off. Now Selina Kyle out of the suit, meeeow

Also, I have no idea who Solomon Grundy is, but the only way I can describe the bit with him is adorable. Which is not a word I usually use in relation to Batman.

Damn, despite my best efforts to pace myself i'm two thirds finished. I'll have to look up Dark Victory sometime.

[Default Prophet]

That it does, its always the ears that seems off. Now Selina Kyle out of the suit, meeeow

Also, I have no idea who Solomon Grundy is, but the only way I can describe the bit with him is adorable. Which is not a word I usually use in relation to Batman.

Damn, despite my best efforts to pace myself i'm two thirds finished. I'll have to look up Dark Victory sometime.

I will teach you of Solomon Grundy

eGQEAiZJMco

[Omra]

Read 6 and 7 (trades) of Buffy season 8, it was a delight.

Read Rising Stars and Dark Age 2 trades from Astro City, it was fun revisiting that place.

Read 1 and 2 of the J Michael Straczynski Thor Trades and am now reading 3, I am really enjoying his version of the whole Marvel Asgard mythos. Had never really liked Thor and never followed him except way back in 83 when Walt Simonson did his epic arc with Beta Ray Bill and the war with Surt and so on. Now working on trade #3...

[Sithwitch]

Agreed, the Xmen cartoon (except season 5, which wasn't good) was a great intro to the series. It borrowed stories from the best comic book stories, and adapted them to the cartoon format. It was so different from any other cartoon. The very first episode, one of the Xmen dies. That's not something any other cartoon would ever do. This was my first introduction to the Xmen as well, and now that you mention it, Ultimate Xmen were some of the first comics my friend showed me.

I'd say to also go older, into some of the classic stories like the Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Futures Past. The older books are great because of the editor's notes. These would either give a quick 1 sentence explaination to the reference, or give you an issue # to pick up so you can catch up on what's being talked about. You don't see this as much anymore because there would have to be a footnote on just about every single panel now that there's 30 years more backstory.

Augh I had a coupon today and decided, "Hey, I'll get the discs of X-men: The Animated Series I'm missing!" since I'm in the middle of a reread of the Grant Morrison run on New X-men. And they were out of the two I needed. Frak you, Best Buy by my house!

I've been on an X-men kick lately (moreso than usual... it's not like I don't have a few X-titles in my pull box every week) and have been rereading Grant Morrison's run on New X-men. I first read it back when "E is for Extinction" came out in trade, and man was I confused back then. I hadn't touched an X-men comic in almost a decade and had no clue what was going on. The Xorn stuff didn't help. I like it a lot better now, with some time and more arcs under my belt, and hey! It introduced Beak, Angel Salvadore, and Dust!

(In lieu of the X-men: TAS cartoons that I'm not watching, I'll watch these (http://www.floatinghandsstudios.com/comicparodies.html) instead. Love 'em.)

ETA: Omra, if you're looking for a good Thor story, might I suggest The Mighty Thorcules (http://adudesguide.com/2010/03/29/dude-review-the-incredible-hercules-the-mighty-thorcules/)? One word: "Thipples."

[Bucket]

I will teach you of Solomon Grundy

eGQEAiZJMco

That was strangely wonderful You're made of straw, what more do you want!. So thats why he was so grumpy in the sewers, he wanted Batmans pants.


Read 6 and 7 (trades) of Buffy season 8, it was a delight.

Read Rising Stars and Dark Age 2 trades from Astro City, it was fun revisiting that place.

Read 1 and 2 of the J Michael Straczynski Thor Trades and am now reading 3, I am really enjoying his version of the whole Marvel Asgard mythos. Had never really liked Thor and never followed him except way back in 83 when Walt Simonson did his epic arc with Beta Ray Bill and the war with Surt and so on. Now working on trade #3...

Never read any of the Buffy ones, but I have read the first Angel trade and that was pretty good. Haven't read Straczynskis Thor either, but at the risk of sounding like a broken record, Thor: The Mighty Avenger is brilliant. Doesn't go that deeply into the mythos and is mostly Thor hanging around with Jane Foster but it's really well done, and his meeting with Captain Britian is one of the funniest things i've read in a while.

[Zombie Survivor]

I've been on an X-men kick lately (moreso than usual... it's not like I don't have a few X-titles in my pull box every week) and have been rereading Grant Morrison's run on New X-men. I first read it back when "E is for Extinction" came out in trade, and man was I confused back then. I hadn't touched an X-men comic in almost a decade and had no clue what was going on. The Xorn stuff didn't help. I like it a lot better now, with some time and more arcs under my belt, and hey! It introduced Beak, Angel Salvadore, and Dust!

Are you sure you weren't confused because you were reading Grant Morrison? When he's good, he's great, but a lot of his stuff is off the rails on a crazy train.

Just hit the book store yesterday. I got 3 volumes of Marvel Runaways, but Diamond was nice enough to backorder the first volume of my order, so I won't be able to read them until next week when volume 5 arrives. I also got volume 1 of The Mighty Avengers. I'll maybe do a better write up later on this, but it's great. Bendis has a great time with this one. The one thing I really like is how he has not only the characters dialogue presented, but also clips from their internal monologues in thought balloons. This means it's packed full of irony, and I'll definitely be doing a reread to make sure I got all the jokes/story. There's also an appearace of Ant Man, the superhero everyone loves to hate.

Which reminds me, I have to do a review of the 12 issue Ant Man series. If you haven't read the 12 issues of Ant Man, go on ebay and buy it now. Don't ask questions, just get it. Then when it arrives, stop everything and read it straight through. Don't drink anything because the inevitable spit takes from laughter/shock wil ruin the books.

[Zombie Survivor]

Been digging through an old box of comics this week and pulled out Bullet Points, from 2007. This 5 issue miniseries is a "what if" scenario that follows a hypothetical chain of events that starts with the shooting of Dr. Erskine, the creator of the Super Soldier serum that creates Captain America. However, unlike normal Marvel canon, in which the doctor is shot after the creation of Captain America, this presumes that he's shot before the super soldier program can have it's first human test subject.

It's a fast paced story, that requires a good knowledge of the Marvel universe to get the full effect. If you aren't as familiar with every character mentioned, it's still an enjoyable read, but you won't fully understand truely how different this take on the Marvel world is. It sets up the mood amazingly by using the JFK assassination, and resulting chain of events, to show how just one bullet can change the course of history.

The art is fantastic as well. I love this semi water colour feel, which gives the whole series a sort of dream like feel. There's still so much detail where it needs to be, with every face showing emotion, and every splash page perfectly captures the action.

If you haven't checked it out yet, definitely find yourself a copy. It's a relatively inexpensive run for such a great story.

[SetecAstronomy]

Just started the first Booster Gold trade. What they did...genius.

Without spoiling any plot, Booster's shallow, slightly dim-witted corporate hero persona has become his secret identity, and not just to the public at large. It's just really cool.

[Zombie Survivor]

Transmetropolitan in your avatar right? Is that the one where the crazy writer from the moutains comes down and has to do freelance work in the city because he's broke, but he spends half his time killing everyone because he's so full of contempt for humanity? I never got into it when I first picked it up. Alan Moore is a great writer, but that one just seemed to full of hate at the beginning for me to get into. Maybe I'll pick up a vol.1 trade and try to get more into it, I only ever read issue 1.

[Omra]

Picked up Spawn Origins Collection Book 1, big ass hardbound book. Stumbled upon it in Borders, yeah there is one still left near me. Nice presentation, it made me kinda nostalgic so I bought it. Wow, I had forgotten it has almost been 20 years since Spawn originally was released.

It was fun revisiting that Title, don't know if I would purchase anymore of them though. Thinking of getting some Deadpool trades, I needa little more humor in my life right now. The books (real ones) I have been reading are a little dark, urban fantasy can get that way..

[SetecAstronomy]

Transmetropolitan in your avatar right? Is that the one where the crazy writer from the moutains comes down and has to do freelance work in the city because he's broke, but he spends half his time killing everyone because he's so full of contempt for humanity? I never got into it when I first picked it up. Alan Moore is a great writer, but that one just seemed to full of hate at the beginning for me to get into. Maybe I'll pick up a vol.1 trade and try to get more into it, I only ever read issue 1.

You got it, though Warren Ellis wrote it. And yeah, Spider Jerusalem is not a happy man, but is a highly principled one. IMO, it gets better as it goes, eventually becoming some pretty smart political satire.

[Zombie Survivor]

You got it, though Warren Ellis wrote it. And yeah, Spider Jerusalem is not a happy man, but is a highly principled one. IMO, it gets better as it goes, eventually becoming some pretty smart political satire.

Right. My local comic book shopkeep handed me a stack of Alan Moore issue #1 freebies to see what I wanted to start reading. In amongst the Alan Moores was Transmetropolitan, thus the confusion. I could see it turning into something, but I could also see it becoming really repetitive and hateful without meaning, so I didn't persue it. Might revisit it at some point, once I finish up with all the series' I'm currently in.


It was fun revisiting that Title, don't know if I would purchase anymore of them though. Thinking of getting some Deadpool trades, I needa little more humor in my life right now. The books (real ones) I have been reading are a little dark, urban fantasy can get that way..

Deadpool can be a fun read. Don't forget Spiderman as well. He's always a snarky fun time. Marvel Runaways is also pretty enjoyable, if you can stand how teenage angsty it is at times.

Marvel Universe versus The Punisher is a good pick for a miniseries as well. All the Marvel heroes have turned into cannibal zombies and The Punisher is left to kill them all. Deadpool is featured heavily and is crazy as ever.

[Bucket]

Picked up Spawn Origins Collection Book 1, big ass hardbound book. Stumbled upon it in Borders, yeah there is one still left near me. Nice presentation, it made me kinda nostalgic so I bought it. Wow, I had forgotten it has almost been 20 years since Spawn originally was released.

It was fun revisiting that Title, don't know if I would purchase anymore of them though. Thinking of getting some Deadpool trades, I needa little more humor in my life right now. The books (real ones) I have been reading are a little dark, urban fantasy can get that way..

Deadpool is a real blast, puts a smile on my face every week. Im no expert, but ive been reading his post dark reign stuff and they're hilarious in places (his fight with Hawkeye being a highlight)

Edit: Gah, its Bullseye not Hawkeye. I can never get those two straight in my head, had the same problem watching Thor...

[phazedout]

x-men: Age of apocolypse volume 3 (chunky trade paperback)

Preacher : volume 2

That's ab out all comic book wise, I'm also reading some random sci fi stuff on my ebook I got off the gutenburg project, don't recall totle though, mostly shorts fomr the 50s.
Phaze
on the "type tapping noises coming of the skype line, the sweet sounds of someone commmenting on bsg season one finalé" ID

[Bucket]

x-men: Age of apocolypse volume 3 (chunky trade paperback)

Preacher : volume 2

That's ab out all comic book wise, I'm also reading some random sci fi stuff on my ebook I got off the gutenburg project, don't recall totle though, mostly shorts fomr the 50s.
Phaze
on the "type tapping noises coming of the skype line, the sweet sounds of someone commmenting on bsg season one finalé" ID

Holy hell, im going on holidays for a week and i bought two graphic novels to read. Freakangels volume 1 and.. Preacher Volume 2. Freaky world.

[Zombie Survivor]

Preacher is such an awesome book. I'm on vol. 5 and I can't wait to dig into it.

LCS gave me a deal on HC books so I bought Spiderman: Kraven's First Hunt and Xmen: Sins of the Father. Kraven's First hunt is a really fun read. Typical Spidey humour, with some great action. It goes to some dark places to contrast the light heartedness of Spidey's humour. The Daredevil element was a riot as well.

Haven't finished Sins of the Father but after leafing through a few pages I can say that the art looks amazing. Can't wait to dive into this one.

[Bucket]

I finished Preacher volume 2, and damn it just gets better and better. Loved all the insight into Jessies messed up past, and I particularly loved his little rants against psychology.

I had read most of Freakangels volume 1 on the site before, and even though im not sure ill get another of the trades with so many other awesome things on my to buy list, it was great reading it again.

Read issue 50 of Bendis's Captain America, and even for someone ignorant of most of Cap, it was awesome. Gorgeous art and a neat little story of Bucky looking back on previous birthdays. Good enough to convince me to shell out for the first omnibus when I have the money, can't wait to jump into it.

[Zombie Survivor]

Captain America is something I've been meaning to get into. The Bendis run is on my list for sure. I'm addicted to Bendis in general I think.

This week I've read vol. 6 of Bomb Queen. If you're not familiar with it, Bomb Queen is an Image book about the world's greatest anti hero. It's an explicit title, so brace yourself before reading it, but if you can stomach the content, it's worth it. In vol. 6 she takes on Barack Obama, the President of the free world, as he tries to shut down New Port City, and Bomb Queens reign of terror.

I also had my order of Runaways vol. 7 arrive this week so I went through vol. 7 through 10 as well. If you haven't started reading Marvel Runaways check it out. Very fun read, a little teen agnsty, but fun. I've been preachin' the Runaways word on here quite a bit I think, probably too much.

Also on the list this week was A Shepards Tale. Book 3 of the Serenity books. If you're a Firefly fan, you owe it to yourself to grab the 3 Serenity Books. Too me, Shepard Book was the second most curious character, next to River Tam. This book, just like the Serenity movie did for River, asks a new question of the character for every answer it gives. A great, quick, read and I highly recommend anything Whedon has written when it comes to comic books. Angel and Buffy were both good reads, as well as his Xmen run which I thoroughly enjoyed.

[Bucket]

Nice, huge Firefly fan and I read one of the Serenity books, been meaning to get the rest. It really captured the feel of the show well, the first Angel book I read did the same. Glad to hear the rest of his work is good, the omnibus of his X work tempts me on a regular basis.

I've got through most of my holiday reading, aside from an issue of Uncanny X men. Ill probably order the first Cap omnibus when I get home, and perhaps if I can afford it, the first issue of this (http://irishcomics.wikia.com/wiki/The_League_of_Volunteers). Seems pretty cool and i've heard good things about it.

[Zombie Survivor]

There's a new Moon Knight run that's on issue #2. First issue was great, and I'm sitting down to the second tonight. I've heard there's some really cool plans for it so I'm going to make it a regular read, at least to see how the first 6 play out.

[Bucket]

Just read the first issue of Underground. If you haven't read it already, I highly reccomend it, wonderfully illustrated (love the surprisingly varied cave scenes in particular) with great characters and already a few nailbiting moments. Its available to read for free http://www.undergroundthecomic.com/download-it-free/ here. I plan to buy the trade to read the rest soon; partially to support this awesome release and perhaps mainly because I hate reading things on a computer screen xD

Also reading the start of Deadpools 'Want you to want me' arc (the one where he tries to join the X Men).

[Zombie Survivor]

This week's buys :

Kick-Ass TPB. Excited for this one. Never looked at the books, but I could tell from the movie that this is going to be an awesome read. Glancing through at the art had me excited to get into it.

Locke & Key vol 3 TPB. I already read it last night before going to bed (it caused nightmares, I don't recommend this as a bedtime book). I had already read the free comic book day release, so there was a chunk in here that I'd seen, but it didn't dimish the story as a whole at all. One of my favorite series' ever.

The Nightly News TPB. Finished the first book of the trade. It has a V for Vendetta vibe to it, but it presents itself in a completely different way. Can't wait to continue with this story. The artwork is awesome, and the layout impresses you in a different way with every page turn.

Marvel Universe vs Wolverine #1. This is a great series. The story is fairly basic; world wide infection turns everyone into crazed cannibals, including superheroes and villians. No one is safe from becoming infected and now Wolverine is left to fight them all off. It's a fun "what if" tangent, and I recommend Marvel Universe vs The Punisher as well.

Who are the Mystery Men #1 and #2. Heard a couple good things about this 5 issue story being released. It's a total throwback to the noir genre and heroes. The protagonist is a coat and fedora wearing private eye type who has to go against the law to find out the truth. There's also a healthy injection of magic amulets and jetpacks to round out this classicly styled story set in the 1930s.

Zombie Christmas Carol #1 and #2. It's the classic Dickens story retold with the inclusion of zombies. I'm a sucker for these types of books. They rarely knock it out of the park, but are always fun to read. I like taking a classic story everyone's seen a thousand times, and turning upside down with something crazy like zombies, or aliens. Only read a couple pages, but the artwork is great and it looks like it's going to be a fun read. This is also a 5 issue run, currently at issue #2.

[Bucket]

I finally got my Cap omnibus from Amazon (first 25 issues of the Brubaker run) and its pretty awesome so far, loving the pulpy action and intrigue.

I started the second volume of Thor The Mighty Avenger (which I finally got after praising the first relentlessly to anyone who'd listen). Im reading slow just to delay the end of this awesome series, so bummed there is only 8 issues. The art has gotten even more great, a few of the panels (Heimdall and the Rainbow bridge/Thor on his goat carridge) I kept flipping back to stare at. The story is keeping to the forumla of 'Thor meets a character from the Marvel U and learns something' but it works great, and they already seemed to be setting up threads that will tragically never get resolved.

I also started reading the Batman is a Caveman issue, which seems weird as hell so far and I haven't figured out if I like it yet.

[Zombie Survivor]

What would you recommend for beginner Thor readers. I'm pretty well aquainted with the Marvel Universe, but I've never been into Thor. Are there some particular series that are easier reads, and lighten up a bit on the faux Shakespear stuff? The dialogue was always a stumbling block for me. All the names seemed to blur together, and the words had wierd consonant combinations. Haven't tried reading Thor in a few years, so I'm sure it's a bit easier to comprehend for me now.

[Bucket]

What would you recommend for beginner Thor readers. I'm pretty well aquainted with the Marvel Universe, but I've never been into Thor. Are there some particular series that are easier reads, and lighten up a bit on the faux Shakespear stuff? The dialogue was always a stumbling block for me. All the names seemed to blur together, and the words had wierd consonant combinations. Haven't tried reading Thor in a few years, so I'm sure it's a bit easier to comprehend for me now.

Afraid I havent read much Thor, besides this and a bit of the newer stuff by the B5 guy (not even going to try and spell that name since I will butcher it). Although I have heard great stuff about the new Mighty Thor run which is around its 3rd issue (planning on getting the trade when it comes out in December).

But at the risk of sounding like a broken record THOR THE MIGHTY AVENGER! : )
Although mostly out of continuity (I think) its a great intro to Thor and some of his core cast. They go very very easy on the Elizabethan lite dialouge stuff, the humour never lets up and the action is always thrilling. It made me really like Thor anyway, enough to make me want to read more of him which is what you want I think.

[Omra]

What would you recommend for beginner Thor readers. I'm pretty well acquainted with the Marvel Universe, but I've never been into Thor. Are there some particular series that are easier reads, and lighten up a bit on the faux Shakespear stuff? The dialog was always a stumbling block for me. All the names seemed to blur together, and the words had weird consonant combinations. Haven't tried reading Thor in a few years, so I'm sure it's a bit easier to comprehend for me now.

I read a few of the Straczynski trades to reacquaint myself with Thor after watching the movie, I had heard good things about his handling of the character. And I really enjoyed it. I had not really followed Thor since the classic Beta Ray Bill arc written by Walt Simonson (showing my age here).

Just read three Deadpool trades, the Daniel Way ones; the writing was great and the art was good except for one story (the pirate one) where it was awful.

Stumbled across some DC animated shorts on Netflix, they were pretty good. There were four of them bundled together, each was about 15 minutes and there were even some heavy duty actors doing the voices (like Linda Hamilton for instance). It was called The Return of Black Adam, it also included a Green Arrow, The Spectre and a Jonah Hex story (probably better than the movie :D).

[Zombie Survivor]

Went all in this week. Busted out all my remaining comics, which is only about 150, and resorted them. They're all alphabetized and I gotta go get some boards before I box them up. I catalogued them using the collectorz.com databasing program. Super handy program. I still have to enter all my trades, but after doing all this sorting I put together a list so I can fill in the gaps left from either lending stuff out, giving stuff away, or losing stuff while moving. Spent about $200 this weekend, which is way too much to spend on picture books.

One of my favorite picks from the last couple weeks has been The Mighty Avengers: Venom Bomb, (http://marvel.com/comic_books/collection/22396/mighty_avengers_vol_2_venom_bomb_trade_paperback) By Brian Michael Bendis. This book is pure comics fun. It's not a thinker of a book, it's not going to change your world, but damn if it isn't the most fun book I've read in a while. The Mighty Avengers, are faced with a biological attack originating from Latveria. They have to take the fight straight to Doctor Doom himself, but he's not going down easy.

***Spoilers***

What makes this book so fun is it ratchets everything up to 11. The biological attack isn't just your standard plague, it's a viral symbiote outbreak. The Avengers have to fight off hordes of Venom like creatures, but since they're all civilians, they have to fight back without killing. Civilian aren't the only ones who fall victim to the attack, in one panel you get to see a Wolverine, symbiote hybrid, who hasn't wanted to see that? There are splash pages galore, and when the team takes it to Latveria, you get 3 consecutive double splash pages of DOOM BOT ANNIHILATION! as The Mighty Avengers wreak wholesale destruction on their foes. When I finished reading, I couldn't believe there had been so much action, for such a short book, especially considering how much story and dialogue go with it.

A large part of the story involves time travel as well, but they wrap up the loose ends nicely with some tricky use of the existing continuity. It's not flawless, and time travel stories never are, but it does work out nicely and makes for a couple good jokes. To accent the time travel, the artists actually completely changed their style depending on the era. When Doom travels back hundreds of years to conduct affairs (business and other) with a sexy witch the art takes on a painted style, which would be how pictures of that era were rendered. When they get stuck in the 60s, the art takes on a silver age style, with simplified artwork and that dot matrix style of printing. There's also a hero/villian teamup which just smacks of silver age comics.

***/spoilers***

Overall, this book is full of action, has some great story and dialogue, the art is fun and engaging, and there's some great laughs to keep the mood light. This book has everything great about the superhero comic tradition, and amps it up to maximise the experience.

[Bucket]

I managed a rare visit to my LCBS (hope to make it out there more often) and picked up the first issue of Captain America Corps, the 4th issue of Moon Knight (They didn't have any back issues to i'll catch up by *cough cough* illegitamate means), both of which i've been wanting to read. On the impulse buy front, I picked up the first 3 issues of Spidergirl and some Marvel Holiday Special One Shot.

I've also been reading Hawkeye and Mockingbird. Haven't got that far, but what i've read so far has been a joy; great art, witty dialouge, kick ass action and Hawkeye is plain loveable.

[Zombie Survivor]

I think you'll really enjoy the Moon Knight. It's pretty dark but I'm really enjoying the take on Moon Knight as the Avengers. I haven't read, but apparently the new Daredevil is decent. The last 3 writers, Brubaker, Smith, and who was the other? had a really dark, suicidal take on Matt Murdoch, but this time around it's a bit more light which is a welcome change for the character I think. I'm interested and might check it out.

[Bucket]

I think you'll really enjoy the Moon Knight. It's pretty dark but I'm really enjoying the take on Moon Knight as the Avengers. I haven't read, but apparently the new Daredevil is decent. The last 3 writers, Brubaker, Smith, and who was the other? had a really dark, suicidal take on Matt Murdoch, but this time around it's a bit more light which is a welcome change for the character I think. I'm interested and might check it out.

Just finished the second issue, it was unreal. Had a bit of trouble figuring out the multiple personalities thing, but it is an awesome idea. Can't wait to read the rest.

[Zombie Survivor]

Yeah, if you read 1 and 2 back to back it's easier to pick up on. I went back and reread issue 1 because I had forgot exactly what happened. The only indication is the change in the last 2 panels, and then the recap paragraph in #2 says he has the split personalities. I was like, wait, when did that happen?

Wait till you see him go into fights as the Avengers. It's awesome!

[Zombie Survivor]

Haven't come back to this thread in a while. Outside the new 52 stuff I've been into, there's a couple other notable series' I've read. I've tracked down all 5 issues of Comic Book Comics by Evil Twin. It's a series that chronicles the history of comics. It's been in production since 2008 and issue six, the last in the series, is due some time around the end of this year. The first issue deals with the inception and rise of the comic book industry during the depression, and I'm half way through the second book, which details the golden age of comics. In the second issue the author details how comics were used during WW2 for instructional purposes. It was shown that soldiers absorbed more information if they read about how to clean and maintain their rifles in a comic book, rather than a standard field manual. I find this quite interesting since these comics are very dense, and it's much easier to get through the history of comics and absorb the information in this format, rather than reading a text book on the subject. I highly recommend tracking down this series and giving it a read. There's lots of mind blowing information about comics that you've probably never known and is revealed in these books.

I've been really enjoying the new run of Moon Knight, and happened to see the first 3 trades of the last series on sale at a local shop. I'm really into this character now. This series is so intense. The current run by Bendis has Marc Spector's (Moon Knight's alte ego) psycosis manifest itself as Moon Knight's Avenger allies. In this previous series, it's a manifestation of Konshu and takes the appearance of Moon Knight's now dead and defaced (literally! Moon Knight cut his face off) Nemesis. The story follows how Moon Knight has to deal with the hero registration act. The real story, as always, is how the character strugles with his inner demons. He's split personalities, his hallucinations, his past mistakes. This is one of the darkest, bloodiest, and most intense Marvel books I've read. I've never read any Moon Knight until recently, and Now I want to go back to the beginning and read it all. I'll probably at least go back and get the 2 volumes of Essentials Moon Knight, since collecting all the original books is probably way out of my price range.

[Dalamar]

Hi folks. I am picking up more regular books than ever before thanks to the New 52 :) I was always a Marvel guy, mainly X Men but in the last few years the splintering got rediculous so I just gave up. DC came along with the whole reboot thing and it seemed the perfect place to dive in, especiallly as my knowledge of DCU is very shaky.

I am picking up :

DC
Justice League
Batman
Nightwing
Suicide Squad
DCU Presents

Image
Shinku

Justice League and Batman were no brainers really, they are the cornerstones of the DCU as far as I can tell. I like the first issues, and will definitely carry on. I like how they have gone 'slow burner' with Justice League, whilst at the same time throwing in quite a bit of exposition with regards what they are rebooting about peoples relationships.

Suicide Squad has come in for quite a lot of flack, but I have to say I liked it. Maybe it's because I am coming at it as a new reader (Something I am going to start a blog on, will pulicise it here once it's running :) ) and so don't have the baggage, but it sems quite fresh and interesting to me. I will be completely honest, there were only two things that made me pick it up 1) I love anti-heroes (I am collecting Spawn from issue #1 for example) and 2) Harley Quinn :p

Nightwing is a character I have always been interested in but again, know precious little about. The first issue was miles better than I expected, so I am really stoked about seeing where it goes. DCU Presents (Deadman) is an odd one, but I like odd :) it's another slow burner, with the first issue being entirely exposition on the character of Deadman and what his 'mission' is, but that has never put me off, so again, I will carry on.

Shinku is a Ron Marz comic out of Image. The premise sounds tired (Ancient samurai vampires, and a vampire hunter doing her thing) but it's got just enough of a different angle to be interesting. I highly recommend picking up the first issue (If you can find it,I think they are repirinting though) and seeing what you think, I think it could be great. It is suffering from Images main problem, which has always been irregularity, the inker has family or health issues and Ron won't carry on without him, which is a nice thing to do so I don't mind so much :)

Whoah I can talk.....

Anyway, that's where I am with current comics. I am also slowly building up a collection of Spawn (1 to 20 sorted, and I have about 20 from the late 100's so plenty to go at :p )

[Zombie Survivor]

Justice League and Batman were no brainers really, they are the cornerstones of the DCU as far as I can tell. I like the first issues, and will definitely carry on. I like how they have gone 'slow burner' with Justice League, whilst at the same time throwing in quite a bit of exposition with regards what they are rebooting about peoples relationships.

speaking of Justice League being a 'slow burner,' they're already late on their second issue.

I've been an Xmen fan for a long time, but haven't been keeping up with the whole universe. As it is right now, there's ten or so different Xmen books to keep up with and I just can't afford to do that. I read a few series' as they come out in trades, Astonishing Xmen, for example, but I'm very excited about Schism. I just got my copy of Xmen Regenesis today, and I'm going to keep going with the two new series'. If you're not familiar with what's happened, the Xmen have split into two parties. Cyclops is trying to keep the remaining mutants (all but 200 mutants were killed off in an event a little while ago) together on a defended island called Utopia. Wolverine has taken issue with Cyclops trying use the young mutants to fill the ranks of their squads and so has recruited whoever will come with him to restart the school which had been destroyed. Tere will be two ongoing series' that start later this month, a renumbering of Uncanny Xmen, which will follow Cyclops in Utopia, and Wolverine and the Xmen, which will follow Wolverine and the kids as they rebuild the school and Charles Xavier's original vision.

[Default Prophet]

speaking of Justice League being a 'slow burner,' they're already late on their second issue.

I've been an Xmen fan for a long time, but haven't been keeping up with the whole universe. As it is right now, there's ten or so different Xmen books to keep up with and I just can't afford to do that. I read a few series' as they come out in trades, Astonishing Xmen, for example, but I'm very excited about Schism. I just got my copy of Xmen Regenesis today, and I'm going to keep going with the two new series'. If you're not familiar with what's happened, the Xmen have split into two parties. Cyclops is trying to keep the remaining mutants (all but 200 mutants were killed off in an event a little while ago) together on a defended island called Utopia. Wolverine has taken issue with Cyclops trying use the young mutants to fill the ranks of their squads and so has recruited whoever will come with him to restart the school which had been destroyed. Tere will be two ongoing series' that start later this month, a renumbering of Uncanny Xmen, which will follow Cyclops in Utopia, and Wolverine and the Xmen, which will follow Wolverine and the kids as they rebuild the school and Charles Xavier's original vision.

A Jim Lee comic is late? SAY IT AIN'T SO!

[Bucket]

Just started reading Nextwave. Awesomely bad ass funny series, love the Nick Fury stand in "Dirk Anger". Plus, it has its own officially endorsed theme song.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuosmf1_mKs

[Zombie Survivor]

If you haven't read them, get both "The Nightly News" and "Pax Romana" both by Jonathan Hickman. His art style is completely different than almost anything else in print. The Nightly News follows a team of assassins recruited because they have been wrongly accused, and then ruined, by journalists trying to get a good story rather than good information. They're now part of the biggest news story in history, the systematic assassination of every news anchor on TV. The artwork is going to completely blow you away. I don't have the vocabulary to explain his style, other than it's heavily stylized and is as much art as it is part of the narrative.

Pax Romana is a similar in it's artistic presentation, using Hickman's trademark style, but it's a complete one-eighty in content. The Vatican has invented a time machine and they plan to send an entire army with all the modern resources they'll need to take control of Rome over two thousand years in the past, fight off all future invasions, and conquer the entire world in the name of Catholicism. This book is pretty heavy. Lots of information, lots of characters, and multiple timelines. It's very text heavy, sometimes there's entire pages with just scripts rather than pictures, but it's very well written and you'll get lost in the story and not even notice. The story might be a little heavy for some, but the art is so stuning that I think it's worth a look.

Jst an update on my DC New 52 reading, my current list of books is:
Action Comics
Batgirl
Batman
Batman, The Dark Knight
Green Arrow
Green Lantern
The Huntress
Justice League
Justice League International
Superman
Teen Titans

I'm liking all the books I have. There's more out of the 52 that I want to read, but I'll wait for trades. I'm surprised at how much I like Action Comics, considering I don't normally like Morrison's writing. He's definitely put a priority on "action," and it's one ofthe more excitin books I've got on the list. Green Lantern #3 really surprised me as well. That last couple of pages took me by surprise and I can't wait or #4. The Huntress is awesome. It's going to be a small run of 6 books, so I figured it wouldn't hurt the wallet too much to get in monthly issues. Lots of action and the character is fighting against human traffickers so you really get behind her fight.

I read both the new Wolverine and the Xmen, and Uncanny Xmen. I think it's pretty funny how these two books opened. Cyclops is on Utopia fighting Mr. Sinister and a giant Sinister powered sentinel, possibly facing total destruction. Meanwhile on the east coast Wolverine and Kitty Pride spend the entire first issue worrying about building permits and other legal mumbo jumbo. Really looks like Scott made the wrong choice, but there's no way he wouldn't be Scott.

[Bucket]

Just finished the second volume of Gotham Central. Damn, I love this series so much, the arc involving the Mad Hatter was amazing. I kinda wish the New 52 had some kind of police procedural book set in the DC Universe now, with different arcs taking place in different cities and going in to both how the police deal with super villians and their relationships with their resident vigilanties (would love to see how Bats and Supes relate differently to cops).

[Zombie Survivor]

Just finished the second volume of Gotham Central. Damn, I love this series so much, the arc involving the Mad Hatter was amazing. I kinda wish the New 52 had some kind of police procedural book set in the DC Universe now, with different arcs taking place in different cities and going in to both how the police deal with super villians and their relationships with their resident vigilanties (would love to see how Bats and Supes relate differently to cops).

If Bendis did Powers for the DCU it'd be nearly perfect, though I would love to get multiple perspectives as you say. The detectives of Batman would have a completely different job from the detectives in Metropolis.

[Zombie Survivor]

About two months ago I ordered issue #3 of Comic Book Comics from Evil Twin Comics. It was the last issues I was looking for. Last week, I still hadn't recieved the issue so I sent an email inquiring about the order's status. The next day I received a paypal shipping notification and this week a priority package arrived with not only the issue I had ordered, but the new 6th and final issues in the series. I'm not sure what went wrong on their end, but it all worked out and I got a freebie for my patients. Can't wait to get through these. I've read #1 and was very impressed with it. I recommend that it goes on everyone's reading list.

[Starsaber]

In the past week or so, I bought and read 6 of the 7 Blackest Night TPBs

[Zombie Survivor]

Just read Crossed from Garth Ennis. Definitely a book for the older readers. I'm not sure what it says about me as a human that I enjoyed reading this book but I did.

[Bucket]

Anyone reading Daredevil? Issue 6 was great, and set up a really assuming sounding arc.

Hydra, Aim and a chunk of the other major crime organisations in the Marvel universe are all gunning for Daredevil and the billion dollar info he has on their trade plans. Can't wait to see where they go with this.

[Zombie Survivor]

Skyrim has taken up the bulk of my free time so while I've kept up with puchasing (it's a sickness!), I haven't been keeping up with my reading. Of what I've read in the past couple of weeks I really dig the new TMNT run. There was a Raphael one shot this week that was really good as well. I recommend that anyone who likes the Turtles give these books a try.

Action Comics #4 also hit shelves this week. As I've sayed before, Morrison had me hesitant to read Action Comics, but he's proved me wrong. There's a Q&A with Morrison in one of the issues in which he states that Action Comics should have a mandate on Action, per the title. He's certainly stuck to this mentality. The book moves quick and there's tonnes of action, but Morrison has done a good job of weaving a story into it.

I have a bunch of books on order so either next week or the week after it's going to be Christmas for me at the LCS. Going to have the last two volums of The Preacher come in. That's going to be bitter sweet since I can't wait to finish it up and find out how it all ends, but at the same time Preacher has been a highlight in my reading over the past year and it's going to be all done soon.

[Bucket]

Picked up the first 4 issues of Hickmans Ultimates today. Holy crap, I only got through the first two on the train, but its unreal, loving the whole aesthetic and political climate of the Ultimate Universe (despite understanding almost nothing about it).

[Zombie Survivor]

I've been wanting to read some more in the Ultimates universe as well. It was fairly early in it's run when I started reading comics, but now it's just as in depth as any other Universe. You really can't go wrong with anything written and/or drawn by Hickman. I highly recommend getting Pax Romana and The Nightly News. Both are highlights of the comic book format, and Hickman's abilities as a writer and artist.

[Zombie Survivor]

There's a new run of The Defenders which started a couple weeks ago. The first issue is pretty nifty. I'm not a big fan Dr. Strange crossing over with other characters. On his own I enjoy the stories about magic and moving between dimensions to fight demons, but I always find it a little goofy when he crosses over with characters who are all science based, like Pym, Stark, or Banner. Still, I liked the new Defenders #1, which brings together Iron Fist, Namor, Silver Surfer, She Hulk (the red one if it makes a difference, I'm not up to speed on Hulk colours) and Dr. Strange.

Also got a kick out of Uncanny X-Men #3. The introduction story arc with Mr. Sinister has wrapped up with a bang, and the dynamic of human/muntant relations is getting tense. Meanwhile, Wolverine and the X-Men #3 has their introduction arc with the New (new, new, new) Hellfire Club wrap up with the school in pieces (already? of course!), but a new ally for the school. I like how the schism has split up these two factions, and I like the feel of both books opposite eachother. Uncanny has a very serious tone, while Wolverine is a little more hopeful, and much more lighthearted with a layer of slapstick humour. This is a good reflection of the ideals of both leaders, and why they split from eachother in the first place.

[Zombie Survivor]

I had been hearing some good things about Suicide Squad, from DC, and noticed on Friday that my LCS had issues #1 through 5, so I grabbed them all. Love it. It's a mile a minute, since they've already been through 3 missions and had multiple deaths and it's only been 5 issues. I highly recommend it. It's sexy (you know, if homocidal clown women are your thing), it's full of action, and the pace has yet to let up.

What's it all about? There's jobs in the DC universe, dirty jobs. The type of jobs that needs to get done but no one is willing to do. That's why you need, "The Suicide Squad," a team of supevillians assembled from the ranks of the super-max prison population. Implanted with nano explosives so they have to do whatever is asked of them, the only way to earn their freedom is to survive. If the mission fails, it's just another terrible tragedy perpetrated at the hands of an escaped villian, rather than the top secret government agency that pulls the strings of the convict puppets.

[Zombie Survivor]

Volume 11 of Powers arrived this week so I set aside a bunch of reading time to blast through the last three books. Bendis is probably tied with Ennis as my favorite comic writers. Reading this book is like reading an episode of House MD. if House was a cop, his patients were dead superheroes, and he had to solve the case. Really, the only similarity it has to House MD is that it's one of the best procedurals ever written, and it's dark humor.

Moon Knight #9 also dropped this week. Moon Knight has fast moved up the list of my favorite characters, and I'm sure Bendis has something to do with it. What's not to love about a vigilante who's so clinically insane he's fighting as an entire Avengers team, all by himself? Is the power of Khonshu even real, or is that another fabrication of Marc Spector's damaged psyche?

Rounding out this week's Bendis love is my purchase of Goldfish. I can't wait to dig into this one. I have no clue what it's about, other than it's reviews are favourable so everything should be a surprise as I go along.

[Chuck]

I've been reading my way through the Iron Man history, which has been really awesome so far, both in terms of picking up some of the old IP that's been incorporated into newer Iron Man works as well as getting a feel for different phases in Marvel's history. A question, though:

I see the 52 comics at the shop/online, and it makes me really tempted to jump into the DC universe. Such a big change seems like a great time to join. But I really have no idea where to start, and I just know absolutely dick-all about DC. Any thoughts/advice?

[Zombie Survivor]

The 52 "reboot" was sort of a gimmick title (duh!), a more appropriate word would be, "relaunch." Of the 11 books I follow of the new 52, there has been 1 book which has done an origin story arch, and that's Superman, and it's basically the same story we've all seen a zillion times. Most of the titles, at least from my reading, are just restarts. Everything has a new story, and all the cross references are in parallel, for instance, Suicide Squad has Harley Quinn's story line intertwined with The Joker's from Detective Comics. You may have heard many fans curse DC because they've essentially erased all the history and started anew, destroying the decades of dedication to the history these fans have invested. This is not so at all, take for example Batgirl, which follows Barbara Gordon becoming Batgirl once again after a horrific shooting at the hands of the Joker, which took place in Batman: The Killing Joke, from 1988. There have been a few seeds planted about what the whole relaunch is about, but just think of it as a new starting point, rather than a reboot of all the characters.

Having said that, some books are more new reader friendly than others, but I feel all the books are easy enough to just jump into at #1 and go. I have next to no experience with the DCU, so I started with mostly big name heroes. Here's my reading list.

Action Comics (relaunch)
Batgirl (relaunch)
Batman (relaunch)
Batman, The Dark Knight (relaunch)
Green Arrow (relaunch)
Green Lantern (relaunch)
The Huntress (6 issue mini "relaunch")
Justice League (relaunch)
Justice League International (New)
Superman ("reboot")
Teen Titans ("reboot")
Suicide Squad (relaunch)

All the big name superhero books are basically relaunches. It's assumed you'll know enough about the characters to just jump into a new story and go, with little bits given here and there to fill in some back story. Green Lantern is probably the worst offender in this case, however, if you've seen the movie you'll know enough about the Green Lantern's world and characters to get up to speed. Superman seems to be the only book so far to have a retelling of the origin story, which I find strange because it's almost completely the same, and his story is the most well known.

All this is just a really long winded way of saying, the best place to start with the new 52, is with whatever characters have you interested. The big name books aren't true reboots, and having a bit of knowledge of their existing stories is helpful, but you'll be surprised at how much you already know just through pop culture (do you really need a Batman origin story...again?). The lesser known titles are apparently some of the best, though I can't vouche for them since I haven't been reading any. I've been hearing great things about Animal Man, and Swamp Thing, for example, and plan to buy at least the first volume in trade so if you're interested in some of the "non-superhero" books those two are probably the best place to start.

My favorites, of what I'm reading, are Action Comics, Justice League International, Teen Titans, and Suicide Squad. I really enjoy all the other books on my list, but those 4 stand out for me. Action Comics is action packed, and I'm thouroughly surprised that Grant Morrison is writing something that I like since my previous experience with his writing hasn't agreed with me. Justice League International stood out on my list right from #1, it felt like the best "reboot" at launch time, with a great character introduction and tease to the coming story line. Teen Titans took a couple issues to get rolling, but like JLI, introduces the characters well and has a story line that's kept me excited. Suicide Squad is just pure action. There's not much given about each character, but it doesn't matter because they'll likely be dead by the end of the issue.

[Temperal]

I am currently reading The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2. I enjoy seeing all these mismatch characters thrown together. And my Crom are they much better than that movie mess up was.

[ThotFullGuy]

The latest Star Trek: Ongoing : Operation Annihilate

http://img.trekmovie.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/stoc04-t.jpg

[Zombie Survivor]

I am currently reading The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2. I enjoy seeing all these mismatch characters thrown together. And my Crom are they much better than that movie mess up was.

Scariest part of that book is the forest creatures.

Is there a volume three or something being released? I've heard talk of a volume three but there doesn't seem to be any new releases at my store at least.


The latest Star Trek: Ongoing : Operation Annihilate

http://img.trekmovie.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/stoc04-t.jpg

I never see this on the shelf because it's always sold out. This is what has prevented me from impulsively buying all current issues. Can't wait to get a TPB of this since I've only heard good stuff about it and it's rare that Star Trek stuff doesn't get dumped on in some way.

[Bucket]

I've been reading my way through the Iron Man history, which has been really awesome so far, both in terms of picking up some of the old IP that's been incorporated into newer Iron Man works as well as getting a feel for different phases in Marvel's history. A question, though:

I see the 52 comics at the shop/online, and it makes me really tempted to jump into the DC universe. Such a big change seems like a great time to join. But I really have no idea where to start, and I just know absolutely dick-all about DC. Any thoughts/advice?


I came into this knowing similiarly dick all bout DC as well, and i'm really enjoying the comics i've stuck with.

Wonder Woman: Full of deceitful gods and Diana curb stomping monsters, pure awesome.
Batwing: Probably my biggest surprise of the reboot, this follows an African Batman in the Democratic Republic Of Congo. First arc has been about someone attempting to kill all the members of an African superhero team, 'The Kingdom'
Animal Man/Swamp Thing: These both read well on their own, but have tied in so far and are set to crossover directly next issue. They are probably tied for my favourite art of the reboot and have great horror/supernatural stories, Animal Man in particular has genuinely terrified me at points.
Demon Knights: The best way to describe this is that the first issue ends with robot dinosaurs bursting into a tavern. Its set during DC Medievil times and following a group of mystical warriors coming together.
Also following JL/Action Comics/Green Lantern in this reprint magazine they're publishing here, so i'm a few issues behind.



Also, currently about 20 issues into Invincible (got the compendium for Christmas) and am loving it more and more.

[Zombie Survivor]

Just read Batman #5 and WOW! This was a heavy issue. The way the team chose to print this issue adds a new layer to how the story is perceived, unless I just got a really messed up printing. Those last couple pages hit hard as well. I can't wait to see how #6 continues from here.

If you plan on reading this Batman ongoing in trade I suggest you grab an issue #5 an tuck it away into your collection because this is going to be a pain in the ass issue to read in a paperback or hardcover format.


Also, currently about 20 issues into Invincible (got the compendium for Christmas) and am loving it more and more.

I snagged the first trade. Great start. I love the fresh take on the superhero identity dilemma and some of my favorite stuff is when the father and son are flying together, the father disappears for two panels, then reappears with some quip like, "just had to save a school bus from going over a cliff, what were you saying?"

[Zombie Survivor]

As it goes along I'm starting to enjoy the New 52 more and more. By relaunching their entire catalogue DC has allowed themselves to bring a lot of charm back to the books, most notable to me are the cheezy one line sub texts added to the covers like, "terror of the Scarecrow!" on this week's Dark Knight. David Finch did a 5 issue Batman: The Dark Knight mini leading into the relaunch and of those 5 covers, not a single one has a sub title or caption whereas the current Dark Knight run, up to issue 5 as part of the new 52, has had 3 of these titles. These cheezy little lines of text were nearly mandatory on comics before the modern age but mostly went away as the medium took itself more seriously.

Another really great thing about relaunching is the return of editor's notes. After hundreds of issues in a series, it becomes nearly impossible to notate the happenings of all the heroes. Now that everything is back to the start, mostly back to the start, there are quite a few notes to help you along with cross referencing. Personally, I don't have the money, or desire to read all 52 ongoing series' to stay on top of things, but I can still look at an editor's note, go online, and get an overview of what's happened in the parallel story lines to fill in the blanks. Sometimes the notes just poke fun like in Teen Titans #5 there's a note regarding Superboy's involvement, "* See Superboy #5 for details-buy-them-all Bobbie!"

Reading the new 52, to me, is truly like being a kid again and reading comics for the first time. Everything is new and exciting. The question is, "what's going to happen next?" not, "when the heck did that happen?"

[Zombie Survivor]

There's a new employee at my LCS and so I've been picking her brain about what to read since I've gotten some good recommendations off everyone else at the store. Since I was buying a stack of new DC books she said I should round out my Justice League reading with the Wonder Woman books. They had all the issues in stock (counting their issue #1 reprints) so I grabbed the current 6. Now, I'm not the biggest mythology fan but I find DC has done better at crafting the Amazonian mythos into their expanded universe. This is in contrast to Marvel's work with Thor being integrated into the Marvel, or even just Avengers universe, which I find pretty half assed and really out of place. Based on this I went ahead and dove into Wonder Woman.

Damn! Of all the New 52 books I've been reading, this is one of the most brutal. It's really as close to the Spartacus TV show as DC would care to venture. It's all about which God impregnated which Godess, and who has to be brutally slain in order to cover up everyone's secret liasons. At one point there was a multi-panel page showing a horse being decapitated, revealing it's true identity as a centaur when the human part emerged from the gaping neck wound. This book is absolutely awesome and it's a take on Wonder Woman that I've never even imagined. There's tonnes of action and drama that draws you into its story and there's all the sex and violence you'd expect when Gods begin to meddle in the affairs of their human underlings. Highly recommend grabbing a couple issues and giving it a shot.

[Zombie Survivor]

Got around to Batgirl #6 at lunch today. Great first arc and it ends with a tease for a revisit to the Killing Joke story, which is the basis for the new Batgirl relaunch. Can't wait.

[Zombie Survivor]

Apparently I'm in an emotionally fragile state because Justice League #6 almost made me cry. Great issue.

[Zombie Survivor]

I stayed up late last night and read, in one sitting, Green River Killer: A True Detective Story. Jeff Jensen, the author, is an entertainment writer for such magazines as Entertainment Weekly, but he's also the son of Tom Jensen, a lead detective of the Green River Task Force. Tom Jensen spent almost 20 years tracking the Green River Killer, and the book chronicles the events that lead to his final capture and subsequent sentencing. It's an awful, but compelling story that utilizes the real transcripts, word for word in most cases, to paint the picture of both how disturbed Gary Ridgeway is, and how dedicated Tom Jensen is. Dispite the disturbing subject matter I highly recommend it as a valuable insight into both sides of this harrowing part of history.

[Orion]

The best things I'm reading right now include Scalped, Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers Academy, and Wolverine and the X-Men. And Walking Dead, but that is in hardcovers that come out once a year.

[Pike]

I found some CBRs of American Flagg (look it up, kids.) Good stuff, at least for the first year.

[Zombie Survivor]

The best things I'm reading right now include Scalped, Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers Academy, and Wolverine and the X-Men. And Walking Dead, but that is in hardcovers that come out once a year.

Avengers Academy has a 2 parter with The Runaways. First one dropped this week and was fun. If you haven't read the Runaways from earlier in the 2000s then definitely get that.

[Zombie Survivor]

Fell behind a couple weeks with my reading but I found a bit of time this week. Justice league #7 is awesome. They skip ahead a bit in time to when the Justice League is well established, #6 ended with the team having just wrapped up their coming together in a catastrophic event. The League has developed this arrogance about their standing in society and the governments now live in fear of being overthrown by the superheroes so just throw money at them to keep them happy. It plays very close to how Garth Ennis portrays superheroes in his series, The Boys. There is a bit of irony in this because, as I understand it, The Boys was originally going to be published under Vertigo, which is DC's adult content name, but they were unhappy with how Ennis portrayed his obvious Justice League stand in as self centered deviants. Now DC is doing a very similar take with their flagship title. I can't wait to see where they're going with this.

[Starsaber]

I got Volume 2 of the Batman No Man's Land collection and War of the Green Lanterns this week.

In a few places, it was a bit tough to keep track of the territories/loyalties in No Man's Land, but it's still interesting. I think the third part of this re-release comes out in August. From what I understand, the original TPBs missed a few of the comics that were part of the overall story that are included in this.

War of the Green Lanterns was pretty cool, even though

they had John Stewart kill Mogo. Don't get why they expelled Hal but not him.

[Zombie Survivor]

Planetary, by Warren Ellis, took over my life a couple of weeks ago. I plan to do a more in depth write up at some point but suffice to say I think it should be at the top of everyone's list of comics to read.

I finally got around to reading Action #7. #6 went a little weird and lost me a bit, and #7 isn't at all my cup of tea. I think this is the point where Morrison lost me. Normally this happens a lot sooner with Morrison books. I try out a couple more issues to see what he's building but I may be dropping it from my pull list.

Avengers Vs Xmen is quite fun so far. Round 2 starts with a "Magnetic fastball special," with Magneto tossing Colossus through a SHIELD helicarrier. The action ramps up from there.

[Time Cadet]

I just finished reading Batman #4 from the new 52. I'm a bit behinde with this series. I'm also reading Nightwing from the new 52. Also been reading Locke & Key vol. 1

Sent from my MZ604 using Tapatalk 2

[Zombie Survivor]

Batman gets amazing, and I haven't read Nightwing but apparently it's also one of the best books from the new lineup. Locke and Key is one of the best comics ever and should be on everyone's reading list.

[Omra]

I found some CBRs of American Flagg (look it up, kids.) Good stuff, at least for the first year.

Haven't read any American Flagg since the 80's.. That was some cutting edge stuff back then, and I loved Chaykin's art.


Planetary, by Warren Ellis, took over my life a couple of weeks ago. I plan to do a more in depth write up at some point but suffice to say I think it should be at the top of everyone's list of comics to read.


Thanks for the heads up on Planetary. Bought Volumes 1 & 2, man that is some good sh*t dere.

[Zombie Survivor]

I think the third volume of Planetary has some of the most fun stories and Volume 4 brings it together amazingly. Don't hesitate to buy the other two volumes.

Volume 4 has this amazing penultimate story which gives a nod to the Marvel universe. When you realize just how long Ellis has been forecasting this reveal, you see the true brilliance of his writing.

There's also 3 or four other volumes outside the main run. I haven't gotten a hold of the other stories, but there's a JLA, Batman, and Authority crossover books. The Batman one seems of particular interest because it somehow includes Bob Kane's original Batman, the Adam West version, as well as Frank Miller's Dark Knight. I can only imagine how he links all these different versions together. The Authority crossover book apparently has an HP Lovecraft cameo, as well as a story inspired by his writings. Once you read the next two volumes you'll see why I would be excited about the JLA book.

[Starsaber]

Comixology has all the original New 52 #1s for $0.99 now for people like me who have fallen behind.

I think I'm going to pick up Justice League, JLI, and Birds of Prey sometime this week to try them out.

[Starsaber]

Well, I got those. I think I'll start working on catching up with Justice League and JLI, but I wasn't particularly satisfied with Birds of Prey. Depending on how long the $0.99 lasts, I might get one or two more #1s.

Also, DC is doing a Smallville Season 11 in comic book form, written by one of the writers from the show. They're doing roughly weekly $0.99 releases on Comixology that come out to about 1/3 of a comic book. Not sure if they'll be releasing physical copies, but the 3 they have out now were pretty good, and most of the characters looked like a match for the show.

[Rantz]

Planetary is one of those rare series where the delays that took forever for the final issues were SO worth it. I'd also recommend Ellis' Desolation Jones... The second (incomplete) arc has nods to PKD...

sent from my robot phone o' death using Tapatalk II

[Bucket]

Well, I got those. I think I'll start working on catching up with Justice League and JLI, but I wasn't particularly satisfied with Birds of Prey. Depending on how long the $0.99 lasts, I might get one or two more #1s.

Also, DC is doing a Smallville Season 11 in comic book form, written by one of the writers from the show. They're doing roughly weekly $0.99 releases on Comixology that come out to about 1/3 of a comic book. Not sure if they'll be releasing physical copies, but the 3 they have out now were pretty good, and most of the characters looked like a match for the show.

I read the first issue of Birds Of Prey as well and it didn't blow my mind exactly either xD If you want a few reccomendations, my favourite DC Comics at the moment are

Animal Man
Swamp Thing
Wonder Woman
Batman
Demon Knights
Batwing

[Starsaber]

I read the first issue of Birds Of Prey as well and it didn't blow my mind exactly either xD If you want a few reccomendations, my favourite DC Comics at the moment are


The main reason I gave it a try was because I've been a fan of Black Canary in the comics (not so much in Smallville). Of course part of that is my idea that Yvonne Strahovski should play her in either a stand-alone or Justice League movie. :groucho:

[Bucket]

The main reason I gave it a try was because I've been a fan of Black Canary in the comics (not so much in Smallville). Of course part of that is my idea that Yvonne Strahovski should play her in either a stand-alone or Justice League movie. :groucho:

This is an idea I can full get behind :cool::cool:

[Juan]

Just got my iPad. App/service recommendations?

[Zombie Survivor]

The Comixology app is quite handy. You can sync it with both the Marvel and DC comics accounts, so if you're buying the physical books with the free downloads, they can all be read in the one app. Comixology also downloads locally, so you don't need to have an internet connection to view the comics. I believe the Marvel app requires a connection, so if you sync the account, and then read via the Comixology app you can circumvent that. That's about all I know about digital comics apps for iPad.

I know a few people who do almost all their reading in digital form now, and they're about 50/50 split on how they read. Some prefer the comic apps, which do a nifty panel to panel breakdown for reading. Others prefer to go with either scans or CBRs and view the whole page on screen as this way it reads a bit more like a physical comic book. I enjoy both methods. The one draw back of the CBR or scans is that on lower resolution or smaller displays it can look pretty crumby, and require some zoom and pan work to read. This should be a non issue for the iPad 3 since it has that nifty retina display. If it is an issue, this is where the comic apps with panel to panel viewing are much better since they show a much smaller portion of the page at a time. They also still have the option of viewing the entire page so you can still zoom and pan around the big splash pages to really absorb the artwork.

To start with I'd definitely get the Comixology app and download some of the free issues to see how you like the panel to panel style of reading. Can't really help you with and CBR readers since I have no with what's on the App Store.

[Default Prophet]

The best option for at home comic viewing to me is Cdisplay with cbrs/cbzs . Two pages displayed at once on a 1080p monitor? Super slick, can read everything and still retains the scale of the comic book

[Starsaber]

In a nice coincidence, I went to my local comic book store today and it ends up the first JL and JLI TPBs of the New 52 era just came out.

I just finished reading the JLI one, and while I wish they had a different Lantern, I'm definitely going to stick with it for a while.

[Zombie Survivor]

In a nice coincidence, I went to my local comic book store today and it ends up the first JL and JLI TPBs of the New 52 era just came out.

I just finished reading the JLI one, and while I wish they had a different Lantern, I'm definitely going to stick with it for a while.

I continue to enjoy JLI month to month. Lot's of conflict between the characters and with the villains. I also enjoy how the story is really driven with the action, so there's no shortage of either.

The first six issues of Justice League turned out pretty good. I didn't like it as the flagship for the relaunch, I don't think it really fit that role, but once that first story arc wrapped up it all came together as something really good. Moving on from the origin story that book got really cool and went places that, in the past, got writers fired from DC.

[melkorsbane]

I've started reading some of the Point One stuff from Marvel, and a few collections of Batman e.g. Year One, Dark Knight Returns, and that sort. Trying to get back into the swing of comic reading, actually.

[Zombie Survivor]

Snyder's Batman run has been amazing. This past weeks issue, #10, totally punched me in the face with the big reveal. Snyder should be writing some sort of awesome TV show.

There is a sequence where Bruce Wayne is trying to solve the current mystery he is caught up in. He's sitting in his study with two bullet casings in his fingers, idly spinning them about in his hand as he is deep in thought. It wasn't until Alfred said, "let me put those morbid things away," that I realized what they were. That is such a dark turn for the character that totally blew me away.

[Default Prophet]

I was out of it since like right before Fear Itself. Got back in slowly starting with Schism. Then Fear Itself. Now I'm caught back up on all the Avengers and X-men(Except X-Factor and Wolverine solo), Cap, and the Ultimate universe(Except Spider-man). Feels good

[Starsaber]

They're up to number 9 on the Smallville Season 11 digital comic. I think they have 3 more digital/1 more paper release in this first "episode", which is introducing Hank Henshaw. And they're introducing someone else in the next one. The next 5 month arc has the episode name "Detective" :shifty:

Also just got the most recent JLI and Earth 2 releases.

EDIT: OK, just read Earth 2 #3. That is a VERY different take on Solomon Grundy than anything I've seen. And even though I knew about it before, I don't understand why they have a completely separate Green Lantern origin for Alan Scott than all the others despite their powers being so similar. Hawkgirl hinted at Dr. Fate and they said that The Atom will be introduced in the next episode, so who do you think is left for their version of the Justice Society after this?

[Zombie Survivor]

Between work and family I've been mostly feeding my Minecraft addiction so I'm way behind in my reading. I did mostly catch up on Suicide Squad today at work though. It's still a good book but once Harley tortured Deadshot it kind of peaked. It's really hard to follow up that scene, though the return of Yo-Yo was pretty cool, and gross at the same time.

There's only a couple of books that I make a point of reading the day I buy them, one of which is Batman. The court of owls arc has wrapped up and man what a story. If you haven't gotten the monthly issues, I highly recommend you grab the trades of this book.

[Starsaber]

Just found out that they pulled the plug on Justice League International :(

Well, at least Comixology has been adding the 2007-2011 Booster Gold series, so I've been buying back issues of that as well as Smallville Season 11, Earth 2, and Justice League.

[Zombie Survivor]

Just found out that they pulled the plug on Justice League International :(


I guess Batman got his way.

[Starsaber]

I'm still following Smallville Season 11, but on weeks where there isn't any Justice League or Earth 2 to go with it, I've been getting issues of the Booster Gold series that ran from 2007 to 2011. I'm a big fan of how it turns things around and has his publicity-seeking persona be more or less a secret identity to keep people from taking him seriously while he's actually fighting time-travelling supervillains.

[Starsaber]

Just read the Batman: Hush TPB. I knew about Tommy, but it was still a great storyline and the art was tremendous.

This was the first time I've actually bought Riddler as someone who knew what he was doing. Most of the time he just seems like a leftover from the Adam West era.

[Colonel Forte]

The artwork in Hush was so damn good. I have first editions of that whole run that are sealed away forever because of Lee's artwork. I don't know if the Jason Todd "cameo" was a deliberate set up to bring the character back (as opposed to simply being used by a later writer to bring the character back) but taken as it was presented in that story alone as a deliberate stab at what Bruce considers his biggest failure was a nice touch.

Speaking of the Riddler, I thought the Arkham City game did a pretty good job of making him not just a silly psycho but an actual threat. I don't think Jim Carrey's portrayal in the 90's helped moved the character forward any from the Adam West era now that you mention it.

[Omra]

Just read volumes 1-3 of Irredeemable, quite interesting and thought provoking.. And the 15 page preview of Waid's Unknown reeeeeaaaalllly makes me want to check it out.

Read volume one of Images' Revival, liked it, want more.

Starting on JMS's Midnight Nation, looks quite promising.

My Alias TPB is in the mail.