My Pull List for March 28, 2012

Grade: A


Grade: C- Big drop from first issue. Listless, hard to follow, nudity for nudity's sake. Will give it another issue.


Grade C- OMG A MARVEL/BENDIS EVENT! I HAVEN'T SEEN ONE OF THESE IN YEARS!! I'm sure they'll keep it self contained...pfft.


Haven't read this finale yet. But the entire series has been an A+, I doubt the ending will be any different.


Grade: B+


Grade: A+ What a cover!


Grade: A Marvel: If you kill this title you lose me.


Grade: A++ One of the best titles on the stands. Image is on top right now.


Grade: B


Grade: B Well, Robert "I Pad For Trade, Fuck Tony Moore, It's All Mine!" Kirkman finally did something...what's it been? 15 issues since he shot Carl's eye off? But still, notice you always have to wait until the last page for that thing to actually happen?

My Pull List for January 25, 2012

Wow. Short week for me.  I'll have to do some browsing.

Any recommendations?

My Pull List for January 11, 2012

 

My Pull List for January 04, 2012

This and Swamp Thing finally paid off in their 4th issues. This is getting real good!

Your Pull List for December 21, 2011

My pull list went from about $20-$30 a week to somewhere around $50.  I had to make some hard decisions to drop a few titles...but I managed.  I'm not going to name which titles I dropped, because I want them to succeed, and hopefully come out in trade format...but here's what I'm still getting.

If this book splits off into 16 different titles, Alpha, Omega, Potato, Potahto...I'm dropping it like a bad habit, which is EXACTLY what this type of behavior from Marvel is.

My Pull List for December 14, 2011

Uhm, yes please. With more awesome. And some badass on the side please. More. Thank you. More. Christos Gage is a genius.  There hasn't been a single bad issue in his entire run.  In fact, I have never, ever read anything by Gage that wasn't good.

I don't give a shit what you say. I am so happy Cable's back. The device by which they use to bring him back is irrelevant. Cable is a badass and his most recent series was incredible.

Uh, OK...I guess. Might as well, right? Whatever. Hurry up and finish (and payoff) so I can stop feeling like a sucker.

My LCS claims I'm like 1 of the 3 people buying this book. Too bad, I don't take myself so seriously that I can't enjoy some gore and Baysplosions every now and then...and I don't need to read Crossed to get it.  I'm all set with women eating their own fetuses out of their stomachs...sorry fanboys, I'm not as cultured as you.

This book is a fuggin hoot!

Chugga chugga chugga chugga CHOO CHOO

You hate comics if you're not reading Ben McCool's book:

The first comic, and I'm talking issue number 1, to literally give me chills.

Whatever, I probably should have dropped this and picked up Carnage. But I like a book that doesn't make US military look like assholes like most comic book writers out there tend to do, since most want to be in Hollywood with the rest of the kooks.  So I'll support it.  Don't get me wrong, it's a good story, just not breathtaking.

The second incredible arc of this incredible book comes to its incredible close. This book is incredibly incredible.

The further adventures of Ramblin' Rick and One Eye.

My Pull List for December 07, 2011

Yesterday was a huge day, lots of awesome comics on the shelves.

My Pull List for November 23, 2011

VERY small week for me this week, which is kinda good considering last week was about $60 and I still haven't caught up! :)

But we all know I'll use the extra money to buy a few more titles that I passed on last week!

God I love Jonah Hex. I love Jjimmy Palmiotti (@jpalmiotti) and Justin Gray. I loved every single 70 issues of the previous Hex series. And I absolutely love this book. Hex and Arkham working together...can you get anymore anti-hero than that?  People, read this book...there's no boobs, no bulging crotches, no missiles shot out of people's ears, no aliens...just good old fashioned story telling.  You will not be disappointed.

This has been a great little arc, with a few minor complaints.  Hawkeye's one of my favorite characters, I know he's always been a little cocky...but I think The Master Hickman is really giving Clint a big head.  Other than that, it's an awesome story tying in very well to Ultimate Ultimates.

Wolverine is in 1,000,000,000 places at the same time. I'm reading this, and I started reading his main title again hoping it would tie in. I'm not reading Scott Summer's version of Regensis because I hate Scott Summers...I'm hoping this works out.

My Pull List for November 02, 2011

I really hope the art improves in Animal Man. The story is great but the art is flat as a pancake.



Probably the only Avengers title selling right now. Brian Michael Bendis destroyed the Avengers. Thanks for that.



The only thing Bendis good at anymore.



Maybe it's just me, but the art needs to improve here as well. Half the time I can't even tell wtf is going on. Enough with the fancy bleedouts and frames, please. Otherwise, great book.

Radical Comics - Damaged

If you aren't reading 'Damaged' the Radical book by David Lapham & Leonardo Manco, you hate comics with a seething, deadly passion and I feel for you, dearly.

Anti-hero meets buddy movie meets Rambo, Damaged delivers all the goods.


No spoilers, so here goes:


Aging detective Frank Lincoln is on the outs with the city big wigs.  He's old, one of his cops may or may not have an ethics problem regarding the Russian mob and he hasn't delivered in a while.  With an election coming, that usually means one thing for the old horses...time to retire or be forced out.  The mayor and his people have their ducks lined up and a new shiny little bauble...literally:

Lieutenant Jack Cassidy, a young go-getter hand picked by the powers that be to move into the leading position of Lincoln's task force.  The task force which currently seems to be unable to bring a massive breakout of violence to an end. Elected officials don't really care about that, unless it's re-election time.  It seems gangs are breaking out in all directions taking each other out with viscous and predatory brutality.  All the big brains can't figure it out.

An entire house, with an army of gangsters inside is burned to the ground...everyone inside shot dead. Jack points out that an army of shooters must have been there. Casings everywhere, bullet holes all over the place, multiple casualties...this had to be a war. Frank walks into the door and knows exactly what he's looking at. No, he's not crooked and involved with the mobsters...Frank has a brother.

Meet Henry Lincoln:

Henry's not your typical cop.  In fact, despite the permanency of a badge upon his chest, Henry's not a cop at all.

Anyway, one person got out of the massacre alive and is in the hospital. Frank and Jack pay him a visit where he sings about an arms shipment coming in that very night.

Knowing Henry's in town and knowing how Henry does business, Frank knows he's one step ahead.  Frank sends Jack on a little treasure hunt while he waits for the inevitable down at the waterfront.

A tugboat approaches and Frank stares out of the front of his windshield.  As it gets closer he gets out, opens his trunk and puts on his body armor, loads his shotgun and waits...

Like I said, no spoilers.

That was just issue 1!

Quit Bitching And Read Your Comics, Or Don't Buy 'Em

Bitch. Bitch. Bitch.  Lighten up Francis...

Spoilers:

It seems that's all comic "fans" are able to do lately. Marvel has an event: bitch. DC reboots: bitch. Image is late with a title: bitch. Joe Q. eats a burrito: bitch.

The latest round of repining I've seen on Twitter and message boards alike is that Marvel dared make a seven issue run called "Fear Itself". Every grievance you can imagine from "It started off good but ended badly" (No, that was you being excited at first and realizing you had to get on the "I don't like this event" bandwagon) to "There's too may tie-ins" (Yeah, as if too many choices of books is a bad thing).

So I'll examine Fear Itself. It was a great story, had great art, some cool looking characters and some pretty dramatic results in the end. But all anyone could do was cry about the "deplorable state of comics" and "how dare they make another event". I'll agree partially with the too many events thing, it makes me feel like I have to read it.  But I know I don't...and it's my choice to plop them on the counter and pay for them.

With Fear Itself I'm glad I did, as I am with Shadowland. Granted 'possession' wasn't the most creative way to handle it -- but look at the latest Daredevil volume! It's awesome! But back to Fear Itself. The art throughout was impressive, I'd say it was some of Immonen's best stuff. The action was fast and brutal...the Hulk getting smashed through a building by Thor was a tasty nugget. Cap's shield getting broken by a single hand of the Serpent.  Thor defying his father and siding with humankind. The Thing! Infused with godlike powers! Rampaging up and down Yancy Street! Rambling in hellspeak and basically tearing shit apart!  Yes please, more of that!

But the icing on the cake was page 15 of Book 7.  I'll say that it was one of the best moments in Marvel's recent history. There was Steve Rogers holding Mjölnir over his head, with a cast of regular people from the town of Broxton around him and he shouts, "Avengers Assemble!!". I stared at that page for a good 2 minutes. It was reminiscent of Captain America screaming "Do you think the A on this helmet stands for France?!"  I thought it was that good.

So, obviously I enjoyed it.  But why couldn't the fanbois?  I don't mean to infer that if I like something, everyone should...people have different tastes - but if all you're doing is complaining about something why on earth are you friggin buying it?  Let's examine the most popular complaints:

"That isn't cannon. In FF #9, Reed never used the word "continuum". I know this because I downloaded the entire FF history through a torrent site."

1. Too many so-called events:
This is the singular most infuriating argument I ever hear. Yes, Marvel's doing it to make a buck and have us buy more books.  They're in the business of selling comic books to people that walk into comic book shops. Just because there's a banner on top of the book that says "EVENT!!" doesn't mean anything different.  It still contains the same characters, writers and art you buy the books to read about anyway.  So if Fear Itself was just, say, Avengers 11-17, or Thor 309-315, would you complain about the story line? Nope, you wouldn't.  You'd call it a "great run".

Have they changed the game a bit by making the "events" separate books unto themselves instead of having runs happen organically within a title, bringing in supporting cast members to said title? Yes.  But who cares?  Pretend Frank Miller's first issues on Daredevil that started with DD #158 was instead called "Kidnapped!" and numbered 1-5 would it make that run any less exciting?  No, and you know it.


2. It never changes anything:
Oh please. Of course it changes things. Shadowland we have a new, awesome series.

Go buy this series, it's really, really good.

Black Panther is running Hell's Kitchen for crying out loud!  What a separation from a blind white guy to a broken down Black king running around on the streets taking names whilst kicking ass. 

I don't care for Liss as a writer, but uhhh...that's a major change people. Yes, Murdock will be back in Hell's Kitchen but we have an awesome new series examining an entire new side of him.  What's going through his mind during this new series? What will become of Black Panther once Matt comes back to his turf?  What changes will Matt make?  How will he behave differently?  Will he still live by the "Batman code"?  Fellow Daredevil fans, let's see and find out.  And if you hate Daredevil, what were you reading Shadowland for?  The tie-ins you hate so much?  Make sense or STFU please.

 Oh, and Thor's dead. Bucky's dead. Cap broke his shield. I can hear you all now saying, "Oh, they'll be back. Marvel never kills a major character, pfft." No shit Sherlock. Hey, let's kill James Bond in the second film because that would be more realistic. It's the same old song and dance from the fanboi crowd every time something happens. "OMG if that was another clone or LMD I am done with comics forever. I will refuse, on my amazing principle, to ever pay a single red cent again for this drivel they throw at us and expect us to just buy. WAAAAAHHH!"

So what do you want?  Do you want Marvel to never do anything and just write issue after issue of self-contained stories? Maybe a two parter! Or do you want them to kill these characters off forever, never to be seen again and start making some new characters?

I see it like this: If you're willing to make the leap of faith to read stories about guys that fly, shoot lasers out of their eyes (I know, they're not lasers!), speak to each other telepathically, teleport through space and time, meeting themselves in the past, or future, meeting people that have been dead -- so on and so forth, you can't make the leap that there's a way in that magical fairy tale world to bring people back from the dead?  You know what that's called?  Bitching for the sake of bitching. 

With all that said. My main two points are: If you don't like "events" don't buy them.  Don't post in threads about the event to tell everyone how horrid it is.  (1. Why are you wasting your money on it if it's so horrid pirate 2.) Don't read it.  Buy what you like.  Events are nothing but a way to keep a story contained in a slot, while continuing the other stories that focus on the characters.  Would I prefer they take these events and just have "good runs" in a title every now and then?  Doesn't bother me, I like comics and I like reading them. If I have a lot of choice, I'm a happy comic buyer.

Oh, and thank you to DC for the New 52.  I'm getting into some titles I was always too scared to jump into, thinking I had to know their entire history in order to jump in.  But you've made me a fan of some great new characters and I can't wait to get home and read Red Hood And The Outlaws #2.

Thoughts?

My Pull List for October 19, 2011

My Pull List for October 12, 2011

My Pull List for September 14, 2011

@DanSlott is writing one of the greatest Amazing Spider-Man runs in the title's history.


What a terrible ending to what is arguably one of the greatest Marvel heroes ever. Hundreds upon hundreds of books and the run ends with "Angry White Man". It's a shame.


This, however, is making up for it. Awesome new volume.




Disclaimer in case you're laughing at me: I've never been a big DC reader other than Jonah Hex. So I picked the new #1's that looked like the coolest characters.


ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz.


I think this looks awesome, I love Frankenstein, and whatever SHADE is, I hope it's a cool place to work.  Oh yeah, and it's Jeff Fucking Lemire!


This book is a hoot. I LOVE it.


See above disclaimer.


Even without an ending to Choker anywhere in sight, I will buy anything McCool does.



Love me some Punisher. And this title is brutal, fully living up to the MAX imprint.


As creepy a book (comic or otherwise) I've read in a long time. And there's only been one issue so far.


Again, see disclaimer.



Does anything else need to be said about this title? It's awesome.

Who Needs Alan Fucking Moore? My Pull List for September 07, 2011

GREAT week, this.

Who needs Alan Moore when we have THE Grant Morrison?







Super excited about this title. Can't wait to see how it works.



The awesomeness of this title continues.



More Morning Goodness please. Thank you.





One of the funniest books I've read in a long time. You are really missing out a burst out laughing read.



This is some quality stuff right here.



Hmm. We shall see.



This book hasn't slowed down for approximately 75 issues.

My Pull List for August 24, 2011

Can this book get any friggin better??






I'm really, REALLY hoping the new creative team doesn't stray too far. I loved this title as is.


God, issue #1 kicked ass!

My Pull List for August 10, 2011

Dan Slott is killing ASM, in a good way.  This has been one of the best ASM eras if all time.

What a tragic, cliched ending to one of the greatest comic runs in history.  Angry white man hates Black Panther.  Bleh...  I've got basically every DD issue, so for completeness sake I'll be getting the last few issues.

God I love this book.

Get ready to "Fallout" of my pull list USM.

My Pull List for August 03, 2011

My Pull List for July 27, 2011

Had a big day yesterday and was really looking forward to reading some of these, lots to read, but my wife decided to go hormonally bananas last night so I took an Ambien, hid in my office and fell asleep on my recliner. That sounded really sad typing it out.

Moving the fuck on.

If the name "Christos Gage" is under the part where it says "Writer". I buy it.

I don't think this ended up coming out yesterday, but totally worth waiting for...even with the creative team shakeup.

Nothing's really happened yet, Thor tripped out on some boomers, Aunt May slapped Marvel's Captain We Apologize For Being American & there's a big funeral. But what's missing? How is the Ultimate Universe without this character? What has his death had an effect on other than people's emotions? There has to be some kind of domino effect here...they've got 6 issues left we'll have to see.

Dan Slott's Fridge

In case you live on the fucking moon or something, Dan Slott has been writing the hell out of Amazing Spider-Man lately.  It's pretty much already been chalked up to one of the greatest ASM runs in history.

The story is amazing, issue #665 was hyped and surpassed that hype and the anticipation for what's to come couldn't get any more intense.

So, with that said...here is his fridge.  I want to live in front of it and stare at it.

 

If you are not reading ASM...go back to when Slott came on board and read.  You will not be able to put the issues down and you'll even catch the master himself, Christos Gage, on a few issues.