MrTerrific

Just finished ALL NEW WOLVERINE Vol 01 and was surprisingly impressed.

Trevor

Recently read Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D which collected that recent entire short-lived series that sprang out of Secret Wars iirc. I was automatically going to purchase it because it contained not only Man-Thing, but Orrgo, a monster created by Jack Kirby in 1961!

While it wasn't as fun as I had hoped, minimal contributions from my two favorites there, I did enjoy the premise and seeing them explore the "mind" of Dum Dum Dugan. Would have been nice to see the series last a bit longer, but I imagine some of the characters or even the entire team may make future Marvel appearances.

Trevor

Just read the fantasy series from Dark Horse and writer Dan Abnett, Dark Ages. I enjoyed the premise and setting quite a lot, and while the plot and action weren't too complex, the themes of faith and salvation were intriguing.

RayChuang

Afterlife With Archie #10, Interview/Interlude with the Pussycats. A very interesting, alternate universe take on Josie and the Pussycats. Just the use of the color palette makes it a way above-average comic book. I really think Archie Comics should actually do more with this AU version of Josie and the Pussycats--like maybe at minimum one story per year to be released in early September as a complement to the upcoming new monthly comic book series.

Mike86

Deadshot: Beginnings. I got a bit interested in the character after seeing Suicide Squad and picked this up a while ago and just read it. Pretty good miniseries giving some background on the character which I found interesting. He has more depth to him than I originally thought. There are also some issues of Batman/Detective Comics featuring him in the trade that are okay but not as Interesting as the main miniseries.

rocket1312

Blasphemer! Detective #474 is part of the Englehart/Rogers run and thus considered part of the holy Batman scriptures.

Inhumans99

Zenescope - Grimm Fairy Tales Age Of Darkness Volume 2

Mike86

The stuff at the beginning of that issue with Batman and Robin ribbing each other is so cornball.

rocket1312

But seriously, I'm going to report you to the mods.

Inhumans99

X-Men Mutant Massacre Digital TPB - It has been many ages since I read any of the issues that comprised the Mutant Massacre storyline, and wow...the storyline still packs a punch. The scene with Colossus still makes me flinch.

rocket1312

I had a long post last year in this thread about the IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle revival. I had blazed through the first 10 volumes (as well as all of the various tie-ins) in the span of a few weeks and loved just about every last bit of it. I finally got around to continuing the series and have now read up through volume 13. Volume 13 (Veneance pt.2) takes us up to issue #50 and is pretty much the ultimate culmination of the first 4 years of this 2011 relaunch. I won't waste everyone's time getting into a lot of the specifics. I'll just say that this series is freaking fantastic and that anyone with an interest in TMNT (or even those without) should be reading it. It gets my highest recommendation.

p.s. Don't forget all of the tie-in minis and annuals. They pretty much all matter. IDW just launched a second ongoing series (TMNT Universe), and I'd imagine that most of what had been put out as mini-series, will now be published there.

PhantomStranger

I picked up the first two Premier editions of Mark Waid's Irredeemable and have read through the first volume. This is not new material to me, I had read Irredeemble as singles when it came out. It's still one of my favorite recent comics from this century.

I really like the sewn binding and how the pages lay flat, leading to virtually no gutter loss. I'm not sure the art from Krause holds up in this deluxe format, though it's not terrible or anything.

I have to believe Mark Waid pitched this story to DC as an Elseworlds at some point and got shut down. That or he saw how DC handled Watchmen after Alan Moore left.

fujishig

Somehow I doubt DC would have let him use Superman for that, even in an Elseworlds.

I know people generally dislike Millar's stuff, but have you read Jupiter's Circle and the related books?

davidh777

I read a number of volumes of Irredeemable and the other one but then I started getting the two series confused.

PhantomStranger

Jupiter's Circle has been on my potential reading list for a couple of years. I generally like Millar's overall plotting and his basic story ideas, but I've always found his work very flimsy in detail. Too many of his comics read like simple movie scripts. He's not particularly interested in the grunt work of fabricating entire fictional worlds.

The companion series to Irredeemable is Incorruptible. A decent read but I did not find it as compelling.

Mike86

Batman: Under the Red Hood- for some reason I never read this but really enjoyed the animated film that came out a while back and finally decided to pick it up recently. Really good story overall and the animated film is actually fairly faithful at least in the parts that are used. Obviously the full story is more fleshed out and I'd say it's one of my favorite more modern Batman tales.

ytrez

I've read every issue of Thor up to this book and feel that modern Thor comics are pretty bad overall but this, by far, is the worst I've encountered. I hated most of Matt Fraction's work on the series and found that Alan Davis art was the book's only redeeming quality.

stingo

Just finished the Marvel Civil War story arc - really, really good. I am thinking of continuing some of the story lines like Spiderman's, Captain America's and Iron Man's. Also thinking of trying the Civil War II story arc.

ytrez

My binge reading of the entire run of Thor is reaching an end as I'm approaching the female Thor books, so only 3 or 4 to go before I'm done.

This one was okay:

fujishig

I've heard almost universal praise for Aaron's Thor stuff, though I haven't gotten to it myself.

Finally got around to reading Remender's Uncanny Avengers omnibus. I really liked it, even though the Rogue/Scarlet Witch cattiness and the general mutants vs. avengers theme kinda tired me out. I liked that Havoc actually got some of the spotlight on a non fringe X Factor team. Then I read his followup, Axis, and that got all thrown down the drain. I hate it when I'm reading something enjoyable and then the inevitable crossover screws everything up again. But the Omnibus itself was pretty self contained, I guess.

I feel like the whole mutant persecution thing worked when the Marvel Universe wasn't as tightly connected and the X-men only crossed over with other books occasionally. But really it makes no sense why people would persecute those born with powers vs. those who gain powers through other means and wear silly costumes, especially when the powers usually don't manifest at birth anyway.

PhantomStranger

Yeah, the mutant persecution thing doesn't really work in a world where Spider-Man is the most popular superhero. Unless your average John Q. Smith on the streets differentiates between being bit by a radioactive spider, and manifesting the powers at puberty through your genes.

rocket1312

I don't think the persecution is about "powers" per se. It's more about being "different." In the Marvel universe, mutants are seen as more or less a new species encroaching on the existing population. Why are certain people certain places persecuted because of their skin color? They're all people. It's because they represent the "other," and humans have always had a shaky relationship with the "other."

fujishig

Skin color stands out, though. Mutants can pass for humans, and even if they show their powers what difference is there between someone who drugged their way to powers, or got bit by a radioactive insect, or heck aren't even human at all? I can understand, say, the bias against the Morlocks, they clearly look different. But I've been reading Bendis's Uncanny run and the prejudice is out of control. And further the arbitrary split between Avenger and X-men seems so dumb.

rocket1312

Well, I can't comment on how things are depicted in recent years. I'm only caught up to 2008. So maybe what I'm saying is completely off base as it relates to the current status quo. That said, again, don't focus so much on the powers. Spider-Man is a regular dude who had something crazy happen to him. He doesn't represent a new race/species and he isn't going to give birth to more spider babies. He's still "one of us."

As for mutants being recognizable, there are plenty of instances in history where a certain group is marginalized not because of their skin color, but rather because of their ethnic or cultural heritage. The important part is that they're different.

Inhumans99

Zenescope - Van Helsing vs. Dracula. I found this to be real pleasant surprise, a notch or two above what you might expect from a Zenescope series. If you are a fan of vampire stories it is worth a read.