Got to thank you Sessa17, I really cut back my comic habbits from my old days in only picking up an issue or two of whatever every now and then.

Picked up all the back issues of Walking Dead, even got the first printing of all of them for below retail from a dealer I know well. Love it beyond all belief. This is how a zombie situation should be like and I can't tell you how thankful I am for turning me on to this one.

I finally read Y the last man first trade and I dont know what took me so long to read this. Now its my most anticipated book each month. I think Im going to try and pick up the Walking Dead due to everyones recommendations here. The wife is just going to love that.

Hellboy was supposed to make an appearance in "The Goon". Did I somehow miss it, or has it not come out yet? What's the issue number?
(I just picked up the latest issue last week, and I'm glad to see Dwight T. Albatross back and answering mail!)

And for those reading "The Runaways" every month, any guess

jim

Finished the third Fables trade - I think this was the best one yet. I'm glad to see the story progressing while keeping the flow of 'mythology.'

Then I read Punisher: The End - what can I say? Garth Ennis has to be the most misanthropic writer in comics. I loved it!

I'm currently in the middle of the X-Statix: Good Guys and Bad Guys trade. Now that Morrison is done, I think this is the best X-title.

Goon #7 is the crossover

Street Fighter #7 came out today. God, what a great comic with nice art.

Not much new this week. The wizard cover is terrible. it's of the new catwoman flick. uggh. This street fighter is the only comic I have been really looking forward to each month besides walking dead.

what was this weeks pick ups for everyone else?

CATWOMAN #30 ------> Hmmmm, that was pretty weak. What happened to this book?

CONAN #3 ------> Top 10 type of book here.

BATMAN #626 --------> I thought this first issue of a new arc was great!

GOTHAM CENTRAL TP -------------> Why aren't you reading this title?

BIRDS OF PREY #66 -----> Best super hero book on the stands, but this issue was half ass.

SUPERMAN #204 ------> I'm a bit surprised that I enjoyed this one as much as I did.

Also got but haven't read:
MYSTIQUE #13
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #5
ABADAZAD #3
LOSERS #11 (MR)

Not to highjack this trade or anything, but I'm curious what every thinks about the future of comics as far as the format goes.

How long until comics are all graphic novel format? Will it happen at all? And if it one day is total, will back issues be worthless, or suddenly become valuable (not that it matters, but it could be interesting)?

I'm going to stop by the comic shop hopefully before class if I have time and get 30 Days of Night Retrun to Barrow #2.

i like TPBs alot better, most people agree with me

monthly comics are just too short

i would think that eventually alot of comics will move more towards tpbs

I picked up a few books this week - a few comments/questions:

Superman 204 - I felt like I had missed something with the 'Vanishing.' Had this been in comics before, or is this a new event set up for 'backstory?'

Birds of Prey 66 - It felt out of place in the arc, almost like they stopped the quick pace for a breather (which just so happened to include a guest artist). While I somewhat enjoyed it, the payoff was waaay too little and you had to read the previous issue (and pay attention) to connect the dots.

30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow 2 - I liked it, but had the guy at the beginning of the issue or the girl mentioned been in the series before? I couldn't figure out how they fit in, and I've read 30 Days of Night & Dark Days.

Street Fighter 7 - The cover price was a bit high, but it was a great read - lots of style, just the right amount of substance to make a fun read.

Conan 3 - Never a big fan of Conan, and wasn't convinced with #0, but #1 sealed it for me. Enjoyed both #2 & #3.

Elsewhere on the 'net, its rumored that Sojourn will end with #41 and the quality drops dramatically before that, as the writer wasn't getting paid. Anyone know any more details? I read Sojourn, but I'd like to jump off before paying for a substandard issue. Does Greg Land stick it out till the end?

Also, how is X Statix now? I followed it from the beginning, but left with the Princess Di arc after everything was changed. How were 'The Cure' and the new 'vs Avengers' arcs?

I still think it's one of the best books out there. If you didn't like the Princess Di arc, then there's probably no need to start picking it up again. Quality hasn't really dipped, but if you didn't like that one, you probably won't care for anything after. "The Cure" was okay. Not the best of the series, but a nice change of pace to have the book focus on Myles (Vivisector). It's too early in the new story with The Avengers to comment. I only have the first part so far. I believe the second part came out this week, but I haven't been to the shop, yet.

jim

X-Statix is now the only "X" title I buy; I do think it slipped the skids a bit in the Princess Di storyline but it still was better than most X-Books. I'm really eager to check out the Avengers storyline. Anyone else heard the rumor the book would be cancelled after that? Sure would hate to see it go.

Jack, that is awesome that you picked up & dig Walking Dead, it's really one of those rare books that could get a non-comic book fan to pick up a comic. There is a new artist taking over soon, I hope that doesn't hurt the feel of the book though, as the art is just perfect. Can't share you sentiment on "not much new this week" though. Here is what I picked up on Wed, haven't read all of it yet . . .

Conan #3 - What Mr. Powell said.
Steve Rude's The Moth #1 - Absolutely loved this issue, cannot praise it enough. Steve Rude is one of my all-time favorite artists & this issue shows why. If you just want a good old fashioned, Silver-Age style comic, pick this book up.
Usagi Yojimbo #75 - Buy this book people!. One of maybe 4-5 comics that truly transcend the medium of comics.

Batgirl #51
Birds of Prey #66 - I think this & JSA are the two best superhero comics being published, but the upcoming Michael Golden issue will be the BEST superhero comic of the month when it comes out.
Catwoman #30 - Read my review here, over that the amazing Broken Frontier website http://www.brokenfrontier.com/review...catwoman30.htm
The Flash #209 - Always a solid read.
Legion #32 - Never a bad issue. Thanks to no trades, this is probably the least reader friendly comic being published, but it's worth it once you hop on board.
Light Brigade#3 - J.P., to borrow you column line "Why are you not reading this"? This comic is PHENOMENAL.
Losers #11 - This comic has made it into my top 5. A book like The Walking Dead, that I think people who don't really dig comics could really get into. Anyone who likes Tarantino, or espionage/war movies should really check this comic out.
Midnight MAss: Here There Be Monsters#4 - A truly intelligent & completely unique horror/monster book, something that is very hard to achieve. Everyone should check this book out.
Superman #204 - I'm probably the only comic book fan in the world who is not a Jim Lee fan, & I'll go as far as saying this is the worste art I've ever seen from him. I just can't stand all those little slashy lines he puts all over the place.

Avengers #81
Daredevil: Father#1 - Art wise, Quesada was always one of my favorites, but I'm not diggin' his art in this new mini-series. It's looks like he is trying to do his version of Frank Miller. Stories not to great either.
Mystique #13 - A surprisngly fun comic. Much better than a lot of Marvel's other crap.
New Mutants #13 - I actually haven't had a chance to read a single issue yet.
Weapon X #22
X-Statix #22

Sojourn #34 - Yeah, Sojourn is definitely getting canned, which I don't really mind as I just get it for Land's art & I'm hoping Land will go back to doing mainstream work. The story has never been good with the book.

Ministry Of Space #3 -I simply cannot believe this finally came out.
Wanted: Dossier One Shot

Queen & Country #24 - Tied for my favorite comic. IMO the single most instant classic comic being published today.

Warren Ellis Strange Killings Necromancer #2 - Warren Ellis, naked zombie sex, tons of gore, it doesn't get better than this.

Rob Zombie Spook Show International #7 - One of my guilty pleasure comics. I love it though.

Jade Screen #4 - I'm a Kung Fu junky so this is a great magazine for me. All kinds of foreign movie goodness.

Sessa, you don't read enough comics.


Great Catwoman review. I pretty much agreed with you 100%, which is weird since you and I have such different tastes. Seriously, though, it seems that I've enjoyed every other issue of the series since the new art team took over. Sadly, it's not all their fault that I'm not enjoying it as much.

On a side note, I've noticed that my top ten books are hard to differentiate. I think Sleeper is #1, but the other top tens are all on par with each other as far as my enjoyment goes. After that, there's a fairly decent drop off.

I have a bad habit of saying "this is my aboslutely favorite book" in regarding to about 5 different titles. I guess I don't have just ONE favorite. Right now there is Queen & Country, Walking Dead, Sleeper, The Goon & maybe JSA that are ALL my favorite book, I can't pick just one. 100 Bulets would be my one favorite book, but I don't count it since I only read it in trade format. Ohhh, the tough decisions of being a comic book geek

Oh yeah, & look for my Firestorm #1 advance review to go up at Broken Frontier any day now.

What about a sneek peak. Did you like the book?

My top 5 would include Sleeper and The Losers and Gotham Central. After that, I'm not so sure. It fluctuates.

I just dusted off the old 1978 Lee & Kirby Silver Surfer Graphic Novel which I hadn't read in many, many moons and was as entertained as I was when I was 10.

Yeah, it's pretty good. I know nothing about the character, I've never even read a comic with him in it before, so that is the perpective I wrote the review from. It's just a typical superhero book. The art is awesome, it's a quality title.

See, now, Sessa, what I need you to say is that it sucks. Everytime you like a title, I like it, and I'm suddenly adding it to my pull list. That doesn't help my wallet.


Say, does anyone here read the monthly issues and the trades? I find myself picking up both, once for the cool covers and the cliffhanger aspect, then the collected versions for quick reads I can go back to over and over.

This is one of those where I'm not going to say you need to read this J.P., it's not like Invicible, a book that should be mandatory reading, Firestorm is just an old fashioned superhero book, so if that isn't what a person is in the mood for, one could pass on it.

I definitely don't get the trades & the monthlies, I don't think I've ever done that before, unless it's a hardcover, I'm a sucker for hardcovers. I rarely reread any comics, I literally have stacks of hundreds of comics I haven't had a chance to read the first time, so for me, buying a trade to reread is a waster, plus I'd just bust out the issues if I really wanted to reread something that badly.

As long as I pick up the monthly issues, I usually don't bother with trades. I will, however, make an exception if it's a book that I go back and reread often.

I have all the monthly issues of Sandman, but picked up the trades. I have now reread the trades so many times that some of them are starting to fall apart, so I may go back and buy the hardcovers one of these days. (I'll still keep the trades since some are signed.) I picked up the trade for Box Office Poison (which I give my highest recommendation) because I was missing one issue and knew I would go back to read the whole thing several times. I'm also picking up the trades for Geoff Johns run on The Flash and will eventually do the same for JSA. (And speaking of The Flash trades, why hasn't DC collected his first story arc, yet?)

jim

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