bishop2knight

Chew: A Packer fan and a well-read comic reader.

As for Walking Dead, I thought it was due in mid-May.

Chew

Just add in "Trek-geek" and that pretty much sums me up in a nutshell.

bishop2knight

I just finished the latest issue of FABLES and I have to say I'm all on this book's bandwagon now. The second arc was weak, but the recent issues just get better and better. And I don't even know who the hell half the characters are.

My review of the new DETECTIVE COMICS and UNCANNY X-MEN issues are up at paperbackreader.com if anyone is interested. Just disregard the name screwup for the X-Men artist (god, did I really call him Adam Davis? Geesh).

MrN

Ouch - I certainly hope cancelling it because of creative reasons rather than because of sales figures. Oh well.

On a whim, I bought Firestorm #1 and Superman #204, and they both reminded me why I stopped reading monthly comics for the most part. I'll wait for the trade to be announced and guage word of mouth.

The Antipodean

See, I dunno, but I read this issue cold and thought the intention of it was to BE mysterious, that something awful had happened and subsequent issues will fill in the gap. I liked the ominous tone of it and I didn't feel like it was connected with any other stories. I may be bold-faced wrong on that but I rather enjoyed the issue more than I thought and plan on picking up the next one.

Gamblor187

I do hope that you're right about this. It's not that I didn't like the book, it's just that I didn't understand the backstory so it's hard to make a judgement. It would be great if Azzarello's was just trying to be mysterious, but since I haven't read a Superman title in so long, I can't be sure. I do know that DC has a bad habit of doing major Superman storyarcs that are told throughout all the titles. That is what has kept me from reading any Superman titles, even when they had a good writer on board. If this book turns out to be decent, I'll gladly stick with it. But I won't stay around long if it means having to buy every other Superman title.

Ralph Wiggum

I think Sessa is correct about the intentional ambiguity of Superman 204. I have been reading the title for the past few months and I can't provide any additional explanation. Good start; hopefully, it doesn't turn into an extended version of his non-sensical Batman run.

Gamblor187

Okay. I was dead wrong about this one. I checked the DC message boards for more info. This is a new story, not related to other Superman titles or recent issues. I'm going to read it again. I'll probably like it more knowing this.

Is Azzarello only writing 12 issues, or will he be the regualr writer for this series?

And I know there were many complaints, but I really liked his run on Batman. Definitely much better than "Hush" in every way.

Speaking Of Batman, didn't Darwyn Cooke do a Batman one shot or graphic novel? "Batman: Ego", I believe. Did he write it or just do the art? Any opinions on this? I'm enjoying New Frontier so much that I want to check out some more of his work.

jim

bishop2knight

As for the Superman story, I've heard that the Lee/Az run is set a year in the future and that the other two Superman books will eventually catch up. I was under the impression that the other two would fill in some of the blanks left open after the Lee/Az run.

However, after reading the #204, I don't think I want to see the other stories tell me about the vanishing.

MrN

I just started reading the Barry Ween trades and they f-in hilarious. Just started vol. 2

Liquid Death

I haven't read Batman: Ego (its supposedly good), but I wanted to recommend Selina's Big Score by Cooke (author/artist). Its a great crime-noir kind of tale with Catwoman (no costumes).

Liquid Death

www.thefourthrail.com just posted a pretty negative review of the MK Spidey book (2/10) after giving the first a positive (9/10). Anyone else have any opinions of the issue (please chime in after reading it if you plan to pick it up)?

District X scored positives from both reviewers, so I may have to look into that one. I love the Shield TV show, so this might have the same kinda gritty feel, only in the X-Verse (which is admittedly only a place I visit occasionally).

As for what I'm reading, I'm finally caught up with Invincible. OMG its great stuff. There's a moment in issue #9 that had me bust out laughing (w/ Monster Girl) and #11 ends on a tense moment. And Allen's appearance (and with homage to Star Trek:TNG) was great as well.

Bite Club #1 - wasn't a big fan.

Strykeforce #1 - this I thought was a pretty entertaining read and I may just stick around for the entire mini.

Savage Dragon #113 & #114 - after dropping the book (finally, the Savage World stuff was not up my alley, tho I stuck it out) around #106, I figured I'd try it again to check out the new Vicious Circle arc, amid gossip that SD was finally nearing the greatness of the early issues. I liked both, so I'll pick up #115 and take it an issue at a time.

Ult Spidey - Caught up on the Blockbuster arc and ...it wasn't bad, but seriously, I'm Doc-Ocked out. Coming off of Ultimate Six, they really shouldn't have used the character again for awhile (and he seems to be the villian of every Spidey book lately, and while he'll be in the movie, c'mon, its overkill). The cliffhanger for the latest issue, tho (w/ Gwen), has me eagerly awaiting the next.

I also found PVP: The Dork Ages TPB fairly cheap online and that was a hilarious read (reprints 1-6 of the Dork Storm series).

bishop2knight

What I'm getting:

BATMAN #627 ----> I thought the first issue of this arc was well done.
FABLES #25 (MR)----> Suddenly I'm so into this series.
FALLEN ANGEL #11 (MR) -----> I desperately need the first few issues of this.
GOTHAM CENTRAL #19 ---->Best book by DC.
DISTRICT X #1 -----> Willing to bet this is the best ReLoad book.
MYSTIQUE #14 -----> Little nervous about new team.
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #14 ------> Painted issue that promises to kick ass.
DEAD @ 17 BOS #2 ----> Great Book.
DEAD @ 17 Trade ----> Great Book: The Beginning!

What, no Ultimate Spider-Man this week?

Might also get PULSE #3 and MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #2, but only if I'm a sucker.

bishop2knight

Also looks like the Walking Dead trade is coming out.

Liquid Death

This week, I'm getting:

El Cazador #6 (end of the first arc, may stick around...)
Fables
HERO
Gotham Central
Ult X-Men
Teen Titans
Pulse #3 (last issues cliffhanger was great! even tho there wasn't any jessica...)
Spect Spidey

Didn't know Dead @ 17 BOS #2 was coming, but I'll pick that up as well. May spring for the TPB of the 1st series. I also will prob. try District X, but I'll have to thumb through MK Spidey #2 before paying $3 for it.

Mutley Hyde

Swamp Thing #2
DC Archives Sampler
Essential Tomb of Dracula vol. 1 (just picked up vol. 2 yesterday )

There ya go.

Ralph Wiggum

I enjoyed Batman: Ego. Nothing revolutionary, but a solid story with great art. Second the recommendation for Selina's Big Score. Very cool caper prequel to the current Catwoman series.

Re: Marvel Knights Spider-Man. I didn't like the first issue at all. It felt like any of the other million non-descript Spidey stories out there to me.

This week:

Batman #627
Fables #25
Freaks of the Hearland #3
Gotham Central #19
HERO #16
Monolith #4
Pulse #3
She-Hulk #3 - seriously cannot believe that I enjoy this book
Walking Dead #7

Chew

It's coming with my Midtown Comics order this week.

bishop2knight

I'm thinking of trying a grassroutes campaign to get some underappreciated books into the mainstream. I want to take a top 100 book and move it into the top 10.

Too many books, like Gotham Central, The Losers, Y: The Last Man, etc., are selling, but not enough. I'd love to get enough people reading these and other books that the publishers realize that people enjoy books without spandex or super powers.

I'm wondering what it would take to get a book into the top ten? I can possibly use paperbackreader.com as a spot to promote a book, and I might be able to get milehighcomics to help out in some way. But what do you think would need to happen to help a book more from #100 to #10 on the sales chart?

Liquid Death

I think the big problem with Y: The Last Man and Losers is that they're niche 'Vertigo' books. Sure, they're great and I read them every month, but they really aren't mainstream. I can't imagine that DC figured either would be a Top 10 book and I'm ok with that.

As for Gotham Central, you figure with the ties to the Batman stable of characters would have the book higher...

Wizard was spotlighted each as Book of the Month (if I remember correctly) and they all have cheap first TPBs. Word of mouth and special offers (cheap jumping on points, increased press for new arcs) will certainly help increase readership, however (maybe not that much in the Top 100 tho).

Chew

Have Jim Lee draw it?

The fact is: who writes it and who draws it always seems to drive sales more than how great it is.

SpacemanSpiff

if you guys havent been reading arrowsmith pick that up

Sessa17

While I applaud your efforts J.P. & you know you always have my support, it's LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE to take a bottome 100 selling title & movie it into the top ten. There is no possible way to do it, take it from someone in the business. The top 10 selling titles are the most ordered titles through Diamond in the country, to do that, EVERY single comic book store there is places these books among there top selling titles. That will NEVER happend with the quality titles that you & I love, & will never happen no matter what you do at Paperbackreader or I do at Broken Frontier. The titles would have to sell hundreds of thousands of more copies each issue to crack the top ten.

Books like The Losers & Y the Last Man sell just fine. They are under the Vertigo banner which doesn't require large sales #s to be successful. Yeah, it's a shame that Invincible & Fallen Angel don't even crack the top 100 while garbage like Hulk & Uncanny are there but that will never change. The only way to get titles like Sleeper into the top of the sales charts would sadly be to have Kevin Smith right it & Jim Lee draw it (two people I think are beyond overrated). Just do what you've been doing & keep spreading the word on the books you love, it works, look at all the titles you picked up b/c I recommended them to you.

All that said, those of you looking to try one of these great titles that J.P. & I always rave about, but don't want to spend the money on are in luck. Next week Broken Frontier.com will be running a promotion sponsored by my comic book store called "Pay It Foward", that will list 5 trades (recommended by me) that one person get's to pick one to read, & then for the simple cost of mailing it two another person, get's to send the trade to somebody else on the list. I'll post a link & make an announcement here when it goes up on the website. You DO need to register at the Broken Frontier boards to join the program.

bishop2knight

Sessa, that is one of the coolest ideas yet. I love it. That gets people reading good books. You, my man, are the bomb.

Good luck with that. I can't wait to see how it goes.

As for moving a book into the top ten, I can see how impossible it is. Probably not even possible since many of the books we like have less than half of the print run of the bigger selling books.

bishop2knight

Cool! I was quoted on the back of the Dead @ 17 tradepaperback. My name isn't mentioned, but hey, I know it was me.


By the way, this trade is a great buy with lots of extras, and Blood of Saints #2 is great too. Check out paperbackreader.com on Wednesday for reviews of both titles.