Thought I would start one for the new month.

I'm mid-way through the second volume of Y-The Last Man and have enjoyed it quite a bit. I just added volume three and the five issues following that to my next Midtown Comics order.

Based on reviews here, I also pre-ordered the new Walking Dead tpb from Amazon, as well as the Gotham Central collection. I wish all trades were so nicely priced.

I don't pay much attention to X-titles, but see both Joss Whedon and Bryan Singer have projects and I know Whedon's book starts the end of the month. Does anyone have more details on Singer? I don't even know what title he'll be doing or which artist is involved.

Also, how is the new Spider-Man Marvel Knights?

Spider-Man = mehhh

I haven't been too impressed. Seems like it's just Marvel's attempt at squeezing more money out of the fans. I am going to give it the benefit of the doubt and read the first story line before my final judgement.

Picked up several trades at a big sale at my comic book store. Enjoyed Daredevil: Lowlife quite a bit. Also really dug Louis Riel by Chester Brown.

Spider-Man MK seems like an okay book, but it's most likely gonna be just like every other Spidey book. I'd love to see just two series for each big super hero, but have them done right.

Singer is expected to do Ultimate X-Men. I'm pretty sure it'll start this year, but I'm not sure when. Later this summer maybe?

Since last time,

Finished X-Statix vol. 3 - one of the few titles that I'm tempted to go monthly on.

Then I read Superman: Secret Identity # 4. Not quite what I was expecting - this series was so good that I felt sure they would keep the possibility of a sequel open. Still, an excellent series.

Then I read: Catwoman: Crooked Little Town - Decent, though I wish Selina was more of an anti-hero.

I'm currently towards the end of the first Teen Titans trade. I'm not sure why this is such a big seller - I guess because it contains most of the elements of the Wolfman/Perez series but 25 years later is like a lot of other super-hero books. I prefer the Outsiders over this.

I think Teen Titans is popular for the reason you say: it's much closer to Wolfman/Perez than just about anything that's followed. But, I agree: Outsiders is better.

Two weeks ago I picked up Essential Daredevil Vol. 2. Last week, it was Essential Tomb of Dracula Vol. 2. I think I may go into Gene Colan overload.

Wait -- there's no such thing as too much Gene Colan.

I hope they collect this into a trade - the $6 cover price kept me away, but I'd scoop up a trade that was $15 or so after discount (on Amazon).

Agreed! One of my favorites. One of the greatest comic book artists ever, yet he never gets the attention he deserves.

Pretty slow week for me, comic-wise. I'll post a few comments after I finish reading them.

jim

Of course, it's about to be cancelled: link

Here is what I picked up the first week in May. A very small new comic book week.

Invincible #11 - Maybe the single best comic book nobody is reading by THE best writer nobody seems to be familiar with. Hell, it doesn't look like one person here reads this book. YOU MUST go out & buy the first two trades RIGHT NOW!!!! This is the book Marvel's ultimate titles wish they could be.

BPRD: A Plague Of Frogs #3 - Great series. Guy Davis is one of my all-time favorites.

Firestorm #1 - Head on over to Brokenfrontier.com to read my review of the book.

Superman Birthright #10 - Really just buy this for Yu's art which IMO is MUCH better than the overhyped Jim Lee on Superman.

Swamp Thing #3 - Diggin' this series so far.

Liberty Meadows #36 - Another book I get just for the art. I'd buy anything Cho draws.

Sword Of Dracula #4 - Another must read book for all you guys. It's soooo hard to do something new with Dracula but this book definitely achieves that. This would make a great movie.

Thanos #10 - One of the very few Marvel titles I enjoy. Really hope this doesn't get cancelled.

Thor #78 - Gotta love the Thor.

Uncanny X-Men #444 - This book has been bad for sooo long & it continues with this issue. At least the art is finally good.

Every single one of you should have gotten the new Goon trade. Shame on you.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

I guess Marvel needs to make more room for 20 more mediocre Spider-Man books.

Hey Sessa17, can you provide a link to your review of Firestorm? I can't seem to find it on the site.

Also, where is the best (cheapest) place to buy bags and boards? I can never seem to catch them in stock at my local shop.

Goon Rules!

Uncanny X-Men was mediocre.

Y: The Last Man was awesome yet again.

Ultimate Spider-Man was, well, something that could've been 2-4 pages long.

Why surely. The review was actually up a week before the comic came out, that is why it says "advance review" at the top.

My review of Firstorm #1

I picked it up last week. Great stuff, but that's to be expected.

Other stuff I picked up:

Firestorm #1 - Pretty unimpressed with this one, but I'll probably give it a few issues before I make a decision.

Plastic Man #6 - I think that Kyle Baker is a perfect match for a Plastic Man book, but I'm not sure that the character is the best for a monthly series. I've enjoyed it, but I'm not sure that I'll stay with it much longer.

Superman #204 - Okay. I'm completely lost. I haven't followed a Superman titles in years, so I don't know everything that's going on in this issue. I'll give this one a while because of Azzarello, but I don't like the way that DC has handles the Superman line, forcing readers to buy every title just to understand what's going on.

Bone #54 - Only one more issue left. Am I the only one still reading this????

Tom Strong #26 - Alan Moore doesn't seem to have much to do with this title anymore. However, the stories by other writer have still been quite enjoyable, especially those by Peter Hogan. But this issue, written by Mark Schultz...ugh....just awful.

Y-The Last Man #26 - After some less than stellar issues, this book seems to be getting back on track again with this storyline. It's full of great characters and humor, and Brian Vaughan has an amazing ability to end almost every issue with a great cliffhanger that leaves you counting the days until the next issue.

Sidenote: Anyone know much about Vaughan's new book, "Ex Machina", coming in June. The concept sounds awful. The mayor of New York is also America's #1 superhero. ("And he's giving new meaning to the term Political Power!") Then again, I thought that the concept of "Y-The Last Man" sounded pretty bad, too. The art is by Tony Harris, one of my favorites.

Swamp Thing #3 - I'm still on the fence on this one. I'm enjoying the story, but its still just to caught up in years of continuity to stand by itself. Anyone know who will be taking over when Diggle leaves?

Batman #626 - When will I learn???? I've never read a book by Judd Winick that I considered to be anything more than mediocre, at best. But, every once in a while, I'll check out some of his work....to give him another chance and to try to understand what all the fuss is about. I still don't get it. Nothing here to make me change my opinion of Winnick. If I wanted bland mediocrity, I'd go buy a Chuck Dixon book.

Although I didn't pick up the trade (I already have the original issues), I do highly recommend the recent collection of "JSA" The Liberty Files". A great Elseworlds-type story for fans of classic heroes!

jim

Are you saying that Bendis has a habit of stretching out skimpy stories over several issues, during which nothing seems to happen???

Perish the thought!

Tho I was a bit late to the party, I've got every issue of Invincible now and I've been catching up over the last couple of months, and I agree, its a great series.

I felt the same way with you about Superman...very confused about the whole 'Vanishing' aspect (if it was something that had already happened and been shown in the comics, or something that would be explored in the following issues...also, never a big fan of Superman for the same reason (and Spidey in the 90s) coz they'd force you to buy every book to keep up with the plot.

I really liked the last arc, Safeword. I wasn't too thrilled with the drama/theater two part with the monkey tho.

I don't mind Dixon as much as the other Chuck, Austen.

Who is the writer, and what is the concept of the series?

Kirkman (Walking Dead, Capes, Superpatriot Mini, upcoming Capt America, Brit, Cloudfall, Tech Jacket) writes Invincible. The basic concept is a teenager who discovers his powers (issue #1) and whose father is a Superman-esque type (Omni-Man, from another planet, determined to protect Earth, etc). However, the way its written and the characters are terrific. Definitely give it a shot.

y the last man annoys the shit out of me, its gotten better these last few books but he makes like 2 million different story lines going on, then never closes up one

its bullshit

Yes, there are still a lot of unanswered questions and dangling plot lines. But that doesn't bother me right now. To me, it just seems like Vaughan has a much bigger picture in mind. He's telling one long story here rather than a bunch of short ones. I think that the storylines will eventually come together and most questions will be answered. Some characters we haven't seen in a while are sure to return. I'm quite happy with it this way. I would have been disppointed if every major storyline had already come to its conclusion. It would all seem to rushed.

jim

This week was a dead week for me. Can't wait till Walking Dead's next issue. Batman superman next week. other than that it's dry for me.

Is it just me, or do comic companies need to reshuffle how their books come out? I bought three comics this last week. But looking at next week's ship list (which might be inaccurate) it looks like I have at least 10 books I'm picking up.

Maybe they should spread the good with the bad? Or maybe they want to have a slow week when all the crap comes out so people might actually buy them?

Does anyone know the release date of the Walking Dead tpb? I have three trades on order with Amazon, with the other two available now. Since I picked super-saver shipping, it won't ship until WD comes out. The "expected ship date" keeps moving backwards!