Ok. Figured i'd start this one with a request. Does anyone know where I could get that upcoming George Perez HC at a good price? [50% would be good ]

My stash for this week...

• Solo #6
• Wha...Huh? - I predict this to be stupid, but i'm a Mahfood fan..
• Neverwhere #3
• JLA Classified #11
• Green Lantern #4
• Captain America #9
• Dawn - Three Tiers #6
• Daredevil - Father #2
• Supreme Power #18 - Shame they're making this a Marvel Knights book.
• Young Avengers #6
• X-Men The End Book Two: Heroes & Martyrs #6
• Donna Troy #3 - I missed this one the first time around.
• Kitty Pryde: Shadow & Flame #3
• G.I. Joe: America's Elite! #3
• the Flash #225 - Can't believe Geoff is leaving this. sniff, sniff
• Rann-Thanagar War #3 & 4 - Gotta admit...out of all the Infinite Crisis books, this is the one i'm the least impressed with. Though, I can admit it's probably due to a lack of knowledge/interest in Rann OR Thanagar .
• Wonder Woman #220 - Can't wait to read this. Disappointed that Rags isn't doing the art.
• Robin #141 - Can't figure out why i'm still getting this...
• the New Avengers #9 - Could say the same about this...
• Gotham Knights #68
• the Amazing Spider-Man #523 - I have a feeling i'll be dropping the entire spider line once this who evolution thing [or whatever it is] kicks in. Regardless if 'Ringo's coming back and David's writing.
• Astonishing X-Men #12 - Am I the only one not enjoying this arc?
• Teen Titans #27 - Featuring the return that NO ONE asked for! Rob Liefeld. I'm sure DC realized this too...the blurb on the cover says "Come On......You Know You Want It!". No. No, we don't.
• And, of course, the new DC/Marvel Shill magazine...I mean, Wizard.

OK, I admit I bought this. Not bad, not great - although I will confess I was laughing pretty hard at "What If the Black Panther was white?"

I was gonna pick up Wha...Huh but after thumbing through a few pages, I put it back.

I thought it was supposed to be funny.

I only picked up Shining Knight this week. Tho I was tempted by Wonder Woman 220. I might pick it up next week along with last week's Adventures of Superman for the flip side of the story.

I was only able to read Wonder Woman tonight [Damn people! Don't they know better than to bother me while i'm DJing!!? ].

It was as good as I expected. Still disappointed that Rags didn't draw it. However, I saw Ethan did the art for Green Lantern...

Crap! How did I miss the new Wonder Woman? It must've been sold out by the time I got to the shop 60 minutes after it opened. ARGH!

This was like my 4th week of not going to my comic shop. I might go this weekend but it's a good 40 minute drive and with gas prices the way they are, I might have to pass for another week... I really like the store and the owner but I might have to look into online subscriptions.

At least I've cut my pull list down to the point were I can not go for a month and only have about $35-40 worth of books waiting for me (if I'm lucky).

So how is X-men: The End anyway?

How is this guy still around? I looked at some early X-Force issues he drew and the artwork sucked.

Hey, I liked that artwork back then!

They seem to have brought him on because of his connection to Hawk and Dove. One of his first major pencilling jobs was the Hawk and Dove mini series where they introduced Dove II, who was female. Now, apparently the new Hawk and Dove are both women, and this story arc in Titans deals with them. A tenuous connection at best, but I don't mind his art that much.

I admit his art on Hawk & Dove wasn't that bad. Since then, it makes baby Jesus cry.

Hey, his New Mutants stuff was pretty good... but he just didn't evolve. And then he got this legion of copycats who were a little worse than him at drawing his style (I'm looking at you, Marat).

If you look at any artist's old stuff, it doesn't look quite as good as his recent stuff because they grow. Some of McFarlane's early Hulk issues aren't that great. One of my favorites, Travis Charest, was pretty much a Jim Lee clone in that Flash Annual and early Darkstars work. Brian Hitch was like Alan Davis lite. Even Art Adams' work in Longshot doesn't quite hold up to his later stuff. Liefeld looked like he was changing a bit with some of his later Youngblood stuff, but he still uses the same artistic tricks to hide his shortcomings. Not to mention that both he and Roger Cruz are perhaps the biggest perpertrators of "stealing" layouts from other comics.

I hear what you're saying, though the main difference with the artists you mentioned is that they actually KNEW how to draw. Terrible business sense aside, I just don't think Rob can't draw.

I know it's easy to make Rob a "whipping boy", but I can honestly say that, based on his artwork alone [again, Hawk & Dove aside], you will never hear a kind word from me. I've admitted to not liking Bill Sienkiewicz's art on the New Mutants when it first came out, but I came to appreciate it as art. That will never happen with Liefield.

I've seen blind quadriplegics that can draw better than Liefield. Better yet...i've seen monkeys on Letterman that have drawn better than Liefield.

while i haven't seen the inside of the teen titans issue, judging a book by its cover (), his artwork has DEvolved.

The same could be said of Jim Lee. He really hasn't come very far in style since his early days. Granted, his level of refinement was always superb to begin with, but overall, almost all his male/female characters look identical.

This is very true. I remember being awed by his art on X-men and even Wildcats. But several years later, his stuff on Heroes Reborn and others didn't look as good in my eyes... because it looked so similar to what he had done before. I remember when Charest was doing Wildcats, and Lee took over for a couple of issues, I knew that former-Jim-Lee-copycat Charest had surpassed him. Like you said, though, his art was pretty good to begin with. And he did experiment with a Frank Miller style for a while, so at least he was experimenting with his art. I'm sure even if McFarlane came back, his stuff wouldn't look as good to me as it did back in the day.

I understand the whole Bill Sienkiewicz thing, as I hated it at first too. Heck, I hated Mignola and Miller at first too. And a lot of times, I realize I underestimate what a good inker brings to the table (case in point: John Byrne inking himself, as opposed to Terry Austin doing it).

I didn't realize my Liefeld comment would derail the thread. Carry on.

The rumor is that Karl Kesel basically redrew the entire Hawk & Dove LS under the guise of inking it.

The one whose appeal I don't really get is Michael Turner. Liefeld, yeah, it's a given he sucks, but I have no idea why people think Turner is "kewl." Emaciated manga-porn star babes seems to be his main thing. His art in Superman-Batman recently was just awful. I don't get it, I guess... Of course I'm not a particularly big fan of Jim Lee, either, although I can at least see why people dig him...

IGN is doing a tourney for best contemporary comic book writers: http://comics.ign.com/articles/646/646667p1.html

My 2 favorite writers are both losing right now, but I'm a sucker for this type of thing. It's still very early in the voting, but I have a feeling Sim isn't going to make it to the next round. I'm shocked that Jhonen's losing to Pak though.

I love Gail Simone but I could not get through Teen Titans. That art work is just UGLY. At first I was like is this another time travel story arc because everyone looks grown up..but then it's Rob. Yuck.

I can certainly understand why Rogue or anyone isn't enjoying it, but I am digging the hell out of Astonishing X-Men. I'm such a whore for the "widescreen" style. With the amount of dialogue in that book, the story could have been told in 5 or 7 pages, but when the art is so damn purdy I don't mind it at all. I am really curious to see where Joss is taking the Prof X business. That could either be really interesting or really bullish.

Giantrobo, you'll be glad to hear that I've started reading JSA and I'm enjoying it so far. I'm only three issues in (these comics are DENSE as all hell) but so far so good. Ok so good except for that awful line from Star Spangled Girl about "buying the latest Backstreet Boys CD"...ugh. It is a bit daunting trying to understand who's who and what's what, but I think that will fade over time once I get used to the book. It does have Wildcat in it, whom I think is the coolest dude ever due to his recent stints on JLU and Birds of Prey, so I'll be sticking around for him if nothing else.

Also Young Avengers rocks!

Cool! I love so many JSA members it's hard to pick a favorite. But I totally agree with you on Wildcat. Also, you've got to remember that Star is only like 16 years old.

Anybody else pick up Revelations? Although you have no problem identifying the Ramos art, it's certainly much better than anything I've seen from him before. Story was only mildly interesting.

The news is a few days old by now, but since no one else has posted it.....

From Newsarama:
We're off to a good start.

ok, rogue, i just noticed this. what george perez HC?

FINALLY!

There's a hardcover listed in the latest Previews. I'd tell ya what page, but my shop owner lets me take the shop's to do my Previews..