Sweet. Thanks for the info. I blew through the first three books incredibly fast and loved them. I've forgotten the details by now so I'll have to re-read them before book 4 comes out.

Sessa - the preview art for Damned 1 looked interesting, and I'm a fan of Brian Hurt, though I must've missed the first issue. Anyway, I emailed my LCS and asked for them to (re)order both for me

This week I picked up:

Y: The Last Man #51 - I don't think I even need to say that this is another amazing issue. We're getting very close to the end and it shows - we're getting answers to questions that were raised from the first couple issues. I want to know the answers, dammit, but at the same time I don't want the series to end. How BKV manages to turn out such high quality work week after week is just beyond me. The man is amazing.

Also this week was Batman #658. Some nice action with Damien and Batman, and some great dialogue from Morrison. The artwork didn't look as great as it did in the first couple issues of this arc, almost rushed in a way. I can see why Grant and Andy are taking a hiatus for 2 issues. I don't plan to pick up the issues with the fill-in writer/artist team, but I will still read it when Grant resumes his run.

The last book this week was Eternals #5, but I have yet to read it. Hopefully I'll get to it tomorrow and I'll post my thoughts then.

Who picked up Absolute New Frontier? I heard it's beautiful. But I'm still wondering if a new DC fan will understand every subtle thing about this story.

My copy is in the mail. My knowledge of DC history is very shallow. I pretty much fell in love with the universe through Bruce Timm's cartoons and the Batman and Superman movies, so I had no knowledge of a lot of the secondary characters like the Blackhawks and Suicide Squad, and it takes away nothing in my view. The story stands alone great.

That's not the answer I'm looking for. I mean, you guys talked me into Absolute Sandman, so I was hoping more for a, "No, this story sucks" kinda response.

Instocktrades.com has the book for $53 shipped if anyone's interested.

Just finished SUPERMARKET. On the one hand, it's totally bloody brilliant. The art is fantastic and fits the story almost perfectly, and the story itself is fast paced and well told. On the other hand, however, key plot points are never even shown, they're just mentioned when you need to know about them. That seemed like a cheap writing gimmick.

Worth the read, for sure. But probably not worth cover price.

I just got my copy of New Frontiers, but haven't read it yet.

Stormwatch PHD 1 - not a bad re-introduction to Stormwatch, albeit with a smaller budget and lesser superpowered members.

Doctor Strange The Oath 2 - I'm enjoying BKV's dialogue in this miniseries between the characters as they hunt to find, basically, the cure for cancer.

Y The Last Man 51 - another nice installment as we get closer to finding out why almost all of the men on earth died 4 years ago. 355 and Toyota's fight on the rooftops was also good.

Gen13 2 - this reimagining of the core Gen13 crew still takes a little getting used to by me (as they make their break-out attempt), but it's still on the "buy" list.

52 Week 27 - Ralph and Spectre can't quite strike the right bargain, so Ralph has to go elsewhere. Montoya learns that Charlie's health is questionable.

Superman 657 - This was a trippy look into the next too distant possible future courtesy of Arion, can't wait for the next issue.

Batman 658 - finally Morrison's first arc concludes, and Talia's son is going to be a handful when he grows up because he has no compunction on inflicting pain and suffering and death. It was a good opening arc.

I'm 8 chapters into THE ABSOLUTE SANDMAN. It's bloody fantastic, but I'm not sure why. The art isn't my cup of tea, and to be honest, there's not really a whole hell of a lot going on in the story. But for whatever reason, it's working just fine. I'm sure it'll even get better. Yep, I'm hooked.

The art was never big with me either, but it also never got to the point where it distracted from the story.

The "I am..." battle between Dream and Chronazon for the helm is what helped me pull many a reader into the series.

I know what you mean about not a lot going on in the story. The care that Gaiman gives to what he's writing more than makes up for it though. Your next arc begins the fun, with "The Dream House." Morpheus starts tracking down creatures that escaped during his imprisonment. Events in this story arc will shape the rest of the series, as almost all future story arcs have their basis here.

After that you'll have 4 short stories -

Calliope - one of the muses, former lover of Morpheus, imprisoned by a mortal. Despite being a one-off story with very little involvement from Morpheus, it slyly sets up the beginning of one of the biggest events in the comic.

Dream of 1000 Cats - a cat spreads the word that once the world was ruled by cats, and can so again.

Facade - Element Girl, the female version of Metamorpho, hasn't taken to her life as well as Rex Mason has, and wishes for death.

A Midsummer Night's Dream - Many call this the best single issue ever in the series. Issue 13, a stand-alone story during the Doll's House series, sets this up as in a brief exchange where Morpheus meets a young man that everyone has written off as a playwrite. In exchange for the gift of writing, Dream requires a set number of plays authored for him. This is the first one, as William Shakespere presents "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for his patron, and finds that his audience is the faerie his actors are portraying on stage. The moments where the two crowds meet during intermission is priceless.

That's the story that won the World Fantasy Award for short fiction in 1991, and the rules were then changed so that a "funnybook" could not win the award again.


After that you have The Season of Mists. Oh my, what fun you'll have there. Lucifer was humiliated when Morpheus came to his realm and bested Chronazon, and this is his revenge. Of particular note is the speech from Lucifer about how people saying "the Devil made me do it" are full of shit.

I've heard a lot of buzz about Nextwave...does anyone here read it? I'm going to have a couple extra bucks for comics this week and was thinking about picking up the first trade.

You nailed it. I think you can totally tell that Gaiman writes with care. He's doing everything right. Slow, sure, but every panel is necessary. I'm assuming that once Death shows up, the story will pick up even more. I'm ready to dive into the story again tonight.

Oh, and I loved the "I am..." battle. Very interesting way to battle.

The $10 off $30 order via Google/Buy.com is making a dent in my credit card as I pick up some hardcovers (Daredevil 4 and 5, Ultimate X-Men 5 and 6), but at an average of $13 each, I couldn't resist.

What is this google/buy.com thing?

Uh oh. Absolute Long Halloween and Daredevil Omnibus. Same order form. Could be an expensive month. Too bad they ship in separate months. That just means we're paying extra in shipping if you use DCBS.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=483145

Out of morbid couriosity, and in the spirit of trying to jump start the November thread because it's pretty dead ....

I've seen lots of "Ultimate" Thor of late in made for DVD movies, and video games but I'd like to know....what's happening with "regular" Thor. If there is such a thing. What about Beta-Ray Thor? Is he still around the marvel universe?

Regular Thor and the whole pack of Asgardians are dead, from a final Ragnarok that ended the cycle of continuing Ragnaroks (or something like that). Beta Ray Bill is still around but I forgot what he's up to.

If you're not following Civil War, then you missed the appearance of Cloned Thor who didn't work out very well (he killed other heroes. oops).

Really? Wow.

Yeah, those clones never work out over at the marvel.

I read it and I love it. Don't go in expecting subtlety or complex storytelling. Just big fights and a lot of twisted humor
Warren Ellis is having one hell of a great year.

Holy Crap! The last part of Daredevil: Father came out!!!1!!! Now I gotta see if I can find the first 5 parts because I have no idea what it's about anymore.

Marvel has screwed up so many clone stories that I voted no on stem cell research.

I was really let down with Civil War this week. The artwork was amazing as usual, but it just seemed like a filler issue. Disappointing considering the delays this series has had. I hope it can finish up with a bang, though. If anyone can do it, it's Mark Millar.

I wasn't let down, but the book read fast as hell for me. I wasn't paying attention to the page count, so as soon as it got good, the book was over. It felt like it could have used another 10 pages.