Bronkster

Hey! I saw that November is locked and no December yet, so I figured I'd jump in.

I haven't had time to read anything I picked up on Wednesday yet!

Are we still hoping for a sub-forum?

Patman

Judging by the reviews on Ostrander's Batman issue, I'm glad I sat it out, awaiting for Grant to come back after this arc.

PalmerJoss

How many issues is he filling in for? I originally read 2, but now I'm hearing 4.

Patman

I think it was 3 or 4 issues for Ostrander. I'm glad I got out of my completist phase and can stomach "holes" in a title's run.

Since I can't post to November's thread, I'll put my thoughts on the past couple of weeks of comics here:

Mystery in Space 3 - The good captain finds that his new teleportation powers lead to some wicked dreams and also places him in not so good spots in the universe.

Jack of Fables 5 - Another good entertaining installment of Jack's quest to escape. I really like the artwork on this title.

Uncle Sam 5 - If you like seeing Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters get their asses handed to them on a monthly basis, this is the book for you. Sheesh! At least the painted artwork didn't seem as rushed as last issue did.

52 Week 29 - Lex's new team of manufactured super-heroes don't sit will with the remaining members of the JSA, especially Obsidian. The Sivana family meal with other smart inventors turns into a harrowing Thanksgiving feast of sorts, and Will Magnus is in over his head. John Henry finds out a startling revelation about Lex's generosity with doling out the super powers.

Runaways 22 - into the last few issues with BKV, and this title always feels "right" when Alphona does the artwork, the fill-ins just don't cut it for me. I liked this issue, and Chase is looking for ways to get Gert back, but it means a sacrifice is needed for his plan to succeed.

Supergirl and the LSH 24 - Supergirl faces a choice of either staying on Kandor in a sealed syster or sticking with the LSH. Hey, look who's back from the Phantom Zone: Mon-el. Tinya uses her powers to communicate with him, and he has been trying to warn the Legion about the bad guys from Rokyn.

Action 845 - I enjoyed the twist about the new super kid in Clark and Lois's lives. The artwork is very dynamic, but a little tough to take in on a Superman titles on a regular basis. I applaud the action and emotional content from the artwork, but it's also a little jarring.

Wonder Woman 3 - the title that is losing so much steam from becoming a quarterly. The story is all over the place, the artwork is nice, but the wait is almost too mcuh to handle for this title.

52 Week 30 - Finally some info on Bruce Wayne's sorting out his inner demons and Nightwing and Robin are there to help. Nightwing and Batwoman meet for the first time, and Nightwing is impressed (loved his quip about liking the redheads). Montoya continues to fret about Charlie's condition. This issue flowed better because I character about the major characters being showcased.

Ultimate Power 2 - A pretty book that featured about 16 pages of Squadron Supreme talking like Flipper (that was an observation from one of the Ultimate characters), and it felt really really padded. But I'm a Land junkie, thus I buy and buy.

boredsilly

Batman/The Spirit was AWESOME! I swear Cooke can do no wrong, and Loeb shined whereas I've found most of his recent work subpar (for obvious reasons).

I didn't know about Cooke's Batman:Ego that came out around 2001. Anyone read it?

I also got around to reading Pride of Bahgdad. Totally blew me away. It could have easily been heavy handed, but instead BKV was pretty subtle with his political statement. But more than that I really gave a shit about the animals thanks to the great writing and FANTASTIC art.

This book had a better fight scene than either Civil War or Infinite Crisis IMHO. The big bad was very scary. Those eyes man...damn.

Superboy

I think the great thing about Pride of Baghdad was the multiple interpretations possible. I like how it can send a message to different audiences.

Batman: EGO is an average piece of work, but the art is like a reading a highly stylized issue of Batman: The Animated Series.

Giantrobo

I like this series even though it's annnoyingly preachy. But I agree that the writers aren't making things easy for the new group.

Chew

Since cutting way back on my monthly orders (the last two being $27 and $33 ), I switched to monthly shipping. Wow, that was a rough month.

Finally got to read Civil War and The Boys last night. Good stuff.

Any clue on when Absolute Sandman Volume 2 should be coming out?

MBoyd

Absolute Sandman VOL II will be out in Oct/Nov of '07 according to Bob Wayne at Wizard World a few weeks ago.

I'm cutting back too. Still looking forward to all omnibuses and absolutes.

Chew

Apparently, it'll take 3+ years to get Sandman out in Absolute form then.

kevin75

just as an FYI, there was an article in publisher's weekly awhile back that said that DC was only planning on putting out 4 absolutes next year.

MBoyd

Maybe. He was pretty cagey about when Vols III and IV will come out. He could have easily said one a year for 4 years.

ytrez

DC does it again with slow release schedules. Shazam archives are released at a snail's pace with only 4 (5 if you count the Captain Marvel Jr. release earlier this year) since 1997 or 98. At least the Spirit archives come out fairly regularly and Plastic Man has made it up to 8 volumes. And while haven't really followed the schedule on them, it seems like the Legion of Superheroes, Batman, Superman, All Star, & Justice League volumes are on a decent schedule, based on the number of volumes released.

And 4 Absolutes per year can't be the saturation point of the market, unless maybe we're talking about 4 of the $100 volumes. Even then with today's mail order comics market and outlets like Amazon.com, we can get them for significantly less than cover price.

boredsilly

I don't know, I like the once a quarter schedule. Sure we can find them for cheaper prices, but these books are really something to look forward to (especially if you actually plan to buy one to three a year). If they just started going down the list releasing everything, the books wouldn't feel as special. At least not to me.

But then again, they're releasing an absolute WildCATS vol1...so maybe Absolutes have already jumped the shark.

bishop2knight

Absolute WildCATS? When did that get announced?

Chew

The current issue of Previews shows Brave & the Bold #1 with interior art by Perez. Will he be the monthly artist? Or is it a rotating creative team deal like the Confidentials?

It's been a long time since I've read a monthly with Perez as the main artist.

davidh777

Have there been any Legion Archives since no. 12 in 2003? would love to see that resume...

Sessa17

Here is what I picked up today, haven't had a chance to read most of it yet though. . .

52 WEEK #31

ALL NEW ATOM #6 - Probably give this another few issues, but I'm likely going to drop it before the inevitable cancellation anyway.

BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #1 - Diggle has been more miss than hit for me, I've never been a big Portacio fan, plus Batman's early years has been covered for years in LODTK, but I'll still give the series a chance.

DESOLATION JONES #8 - This is Ellis at his best.

DETECTIVE COMICS #826

EXTERMINATORS #12 - One of the many vastly underrated series I love that seems like nobody is buying it besides me.

INCREDIBLE HULK #101 - I've just been diggin' the hell out of every single issue of this absolutely classic run. It's made even more refreshing since it has absolutely nothing to do with the barrage of Civil War crap.

INVINCIBLE #37 - Never a bad issue

IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #3 - I abslutely loved the first 2 issues, such a shame that sales are abysmal as it's the type of truly unique & fresh marvel series that is rarely published by them these days.

JONAH HEX #14 - I was really not diggin' this book at first but the past few issues have been great.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #1 - A pointless relaunch I'm not happy about since I had the complete run of the last series & it was some of the best superhero stuff being published already.

MIDNIGHTER #2 - Pretty good first issue, not great, but it's Ennis & Midnighter, it's hard to resist that combo

NEWUNIVERSAL #1 - I don't really know anything about these characters & Larroca is one of my least favorite artists in the business, but it's Ellis, so I have to try it.

NIGHTWING #127 - This book has become near unreadable.

OFFICIAL HANDBOOK O/T INVINCIBLE UNIVERSE #1 - I'm a sucker for these types of books, & anything Kirkman must be supported.

RUNAWAYS VOL 2 HC - Hopefully they don't do any kind of super mega hardcover since I already have both of these.

SUPERGIRL #12

SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #2

TRANQUILITY #1 - Googe's work on Magestic was amazing, it looks even better here. Simone is usually pretty good so I'm pretty psyched to read this series

UNCANNY X-MEN #481 - I like to pretend this isn't really Brubaker writing this book.

WALKING DEAD #33 - Also, never ever a bad issue in this series.

bishop2knight

Holy crap. Just got a massive 13-pound box from DCBS. It included:

Rose Hip Zero - I'm slowly trying to get into Manga. I liked the cover and it was half off...so we'll see.

GI Joe: America's Elite 17 - Purchased for the Adam Hughes cover. Looks like they switched covers after solicitation. Devil's Due will hear from me on this.

Catwoman 61 - Purchased for the Hughes cover, not for the stupid Film Freak story.

Wonder Woman 3 - Been so long, I don't remember even ordering this, let alone reading the previous two issues.

Dead @ 17 1 - Love Josh Howard's work. Interested to see if this series is as good as the original.

Y: The Last Man Vol. 8 - This story rules! I've read and re-read the entire series so far several times.

Ex Machina Vol. 4 - Another great Vaughan series. I need to catch up on this story stat!

Gotham Central Vol. 4 - Still the best "Batman" series I've read in a long, long time.

Rex Mundi Vol. 1 - I have no idea what to expect, but I'm looking forward to it.

New X-Men Omnibus - Holy cow that's a big book.

RonG617

I know this has been covered before, but I can't seem to find it. What are some good mail order subscription places? I have started getting back into reading comics again and would love to keep up with things.

Sessa17

Go to you local comic book shop & subscribe through them.

Down with mail order comics

Unless of coarse, you don't have a LCS anywhere remotely near you, which I guess is ok then

bishop2knight

I do support my comic shop still. I spent $100+ at Mile High just two weeks ago. I just like saving money on my monthly set of books.

ytrez

[Jules]Well, allow me to retort.[/Jules]

If supporting your local merchants is your thing, more power to you, but I look for the best bang for my buck. Using www.mailordercomics.com allows me to spread my dollar and get more product for my money. I don't pay full price at the mom & pop bookstore and avoid Amazon.com or buy my DVDs at b&m stores to avoid deepdiscountdvd.

Keep in mind too that you may be one of the lucky few that has a good comic shop nearby. Also, no matter where you buy your comics you're supporting the industry and that seems more important to me.

boredsilly

I'm all about mail order, but to be fair you don't support the whole industry when you skip over the comic shops, as they are a pretty big part of it. Whether you view it as your duty to support it is another issue all together. I pretty much just buy the comics I like to read and thats the end of it.

However, I would still use comic shops for like 30% of my purchases (maybe more factoring in impulse buys) if I had a great shop near me. As it stands the one that was close to me closed it's doors in '02, and it wasn't a good shop to begin with. Pull list mishaps all the time.

Josh-da-man

A couple of months ago at the Diamond Retail Summit.

Though nobody knows what it will collect. Speculation is that it will probably the old Jim Lee Image issues.

Sounds like they're bronzing a turd, if you ask me.