Just finished my Camelot 3000 trade (printed in 1988), and I like this note at the end of the Bolland bio: "He is currently completing a Batman graphic novel, The Killing Joke, for DC."

I was thinking of starting a new thread for this, but with as little activity as we have, I didn't see much of a point....anyway, are you expecting (or have you already received) any comics, tpbs, hardcovers, or other comic related goods as gifts this holiday season?

Feel free to post your hauls later this week so we can all be envious.

My mom always has a hard time buying stuff for me, so she gave me her CC# a few times and I had things shipped to her for me...I know I have a Silver Surfer omni, Iron man Omni, Amazing Spidey Omni, and a Daredevil Omni coming to me on Christmas day...and my wife sent me to the car at my LCBS the other day, so I know I have something coming from there as well...

I just read the book where The Green Lantern gets his comic sidekick. I hope that doesn't last long.

I also did some research trying to find out when Johnny Thunderbolt would go away. Guess he never does

I can only take so much of "Did you see that!!! Johnny just said the magic words!!!! Better watch out for the next hour as he gets whatever he wishes for!!!" multiple times in the same story.

I'm not getting any comics stuff over the holidays, but with some (much needed) free time I have a stack of books on hold at the library to read during the vacation.

I have to say, Amazing Spider-man? I don't really have any strong feelings one way or the other about the Mephisto/MJ stuff, but the first Brand New Day trade was AWESOME! I've never really been a Spidey reader (I peaked in on JMS, but it didn't work for me), but this new stuff is just so fun.

Showcase Presents Legion of Super-Heroes #2
Ducktales: Scrooge's Quest
Lego Batman PS3
And some various Tintin paraphernalia, including the moon rocket

How big is the rocket? A friend got me one a few years ago when he went to France - it's 8 1/2 inches. (why do I feel dirty all of a sudden??)

My Christmas haul:

Invincible Ultimate Collection 3 HC
Essential Iron Man Vol 1-3
Essential Captain America Vol 4
Showcase Presents Booster Gold
Showcase Presents Batman Vol 1-2
Showcase Presents Flash Vol 1-2

I'm a sucker for those big b&w collections, so I made out pretty good in that department. I also got these 2 bizarre squishy stress ball things in the shape of Iron Man and Venom's heads.

I just finished the Walking Dead HC Vol. 4 and was BLOWN away by the ending. Wow. I was thinking "man, nothing's happening in this damn book" when all of a sudden...

Well, just wow.

A little under seven inches tall, including the top antenna-spire thingy

Well, I got the HC of Watchmen for Xmas from a friend. Great gift, even if I do already have the TPB, which is pretty worn out from reading anyway.

Since I've now caught up with all the Fables TPBs, I'm starting in on 100 Bullets... same as before, one tpb a month with my monthly order.

You're in for a treat. 100 bullets has been a mainstay in my library for a long time.

The Walking Dead has been really dull lately. The last storyline ended on a major climax but the last few issues have hit a major roadblock. It feels dull, and it seems like Kirkman is distracted by other things right now.

Apologies, as I can probably just google the answers, but I usually avoid comic news sites because I'm so behind in my reading due to TPBs, and there are so many spoilers out there:

Why is Ultimate X-men ending? Is it just to launch another Ultimate book, or are they doing something with the overall Ultimate universe? Or just lackluster sales numbers?

It certainly isn't just Kirkman, most modern comics are like that these days, what with the whole "writing for tpb" trend that's going on. That's part of the reason I don't read floppies anymore.

There's an "event" mini-series going on called Ultimatum that is going to change the "Ultimate Universe" rather significantly. I try to avoid spoilers, so I don't know what titles are ending, but from the bits I've heard (drat) it does sound like Ultimate X-men is ending.

At the end of Ultimatum #2 ... (spoiler!!)

Heh. Wow.

I'm glad Ultimate X-men is ending. It since Millar left it felt really dull. Vaughan was a nice writer though.

I haven't collected Superman in years, but I'm really digging the "New Krypton" arc running through Action Comics, Superman, and Supergirl. My only complaint is it seems as if everything is happening too fast, but it's still a good read. I'm curious as to the identities of the new Nightwing and Flamebird. Everything has been pointing towards as the new Nightwing, but I foresee a swerve coming.

Catching up on some Marvel trades, and just read Mighty Avengers vol. 3 (the Secret Invasion trade). Umm... when did this book stop being about the Mighty Avengers and instead became the Secret Invasion companion/backstory book? I felt the same way about the last New Avengers trade, and apparently this continues for a few more issues. The backstory is cool, but I'd be ticked off if I were collecting this monthly, and they spent the better part of a year's worth of issues on side stories with hardly anyone from the roster being involved at all (ok, one technically deals with Sentry, and there's a tangential link to Ares, but that's about it).

At least they got rid of the thought balloons... but this might as well have been an entirely different book.

I felt a similar thing reading the latest Green Lantern trade... shouldn't this have been a separate miniseries? I realize this ties into what Johns is doing with the blackest night stuff, but I would think this would be a momentum killer right after the Sinestro War. It doesn't bother me much reading it in trades, but monthly?

I'm thinking I should maybe quit with monthlies and start to stick the the trades... I only got into comics heavy over the summer but my pull list is a bit out of control and dropping $30-$50 a week is starting to take a toll!

currently reading:

Amazing Spider-Man
Angel: After The Fall
Army of Darkness
Avengers: The Initiative
Buffy the Vampire Slayer [Season 8]
Cable
Dark Tower: Treachery
Deadpool
Ender's Game: Battle School
Ender's Shadow: Battle School
Fringe
Ghostbusters: The Other Side
Hulk [v4]
Incredible Hercules
Indiana Jones and The Tomb of The Gods
Kick-Ass
Marvel Zombies 3
New Avengers
Push
Runaways [v3]
Solomon Kane
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
Spider-Man Noir
The Ferryman
The Invincible Iron Man
The Stand: Captain Trips
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The X-Files
Trinity
Venom: Dark Origin
X-Men Noir
X-Men/Spider-Man

That'll keep you busy for a while!

Two late presents:

Showcase Presents Brave and the Bold vol. 3: love the Aparo art , and this was the era I subscribed and got my issues mailed to me in brown paper sleeves.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Dailes vol. 1, 1929-1930: I used to have a coffee-table-sized hardback of this series, and I'm glad to find that this volume starts with the same strips mine did.

I've been meaning to pick up that Showcase Presents Brave and the Bold vol. 3, but I haven't made it through the first two volumes yet. I honestly think I could read comics 24 hours a day and still not get caught up on all these giant phonebook sized monsters I own by the end of 2009. Yet I keep buying them.

Currently reading Essential Iron Fist Vol 1, and loving it. I'm up to the Sabretooth issue (#14). Marvel seems to really be cutting back on these Essential books. Which makes me sad.

I was a big Iron Fist fan back in the day so I loved that one too. I passed on the first two B&B because I really only started reading the series regularly with the Sgt. Rock issue, so I couldn't resist this one. I know what you mean about keeping up with them, but I have a plane trip coming up soon and am probably going to save this up for that--great to kill a few hours with one book.

I know what you mean. I'm planning on picking up Daredevil 5 because, again, that's about when I started reading, but I might be waiting for a while.

About the only phonebook collection that I couldn't get into was The Haunted Tank. I used to read it in floppy form, but the stories were too similar to work for that kind of extended reading.

Russ Heath's artwork makes Haunted Tank worthwhile to me. I love seeing his work in black and white. The stories aren't much, typical fare for the time they were released, but damn can Russ draw a tank!

I know I'm two years late, but I finally picked up and read the Waid/Perez Brave and the Bold: Lords of Luck collection. Loved it... simple enough to pick up, included a bunch of characters and cameos, easy to understand, and a Supergirl that I didn't automatically hate. Also, Perez is just great for these kinds of team up books. Didn't cross over into Infinite Crisis or Countdown or 52 or anything. Why can't DC do more books like this?