Venneh

Shipwreck 3: Oh hey, the plot finally showed up. Hester continues to do gorgeous work on this, and you can tell that he's getting his eyesight back after having a double eye transplant - there's more detail in certain areas of his work. Gotham Academy: Second Semester 1-3: Continues to be cute and fun, I think I might've read some of this last year when it was still on my pull, but it's still a great mix of boarding school meets vague threatening mystery meets obscure Bat Trivia. Basically a really good boarding school AU with lots of OCs. Black Panther 7-10: So, I clearly missed something that went down in issues 5 and 6, but I can still follow where Coates is going here. Interesting reading this in the wake of having read the Beautiful Struggle, because I can see a lot of what he and his dad talked about played out in some aspects of this. Sprouse and Stelfreeze are gorgeous as always. This is still gonna read better on the whole when they do the inevitable 12 issue collection (instead of 3 separate trades). (Jim bought these back for me from DC from Fantom Comics, it was a great way to unwind last night.) Single Issues: 95Trades/Graphic Novels: 19Omnibuses: 1

Look, Solmaz Sharif: This collection weaves in terms from the Department of Defense's dictionary, throughout a collection about the post war experience in the Middle East. Go get it, now. This collection hits hard and has some unbelievably beautiful and gut wrenching lines. When read in tandem with The Shock Doctrine, it's a hell of an experience. Books read: 14

Donate $30 or more to the Hero Initiative and hear what happens when you give both of us large amounts of caffeine

3:49: Fallout New Vegas/Old World Blues discussion, with a dash of Dragon Age, Overwatch, and general video game discussion on the side 22:33: Matt Kindt discussion (Dept H and Ether) 24:59: Berni Wrightson retirement announcement 28:32 Marguerite Bennett extravaganza (Bombshells, Detective Comics, Josie and the Pussycats) 48:45: Deadly Class 26 discussion (SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SERIOUSLY FUCKING SKIP TO THE NEXT TIME STAMP IF YOU ARE TRADE WAITING) 1:11:25: Retcon of the Year (discussion of Civil War II mostly)/Worst Trend of the Year 1:17:48: Comic That Was Better Than It Had Any Right to Be: (Dive into the Vampire Bund/Spider Woman) 1:22:40 Book discussion (including that fucking Vampire Viking Angel fights ISIS book) (if you donate $10 to Hero @jim will read another one in that series. hint hint hint.) 1:39:41: Karen Berger imprint at Dark Horse 1:44:08 More Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service plz 1:48:23 Revolutionary Girl Utena manga reissue/The Twin Knights 1:51:10ish: Seven to Eternity discussion 2:12:00: Divinity III discussion 2:20:00 Valiant on Warped Tour 2:23:30 Josie and the Pussycats 4 2:30:00 Hawkeye 1 discussion (Thompson/Romero/Bellaire) 2:52:00 XO-Manowar 1 advance review 3:04:00 Batwoman Rebirth review 3:22:00 Marvel May cancellations 3:51:29 House of Binding Thorns (spoilers) 3:59:00 Bizarro (Duarte) 4:02:05 WE FINALLY HAVE A NAME

Ether 3-4: Kindt continues to be real good at building his mysteries (though I think I know where part of it is going), and Rubin knocks the art in this out of the park. Props especially to issue 4 for going somewhere I did not expect and mostly centering a flashback from a character we haven't seen. Mayday 4: *"I Predict a Riot" intensifies* Also, that two page spread at the demonstration is NUTS. Monstress 10: This comic continues to be amazingly illustrated, on all levels. I buy this when I need to read something real pretty, and this week was kinda shit. Single Issues: 87Trades/Graphic Novels: 19Omnibuses: 1

We talk lots. Will post topics/timestamps a bit later.

XO-Manowar 1: More on this on the podcast that I should be sending off to Mike shortly. TLDR? Not out till March 22nd. Still, FUCKING BUY THIS BOOK. Single Issues: 83Trades/Graphic Novels: 19Omnibuses: 1

Happy birthday!

Brazil

Josie and the Pussycats 4: Continues to make me cackle, and is well written and well drawn to boot. I'm in. Hawkeye 1: More about this on the podcast, but I'm really hoping that this starts to develop its own identity instead of leaning super heavily on the Faction/Wu/Aja arc. Doctor Strange: The Oath: Martin is real fucking good, and the story is wonderful (except for a shoehorned in romance with Clea that mainly feels like it was there bc they had a romance back in the day). Had a few Lee/Ditko stories in back, but tbh the main lure was the process work. Cinema Purgatorio 1-7: Mostly read the Alan Moore bits (him taking on various film genres and histories), and the Gillen story (Pokemon meets Mad Max meets general deconstruction). For the $1 we got it for an issue, definitely worth it. Single Issues: 82Trades/Graphic Novels: 19Omnibuses: 1

Klaus: the Witch of Winter: Yup, this feels like Morrison getting out the last of the All Star things he wanted to do, but with Santa. Feels super silver age. Dan Mora continues to be unfairly gorgeous, especially on the color front. We got this in the $1 sale, and I'm pretty cool with that. Divinity III 3: Goddamn I did not see that twist coming, A+ on keeping me off my guard Kindt. Also, I kind of want to see a non colored version of this, because while the color work is solid, there is some stuff on the ink work that I didn't catch in the color work in the process work in the back. Seven to Eternity 1-4: First off: holy fuck Jesus Jerome Opeña paired with Matt Hollingworth is fucking god mode. Second off: Jim and I had a long conversation this evening that we will probably replicate for a podcast about how Remender hasn't really worked with women for most of his career, and it shows in how he writes them. There was one point in issue 2 where a lady dressed in white and super judgy calls someone who wears skimpy clothes and was questionably allied with the big bad a whore, and I rolled my eyes and groaned out loud in response. The premise is great, fantasy type western with a side dose of reverse prisoner's dilemma. The writing is solid if a little unclear at times with the sheer amount of shit going on on the page. For the $1 we got most of these issues for, worth a look. Single Issues: 73Trades/Graphic Novels: 18Omnibuses: 1

Batwoman: Rebirth: Epting redraws the salient bits of Batwoman Elegy and gets to do some light riffs on JH Williams III. There's about nine (generously) pages of actual new content here, but they appear to be setting up some neat stuff (including a return from Renee Montoya, whut). Bennett and Epting have my attention. Let's see if they can stick the landing. The Wild Storm 1: Yup, that is definitely some Warren Ellis-ass set up and work. Davis-Hunt does amazing stuff with an issue that's panels that are all multiples of three to a page. Probably gonna follow this on the trade, or for $1 sales. Single Issues: 67Trades/Graphic Novels: 18Omnibuses: 1

The Savage Detectives, Roberto Bolaño: Finally tackled this. I didn't really start getting into this until we got to the second part (dude in the first part cared way too much about his dick, thank god he drops that when we come back to him in part 3), which is you learning about these two characters through the stories of those they met and interacted with (which is kind of my thing). It'll take you a while to get through (it's about 600 pages), but it's time well spent. Books read: 13

Deathstroke 11: Forgot I read this. The team is amazing, and for trying to tackle Chicago gun violence in the space of a 20 page comic, they don't do a half bad job. New Superman 1-7: Fun take on the traditional superhero riffs (feels like an asshole Peter Parker combined with the idea that your dad is working for the secret agency you're fighting against, can't think of the name), and some good references to classic Superman and Batman. First arc sets up some interesting stuff for the future. For $1 each, again, a thing Id read again. Single Issues: 65Trades/Graphic Novels: 18Omnibuses: 1

So. Uh. Local store had a $1 back issue sale today. Ether 1-2: Kindt gets to do a magic vs science murder mystery mini that's both darkly funny and sad at turns. Rubin (mostly known for the Battling Boy Aurora West spinoffs) does some fucking gorgeous work. Dept H 7: Yup, definitely going on our pull. A larger mystery besides the standing mystery starts to unfold here. Im here for this. Jade Street Protection Services 2-4: Feels like it's trying to do too many things at once, and I honestly couldn't tell you if it delivered on what it promised back in issue one. Still a fun enough read. Black Panther: World of Wakanda 2: Roxane and Ta-Nehisi get to write Ayo and Aneka's romance unfolding against one of the many X-Events (the one where Namor destroys Wakanda). It's fun to see this playing out against past larger events. Plus, Roxane writes a good lesbian romance it turns out. Detective Comics 948-949: The Batwoman Begins prelude. Not sure what I think of this so far. It feels like Tynion trying to force a thesis onto Batwoman (and a really bad misstep re: a trans character), but from this, only Bennett will be on the new ongoing, so *shrug*. Gonna wait and see and hope for the best. Mother Panic 1: Manages to do its own unique take on the "socialite comes back to Gotham and does a vigilante" thing. It's neat to see Jody let loose, and Tommy Lee Edwards does gorgeous work. I'll pick this up on the trade I think. Shade the Changing Girl 1: Alien does teenage girl life with just a dash of madness. Have yet to read the original Shade (have it on hand), so not sure how this relates to the original, but it's well drawn and intriguing, so it's got my attention. On the trade or for a $1 back issue sale, I think. Josie and the Pussycats 1-3: A fun, punny Archie spinoff that had both me and Jim laughing out loud at several points. Very well done. Island 10: Continuation of two series I only half remember from when I was following this regularly, but the last one (A Land Called Tarot) is one I'll be picking up in collected form; wordless, reminiscent of Miyazaki and Moebius, and just utterly gorgeous. Spider-Woman 4: Great culmination to the first arc, and an amazing payoff to the reasoning behind why they did what they did with Jessica. I'm definitely interested to see what they do from here (trade time!), which is not a thing I ever expected to say after my first interactions with what they were doing. American Vampire Anthology: Snyder and his friends get to write some fun vampire short stories. Managed to get this for $1, for that price, more than worth the ride. Shipwreck 1-2: Ellis teams with Hester for a dark dose of weirdness. Hester does amazing work, especially considering that he just had a transplant to save his eyesight. Four Kids Walk Into A Bank 3: Shit gets even further out of control, and even funnier while we're at it. Definitely worth a read. All Star Batman 1: Hell of a premise, and it's honestly great to see him featuring the artists he does in the backups. Would definitely buy more of this. Especially the Tula Lotay Poison Ivy bits. AD: After Death Book Two: Starting to get an idea of the shape of where this is going, but this will probably come together only with the last book. We'll see. Continues to be gorgeous though, in both illustration and design. Single Issues: 57Trades/Graphic Novels: 18Omnibuses: 1

Invisible Planets: An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese SF In Translation (translated by Ken Liu): This collection seems to confirm to me that Liu does best when he's translating other peoples' work, or at minimum that he's better at short stories than he is longer formats. There's a few odd choices in here (including the inclusion of a chapter of The Three Body Problem), but overall these are some really well selected pieces, especially for their breadth and depth. Worth a read if you find it. Highlights from this collection: Chen Qiufan's "The Fish of Lijiang", Xia Jia's "Tongtong's Summer", Hao Jifang's "Invisible Planets", and Tang Fei's "Call Girl". Books Read: 12

Two local stores had a sale. That's all that needs to be said. Arclight 4: Do I know what this comic was about anymore? No, not really. Do I give a shit? Not even. This is fucking gorgeous, and we'll buy it again on the trade, because it is that good. I do hope Marian continues to do comics even though she and Graham are no longer together. Black Monday Murders 3: Is a third of this comic strategically redacted script? Yes. Do I care? Not even. This will probably read waaaaaay better on the trade, but we got a nice major twist and chilling moment towards the end of the issue, so I'll take it. More murder albino and her lesbian please. Bombshells 15-20: Collected single issues of the digital content. One of the local stores is having its $2/1 back issue sale, so I decided to catch up (and was sure to get the stuff I knew had Renee Montoya in it, because as mentioned above, Jim is Renee Montoya trash). This feels like it was a long form tryout for Bennett to get Kate Kane as an ongoing, but is just a wonderful piece in general. Highlights of this include: -a look at the dynamics of sisters and how that plays out in a royal scale, -Mary Marvel given a Jewish twist (gasp out loud moment), -Jason showing up in Renee and Kate's story in a wonderful way, and way better content in general than you would expect from a digital first WW2 AU that started out of pinup statues. Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye 1: Psychedelic, Kirbian, and for $2, definitely intriguing. Nice Metal Men cameo, too. Will probably pick this up on the trade. Moonshine 2: Azzarello and Rizzo doing southern moonshine runners, gangsters, and werewolves. No idea what happened in issue 1, but for $1, solid. Shutter 7: Yup, this has definitely cemented my "we need to get more of this" position. Fun, insane, and definitely setting things up well. Also whimsically drawn and violent besides, always a good combo. Spider-Woman 1-3: Aka the Jessica is knocked up arc. Way better than it has any right to be, especially with some neat layout/sound effect integration in issue 3. Would pick up the rest of the first arc for $1 each at least. Surgeon X 1: Yup, that is sure the bare bones premise of Repo the Genetic opera combined with stuff that was obviously done to get some dank grant money. Again, not anything amazing, but for a Berger return and $1 on sale, yeah, I'll go for it. Dept H vol 1: Fuck the fuck off with your unfairly gorgeous comics, Matt and Sharlene. There was one double page spread that was just so fucking well done and layered on so many levels that I just kind of incoherently squawked for a while. Jim is gonna add this to the pull once the current arc of Lazarus ends, and we're probably gonna check Graham tomorrow for the rest of the issues. Single Issues: 35Trades/Graphic Novels: 18Omnibuses: 1

It's on either Instagram or Twitter, Instagram if you want to see first person view of the bug, Twitter if you wanna see what our courier looks like. We're inevitably gonna do a podcast on this, but I've been lukewarm on the main game (with the exception of some small funny bits and watching the stupid ass bugs that this game runs with). I really liked the Old World Blues DLC though. Probably because it only crashed once in about five days of playing it among other things.

As far as I can tell, this is the finale for the arc. It'll be the last one in the issue. And yeah, the trade ships mid March.

Saga 42: Dat end of arc gut punch tho. No Mercy 13: Fun, happy issue. Which are three words I never thought I would use to describe this comic tbh. Best ending panel ever. WicDiv 26: Gut says good. I actually need to come back and read this because I got too distracted over Deadly Class feelings to properly process this. Art good. Fun reveals. Deadly Class 26: WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FLYING SHITFUCK IS THIS BULLSHIT?! @Dread, let me know when you hit this issue. Single Issues: 20Trades/Graphic Novels: 17Omnibuses: 1

Love is Love: Got this anthology as a gift for someone I'm in a gift exchange for, and decided to read it before I send it off. Kind of equally split between some heart wrenching stories, well written one pagers by lgbtq creators, and some stuff that kind of feels like ally posturing because they knew it would be good optics, but still overall a good read. Single Issues: 16Trades/Graphic Novels: 17Omnibuses: 1

Hon that was actually Generation Zero. (Issue 6, that should tell you about how memorable the issue was except for that one bit with Javier Pulido going Tezuka.) Divinity 3 2: Yeah, alright, this is pretty metal. Interested to see how this unfolds. Neat process stuff with Harsine in the back, too. Aric: Son of the Revolution: Lemire and Cafu team up, it's pretty neat and a fun Elseworlds type thing. Was honestly way more interested in the Kindt/Ryp backup that is a take on Koschei the Deathless. Kommandar Bloodshot: Lemire and Crain do Soviet Bloodshot. Hell the fuck yeah. (Not sure if I got this on this year's or last year's. Still bears repeating.) Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc vol 1: Not sure if I should count this or not because I only understood less than half of it (but thank fucking Christ for manga for young kids having hiragana because I am utter fucking shit for kanji comprehension). Either way, first collection of the new CCS manga that CLAMP is doing, real return to form for them after Tsubasa. Also, real fucking gorgeous, but that's par for CLAMP. Animal Man vol 1: The Hunt: The new 52 reboot. Interesting premise on Lemire's part, starts to bring in the larger mythos (Swamp Thing) towards the end of this volume. The art is... kinda rough at best. Though they randomly get John Paul Leon for the better part of an issue, which weirdly reads as a fill in. Vampirella 0: Very pretty. Feels like it dragged quite a bit, which, not a good feeling for an introductory issue. But apparently this isn't the first issue proper? (Also technically read the CCS bit that was in the February issue of Nakayoshi, but again, not sure how that would count due to the installment thing.) I don't think I'm missing anything else? I mostly skimmed the Bloodshot USA stuff, so I'm not gonna count that tbh. Single Issues: 16Trades/Graphic Novels: 16Omnibuses: 1

Vampire Viking angel Isis book: Fuck this fucking book. Going to annotate this and then I'm done with it forever. Combination of racist, sexist, and just awful half assed ideas. books read: 11

The House of Binding Thorns, Aliette de Bodard: Sequel to a book I mainlined in the space of one night back in '15. Technically an ARC, so I'm not sure how much detail I can go into here, but. She upped two of the things I really liked from the original, and wove in old and new plot threads in a wonderful way. Started this Sunday, and already done. Highly recommended. Books read: 10

What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, Helen Oyeyemi: A collection of short stories by Helen Oyeyemi. Only about half of them hit for me (and I'm convinced I've seen part of one in Mr Fox), but when they hit, they hit hard. Would personally recommend Books and Roses, Sorry Doesn't Sweeten Her Tea, Presence, A Brief History of the Homely Wench Society, and If a Book Is Locked (title is too long so I'm not gonna finish it) from this collection. Books read: 9