Every comic you've read in 2014

[Dread]

Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman #1-14: this are the digital first books. Not sure what this series proves...it's either a) Wonder Woman is actually pretty easy to write really great stories about or b) Wonder Woman is better suited to smaller stories. However, out of 14 issues there are maybe three or four two parters. Everything else is oneshots, and for the most part, they're great. 2 bad stories, but one of those has gorgeous art of WW apparently being in a band with Amazons? Weird. That didn't bother me. The fact that they go out of the way to make a feminist statement bugged me because it was to the detriment of the story. Also, Gilbert Hernandez...that guy I will never understand the like for.

Trades: 80
Comics: 921
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 30

[Dread]

All-New Captain America #1: So, since I quite reading Cap near the tail end of Brubaker'srun (because there was some serious water-treading going on and the heyday of that book had long passed) a lot of shit has happened. Apparently Cap has an adult son who is now Nomad. Some of this book is great. The art, for one. Immonen is always tight and he's doing good comics here. the best part of this is when Sam does not have the wings and he is just Captain America. I don't like a Captain America with wings. I see Steve coming back inside of a year and Sam staying in costume maybe as American Eagle, which works a lot better.

Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #1: this I outright think is ludicrous. No thanks. Luke Cage fetishism should really be over now that Bendis has given up on it. This book made no sense and is the least Avengers-y book I have ever read in my life.

Trades: 80
Comics: 923
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 30

[Koete]

Batman: Gotham Noir OGN by Ed Brubaker, Sean Philips, and Dave Stewart - An Elseworlds tale with Jim Gordon as a 1949 ex-cop turned private investigator, with the story largely told in flashback as he recounts to The Bat how he got mixed up with a dead prostitute and the mob. As expected, Brubaker nails the noir aspects of the story: the flashback structure, government corruption, Gordon being haunted by World War II, and little things like a conversation between Gordon and a bartender. My favorite bit of noir is probably the half-page splash that introduces femme fatale Selina Kyle, as Philips draws it as an homage to Rita Hayworth from the poster for Gilda. Where it stumbles a little is the superhero aspect. I would have preferred Brubaker playing it completely straight, but Philips' depiction of Batman as a mass of shadows, as if we're seeing him through Gordon's booze soaked POV, makes that part more interesting than just including him because it's a Batman story. Brubaker brings in another superhero-ish Batman character though, and his appearance detracts from the climax. Not much to say about Philips and Stewart. Apart from one kinda wonky face, which admittedly is during a pretty emotional scene, the art is as perfect as it is in any noir story that art team works on.

[Dread]

Birthright #2: Wow! Even better than the first. This is in the runner for best new series of the year.

Colder: The Bad Seed #1: Amazingly beautiful and terrifying.

Dallas McCoy Star Struck: A oneshot from an indie publisher that's pretty terrible.

Dark Gods #1: Justin Jordan's Avatar series isn't too far away from God Is Dead (which he writes now, I think), but it's still fucking excellent. So good.

Death Vigil #5: Still great.

Deep State #1: Another Justin Jordan series that is very like something I've been working on. There are even two lines in this book that I have written. Crazy. No one's seen the script so it's totally collective unconscious shit.

Django/Zorro #1: Pretty good, but not enough story for me to read this in issue form. Maybe a trade buy.

Drifter #1: Insanely beautiful Heavy Metal-esque sci fi story. Nic Klein's art is astounding. Ivan Brandon is writing something sparse but big. I'm in.

Future Primitive #1: Pretty intense prehistoric caveman beatdown with some real Chariots of the Gods vibes (again, close to a pitch I have for an old licensed character that I may just repurpose as my own down the line). Very dense, though. Too dense, a little bit.

George RR Martin's Meathouse Man:Graphic novel adaptation of one of his short stories. Pretty terrible.

Trades: 80
Comics: 932
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 31

[Dread]

Joy & Pain #1, 2: Lord help me...more bullshit from Marat Michaels comic company. Fucking awful.

Baltimore: The Wolf and the Apostle #1: Excellent. I haven't read a lot of Baltimore, but everything I have has been pretty good. Need to start grabbing some trades. I wish they would do some Library Editions for this like they do Hellboy.

Houses of the Holy #1: Weird alt history. Not great. used to be a motion comic.

Hunger #1: This brings Galactus to the Ultimate Universe, you know, the real one. It isn't good at all. Is Marvel intentionally making their Ultimate books look exactly like their regular books? That's confusing.

Klarion #2: This gets a little Harry Potterish. Not sure what to think of this series anymore. Probably bowing out and maybe will look at the cost of the first trade.

Men of Wrath #2: Nasty and mean. The math doesn't add up to me on the amount of money this guy is trying to make, but it is a hardboiled southern noir in the vein of Joe Lansdale so I kind of dig it.

Rasputin #1: Holy shitballs, this is excellent. The life and times of Rasputin. If there's any justice in the world this will be a TV show too.

Skyman Oneshot: I think that this is the first of the Project Black Sky stuff I've read that I didn't like.

Stalag X Blood War #1: Kevin J Anderson and it's bad. Reads like someone's boring Warhammer campaign.

Sundowners #3: So. Damn. Good.

Superior Iron Man #1: Ah, I get it. Marvel's new thing is to make everyone an asshole. I thought they started doing that 20 years ago?

Terrible Lizard #1: You know, I know I read this, but I don't remember a damned thing about it.

The Damnation of Charlie Wormwood #2: Still, I can't believe how compelling this comic is balancing the settings of a hospital room and a classroom in a prison.

The Humans #1: A biker gang, but they're all apes. It sounds way better than it is...and it doesn't even sound that good.

The Phantom #1: This is not the Dynamite series because apparently there's a dispute over who owns the Phantom comic rights. This is a miniseries by Peter David and Sal Vellluto for Hermes Press that is a pretty solid Phantom tale. The art is nice and has a Bronze Age vibe to it which is cool. Doesn't feel like the story is big or particularly relevant.

The Bigger Bang #1: TERRIBLE.

The Deep: The Vanishing Island #1: This is a kids series in the vein of Spy Kids. Fun family action. It's what if the Sea Devils were an interracial family? Pretty good. I'm not the demo, but I liked it fine and laughed out loud twice.

The Kitchen #1: Three wives of mob tough guys take up their protection racket collection when their husbands go to jail and step into some deep shit. Women can't do anything right! Amirite?!

Thor #2: There seems to be some debate over who the new Thor is. It was pretty fucking clear in issue one. But her inner monologue sounds like an earthling. I'm confused and not terrible entertained.

Wytches #2: So. Fucking. Creepy.

Trades: 80
Comics: 953
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 31

[Dread]

Tooth & Claw #1: Kamandi-esque anthropomorphic animals. A Mievelle-esque fantasy world. This is built for me. I didn't like it. I'll give it one more issue.

Uber #16, 19: I totally missed reading 16 a few months back. This series is great. Good solid alternate history that is full of violence.

Archer & Armstrong vol 2: This is a great introduction to The Eternal Warrior. Solid. This Valiant universe is shaping up to be something pretty great.

Bloodshot vol 2: Meshing this character to the Harbinger world is a good way to go. I wonder how long until we see Hard Corps?

God Is Dead #23, 24: Profane and fun. As always. Interesting to see where exactly this goes.

Punk Mambo #0: this is kind of weird to me. Valiant appears to be introducing a bunch of new characters (starting with this one) that MIGHT be creator-owned? The characters aren't attributed to any particular creators. This one is a British punk rock voodoo priestess. Kind of interesting. Great art.

Q2-The Return of Quantum and Woody #1: Nope. Terrible. Sorry Christopher Priest. go back to what you are better at: shitting on other comic creators and publishers online.

Sensation Comics Feat. Wonder Woman #15: Gilbert Hernandez might be the most overrated creator in comics.

October Faction #2: This is moving glacially slow. I might be out.

The Maxx Maxximized #13: No Maxx in this issue. No characters from prior issues even. Not very good.

Trades: 82
Comics: 963
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 31

[Dread]

Fatale book five: It picked up from the last volume. Pretty decent ending. It kind of went down screaming halfway through the series though. It started out so well. Since I thought the Fade Out stunk too, I'm basically going to give Brubaker/Phillips a break. They're tired.

Satellite Sam vol 2: This is way better than the first volume. In fact, the first volume could have been told in a single issue and could have been included in this as a complete story. Pretty good, considering ordering this was a mistake.

XO Manowar vol 2: Again, better than volume one, weirdly enough because of the introduction of Ninjak. He's a character that was so awful, he almost created his own black hole of suck in the original Valiant Universe. Ballsy of them to bring him in. It works. Lee Garbett is also no Cary Nord, but who is? The art is still pretty great.

Wonder Woman #35: Gorgeous ending to the best thing DC has done in years. More than three years even. This is better than Johns' Pre New 52 GL, better than Morrison's pre New 52 Batman and anything else going on at the time. Sad to see it go, because...

Wonder Woman #36: Awful. Hey, here's an idea, let's follow up the best comics run we've done in ages, and the best WW arc of all time with a writer from Zenescope! Terrible. David Finch's wife writes. I imagine she's a better manager of his career than she is a scripter of comics given that he keeps getting high profile gigs when I can't think of one that was any good. Don't need to read this series anymore.

Trades: 85
Comics: 965
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 31

[Dan]

Marvel: 75 Years Omnibus: This is the huge collection voted on by fans. The good news is there are a LOT of really good stories in here. It probably could have used a little professional curating, though. All the usual suspects are here, and it leans heavily on certain characters. Captain America Comics #1 is the only thing here that predates FF #1; if nothing else, the Sub-Mariner/Human Torch battle from Marvel Mystery Comics #8 seems like it would have been a no-brainer.

There are twelve Silver Age issues here; with the exception of Hulk #1, Avengers #1, and Avengers #57 (the first Vision), all of them are either Fantastic Four or Spider-Man comics.

With the exception of the Death of Gwen Stacy, the 70s are all X-Men (including Incredible Hulk #181).

The 80s are limited to "Days of Future Past", Daredevil #181 (death of Elektra), Thor #337 (Beta Ray Bill), and two graphic novels (Death of Captain Marvel and God Loves, Man Kills), and the short "The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man".

The 90s are barely here at all: Marvels #1, Thunderbolts #1, and Age of Apocalypse: Alpha #1. The 2000s are only represented by Amazing Spider-Man #36 (the 9/11 issue) and The Ultimates #1, and the 2010s have Captain America #25 (his death), Amazing Spider-Man #700, and Hawkeye #11 (Pizza Dog).

I can't deny that these are all pretty terrific (Age of Apocalypse I can take or leave), but I really would have liked to have seen a lot more variety. There's no Iron Man, no Sub-Mariner, no Tomb of Dracula, no Howard the Duck, no Atlas-era monsters; nothing unexpected at all. It all seems too obvious and unimaginative.

Again, though, it's REALLY good.

[Koete]

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1-5 by Jonathan Hickman, Sean Chen, and John Rauch - Having read a good chunk of Hickman's Fantastic Four run, this first mini-series . The storyline with Reed viewing alternate universes to see if the recent events in the Marvel universe could have been avoided, and reflecting on his role in those events, is perfectly in tone with the issues that follow. And, of course, the ending leads right into Hickman's first arc on the title. The storyline with the rest of the FF getting transformed into alternate versions of themselves and carrying over to other alternate universes is a bit flashier than the humor in Hickman's run, but there is a lot of humor in his run. Also, this is the comic that gave us "milady, 'tis the clobbering hour". The storyline with Franklin and Valeria might be my favorite though. Franklin wearing a Spider-Man mask, dressed as a cowboy, toy guns drawn, saying "nice hair, loser" to Norman Osborn almost made me fall out of my chair. Sean Chen's art is really good at both the serious and more fun inspired sections, and I wish he could have filled in on the main book over some of the fill-in artists they got.

Fantastic Four #570-588 by Jonathan Hickman, Dale Eaglesham, Neil Edwards, Steve Epting, Nick Dragotta, Mark Brooks, and Paul Mounts - Hickman's run on the Fantastic Four is Morrison's New X-Men for Marvel's First Family. New concepts (the Future Foundation), new spins on old concepts (the Universal Inhumans, The Thing becoming human), and staying true to the spirit of the title (the family dynamics and exploration). Hickman also recognizes that when you get the opportunity to write a title with the legacy of the Fantastic Four, you give it everything. Within the first nine issues, he introduces nine plot threads that are still weaving through his run now that I'm on FF. Some threads get more pages than others, but he makes sure to not leave the ones in the background unmentioned. Hickman also makes sure not to lose sight of the characters amongst the big ideas: Reed goes from trying to solve everything to a renewed focus on problems he can solve on Earth; Susan has a new role as an ambassador to Old Atlantis; and Johnny and Ben's relationship gets more of an emphasis than the two individually. Franklin and Valeria have an interesting dynamic, with Franklin acting more his age and Valeria acting years beyond hers. There's not a lot of him, but I love Hickman's Doom. And then there are the kids that make up the Future Foundation, which range from interesting to comic relief.

As far as the art, the issues drawn by Dale Eaglesham and Steve Epting are beautiful. The change in artists makes a lot of sense. The beginning is more optimistic and about exploration, which fits Eaglesham, while Epting takes over when things start to go to hell, which his darker style fits. Eaglesham depicts Reed with the 5 o'clock shadow that I know Mike appreciates and I agree is a great physical trait for the character. Epting was born to draw Doctor Doom, so regal and menacing. But there's also six issues in the run drawn by Neil Edwards and they are just ugly comics. If you're going to have a fill-in artist on Fantastic Four, you should really be putting the best you can get on it. Nick Dragotta does a pretty good job on the first story in #588, which I have to say is one of the best fallout issues for a superhero "death" I've read. It's almost completely silent, so a lot of the weight is on Dragotta's shoulders, and he does make much of the body language and facial expressions really emotional. But there are also some faces that aren't drawn as well, which do detract from the story some.

I'm halfway through the entire run and still loving it. It could still drop off, but at this point I have faith he's going to nail the ending.

[Dread]

Scion: a European graphic novel dranw by Kevin Nowlan that features Soviet supersoldiers. Not great, but beautiful looking.

Morael Stramiglia: 2 of these erotic GNs from Italy. the storytelling is great, but everything else is very crude. More than a little misogynistic and devoid of the humor better examples of it usually have.

Life Undead: a horror crime GN from a couple years back. Soldi book, beautiful art and gritty psychological horror. Good stuff.

Harbinger vol 2: Really solidifies into a team book in this volume. They actively seek out other members and we have newer versions of Flamingo and Torque in this series.

Trades: 86
Comics: 965
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 35

[Missy]

Star Trek: Harlan Ellison's Original The City on the Edge of Forever Teleplay: The televised episode was better. Much, much better.

Batman '66 The Lost Episode: Kinda cool and I wish it had been made. However, $10 for a 30-page story? No. Even with the pencilled artwork being included, along with the treatment and other extras this isn't worth the cover price. And that's a shame, because it is a very fun story that fits in perfectly with the show.

[Koete]

The New Avengers: Illuminati #1 (2006) and The New Avengers: Illuminati #1-5 (2007) by Brian Michael Bendis, Brian Reed, Alex Maleev, Jim Cheung, Dave Stewart, and Justin Ponsor - Read this for the Reed-Infinity Gauntlet connection and knowing that Hickman uses the Illuminati in his current New Avengers run. This was a weird read, getting back into the mindset of the times these books came out in as they're tied directly to Civil War and Secret Invasion. I liked the initial one-shot, seeing the Illuminati come together and those personalities clash. I'm not usually a fan of Alex Maleev on superhero books, but his art worked here, apart from the end with the Hulk. Dave Stewart's colors helped, giving a 60s feel to the flashback section. The mini-series is a great case of wasted potential. There's this group of super-heroes operating behind the scenes for years...and most of what they've been doing isn't very interesting. It exists solely for the first issue, so there's a reason for Secret Invasion, and the fifth, which signals Secret Invasion starting. The gathering and dividing of the Infinity Gems is an interesting plot point, but it can be summed up in a sentence. Issue three you can pretty much completely throw away. And then, there's issue four. First, there's the conversation at the beginning with everyone complaining about their wives and Tony whining about how hard it is to get laid, which comes out of nowhere. Then most of the issue is spent showing the Illuminati trying to convince Noh-Varr to become a hero, which basically amounts to "fuck everything that made Noh-Varr interesting and unique." Awful. So yeah, unless someone put a curse on you to read Secret Invasion or you're a really big Jim Cheung fan, there's no reason to read this.

FF #1-23 and Fantastic Four #600-605, 605.1, and 606-611 by Jonathan Hickman, Steve Epting, Barry Kitson, Greg Tocchini, Juan Bobillo, Nick Dragotta, Ron Garney, Ryan Stegman, and Paul Mounts - Overall, while it loses a bit of steam toward the end, I love Hickman's run on the Fantastic Four. Most of the issues (FF #1-16 and Fantastic Four #600-604) are part of the huge three year story that Hickman wanted to tell and they're just as strong as the first act. There are alien armies engaged in war, universal gods, and a weapon that can crack the Earth with its use, but ultimately what saves the day is the love of the family, which is how an epic Fantastic Four story like this should end. He only appears sporadically in the previous issues, but Doctor Doom is in a lot of these and he's amazing. From his first words to Ben after Johnny has died to the last time we see him, Hickman just nails Doom. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Valeria and her Uncle. After a satisfying end to his epic, and having two connected titles to write for, Hickman gets a little shaky in the issues afterward. Both titles move between dealing with the aftermath of a few storylines and filler. The former work to some degree because of their connection to the larger story, but Hickman just doesn't keep up the same energy. The most disappointing part for me was the rest of the FF issues. I was really looking forward to seeing the Future Foundation do their own thing, but again a lot of it is tied to aftermath. The character work is still good, but you get issues like the Johnny/Peter roommates issue that feels really out of place. The FF dynamic always add a bunch of funny moments, but there were too many. FF #23, the last issue in Hickman's run, is wonderful though and ends his run on a high note.

As there are two titles partway through, there are a lot more artists in this section of the run. Epting and Kitson draw most of the issues during the primary story and they still do great work. Greg Tocchini draws a pair of issues during this time focusing on the Kree and Inhumans. His style really fits the setting, but it's very different from the usual art style, so there's a bit of an adjustment. Likewise is Juan Babillo's art, which you would expect to find in an Image book right now. Again, I really like it, but the difference in style and the drawing off-model of the characters is pretty jarring. But considering the Neil Edwards issues earlier in the run, I'm fine with good art that's outside the box stylistically. Nick Dragotta draws most of the FF issues after that and since he worked on an earlier issue, he sort of returns the book visually to that period. Ron Garney and Ryan Stegman do most of the last issues on Fantastic Four. Garney doesn't really fit with the book and Stegman...his art's not as bad as Edwards', but it's a far cry from Eaglesham's when the run started. Kind of a bummer.

Story and art disappointments toward the end aside, I love this run and am going to buy it in Ultimate Collections for the shelf when Marvel gets around to reprinting it in that format. Here's my favorite moment, from the big finale to the War of the Four Cities, because it's the most excited I've been reading a superhero comic since Batman R.I.P./Final Crisis.

The Celestials are here. Galactus has been handily defeated by them. The one-shot weapon meant save the world has only taken out one of them. Then, Franklin Richards arrives from the future. And after captions stating "Throughout all of space and time...the devourer of worlds has had many heralds...Franklin has only had one" and Franklin yelling "Rise!"...

...and I'm STILL freaking the fuck out about it.

[Donomark]

Batman '66 The Lost Episode: Kinda cool and I wish it had been made. However, $10 for a 30-page story? No. Even with the pencilled artwork being included, along with the treatment and other extras this isn't worth the cover price. And that's a shame, because it is a very fun story that fits in perfectly with the show.

I'm with you on that. I torrented the issue, 10 bucks is outrageous.

I've been filling the holes in my Robin collection. I've nearly everything Chuck Dixon wrote for Tim Drake (his miniseries and nearly every one of his first 100 issues), so I'm finally going after the post-Dixon stuff...when it began to suck.

The "To Kill a Bird" story by Willingham (which I never knew was collected) picks up soon after Tim and Batgirl move to Bludhaven after War Games and Identity Crisis. The stories are decent, but I cannot get into Willingham's voice for Tim. He writes him like Spider-Man or Nightwing, making way more jokes at his enemies expense and in his head than I've ever seen the character do. I get the feeling that Willingham just wrote his idea of a teen sidekick, and wasn't familiar with the inquisitive, more soft-spoken personality that Tim's had ever since his title started. It's seriously jarring.

The OYL Adam Beechen run is way better. It fiercely deals with Bruce adopting Tim as the forefront of the character's status quo change. Beechen writes Tim a lot more recognizably in character than Wilingham did, and even makes him seem appropriately older. He's about the same age as Dick was in those old Batman Family comics/Jose Luiz Garcia Lopez images from the Bronze Age, and it feels right. Batman's relationship with Tim in this era is almost surprisingly paternal, given that their partnership up to that point was hardly as close as either Dick or Jason's for the simple fact that Tim didn't live with him. It's logical though given how much crap this character had gone through in the past couple of years with almost everyone important to him dying. It's way better than I remember it being at the time it came out.

The turd in its punchbowl is the notorious treatment of Cassandra Cain, which I understand Beechen was under orders to do by Didio. It's still appalling bullshit, and every time it's brought up it throws the stories off wildly. I can't bring myself to own the first Beechen Robin trade because of how Cass is brought back, and she wouldn't be written anywhere close to in character until she became Black Bat around 2010. It's really unfortunate, because Beechen's handling of Tim is so immensely good. He's not uber-serious like Geoff Johns wrote him in Teen Titans, but he's not a dime-a-dozen sidekick like Wilingham sort of wrote him for a few years. I'm loving these issues.

[Dread]

Star Trek: Harlan Ellison's Original The City on the Edge of Forever Teleplay: The televised episode was better. Much, much better.

Awful, right?

[Donomark]

I hope to hear you guys get into the back story of that episode on the next Edge of Forever as I'm aware it has a back story (but thus far haven't gotten around to reading about it), but I've seen that comic at my shop and the cover art at least is gorgeous.

[Professor]

Batman '66 - Kinda hit or miss on all accounts. But overall more hits than misses. Some feel like the TV show and that is awesome. The ones that don't just feel like they are trying to hard. My favorite so far was the Halloween issue.

Smallville: Season 11 - A fucking mess, so completely faithful to the show.

Main reason for reading both was to try the DC Digital First comics on my tablet. I love it. Sometimes I have trouble with normal comics, but these were perfect.

Queen Crab - I knew nothing about this going in and I could argue I felt the same on the way out. Maybe the concept was over my head, but I think this just wasn't very good. Basically starts off as a Lifetime drama, turns into a Syfy orginal and your TV shuts off before you see the end.

And digging deep into comics I have no idea why I own:

Tap - A very indy book of the early 90s. I think the publisher put out a total of 4 books, and this here was 3 of them. Probably sold them out of his trunk too. These are awful, but a quick awful. I got a laugh out them at least. Best part was the letter page of issue 3 which covered the Marvel/Heroes World deal and a warning of what was to come.

Achilles Storm: Featuring Razmataz - Hey, this publisher put out 6 books. This may have been the worst thing I have every 'read'. And I say that in quotes because I got thru about 2/3 of the first issues stopped reading.

[Professor]

Bubblegun - Nice popcorn mini that was fun and quick. Exactly what I wanted.

[Dread]

Harbinger Wars vol 1: THIS is how you do a crossover. This tells the core story and the long history between Harada and Project Rising Spirit. Beautifully drawn. This is Valiant at its best and comic book world-building at its zenith.

Bloodshot vol 3: This is the Bloodshot end of Harbinger Wars. It is a wonderful errant knight with children in his charge story. Kind of like Lone Wolf and Cub if Cub was seven different kids with insanely radical powers. Lovin' it. I have never been a big Barry Kitson guy, but Kitson inked by Gaudiano is the tits.

Harbinger vol 3: I liked this the least of the three Harbinger Wars collections, but I still loved this. Khari Evans is fucking spectacular on this book. Beautiful art. Damn.

Trades: 89
Comics: 965
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 35

[Dread]

Quantum and Woody vol 2: Better than vol 1. This one features the guys landing at a redneck militia site that worships Quantum (because he wears a mask they don't know he's black) and they have to team up to face the contractor hired to hunt them. Still two lame jokes for every one that hits. Hard to do comic book comedy.

Shadowman vol 2: Good shit. Solid horror adventure pulp.

I have three more trades upstairs that have been read but I'm too lazy to grab them right now. Maybe later I'll edit them into this post.

Trades: 91
Comics: 965
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 35

[Dread]

Archie Meets Kiss: This was total fucking bullshit. A complete waste of time. The ONLY redeeming thing about this are the variant covers by Francavilla, but it's not like his art is at a premium right now. Awful.

Lone Ranger: Vindicated #1: This was an eight page transition piece spread out over 25 pages. Jesus.

Batman 66 vol 1: It's pretty good. Sometimes the art is very evocative. They can do things the show couldn't and there are a few fun little homages and jokes. It is completely 100% disposable. Will I ever read it again? No. Does it in anyway make me want to buy volume 2? No.

Batman 66: The Lost Episode: This is way worse. Len Wein knows better. Harlan Ellison, if comics have anything to say, wrote some fucking terrible TV scripts. Garcia Lopez seems to be doing everything possible not to make it in the style of the show. There is literally nothing of the 66 show in this issue. Terrible.

The Shadow vol 4: Kind of went out with a whimper. Overall, the series was really good, but this felt like it had nowhere to go from the beginning.

Magneto Infamous: Superb. There's something to be said for giving the audience exactly what it wants sometimes. This is the modern weakened Magneto mixed completely with the Nazi-hunting Fassbender version and FUCK is it superb? This is like a Donald Westlake novel. Violent and beautiful and fucking intense. If there's any justice, Cullen Bunn will be a Marvel Architect inside of three years and that will be sad, because he'll stop doing stuff like this. I was a little worried because I had ordered volume two before volume one showed up, but I'm now very glad I did and can't wait for it to show up.

Trades: 95
Comics: 967
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 35

[Dread]

Ravine vol 2: this is the second OGN by Sejic and Marz. Sejic writes it and Marz dialogues, assumedly because of the second language thing and there are a lot of words here. I don't like the writing or the story. It's not Sejic in general because I love what he's doing on Death Vigil. This is fantasy that verges more on the LOTR side of things rather than Conan. I can't stand that shit. The art is gorgeous, and such, I paid a lot more attention to it than I normally would. Someone like Sejic you think would be tempted to fill a book with double page splashes, but there are a lot of sequences where there are pages with 10 and more panels several times ina row, then BOOM, splash page. Smart storytelling. Just wish I gave a shit about the intricacies of the plot.

Resurrectionists #1: Holy shit, this is brutal. So dense and thevery premise doesn't make sense at all. Pass.

Uncanny X-Men vol 4: Bendis' formula is pretty clear. 4 and a half issues of people talking incessantly. Half issue of X-Men being attacked when a young X-man displays heavy powers and saves them all. Another issue of talking. That has been the format of all four volumes of this series. How people can think Bendis is so great is beyond me.

Ugh...time ot read some more Valiant comics to get some good stories.

Trades: 96
Comics: 968
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 36

[Koete]

How people can think Bendis is so great is beyond me.

Well you've bought four volumes of it so...

[Dread]

I have not bought four volumes. I was gifted the first two, bought the third one I bought at Comixology, and that last volume I stole. I certainly won't be reading anymore.

Nailbiter vol 1: Holy fuck, this is amazing.

Archer & Armstrong vol 3: Goddammit. So good. This is the closest I've ever seen to Nextwave outside of...you know, Nextwave. And, especially if you read the first two volumes, you have a much more emotional connection to the characters than you do in Nextwave. Outstanding. In this volume, A&A team up with a religious zealot and cave people to battle dinosaurs, the American military and alien fighter pilots in another dimension. Bonkers. Love it.

Quantum & Woody vol 3: Okay, this got pretty damned funny. The team got their steam. Unfortunately. this is the end of the series. So...bummer.

Trades: 99
Comics: 968
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 36

[Dread]

Eternal Warrior vol 1: This one collects the first four issues of this series. I like the art quite a bit, but I feel like there should be a stronger tie between the stories when they meld three timelines like that. I was left a little disappointed, but that probably has a lot to do with EW being my favorite Valiant character from the OG universe.

Trades: 100
Comics: 968
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 36

[Koete]

Nailbiter vol 1: Holy fuck, this is amazing.

NAILBITER/HACK/SLASH

HACK/SLASH/NAILBITER

(ONE SHOT)

STORY: JOSHUA WILLIAMSON

STORY: TIM SEELEY

ART: MIKE HENDERSON

ART: EMILIO LAISO

COVER: TIM SEELEY

COVER: MIKE HENDERSON

MARCH 4 / 40 PAGES / FC / M / $4.99

SERIAL KILLERS MEET SERIAL KILLER… KILLERS!

Cassie Hack vs. the Nailbiter! Vlad vs. the Lucha Eliminador! IT'S ON!

Two brand spanking new tales of terror by the creative teams of both Image hits!

TIM SEELEY returns to the character he created to give you a nasty blast from the past. If you've ever needed an excuse to read these two horrific comics, now is your chance!