Every comic you've read in 2016

[Venneh]

Insexts 7: Again, Marguerite gets to throw feminist venom for ~20 pages along with some great body horror, and Ariela gets to draw some crazy goddamn shit. A+ ladies, good arc end.

I Hate Fairyland 8: Young continues the insanity with a guest artist as he takes on fighting video games. Good to peek my head back in on this, I've been out of the loop with the whole unemployed thing.

Rai 16: Circles nicely back to the beginning of the series, which I was expecting, but damn, well done. Cafu settled nicely by the end of this arc, and it's been slowly looking more and more like Crain, which I think might've been Kindt's goal as he got closer to the beginning of the timeline. Well done.

Single Issues: 277
TPBs/Collections: 89
Digital First Issues: 11

Edited August 21, 2016 by Venneh

[Donomark]

Green Arrow #5 (2016): Decent

Batman #5: Actually kind of good with a really funny opening.

Outsiders vol.2: Still engaging, character driven. It's not perfect tho. Huntress is on the team for all of five minutes and is really only there to bitch at Nightwing. I liked that better when Chuck Dixon did it in Dick's title. The Black Lightning/CM3 storyline was pretty good.The Fearsome Five arc was alright. Some of the more obscure villains of DC get killed off without much fanfare. Winnick's style still annoys me though. It never goes too long before the dialogue has someone make a crude joke or throw out really salty language. There's no real sense that the book needs that or calls for it. It's just stronger material for the sake of it, and it hinders the comic. There was a great issue with Roy Harper recovering from getting shot and nearly dying, so Winnick does know how to make the series character driven.

 

[Donomark]

Batman: Child of Dreams by Kia Asamiya: A 400 page two part story written and illustrated by Mangaka Kia Asamiya (Translated in English by Max Allen Collins). This was a very enjoyable read. A lot of the major super heroes take to the manga style of storytelling well, and Batman's no exception. This is also a blatant love letter from a very talented fan who's clearly doing the Tim Burton/Michael Keaton aesthetic, which is obvious even before you read the interview with him at the end of the trade. The story plays out like a film. Very slowly paced but that only serves to heighten the eerie atmosphere, the central mystery and Batman's aura. Every scene where the Bat-Signal flares into the night sky is the best showing that thing's ever gotten. Goes without saying that I really enjoyed the artwork, which is well tailored with the dramatic writing. Very fun read that's highly recommended.

[Dread]

Lucas Stand #2: This is pretty fun. I really like this.

Lucifer #8: Also pretty great.

New Suicide Squad #22: Wow...this is a pretty terrible finale (faux finale, really) but it isn't even a SS story. This is a Harley Quinn fill-in they realized they had no room for and decided to throw it out in a SS issue. That's fucking terrible. Were they actually worried they couldn't put out a oneshot story and it wouldn't sell? I mean, she's as overblown as Deadpool and Squirrel Girl. They should have just put it out that way, and that would have made it so I wouldn't be in danger of accidentally reading it.

Nighthawk #3: Solid.

Nova #9: Kind of fun, actually. Mole Man's son attacks New York and Nova is the only hero around except THE CAPTAIN. So fun.

Oblivion #1: I literally have ZERO recollection of this.

Rock & Stone #1: A mediocre Delcourt graphic novel.

Second Sight #6: Crazy ending to a crazy series.

Snotgirl #1: So, Bryan O'Malley believes that one can create a comic cast with vapid and moronic, unfunny and reprehensible characters but it's ok as long as one of them has snot dripping down her face? Fuck him. Fuck this book and fuck anyone who likes it. WORST COMIC of the year.

Comics: 826
Trades: 37

Graphic Novels: 31

Omnibuses: 10

[Donomark]

Nightwing #3: I was actually liking this well enough until Batgirl bitched out Dick Grayson for the umpteenth time. It's seriously the go-to emotion writers have been giving with her for the past six or seven years.

Detective Comics #939: Good issue made great by Eddy Barrows returning. This comic goes back and forth between being a solid Batwoman ongoing to a solid Tim Drake ongoing, and this issue was the latter.

Action Comics #962: Good like all the other ones have been and THANK GOD the Doomsday fight is over now. That was about to kill this book.

Superman #5 (2016): Really good mainly due to the Doug Mahnke artwork.

The Ultimates #10 (2016): Another good Civil War II tie-in, although not the best because I'm not a fan of spontaneous fighting.

Civil War II: The Fallen #1: Excellent follow-up to Civil War II #3 concerning the death of the Hulk with all of his supporting characters.

Sam Wilson: Captain America #12: Really very good. After that Manwolf crap this comic's back on track.

[Donomark]

Batman: Bane of the Demon: A four part prelude to Batman: Legacy that follows up on what happened to Bane post-Knightfall. Classic illustration by Graham Nolan, this is a master class in characterization. Everything you know and love about Bane, Talia and Ra's Al Ghul is presented here in pristine perfection by Chuck Dixon. Their personalities, motivations and goals are all on display, and it is fucking awesome. If you have any sort of affinity for these three characters, you need to read this miniseries, as it's easily in the top three stories for them of all time.

[Professor]

Helen Killer - Thought this was going to be a horror book with Helen Keller as the scary monster.  Turn out, this is Wild Wild West with Helen Keller as Daredevil.   And no where near as fun as that sentence should be.

Madrox - I have like zero knowledge of the X-Factor corner of the X-books.  This did nothing to make me change that fact,

Comics: 157 (17)
Graphic Novels: 7
Trade Paperbacks: 8 (41)

Edited August 25, 2016 by Professor

[Venneh]

Catch up time. 

Another Castle 3-4: On the one hand, I like that this series actually takes a look at what Misty will really need to do to save both their kingdoms, beyond just straight up killing the bad guy. However, there's some weird politics in here about effecting change that's clearly a not so veiled criticism of the comics industry that's kinda eye rolly. Also, 99% sure this is Wheeler instructed, but anyone we're supposed to find attractive according to the story is drawn with a vaguely Asian look to their characters, which seems... slightly fetishy? Paulina does a great job on the art here, though. 

Cry Havoc 5-6: Review of this coming on the podcast. Going to go back and look at it as a whole again too when we do record. 

I Hate Fairyland 6-7: I wasn't sure how Skottie was going to keep the momentum going here, honestly, so I'm glad to see that he's managed to do so pretty damn well. Constant low grade insanity with some really good gags, and just fun to read, too. 

Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy 1: Adorable crossover, not the normal teams working on either except on the covers. Intriguing enough start, I'll probably tune in when it comes out in trade. 

Weirdworld 6: Manages some really great wrap up moments in the middle of pretty abruptly slamming the brakes on things and trying to wrap things up after the lol you're cancelled news came through. Del Mundo is fucking gorgeous as ever on this. 

The Mighty Thor 7-10: I can leave the breather story that they put in seven. The story that they've got spinning for the new arc (that they are decidedly thumbing their noses at Civil War II with) I'm incredibly interested to see play out, especially as they bought back Oubliette from YA/Marvel Boy to play. Dauterman and Wilson are absofuckinglutely gorgeous as ever. 

The Ultimates 8-10: Manages to do really well for the Civil War II crossover and at least attempts to contextualize why they're turning Carol into the new Tony Stark, in term of the MU's most hated character. However, what I'm here for most is America Chavez doing what she promised to do if the team ever overstepped their bounds. Fuck. Yes. 

The Vision 8-10: Best fucking series that Marvel is putting out, hands down. We've only got two issues left of this, and I can't wait to see how this plays out. The way King has been using the slow build of dread and everything falling into place has been perfect. It has to be done after this twelve issue run, right? There's nowhere anyone could take it competently post this run, I don't think. Also, holy fuck Jordie Bellaire's coloring on this series. 

Single Issues: 294
TPBs/Collections: 89
Digital First Issues: 11

Edited August 26, 2016 by Venneh

[Dread]

Sombra #1: yeah, I'm into this.

Spider-Man #6: ehhh...it was alright.

Squadron Supreme #9: still one of the best things about Marvel now.

Superman #3: why am I so excited about the Eradicator?

Tales from the Darkside #2: so good. Looking forward to the second half of this story.

The Astonishing Ant-Man #10: this has really slid into the shitter.

The Hellblazer Rebirth #1: ok. I'm in for a little longer, especially if WW, Shazam and Swamp Thing are around.

The Hunt #1: I love the Celtic folkloric overtones.

The Violent #5: ends harshly, as it lived.

Comics: 835
Trades: 37

Graphic Novels: 31

Omnibuses: 10

[Missy]

Superman #3: why am I so excited about the Eradicator?

Right? Not only am I digging his updated look, there's a reason he's Clark's doppelganger, and I finally get his deal. He's not a villain, but, rather, a force of nature. He can't not do what he's doing to Jon.

[Dread]

Postal vol 3: so fucking good. I hope they continue to tell insular stories within the setting for a little while before pushing forward with the inevitable end.

Gullivera: Manara's storytelling is legendary and this is one of his finest works. At the same time of it being a 1970s-ish nudie-cutie version of the original, it manages to be a pretty faithful adaptation of Gulliver's Travels (as much as a 60 page graphic novel can be). Sexy funny and brilliantly rendered.

Comics: 835
Trades: 38

Graphic Novels: 32

Omnibuses: 10

 

[Dread]

Superman #3: why am I so excited about the Eradicator?

Right? Not only am I digging his updated look, there's a reason he's Clark's doppelganger, and I finally get his deal. He's not a villain, but, rather, a force of nature. He can't not do what he's doing to Jon.

I know I'm two issues behind but I'm really stoked to read the next two.

[Missy]

Faith (ongoing) #1: Even though half of this issue was a recap of all that's come before, it was well-told and the new material added to the characters and world.

Was it just me, or was Faith being a little touchy? I hope they come back to this, otherwise she looks like a bit of a jerk to her friends.

Spider-Man #7: Uh-oh, indeed!

Comics: 397

[Davedevil]

How to Talk to Girls at Parties - Moon and Ba adapt the short story. And wow. They make the story really come alive with their art. They were the perfect choice to do this book.

Batgirl #1 - Good issue with really nice Albuquerque art. Fun set-up.

Blue Beetle Rebirth - Takes a while to find its footing. Most of the dialogue didn't feel right. The set-up's good though, and so's the art.

The Flash #2 - Not feeling it.

Superwoman #1 - Pretty fantastic. 

Black Widow #6 - Lightest issue plot-wise so far, but it was still good.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #10 - Pretty unusual (at least for me) to see a teen hero being a role model to an even younger hero, so there's that. The conversation was handled well.

The Ultimates #10 - Great to see Carol's motivations(read: character assassination) being questioned. I don't really want to see this team fight, I'm just anticipating the confrontation with Thanos.

Web Warriors #10 - One of the more unremarkable issues of this run. Killer cliffhanger though.

[Missy]

All-New Wolverine Annual #1: A 1980s-style body-swap issue? Yes, please!

Comics: 398

[Venneh]

4001 AD 4: More on this on the podcast. But: this has to be at least a pause for the Rai run for now, right? 

Single Issues: 295
TPBs/Collections: 89
Digital First Issues: 11

[Professor]

Fantastic Four: The End - I know that I read the X-Men 'The End' books.  I know I did.  Don't remember a lick.  I think this will share the same fate. 

Tarzan vs. Predator - At the Earth's Core - I don't believe I have read/watched anything Tarzan outside of the shortlived WB series that I had to google to make sure it wasn't Jungle Book.  That said, I really enjoyed this, for an issue.  At four issues it felt really padded with about ten subplots too many.

Superman: Lois & Clark - I'll be honest, I picked these up thinking they were television based, akin to Batman 66.  After that disappointment set in, I enjoyed this as much as I could.  That is to say, I felt I was missing large chunks of a bigger overall story.

Comics: 174 (17)
Graphic Novels: 7
Trade Paperbacks: 8 (41)

[Donomark]

 

Superman: Lois & Clark - I'll be honest, I picked these up thinking they were television based, akin to Batman 66.  After that disappointment set in, I enjoyed this as much as I could. 

Hahahahaha

The Amazing Spider-Man #17 (vol.4): The writing in this is beyond banal. Long-running characters just die, only to pop up again the next page as clones like a fucking video game.

[Missy]

Superman: Lois & Clark - I'll be honest, I picked these up thinking they were television based, akin to Batman 66.  After that disappointment set in, I enjoyed this as much as I could.  That is to say, I felt I was missing large chunks of a bigger overall story.

I think the Convergence miniseries might help fill in the gaps, but, having not read it, I cannot say for sure.

[Dread]

Uncanny X-Men #10: thankfully, Apocalypse Wars is over. Onward and upward (hopefully)

Weird Detective #2: yup. I'm in.

Action Comics #960: I'm not sure if people who were reading Superman before Rebirth know about this Clark Kent thing, but I'ma  little mystified.

Action Man #2: I think I'm out.

All-New Avengers #12: Pretty solid.

American Monster #4: Weird detour.

Animosity #1: Not good.

Archie #10: I really do not dig this artist. Fiona Staples spoiled me. Story's good, but the art? Blech.

Batman #4: Hardcore.

Clara After Dark 4: More sexy comedy from Bernet.

Black-Eyed Kids #4: Getting really good. Interesting they took this long game method. Ballsy.

Blood & Dust #1: I really enjoyed it even though I went in blind.

Comics: 846
Trades: 38

Graphic Novels: 33

Omnibuses: 10

[Donomark]

Batgirl #2 (2016): This is a weird read. Barbara's motives aren't well defined and are leading her into random situations, like becoming an MMA fighter in Singapore. Hope Larson's trying a bit too hard to go for that "relatability" vibe, and it really feels forced. On top of that, the artwork isn't as cool as it was in issue one. Rafael Albuquerque draws some panels that make Barbara look downright ugly. 

[Donomark]

Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #2: Meh

Ms. Marvel #10 (2016): Solid yet again

Spider-Man #7 (2016): Pretty good issue. Civil War II has really been good for this book.

[Koete]

The Punisher Vol. 5 #1-12 and Vol. 6 #1-7, 13-37 by Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon, Darick Robertson, Tom Mandrake, Cam Kennedy, and John McCrea - Read these last month when I got a free month of Marvel Unlimited. I haven't read a lot of comics with Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon, or The Punisher, so I thought I'd correct all three at once. The ending of the first issue of "Welcome Back, Frank" is a perfect encapsulation of the character, especially how Ennis reasserts who he is in light of the failure of Angel Punisher. With the copycats that Ennis introduces in the story, he bolds and underlines that Frank Castle isn't a hero or an aspirational solution to crime. The stories that follow are one and two parters mixing roomfuls of criminals getting wiped out with Ennis' brand of humor, giving way to longer stories later in the run. Reading a bunch of these issues in a row, the violence gets repetitive after awhile, but the cumulative effect of so many dead at the hands of a man who derives no emotion from it is simultaneously haunting. Dillon has a stock company of faces he uses, but between him being in the top tier of current artists able to imbue lines on paper with life, and the acknowledged nature of criminals being like a hydra, it doesn't take away from the art at all. When Ennis tapped into black comedy, I found the book hilarious, but the more juvenile and goofy bits, like The Russian coming back with breasts and the little people mobsters, usually left me cold. The final story may have drawn out the joke too long, but I found Ennis' disregard for superheroes, from Spider-Man getting beaten down to the ideological confrontation with Daredevil (which read much better on the page than in the Daredevil TV show) to the ol' Canucklehead Wolverine, very entertaining. With Ennis' naturalistic dialogue and Dillon's controlled pacing in the artwork, it's easy to see why the run was considered ripe for adapting to film. It's amusing when Ennis has a point of social commentary to make, as the to the point banter gives way to massive word balloons of text that lay out exactly what Ennis wants to say. I can't explain how it happens, maybe it's because Ennis and Dillon already knew each other so well from their previous collaborations, but Dillon quickly just is the definitive look of The Punisher. I think because Dillon pays so much attention to his facial expressions and body language, the book has an ever present humanity to it, even though you're following a shell of a man endlessly killing criminals. In fact, Ennis and Dillon so thoroughly create the world of The Punisher that the story arcs with guest artists always feel slightly off.  The horror of "Hidden" wouldn't have felt disgusting without Tom Mandrake's art, and Ennis' take on Wolverine wouldn't have been such a delight without Darick Robertson's berserker dirtball depiction of the character, but Dillon stays in a corner of your mind. Some of the artists have a depiction of Castle that is just different enough from Dillon that the disconnect is greater than with the others. The run has its problems, and I'm sure the MAX run blows it away, but it offers a good answer to the impossible question of how to create a modern Punisher comic set in the Marvel Universe. 

[Dread]

Brutal Nature #4: this sure is a beautiful series with a story that doesn't matter in the slightest.

Captain America Steve Rogers #3: eh, I'm bored.

Carnage #10: pretty solid

Civil War II Kingpin #2: garbage. I'm out.

Civil War II Ulysses Infinite Comic #3: more garbage. Done.

Civil War II #4: it's ok. 

Crossed Badlands #100: what a finale! Consistently the best horror comic ever that's run 100 issues.

Cryptocracy #2: interesting, but not as good as the first issue.

Howard the Duck The Complete Collection vol 3:the first of these complete collections to not include a page of Gerber. As such, it suffers. Mantlo writes most of it and Colan draws at least one story in each magazine, so that's good. Bonus is the Duckworld issue drawn by Michael Golden. Interestingly enough, this is 400 pages and includes issues #2-7 of the magazine. The magazine ran 2 more issues, so in order for it to be a "complete collection" it should also contain the last two published issues of the magazine and the issue of the comic Gerber came back to write. There's also an unpublished story that Shooter hated so much, he canned that I hope gets covered in volume 4. If there's a volume four.

Comics: 854
Trades: 38

Graphic Novels: 33

Omnibuses: 11

[Dan]

The Incredible Hulk Omnibus vol. 1: collects The Incredible Hulk (1962) #1-6, the Hulk stories from Tales to Astonish #59-101, and The Incredible Hulk (1968) #102.

Okay, this was pretty fun, if wildly uneven. I don't think I've ever read a run of comics that took so long to figure out what it was doing, and even by the very last issue, the Hulk isn't quite where he's going to be. Those first six issues, though, will give you whiplash. He's evil! No, he's just kind of an asshole! No, he's a puppet under Rick Jones' mental command! No, he's got the mind of Bruce Banner! No, wait, he's back to being a dumb monster! Cancelled!

After a year of guest appearances all over the Marvel Universe (none of which are included here), he gets a co-starring feature in Astonish, and here's where things begin to coalesce. The stories themselves are pretty standard sixties Marvel stuff, with Commie spies, space aliens, and time travel sitting side by side with the Army just making life miserable for the Hulk, and the obligatory soap opera elements provided by Glen Talbot being in love with Betty Ross while she's in love with Bruce Banner while he's busy turning into a huge green punch dispenser while Rick Jones hangs out with the crackerjack team of ham radio enthusiasts that the kids enjoy reading about so much. It's very strange that the Hulk is written so inconsistently, seeing as how Stan Lee wrote every word in this book (with the exception of the vary last issue); the Hulk's intelligence level goes up and down from issue to issue, and Stan can't seem to settle on exactly how smart the Hulk should be. Further, is the Hulk a misunderstood simpleton who wants to be left alone, or is he a gigantic asshat who will tear your entire city apart because he thinks it'd be fun to do that today? I don't know, and neither does Stan. The nature of the split book format really works for the title, though; each entry is only eight to eleven pages long, so the stories are quick and punchy, and things move at a very quick pace.

The art is really, really weird. Every now and then it looks terrific; issue #2 of the first series is penciled by Jack Kirby and inked by Steve Ditko, and it's gorgeous. The vast majority of the volume, primarily the Astonish material, is a parade of extremely famous and talented artists who are not doing even close to their best work, however. We see Ditko, John Buscema, Bill Everett, Gil Kane, even Kirby himself, churning out what looks to be rushed and sloppy art. The last year or so is handled by Marie Severin, and she's a huge improvement overall, as she can switch from action to character moments with ease.

Overall, this was very enjoyable. I burned through two thirds of it in one sitting, It moves quickly and manages to switch things up frequently enough that the fact that it's really just a parade of the Hulk punching things doesn't drag it down.