Every comic you've read in 2017

[Venneh]

Angelic 2: Art continues to be amazing, Spurrier's puns can go to hell, interested to see how this plays out. 

Deadly Class 31: hey guys, remember Saya? Would sure be nice if the story remembered her. Like, neat interaction between the old and new kids, and nice that it's finally made clear that half this arc was a flashback I guess? I'm rapidly losing my patience with this. Craig's art is gorgeous as ever though. 

Glitterbomb: The Fame Game 2: Ehhhh. 

Underwinter: A Field of Feathers 1: Man, this horror would sure be way more effective if I could tell what was going on at all with the watercolors. 

Sherlock Frankenstein and the Legion of Evil 1: Spin off of Black Hammer, his daughter is trying to find her dad and is chasing down leads to try and find Sherlock Frankenstein. Black Hammer drinking game for every Marvel/DC knockoff you recognize still holds. Rubin does some gorgeous ass shit. 

Cardcaptor Sakura v 4-6: Found the second edition Tokyopop put out in the little free library in my neighborhood. Haven't read these since middle school. These each manage to be a good balance of moving the plot forward while doing little one shots, and CLAMP is just nuts on the details. v6 brings things to a head and sets up the sequel in a really good way. Also yeah, these were definitely a formative influence for babby queer me. 

Crosswinds 5: I keep reading this because we get it with the Image review copies, and man, every issue the art gets worse (but the story's at least kinda trying?). (I take it back this all apparently happened because two people were dicks to a random dude who has the power to body jump in an airport this is real fuckin' stupid)

Gravediggers Union 1: Unionized gravediggers/undead fighters try to figure out what the hell is going on with the sudden increase in zombies/ghost storms/etc. Craig's story is intriguing, and the art by Cypress (and a bit by Craig) is gorgeous. I'm in. 

Lazarus X+66 4: Fun little oneshot, two neat Lazaruses and an infiltration mission. 

No. 1 With a Bullet: *old man jerking off about social media using a young busty woman to TELL A STORY intensifies* What if social media was BAD, you guys??? This really wants to be Black Mirror, but it's not.

Coyotes 1: Alright, this has my attention. The men as wolves hunting down women thing taken literally, but the girls fighting back. Art's good too. 

Evolution 1: THERE'S SIX FUCKING NAMES ON THIS THING. There's no way this basic ass horror concept took three writers, two artists to execute. 

Port of Earth 1: Border Patrol, but for aliens. Solid concept, interesting art, I'd page through this. 

Rumble 1: Restarting with Rubin, and goddamn does he slam it out of the park on the art here. 

Zines: 15

Single Issues: 295

Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 98

Omnibuses: 4

[jim]

Your monthly "Christ, why did anyone think these panels were okay" Crosswind update:

[Dread]

Normandy Gold #2: Really has an exploitation vibe. Very much Thriller: A Cruel Picture meets Foxy Brown. Not the kind of faux-period stuff like the previous two Hard Case Crime comics (which I liked both in some degrees). This feels very authentic. If they ever made comics like this in the seventies, I would believe this was one of them.

Pestilence #3: Man, they sure know how to make a great premise really fucking boring.

Rapture #3: ok, I guess.

Superman #27: Ugh...didn't DC learn a lesson about Superman "meeting America"? This time, he's not walking, he's in an RV with his family. *I'm making an exaggerated eye roll face*

Royal City #5: lovely.

Secret Empire Brave New World #4: still not good.

Secret Empire #6: I'm liking this still.

Secret Weapons #2: there has never been a more severe switch in quality from a first issue to a second. After the first, I was like "Wow, this might be the best thing Valiant's ever done" and this one is one of the worst comics I've read in a very long time. I'd rather read the RV trip of the Kents all day than this shit. I quit.

Too Much Coffee Man Omnibus Plus: ok, I've read a little before in bits and pieces (I don't recall it being consistently published or maybe the comic stores never could stock it properly) but I totally planned to read this in little fits and starts, between other books, because while I liked TMCM from what i remember, I was well aware that 700 pages would be literally too much. Then I read it in one sitting. So that happened. This shit is genius. Fucking genius.

Comics: 1126

Trades: 30

Graphic Novels: 26

Omnibuses: 18

 

[Missy]

USAvengers #11: Very fun issue. If you ever wanted to see an Avengers / Archie crossover, this is the closest you'll get.

Wonder Woman #33: Baby Darkseid is so cute in his little hat!

Afterlife with Archie #1: Awesome!

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #1: Love the art in this one.

Jughead: The Hunger #1 (ongoing): Decent. Glad to see the made an ongoing out of the one-shot.

Batman #34: Mostly action, but great storytelling and I love the short Superman / Dick / Damian scene.

Comics: 469
Manga: 2

[Donomark]

Superman #32 (2016): This is a helluva intriguing story. Very solid.

Nightwing #32 (2016): Kinda whatever

Batman: White Knight #2: Still an interesting series with fun ties to B:TAS

Batman #34 (2016): Ok, THIS WAS BAD. First of all, Catwoman has no idea who Talia is, which goes against not only Rebirth but the very continuity King set up in the book with references to both Batman #1 (1940) and Batman: Year One. But really, the worst bit is the dialogue. Beyond the annoying "bat"/"cat" thing between Bruce and Selina, there's this out of place banter between the two interspersed with Selina giving Bruce shit about how they're going to see "his ex".  At the end, Batman gets stabbed with a sword, and collapses, and Selina yanks the sword out of him to fight Talia. A huge glob of blood splashes the page when she does that, but it's not commented on that she may've given Bruce permanent injury. It's like a gag from an animated comedy where you just hear Bruce screaming in agony. It's ridiculous. She ends the issue facing certain death by saying "Meow." as if that's an exclamation, as if it conveys any information. Also there's a scene of Damian just threatening to murder Superman for no reason. How many times are writers going to get this character wrong? He's been around for about ten years now, he's had lots of character development. Clark points out the obvious, that Jon Ken wouldn't appreciate such a bizarre act of betrayal. 

This was crap. The artwork was good for the most part, save for Catwoman's static expressions near the end, but this was really fucking bad throughout.

Bane Conquest: Still good, but not as investing as previous issues.

Iron Fist #74: This was a lot of fun. Very well paced, simple plot, and z-grade supervillains. I swear half the time I read a comic with a Marvel villain I have to search to find out if they're new characters and they rarely are. Never heard of the Serpent Society before. But the artwork is the best as always, and the Danny/Creed dynamic is engaging.

Captain America #695: Welcome back Cap

The Spectacular Spider-Man #6: I've been sleeping on this title, but this is easily the better ongoing starring Peter Parker. Great characterization and writing.

[Missy]

Captain America #695: This was a great-looking-but-generic story from start to finish, but the Superman-like reveal and the conspiracy theorist were fun.

Comics: 470
Manga: 2

[Missy]

Iron Fist #74: This is a major improvement on the previous issue, and I wish the Iron Fist / Sabretooth team-up turns into ongoing adventures.

Comics: 471
Manga: 2

[Dread]

Sisters of Sorrow #1: I thought this would be goofy nuns with guns bullshit once I realized this was written by Sons of Anarchy guy, but I was really pleasantly surprised.

Spencer & Locke #4: wonderful end to a truly cool, unique, twistedly nostalgic and emotionally-driven comic book.

Superb #1: Crazily, this issue told me more about the universe it inhabits than the first 3 or 4 issues of Noble (of which it shares a universe). Not new, but a new angle on a very old comic concept. Liked it a lot.

The Mighty Thor #21: feels like it's all coming to a head. I love War Thor.

The X-Files #16: this is so bold-faced, it should be terrible, but it isn't.

US Avengers #8: I get Iron Patriot's origin here which is nice because I'm sure the people following the AIM Avengers stuff with Dacosta already know. Good stuff. Fun issue.

Victor Lavalle's Destroyer #3: tight. Loved it. Victor Lavalle is going to be THE guy in genre culture to watch over the next ten years. Just watch.

Winnebago Graveyard #2: partial homage to The Shadow Over Innsmouth, but with a whole family instead of an awkard library researcher. Lovercraft didn't DO families.

X-Men Gold #8: fucking great. LOVED Kitty Pryde here. Colossus gets two great moments in this issue. When's the last time that happened?

Comics: 1134

Trades: 30

Graphic Novels: 26

Omnibuses: 18

 

[Dread]

Kill or Be Killed vol 2: really liking this. The noose is tightening, but it's moving at a leisurely pace.

The Black Sinister: this was not my cup of tea.

Manara Library vol 2: this contains El Guacho, which is vintage pure Manara. It's a tale of colonialism, a little swashbuckling, a lot of sexiness, a hint of rape (male AND female) and a tragic core. It's about as vintage Manara as it gets. The rest of the volume contains the one other thing than Fumetti that would be more Italian is the weird educational comics work. It's early Manara and the art style, while still brilliant, would fit more in the Picture Bible or Classics Illustrated. It's a LOT of 10-ish page stories called Trial by Jury where various historical figures (Attila the Hun, Helen of Troy, Yamamoto and even Oppenheimer) have to defend themselves to a judge for the questionable/horrible things they did in history. Some of them were pretty good, but I wouldn't recommend reading 150 pages of them in one go.

The Damned vol 1: ehhhh...this was ok.

The Damned #1: the second volume, also not great. It's the world I'm interested in, but it doesn't hit me right.

Comics: 1135

Trades: 33

Graphic Novels: 26

Omnibuses: 19

[Missy]

Detective Comics #968: An okay conclusion, but not as satisfying as I had hoped.

Comics: 472
Manga: 2

[Donomark]

1 hour ago, The Master said:

Detective Comics #968: An okay conclusion, but not as satisfying as I had hoped.

Comics: 472
Manga: 2

I thought it was solid, but I'll agree that it felt like more could've gone down. Like there was just one more chapter to have.

Action Comics #990: Similar to Detective in that I was expecting more, but I really liked the final few pages.

Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #16: Pretty neat team-up with virtually every major female crime fighter and costumed character in DC. If these characters all stick around to expand on the BOP, I'd be happy.

Spider-Man #234: Biggest surprise in the issue for me is that the Hobgoblin's back. I'm confused as to which girl is Barbara and which is Lana. Which one was on Youtube in issue #2 fangirling about Miles' ethnicity?

[Missy]

Jessica Jones #14: Very solid issue.

Comics: 473
Manga: 2

[Missy]

Daredevil #595: The Kingpin is mayor of NYC (when did this happen?), which Matt missed because he was in China. Lots of exposition later, Daredevil is arrested because Fisk has an ax to grind. This was not the return to Daredevil I was hoping for.

Moon Knight #188: Very interesting.

Comics: 475
Manga: 2

[Donomark]

Is Soule still on Daredevil?

[Missy]

Yup.

[Dread]

Action Comics #984: ok, did not see it going this way. Craziness.

BPRD The Devil You Know #1: this was alright. Not enough to read more.

Black Hammer #11: solid.

Blood Brothers Hermanos de Sangre #2: not good.

Captain America Sam Wilson #24: solid. Is this the end? I think so.

Captain America Steve Rogers #19: wait...are they trying to make him sympathetic?

Detective Comics #961: this was alright. Not as good as it's been lately.

I Am Groot #3: this is fucking bonkers dumb. Don't get how they pushed it off the ledge so heavily. I'm out.

Iceman #3: the worst of the issues so far, but still better than most.

Infamous Iron man #10: not the best.

John Carpenter's Tales of Science Fiction Vault #1: that's a mouthful. Pretty good, actually.

Occupy Avengers #9: fucking great. Really fucking good. The best SE tie-in so far from everything I've read. This is so much like the Liberty legion angle I was pushing in my fan-fic when I was writing it.

Justice League of America #11: I've never been much of a Ray guy, but this was really good.

PAKLIS #3: no idea what's going on here. I think the experiment is over. Still pretty-looking though.

Plastic #4: so fucking good.

Secret Empire #7: I like where they're going.

Shirtless Bearfighter #2: ridiculous fun.

Suicide Squad #22: the angle of Harley leading the team is crazy but good. 

'Namwolf #4: Decent end, I guess.

Faith and the Future Force #1: pretty good. I'll read more.

Comics: 1155

Trades: 33

Graphic Novels: 26

Omnibuses: 19

[jim]

Falcon #2: Well, I suppose they toned down the Nation Of Islam flavored racism this time around, but it's still a literal white devil manipulating black and brown people for his own ego. Anyway. Can anyone who'se current in 616 tell me if Galactus is evil now? Because he's in the background of a panel of powerful beings talking about their greatest successes and failures? Last I checked (and it's been a minute) he's usually portrayed as a force of nature who'se aware of what he's doing and kind of sad about it, so seeing it here in this context throws me off.

Edited November 11, 2017 by jim
bolding

[Dread]

On 11/10/2017 at 5:21 PM, jim said:

Falcon #2: Well, I suppose they toned down the Nation Of Islam flavored racism this time around, but it's still a literal white devil manipulating black and brown people for his own ego. Anyway. Can anyone who'se current in 616 tell me if Galactus is evil now? Because he's in the background of a panel of powerful beings talking about their greatest successes and failures? Last I checked (and it's been a minute) he's usually portrayed as a force of nature who'se aware of what he's doing and kind of sad about it, so seeing it here in this context throws me off.

I know that there was a lot of Galactus fuckery going on in the recent Ultimates series. Probably there. He usually barely speaks historically. Even then, he doesn't succeed or fail; Galactus hungers. That white devil was manipulating white people in the Sam Wilson Cap series a few months back. He left off as a NoI type, so they're following up on that, I guess.

Redneck #4: pretty good.

The Normals #3: still good.

Weapon X #6: shit got popping off.

X-Men Blue #8: great as always.

All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #7: literally remember nothing of this. 

Batman #28: Not impressed with the War of Jokes and Riddles thus far.

Champions #11: ehhhhh

Dead of Winter #1: this book has a dog in a cape saving people from zombies. So...yeah. Thumbs up.

Elsewhere #1: I actually have a story idea featuring Amelia Earhart that DOESN'T stink, so it's got that in opposition to this.

Extremity #6: crazy great violent moment in this one. That said: I'm still not connected to this book, so I'm out.

Galaktikon #1: Brendon Small's comic baseed on his concept album. Funny as hell. And his droid's language is lettered as guitar tablature. I mean, he lists the gear needed to make those noises, and I don't have it all, but I still appreciate that on a very high level.

Generations Banner Hulk & The Totally Awesome Hulk #1: now I don't need to read any of these Generations books. What a dumb fucking idea.

Ghost Station Zero #1: Terrrrrrrible.

Lark's Killer #1: Definitely not my bag. Looks good though.

Comics: 1169

Trades: 33

Graphic Novels: 26

Omnibuses: 19

 

[Missy]

Batman #35: Some heartwarming moments, but how does Selina hold even a sliver of a chance against Talia in a sword fight? Hell, the story outright says Catwoman has only held a sword once or twice before -- if that -- whereas Talia was practically born with one in her hand. So how does this fight even happen?

That said, Joëlle Jones is an amazing artist and I will be looking for her work from now on. The panel where Holly balls her eyes out is so genuine.

Comics: 476
Manga: 2

[Davedevil]

She did a few issues of the Vertigo book Madame Xanadu that were really good. She also drew (and wrote the second volume I believe) Lady Killer for Dark Horse and Supergirl: Being Super. Love her stuff.

[Missy]

When she inks herself, as she did on Batman, her work stands out more. What little I've seen of Being Super was good, but the inker made her lines too harsh for my taste.

[Donomark]

Batman #35: Better than the last issue IMO, the Damian and Dick scenes really work well. But the whole fight is stupid, and for seemingly no reason. Catwoman beats Talia in a swordfight despite losing for 9/10ths of it because King decided the plot needed her to, I guess. She spends the whole fight losing until she wins on the last panel. I don't know what the point of this two-parter was aside from muddying up continuity even further and have Catwoman be kind of annoying.

The Batman Who Laughs: This was...really fucked up. It met the dark-ass hype Tynion and Snyder were ramping up on Twitter. Manoman...

[Donomark]

Amazing Spider-Man #791: Decent I s'pose. I find how Slott writes women to be very samey. They're constantly smug and dickish. The artwork was better but Peter's hair looked like whipped cream.

Peter Parker-The Spectacular Spider-Man: Solid in every way. Chip Zdarsky has given us a couple of really cool Spider-Man images I can safely say I've never seen before. I can't say how much I've missed this kind of writing for the character.

Champions #14: Good, not great. Crossover baggage.

Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider#10: Good development.

Superman #35 (2016): Awesome! Great Fourth World action with a killer final page!

Incredible Hulk #710: I'm not familiar with Sakaar or these alien characters, so this really bounced off of me.

 

[Missy]

Defenders #7: The Deadpool recap pages are actually rather funny, the Iron Fist / Elektra fight is brutal, and holy shit they pulled the trigger on the thing they pulled the trigger on!

Comics: 477
Manga: 2

[Missy]

Doctor Strange #381: Oh man, this is so damn good!

Comics: 478
Manga: 2