Every comic you've read in 2021

[Missy]

Go!

[Dread]

Die #2: I can't explain why, but I'm out. Not grabbing me.

Gunning for Hits #1: Decent. Not worth following though.

Heroes in Crisis #4: still digging this.

Infinity Wars Infinity #1: waste of time.

Man Without Fear #1, 2: Nawww...I'm good.

Marvel Knights 20th #5: It's losing its shine a bit but there's only one more to go.

Murder Falcon #4: still really fun.

Outer Darkness #3: Yeah, I'm out. Taking its sweet time. Time that I don't have,

Prodigy #2: yeah, this is not good.

Shatterstar #4: you know, for a character I've never cared about, this is a really good series.

Suicide Squad Black Files #3: ultimately, the Katana story is still not great, but the Black Team story is rad.

The Freeze #2: yeah, I'm bored by this. Too bad. Great premise.

• Issues: 13
• Trades: 0
• Omnibus: 0
• Graphic Novel: 0

[Missy]

Action Comics #267, 276, 287, 289; Adventure Comics #247, 267, 282, 290, 293; Superboy #86, 89, 98; Superman #147: All part of my read-through of early Legion of Super-Heroes stories. Mostly good fun.

All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder #1-10: The first four issues are better than most people remember, because the last six are trash.

Archie v Predator #1-4: This goes places you would not expect an Archie comic to go.

Batman / Elmer Fudd Special: All-time classic.

Captain America #1-13 (1998), Annual 1998: For a thing.

Captain Marvel #1-5 (2016): Great looking. Story was okay.

Daredevil #20-32, Annual #1 (1964): Gene Colan saved this book. It's up and down, but his art is always astonishing.

Doctor Who: The Third Doctor #1-5: A love letter to the Jon Pertwee era.

Fangs: A wholesome graphic novel about a vampire and werewolf in the beginning of a romantic relationship.

Green Arrow #1-5 (2001): I gave up.

Green Arrow: The Wonder Year #1-4: Starts off rather strongly, then peters out.

Green Lantern 85-86 (1960): The two-part "Snowbirds Don't Fly" / Speedy does dope storyline. Part one is a stone-cold classic. Part two misses the landing.

Green Lantern v Aliens #1-4: Super quick read, but it looks great.

Heroes in Crisis #1-9: Garbage!

James Bond: The Body #1-6: A brutal, bloody take on Bond.

JLA: The Nail #1-3: Deserves every bit of praise it's received.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1-5: Big, stupid fun.

Star Trek / Green Lantern: The Spectrum War #1-6 and Star Trek / Green Lantern: Stranger Worlds #1-6: Did not stop smiling during this 12-issue crossover.

Superman #76 (1939): The first-ever meeting of Superman and Batman. More on this in a moment.

Superman v The Terminator: Death to the Future #1-4: It was okay.

Superman: Earth One, v1: Decent, but not enough meat on the bone, and the coloring is so damn drab.

Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #32: Lois accidentally splashes a de-aging potion on Superman, turning him into a baby who she spends the rest of the issue taunting for plot reasons. Comic books are fun.

What If? #8 (1977): It was okay.

Wolverine #1-4 (1982): There's a reason Wolverine became Wolverine, and it's this comic.

World's Finest Comics #71-91 (1941): This is my go-to feel-good comic. Superman, Batman, and Robin getting into crazy Silver Age shenanigans is all kinds of awesome.

Young Heroes in Love #1-6: Decent book from late 90s DC.

TOTAL: 157

[Donomark]

Fightin' 5 #40, The Peacemaker #1 (1967), Peacemaker #1-#4 (1988):

Read the first appearance, first of his brief ongoing and the Post-Crisis DC Comics revamp of the character The Peacemaker. Started out as a backup feature in the series Fightin' 5, Christopher Smith is a peaceful diplomat and "pacifist" who simultaneously dons a costume and array of gadgets and weapons whenever he deems there's no choice but to engage in violence with those who would do violence unto others. The artwork is reminiscent of Charlton era Ditko, but less good. The character himself is a screaming hypocrite, and therefore unlikable, although I find it interesting that he's explicitly an older character with Reed Richards hair.

Then I read the 80s revamp after DC acquired the Charlton characters. This series dives into the maniacal hypocrisies of the character, maybe a bit too far. "He'll fight for peace, so much so that he's willing to kill for it!" was the mantra of the Charlton original (with "fight" in place of "kill"), and with this version he's regularly haunted by the spirit of his nazi father. This series knows that the character they're working with is insane, but it still posits him as a hero and doesn't do too much to interrogate his actions beyond a requisite "He's crazy! Anyway..." tone. 

[Dread]

The Punisher #6: holy shit. Where are they going with this? This truly is the golden age of Punisher comics.

Turok #1: I really want a good Turok comic.This isn't it.

Uncanny X-Men #8, 9: this is crazy. Love Legion stories.

Wolverine the Long Night #1: I was prepared to not give this the time of day, but I really like it. This is the comic adaptation of the audio drama, right?

X-23 #8: Not sure how long we're going to beat the dead clone horse here, but here we are.

Asgardians of the Galaxy #5: the first one of these I didn't like.

Babyteeth #14: goddamn. This is fucking good.

Black Widow #1: this is the Soska sisters' run, and it starts off pretty well.

Conan the Barbarian #2: ok, this one I really enjoyed.

Fantastic Four #6: solid.

Hawkman #8: yeah, I'm out.

Injustice Gods Among Us Year Four Volume 2: still fucking great.

• Issues: 25
• Trades: 1
• Omnibus: 0
• Graphic Novel: 0

[Missy]

3 hours ago, Dread said:

Wolverine the Long Night #1: I was prepared to not give this the time of day, but I really like it. This is the comic adaptation of the audio drama, right?

From my understanding, it is. Have you listened to the audio version? I got maybe 2/3 of the way through, but got distracted by other content. I need to go back to finish it up.

[Dread]

2 hours ago, The Master said:

From my understanding, it is. Have you listened to the audio version? I got maybe 2/3 of the way through, but got distracted by other content. I need to go back to finish it up.

I haven't. I have a very low attention span for audio drama, which is weird coming from someone who planned and scripted one of his own that went nowhere.

I like the idea, and the setup is a little on the nose being that Logan is obviously being set up as the killer in the first issue, but I enjoy the peripheral characters who are the only ones you actually hang out with in issue one.

[Dread]

Invaders #1:I read this when I was in the cups, and couldn't remember a page of it. Then I reread it and actually teared up twice. What a great first issue. Love the Invaders and this is the right way of going about telling more of their story.

Justice League Dark #7: this was really fucking cool. An anthology story featuring Man-Bat as the Cryptkeeper setting up the next big bad. Solid.

Marvel Comics Presents #1: this was really fun. All the stories were good. Of course, it's anchored by Wolverine as the original was. Loved the Namor story.

Return of Wolverine #4: pretty forgettable.

Uncanny X-Men #10: this is dipping into the Age of X-Man event which I'll be checking out next.

Uncanny X-Men Annual 1: great! Reintroducing Cyclops. 

Blossoms 666 #1: terrible.

Crypt of Shadows #1: a fun throwback horror comic with some great stories. It's an 80th anniversary of Marvel thing

Freedom Fighters #2: this was just ok. I'll give it another.

GI Joe Silent Option #3: solid.

Guardians of the Galaxy #1: not too bad. I'll check out another.

Naomi #1: Man, been a while since I've read Bendis, and HOLY SHIT is he ever long-winded. Lots of pages of characters complaining and having irrelevant conversations. Just awful.

Shazam #2: Not great. 

Superior Spider-Man #2: This is great.

Spider King Frosbtite: nooope.

• Issues: 40
• Trades: 1
• Omnibus: 0
• Graphic Novel: 0

[Missy]

Action Comics #1: Stone cold classic.

Action Comics #300-304: The era of The Legion of Super-Heroes back-ups begins. So much fun.

Adventures of Superman #445-450 and Superman #23-27: These are the lead-up issues to the Superman story called "Exile," a story I read in my youth and want to revisit. They do an amazing job setting up Superman as an unstable, dangerous threat to anyone around him. On top of that, the creators build up the supporting cast in amazing detail. From Cat's alcoholism to Jose's near-reckless urge to walk once more, there are characters here that I've fallen in love with.

Batman #433-435: AKA, The Many Deaths of The Batman. Bit of an iffy landing, but the build to it is excellent.

Batman / Hellboy / Starman #1-2: Light story, but it looks great and makes me want to read more Hellboy and Starman.

Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #1-6: So much fun. Hopefully we'll get a sequel.

Batman: Damned #1: Nope.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #1-8: The first five comprise "Shaman," a story partially set during Year One, but mostly in the months after. Decent mystery. The next three are parts of "Gothic," and I just had to give up.

Daredevil #33-38: This was my main series when I started the MikeReadsComics Twitter account, but I've fallen off because I'm not keen on the direction of the book at the moment. The Mike Murdock stuff is fine, I guess, but it seems like Stan is losing interest again, and that's putting me off. He isn't around too much longer, so maybe it'll pick back up after that.

Deathmate: Green and Prologue: Look, I make bad life choices sometimes. But I knew when to stop.

Flash #1-18, Annual #1-2: Very solid book. Gotta get back to it. But I could do with way less of Wally's mom. By "way less" I mean "zero."

Injustice: Gods Among Us - Year One #1-12: Not as good as I remembered, and Wonder Woman is awful, but I will continue with it.

Mutant X #1-3: Havok living in an alternate reality, with a vampire Storm and Crow-inspired Angel? Yes please.

The Savage Dragon #1-3 (1992), The Savage Dragon #1-12 (1993), The Dragon #1-5: A bit unfocused at times, but it's big action from Erik Larsen. So that's worth the price of admission alone.

Uncanny X-Men #268: A classic for a reason. It's weird to think Claremont would be gone within a year.

WildCATs / X-Men: The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Modern Age, The Dark Age: Massively mixed bag and the ending is a huge question mark, but The Golden Age is a must-read for Travis Charest's art.

World's Finest Comics #92-110: Besides a few wobbly issues, this series is the best kind of bonkers. Absolutely adore this book.

January: 157
February: 125
TOTAL: 282

[Dread]

War is Hell #1: Another 80 years of Marvel one shot, but holy fuck, I absolutely cannot with Chaykin's Cabbage Patch Kid art anymore.

Age of X-Man Alpha: This is fucking exciting.

Captain America #7: Coates keeps me dancing on the edge of giving this up. 

Dead Man Logan #3: not bad

Heroes in Crisis #5: I know this isn't popular, but I think this is one of the most unique ways of creating an event in an established superhero universe. It feels more like Wildstorm than it does DC.

Ice Cream Man #9: continuing its march as being the best anthology horror comic of the modern age.

Journey Into Unknown Worlds #1: another 80 years of Marvel thing. Unremarkable.

Marvel Knights 20th #6: huh...that's it?

Mysteries of Love in Space #1: a dumb fun DC special. A couple good stories.

Quantum Age #6: not the greatest ending, but still a good story overall.

• Issues: 50
• Trades: 1
• Omnibus: 0
• Graphic Novel: 0

[Missy]

34 minutes ago, Dread said:

Heroes in Crisis #5: I know this isn't popular, but I think this is one of the most unique ways of creating an event in an established superhero universe. It feels more like Wildstorm than it does DC.

I say this with all earnestness: I'm glad you're getting enjoyment out of that series, because it went sour for me around the fourth issue.

The idea is solid, don't get me wrong, but the execution and landing did not work at all for me. And the whole series pretty much made one of my favorite characters nuclear for the next five or so years.

[Dread]

The Punisher #7: I'll say it again, Rosenberg is the best Punisher writer inside the Marvel U. 

Weapon H #12: Great series overall. Fantastic ending. 

Wyrd #1: solid start. I'll check out more.

X-Force #2: decent.

FINALLY getting to the stack on my bedside table. These are books I've read over the last three months that I've been too lazy to log:

Richard Corben's CHILDREN OF FIRE #1-3: When Corben died, I wanted to read some stuff of his and this miniseries I'd never read before was already on my TBR pile. It isn't fantastic. Three issues of anthology books. I should read the Den books next. Or reread his Marvel horror stuff or the DarkHorse releases. Amazing artist.

Event Leviathan: This is far better than the other DC work by Bendis that I've read. A fun super-spy mystery that has a great group of characters. But I have to ask: if Batman is putting together the best group of Detectives he can find, why is Plastic Man one of them? Why not Dibny? Seems odd.

Frankenstein Underground: Ben Steinbeck's art is so killer on this. The story dips when they start explaining the hollow earth conspiracy stuff. Yawn...but great character work and amazing art.

Birthright vol. 9 War of the Worlds:one of the finest fantasy books ever. Still refreshing and exciting 45 issues in. 

The Medusa Chain: a DC graphic novel from way back. It's awful. Yikes.

• Issues: 57
• Trades: 4
• Omnibus: 0
• Graphic Novel: 1

[batguy10]

Cosmic Odyssey: This was a lot of fun and a great read! This doesn't seem to be a story that is talked about a lot, but I found it really enjoyable. I could definitely see the inspiration this had on the Justice League episode "Twilight". 

 

Final Crisis: Reading this felt like I was stuck in a classroom taking a test and failing miserably. I was able to follow the story well-enough, but at times it genuinely felt like pages and/or important context were missing. Perhaps I am too casual a comic reader for this one, but I found no enjoyment from it. Also, some of the dialogue was a little much. I am thinking specifically about Dan Turpin saying "Who knew the sound of breath whistling through smashed cartilage could be such a turn-on?" 

[Dan]

The Power of Shazam! Vol. 1: In the Beginning hardcover: Collects the 1994 The Power of Shazam! graphic novel and issues #1-12 of the ongoing 1995 series.

This was incredibly fun. The graphic novel constituted the second post-Crisis origin story for Captain Marvel, and it was almost entirely done by Jerry Ordway. Ordway was basically put on this Earth to write and draw Captain Marvel stories, and he's able to modernize Cap just a bit while keeping everything that worked so well for the character in the 40s. This graphic novel is basically perfect.

It was followed a year later by an ongoing series, written by Ordway and drawn by Peter Krause and Mike Manley (unusually for the Big Two, the artists were credited before the writer). These aren't as amazing as the original novel, but are still a hell of a lot of fun, picking up four years after the events of the novel and slowly bringing Cap's lore back into his story. Mary and Freddy come into the story about halfway through, and introduce the wrinkle that the power of Shazam is finite; that is, Cap is as strong as he's going to get, and when the other two turn into their own superpowered identites, Cap's power is halved or thirded as a result. So while Cap can stand toe to toe against Black Adam by himself, if Mary or Junior are Shazamed up, Billy is going to get murdered. It's a very quick read that stayed entertaining throughout.

The Amazing Spider-Man by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane Omnibus: collects The Amazing Spider-Man #296-329.

I spoke about this a little on Twitter, but this made me realize that I have historically been harder on Todd than he deserves. His issues really are demonstrably more exciting than the issues that precede his. The first year or so, when he still had to listen to his editor, is VERY good. Micheline was a longtime Marvel Bronze Age writer and he produces largely solid work. It's hilarious to see where he's had to cover for Todd's tendency to be way more violent than Marvel usually allowed in the 80s, and he has to explain that no, really, Spidey actually saved that guy off panel after we clearly saw him get smashed head first into a wall at terminal velocity. By the time "The AssassiNation Plot" happens it's starting to get ridiculous, but before that this is some solid-to-great Spidey comic work.

[Dread]

Age of X-Man Marvellous X-Men #1: this is solid. Everyone is mutants now so it makes sense that the X-Men are celebrities. Fun first issue.

Asgardians of the Galaxy #6: this might be the best issue of the bunch thus far.

Conan the Barbarian #3: this is really fucking good.

Daredevil #1: the first issue of the Zdarsky run. Holy shit. It's good. Also, yes lady, don't get involved with Matt. It won't end well.

Female Furies #1: strap in. This is fucking garbage. I get that they're going for sexual politics in this, but it's really hard to go from Darkseid forcing Granny Goodness to sleep with him and spurning her to making the Furies go through a contest involving cooking, evening gowns and swimsuits. It's fucking dumb. And SO MANY artists who try to grasp a little of Kirby's magic (as this one does in flashbacks) end up giving work that looks like the shitty Topps Comics Kirbyverse with guys like McFarlane inking sketches Kirby had and trying to place them in sequence to make a comic. If I could remember the fuckwad's name who wrote this, I'd put him on my list of people to never read again, but I have a feeling his career in comics won't be long. Give me the Female Furies and I'll fill it with sexual politics and the horrors of war and make a comic no one would think you can do with these characters. But this, this is horseshit.

Black River: this is a graphic novel by Josh Simmons. Perhaps he has some trouble with long form work, but it felt like a lot of wasted space. Still, it's chock full of nihilism, fucked up comedy and just pure bleakness of the human condition, so it fits with his other work.

Defenders Epic Collection The End of All Songs: this is the final chunk of the Defenders book written beautifully by DeMatteis. You'd think the weirdest stories on any book that has been written by Steve Gerber to be written by Gerber, but no. These are wild and great. Manslaughter and Interloper are two of my all-time favourite C-list Marvel characters and they get a lot of page time here. Perlin's work is sometimes rough, but at other times great. Solid.

Man-Thing by Steve Gerber The Complete Collection vol. 2: speaking of Gerber...been reading this along with the Defenders Dialogue podcast. Great stuff overall. Amazing art and fun stories.

Hack/Slash Omnibus Volume 6: the relationship between Vlad and Vampirella is hilarious. Fun comics. 

• Issues: 62
• Trades: 4
• Omnibus: 3
• Graphic Novel: 2

[Missy]

Superman #423 & Action Comics #583 (What Ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow): Classic for a reason.

Adventure Comics #305-308: More Legion of Super-Hero stories. It was good to come back to them after a month-long break

Adventures of Superman #451-453 and Superman #28-29-30: More exciting chapters in the Exile storyline. Superman is finally off in space, but cannot find peace.

Adventures of Superman Annual #1: Read to fill in a pre-Exile gap. Discovered this was Dan Jurgens' first Superman story.

All-New Wolverine #1-35, Annual #1, and Generations: Wolverine & All-New Wolverine: Some ups and downs, but it does one hell of job showing us how similar and different Laura is to Logan. The addition of Gabby will split people, but I love the character.

Batman v Predator #1-3: Nowhere near as good as I remember, but I can see why it's liked.

Batman: Three Jokers #1-3: Lord knows why I reread this. It could honestly be two tight prestige format issues. The ending adds a terrible retcon to The Killing Joke, and the whole thing smells of sequel bait.

Betty and Me #79-86: I needed some silly fun, and Will suggested these gems.

Cyberforce #8, Savage Dragon #13 (Jim Lee version), Shadowhawk #0, Spawn #25, WildCATs #13, Youngblood #9: These six books comprised Image X Month, in which the Image founders swapped titles for a month. Spawn is the only one really worth visiting, but WildCATs has a reveal that plays out in Savage Dragon.

Daredevil #39-59: The series ramps up to multi-issue tale about The Jester, and really takes off once Roy Thomas takes over from Stan Lee.

Hunt for Wolverine: Adamantium Agenda #1-4: A very quick miniseries following Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Laura as they think they're tracking down Logan's body.

Invincible #1-4: Kirkam's going through some learning curves, writing wise, but he's capturing the (temporary) wholesomeness of the book.

Legend of the Hawkman #1-3: A solid hidden gem. But know going in that Hawkman is verbally and emotionally abusive to Hawkgirl.

Nightwing #78 (2016): A brand new jumping-on point for the series. It came out two weeks ago. Read this.

Sabretooth #1-4 (1993): Loved this in my teens. Not so much nowadays.

Savage Dragon #13 (Larsen version) - 23 (1993): After some very bumpy roads, Larsen has a much better handle on the direction of the book and its pacing.

Spawn #1-25: I was quite shocked how much I enjoyed this first chapter in Spawn's story. Don't get me wrong, an unrestrained Todd McFarlane is not always the best wordsmith, but guest writers get the book on track.

Spawn / Batman: You get what it says on the tin.

Spider-Man #1-4 (2019): This is the comic JJ Abrahms cowrote with his son. It starts out being a rather personal story, but then swerves into bad Iron Man comedy.

Star Wars #1-7 (1977): The adaptation of Star Wars, plus one further adventure. It's a fun slightly alternate take on the first movie.

Star Wars: Dark Empire #1-6: Beautiful and decent in places, but could have been much shorter.

Steel: The Official Comic Adaptation of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture: Oh man, I forgot I read this. It's an adaptation of an adaptation, we know how these things go. Well, that's unfair. It's okay.

Superman #156 (1939): This is easily my favorite Superman story. As Superman lays dying from a Kryptonian plague, he asks his friends to complete the tasks he will never get around to. Gripping, stunning, and a true testament to the strength of the character.

Teen Titans: Year One #1-6: Not as cohesive as I would like, but stunning and fun. It holds well.

What If...? #1-7 (1989): The first issue is dry and the third is sloppy, but the second is a classic, the fourth looks great, and the rest are solid to good-for-what-they-are.

Wolverine #1-3 (1988): How is that patch fooling anybody?

World's Finest Comics #111-116 (1941): Always fun

January: 157
February: 125
March: 185
TOTAL: 467

[Donomark]

The Death of Clark Kent: 90's era Superman story during the Triangle System that leads into Superman #100 and ends with Superman: Man of Tomorrow #1. Clark's old friend from Smallville High School Kenny Braverman is now a supervillain calling himself Conduit who wants revenge on Clark as his knowledge of Superman's identity makes him jealous. He sets out to ruin Clark's life by constantly targeting his friends and family. Lois, Jimmy, Maggie Sawyer and Dan Turpin, Perry White and his adopted son Keith, and most harshly Ma and Pa Kent are all targets that Clark runs around the country trying to protect. At one point Clark believes Lois, Jimmy and his parents to be dead and loudly gives up. That rang the hollowest, as it didn't seem he tried very hard to know for a fact whether or not they died. The second half I found less engaging than the first, which included Superman #100 with some kickass Dan Jurgens artwork. The ending to Conduit's storyline is a bit contrived as well. This story also goes a long way to show why Clark needs to maintain a secret identity, something that Bendis definitely did not read when blowing it in his Superman run last year. A fun 90s story that's pretty flawed but enjoyable all the same.

[Dread]

Immortal Hulk #17-19: trying to catch up on this great series.

The Borgias: even in the early 2000s it's pretty insane that a prominent Chilean and Italian published something so brazenly blasphemous. Of course they did it as a "historical document" about the evil Borgia family. It's vile and beautiful at the same time. This DH book collects all four graphic novels and I'd never read the fourth before. Holy shit. It's dark. Haha! I guess I'll count this as a TPB as it collects four GNs?

Jim Valentino's Shadowhawk Chronicles: what a weird collection. It escapes people sometimes how high Valentino's work sold at Marvel. More than some of the other Image guys, even. Look at sales figures from the time and Guardians of the Galaxy was on the top ten list of comics sales more often than it wasn't. Shadowhawk's a mixed bag. I recall the "mystery" of who he was under the mask was big at the time. But reading through, it's not even attempting a mystery. There's just some people who aren't Shadowhawk and Shadowhawk. But the cops and press aren't even like "Who is Shadowhawk?" They just want to arrest him. This has almost everything with him in it except the two Youngblood issues. But characters from all over the Imageverse appear. Savage Dragon (I had the cover for Shadowhawk #4 poster), Spawn, Chapel, hell, even the 1963 characters. Still, kind of weird for the WildCATs to be here seeing as they're DC characters now. The book is in black and white and poorly formatted. In fact, the pages seem blown up to the point that at some times, word balloons run off the page. Perhaps that's one of the things that had to happen fro him to reprint the characters of so many other creators (including those who no longer work for Image). Interesting. Once they tell us who Shadowhawk is, there's more than 7 issues of him going across the Imageverse to find a cure for his HIV. So wild. In fact, I think the only thing other than the Youngblood issues were the two issues where he crossed over with Vampirella. I remember those being pretty good.

• Issues: 65
• Trades: 5
• Omnibus: 4
• Graphic Novel: 2

[Missy]

Valentino is such a crapshoot for me, but, admittedly, I've read very little of his work. Recently, though, I can say his Image X Month issue of Youngblood was nothing more than him having a moan about Hollywood, What If...? #3 is rudderless, What If...? #5 is a love letter to the classic Avengers, and What If...? #7 is an of-its-time Wolverine collaboration with Rob Liefeld. It seems like he sometimes needs a writing partner to firm up his ideas.

[Dread]

On 4/4/2021 at 9:18 AM, The Master said:

Valentino is such a crapshoot for me, but, admittedly, I've read very little of his work. Recently, though, I can say his Image X Month issue of Youngblood was nothing more than him having a moan about Hollywood, What If...? #3 is rudderless, What If...? #5 is a love letter to the classic Avengers, and What If...? #7 is an of-its-time Wolverine collaboration with Rob Liefeld. It seems like he sometimes needs a writing partner to firm up his ideas.

I pretty much agree with everything you said, but I have to say the early work on GOTG was pretty great space opera.

Injustice Gods Among Us Year 5 Complete Collection: This shit keeps getting wilder and wilder.

• Issues: 65
• Trades: 5
• Omnibus: 5
• Graphic Novel: 2

[Donomark]

The New Teen Titans: Terra Incognito and The Judas Contract

Re-read these for an upcoming podcast discussion, largey owed to the recent discussion of Terra's relationship with Slade in the pages of The Other History of the DC Universe #3 which featured Katana. A few new observations this time 'round:

1) Terra's appropriately bad at lying about her origins to the Titans since she's a stupid 15 year old girl, but the Titans at the time are completely up their own ass with their emo drama. Dick is struggling to balance his college life, appearances alongside Batman, solo backup story adventures and leading the team. Donna is proposed to by fandom's most overratedly-hated  character Terry Long, Wally is wanting to return to college and is both in love with and afraid of Raven. Vic is in his feelings over the news (lie) that his love interest Sarah Simms is engaged. Starfire is worried that Dick might not love her since her home planet encourages opening up about each other's problems. And Raven is on her usual Trigon BS, although she suspects Terra the most.

The only one not having any problems is Gar, and even he questions Terra over her inconsistent backstory at times. But it made me wonder if the team were on their A-game, if Slade's plan would've been found out.

2) Speaking in terms of team members, I think Terra might be my favorite Teen Titan. She's unendingly entertaining, and it's amusing how she secretly hates the Titans but hides it under a veneer of someone who...openly disdains and dislikes the Titans and their do-gooder nature. Like, she couldn't be bothered to come up with a fake persona, she's basically playing herself, just less villianous.

[Dread]

Me and Joe Priest: a nigh unreadable DC graphic novel from 85. Awful

Metalzoic: another awful DC gn from 86. Art from Kevin Eastman is the only saving grace.

Space Clusters: yet another DC graphic novel from 86 that is also terrible. Trying REALLY hard to be Heavy Metal here. And failing big time.

Bang Bang 1-3: Carlos Trillo and Jordi Bernet's erotic graphic novel series. The stories aren't great, but Bernet draws sexy women like few others.

Immortal Hulk #20-5: Still playing catch-up here. This went from vague cosmic horror to actual dead centre definition of cosmic horror real quick.

• Issues: 71
• Trades: 5
• Omnibus: 5
• Graphic Novel: 8

[Missy]

9 minutes ago, Dread said:

Me and Joe Priest: a nigh unreadable DC graphic novel from 85. Awful

Metalzoic: another awful DC gn from 86. Art from Kevin Eastman is the only saving grace.

Space Clusters: yet another DC graphic novel from 86 that is also terrible. Trying REALLY hard to be Heavy Metal here. And failing big time.

No joke, just the other day I started reading one of these mid-80s DC graphic novels and I had to give up.

[Dread]

19 hours ago, The Master said:

No joke, just the other day I started reading one of these mid-80s DC graphic novels and I had to give up.

They are NOT GOOD.

[Missy]

And I hate to say it, but it was Kirby's Hunger Dogs book. 😱