Every comic you've read in 2015

[Koete]

"The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy" (Ultimate Nightmare #1-5, Ultimate Secret #1-4, Ultimate Extinction #1-5): I definitely think reading this on MDCU allowed me to enjoy it more than if I had bought it. Ultimate Nightmare has teams of Ultimates and X-Men independently investigating a Russian military bunker that has messages of planetary doom emanating from it. The horrific Frankenstein monsters inside and the interactions between the respective team members work really well, but the story is stretched a bit thin at 5 issues. Ultimate Secret feels even thinner even though it's an issue less, as it's just about introducing Ultimate Captain Marvel and getting some intel on Gah Lak Tus. The best parts are Reed and Sue's relationship and Thor seeing the warrior's spirit in Ben and Johnny, inviting them to get beer. Ultimate Extinction is kind of schizophrenic. The description of what Gah Lak Tus does is a clever revamp and terrifying, but visually it doesn't come across as well as it should. Amid this story of possible planetary extinction, Ellis introduces Ultimate versions of Misty Knight and Moondragon, who are interesting but feel random. The conception of the Ultimate Ultimate Nullifier is awesome, terrible, and a real crisis point for Reed if saving the planet is worth using it. With the exception of Wolverine and Captain Marvel, all the characters are written well through the three series. The Ultimates have the right mix of familiar characterization and arrogance, especially Captain America. Nick Fury gets the last line and it's fantastic. Artwise, the series are all over the place. Trevor Hairsine's scratchy art fits the black ops and horror of Nightmare. Steve McNiven likewise fits the streamlined cosmic nature of Secret, but he's replaced halfway through by Tom Raney who is fine but not as strong as McNiven. Brandon Peterson draws all of Extinction and I'm not a fan. His characters are more expressive than Granov's, but they have the same stiffness and metallic sheen. There's a lot of clever ideas and dialogue in this trilogy, but it could have been a lot tighter and more consistent.

Ultimate Human #1-4: Here's a secret, Cap...a lot of Warren Ellis' comics are meetingstastic. There's a lot to like in this: Ellis is one of the best writers Tony Stark has ever had, the adaptive nature of the Hulk cells is a nice twist, and the infamous issue 3 is a well crafted super-villain origin story. There's also Cary Nord's beautiful art, which is perfect for coloring from the pencils with its shading. It's not the deepest read, but it has much more character than an Iron Man/Hulk 4 issue mini-series is expected to have.

Ultimate Armor Wars #1-4: I loved this. As great as Ellis' Stark is in the other Ultimate comics he's written, Tony's just amazing here. Our introduction to him is as he's walking through the ruins of post-Ultimatum Manhattan, recording an episode of the iTunes exclusive Tony Stark Podcast. After that, there's plenty of drinking and smart assing as he searches for who stole his Iron Man tech. The search allows Ellis to do some fun riffs on characters like the Hammer family, Iron Monger, Titanium Man, and one that gets a single panel but is too great to spoil. The solution is a bit convenient, but the last page is so strong that you can roll with it. Steve Kurth is of the same school as Bryan Hitch stylistically, so this is the book that feels the most like an Ultimate book out of these.

[Venneh]

Avengers #1 FCBD: This team is way too cutesy for me. I appreciate the whole Marvel Universe not being a member of the team, but I don't like the new Captain Marvel

One brief thing: okay if I have to I will throw the new Ms. Marvel trade at you. She's a barely middle school/high schooler. (And also she's Ms. Marvel not Captain Marvel but that's me being defensive and nitpicky.)

Wolverine 1-19: Rucka takes on Wolverine. And he in turn takes on cults, drug runners, and most notably, a female Project X weapon. (This was right before X23 showed up on the XMen cartoon so maybe that was spun out of that?) Overall real interesting, keeps the story moving with enough room to breathe and some nice single issue pauses, can be depressing at times, but not overly make me want to slit my wrists with claws depressing. Good art style, and Ribic on covers, most notably that one that's totally a gay porno with Wolverine and Nightcrawler.

Captain America: Man Out of Time 1-5: Yeah, this is definitely some good stuff. A good take on Cap adjusting just after he wakes up in the future (and I'm pretty sure a reboot of whatever the accepted reawakening was at the time because this was in 2010) and adjusts. I like it. And the art is pretty good, which is encouraging, as Molina has main art duties over on A Force.

Spider Gwen 4: Interesting look into what happened with Peter, Gwen taking a breather before going back into performing with her band, and whatever the hell they're gonna throw at us next with this. Latour is doing good slowly spinning the AU, Rodriguez is great on the art, and they've definitely got me for the long haul on this.

Uncanny XMen 33: Magik and Kitty take a trip to a small island to rescue a small mutant child, and rekindle their friendship while they're at it. There should be more road trips to monster infested islands in comics, I think. Anka does great as ever. So here for this.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 4 and 5: Squirrel Girl beats Galactus, and a parody issue of various back stories follows. Cute commentary in the margins, art is great, continues to be fun and hilarious.

Loki Agent of Asgard 13: Yup. Things continue to be fucked, and finally pick up on JiM threads, to enormous effect. About to spin into another crossover (in that Last Days are happening), so hopefully they can keep the ball rolling even through the editorial mandate.

Ms. Marvel 14: And of course that spun into Kamala getting screwed over very quickly. Oh bb. Like the new artist, can't wait to see what they do coming up.

Lazarus 16: Filler issue, but fuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Lark and guest artists kill on this. Clearly setting up for the next arc, and I can't wait to see where they take it.

Kaptara 1: Okay, that was cute. Good set up issue, Chip is Chip, art is good, look forward to seeing where this goes.

All New All Different Avengers FCBD: Cute, leaves enough mystery in to not reveal who anyone actually is, good base sense of the team dynamic (half young people, half mentors, I like it). Look forward to seeing where it actually goes. Also includes the Inhumans and a James Patterson book, both look neat enough, good art.

Secret Wars 0: Provides kind of necessary backstory to what's going on in Secret Wars 1. Also has an Attack on Titan/Avengers crossover story that originally appeared in Japan. Huh.

Fight Club FCBD: Never read the original novel or seen the movie (yes, yes, I know, shoot me, etc), good art, looks interesting enough. Cute Goon backup. No idea what the fuck is going on with the Strain backup.

Divergence FCBD: James Gordon is Batman now, Clark Kent got outed by Lois because reasons I guess, and Darksied has a daughter. Okay, DC. Can't wait to see where this goes, by which I mean I will watch the trash fire from waaaaaaaaay over here.

Mercury Heat FCBD: Crazy violent scifi Dredd-esque sci fi on Mercury. This has been in gestation for a hell of a while over at Avatar apparently, so looking forward to seeing how this actually goes. the additional material has me interested.

Bitch Planet 4: Alright, this is FINALLY going somewhere, plot wise. Take a look at the list of crimes on the page 4-5. Interesting worldbuilding right there. We finally get a sense of what the future sport is that everyone is being recruited to play, and how it's played/how team dynamics will work. Some good Atwood shoutouts this month. Includes a good take on the obligatory shower scenes (which is apparently why they were so delayed).

[Dread]

Invincible vol 1: Decided I needed to check this out. Loved it. Light and fun but a heavy undertone. I'll be reading further for sure.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #45: Weird turnaround from last issue. Not sure how this is going to play out.

The Order of the Forge #1: George Washington, snooty teenager and monster fighter. Fucking awful. Surprised that Dark Horse published this.

The Trial of Atomic Robo: Funny and fun. Time to give Atomic Robo another shot.

Trinity of Eve #1: AWWWWWWWful.

Comics: 498

Graphic Novels: 24

Trade Paperbacks: 56

Omnibus: 3

[Dread]

Avengers #1 FCBD: This team is way too cutesy for me. I appreciate the whole Marvel Universe not being a member of the team, but I don't like the new Captain Marvel

One brief thing: okay if I have to I will throw the new Ms. Marvel trade at you. She's a barely middle school/high schooler. (And also she's Ms. Marvel not Captain Marvel but that's me being defensive and nitpicky.)

I'd say thanks, but save it. I'm just not interested in her or other cutesy characters. Bored and tired of it.

[Davedevil]

Hellblazer Volume 3 - The Fear Machine: Interminable. I'm more into character over plot but jeez I just did not care about what was happening. The art was standard Vertigo from the time period(though this was before the Vertigo imprint) nothing spectacular. I actually think I preferred it when Richard Piers Rayner was doing the pencils, much as I love Mark Buckingham. But yeah, can't wait to get past this, it doesn't seem like Delano's Hellblazer is for me. One thing I noted was that as I was reading, I heard Matt Ryan's voice all throughout.

Sandman Volume 8 - World's End: Not bad. Favorite issue was the Prez story, with Allred on art. Real treat seeing him draw Death.

Sensation Comics #9: The Lois Lane story was a joy. Would love to see this team do more. The first story was pretty cute too.

Chrononauts #2: Do not know what to make of this series. Love Murphy's art, but wow.

Ms. Marvel #14: The twist was pretty clear but it was still pretty heartbreaking. Dig the new artist.

[Donomark]

Third'D with Ms. Marvel #14. Takeshi Miyazawa is great on the book. I do hope Adrian Alphona isn't gone for too long though.

[Venneh]

Thor 2-7: ...yeah, I am so fucking here for this. Real pretty (Wilson does amazing stuff with the coloring here), just awesome stuff going on in general (including Odin's Increasingly Awful Decisions and Freyja being a badass), all sorts of interestingness with Roxxon, and just a pretty generally spectacular arc. Looking forward to the reveal of who she actually is this week, am not really trusting the thing that's being very blatantly set up as to the id reveal.

The Kitchen 1-6: Three women attempt to run their husbands' protection racket while the hubbies are in jail, to varying degrees of success. Ming Doyle does great stuff with the art, and Cloonan's covers kill. Ain't no way this ends well.

Nextwave 1-12: The yearly reread, and it still finds ways to keep giving. Especially with the police brutality bit.

[Professor]

Swerve - Pro wrestling mixed with a crime story. I went in wanting a story of a wrestling territory in the 70s. Instead I got a mediocre (at best) crime story, with wrestling as a coat of paint. And I know it would not annoy most people, but all the wrestling stuff felt like it was straight out of the Secret of Pro Wrestling special. (Didn't help that at one point it basically screams "This is NOT NWA Champion Ric Flair. Totally different guy. Totally.)

FreakAngels - Really enjoyed the first four collections, which are basically world building and character introductions. Nothing really happened, but it was a nice read. Then in the last two collections things happen. And I kinda lost interest. The ending felt anticlimactic and bit off the rails.

Comics: 133
Digital First Comics: 58
Graphic Novels: 11

Trades: 79 (416)(4)(144)

[Koete]

Thunderbolts #110-121: Easily one of the best comics related to Civil War. Ellis takes one of the dumbest parts of Civil War (Tony Stark working with supervillains) and spends 12 issues showing how dumb it is. As in, Norman Osborn directing a team of the disturbed and psychopathic, mined with electric nanochains (a la Suicide Squad), to bring in unregistered superheroes. Songbird points out early on that they're not a team and she's right; the cracks form immediately. In addition to the ticking time bomb that is the team, there's Norman Osborn mixing his meds and laughing to himself. Both bombs go off by the end of the run, but the aftermath shows it isn't as big a bang as you'd expect. In the meantime, Ellis has something interesting for each of the characters to do: Moonstone plots to take Osborn's job, Songbird and Radioactive Man try to return the team to the original spirit of the Thunderbolts, Swordsman has Lannister feelings for his dead sister, Venom eats some people, and Osborn gets one of the best lines in the character's history. The best character bits are when Doc Samson counsels Robbie Baldwin, trying to coax him out of his Penance persona. Ellis even fits in a bit about the cycle of character changes with Bullseye. Bonus points for the third degree burn he drops with "Who Wants to Be a Thunderbolt?" hosted by Stan Lee. When you have a book full of supervillains and death at Marvel, who do you get? Mike Deodato is who you get. There's the amount of grotesquerie and shadows you expect, but there's also some great layouts, particularly during a Swordsman/Venom fight. Norman Lee Jones used to bother me, but I forgot about that pretty quickly as I got into the book.

Nextwave, Agents of H.A.T.E. #1-12: All right, I've heard people raving about how great this book is since it originally came out and now I've finally read it. It definitely lives up to the hype, although I expect it read a little better monthly, as the irreverence and winking at the audience got periodically tiring reading all the issues in a row. Fortunately, there was usually a gag soon after that got me laughing again. This is not only one of the funniest books I've ever read, with some of the best uses of D-List characters I've read, but it's also one of the best modern riffs on the Silver Age (frigging Not Brand Echh!). My biggest take away is that this book absolutely would not have worked with an artist other than Stuart Immonen; his work is some of the best cartooning I've ever seen. From the facial expressions to the flow of the many, many action scenes to the design of the monsters, the art's just phenomenal. That time there's "almost" a character moment? It's all in the art. Some favorite moments: Father Blood Drench Robo Crush, the origin of The Captain, Dirk Anger's way of playing Russian Roulette, the flashbacks in issue 5, the scenes in the characters' minds in issue 10 (where Immonen uses four different art styles), and the six double page spreads in issue 11.

[Dread]

Marvel Zombies 3 #1-4: Nextwave's Machine Man and Jocasta take on a world full of superpowered zombies. Fun. Stupid.

Comics: 502

Graphic Novels: 24

Trade Paperbacks: 56

Omnibus: 3

[Dread]

Multiversity Ultra Comics #1: Sigh...I get it. It's clever. It looks good thanks to Doug Mahnke, but it almost tries too hard for you not to enjoy reading it.

Harbinger vol 4: I have never really liked the stories where heroes hallucinate their "perfect day" (the title of this colllection). I even For the Man Who Has Everything lacking. This is no exception. The worst collection of Harbinger books thus far.

Hawkeye vol 1: This is the Fraction/Aja run and it's fun. It borders on being too quippy for me, but I LOVE the visual storytelling.

Justice League vol 2: Good lord...see my Harbinger comment. This is way worse. Fuck. How anyone likes this shit is beyond me. What a terrible downturn after the first volume which was at least decent.

Nightwing vol 1: Whew! That smell that's making your eyes water is the excrement of contrived storytelling. This is Dick Grayson's Hush, and it's about as effective a mystery as Hush is, without the fun of the entire universe of supporting characters being around. The only good thing about this is the costume redesign.

Comics: 503

Graphic Novels: 24

Trade Paperbacks: 60

Omnibus: 3

[Donomark]

Batman Earth One vol.2. Surprisingly very good.

I liked the first volume quite a bit, but this story was a lot more unpredictable and engaging. I've maintained that Geoff Johns' Silver Age fanboyism has lent his writing of Batman to be a bit butthurt, resulting in writing him horribly to make other characters look good (such as in Green Lantern Rebirth), and that somewhat applies here, but in a believable way. Alfred spends the entire comic going "Not using a gun is stupid. Why don't you kill people? Dressing as a bat is dumb...dude." One scene has Batman stepping on evidence and Gordon calling him an idiot. Pretty much everything people like about Batman Johns dismantles and makes him look like a dumbass.

That being said this felt right for the story they're telling. It's definitely an Ultimate Comics take on Batman, very real world with surprising twists and great art and characterization. The Riddler is a homicidal madman, moreso than he's ever really been in the comics up to this point. Killer Croc is more sympathetic to the point of not even really being a bad guy. The asthetics are recognizably Nolanverse, where Lucious Fox makes all his tech and Harvey Dent is blonde, but the similarities don't go too far beyond that. It's a very surprising, entertaining story that left me satisfied in a way I've not been in reading a new Batman comic in years.

[Davedevil]

Not reading the Manapul and Buccellato Detective Comics?

[Donomark]

Nah, I dropped the new 52 during Zero Year. Not saying that or Snyder's Batman sucked, but my heart wasn't in the current stuff anymore. Still isn't really.

[Dread]

Nyarlathotep: a modernized adaptation of Lovecraft's poem as a graphic novel. Outstanding. Beautiful, really.

Ricky Rouse Has a Gun: This is a terrible graphic novel. An attempt at some social commentary that is so self-serious it can't bring itself to be entertaining.

Comics: 503

Graphic Novels: 26

Trade Paperbacks: 60

Omnibus: 3

[Dread]

Spread vol 1: Holy shit. I read the first issue on a whim because the image has a dude with a bloody ax and a baby STRAPPED TO HIS CHEST, and it's amazing. One of the best horror comics in recent years.

Morning Glories vol 8: Y'know...I'm not sure I've ever read a MG trade and not thought "what the fuck is happening?" after each one. Why am I still reading this?

Comics: 503

Graphic Novels: 26

Trade Paperbacks: 62

Omnibus: 3

[Professor]

Moped Army - The world reminds me a lot of Marvel 2099. I liked it enough, but not clamoring for the non-existent vol. 2.

Shortcommings - Basically an indie-romantic comedy in graphic novel form. I need to stop waiting for things to happen in these things.

Creature Tech - I don't think anything really worked in this.

Comics: 134
Digital First Comics: 58
Graphic Novels: 14

Trades: 79 (416)(4)(144)

[Dread]

The Wicked + The Divine vol 1: I read the first issue and was pretty ho-hum. I gave the trade a shot and I liked where it went the rest of the first half of the trade, but the second half of the trade plummeted into the crapper for me.

XO Manowar vol 4: two issues of this is a battle between XO and Eternal Warrior and the second half is XO dealing with the Visigoth army he brought with him. Good stuff. Not at the level of the best Valiant stuff, but pretty good regardless.

Comics: 503

Graphic Novels: 26

Trade Paperbacks: 64

Omnibus: 3

[Davedevil]

Catching up on comics since I'm done with the semester.

Convergence Catwoman 1 - Might be my favorite of the lot, really.

Convergence Detective Comics 1 - Something about this felt off to me. Love Wein's writing, this wasn't a stellar example. Enjoyed the Cowan and Sienkiewicz art though.

Convergence Superman 2 - Awww

Superman 40 - I was impressed by JRJR's writing. His art, not so much.

Daredevil 15 - So it really is ending huh? Bring it on.

[Dan]

The Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 2 - collects Fantastic Four #31-60, Annuals #2-4, and a story from Not Brand Echh.

This? This is the good shit, right here.

A case can be made for this being the strongest run of comics of all time. The Lee-Kirby dynamic was at its absolute zenith. Kirby was letting loose with everything he had, and the result is (among other things) an uninterrupted eighteen-issue run from #36-53 that consisted of the introduction of the Frightful Four, the introduction of the Inhumans, the Galactus trilogy, "This Man, This Monster", and the first appearance of the Black Panther. Holy shit. Just one classic after another.

Chic Stone starts off with inking duties, and he's great, even if he has a tendency to flatten Kirby's pencils. A little more than halfway through the volume, Joe Sinnott takes over, and this is where everything just becomes fucking gorgeous. The images are more dynamic, the characterization is stronger, even the action seems more exciting.

Just amazing, amazing work here.

[Donomark]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Complete Collection

Good stuff. Very good stuff. Very engaging, and the whole mystery of Buck's presumed death was written in a great way. I like that a lot of the old school mythos was retconned to actually not have happened, like Bucky just happening upon Steve changing in a tent, and Bucky being a smidge older than his legacy makes one think. This also made me research exactly how many Caps and Buckys there were between the originals going into ice and Steve returning in Avengers #4. Makes me laugh that there were like 3 of them. Poor Jack Monroe.

I couldn't help but be reminded of Under the Red Hood whilst reading it tho. I remember this coming out around the time of that, wasn't it in the same year?

[Koete]

Happened with Batman R.I.P./Cap Reborn too.

[Donomark]

Ohh yeah. LOLZ

[Koete]

Moon Knight #1-6: I've loved Moon Knight since finding an issue reprinting early Moench/Sienkiewicz stories, and have been giving every book a chance since he came back in 2006. Unfortunately, outside of The Profile and introducing me to Jerome Opena's art, none of the efforts have been very successful. This run probably comes the closest by doing the opposite of everybody else. Rather than catching up with the supporting cast or doing twists on the multiple personalities, Warren Ellis strips everything away so that all that's left is Moon Knight. While there are different facets to Moon Knight, like the suit clad, limousine using Mr. Knight (which I absolute love) and a more superheroic Moon Knight, the series isn't about plumbing the depths of his mind outside of the first issue and maybe the sixth. The writing is very economical, especially for Ellis, telling you just what you need to know for the story. I wasn't as blown away as other people, but these are good one-and-done horror and crime stories. A lot of credit goes to artist Declan Shalvey and colorist Jordie Bellaire on making the book stand out. Moon Knight is drawn and colored so that he looks separate from the environment, further conveying how isolated he is. I've seen the layout technique in issue 2 before, so there wasn't that "wow of discovery," but it's still an impressive technique. There are also some amazing psychedelic plants in issue 4, which really show off how versatile Shalvey and Bellaire are.

[Dread]

Ant-Man #5: Fun, As. Fuck.

Arcadia #1: I literally remember nothing of the premise of this book. I read it two nights ago.

Baltimore-The Cult of the Red King #1: This is some fucking grim shit. Love it, though.

Darth Vader #5: Fun.

Dead Drop #1: Not what I was expecting going in. The whole issue is XO Manowar chasing a girl through the streets of a city. I will see what this is like when the rest of the team gets put together. Next issue I hope.

Epochalypse #6: Convoluted, but fun. WAYYYY better than Chrononauts.

Harrow County #1: Jesus, this is creeptastic. Good stuff.

Howard the Duck #3: This is fucking abysmal. I'm out. What a terrible waste of time and money.

Imperium #4: this is the worst issue of the series so far, but everything else has been brilliant, so this is basically just good.

Injection #1: More of Warren Ellis' annoying bullshit. Don't bother.

Lantern City #1: This HAS to be an adaptation of a novel, right? It feels like it. I won't be buying more.

Masks 2 #2: This isn't as fun as the first series, but the story is more interesting. That all said, it's playing out at a glacial pace.

Mythic #1: Something pretty close to a comic I was working on a long time ago. It's ok. I'll read another.

Project Superpowers Blackcross #3: This is amazing. Bizarre to think that the same guy wrote this as wrote Injection and everything else he's written over the past ten years. This, is actually good.

Rat God #4: This is my favorite issue so far.

Rebels #2: Good stuff. I'm around for a little while longer.

Savior #2: Crain's artwork will bring me back for a few more issues, I think. The story isn't fantastic.

Comics: 520

Graphic Novels: 26

Trade Paperbacks: 64

Omnibus: 3