Every comic you've read in 2017


Missy

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Note on the Cat Staggs stuff: most of the stuff she's worked on has been licensing stuff where the characters looking like photoshop traces is actually an asset. That's all I'll say. 

Motor Crush 6: Flashback issue focusing on Domino's dad and fleshing out a bit more of his backstory.  The art this time is Cameron Stewart trying to look like Babs Tarr (with Babs and her normal colorer on the coloring), which can get a bit weird at times. Good issue to ease us back into things. 

Seven to Eternity 9: Well, SHIT. Opena and Hollingsworth kick it out of the park, and Remender ends the arc on a good note (if with a bit of his pretty old attitudes towards women). 

WicDiv 31: Without spoilers, some absolutely gorgeous splash pages this issue, and things kicking it back up into gear again. (Also: never get attached to any character in WicDiv. EVER.) For the spoilers:

Genuinely fucking concerned about if Dio is going to get knocked off before the end of the arc. And goddamn that Amaterasu death page.

Zines: 9

Single Issues: 257

Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 89

Omnibuses: 4

 

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JSA: The Golden Age Deluxe Edition: collects The Golden Age (1993) #1-4.

This is an Elseworlds story that's not a million miles away from Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier, except it focuses on Golden Age heroes rather than Silver Age ones, and also it is bleak as fuck. After the war, whatever heroes haven't retired are driven away by the HUAC, go crazy, have personal lives that go completely to hell, and/or fall victim to a sinister mad science conspiracy of epic movie serial proportions. And overall, this is quite good. Written by James Robinson back when that was generally a good thing, his love of the era shines through even as he puts a dark and angry spin on it. This is also some of the best artwork Paul Smith ever produced; I love looking at these pages.

Also, except for the fact that it's a hardcover and the paper quality is very high, there's nothing deluxe about this edition. There's no backmatter at all here, save a foreword by Howard Chaykin.

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Nightwing #28 (2016): Decent

Batman #30 (2016): It's weird that King's trying hard to make Kite Man a thing.

Bane: CONQUEST: Solid still.

Spider-Man #19 (2015): Good, but why did he go to Tokyo? I'm confused...

Superman #30 (2016): Solid story with a killer art combo of Benes, Phil Tan and Tyler Kirkman.

Iron Fist #7 (2017): Good stuff still. I'd like to see more Shang Chi in the future.

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The Normals #1: this is really good. Looking forward to more.

The Sovereigns #1: this was ok. Will give it another.

The X-Files #14: first issue of the Resistance arc. Yes, it's pandering, but it's fucking fantastic.

US Avengers #6: Back door, the best Secret Empire tie-in. So solid.

Uber Invasion #6: pretty decent.

Vampirella #3: a little forgettable.

Victor Lavalle's Destroyer #1: dense. Needs another issue to get a handle on characters.

Wanderlust Blues #1: terrible.

World Readder #2: I was getting ready to skip this entirely, but this issue sold me on a few more. Solid second issue.

X-Men Blue #4: more of the same stuff that's happening all over the Marvel U. Didn't expect to see this character, but apparently he's appeared relatively recently too when I wasn't reading X-books.

X-Men Gold #4: good issue.

Lobster Johnson The Pirate's Ghost #3: not sure why this needed to be told. I want to like Lobster Johnson wayyyyyy more than I like him. Ever since an early like two page appearance in a Hellboy issue, I've wanted more and never really been impressed when I get it.

No World #2: no thanks.

Comics: 898

Trades: 28

Graphic Novels: 24

Omnibuses: 13

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1 hour ago, jim said:

w/r/t Lobster Johnson, it seems like Dark Horse cranks out more and more of these tie-ins with diminishing returns. Also, this is a reminder to me that I need to buy the Guy Davis BPRD.

Yeah, I mean, it's such a fringe part of a larger universe that has so much interest behind it, but they've literally never done anything better than mediocre with it.

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Bitch Planet Triple Feature 4: Not my favorite stories of the bunch so far, with the exception of Vita Ayala's story at the end. Still solid. 

Codename Baboushka: Ghost Station Zero 2: Ooof. The art is... a lot rougher than I remember from the first arc. Story seems a bit more suited to the John Wick director's interpretation of Lorraine (from Coldest City/Atomic Blonde). 

Mage: The Hero Denied 2: Yup. Still super 90s. Not my thing. 

Spy Seal 2: Again, Tintin/Scarry aesthetic, but with WAY too much in the word balloons. 

Zines: 9

Single Issues: 261

Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 89

Omnibuses: 4

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Iceman #1-5: In a lot of ways, this is one of the best coming out narratives I've ever read. Let me preface this with the fact that I'm not a big fan usually of coming out narratives. Maybe this is because my own was pretty much, "Keep my head down in High School. I'm in college now? Good, I can stop giving a fuck who knows." It's interesting seeing it framed with a character who, while you can say he's been written as straight for decades, it's easy to frame every relationship he's ever had as trying to keep his head down. My only complaint are Bobby's Parents who, outside of X-2, never seemed to have a problem with Bobby being a mutant but ehh, whatever.

I'll admit, I am kind of glad that this series has so far primarily focused on Adult Bobby while Teen Bobby does his own thing.

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Bombshells United 1: Wonder Woman takes on the order for Japanese American internment by saving a train bound for the camps, and also Clayface shows up as a soldier. Also, puns. A damn good start to the second series.

Lucifer v1: The recent continuation. I have some issues with the logic of the continuation, but otherwise, a solid murder mystery, and a neat interim story with art by Stephanie Hans that seems to lead into the next arc. If I can find vol 2, I'll give it a read.

Zines: 9

Single Issues: 262

Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 90

Omnibuses: 4

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Batman: DOA: 70 page one-shot written and illustrated by Bob Hall. Batman's poisoned and has 24 hours to live. He works a kidnapping case while Robin and Commissioner Gordon hunt for a cure. Inoffensive/ineffective done-in-one with serviceable writing and less than average artwork. Maybe it's the heavy inking but Hall's style, which I'm not terribly familiar with, wasn't on great display here. Still, not a bad comic. Not great but not bad. Serviceable. 

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The Visitor: How and Why he Stayed #4: the most poignant issue yet. Beautiful.

The Archies: this is a great oneshot. Very Riverdale feel to it. Solid piece of business.

All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #3: i literally have no memory of this issue.

Avengers #8: can't remember why I picked this up. Did I think it was a SE tie-in? Wrong issue.

Babyteeth #1: another strong new horror comic.

Bullseye #5: not great.

Champions #9: decent.

Iceman #1: great one and done. I'm not the audience for this, but I love it. I wish high school kids read comics, because I think they'd really like this one.

Nightwing #22: not good.

Nova #7: sad to see this go. Definitely top 3 Marvel book.

Reborn #6: fucking hell, this was fun.

Rocket #2: I'm loving this. Technet being involved helps a lot.

Savage Things #4: good stuff.

Secret Empire Brave New World #1: like all of these Marvel even anthology books, only one story of the three or four is worth giving your time to.

The Flintstones #12: more genius.

The Unstoppable Wasp #6: still really good.

X-Men Gold #5: decent.

Youngblood #2: I'm intrigued.

The Divide States of Hysteria #1: maybe not the most sensitive book out there, but it's setting itsel fup to be pretty important of a read. It's a little wordy in my mind though. Busy on the eyes. Interested to see where it goes.

The Unsound #1: not sure I got everything when I read it, but I liked what I did.

All-Time Comics Atlas #1: Ok, I'm done with this experiment.

Ash vs The Army of Darkness #0: kind of terrible. I don't need any more.

Colossi #3: weird.

Freelance #3:nawww...I'm good.

Gwar Orgasmageddon #1: alright for what it was. looking forward to an issue that doesn't have to introduce all the characters.

Infected #1: nope.

Comics: 924

Trades: 28

Graphic Novels: 24

Omnibuses: 13

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Action Comics #987: LOL awesome. Very Dr. Hurt from Morrison's Batman era vibe here. Let's see where this goes.

Detective Comics #964: The balance of characters and their interplay and dynamics keeps this so much better than every other Batman-starring book.

Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #14: It's cool to see Babs be both Batgirl and Oracle, but the scene where she saves Batman and his 'Tec Comics squad was played too over the top. Stuff like that keeps trying to put Barbara Gordon over and just makes me resent the fan love that produces such writing.

 

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December: A Diary Comic About Depression: Zine I picked up at FlameCon. Extremely accurate depiction of how I experience depression at times. 

Sailor Moon Tribute Zine: Pretty much what it says on the cover. :P Trung does line work that's really well suited to Sailor Moon in general.

The Magic Fish: A collection of two comics Trung started but has not yet finished. One's a Little Mermaid adaptation, the other is a Vietnamese Cinderella variant called Tam Cam. The collection starts out with Trung's personal relations to both these stories, and his art is amazing. 

My Neighbor Jiaojian: Wendy Xu and Alyssa Wong team up for a six page horror comic. Very creepy.

The Legend of Gay Zelda: Again, what it says on the tin. :P. Small anthology of various gay/lesbian Zelda comics. Breath of the Wild dominates due to the release time (and yay for Link/fucky fish prince appearing frequently), but these are really short, sweet, and well done. 

Orchid: A sweet little Yuri on Ice doujinshi I picked up at FlameCon. Combination of domestic moments, realistic depictions of anxiety, and of course, banging. 

Three Chrysanthemum Moon: Chapter Zero: Prelude to Wendy Xu's new comic, which combines royal drama, politics, animal people, and magic. Good into, and I'm interested to see where it goes.

Burl and Fur: Pinup collection of bears/bara dudes. Hell yeah.

Runaways 1: Anka continues to be wonderful, and is probably the perfect fit for this book. Not sure how I feel about how we get dropped into things storywise this issue, but it's better than America 1. Nice acknowledgement that AForce was a thing that happens.

Mister Miracle 2: Hmmmm. That is. Hmmm. Let's see where that goes. (Special shoutouts this time around to the color work. Damn.)

Zines: 15

Single Issues: 264

Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 92

Omnibuses: 4

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Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #7: As someone who got into Spider-Man and comics through the Clone Saga, what Dan Slott did to Ben Reilly's character months back in the Clone Conspiracy was nothing short of wanton betrayal. I'd hoped Peter David would redeem him in his series, and with this issue he's absolutely doing that. Very good stuff. 

Ms. Marvel #21-#22 (2016): This is probably the best super hero comic out right now.

Motor Crush #6: Great return issue. Cameron Stewart is a wonderful artist, I had forgotten.

Secret Empire Omega #1: I've missed out on most of Secret Empire, but I thought this was really good.

 

 

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Insexts 13: Sad to see this end, but man that was a good issue to go out on, especially that last double page sex spread.

Land of the Lustrous v2: Some potentially interesting plot threads in the background, but mostly some real goddamn gorgeous art (pretty enough to rival Kaoru Mori). I'm in. 

What Did You Eat Yesterday v12: Good recipes, cute individual developments, all in all another solid volume.

Zines: 15

Single Issues: 265

Trades/Graphic Novels/Anthologies: 94

Omnibuses: 4

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Kiss/Vampirella #1: fucking fun. Hilariously, there's a moment with Gene and Paul IN FULL KISS MAKE-UP sitting in a rock bar and the sound hguy comes up and is like "Hey, ,I recognize you guys." Hahahah! Love it.

Magnus #1: Magnus is no longer a robot fighter, SHE is a robot psychiatrist and I'm fucking in love with this book already.

Night Owl Society #3: Perfect ending. Fucking spectacular miniseries. I'll be around for volume 2 for sure.

Noble #2: I'm not entirely sold, but I'll give it one more.

Pestilence #2: still interesting.

Powerless #3: this is no good.

Redline #4: still good.

Slayer Repentless #3: fucking killer ending. I had no idea this comic was going to be this good.

Superman #24: I'm beginning to tire of this book and then BOOM! Manchester Black is back and fucking with Superman. Drawn by Mahnke, there's such perfection in these ingredients.

There's Nothing There #2: fucking great. Still.

Action Comics #981: great stuff.

All-New Wolverine #21: great. Beautiful actually.

Bug The Adventures of Forager #2: I'm trying really fucking hard to like this, but it's making it very difficult for me to do so.

Comics: 937

Trades: 28

Graphic Novels: 24

Omnibuses: 13

 

 

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Mage: The Hero Denied 1: I gave it a shot, and while the art was good, the story took a little too long to get moving for my tastes. Then again, I've only read bits and pieces of Mage, so my mileage varies. Also, I'm coming in at the end so shrug emoji.

Blame! Master Editions 3 and 4: No really, they're called Master Editions. At $35 a pop, Master Editions are difficult to recommend, but I got 'em for $20, which feels a lot better. They condensed the ten volume manga into six volumes.Of those six books, they reprinted them at Akira size.  I'd love to see them also throw in the Blame! errata volume somewhere, but I doubt that'll happen.

w/r/t content, it's still a tremendously alienating road story with grotesques, bolstered by incredible architecture. The larger page helps draw me further into the world. As a bonus (or downside, depending) there's a couple panels where it's clear Nihei-sensei took shortcuts because manga is printed at a much smaller size and no one expects the Inquisition larger size. I liked it. Des, give a couple of the grotesques a look.

Wic Div 31: Someone dies in Wic Div. It's a cool death.

Insexts 13: They leave on a fine fight issue. There's also sex, but that's par for the course. Ms. Kristantina's work improved tremendously over the course of the series. Ms. Bennett says it may not be the end, while Ms. Kristantina works for Karen Berger on Mata Hari (?? Mara Hati? IDK.)

About Halfway Through The Land Of The Lustrous v2: Yeah. Still great. I gambled a bunch on how much I liked that first book and I'm relieved the gamble appears to pay off.

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The Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus, vol. 3: collects The Amazing Spider-Man #68-104.

This is a really interesting collection. It's really hard to explain or to point to exactly when or how it happens, but over the course of three years' worth of comics (1968-1971), this goes from a very Silver Age Marvel comic to a very Bronze Age one. Some of it's the art - John Romita kicks things off and it's all very classic, old school Spidey. About halfway through he begins inking over Gil Kane's pencils, and that stuff is outstanding. By the end, Romita's been replaced by Frank Giacoia, so what we're getting is pretty much pure 70s Kane. Further, Stan Lee handed the keys over to Roy Thomas (who by this time had already grown out of his "trying to sound just like Stan" phase) after a hundred issues, and it feels like a completely different book after that; where things started with the obligatory campus demonstrations and fights with gangsters in suits in nighttime abandoned warehouses, they end with daylight car chases with giant 70s autos driven by guys in leisure suit jackets, with a side order of Thomas' obsession with making sure there were lots of references to pulp heroes and movie serials.

The stories themselves are pretty good. The volume kicks off with a storyline revolving around a stolen ancient tablet that goes on for a then-unheard-of eight months, and while it's still pretty quickly paced and you could read an individual issue all by itself and get a lot out of it, this feels fairly modern. We get the Maggia, the Prowler, Doctor Octopus, the Lizard more than once, the Iceman, and a brief attempt to turn the Black Widow into a female version of Spidey (although this did introduce her classic catsuit, ditching the "Russian femme fatale in fishnets" look she'd worn throughout the 1960s). Furthermore, this has the three non-Code drug issues, which are, remarkably, nowhere near as hamfisted and preachy as you'd think they'd have been. Throw in the death of Captain Stacy and "Holy shit, Spidey's got six arms now" and you've got a very eventful and well-remembered run of comics.

Also, it's just weird to see the cover dress change from the 60s corner box to the "Marvel Comics Group" banner at the top mid-collection.

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10 hours ago, Dan said:

Some of it's the art - John Romita kicks things off and it's all very classic, old school Spidey. About halfway through he begins inking over Gil Kane's pencils, and that stuff is outstanding.

Totally. I'm not really a fan of Kane's stuff without Romita's inks. It's not bad, but the art in ASM #97 was so good, anything less really stood out.

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Venom: Deathtrap-THE VAULT: Old School 90s One-shot by Danny Fingeroth and Ron Lim. Venom and a shit-ton of C and D-List Supervillains attempt to escape the Vault, and the Avengers and Freedom Force try to stop them. I get my kicks out of lame-o 90s comics because that was my childhood, but Fingeroth misses the mark on writing Venom. He's characterized in this as a petty, one-note bad guy moreso than an insane man who genuinely thinks he's doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. There's none of the style or panache with Venom like David Micheline defined. So this could've been an amusing, average read but it was brought down by making Eddie Brock so bleh.

Totally Awesome HULK #23: Interesting start to a story. Good issue.

Superman #31 (2016): Solid story with solid characterization of Deathstroke.

Deathstroke #23 (2016): I like the scenes with Jericho and Adeline. 

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Captain America Sam Wilson #23: a little sloppy but mostly pretty good.

Dark Days The Forge #1: pretty interesting. Looking to see where this leads.

Defenders #1: ok, I'll give it one more.

Detective Comics #958: pretty good.

Hulk #7: not the best issue, but it's been an incredible series thus far.

Legion of Superheroes/Bugs Bunny #1: good, but the backup that retells the story we just read is totally useless. Would have rather seen a lower tier character get a spin like in other specials like this.

Martian manhunter/Marvin the Martian #1: terrible. The absolute fucking worst.

Secret Empire United #1: pretty decent. 

Street Fighter vs Darkstalkers #2: not as good as the first. Still intriguing.

Weapon X #4: this was really solid.

X-Men Blue #5: this was excellent. 

Accell #1: nope. dumb.

Betty & Veronica #3: art was good, but the story farts out like nobody's business. What a waste.

Generation X #3: literally forgettable.

Green Valley #9: from beginning to end, this miniseries was fucking delightful.

Jimmy's Bastards #1: Garth Ennis is undoubtedly the most overrated comics writer of all time. One of the most one-note too. The most tone deaf satire of "SJW's" that could possibly exist. I expect him to give an interview saying he isn't racist but talks about southern pride and culture in relation to the Confederate flag any day now.

Kill the Minotaur #1: pretty interesting so far.

Kingpin #5: sad this had to end in such a crammed fashion. It was really good. As a result, the end was rushed and lost the oomph it should have had.

Old Man Logan #25: fucking fantastic.

Planet of the Apes/Green lantern #5: sigh...I'm only going to read the next issue because I've read everything else, but man this is going fucking nowhere.

Rai The History of the Valiant Universe #1: on its own a great recap of the new Valiant U. As a comic it doesn't really work.

Comics: 958

Trades: 28

Graphic Novels: 24

Omnibuses: 13

 

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Batman-Death of Innocents: This is a famous one-shot commissioned by Batman fan Senator Patrick Lahey about the dangers of land mines. Batman goes into a foreign country to rescue the daughter of a Wayne Enterprises employee. Artwork by Joe Staton and Bill Sienkiewicz, Denny O'Neil takes the reigns and, for the most part, keeps his title as king of the Batman writers. He just gets this character like no one else, really making him his own.

Except for one thing, which was just unbelievable. Batman has to be goaded into saving this little girl by Alfred, who reminds him that her losing her father to crime is a lot like him. Before that, he's pretty aggressive in insisting that she isn't his problem. To say that that's out of character is an understatement, that's a complete amnesia of the character. I don't know why O'Neil wrote that intro, because once you get the exposition of the situation out of the way, and skip the scene in the Bat-Cave, it's a strong Batman story. 

But this was a very serious comic with real life details of victims of landmines written at the very end in the final few pages that left me chilled. Strong stuff, recommended. 

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Virgil: By Steve Orlando.

A Jamaican policeman is outed by his fellow cops who murder his friends and kidnap his boyfriend. The eponymous Virgil goes on a rip-roaring revenge streak until he gets back his man. Done very much in the style of Blaxploitation revenge flicks, this violent story was described by the writer as "Queersploitation". It was good for what it was going for. Some of the art could stand to be more intense  but it was fine throughout.

Two-Step: 3-issue miniseries by Warren Ellis, Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti. Insane series of hi-jinks centered around a hitman and a cam girl in the future. Silly story made fun by Conner's gleeful art.

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