Every comic you've read in 2009


Missy

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Captain Britain and MI-13 #8-10-I thought this was the best book Marvel was publishing before and it's just doubled in fucking awesomeness. More in this week's Dread Media. 10/10

The Darkness #8-10-Become lukewarm on the character. The book is good but Jackie is just so one-dimensional that I'm finding it difficult to give a shit about him. A couple issues to get through and then it's dropped. 6/10

Total

Comic books: 133

Trade paperbacks: 5

Graphic novels: 0

Jan 01-Apr 21=105 comics, 4 TPBs...Joker's Asylum: Two-Face, Joker's Asylum: Poison Ivy, Joker's Asylum: Scarecrow, Joker's Asylum: Penguin, Joker's Asylum: Joker, Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #1, Vigilante #1, Fantastic Four #558-564, Harbinger: The Beginning, Simon Dark #10-17, Captain Britain and MI-13 #8-10, The Darkness #8-10

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The Darkness: Lodbrok's Hand Oneshot-This oneshot written by Phil Hester and drawn by Mike Oeming covers the Black Captain. Wait for it...the viking Darkness. Fucking cool story, fucking cool art. Not supremely memorable but the best issue of the Darkness I've read. Period. 8/10

The Darkness #75-Since this legacy numbering thing is so popular these days issue eleven of this volume of TD came back to number 75. It's a special issue with a ridiculous amount of Top Cow artists all telling part of a futuristic story in which soot blots out the sun and an aged Jackie is the ruler with only the Order of St Magdalena to stop him. I guess I'm just sick of the character because I didn't like this. Not a whole lot anyway. It will be the last I read in the series. 6/10

Total

Comic books: 135

Trade paperbacks: 5

Graphic novels: 0

Jan 01-Apr 21=105 comics, 4 TPBs...Joker's Asylum: Two-Face, Joker's Asylum: Poison Ivy, Joker's Asylum: Scarecrow, Joker's Asylum: Penguin, Joker's Asylum: Joker, Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #1, Vigilante #1, Fantastic Four #558-564, Harbinger: The Beginning, Simon Dark #10-17, Captain Britain and MI-13 #8-10, The Darkness #8-10, The Darkness: Lodbrok's Hand Oneshot, The Darkness #75

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Battle for the Cowl: Underground-This was a good idea gone kind of wrong. There was a need to focus on the main rogues of the Bat-verse seeing as they've been short-changed as of late but it just didn't gel for me. Catwoman is on a mission of violence, Penguin is all of a sudden Vito Corleone, Two-Face was alright and The Riddler had some good moments but it goes pear-shaped really quickly. Paolo Raimondi's unending quest to draw Danny Devito as the Penguin is so fucking distracting I just couldn't bother enjoying the book. He's an artist I'll stay away from from now on. His Two-Face looks awful too. 3/10

Battle for the Cowl: Arkham Asylum-David Hine + Jeremy Haun doing an old dark house story = brilliance. I loved this book. The haunting memories for the head doctor of Arkham and his eventual development into a character I not only felt for, but am pulling for is amazing considering noone could really give a shit about him. I would read a monthly AA book by this team. the writing is sparse and unfolds slowly and creepily with a lot of heart. This is one of my favorite single issues of the year and can totally be enjoyed without any inivolvement in BFTC. 10/10

Total

Comic books: 137

Trade paperbacks: 5

Graphic novels: 0

Jan 01-Apr 21=105 comics, 4 TPBs...Joker's Asylum: Two-Face, Joker's Asylum: Poison Ivy, Joker's Asylum: Scarecrow, Joker's Asylum: Penguin, Joker's Asylum: Joker, Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #1, Vigilante #1, Fantastic Four #558-564, Harbinger: The Beginning, Simon Dark #10-17, Captain Britain and MI-13 #8-10, The Darkness #8-10, The Darkness: Lodbrok's Hand Oneshot, The Darkness #75, Battle for the Cowl: Underground, Battle for the Cowl: Arkham Asylum

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Daredevil: Born Again - This year I wanted to go through all of Frank Miller's Daredevil runs. So far, overall, I've really liked his Daredevil stuff. A lot of the stuff in the original run is really excellent (the issue where Elektra dies, and the Russian Roullete issue being the two best). This is the last thing I had left to read in terms of Miller's Daredevil, I saved it for last because it's considered the best of Daredevil ever. Ultimately I really liked it. It's got classic all over it. Sure the art is really no-nonsense, splattered with some unbelievable imagery with tons of great characterizations and close up, but not quite as beautiful as The Man Without Fear. The story really is the seminal Daredevil story, if you only read once in your life you should read this. Daredevils descent, Daredevil being put through the ringer, it's all really some of the best work of Frank Miller. Is it as good as Dark Knight Returns? No, not really. But through it all, reading all of Miller's Daredevil work from the 80's, to this Born Again piece, I can see him get better and better. This is a really amazing story. Although for some reason, I expected the religious aspect to be more overt, and the last two issues with Murdock on his path to redemption, Miller resorts back to the archetypal superheros and supervillains which was anti-climactic especially after his total deconstruction of Matt Murdock. 9.5/10

Astonishing X-men by Joss Whedon: Speaking of Archetypal superhero stories, that's pretty much what Whedon gave us here. I'm an unabashed fan of Buffy and Angel (With Angel topping Buffy for some reason), so naturally I'd be interested in his run in X-men. It really is just a great X-men story, and I really hate space stories, which is what this eventually turns into. Kitty gets a lot of page time here, she's our main character for this run, we are reintroduced to the X-men through her perspective, and she plays a huge part of every story arc. The writing is top notch, Joss Whedon really excels at the little character moments, making them really important. The story has its ups and downs, but it all ties up nice in the end. Although at times I think this is pretty accessible to new readers, there's a ton of references to Grant Morrison's run, and I think a good knowledge on what Grant Morrison did is important to understanding these references, if not the entire third arc. Near the end, during the fourth arc, I thought it got a bit weaker, maybe it's because I don't like space stories but it just wasn't as poignant, even though it really tried to be. Cassady is excellent and one of the best artists around, his work here is excellent, except in the fourth arc where I had a hard time telling the aliens apart, and I had a hard time understand what was going on in some panels. But in the earlier issues, his work is excellent with Joss not putting any writing at times and letting the pictures speak for themselves. In terms of the overall, like I said it's probably the Best X-men story since Grant Morrison (and even I didn't love it especially because the quality dropped the more you read) and rightfully so, because in some ways these books are Morrison's spiritual successor. Even if you have a passing interest, you should probably pick this up! 9/10.

Total:

Comic books: 9

Trade paperbacks: 27

Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson Volumes 1, 2, and 3; The Authority by Ellis/Hitch/Millar/Quietly Volumes 1 (Relentless) and 2 (Under New Management) and 3 (Transfer of Power); Batman: Year One; Batman: The Long Halloween; Planetary vol 1 (All Over the World and Other Stories), vol. 2 (The Fourth Man), and vol. 3 (Leaving the 20th Century), Planetary Crossing Worlds (The Crossover specials); Planetary 19-26; Batman: The Man Who Laughs; Frank Miller's Daredevil: The Man Without Fear; RONIN; JOKER; Deadpool #1; Punisher Max vol. 1-4; Penance: Relentless; Thunderbolts by Warren Ellis vol 1-2; Thunderbolts: Secret Invasion, Astonishing X-men Hardcovers volume 1 and 2, Daredevil: Born Again

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Green Lantern #40-I have to say, three months ago, GL was the best superhero book being published. Easily. Last week, this wasn't even in the top 5. Agent Orange has ground this story to a complete halt. Hate the character, hate the direction, love that Sinestro is in GLC but I need him back in this series ASAP. NOTHING happened in this issue except hints at next issue. John Stewart is likely to be a pink lantern sometime soon. I wonder if he'll have the same plunging neckline...The art in this issue, while I'm not a hater of Philip Tan, is totally subpar. Sloppy for Tan. But next to Ivan Reis's mediocre work this still looks like shit let alone that Reis is doing the work of his career on this title. This needs to changhe for the better very soon. 4/10

New Avengers #47-The one leftover from this series in my pull box after I dropped it. It did nothing but cement my decision. Melodrama is fine sometimes but when it's forced, it's awful. It's forced here. I could care less about Luke and his baby because Bendis hasn't shown me why I should. You left your baby in the hands of someone when you already known shape-shifting aliens have infiltrated your organization. How stupid does someone have to be? The art? Pretty ugs if you ask me. The Tan brothers are striking ouyt with me this week (I don't actually know if they're related at all). 2/10

Mighty Avengers #20-These last few issues of SI tie-ins have only proven to me that this was not as set up as Bendis says it was. If part of the payoff is Wasp dying and Pym being a Skrull then you think someone with a strength writing characters would be able to pay that off in a funeral but it just comes across as hackneyed. Going through the motions. The art was good, but inconsistent which is what you'll get if you pack Lee Weeks and Jim Cheung together. Notr a moment in this book felt genuine past the first 4 pages. Fuck, I'm glad I dropped this tripe. 3/10

Total

Comic books: 140

Trade paperbacks: 5

Graphic novels: 0

Jan 01-Apr 21=105 comics, 4 TPBs...Joker's Asylum: Two-Face, Joker's Asylum: Poison Ivy, Joker's Asylum: Scarecrow, Joker's Asylum: Penguin, Joker's Asylum: Joker, Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #1, Vigilante #1, Fantastic Four #558-564, Harbinger: The Beginning, Simon Dark #10-17, Captain Britain and MI-13 #8-10, The Darkness #8-10, The Darkness: Lodbrok's Hand Oneshot, The Darkness #75, Battle for the Cowl: Underground, Battle for the Cowl: Arkham Asylum, Green Lantern #40, New Avengers #47, Mighty Avengers #20

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Dark Avengers #4 - Well, shit, did this concept just click into place? I think it did! Between Doom surprising me by sensibly shooting down Osborn's suggestion they toy with the past, and Bullseye exchanging pleasantries with Venom on the battlefield, this issue was just plain fun. Maybe I missed out on something by skipping Thunderbolts all this time, but the idea of a teamful of genuinely rotten supers just feels right to me at the moment. It certainly makes a nice change of pace from the usual stilted, buddy-buddy tone of mainstream hero books. Of course, they aren't doing anything particularly noteworthy, but the character interactions are enough to compensate for now. Deodato's artwork has its highs and lows - I really didn't care for his take on Moonstone as a walking, talking sex object wearing body paint. The rest of the team looks fine, though. I'm glad I took the plunge and started up on this series; I needed something to replace Mighty Avengers in my pull list.

7/10

Comics: 75, TPB: 5, Graphic Novel: 1

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Mouse Gaurd, Winter: 1152 #5

The artwork is gorgeous. And I loved the battle between the two mice and the owl. It really feels like a story I should be reading from the start though. Even with the blurb at the start, there’s not enough dialogue in the book to really understand what’s going on.

Daredevil# 118

I like it. Daredevil continues to sink lower. Hopefully he’ll come up for air at some point.

Blue Beetle: End Game (collects #20 to 26)

I saw this in a second hand book store today. I’d heard the series was fun, and the first couple of issues I read certainly confirmed that. I’ve been interested in the Blue Beetle character since I started watching Batman B&tB. I'm glad B&tB went with the current version of the character, because it made picking up the book a lot easier.

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The Complete Persepolis - Wow. Um...I'm not really sure what to say. Really powerful, heart wrenching stuff in here.

Total

Comic Books: 51

TPBs: 12

HCs: 0

Graphic Novels: 1

Adventure Comics #0, Age of The Sentry #5-6, Agents of Atlas #1-3, Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer, Animal Man Volume 1 TPB, Animal Man Volume 2: Origin of the Species TPB, Animal Man Volume 3: Deus Ex Machina TPB, Astounding Wolf-Man #10-13, Atomic Robo Dogs of War #5, Batman #684-686, Batman: The Brave and The Bold #1-3, The Complete Persepolis, Criminal Vol. 2-3 TPB, Detective Comics #853, The Darkness Accursed Vol. 1 TPB, Doctor Who: The Whispering Gallery, Final Crisis Secret Files, Final Crisis #6-7, Four Eyes #2, Fred Hembeck Destroys The Marvel Universe, The Goon #31-32, Green Lantern #36-38, Guardians of The Galaxy #8-12, Incognito #1, Invincible #57, Irredeemable #1, Justice Society of America #22, Kick-Ass #5, Nova #20-23, Planetary #1, Ruins, Seaguy: The Slaves of Mickey Eye #1, Secret Invasion: War of Kings, Seven Soldiers of Victory Volume 1-4 TPB, Super Friends #11, Superman and Batman: World's Funnest, Superman Beyond #2, Vimanarama TPB, War of Kings: Darkhawk #1, X-Force #11

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Batman: The Brave and The Bold #4 - This was FANTASTIC. First off you have a two page story where Batman teams up with Sugar and Spike against Felix Faust, that's made of win right there. The main story features a team up with Aquaman and felt just like an episode of the show. Aquaman was spot on. If you pick up any issue of the title, make it this one. Outrageous!

Nova #24 - Not much to say about this one. Wasn't bad, wasn't great either.

Total

Comic Books: 53

TPBs: 12

HCs: 0

Graphic Novels: 1

Adventure Comics #0, Age of The Sentry #5-6, Agents of Atlas #1-3, Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer, Animal Man Volume 1 TPB, Animal Man Volume 2: Origin of the Species TPB, Animal Man Volume 3: Deus Ex Machina TPB, Astounding Wolf-Man #10-13, Atomic Robo Dogs of War #5, Batman #684-686, Batman: The Brave and The Bold #1-4, The Complete Persepolis, Criminal Vol. 2-3 TPB, Detective Comics #853, The Darkness Accursed Vol. 1 TPB, Doctor Who: The Whispering Gallery, Final Crisis Secret Files, Final Crisis #6-7, Four Eyes #2, Fred Hembeck Destroys The Marvel Universe, The Goon #31-32, Green Lantern #36-38, Guardians of The Galaxy #8-12, Incognito #1, Invincible #57, Irredeemable #1, Justice Society of America #22, Kick-Ass #5, Nova #20-24, Planetary #1, Ruins, Seaguy: The Slaves of Mickey Eye #1, Secret Invasion: War of Kings, Seven Soldiers of Victory Volume 1-4 TPB, Super Friends #11, Superman and Batman: World's Funnest, Superman Beyond #2, Vimanarama TPB, War of Kings: Darkhawk #1, X-Force #11

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Blackest Night #0: COCKTEASES!!

The comic part of the book was a nice convo between Hal and Barry about the differences in their funerals and their experiences with Bats. And then comes the last few pages.

Black Hand gets into Bruce's unmarked grave, pulls a skull out, and uses the Black Ring on it. So, with the Omega Sanction sending Bruce's spirit into alternate dimensions, does this mean he's going to be able to reanimate Bruce as a Black Lantern, or what? AAGH, want now plz!

Rest of the book is a run-down of all the Corps, their big members, and how their rings work, along with their weaknesses. Good for someone like me, who's just getting into the book, especially as part of FCBD.

Savage Dragon #148: Part of FCBD. ...I'm not really sure what to think of this. There's a token attempt at catching us up, but the story's all over the place, and I'm not entirely sure of what happened. For me, it was a nice intro to the world, but overall, ehh. Probably not going to be following this.

Thunderbolts #130: The gap between Deadpool #8 and #9 that I was missing. From what I've seen in these issues, I may be picking up the series next month. I like the art style, and I like the characters, and I like the concept. I'll probably page through next month's, go from there.

Wonderful Wizard of Oz Sketchbook: Also part of FCBD. I'm probably going to try to find these, now. I love Young's art style for this, and I know the story pretty well, so I think it'd be worth a look.

Comic Books: 43

TPBs: 19

Graphic Novels: 2

Motion Comic: 1

Also, if anyone got the free Avengers comic, let me know what you thought; it was gone by the time I got there, and that was 10 minutes after the store opened, tops.

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Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America #5 - I was sure I'd missed the conclusion to this mini-series years ago, so when I saw it back on the shelves I snagged a copy on instinct alone. Turns out I did actually have a copy and had just forgotten everything about it. I kept waiting for something to happen, but for once we're treated to a major nonviolent event that actual remains that way. No surprise attacks from the Red Skull, no missiles pointed at the ceremony, just a grieving nation and a set of long-faced superheroes in their civvies. Cassaday's artwork floats from stirring to dull and back again several times. He sets an intense mood at the issue's onset - a slow pan back from Cap's casket, drawn by a single horse through the dreary streets of DC - but then slips up when Tony and the Falcon are delivering their eulogies. Really, really didn't like his rendition of the Thing, either. He gets a few chances to knock our socks off, via a set of flashbacks to crucial moments in Steve's life, with some more successful than others. Cap's final resting place was a nice touch, but otherwise this was just OK.

6/10

The Walking Dead #51 - I stocked up on every issue the local shop had on its wall this week. This one was the crown jewel. Kirkman's story has everything: action, humor, horror and a heartbreaking reveal near its conclusion that left me thinking about it for days afterward. I didn't even need to know the back story between Rick and his family to appreciate the moment, and Adlard's artwork matches the mood perfectly. Smart, succinct, successful storytelling (say that ten times fast) with effortless dialog and top-notch characterization makes this title worthy of all the praise. This is the way to jump into a new series - one of my favorite single issues of the year.

10/10

The Walking Dead #52 - Not quite as accessible as the previous issue. A few familiar faces pop up this month, which left me feeling like a bit of an outcast. Kirkman doesn't make them intimidating or anything, but he also makes it clear that they share a long, rich history with the leads that I'm unaware of. Adlard's artwork may be better than last month, though... some of these compositions are jaw-dropping in their simplicity, while still managing to fill the page with an incredible level of detail. More than any of the other issues I've read, (of which there are now a few) this didn't stand on its own and felt like part one of a lengthy story arc. It's still great, but a few steps below perfection.

8/10

The Walking Dead #53 - The reunion continues, with a few unexpected party crashers. If I was feeling left out by the joyous reconciliation last month, that feeling was multiplied by three this month, as Rick and friends stroll into an entire village of old friends. The plot keeps moving along at a good clip, though, and each "new" face gets enough time to themselves that I was able to easily identify every personality before the end of the issue, which was missing from last month's story. I love that: Kirkman is so careful to make new readers feel welcome, while at the same time rarely holding anything back from his die-hards. There's something new and exciting for everybody.

9/10

The Walking Dead #54 - Didn't take long for a few tempers to flare. What's nice is that the narration never chooses sides, doesn't designate a charming good guy or a dark, myserious bad guy. It's just two perspectives on a common problem that don't exactly line up. This cast is almost strong enough to write for themselves, so all Kirkman needs to do is introduce a moral quandry and toss in a herd of zombies to produce some serious drama. I'm not sure about the new additions to the cast just yet, but they're nothing if they aren't colorful and that's a good first step in my book. It's a little bit dialog-heavy in the first half, but I don't know how else the situation could have unfolded.

9/10

Also, two contributions to IIWY? this week: Buck Rogers #0 and Viking #1.

Comics: 82, TPB: 5, Graphic Novel: 1

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Iron Man: The End-Read this last night and while I was hoping for Michelinie and Layton to pull off some of their previous magic on the character, it just felt really uninspired. These The End books have all sucked except for Hulk and Punisher. I should have known. Anyway, drumming up interest in a character by having his latest amazing technological feat being threatened? Meh. Not the way to do it. Especially when the character is Tony Stark who already has issues as a base character being relatable (rich, brilliant, good-looking) let alone recent developments. There's a moment or two here that are great but everything else is BOO. The art, I liked but not for this book. Bernard Chang has always been a guy whose work is hot and cold with me and this is on the hot side (with a bit more of a Tom Raney look to it) but doesn't work. The IM suit designs look silly. But there is an idea for the Iron Man armor that I hope a current writer picks up on re: it being a bunch of nanites that surround his body until he commands them to come together into the armor. 3/10

Total

Comic books: 141

Trade paperbacks: 5

Graphic novels: 0

Jan 01-Apr 21=105 comics, 4 TPBs...Joker's Asylum: Two-Face, Joker's Asylum: Poison Ivy, Joker's Asylum: Scarecrow, Joker's Asylum: Penguin, Joker's Asylum: Joker, Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #1, Vigilante #1, Fantastic Four #558-564, Harbinger: The Beginning, Simon Dark #10-17, Captain Britain and MI-13 #8-10, The Darkness #8-10, The Darkness: Lodbrok's Hand Oneshot, The Darkness #75, Battle for the Cowl: Underground, Battle for the Cowl: Arkham Asylum, Green Lantern #40, New Avengers #47, Mighty Avengers #20, Iron Man: The End

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I loved Iron Man: The End. It was refreshing to see a "The End" book where the hero's life didn't end all dark and depressing.

I agree on the ending but there has to be danger or something to make you care about the lead. IN this one I felt it was just Stark trying to protect his last project. I don't give a shit about his multi-billion dollar achievements not working out. I care about him as a man and I felt like they only skimmed the surface of Stark as a man.

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I agree on the ending but there has to be danger or something to make you care about the lead. IN this one I felt it was just Stark trying to protect his last project. I don't give a shit about his multi-billion dollar achievements not working out. I care about him as a man and I felt like they only skimmed the surface of Stark as a man.

What about the health issues Tony had? Sure, you could say it was cliche since he had the heart problem for the longest time, but I really felt Tony's struggle with aging and facing the end of the armored career he's led for so long.

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