Every comic you've read in 2009

[Dread]

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.

Yeah, he was getting old but he was still the head of a multi-national corporation with more money than an elephant could shit out in its lifetime and he was still better looking than any 20 year old guy in the Marvel U.

The aging thing wasn't working for me. The alcoholism thing was but they only touched on it for a panel. Maybe had someone died in the accident, I may have felt worse for him but even at his lowest, he still came across as a hero.

[Venneh]

Deadpool #10: Not as good as previous months, but still pretty solid. We get Bullseye this month, and Norm continues to be having troubles with Deadpool, or at least attempting to make trouble for him. I do like that they're acknowledging modern technology, with having him troll Craigslist for jobs. Not quite as much as the fun inner dialogue that I've come to expect, but it's still solid.

I'm starting to wonder if they're ever going to take the series outside of the big events that are going on. The run started in the context of Secret Invasion, and it pretty much went straight into Dark Reign, with, as I understand it, only a few issues not situated within any of the larger events.

Flash: Rebirth #2: ...This is starting to lose me. We get a lot of flashbacks, Barry acts all stunned that he's being treated as this sort of saint, something's definitely up with the Speed Force

(Barry's apparently the Black Flash now?)

and apparently the gorillas know everything that's going on through their cave drawings?

Flipping through this next month before I pick up the third issue. Not sure if it's worth it or not.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz #1: The art for this is beyond amazing. That I pretty much established on Saturday, when I got the sketchbook for FCBD.

The problem, though, is that the dialogue is... well, pretty clearly aimed towards kids. Which is the target audience, but it's kind of painful to read.

Debating following this just for the art.

Comic Books: 46

TPBs: 19

Graphic Novels: 2

Motion Comic: 1

[Dread]

The End League #4-6-Totally forgo I was reading a DH book for a while there and remembered that the first arc ended in issue four with some power. I love Mat Broome and it'll be sad to see him go but the switch to Canete (halfway through issue four actually) seems to fit the book a little better. 5 and 6 focus almost solely on villains and this is the best post-Watchmen type superhero book I thin I've read since the first few arcs of Authority. 8.5/10

Kick-Ass #5-Am I going to be unpopular now? I love this book. There's some kind of weird brutish energy behind it and its real world quality is dripping from every page. Also probably the best work of JRJr's career. Loving this issue's team-up. 8.5/10

Total

Comic books: 145

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,

The End League #4-6, Kick-Ass #5

[Koete]

Kick-Ass is great. Totally over the top and totally fun. Haven't picked up issue 6 yet, but I will soon.

[prez]

Read Blackest Night #0 and it was just freaking great. One question:

Did we know for sure that Earth-2 Superman was going to be a Black Lantern, or did that ad for action figures totally spoil it? Because it really spoiled it for me.

[Venneh]

Read Blackest Night #0 and it was just freaking great. One question:

Did we know for sure that Earth-2 Superman was going to be a Black Lantern, or did that ad for action figures totally spoil it? Because it really spoiled it for me.

I think it had been revealed in other solicits. But, yeah, the figurines do have tendencies to be something of a spoiler.

[SuaveStar]

Walking dead volume 1.

After months of saying I'd get it, I went into my comic shop, pulled out the first trade and said "I said I would." What took me so long to get to this!

Originally when I flipped through it, I was put off by the fact that it was in black and white, but two pages in I got over that.

Fucking awesome.

I ordered volume two from amazon a few hours ago, and can't wait for it.

I read this in one sitting and it never stopped and it never felt like it was dragging, it all just flowed smoothly, and the fact their were no cuts between issues helped this and made me fall in love with this.

I think I'm going to read it again later tonight.

My only gripe was I wasn't a fan of the ending fully, though their is so much that can be done with it in future volumes that can add so much depth and really make this an awesome horror property, even though it says it's not.

Finally it does prove that the best horrors are the ones like the original dawn of the dead which focused on the characters first and the zombies and gore second.

Damn, that was awesome.

I really am looking forward to more, and may go and get volume 3 while waiting for volume 2 from amazon.

Edit: Decided to order volume 3 from amazon and get volume two in the next few days.

[Koete]

JLA: Earth-2: Morrison + Quitely = Win. Nice play on "good always triumphs over evil" and the Ant-Matter versions of the characters were well thought out.

Total

Comic Books: 53

TPBs: 12

HCs: 0

Graphic Novels: 2

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, JLA: Earth-2, 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

[SuaveStar]

BFTC: The Network.

Me dropping single issues in favour of trades is not coming soon enough.

This was cheap tie-in garbage that had one page linking it to Tony Daniels story and having the return of Hugo Strange.

The art was alright, but this was such a forgettable story, I've forgot most of the stuff that happened already.

Miss it, and be happy.

Thank god BFTC ties up in two weeks time.

Transmetropolitan issue #1: After watchmen.

This was so weird and yet so awesome at the same time, and is going right on my amazon wish list.

[prez]

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

Finally got around to reading this. I wish I hadn't. The Danny DeVito thing was so distracting. And, though he was only shown in profile, Two-Face was drawn as Tommy Lee Jones. An artist who uses real people as reference for all characters is a hack. I spent most of the issue trying to figure out who he was trying to draw next. I'm pretty sure the splash page of Catwoman was Audrey Hepburn (though I didn't see a resemblance after that).

[SuaveStar]

Secret Six: Six degrees of seperation.

This is the mini series Gail Simone did of the six before it became a monthly and explains why Tetch hates the six.

It looked nice, though the new series is a lot prettier, Venneh if you get the chance pick this up as if your enjoying the new series you might enjoy this, even though the art like I said, isn't as good.

Fun story, and shows why Simone is a great writer, though it is inferior to the new series which introduces the dsisturbing and awesome Junior. If your a secret six, or mad hatter fan, then give this a shot.

I also got walking dead volume 2 and volume 5 today.

I got two as I said I was going to get it and want more walking dead. And I got five as I was in borders and saw the buy one book get one half off offer and saw secret six which I was going to get and saw they had walking dead.

[Dread]

JSA: All-Stars-On to some trades for a little while. This one was the pre-cursor to the Johns JSA series (not the latest Justice Society but its precursor). It consists of a bookend story involving a demon named Legacy and his kidnapping of the old folks/making the young folks look back on what makes them. It's a trite concept and nowhere near as good as that JSA series would get but it has some great moments. The middle books collected feature a story with the modern character (ex: Stargirl) followed by their legacy hero (ex: Starman) by a roving set of creators. Highlights are an original Dr. Fate story written and drawn by Darwyn Cooke, and an original Hourman story by Howard Chaykin (who does some of his career's best work here). Not the greatest but still kind of fun. 6.5/10

Total

Comic books: 145

Trade paperbacks: 6

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,

The End League #4-6, Kick-Ass #5, JSA: All-Stars

[Venneh]

Secret Six #9: Another one-off tie-in to Battle for the Cowl, but I actually really liked this. Some good, solid moments with Bane and Catman, especially with the death of the Bat, Ragdoll provides excellent humor, and a neat moment when

Nightwing

shows up and the resulting conversation. Good, solid book, definitely worth a read.

Comic Books: 47

TPBs: 19

Graphic Novels: 2

Motion Comic: 1

[SuaveStar]

Secret six number nine. Ragdoll is becoming my favourite DC character really fast. This is the best one shot BFTC tie in I've read as it stands out on it's on. Give it a shot.

Oracle the cure, part 3. Well, this was garbage and really all the momentum from issue one is now dead and what I have just read is utter shite and doesn't even have an ending, well a good one.

Utter shit. Finish off if you haven't, if your waiting for all three to read at once, just read issue one three times.

Booster gold 20. Was it Geoff Johns who made booster awesome? This issue had crap art where some of the characters eyeballs were missing and they looked like aliens!

Also I then noticed the premise felt like quantum leap, and that sadly was not a plus.

Ignore. I was so close to skipping pages just to end this, and thats not what I want from the man from the 24th century.

[SuaveStar]

Showcase presents: Booster gold.

So, I enjoyed this mostly and the art was acceptable, some issues were missable but the rest were good.

I enjoyed this but have a few questions.

In watchmen is Nite-Owl based on blue beetle?

Were the manhunters just a shitty 80's secret invasion style idea?

Why the hell does Booster go from a really well developed character in issue 23 and then the pages with Blue Beetle he is back to his original money hungry ways, I mean that was really a "Hey, you read all this, doesn't really change him though" so it was alright, and I enjoyed reading it, but if it was the 80's I wouldn't get the single issues, or if they did a chronichle I'd give that a miss, but as a showcase, it was good.

[Missy]

In watchmen is Nite-Owl based on blue beetle?

Yes.

[SuaveStar]

Justice league of America 25 and 26.

25 was just boring and looked alright, but just wasn't anything special.

26 this was a little better but I really don't care about this story or this comic, so that's the end of that comic for me.

[Venneh]

Thunderbolts #132: Distrust runs high among the team, an assassination is carried out, and a new member joins the team. Fairly straightforward book; it's caught my interest, so I'll probably have it pulled while I'm gone over the summer.

Comic Books: 48

TPBs: 19

Graphic Novels: 2

Motion Comic: 1

[Missy]

Earth-2.net: The Show 315

Hulk: World War Hulk

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Time of Your Life

Atomic Robo: Dogs of War

Thoughts during Earth-2.net: The Show 317 or 318

Secret Wars

Secret Wars II

Total

Comic books: 8

Trade paperbacks: 37

Graphic novels: 1

[elnino14]

So I finished a lot of big exams and a huge draft for my special project for my master's program and decided that I wanted to read something really good. So I started:

Y: The Last Man vol. 1 (Unmanned). I really really like it. The first issue is absolutely excellent providing some background on all the major characters before the event. The first few issues after that is Vaughn doing a ton of world-building, introducing us to a world that's very different from before. I love how a lot of characters don't change a bunch, just some features are kind of stronger. Yorick is a lovey dovey dork, and afterwards he's more of a lovey dovey dork. The feminists become militias, etc... It's all got some really interesting political themes going on. It's a very plot driven book, and it's not a bad thing because the plot is so good. I can't wait to read more.

9/10

Total:

Comic books: 9

Trade paperbacks: 28

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, Y: The Last Man vol. 1

[Dread]

Y: The Last Man vol. 1 (Unmanned). I really really like it. The first issue is absolutely excellent providing some background on all the major characters before the event. The first few issues after that is Vaughn doing a ton of world-building, introducing us to a world that's very different from before. I love how a lot of characters don't change a bunch, just some features are kind of stronger. Yorick is a lovey dovey dork, and afterwards he's more of a lovey dovey dork. The feminists become militias, etc... It's all got some really interesting political themes going on. It's a very plot driven book, and it's not a bad thing because the plot is so good. I can't wait to read more.

The beginnings of that book had the makings for one of the greatest series of all time and they went a long way toward that.

[Koete]

Agents of Atlas #4 - The first story arc concluded well. The way they tied in the stories from the 1950s and present day was interesting and issue 5 is set up to be a throw down between the Agents and New Avengers. The art for both time periods was excellent as always. The only negative was the portrayl of Bucky, who maybe only Brubaker can write well.

Captain America #47-48 - The excitement post the end of the "Death of Captain America" is still decreased, but I really enjoyed this arc. A reunion of the Invaders in a sense. Brubaker writes a great Namor and the use of the original Human Torch was quite interesting. I was thinking about dropping Captain America after the end of "Time's Arrow", but after this arc I'm definitely still onboard.

Kick-Ass #6 - Page after page of over the top action and insanity. This is my favorite "turn your brain off and enjoy" comic. Nice twist ending too.

Marvel Adventures: Iron Man Vol. 2 Digest - Apart from a random issue of MA: Spider-Man, this was my first time reading a Marvel Adventures book. What a fun foursome of comics. Issue 5 has cyber pirates, issue 6 had a kind of touching ending, issue 7 had Doctor Doom at his Doom-est, and issue 8 had Steampunk Armor. Issue after issue of awesome! In an era where comics are so dark, it was nice to read something that was just plain old superhero fun. I have the other two on the way and I'll be tossing a few of the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man digests into my next DCBS order.

Fantastic Four #1-5 - Thoughts in tomorrow's episode of 'Nuff Said!

Total

Comic Books: 62

TPBs: 13

HCs: 0

Graphic Novels: 2

Adventure Comics #0, Age of The Sentry #5-6, Agents of Atlas #1-4, Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer, Animal Man Volume 1-3 TPB, Astounding Wolf-Man #10-13, Atomic Robo Dogs of War #5, Batman #684-686, Batman: The Brave and The Bold #1-4, Captain America #47-48 The Complete Persepolis, Criminal Vol. 2-3 TPB, Detective Comics #853, The Darkness Accursed Vol. 1 TPB, Doctor Who: The Whispering Gallery, Fantastic Four #1-5, 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, JLA: Earth-2, Justice Society of America #22, Kick-Ass #5-6, Marvel Adventures: Iron Man Vol. 2 Digest 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

[Dread]

Battle for the Cowl: Network-Meh, not as bad as suavestar's said it was, IMO. Brought Hugo Strange back, despite being one of Batman's oldest foes (oldest current foe from what I can recall), he's never had mileage. Interesting stuff between Batgirl and Huntress, two characters I've never given a shit about. Just sort of there. 4/10

Battle for the Cowl #3-Good. Not great. Finally got Dick off his ass (heh) to show Jason who's boss. Good ending even though it was telegraphed a mile away. Should be interesting to see this new cast in Batman and Robin. It did seem quite padded. Still fucking intrigued about Black Mask. 7/10

Age of Desire-last week's DM

Poe #1-next week's DM

Jack Kirby's The Demon-Should have a King and I for issue one this week.

Total

Comic books: 148

Trade paperbacks: 7

Graphic novels: 1

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, The End League #4-6, Kick-Ass #5, JSA: All-Stars, Battle for the Cowl: Network, Battle for the Cowl #3, Age of Desire, Poe #1, Jack Kirby's The Demon

[elnino14]

I read a whole bunch (or 3) of Free Comic Book Day comics, they included GI Joe, Transformers Animated, Aliens, Predator, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and a Dark Horse sampler. I didn't care for any of them, the best of the bunch was the Aliens and Predator stuff. I'm not counting any of these.

Continued Y: The Last Man with vol. 2 (Cycles). Dread is absolutely right, the beginnings of this series is setting it up to be one of the greatest series of all time. The book continues the consistently funny, intriguing, and thoughtful world imagined by Brian K. Vaughn. It's not as strong as the first book, but it's still one of the strongest books I've ever read. The focus of this book deals with constnatly conflicting ideas of a utopian society and the means towards creating that society along with ideas on the prison system, justice system, sexual morality, among others. If any flaws, I felt the conflict between the leader of the feminist militias and Yorick came too soon, the romance also budded too quickly. Although these "flaws" seem to have reasoning behind them, adding to the bigger picture. 9/10

The Incredible Hulk: Tempest Fugit. I never read Peter David's original run on the Incredible Hulk, this trade represented his return to the character, and it's a fun, but somewhat unsatisfying read. It feels like Millars run on the Wolverine and Spider-man, throwing Hulk into some giant, entertaining fights, with blockbuster action, sprinkled with some intellectualism. It's got a great first two acts doing this and a subplot of Bruce as a teenage youth, but the third act has the story implode on itself. Leaving a rather unsatisfying reveal and ending. The one-shot at the end of this TPB is excellent though. 7.5/10

Total:

Comic books: 9

Trade paperbacks: 30

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, Y: The Last Man vol. 1 and 2, The incredible Hulk: Tempest Fugit

[Aaron Robinson]

I just finished reading through the complete SCUD omnibus last night.

The series started to lose me here and there, but overall the awesome far outweighed the bad. That was a perfect way to end the book too. Corny and surprisingly by-the-numbers (in a way…) but I still loved every page of it.