Every comic you've read in 2009

[Dread]

Thoughts in next IIWY:

Jonah Hex #50

Northlanders #22

Total

Comic books: 474

Trade paperbacks: 33

Graphic novels: 4

[Missy]

New Avengers, volume one: Breakout

It's been ages since I read this, and though I think it's a good start to the new era of Avengers titles and does well setting the tone for this team, something is a little off. Maybe it's how nearly everyone has a snarky voice. Or maybe because the two halves of the story don't fit together all that well. Or maybe it's David Finch's artwork, which I don't hate, but I'm not terribly sold on either. I don't know. Maybe it's a matter of Bendis not having found his Avengers voice at that point.

That said, the Cap and Iron Man scenes are great. He has those two characters and their relationship down. More of them and their team-building discussions would have been nice.

New Avengers, volume two: Sentry

I see what Bendis was trying to do here, that being making The Sentry relevant after being absent from the MU for so many years. It's interesting that he took such a risky chance so early on. This story mostly takes place in The Sentry's head, with very little of the fight with The Void being seen. That's gutsy, especially so early on with an untested team of Avengers. It's just too bad all of the good work Bendis did here was undone later whenever the character was used. He was on the right path, then all of a sudden he's a basket case again.

Despite a few minor bumps, which I credit to John Dell, the second inker, Steve McNiven's artwork is great here. It's a shame his dynamic style was used on such a low-key story. Oh, he does great expressing emotions and conveying quiet moments, but I want big Steve McNiven action!

Now that we're past Secret Invasion, it's interesting to see the clues Bendis was laying. Lots of greens are used in subtle ways, and the Skrulls are mentioned several times. I'd like to see a comprehensive list, as I'm sure someone has posted it somewhere on the Internet.

Total

Comic books: 97

Trade paperbacks: 79

Graphic novels: 1

[Guest]

It's just too bad all of the good work Bendis did here was undone later whenever the character was used. He was on the right path, then all of a sudden he's a basket case again.

Now that I look back, I really think this is the point where I turned on Marvel. They essentially had Superman, and then spent the next few years proving that they didn't deserve him.

[elnino14]

Dark Avengers Assemble - This is basically the continuation of the Thunderbolts story that Ellis told, with many of the same characters and the same artist being transferred over. Albeit, it's a different story as the sympathetic characters (Songbird and Radioactive Man) are gone and it's truly a team of villains (and Ares, and the whiny crybaby Sentry). While Ellis Thunderbolts could be read with just passing knowledge of whats going on in the greater Marvel U, I felt on Dark Avengers that you need to have a stronger connection to the Marvel U (this is an Avengers book after all). Anyways, Normie is absolutely awesome in this book and Bendis has him down just as well as Ellis did. The rest of the characters are done okay but barely get any screen time, and Bendis has trouble balancing all the characters out. Also the Doom story seems completely unrelated to the story that Bendis is telling, Bendis is trying to tell a story about villains being truly glorified as heroes as the mantle-pieces of society. Keeping up an image. Then they go off an adventure to help Dr. fucking Doom. How does that keep up images of heroes. Anyways, I liked the book and I'm interested to see where Bendis takes it. He just needs to find a bit more balance with his team.

Also reading Ultimate Iron Man II, I haven't finished it yet, but it's good. It's got all the themes of the first book, this one is less biotech and more corporate conspiracy. Also it's so freaking genius yet so simple that the cover-up idea for Iron Man is actually a robot, I don't remember them doing that in the marvel U.

[Koete]

Batman #s 224, 330, 446, 580

Batman/Doc Savage Special

Batman and Robin #6

The Contingent #4

Cowboy Ninja Viking #2

The Eternal Conflicts of The Cosmic Warrior #1

G-Man: Cape Crisis #4

The Goon #33

The Invisibles #1

The Mystery Play OGN

Silent Mobius Vol. 1

X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #2

Total

Comic Books: 146

TPBs: 23

HCs: 2

Graphic Novels: 3

Manga: 3

Adventure Comics #0, Age of The Sentry #5-6, Agents of Atlas #1-11, Aliens/Predator FCBD 2009, Aliens #2, Ambush Bug Stocking Stuffer, The Anchor #1, Animal Man Volume 1-3 TPB, Astounding Wolf-Man #10-13; 15-16, Athena Voltaire & Black Coat One-Shot, Atomic Robo Dogs of War #5, Batman #224, 330, 446, 580, 684-686, Batman/Doc Savage Special, Batman: The Black Casebook TPB, Batman and Robin #1-6, Batman: The Brave and The Bold #1-10, Bullet Points TPB, Captain America #47-48; 601, The Complete Persepolis, The Contingent #3-4, Criminal Vol. 2-3 TPB, Countdown Special: New Gods, Cowboy/Ninja/Viking #1-2, The Darkness Accursed Vol. 1 TPB, Dark Horse FCBD 2009, Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1, DC Comics Presents: Mystery In Space, DC One Million #1-4, DC One Million 80-Page Giant, Detective Comics #320;853, Dethklok vs. The Goon, Doctor Who: The Whispering Gallery, Doom Patrol Vol. 1 TPB, The Eternal Conflicts of The Cosmic Warrior #1, Fantastic Four #1-5, Fantastic Four: 1234 TPB, Final Crisis Secret Files, Final Crisis #6-7, Four Eyes #2-3, Fred Hembeck Destroys The Marvel Universe, G-Man: Cape Crisis #1-4, Gantz Vol. 1, The Goon #31-33, Green Lantern #36-38, Green Lantern Corps #38, Guardians of The Galaxy #8-12, Incognito #1, Invincible #57, Invincible Iron Man #15, The Invisibles #1, Iron Man & The Armor Wars #1, Irredeemable #1-2, Jack Staff Special #1, JLA #1,000,000, JLA: Earth-2, Joker: The Greatest Stories Ever Told TPB, Justice League of America #35, Justice Society of America #22, Kick-Ass #5-6, Marvel Adventures: Iron Man Vol. 1-3 Digests, M.O.D.O.K. Reign Delay, MPD Psycho Vol. 1, The Mystery Play OGN, Nova #20-25, Planetary #1, Red 5 FCBD 2009, Ruins, Savage Dragon #148, Seaguy: The Slaves of Mickey Eye #1-3, Secret Invasion: War of Kings, Secret Origins #46, Seven Soldiers of Victory Volume 1-4 TPB, Silent Mobius Vol. 1, Spawn #16-18, Super Friends #11, Superman / Batman #62, Superman and Batman: World's Funnest, Superman Beyond #2, Tales to Astonish #27, 35-38, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, The Mighty Thor #356, Thor Vol. 2 HC, Vimanarama TPB, War of Kings: Darkhawk #1, Warlord #5, We3 TPB, Wolverine: Origin of An X-Man FCBD, X-Force #11, X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas #1-2, Zot! 1987 - 1991: The Complete Black and White Collection TPB

[Aaron Robinson]

Woops. Wrong thread. I'll probably edit this post later to mention all the books I've been reading.

[drqshadow]

Batman and Robin #6 - What a mess. Basically one extended fight scene, this issue would have surely benefitted from Frank Quitely's artwork, but in Philip Tan's hands it's just a yawner. Grant Morrison has driven this series into a rut that just gets deeper and deeper with every passing issue. B&R swiftly take out the insurmountable threat from last month. They share a panel's worth of witty banter with Alfred. They find a domino. A new threat emerges, promising to be twice as serious as the one the heroes took out this month. The curtain falls. Rinse and repeat. This month's challenger, the Flamingo, is surprisingly shallow for someone who takes his fashion cues from the cover to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The only redeeming quality about this issue is the closure it grants Scarlet, the Red Hood's former sidekick, and even that's unbelievably anticlimactic. She just walks away, and magically she's cured? Wow. Terrible work.

2/10

Daredevil #502 - OK, I may have been a bit quick to judge the new creative team. Andy Diggle is still feeling his way around the cast, particularly Master Izo and Foggy, but he's taking the book (and Matt) to interesting new places. I welcome the return to the scenery of a courtroom, however brief it may have been, and it's nice to see the Kingpin back to his old ways, even if I still don't have a lot of time for his new enforcer, Lady Bullseye. The artwork is going to take some getting used to, though I found more to like this month than I did the last. I'm not entirely thrilled with the "ninjas vs. po-pos" storyline that's looming over the final pages like a dark, rumbling storm cloud, but this time I'll hold off and see where exactly it's going before writing it off. A mildly above-average issue, no more, no less.

6/10

Dark Avengers Annual #1 - This was a nice, unexpected little treat. To be frank, I hadn't even noticed Marvel Boy had gone missing in recent issues (no surprise considering how disjointed and difficult to follow they've been) but Bendis catches us up in no time and takes the opportunity to explore and expand his personality. Noh-Varr's perspective on the human race and its self-defeating tendencies is worthwhile, and his impromptu conversation with a random resident of NYC makes for some of the best moments of development the character has enjoyed since joining the team. Of course, those advancements are then immediately handcuffed by one of the worst costume redesigns in recent memory, but I guess you win some and you lose some. Chris Bachalo's artwork really took this issue over the top. His experiments with traditional paneling in this issue don't always work but they're universally gorgeous and he flat-out owns the action scenes. Get this guy on the main Dark Avengers series right away, please.

8/10

Powers Volume 3 #1 - Didn't even realize the second "season" had ended. I guess that goes to show how captivating recent issues have been (that tone you're hearing should be your sarcasm detector going off). It's a shame because this used to be the single most refreshing breath of fresh air on the market, but constant shipping delays, a few weak sequential story arcs and the replacement of Deena with a pale imposter have really served to kill its momentum. I wish Bendis would quit picking at the whole "Walker has been alive forever" bit, because it was tough to believe in the first place and each additional forgotten chapter of his life just pushes the envelope further and further over the line. Even the letters section, formerly my favorite part of every month, has been down in the dumps lately. Time to shape up or ship out, because there's no room on my regular pull list for books that are treading water or moving backwards.

5/10

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #5 - There's a notable lack of electricity in this series since the relaunch, and I don't mean it needs more Electro. The entire cast is merely going through the motions, like they're reading their lines in a shared, disinterested voice. Almost every single female face has been acting completely out of character, and since the book's most personable, intriguing personalities are the women in Pete's life, that doesn't leave us with much. David LaFuente's artwork is showing signs of slow, sure improvement - he even managed to hand in a decent spread of Parker in full uniform this month - but I don't know if I have the patience to wait for him to figure everything out. It's like he's training on the job. The series seems to be going nowhere, but for the moment at least it remains worth keeping up with. It's surprised me from this kind of position before.

6/10

The Walking Dead #67 - The group's road-weary, grumpy, hungry, lost and hopeless, which is no kind of recipe for creating meaningful relationships together. That all boils over this month when one character reveals he isn't what he's claimed to be all this time, calling the crew's driving purpose into question in an instant. It's a fascinating look at humanity in general, how something as minor as a small radio can drive even the closest of comrades to each other's throats. Toss in a great little heart-to-heart between Rick and his son, and you've got yet another installment in a series that never seems to take a month off. Walking Dead is in the midst of an unbelievable run.

9/10

The Walking Dead #68 - It's amazing to read this issue and then look back at where the group started. In those early days they were so naive, so careless, so... green. Today's unit is like a well-oiled machine: cautious, smart, efficient and effective. Years on the road, burying friends around every corner, have hardened them to the point they're barely recognizable. Which isn't to say they've lost touch with their humanity - they just don't show it to everyone who stumbles along. The offer from just such a wanderer that they consider this month is something the old group would have jumped at in an instant, but the modern tribe is immediately leery, even if the temptation of a stockade of food and a safe place to rest proves to be too much for the majority of them. Rick's caution translates directly to the readers, who have no choice but to believe that when something looks too good to be true, it usually is. Next month should be interesting.

9/10

Also, several comics for IIWY since my last post: Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love #1, Astonishing X-Men #32, Outsiders #24, Amazing Spider-Man #612, Die Hard: Year One #3, Superman: Secret Origin #3, Blackest Night: The Flash #1 and Thor #604

Comics: 164, TPB: 11, Graphic Novel: 5

[Guest]

Jack of Fables #40 - IIWY

Comic Books: 202

TPBs: 42

HCs: 5

Graphic Novels: 1

[Missy]

New Avengers, volume three: Secrets & Lies

The front half of the book, the Ronin story, is a dropped ball. Yes, I know Bendis was laying the groundwork for future events, Secret Warriors, and his eventual Spider-Woman series, but it's "The Avengers (and Someone We're Supposed to Believe is Matt Murdock but Isn't) versus The Hand," and it goes nowhere. The twist is okay, but it would have been better if Ronin were drawn slimmer. I can deal with the padding covering her boobs. That I'll buy. But her legs pre-reveal are as thick as tree trunks. It's a false twist in a go-nowhere story.

The back half of the book, however, the Spider-Woman portion, is awesome. Frank Cho delivers excellent work, and Bendis really captures the voices of Jessica Drew and Carol Danvers. And here he does a better job setting up what's to come for the Marvel Universe and Spider-Woman.

Total

Comic books: 97

Trade paperbacks: 80

Graphic novels: 1

[prez]

I hate late books...

The giant clusterfuck that is New Avengers Annual #1 is at least the third book to show us Steve Rogers back in the Marvel Universe - while his 'rebirth' has not yet been revealed. The last we know, his body has been taken over by The Red Skull.

Also, I like that they resolved the "Clint is captured" storyline from "New Avengers: The List," but it fucks the timeline all up. So, Clint has been a hostage all this time? While appearing as a fugitive hero in how many different books? Marvel's timeline is so messed up now in so many books. They're trying to do too much with too few characters and it just doesn't make sense.

As tiring as it is to see The Flash delivering the Black Lantern message in all the BN tie-ins, it firmly sets that timeline in reality. And really shows that DC has its shit together more than Marvel.

[Dread]

Dingo #1 was covered a couple of DM's ago.

This week's First issue Special:

Daytripper #1

Last days of American Crime #1

Nation X #1

Pilot Season: Murderer

Spider-Man The Secret Wars #1

Total

Comic books: 480

Trade paperbacks: 33

Graphic novels: 4

There's no reason I can't read 20 more comics in 10 days to make a cool 500 comics in a year. I will make this happen.

[Dread]

Arkham Reborn #2-not how i would have expected the plot of this sucker to break down but it only just means that the third issue should be pretty balls to the wall. 8/10

Blackest Night #5-wowzers. 9/10

Green Lantern #48-double wowzers. 9/10

Green Lantern Corps #42-holy motherfucking Sims will hate this with a fury wowzers but I loves it. 10/10

Ultimate Avengers #4-Almost as cool as Ulimate Red Skull is Nerd Hulk. God I love Nerd Hulk. 9/10

Batman and Robin #6-great story. I dug it a lot. The art in issue 4 was brilliant. Issue 5 was a bit shaky but still caught much more flack than it deserved but this issue's art is horrendous. At times he's aping Quitely (especially one panel of Batman's face that looks photoshopped out of an earlier issue) and at others it is so muddy and ugly that it looks like six different people worked on the art in this book and only two of them were good. 6/10

Captain America Reborn #4-I've decided I don't like this book anymore. I'll give one more issue of monthly Cap and then I'll probably drop it. It' ugly, the story is going nowhere and it appears that brubaker just doesn't care anymore. 3/10

The Ghoul #1-Wow. Four dollars. Four dollars for 16 pages of comic story that could have been covered in four pages and then five pages of text. Fuck IDW and the creative teamn for thinking they could pawn this off as product. Not even Bernie Wrightson could make this worth reading. 0/10

Total

Comic books: 488

Trade paperbacks: 33

Graphic novels: 4

[Dread]

Tank Girl: Dark Nuggets-Unfortunately I did not have the time to read this and review it for this week's IIWY but god I wish I had. Because the only dark nuggets that come to mind when reading this book are those I leave in the toilet after eating Chinese food and drinking rum. Put that on the trade. 0/10

Total

Comic books: 489

Trade paperbacks: 33

Graphic novels: 4

[Missy]

Green Lantern Corps #42-holy motherfucking Sims will hate this with a fury wowzers but I loves it. 10/10

I've heard.

But I also know what it leads to, so I'm not so sad.

[Dread]

Green Lantern Corps #42-holy motherfucking Sims will hate this with a fury wowzers but I loves it. 10/10

I've heard.

But I also know what it leads to, so I'm not so sad.

Yeah. as good as this issue was, the next one will be better featuring some of the most carnage comics have ever seen.

[Venneh]

Wonderful Wizard of Oz HC: Caught this while I was doing some Christmas shopping, sat down with it at Barnes and Noble. Writing isn't exactly the greatest, as it's pretty much the original story word-for-word and taken down a bit more to a kid's level, but it's still solid enough.

But holy shit, if you get this for no other reason, get it for the art. There's one two-page-spread in here that I remember so well, the moment when they step into the Emerald City, and it is amazing. Wonderful and whimsical all the way. Skottie Young does absolutely amazing work on this. The art is the sole reason I will be getting this whenever I have enough money.

[Dread]

Cowboy Ninja Viking #2-This is officially my new favorite comic. So much damned fun. 9/10

Kid Eternity #1-3-This is fucked up. I think I only partially get it but it is worth reading for the art alone. Duncan Fegredo adapts Morrison's script ina way that makes this the closest Grant Morrison will ever get to writing a Hellraiser comic. 7/10

Total

Comic books: 493

Trade paperbacks: 33

Graphic novels: 4

Posted Image

[Dread]

The Dragon: Blood and Guts #1-3-since I only have seven comics to go before 500, I thought I'd go out with two minis that I know I like. First up, Jason Pearson's hard boiled take on Dragon. It's a little uneven and ends a little too nicely, but the car attack scene in issue two is still one of my favorite comic scenes of all time and the fight in issue three is also spectacular. Pearson's art is tight and an intersting take on a character who can only REALLY be drawn by Larsen. 8/10

Total

Comic books: 496

Trade paperbacks: 33

Graphic novels: 4

Off to bed to read Fantastic Four 1234. Peace and Merry Christmas if I'm not around.

[Dread]

Fantastic Four 1234-I wish Morrison had more chances to write FF. It's the perfect property for him. This one is dreamy and a little bonkers but well within the framework of the FF. Jae Lee delivered some of the best art of his career on this one too. Spectacular.

Total

Comic books: 500!

Trade paperbacks: 33

Graphic novels: 4

Will have some trades to update in the next few days but we're off for Christmas. Have a good one peeps and be good while I'm gone.

Also: please tell me we aren't doing this for 2010?

[Missy]

Also: please tell me we aren't doing this for 2010?

We are.

[Koete]

Fantastic Four 1234-I wish Morrison had more chances to write FF. It's the perfect property for him. This one is dreamy and a little bonkers but well within the framework of the FF. Jae Lee delivered some of the best art of his career on this one too. Spectacular.

One of my all time favorite Morrison stories. It's a damn shame we never got a New X-Men length run on Fantastic Four from Morrison.

[Guest]

Green Lantern Corps #43

Creepy #2

The Complete Alice in Wonderland #1

Street Fighter II Turbo #10

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #4

Absolution #3 and #4

Making my final totals for the year...

Comic Books: 209

TPBs: 42

HCs: 5

Graphic Novels: 1

[Missy]

Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes

A review on Earth-2.net is forthcoming.

Total

Comic books: 97

Trade paperbacks: 81

Graphic novels: 1

[elnino14]

Ultimate Iron Man vol. II - At first glance, I liked this book, it had all the themes of the first book, the corporate intrigue, fleshing out of Tony's biogenetic background, and was just a continuation of the fun and unique take on the character. While this book was more of that, it just fell flat with me about half-way through. I stopped caring for some reason and the confrontation on the plane seemed like an eternity. I don't know what it was, maybe it's the "Twist!" or maybe it's just that I liked the origin story stuff cooped up in volume 1. But overall volume 2 just didn't do it for me.

Freakangels vol. 1-2 - This is a compilation of Warren Ellis web-comic, since I absolutely despise reading comics online (I feel a lot is lost in the translation from page to screen and I feel this way about movies, tv shows, and any media really on the computer). So I picked these up. My goodness it's a interesting high-concept, it's just that it's painfully fucking slow paced. Two trades, and only 24 hours have passed. It feels like a lot of it is just nothing really happening and really nothing does happen, nothing much anyway, it's just building characters. The dialogue and the characters are fun and each one is unique in voice and tone, even though they all look alike, but it's just plot...like there is none and what is there is just not getting there fast enough. I like Warren Ellis more and more but this story isn't working for me.

Madrox, X-factor vol. 1 - I'm rereading these books because I haven't kept up to speed with the events/ tpbs after the Messiah Complex. I absolutely gushed over these books before, and I do that now. I absolutely love this series, it's serious when it wants to be, it's funny when it wants to be, and it's got all the themes about identity that is absolutely great to relate to. I gushed over this in full length review in my blog. Probably my second favorite Marvel series after Daredevil (mainly Bendis, but Brubaker's run was good too).

Next up: More X-factor!

Total:

Comic books: 32

Trade paperbacks: 113

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. 1-10, The incredible Hulk: Tempest Fugit, Marvels, Daredevil: Redemption, Daredevil: Yellow, Hard-boiled, Hulk: Dogs of War, Spider-man: India, R.I.P.D., Daredevil: Love Labors Lost, District X vol. 1, Walking Dead vol. 1-8, Deadpool vol. 1: Secret Invasion, Superman: Red Son, Batman and Son, Justice League International vol. 1, Bullseye's Greatest Hits, Marvel 1985, X-men Children of the Atom, The Dark Phoenix Saga, Batman: Hush vol 1-2, Batman: Nine Lives, Walking Dead vol. 9, 52 vol. 1-4, Batman: Gothic, X-men: God Loves Man Kills, Daredevil by Bendis vol 4-7 and vol 9-13, X-men: Mutant Genesis, Transmetropolitan vol. 1 (Back on the Street), Starman vol. 1-3, JLA vol. 1, Hunter Killer vol. 1, Starman vol. 4: Times Past, Daredevil by Brubaker Devil Inside and Out vol. 1-2, Daredevil by Brubaker Hell To Pay vol. 1-2, Daredevil by Brubaker: Cruel and Unusual and Lady Bullseye, Hulk by Bruce Jones HC vol. 1 and 2, District X vol. 2, X-factor Visionaries by Peter David vol. 1-4, Ultimate Iron Man vol. 1, Ultimate Human, Daredevil by Brubaker: Return of the King, Noir: A collection of crime comics, Last Hero Standing #1-5, Ultimate Nightmare #1-4, She-Hulk #1-12, Ultimate Comics Avengers #1-2, Sam and Twitch: Brian Michael Bendis Collection vol. 1, Thunderbolts: Bringing Down the House, Deapool/Thunderbolts: Dark Reign, Dark Avengers: Assemble, Ultimate Iron Man vol. II, Freakangels vol. 1-2, Madrox, X-factor vol. 1

[Missy]

Thoughts in Earth-2.net: The Show 369

Jinx, volume one

Sam & Twitch: Udaku

Alias, volume one

Total

Comic books: 97

Trade paperbacks: 84

Graphic novels: 1