Every comic you've read in 2010

[KnightWing]

Did I miss the episode where Robin and Barney get married?

[SuaveStar]

Did I miss the episode where Robin and Barney get married?

It could still happen.

[Koete]

The series isn't over yet!

[Missy]

Thoughts in Earth-2.net: The Show 429

Assassin's Creed: The Fall #1

Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science #1

Chaos War: Thor #1

Iron Man: Rapture #1

Superboy #1

Thoughts in Earth-2.net: The Show 430-something

Ant-Man & Wasp #1

Dungeons and Dragons #1

She-Hulks #1

THUNDER Agents #1

Victorian Undead, v2 #1

Comic books: 121

Trade paperbacks: 67

Graphic novels: 1

[You Know Who]

MY THOUGHTS ON THE FIVE GEOFF JOHNS TEEN TITANS TRADE PAPERBACKS PURCHASED FROM MIKE:

Teen Titans, Volume One: A Kid's Game

My introduction to Tim Drake, Superboy, Impulse, and Wonder Girl, all characters I had heard of but never read before. I became much more interested in these characters than the four veteran Titans featured (Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy) because the latter were nowhere near as cool as their counterparts in the Teen Titans cartoon. By far, the best scene was the battle between the Titans and the League. Good art by Tom Grummett save when he had to draw people with their mouths open from the side.

Teen Titans, Volume Two: Family Lost

Decent but I really wasn't crazy about the child Brother Blood and the cult stuff. Particularly liked the full page spread of Superboy coming across Cyborg rebuilding himself.

Teen Titans, Volume Three: Beast Boys and Girls

Didn't care much for the "Nobody's Hero" story that comprised the first half, as the framed storyline has been done so many times and I didn't like Justiniano's art as much as Grummett's. Sadly, the art was at its worst when Justiniano was drawing the animals that Beast Boy took the shape of (many of them were over-rendered, ugly, and in one case I couldn't tell whether the Beast Boy impostor had taken the shape of a bear or a panther) when that's the art should be at its best.

The "Wild Life" storyline wasn't excellent but was still a step up from the first story though in terms of both writing and art. The highlight of it for me was the final battle between Beast Boy and the one responsible for temporarily "curing" him and spreading Sakutia to kids in San Francisco.

Teen Titans/The Outsiders: The Insiders

Not a bad story but my enjoyment of it was compromised by the fact that it was set well after the other Teen Titans trade paperbacks and that it was the first Outsiders comic I've ever read and I had never been previously introduced to most of the team. It was also quite odd seeing the Teen Titans and the Outsiders team up against two major Superman/Justice League villains. Even so, I quite liked Cassie trying to bring Superboy to his senses while being controlled by one of those villains, Raven paying Superboy a visit in Smallville, and, on the side of the Outsiders, Shift trying to bring Indigo to her senses and his subsequent discussion with his "father" Metamorpho.

Teen Titans: The Future Is Now

Saved this one for last despite it preceding the crossover with the Outsiders. Mike had discussed the "The Future Is Now" storyline back in one of the Countdown-related episodes of Earth-2.net: The Show and told me that this trade paperback was one of the best of the bunch, and he was right.

-"Superboy and the Legion" wasn't too deep and was mostly action but I liked the interactions between the Titans and the members of the Legion. I would've liked to have seen the five months in which Superboy fought with the Legion and came to regard it as a new home.

-"The Future is Now" was quite good artistically and action-wise though I felt it was a little rushed and find it weird that the one member of the Titans West who hasn't gone over the edge had an entire city converted into a museum devoted to him and his predecessors. The stuff between Tim and his darker future self was also rather chilling, though I'd have liked to have learned what exactly happened to Bruce, Alfred, and Dick to make him go off the deep end.

-"Hiding" was a nice short little story about secrets and coping with loss. Wish I know what the stuff with Bolt, Electricutioner, and the kids with the Lex Luthor suit was all about, but I still recognize it as necessary to drive Tim over the edge.

-"Lights Out" I wasn't digging too much simply because I found it ridiculous that twenty heroes would be needed to take down even an enhanced Dr. Light (though once again, my feelings on this character might be colored by me having been introduced to him through his animated counterpart, who usually gets his ass handed to him on a silver platter; it was nice to hear, though, that the same thing happened in the comics to him too before he got his mind wiped and went psycho). Hawk and Dove were also distracting and totally unnecessary.

Conclusion:

While my readings of these books were somewhat compromised by the founding Titans not being as interesting as their animated counterparts, my lack of knowledge on a lot of the continuity, and perhaps me reading each book too fast, for the most part I liked the art, the writing, and the directions Johns was taking the characters in. Once again, what hooked me the most were the third-generation Titans and their various subplots, particularly Superboy coping with his identity and Cassie whenever she was visited by Ares. I can almost guarantee you I will read each of these books again in the future and that I will purchase the fifth volume of Teen Titans to see what happens next.

Trade paperback count: 18

Coming Up Next: All-Star Superman!

[Koete]

Thoughts in Earth-2.net: The Show 429

Assassin's Creed: The Fall #1

Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science #1

Chaos War: Thor #1

Iron Man: Rapture #1

Superboy #1

Thoughts in Earth-2.net: The Show 430-something

Ant-Man & Wasp #1

Dungeons and Dragons #1

She-Hulks #1

THUNDER Agents #1

Victorian Undead, v2 #1

Comic books: 121

Trade paperbacks: 67

Graphic novels: 1

Mike, when are you and Dan recording the next WFTT? I wanted to make sure I got an e-mail in for this one.

[Missy]

Between the holiday and my forthcoming move, I'd guess late next week. Otherwise, I don't know when we'll fit it in.

[You Know Who]

All-Star Superman:

(See my post in the thread of Earth-2.net: The Show)

Trade paperback count: 18

[Dread]

Doom Patrol #16-Bought this because Brian Keene was on writing chores. Kind of wished I didn't. The last DP I read was the first issue of this run. I was actually more confused after the first issue than I was this one. But this still isn't great. The art: Giffen does his best Erik Larsen which suits these characters. 4/10

DC Universe Legacies #7-This one is a little lame. The other issues have done a pretty good job of a small man's point of view of big events through DC's history. Somehow, being in Metropolis, he was able to see all of the events of Knightfall and Superman's death. I don't like it. This is probably the flattest issue of a good comic I've read ina long time. Bolland's work on the backup with the Atom in Round Table era England depicting Silent Knight and Camelot 5000 was awesome. Still, the series needs to pick up if I'm going to give a shit. 6/10

Wildstorm Presents #1-There are fewer comics universes I enjoy more than the late nineties/early aughts era Wildstorm but this fucking sucked. For the talent they have in this book, it's terrible. Three quarters of the books has the shitty "MASKS" COPS rip off comic that has nothign to do with the WSU. Ugly and completely unnecessary. 2/10

The Traveler #1-Another hit probably from Waid at BOOM! It has an interesting hook. I'll grab the first trade for sure. I really like Hardin's art. 8/10

Chaos War Alpha Flight #1-No secret as to why I picked this up. The less I say about this the better if I ever want to work in the industry but imagine a babychest if Cable blew Hope's brains out with one of his chocolate bar shaped guns, then took his shirt off and rubbed the brain over his bare chest while singing "It's Raining Men" and you might have a clue as to how bad this book is.

Captain America #612-Enjoyed it. Interesting spins on where this is going. Not sure how it's going to play out. Guice and Breitweiser are probably the best art team this book has seen since its inception which is pretty high praise. 8/10

Ultimate Avengers 3 #4-I am officially over this book. Millar's pop culture referencing has never been more annoying. This series bears no resemblance to even Ultimate Avengers 2 let alone the Hitch Ultimates work. I'm also beginning to feek ashamed for ever liking Steve Dillon. Ugh. No more Ultimate Universe for me. 1/10

Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil-Mike Mignola and Richard Corben with Hellboy versus a living house. Win. I don't remember the second story at all but it doesn't matter because it was pretty. 8/10

Parker: The Outfit-Cooke knows his stuff. This isn't as good as the first book. Cooke made a ballsy choice but failed when he decided to outline how the heist went down through clues placed in a pulp magazine that comprises 1/5th of this entire book. 30 pages dedicated to something that could have been done beautifully in three. Major failure in comics storytelling as far as I'm concerned. Can't get over it. I was immersed in the story and almost didn't want to finish the book afterwards. 6/10 overall.

Ghost Rider Omnibus-I'm always worried about using this word but: genius. I fucking loved every page of this collection of 23 issues. Aaron combines heavily armed motorcycle riding nuns, classic villains and compatriots with an entirely serious battle for all of reality. The Ghost Riders of many cultures is beautioful and I want me a Golden Age Ghost Rider book. The Undead G-Man!!! And his scrappy kid sidekick! Roland Boschi and Tan Eng Huat are both clearly going to be love or hate based on taste but they are both perfect for this book and I am now a major fan of both of them. I am definitely grabbing Frankencastle now. THIS IS MARVEL HORROR DONE RIGHT! 10/10

Comic books: 309

Trade paperbacks: 73

Graphic novels: 6

Omnibuses: 10

[SuaveStar]

Brightest Day #16: After last issue, this was a breath of fresh air, as it had the story I gave a shit about, the Aquaman one, and also interesting development of the Firestorm story, and although the baddie in that story won't last long.

Titans #30: Art was nice. Story not so much. It was ok, but it didn't really have anything interesting, bar having some nice continuity with Arkham: Reborn as the woman who got the job running Arkham in that book, is now running it in this one.

JLA: World without grown ups. I started this thinking it was dull, and really hating Superboys look. However, like the TV show pilot, it grew on me. Art was good, and though the story was overly complicated, it was still fun. Though, Superboys costume and mullet were both shit.

Green Lantern #60: Pretty looking book, and it advanced the plot. Not enough Larfleeze though. Next issue looks to be a lot better. Seems like there was a lot to cram into this issue.

Trades: 18

HC:1

Comics: 208

GN:0

Omnibus: 1

[Missy]

Thoughts in Earth-2.net: The Show 430

Hitman: Local Heroes

Thor: The Mighty Avenger - The Who Fell to Earth

FireBreather, volume 1

Comic books: 121

Trade paperbacks: 70

Graphic novels: 1

[Molly]

Thoughts in Earth-2.net: The Show 430

Hitman: Local Heroes

Thor: The Mighty Avenger - The Who Fell to Earth

FireBreather, volume 1

Comic books: 121

Trade paperbacks: 70

Graphic novels: 1

THOR!

[Dread]

Fall of Cthulhu vol 4 Godwar-My favorite volume to date. It all comes together very nicely. I need to get the next volume. 9/10

Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters- Always meant to check this out but never did. My friend was selling volume two on eBay so I got it and ordered this one. Wow. So weird. This is exactly where I'm at as far as superheroes are concerned right now. Great stuff that even more relevant now than it was when it was published. Also, I love Acuna's art here. I have never been able to say that I even like it before. Nice stuff. 9/10

US & the FF: Brave New World-Goes off the rails a bit but still very strong. Renato Arlem's art is fantastic here. Goddamn. 8/10

AoA: Versus X-Men & Avengers-Snooze. Gabriel Hardman is the ONLY reason to buy this. I've already bought the 3-D Man volume so I think I'm done with Atlas after that. 4/10

Vampirella Masters Series: Grant Morrison and Mark Millar-It's hard to believe that these guys were writing partners so frequently in the nineties given that they're nothing alike besides both being Glaswegians (I won't hold that against them). Funnily enough, the stuff they write together is a bunch of turd statues. Look nice, but they stink. Amanda Conner's art is awful. Just plain terrible. The two shorts the writers did on their own are easily the best pieces in this collection with Morrison's piece being probably my favorite Vampirella story (plus Bair and Nowlan's art toegther is brilliant). Mixed bag, otherwise. 6/10

Impaler vol. 1-Kind of cool. A weird premise (Vlad the Impaler is not a vampire but a vampire hunter who has come to the modern day to save New York from being the epicentre of a worldwide vampire domination) but entertaining nonetheless. The art is like a mixture of Jae Lee and Tim Bradstreet. Looks fantastic. Good stuff. The ending is a little rushed though. great tpb as it has a lot of extras includeing a cut scene of script and the original pitch. 8/10

Green Lantern #59-Hell yeah! I was wondering when the Indigo train was going to derail. I'm very interested. 9/10

Green Lantern Corps #54-Began to have doubts about the Weaponer storyline but I'm over it. I think I'm sold on Bedard too. He had huge shoes to fill and he's doing it well. 8/10

GL: Emerald Warriors #4-Wow. I think I actually like Arisia. This is edging itself out to be the best GL book. This one was perfect. 10/10

Brightest Day #13,14- 13 was solely a Hawkman/girl issue and I've been up and down with them in this series. I'm down on them now. 14, I have always loved when Deadman and Batman get together. Maybe it's the Neal Adams fan in me but I dig it. This issue did not disappoint. White Lantern Batman was...interesting. 7/10 overall

Batman: TROBW #6-This is the single worst Morrison comic I have ever read. What a piece of shit. I'm sorry, but my time and money has been so wasted with this miniseries. They should have just had him gone and then back without his shitty trip through time. What a fucking waste. 1/10

Batman and Robin #16- Cameron Stewart is probably the only artist who can make 19 panels on a single page work. Incredible. I was ready to hate this after the abomination i read before it. But it was pretty fun. Not the best this series has been but certainly not the worst. Could have been a much stronger final issue. 7/10

Batman: The Return-Loved it. Finch is a guy I've never really cared about but I think I'm going to grab his Batman in trade form. Like it a lot. This sets up probably the first year of Batman Inc and it does so very well. It also feels like its own story. Very nice. Interesting to tell the origin from the bat's point of view as well. 9/10

Batman Incorporated #1-Again, loved it. Paquette is fantastic. I'll still grab this monthly. 9/10

Comic books: 318

Trade paperbacks: 79

Graphic novels: 6

Omnibuses: 10

[Koete]

AoA: Versus X-Men & Avengers-Gabriel Hardman is the ONLY reason to buy this.

I can co-sign that. One of my favorite artists in comics right now.

Batman: TROBW #6-This is the single worst Morrison comic I have ever read. What a piece of shit. I'm sorry, but my time and money has been so wasted with this miniseries. They should have just had him gone and then back without his shitty trip through time. What a fucking waste. 1/10

There were issues in the mini-series I liked less, but I agree that it was a mess as a whole.

Batman and Robin #16- Cameron Stewart is probably the only artist who can make 19 panels on a single page work. Incredible. I was ready to hate this after the abomination i read before it. But it was pretty fun. Not the best this series has been but certainly not the worst. Could have been a much stronger final issue. 7/10

Yeah, it wasn't as good as the three issues that came before it, but it was a decent end to the run.

I need to get to the shop and pick up the new Morrison Bat-books.

[SuaveStar]

Vampirella Masters Series: Grant Morrison and Mark Millar-It's hard to believe that these guys were writing partners so frequently in the nineties given that they're nothing alike besides both being Glaswegians (I won't hold that against them). Funnily enough, the stuff they write together is a bunch of turd statues. Look nice, but they stink. Amanda Conner's art is awful. Just plain terrible. The two shorts the writers did on their own are easily the best pieces in this collection with Morrison's piece being probably my favorite Vampirella story (plus Bair and Nowlan's art toegther is brilliant). Mixed bag, otherwise. 6/10

Reddick!!

[SuaveStar]

Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special: Larfleeze looked a bit odder than usual here. Was a fun story, with a nice ending.

Batman Inc #2: Good, but not as good as the first issue. Also:

The new Batman looks like a skinny Bruce Wayne, in that he has the exact same costume.

Trades: 18

HC:1

Comics: 210

GN:0

Omnibus: 1

[Missy]

Planetary, volume four: Spacetime Archaeology

I don't have the words to express how awesome and truly epic this volume (and series) is. Really, all I can add is this: if the Absolute editions included the three one-shots, I'd buy them. At full price.

Comic books: 121

Trade paperbacks: 71

Graphic novels: 1

[Venneh]

Batwoman: Elegy: Beautiful. Absolutely damn beautiful. Also, I love how Rucka wrote this, especially how he wove the current story against Kate's backstory, which I didn't know going in. Great first intro to the character, and something I would rec without hesitation.

[SuaveStar]

Batman: Streets of Gotham #18: Heart of Hush story lasts 10 pages, and half the pages are taken up by Bruce taking on some stupid new villain. I'm so glad this books being cancelled. Waste of time, and I don't care about the Ragman co-feature.

Trades: 18

HC:1

Comics: 211

GN:0

Omnibus: 1

[Molly]

Dammit, Austen. Ragman is awesome.

[SuaveStar]

GL Emerald Warrior #5: Guy Gardner is awesome. Looked nice. Fun book and really is setting up the war of the green lanterns storyline nicely, while still being violent as all hell.

Batman #705: Looked nice, shame the story was shit. The ending was interesting, but I just don't get the actual story that's going on, or how it is supposed to make any sense.

DC Universe Legacies #8: Weird. I never want to read Knightfall again after reading this, it looks so stupid in hindsight, and I really have no reason to read the death, or return of Superman series, as this story proves, it was shit, and a waste of time. Green Lantern story, was not bad, if a bit dull. Usually I like Dan Jurgens art, but here, it really was odd and a bit shit. Back up.....I usually love Frank Quitely, but his art just didn't work here, his Darkseid looked good, but everyone else looked like crap, especially Orion. The writing was so fucking stale and blocky, "I can't believe it...a god...in my apartment!" fucking boring is the best way to describe it. When you have a book about the history of DC, and I'm more interested in the actual guy we're followings family stories, then your book is either badly written, or the writers device to tell the story is a lot better than the actual stories themselves. The only reason to ever buy this book is if you want to see how Frank Quitely draws Darkseid sitting in an armchair.

Trades: 18

HC:1

Comics: 214

GN:0

Omnibus: 1

[prez]

Yeah, I'm in agreement there on the Legacies book. Man the first six issues of this thing were so good and the last two just blew. Maybe it's like you say, looking back on the 90s makes the stories seem just horrible - but this series has really taken a turn for the worse.

[Dread]

Impaler vol. 2- Great follow-up to the first volume. The writing was just as solid. The art by Matt Timson whose style is similar to Sejic, is way better than the first volume. It looks amazing. Too bad there is no volume three. 9/10

Skrull Kill Krew-Written by Morrison and Millar in the nineties, this is one of the craziest things Marvel ever published. It is essentially a group of Skrull-hunters that were human before they got sick after eating the burgers made from the Skrull cows from FF #1. It's over-the-top, insane and makes Baron Strucker look rational compared to the leads. Yeowell's art is a weird hybrid of Bagley and 90s insanity. It works. I don't recommend it. But it works. 7/10

Hellstorm Son of Satan: Equinox-Forgot how good this was. Great story. Great art by Russ Braun and Klaus Janson (who I find is touch and go depending on who he inks). One of my favorite SoS stories. 9/10

Fantastic Four Visionaries by Walter Simonson volume 1-Holy shit. I read this run on and off as a kid and enjoyed it but looking back now, I really see what he is doing. There are two arcs here. In the first, Simonson shows his clear disdain for having to include the FF in the Acts of Vengeance storyline when he first took the book on. The first three issues of this collection feature the Fantastic Four being "attacked" by villains so beneath them, only Reed knows who they are because of his speed-reading of the Avengers files when he was a member. These villains, Beetle, Shocker, etc., are completely captured by the Baxter Building security. Then the FF head to DC to speak to Congress about the Superhero Registration Act (boy does Reed look even more like a dink in Civil War after an impassioned speech in which he quotes John Adams). They are attacked there and Ben and Ms. Marvel (remember when Ben Grimm had no powers and he was dating a chick named Sharon/Ms. Marvel who looked like the Thing?) off panel! The three issue non-event culminates with Ben (in his trusty The Thing suit of armor) punching out the Super Adaptoid in one of my favorite pages ever. These three issues are drawn by Rich Buckler (first two...hurmph) and Ron Lim (the third, in one of the finest pieces he's ever done. Then as if to wash the taste out of his mouth, Simonson teams the FF up with Iron Man and Thor to go 35 years into the future to face a Black Celestial in a...get this: REMAKE OF LOVECRAFT"S "AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS!!!??*&%#$ 10/10

Comic books: 318

Trade paperbacks: 83

Graphic novels: 6

Omnibuses: 10

This is likely to be my final count as I just started reading an Essential and I've got a lot of writing to do. By page count, roughly 1300 comics this year. Not bad.

[SuaveStar]

Action Comics #896: Main story was alright, looked ok, but it felt like it was just setting up the second part of the crossover in Secret Six, and seemed almost to be Cornell taking a break from the Black Ring story. Still it was alright. Back up with Jimmy Olsen was awesome. The cliffhanger was really good.

The Flash #8: Scott Kolins, please stop using this new style and go back to the way you used to be. The art really let this book down, as it just looked plain weird, and really ruined the story for the first half for me. However, it got better, the story not the art, and although this was nothing more than showing how insane Professor Zoom is, I still sort of enjoyed it for it's craziness.

Green Lantern #61: This was a fill in, and it wasn't. No Hal in this issue, which is devoted to Atrocitus and the Spectre and finding the rage entity. However it didn't feel like a crappy fill in, and had some background on Atrocitus and was really good, and of course Doug Mahnke was awesome. The book swerved me at one point:

We are taken to a gas chamber, where a serial killer is going to be killed, and he is quite horrible to one of his victims father, and you are lead to believe the killer is going to be the new Red Lantern entity carrier, only it isn't, it's the victims father who proceeds to kill the killer violently.

And we find out more about Atrocitus's past, and why rage is all he has now.

All in all, a great issue.

Trades: 18

HC:1

Comics: 217

GN:0

Omnibus: 1

Well, I think that's it for me, as I have the first volume of Alien VS Predator from Dark Horse to read, and I'm only 30 pages into the 300 page book. So my final year tally for the year most likely.

[Missy]

So we can all post our thoughts about the comics we read in 2010, I'll leave this open for a few more days.