Every comic you've read in 2010

[Missy]

It made sense for Diana, Barry, Mera, and Ganthet.

How's it make sense?

But it was cool, and it didn't hurt the story, so, hey, why not? It was fun.

That's the problem: Why do it if it doesn't come into play?

[KnightWing]

It made sense for Diana, Barry, Mera, and Ganthet.

How's it make sense?

It helped develop their characters a bit more.

Showing how Diana was fiercely passionate, Barry carries hope for his friends, Ray was compassionate towards everyone, and Mera was filled with rage over the loss of her husband. Ganthet actually becoming one of the Corps was pretty cool, and it makes sense because he was always the one Guardian that chose to act when the others wouldn't.

A lot of the important stuff with the substitute lanterns was dealt with in the tie-ins, though, especially Wonder Woman. After reading the stories of the substitute lanterns, I feel like I know most of them a lot better. The exceptions being Luthor and Scarecrow, since they really only seemed like more powered-up and obnoxious versions of their normal selves.

I think Luthor might have been intentionally obnoxious, though, because of the way that Larfleeze comically knocked him out in mid-rant in #8.

[KnightWing]

Green Lantern #52:

Awesome.

Green Lantern Corps #46:

Awesome.

Blackest Night #8:

Pretty great. Very excited to see what comes next.

Tales of the Sinestro Corps:

Wow. I can't believe I ever skipped this. It's a great collection of companion pieces to the Sinestro Corps War, and it's totally worth reading. It adds depth to the characters that I once only knew as "virus lantern," "Abin Sur wannabe," and "scary teeth girl."

The Man of Steel #1-4:

Going back to the 1986 reboot of Superman's origin is pretty interesting in that it makes Superman/Clark a much more interesting and human character. I have to say, the more I read of John Byrne's take on Superman, the more I hate Geoff Johns' new Secret Origin story, which practically does away with everything that made the modern Superman great and reverts the character back to his less relatable iteration from the Silver Age and the Reeve films.

If I ever somehow, magically, land a job where I get creative control over Superman, I will immediately change this back.

(then again, with JMS now writing Supes, it might get good enough that I won't care. )

Comic Books: 43

TPBs: 6

HCs: 1

Graphic Novels: 0

[Dread]

Last week's IIWY

Supes/Bats #70

Secret Warriors #14

Green Lantern #51-Loving Parallax versus Spectre. Loving Atrocitus and Mera. Lex and Scarecrow is fun but not necessary. Mahnke is the fucking man. 8/10

Blackest Night #7-Wow. Excellent. About the end, again, I told you so. Very stoked for the final issue. 9/10

Green Lantern Corps #45-Goddamn. I'll be sad to see this title change hands in a couple months. Maybe the best ongoing DC's published in years. 10/10

Blackest Night Flash #3-Uneven series at best but the Rogues section is great and I felt it ended strong. Very strong. Fans of Bart should be happy. 8/10

Blackest Night Wonder Woman #3-Talk about a waste of time and money. Good riddance Greg Rucka. You sure gave us your WW swan song on this one didn't you? Pfft. Nicola Scott's art is uneven at best. Wait for it: easily the worst of the BN crossover minis. Terrible. 1/10

Blackest Night JSA #3-If you'd asked me which of the shitty BN minis would have recovered into something really fun, I would have guessed Batman or WW, not this one. But damned if it didn't end really well. Got my mind stimulated and I actually enjoyed Power Girl (DC's WORST character). 8/10

Secret Six #18-Ok, not as bad as the first two. Deadshot's actually ebing written like the people writing him have written him before. Waller is cool. Calafiore's art is tolerable and even great on the occasional page. Still not worth a buy though. 6/10

Ex Machina #48-This series needs to end just to get my blood pressure in check. Holy shit. Spectacular. 9/10

Ex Machina Special #4-Wow, This is Vaughn basically saying "bye bye comics, I get TV paychecks now!" Literally. I don't want to spoil it but the whole issue

is essentially railing against institutions that use unrecycled paper and paints comic fans ina really bad light ending on the line "Print is dead"

. You can get off your Hollywood asshole soapbox now, Brian and just go back to writing something good and not convoluted like your TV show. Glad this wasn't a regular issue. But there was really great art from JP Leon and a decent story minus the moral. 6/10

Comic books: 88

Trade paperbacks: 18

Graphic novels: 1

Omnibuses: 2

[Molly]

Dude, between your hating on Power Girl and liking Calafiore, I can't believe we like anything at all the same. Palmotti and Gray and Conner have made Power Girl a great character in her own book, admittedly, the JSA stuff has been shaky at best. And Calafiore is one of my most hated artists. Everybody looks exactly the same. His Deathstroke was just his Mimic with white hair and an eye patch. Guy is terrible.

[SuaveStar]

Batman and Robin #11: Filler issue. It looked alright, and set some stuff up, but I ended the issue and said "Average" it looked nice, but the story was missing something.

Red Robin #11: Tim Drake is a fucking ass, and this book makes me hate him more and more each month. When the hero of the book says "I hope Stephanie can save us" in his own book, you know your hero is an ass. Art was alright.

Batman Confidential #43: Sam Kieth ended his "Storyline" with a big fucking whimper, it made no sense, wasn't interesting, and left a bad taste in my mouth.

Trades: 10

HC:0

Comics: 56

GN:0

[SuaveStar]

Detective Comics #856-857. The end of the elegy story. Well, this looked pretty, shame the story wasn't anything special.

Spawn #1. Image brought this out as a $1 1st issue special. And it was the only way they'd get me to read Spawn. Reading this made me realise that I have no interest in McFarlanes writing, art or stories, and this issue was just dull and uninteresting, I liked the movie, and thats where Spawn will be staying for me. I will not be reading anymore of Spawn, he really isn't that interesting, and this issue didn't grab me, on art or story.

Trades: 10

HC:0

Comics: 59

GN:0

[Dread]

Dude, between your hating on Power Girl and liking Calafiore, I can't believe we like anything at all the same.

I never said I liked him. In fact, most everything I've seen of his has been very off-putting. This one just happens to be pretty good as far as he's concerned. And by "the occasional page" I really meant the opening splash was pretty great.

Also, Power Girl has two character traits and the internet is full of those.

[Guest]

My last four IIWY books - American Vampire #1, WWE Heroes #1, New Avengers #63, and Northlanders #26.

Vengenance of the Moon Knight #6 - Dropping this. These past six issues are probably the best Moon Knight's ever been written, and now they're bringing in Deadpool to star in the follow up arc. Nice job, Marvel. Now I don't have to read any of your books.

Green Lantern Corps #46 - This was fun.

Green Lantern #52 - Maybe my favourite single issue of the whole event, which leads us to...

Blackest Night #8 - I can't help but be more than a little disappointed in this. Doesn't ruin the event for me or anything, but so much potential was squandered here.

From this point on, outside of IIWY books, I'm officially moving to trades.

Comic Books: 61

TPBs: 1

HCs: 0

Graphic Novels: 1

[Missy]

Thoughts in Earth-2.net: The Show 391 (or 392)

Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn

Danger Girl: The Ultimate Collection

Comic books: 30

Trade paperbacks: 26

Graphic novels: 1

[elnino14]

Animal Man TPBs 1-3 by Grant Morrison - So before this I've only read Grant Morrison's work on New X-men but since he is one of the most talked about comic creators, I figure I should check out some of his other critically acclaimed work. Animal Man is interesting. It's not amazing, but it is interesting. It's a mind-bender and often people put mind benders and amazing work in the same category. Morrison comes off as a more aware Richard Kelley (director of Donnie Darko, and bombs, The Box and Southland Tales). His run on Animal Man could have been very stupid (which he himself talks about) and could have been a straightforward superhero story where Animal Man fights other animal inspired villains. But it's not stupid, it's quite smart actually. Morrison is able to push his agenda of animal rights through this character, and brings up pretty interesting philosophical questions about who decided that humans are more important to this world than animals are. Of course there's also a lot of zany stuff here too that plays into a larger arc that develops over his entire arc mainly dealing with the themes of reality and identity. Ultimately, I liked the book, but I didn't love it. The message is often too forced and the zaniness is too much for me at times, I honestly think it borderlines on ridiculous. Also there's not a strong supporting cast. But it's still interesting. I have Seven Soldiers of Victory and Final Crisis, I'm going to give those a spin before I make my judgment on my appreciation of Morrison.

Mek/Reload Flip Tpb - Ever since reading the post-civil war Thunderbolts and Planetary, I've found that I really am interested in reading more Warren Ellis. So I picked up a lot of his one-off books. This is the first of that lot. Two very different stories and Ellis really flexes his world-building muscles here in both of them. Reload starts off feeling like a familiar world (albeit set 10 years into the future) but it flips on its head and shows it's not all that familiar. Mek is the opposite, it's look and style, and the characters don't feel familiar but all the themes of resistance and grassroots organizations are familiar. It shows while that technology may advance, human nature doesn't change that much. Both have strong plots and fun stories for relatively short books, so it's worth a read. They're not going to blow you out of the water, but they are fun and interesting takes on society.

Comic Books: 1

TPBS: 29

X-factor vol. 4, X-men: Messiah Complex, X-factor vol. 5-7, X-factor: Layla Miller, Authority: Relentless, American Virgin 1-4, Incredible Hercules: Against the World, Dark Avengers Assemble, Thunderbolts Burning Down the House, Deadpool vol. 2, Secret Warriors vol. 1, Fell, Avengers/X-men: Utopia, Planet Hulk, Point Blank, Sleeper: Season 1 and 2, Incognito, Earth X, Alias Ultimate collection vol. 1-2, Animal Man by Grant Morrison, Mek/Reload flip TPB,

[SuaveStar]

Superman #694: I don't care for Mon-El, if I didn't get this cheap, I wouldn't have read it. Art looked not bad. Shame I don't care about the character.

Outsiders #24: First part of the BN tie-in, fun but really wasn't anything special.

Blackest Night Batman #3: Red Robin teams up with Batman and Robin. How long would it take for the "Other Robin" jokes to stop being funny? Two times. The art wasn't all that great here, and the story was crap. All in all, a waste of time.

Adventure Comics #4: Don't care about Superboy-Prime. Here, it was alright, nice to see how fucked up he really is. Was fun, but nothing special.

Action Comics 883: Crap. Don't bother. Waste of time, Captain Atom back up was a waste of paper.

Green Lantern #47: Fun, but wasn't anything special. Doug Mahnke is awesome though.

Green Lantern #48: Larfleeze is awesome.

Green Lantern #49: Fill in issue, with some alright Benes art, don't care about John Stewart, and still don't.

Green Lantern Corps #41: Got tired of the heroes running at the end of this issue.

RoboCop #3: Well, with the exception of all the fucking Green Hornet comics coming out(And there's a lot of them) this read fast and wasn't fun. I ended the issue, not caring about the storyline, and just thinking it was violent and shit. I read the next time piece, and got more from than that, then this issue. Skip it. Even if you love RoboCop, like I do. It's like RoboCop 2 all over again.

Trades: 10

HC:0

Comics: 69

GN:0

[SuaveStar]

Wonder Woman #39: Alright issue. First time I've ever gave a shit about Wonder Woman, and she was barely in this comic.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #7: Fun comic, but Dustin Nguyens art felt off. Back up was a good story.

Superman #695: Mon-El sucks. There, I said it.

The Losers #1: Looked alright. Shame the story was shit.

Brightest Day #0: Damn, that was awesome. I actually want to read this again. I was going to trade wait on this, now I'm thinking of getting the bi-weekly.

Trades: 10

HC:0

Comics: 74

GN:0

[KnightWing]

Batman: The Long Halloween

Awesome. Now I understand why people think Jeph Loeb is a great writer. The story may have been a bit nonsensical at times, but this was still a great modern Batman crime story. It was especially cool to see the little things that ended up in The Dark Knight.

Brightest Day #0

I was very disappointed (and slightly angry) with this issue until I remembered that it's a #0. As a preview issue, it was pretty great. Nowhere NEAR as jaw-dropping as Blackest Night #0, but still very cool.

Brightest Day: The Flash #1

WOW. The Johns/Manapul team is amazing. I absolutely loved this book. Just the art is astounding, but the writing complements it so perfectly that it's like reading a slice of heaven.

Comic Books: 45

TPBs: 7

HCs: 1

Graphic Novels: 0

[Missy]

Thoughts in Earth-2.net: The Show 398

The Flash: Rebirth

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152

Planetary, volume three: Leaving the 20th Century

I love the world building Ellis is doing with this collection, and I cannot wait to read the final nine issues!

Superman: Brainiac

I read this in issue format a while back, and I thought it was good enough to get the trade. Sadly, it didn't have the same impact this time around. Gary Frank's artwork is stunning, however.

Cloak and Dagger

I agree with everything drqshadow said in his review last week.

Nemesis #1

This is so awesome! Okay, it's totally over-the-top and stupid, but that's what we've come to expect from Mark Millar and I love him for it!

Comic books: 32

Trade paperbacks: 30

Graphic novels: 1

[KnightWing]

I got it backwards last time. I read Brightest Day: The Flash #1 last week, and The Flash #1 today. Whoops. The error has been edited.

The Flash #1:

Decent artwork and an interesting story, but it feels hokey, like an 80s sitcom. Also, the vast majority of the story is just a quick little character beat, and doesn't feel all that important. The "Secret Files and Origins" section is really great for me, though, since I'm not very well-versed in Flash lore. (Flash Facts? Hee hee.)

Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, Vol. 1 (Hardcover)

I remember when Ultimate Spider-Man was a nice, simple, vaguely down-to-Earth book. It was the book that got me into reading comics. It was incredible.

By the end of this volume, there's practically an ensemble cast, most of which have superpowers. It stretches the line so far that nothing's really believable or relatable anymore. The art is good, but somehow very weird. And there's so many things going on that almost no real development happens; it's all just setup.

It's not bad by any means. Just... odd.

Comic Books: 46

TPBs: 7

HCs: 2

Graphic Novels: 0

[Molly]

The Question Volume 4: Welcome to Oz: After the spectacular bits in the last trade, I had high hopes for this one. While it didn't exactly disappoint, it didn't quite live up to the high standards set by Zen and Violence, Poisoned Ground, and Epitaph for a Hero. For the first time, we have an issue(#20) not drawn by Denys Cowan, though the series regular inker, Rick Magyar fills in competently. But around issue #22, Magyar is gone, and Cowan is drawing the book again, inked by Malcom Jones III. Nothing against Jones, but he doesn't have a patch on Magyar. Magyar and Cowan worked together wonderfully, giving us some of the best work I've seen from either guy. With Jones, things are suddenly off. The young and vivacious Myra Connelly-Fermin suddenly looks fifty-something. Vic Sage, who has always had something of a weathered quality to his good looks simply looks old. Denny O'Neil writes some fine stories, but again, they somehow lack the impact of the previous volumes. The first three stories, wrapping up this plastic guns loose end from the last volume, a story about a TV clown gone crazy, and wrapping up the arc of the burned son of the mobster from volume one all manage to call back to the previous volumes, making them feel less like filler, and putting real emphasis on the actions taken by everyone in the book. The story about the TV Clown hearkens back to the liaison Myra and Vic have in the second volume in a way I never expected, that really, really worked.

Sadly, the second half of the book doesn't quite hold together as well for me. Combining the changing art with a complicated gauntlet of issues concluding the mayoral race between Myra Connelly and the antagonist Dinsmore lead to a disappointing finish to the arc that had been building since issue one of the book. It's not bad by any means, just a touch... heavy handed, as Denny could be.

The worst volume of the spectacular 80's run, but by no means bad, and still above average. The changing art and the resolution to the election are the only real down points.

6/10

[SuaveStar]

I got it backwards last time. I read Brightest Day: The Flash #1 last week, and The Flash #1 today. Whoops. The error has been edited.

I'm a little confused. Do you mean you read secret files and origins and thought it was great?

Flash #1: Looked nice, story was.......there. But it didn't grab me. I may get the trade down the line, but in single issue, I'm done already. Story wasn't very entertaining, yes they had to set the stage, but it just wasn't interesting.

Futurama #48: Got it for the other half, but read it myself to kill a train journey. Fun comic, reference green lantern, and mostly felt like an episode of the show. An ok episode. Art looked like the show, which is always a bonus.

Trades: 10

HC:0

Comics: 76

GN:0

[KnightWing]

I got it backwards last time. I read Brightest Day: The Flash #1 last week, and The Flash #1 today. Whoops. The error has been edited.

I'm a little confused. Do you mean you read secret files and origins and thought it was great?

No, I read Brightest Day: Flash and thought it was great.

I'll give the main Flash series another issue just because this one seemed to be kind of a one-off side story anyway.

[Dread]

Goddamn...it happened again.

It's going to take an hour and a half to type out the titles of all the books I've read in the past little while...

[Dread]

Last week's IIWY

Flash: Secret Files and Origins

Superman Secret Origin #5

The Anchor volume 1-Totally fun and grim at the same time. I love this book. It has taken the fun that Hellboy used to be and is the new bearer of that torch as far as I'm concerned. 8/10

Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance-Definitely not as bad as the WFTT guys made it seem. Not good by any stretch of the imagination (Joe Casey is better than this) but there are moments where it's a lot of fun. 5/10

Comic books: 90

Trade paperbacks: 20

Graphic novels: 1

Omnibuses: 2

[elnino14]

Red/Tokyo Storm Warning Flip TPB - More Warren Ellis. From reading his work little by little I've enjoyed everything he does (except for The Authority, and I've heard his run on Astonishing X-men has been pretty mediocre) and think that some work is some of the best or funnest shit ever (Thunderbolts, Planetary, Fell, Iron Man Extremis). I haven't read everything mind you, but he puts a fun twist on everything he does and still keeps the narrative flowing and logical. Tokyo Storm Warning is basically, what if Ellis wrote the Power Rangers? It's not the greatest, but it is a fun little revisionist viewpoint of global politics between U.S. and Japan spinning out of WWII. Red on the other hand is absolutely awesome. Simple story, less is more approach, fun, and has that depth if one really looks for it. It's an excellent story, that I suggest everybody go read. It's action done right.

The Losers vol. 1 and 2, - Ahh...the Losers, short on plot, high on action scenes. Like someone said earlier, the first half is quite excellent, partly because it was only meant to go mini-series length. The story is hardly there throughout the book, but the action scenes are fun and it introduces a fun group of characters each with one defining characteristic. The cinematic action is good, but even this wasn't that great once you hit the second volume. By that point everything falters, it's not as funny, it's not as cool, it's not as action packed, the story (what little story there is) is not as tightly plotted, the pacing is off, the tension is almost non-existant. It's ultimately little more than fluff. Fun fluff, but fluff nonetheless. I'm not continuing this.

Final Crisis - Yeahbutwha....? Grant Morrison, oh man. Yeah I didn't get this, I don't know enough about the DC Universe so add to the fact that there are a gazillion characters and then you throw in Morrison's experimental writing style, it's just insanity personified. I'm giving Grant one more shot with this weird experimental shit, Seven Soldiers of Victory, then I'm sticking to his work on superheros that I like (Batman and X-men thus far).

Comic Books: 1

TPBS: 32

X-factor vol. 4, X-men: Messiah Complex, X-factor vol. 5-7, X-factor: Layla Miller, Authority: Relentless, American Virgin 1-4, Incredible Hercules: Against the World, Dark Avengers Assemble, Thunderbolts Burning Down the House, Deadpool vol. 2, Secret Warriors vol. 1, Fell, Avengers/X-men: Utopia, Planet Hulk, Point Blank, Sleeper: Season 1 and 2, Incognito, Earth X, Alias Ultimate collection vol. 1-2, Animal Man by Grant Morrison, Mek/Reload flip TPB, Red/Tokyo Storm Warning Flip TPB, The Losers vol. 1 and 2, Final Crisis

[Guest]

Last IIWY - Invincible Returns #1 and S.H.I.E.L.D. #1

Next IIWY - Booster Gold #31 and BPRD: King of Fear #4

JSA Vol 5: Stealing Thunder - Better than I thought a story about Jakeem Thunder could ever be.

Street Fighter Vol. 1 - I will never not love the art on this.

Comic Books: 65

TPBs: 2

HCs: 0

Graphic Novels: 1

[Koete]

Avengers vs. Atlas #3 - I'm not usually a fan of comics that are issue long fight scenes, but I love this one. Jeff Parker's script continues to be funny and Gabriel Hardman's art continues to be fantastic (he'd rock on a Thor book). Add in a Venus backup by Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk and this is as good as comics get.

Batman and Robin #10 - Another arc off to a great start. Lots of nice set-up for Return of Bruce Wayne and continuity bits for those who have read Morrison's Batman run. This is the first time I've seen Andy Clarke's art and it's great. Love this title.

Cowboy Ninja Viking #3-4 - The third issue was great, but the fourth was a bit of a disappointment. The story wasn't what was solicited, which I expect is because of it being made an ongoing. Still love the art in both issues though. I'll still be picking up the series, as it as had many more hits than misses thus far.

The Indomitable Iron Man - This was a bit of a disappointment. The first story did nothing for me, the second was written and drawn by Howard Chaykin (nuff said), the third was great, and the text story didn't impress me. I like the idea of these Marvel black and white issues, but I wish the execution was better.

Joe The Barbarian #3 - Another issue of gorgeous art with a side of plot twist.

Marvel Boy: The Uranian #3 - Okay ending to the mini-series. It seems that this set up some plot points that Parker will come back to in an Atlas arc.

The Mystic Hands of Dr. Strange - Opposed to the earlier Marvel black and white issue, this one was pretty good. I thought all of the stories were good; I wouldn't call any of them great, but none were bad. Writing wise at least, the real draw for this issue is the art. The stories by Frazer Irving and Frank Brunner were gorgeous. Ted McKeever's art was offbeat but totally appropriate. Even the few illustrations by Marcos Martin with the text story were great. I hope more of the black and white issues are like this.

Orc Stain #2 - This. Comic. Is. Totally. Metal.

Thor by JMS Vol. 3 HC - And thus, JMS' run on Thor comes to a close. While it might not have ended with an epic battle, it was a great read that tied up most of the plot threads JMS had going through his run. While it would have been nice for Olivier Coipel to come back from the end, Marko Djurdjevic is no slouch and provides some excellent art. Overall, a satisfying conclusion to what will probably go down as one of my favorite runs in comics.

Total

Comic Books: 38

TPBs: 1

HCs: 1

Graphic Novels: 1

Manga:

The Authority #2, Avengers vs. Atlas #1-3, Batman and Robin #7-10, Cowboy Ninja Viking #3-4, G.I. Joe European Missions #3, Hellblazer #25-26, The Indomitable Iron Man, Joe The Barbarian #1-3, Marvel Boy: The Uranian #1-3, Marvel Must Haves #1, 3-4, 9, 15, The Mystic Hands of Dr. Strange, Orc Stain #1-2, Pinocchio Vampire Slayer OGN, Sam Slade RoboHunter #27, Secret Origins #50, Spider-Man/Human Torch: I'm With Stupid Digest TPB, Thor by JMS Vol. 3 HC, Time Twisters #2,8,15,17,20-21, Weird War Tales #3, WildCats #1

[Dread]

Aborted IIWY books from two weeks ago:

Detective 863-wow. awful. So glad I ordered the Batwoman hardcover. Question backup is worse. 1/10

Fantastic Four #577-Glad I caught myself before grabbing Hickman's run in trade. Because this is justa lame duck. Maybe if they do a collection like the m,assive 19 issue Fraction Iron Man I'll grab. Otherwise, nope. 4/10

Aborted 1st Issue Special books (scheduling didn't work):

Fade to Black #1: pretty looking without a story or storytelling in the art. Too bad. 3/10

Nemesis #1: balls out fucked up fun. 7/10

Shuddertown #1: interesting if a little impenetrable detective story. Grab the trade. 8/10

Terminator 2029 #1: best thing with Terminator in the title since the first film. I dug it a lot. 8/10

X-Men Second Coming: I actually kind of liked this. Good fun and it's nice to see the X-Men being written by someone who appears to know what they should act like. Hint: Carey didn't write this. 7/10

Comic books: 97

Trade paperbacks: 20

Graphic novels: 1

Omnibuses: 2