Every comic you've read in 2011


Missy

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Holy shit! 3 months to go and I've already cracked 1000 single issue comics.

H.A.R.D. Corps #1-30: This was a great series that I always thought, and still do, was kind of under-appreciated. Even among fans of Valiant Comics! But those last four issues really drop the ball in a pile of shit. Yikes. Still. Pretty good comics. Interesting that Jim Lee, whose own company was being buried sales-wise by Valiant at the time, drew the cover for the first issue.

Comics: 1000

Trades: 32

Graphic Novels: 1

Omnibuses: 5

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Thoughts in Earth-2.net: The Show 481

Action Comics #1

Animal Man #1

Batgirl #1

Batwing #1

Detective Comics #1

Green Arrow #1

Hawk and Dove #1

Justice League International #1

Men of War #1

OMAC #1

Static Shock #1

Stormwatch #1

Swamp Thing #1

That will actually be 480.

Thoughts in Earth-2.net: The Show 481 or 482

Batman and Robin #1

Batwoman #1

Deathstroke #1

Demon Knights #1

Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE #1

Green Lantern #1

Grifter #1

Legion Lost #1

Mister Terrific #1

Red Lanterns #1

Resurrection Man #1

Suicide Squad #1

Superboy #1

Comic books: 202

Trade paperbacks: 24

Graphic novels: 0

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Green River Killer: A True Detective Story

This is an amazing piece of work, and, though I haven't read everything released this year, I truly believe it stands a chance to be considered for some serious awards next year. For me, this was like reading Scene of the Crime by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark in 1999; it opened my eyes to new talent, talent that will storm this industry within the next few years if they so choose.

There are several points where I was emotionally rocked. One was seeing a skeletal corpse, obviously raped and held down until she died. I stared at the page for a good full minute, mouth slightly agape, before I realized it and finally flipped the page. And then, near the end, when one of the characters has an emotional breaking point -- which was more of a release than anything else -- I too felt something release inside myself. Though I didn't cry, I nearly did.

There are a few stiff bits of dialog -- oddly enough, the scene where the author appears -- but overall this is a near-perfect book. InStockTrades has this for $14.49. Get it. Please get this.

Comic books: 202

Trade paperbacks: 24

Graphic novels: 1

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Sword of Damocles #1-2

This serves as a sort of prequel to Warren Ellis' Stormwatch / Authority trilogy, and it's bad. I don't blame Ellis, though. He's writing the bookends to a crummy imprint-wide event, and his hands are tied with what he can and cannot do, because he was either setting things up for other writers or picking up the pieces they left behind. The only thing of note here is that a longstanding Stormwatch character dies, which sets up the opening issue of...

Stormwatch #37-50 (1993)

What's amazing about this run is that Ellis took an overlooked WildStorm book -- which was really just WildCATS: Deep Space Nine -- and made it worth reading. Each issue is littered with real-world political commentary, mixed with WildStorm heroes, and the end result is something wonderful. Never does Ellis' political commentary feel heavy-handed; he balances his agenda with the agenda of the characters quite well.

It's also interesting to see Ellis use one-off stories to build to something bigger, that being the conclusion of the series, the second volume of Stormwatch, and, eventually, The Authority. The blocks are all here, and he arranges them quite deftly.

Speaking of his ability to craft one-issue stories, it was rather jarring to shift from those to a three-part tale for the end of the book. It wasn't bad, just different.

Tom Raney grows as an artist here. He starts out as just another WildStorm guy, but quickly finds his voice and becomes the Tom Raney we know and love today.

Stormwatch #1-11 (1997), and WildCATS / Aliens

As the middle act of this trilogy, on a global and universal scale, things become much worse for the heroes. We know it and they know it, and there's no one to stop it. All they can do is push back to limit the damage, reacting a little too late to the carnage that's already infected their lives and world. And what's great about that is that's the point of The Authority; you can't always play nice with the world, and sometimes you have to smack it first and harder.

As for WildCATS / Aliens, it's a damn shame that it's a WildCATS book and not an issue of Stormwatch. I get it. WildCATS was and is a bigger name than Stormwatch, so, to sell, the book had to feature the bigger team. However, Stormwatch #10 leads directly into this one-issue crossover, and #11 follows on its heels. This is exactly what the second volume was leading towards, yet the CATS get the spotlight. Ellis makes it work, but -- and this is no fault of his own -- it takes a little wind out of the sails of Stormwatch. They were a team that saved the world more often than the WildCATS, but the CATS needed to save Stormwatch? Lame move, WildStorm. My bitching aside, it's one of the very few intercompany crossovers that has ever meant anything beyond dollar signs. Major characters die, and a new series was born out of it.

The Authority #1-12 (1999), Planetary / Authority: Ruling the World, and Wildstorm Summer Special #1

The first time I read The Authority, which was when it was originally published, I knew I was reading something big and important to comics. You could feel the industry shift to react to what they had just read. And that still stands. It's as relevant today as it was then. This time around, though, I had the context of Stormwatch in my mind. This time, I knew why The Authority not only existed, but needed to exist. Why Jenny Sparks and the rest of her team were trying so hard to save the world. And it made the reading experience that much more satisfying.

As the conclusion to the trilogy, it does what it needs to do: puts all of the pieces together, uses them smartly, and, though it provides an ending, a door is left open for more stories in this universe. Ellis was smart in that regard; these were never his characters, he only had them for a while. He took them as far as he could, told his stories, then walked away, leaving someone else the leash. Bravo, I say!

Comic books: 245

Trade paperbacks: 24

Graphic novels: 1

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Rai #0-43: Got more that I've read but they're upstairs right now. This was a fantastic spin down memory lane. This used to be one of my favorite all time series along with Magnus Robot Fighter. This was ballsy. I guess if it's set in the 41st Century it should be ballsy. I was delighted to find out Tony Bedard was the writer for much of the series. Especially on the real daring stuff.

Comics: 1044

Trades: 32

Graphic Novels: 1

Omnibuses: 5

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Batman and Robin, Vol. 2:

Disappointing but not terrible. I liked the art in the first three issues well enough (though Batwoman's lips were far too big), but the issues wasn't a great introduction to Knight, Squire, and their rogues gallery and--except for Damien's fight with the resurrected, inarticulate Batman clone--were rather forgettable.

I was less keen with the art in the next three issues (especially with Talia being much swarthier than her son) and was expecting something other than mind-control as the cause behind Damien's attack on Dick. I did like the inclusion of Slade, but think that having him be a pawn of Talia did him a disservice (he's the DC Universe's greatest martial artist and yet he gets his ass handed to him by a mere shock from a computer and later by Dick) and that he'd have been much better off as the main villain against Dick and Damien in a B&R story arc. The story was also hurt by the fact that I had no idea who the thugs who ambushed Damien and Sexton in the cemetery were.

Thor the Mighty Avenger, Vol. 2:

Great art and writing as with the previous volume, but the fact that the last two issues feature a villain who's never named and that they form a decisive ending to the eight issues really bothered me. That said, liked Stark's classic clunky armor and interactions with Jane in those two issues.

Marvel 1602:

Good read overall, with vibrant and expressive art, but wish I hadn't read it over a space of a month. Will have to re-read it someday over the space of a few hours. I like little things that Gaiman included like King James I's sexuality, but I also have a few nitpicks such as the comparatively modern-looking costumes that Xavier's students wear in one scene, the shoe-horning in of Banner and his transformation into the story, and the fact that Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603 and that her death sets off a lot of what happens in the book. Shouldn't it have been called "Marvel 1603"?

Daredevil, Vol. 1: The Devil, Inside and Out:

My very first exposure to Brubaker's writing and the very first time I have ever picked up a Daredevil book, let alone a Marvel Knights book. Picked it up at a comic book store in Copenhagen (Faraos Cigarer, for anyone who wants to visit the city someday) today on a whim and, having finished it about an hour ago, absolutely love it. I know it's been said a million times by now, but Bru really is a masterful storyteller who gives a distinct voice to each of his characters--most of whom I knew only from the movie or from volume 1 of the Marvel Encyclopedia from about ten years ago. Michael Lark's gritty, muted art is near-perfect, and though I still liked Guadiano's in the last issue, I was still disappointed that Lark didn't draw it (mostly because his Chico looks nothing like he did in the earlier issues). I will definitely pick up the next trades and continue to ride the Brubaker train (which I wished I'd boarded earlier).

Trade paperbacks: 11

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Damn! I lost everything I just typed!

Okay, a brief summary:

The Infinite #1-3: Big and dumb, and, I think, ironically 90s. I'll read the rest of the first storyline.

Ultimate Spider-Man #2 (2011): Miles is already a top contender to be Marvel's best character of this decade. And his "with great power" moment is halted. Hard. Face, meet Wall. Wall, this is Face.

Batman: Ego and Other Tails: The two main stories are great, but some of the shorter ones are so-so. Worth the money.

Comic books: 249

Trade paperbacks: 25

Graphic novels: 1

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Bloodshot #0-51 and Yearbook #1-I love Sean Chen's Valiant artwork. It adhered to the Layton house style but still invoked an essence of Cassaday in storytelling. Then he tried to add in some Pacheco and a few of the Image guys and kind of went off the rails. The writing is the same with this one. The first issue of this series came close to matching Superman #75 in sales the week they came out and it's easy to see why. The writing of early Valiant is miles above where the big two was at the time. There's a reason Valiant had so much of the market share. Unfortunately they ended it with the return of a villain I never enjoyed from earlier in the series. Not my favorite Valiant book, by leaps and bounds. Still good though.

War of the GLs #2-Pretty damned good. Certainly could have used an extra 10 pages or so. I'm not happy with the way the GL books have wrapped before the reboot and the #1s better wow me or I'll drop them like they're hot. 7.5/10

GLC #63-Turd. This is your goodbye? Fuck you. 1/10

GL Emerald Warriors #13-Guy and Batman. Tomasi's done way better. This was mediocre at best. The whole thing hangs on the last panel joke and it isn't even very funny. I laughed at it 20 years ago if that's any indication. 3/10

Batman Inc. #8-Easily the worst issue of this series. Terrible art and even worse story. This is probably the worst of Morrison's I've ever read. Fuck this is bad. 1/10

BD Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing #3-I literally remember nothing from this issue. I also refuse to reread it.

DC Retroactive 1990s Justice League of America-I LOVE the Injustice League. Major Disaster is one of my Favorite DC characters. I adored this. The art was a little hinky, like you can't go home again. Even though Maguire has gone home again and again with their miniseries but...Multiple Man's head is shaped oddly. There, I said it! 8/10

District X: Mr. M-I had no desire to read this in the original run. Now, having read much more David Hine, and the fact that my LCS had it for 99 cents, got me to buy it. Lan Medina and Mike Perkins sharing artwork is very nice. The police procedural aspect is great and Bishop is the only character from previously known books. He's a blank slate essentially. A black dude with a bad attitude. Since his inception, he was his power. Everything you gave him, you got back in spades. Hine makes him his and does it greatly. I'm going to track down the second volume of this one! 9/10

X-Men/Alpha Flight Premium HC-Gah! This so does not hold up. Which is odd, because the Byrne stuff from the AF series certainly does. But this was disappointingly awful.

Comics: 1103

Trades: 34

Graphic Novels: 1

Omnibuses: 5

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X-Force: Angels & Demons

X-Force: Old Ghosts

X-Force: Not Forgotten

X-Force / Cable: Messiah War

Necrosha

X-Men: Second Coming

X-Force: Sex & Violence

Between 2008 and 2010, X-Force was Marvel's best, most consistent comic. Nothing could top it in terms of characterization, drama, action, and influence. This one book led to two major X-Men crossovers, and their impact is still being felt today in the loss of Nightcrawler and Cable, the rise of Hope, the beginning of the fracturing of the mutant race, and the rebirth of mutantkind.

Even if you're not a fan of the X-Men, I can't recommend these books enough. Start with Angels & Demons. It's less than $10 and InStockTrades.com. If you don't like it, you only spent $10. But I honestly feel it'll make you a fan of these characters.

Next, I'm diving back into Uncanny X-Force, the follow-up to this series.

Is the X-foce/Cable crossover Messiah War a necessary read because it's becoming hard to find?

I'll be picking these up one day soon as yours isn't the only recc for this that I've read, but originally when I read the first couple of issues, I was left wanting and was just really pissed off that they took Rahne out of X-factor.

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You can skip X-Force / Cable: Messiah War. Here's the plot: X-Force is sent into the future to check on Cable and baby Hope. They find him and discover that Hope is no longer a baby. Stryfe. Apocalypse. 'Splosions. Claws. Brightly colored powers. BOOM! X-Force goes home, leaving Cable and Hope lost in the future. So, all in all, it amounted to nothing. As much as I love that X-Force series, that volume was the weakest. If X-Force wasn't going to bring Cable and Hope back with them, then what was the point of finding them in the first place?

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You can skip X-Force / Cable: Messiah War. Here's the plot: X-Force is sent into the future to check on Cable and baby Hope. They find him and discover that Hope is no longer a baby. Stryfe. Apocalypse. 'Splosions. Claws. Brightly colored powers. BOOM! X-Force goes home, leaving Cable and Hope lost in the future. So, all in all, it amounted to nothing. As much as I love that X-Force series, that volume was the weakest. If X-Force wasn't going to bring Cable and Hope back with them, then what was the point of finding them in the first place?

Exactly. I read through X-Force in one huge marathon run, but when I got to that crossover I spent the entire time thinking "okay, this is pointless and confusing. Can we go back to normal X-Force awesomeness?"

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Daytripper

This is the most beautiful comic book I've ever read. You can say it's about life and death and the little moments that make both so worth being human, but that doesn't do it justice. Like life, you have to experience Daytripper, not be told about it.

Comic books: 249

Trade paperbacks: 26

Graphic novels: 1

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thoughts in Earth-2.net: The Show 485 or 486

Batman #1

Birds of Prey #1

Blue Beetle #1

Captain Atom #1

Catwoman #1

DC Universe Presents #1

Green Lantern Corps #1

Legion of Super Heroes #1

Nightwing #1

Red Hood and the Outlaws #1

Supergirl #1

Wonder Woman #1

Comic books: 261

Trade paperbacks: 26

Graphic novels: 1

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Avenging Spider-Man Daily Bugle

At first I wasn't going to pay much attention to Avenging Spider-Man. After all, I don't read Amazing Spider-Man, so why would I care about a spinoff? Well, then I read this preview, and not only does it look good, but it's funny! Zeb Wells gets Spider-Man's sense of humor, and, from what little we see here, his supporting cast. (Okay, we only see Jonah, but he's a perfect balance of curmudgeon and more curmudgeon.) Also, I'm no fan of the Red Hulk, but, again, he works here. (That falls mostly on Spider-Man, and a joke that literally made me laugh out loud.) Overall, this preview enticed me to buy the first three issues.

This being a preview, I'm only counting it as half a comic.

Comic books: 262.5

Trade paperbacks: 26

Graphic novels: 1

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Wolverine and the X-Men #1

Honestly, as much as I liked Schism and enjoy Jason Aaron as a writer, I expected this issue to be a clusterfuck. Wolverine as the headmaster of his own school? That should not work. But Aaron makes it work for himself by, thus far, making it not work for Wolverine. The school is barely ready; the inspectors want to shut them down, if only because they're mutants; a new threat shows up literally at their doorstep, promising to bring an end to the X-Men; and one of the students has apparently lost her mind post-Schism. Aaron juggles all of these balls quite well, all without overloading the reader. His trademark wit also permeates the pages, mostly in the form of Logan and Kitty's banter. The addition of some new faces (and species), which I won't spoil, was a surprise. And I hope Aaron stays on the comic long enough to make use of what he's setting up in this first issue.

It's also a very pretty book. Chris Bachalo keeps himself in check; it's only in the scenes with Beast (which are set in his lab) that get a little hectic, but that's the point. Beast is barely holding the school together from a tech standpoint, so his workspace should look crazy. The colors are very vibrant, adding a certain bounciness to a Wolverine book. Which isn't expected.

Lastly, as someone who's been reading various X-Men comics since Uncanny X-Men #300, which was 18 years ago (Christ!), it was a treat to see former students now serving as teachers. And I don't mean former New Mutants. Specifically I mean Chamber and Husk, who, oddly enough, Chris Bachalo helped establish as visually stunning characters in the opening issues of Generation X. Even though I'm no longer the same age as these characters, it's nice to see that they too have grown up and taken on new responsibilities.

Comic books: 263.5

Trade paperbacks: 26

Graphic novels: 1

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Fantastic Four: The Master of Doom: The very first Fantastic Four book I've ever read and--for me, at least--an extremely engaging and surprisingly quick read. The Master of Doom portion did drag a bit, but the final scene makes up for it somewhat. The Hitch's art is a bit off and over-inked at times, and its pretty clear when Stuart Immonen has stepped in, but on the whole I liked it and I think is one of the better things written by Millar.

Ultimate Spider-Man, Vol. 1-6 (#1-39): Decided to start going through the whole run after listening to the edition of Grumpy Old Fans covering #160 and also to see if the first few volumes held up from when I read them years before. At first, I was somewhat ho-hum about the series as a whole but was hooked by the time I finished the "Public Scrutiny" storyline (Volume 5) and was similarly impressed by the Venom one that followed it, despite being slightly rushed. Bendis is very good at crafting storylines that one could pick up without reading the previous volumes yet which also contained foreshadowing for future stories (the best example being the way that Peter confronts the impostor Spider-Man, which is nice foreshadowing for the debut of the Venom symbiote in the storyline that follows). Bagley isn't my favorite artist of all time, but think his work here was extremely fluid and consistent throughout. My main gripe with his work here is that a lot of the issue covers are just of Spider-Man in iconic poses and very rarely does one tell an actual story. I'll definitely continue to pick up the trades up to #160 after going through these first six.

Trade paperbacks: 17

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Gotham Central #1-40

It's been a long while since I last read this series, and I wanted to see if it holds up. And yeah, for the most part it does.

Don't get me wrong, this is an awesome series that everyone needs to read. However, as soon as Brubaker left DC for Marvel, the series dipped. Either Rucka lost interest in the book, or Brubaker was doing all of the heavy lifting. I don't know. But the shift is obvious. At the same time, Gotham Central stopped being about the GCPD, and became The Renee & Crispus Show. Sure, I get it. DC had plans for them as The Question and Spectre, but it felt forced and sucked a lot of the fun and drama right out of the book. All of the character building that had come before was gone. Hell, if anyone should have had the spotlight it was Marcus Driver, but he was shoved to the background.

And that non-ending, ugh, that always gets me riled up.

They can't get Corrigan right away, so he walks?

:huh:

Also, Rucka missed a huge opportunity. Earlier in the series Renee meets up with Harvey Bullock, and chastises him for essentially killing the man who shot Jim Gordon. So when Renee is faced with the opportunity and motive to kill the man who killed her partner, do they reference this? Do they have her commit the act, thus making her no better than Bullock? Nope. She kicks Corrigan's ass (again), quits the force, and the book ends. :no:

Right there, that illustrates my point about the focus of this book. One of the officers is killed and the other one walks away, so the book ends? No! What about the other detectives? What about wrapping things up?

Anyway, enough of my ranting about a great, yet flawed series.

Get this. Read this. Share this.

Comic books: 303.5

Trade paperbacks: 26

Graphic novels: 1

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By now you know where to find my opinions on these if you want them:

Animal Man #1

Demon Knights #1

Frankenstein #1

I, Vampire #1

Justice League Dark #1

Resurrection Man #1

Swamp Thing #1

DC Comics Presents: Metal Men-I wanted to like this. But it's just poorly presented. It may have to do with the fact that this was the 10 page backup to the first 7 issues of Doom Patrol that it was poorly paced or something, but very disappointing. 3/10

Stormwatch #1-One of the worst written comics I've read in a long time. Sepulveda is a better artist than this too. What a pile of shit. Good lord, Cornell has turned these characters into simpering, self-narrating fucking twits. Fuck this book. 1/10

Green Lantern #1-More Sinestro, less Hal. I liked this a lot except the moment with Hal jumping across the alley into the apartment on the same floor height as his made me put the book down for a few days. Mahnke is my favorite working artist but some pages, including the final splash looked hurried. I'll give this the first arc. 6/10

Green Lantern Corps #1-I loooove the characterization of Guy in this book. Tomasi is no stranger to the character but he's giving us a new angle on why he's an asshole. His duties as a GL makes it very difficult to do the things he loved to do as a regular human like coach a kids' football team. ON the other hand, I fucking hate John Stewart. Are we about done trying to make him a character worth reading, DC? Fuuuuck...Like all the Lantern books, it gets the first arc to convince me as I've already sunk more than five years of monthly buying into their corner of the universe. But I need to be impressed. Pasarin's art is the only thing bumping this past a 5. 6/10

GL: New Guardians #1-Speaking of non-characters: Kyle. Snooze...This has a lot to to in order to impress me. Putting a new artist in it would help. 2/10

Red Lanterns #1-This one had equal parts impressive stuff and eye rolling. The Atrocitus as a philospher thing made me want to wretch but Bleez is a character I've grown to care about. Also, Dex-Starr. Benes has grown on me as an artist. Overall, It feels a little weird to say that this is probably the second best of the GL books. 6/10

Alpha Flight #17-130-Rereading through this as I've picked up the Alpha Flight series over at Marvel Omega. There's a lot of excellent buried in the terrible Marvel 90s there. The Infinity crossovers (Crusade and War) are awful but the books really have a great continuity going for them.

Comics: 1229

Trades: 34

Graphic Novels: 1

Omnibuses: 5

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Flex Mentallo #1-4

Going in, I expected a silly romp about a Charles Atlas-type bodybuilder / superhero. Turns out, that's not what this miniseries is about. At all. It's a total mind-fuck about the nature of comic books, reality, and the power of imagination. I'll need to reread it soon, if only to make sure I absorbed everything, but wow!

A hardcover edition will be released in February, and it's only $14 through DCBS. Pre-order this one!

Comic books: 307.5

Trade paperbacks: 26

Graphic novels: 1

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Batman: Gates of Gotham #1-5

This miniseries serves two purposes. First, it reveals the history of Gotham City, which is much more interesting than it has any right to be. And second, it does a masterful job of showing how Dick, as Batman, utilizes the Bat Family much more efficiently than Bruce. He isn't the best Batman, but he's a better leader than Bruce ever was or will be.

The balancing act between 19th century Gotham and modern Gotham, especially when the past is all about constructing bridges and skyscrapers, couldn't have been easy on the writers. But the team of Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins juggle it well. They keep the past moving along, never letting it become dry, while the action and detective work in the modern scenes are slowed down to let the characters work through the mystery while dealing with bombs planted throughout the city. I think other writers would have flipped the two -- making the past slow and the modern fast -- but this was the right call; it's a history lesson wrapped inside a detective story.

Artist Trevor McCarthy is a guy to keep an eye on. His style is clearly inspired by animation, which one might think would not work in a setting like Gotham, but his thin, angular lines mixed with Guy Major's dual color palettes bring the city and characters to life like I haven't seen in ages.

The only misstep is the art change in the fourth issue. They brought in two artists with similar-enough styles to McCarthy, so it isn't as jarring as it could have been, but multiple artists on a miniseries, unless it's for a stylistic reason, never sits right with me.

Comic books: 312.5

Trade paperbacks: 26

Graphic novels: 1

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