Every comic you've read in 2011

[Dread]

Shadowman #0-43 + Yearbook #1-the entire run of Shadowman. It was one of my favorite Valiant books back in the day and, except for a weird issue with a rapper as Greek chorus, it holds up pretty well. One of the grimmest ends to a series I've ever read as well. Great stuff!

The Search for Swamp Thing #2-Let me say that I don't disagree with what they're doing to Swamp Thing. I think it's called for actually. But this is just plain mediocre comics. Ugh.

Green Lantern #67-Even though I knew it was coming, I really enjoyed it. one of the best comics being published today. So glad they aren't really changing the GL books as I'm stoked for GL Sinestro. It felt a little rushed and could have used another issue but oh wells.

GL Corps #61, 62-Meh. Big step down in relation to thye rest of the series. Bedard feels like he's giving up a little at the end here.

GL Emerald Warrior #12-These final issues are a drag. I wished they'd just ended with the WotGLs.

WotGL Aftermath #1-THIS was good Bedard. Sepulveda's art is pretty amazing too! INterested for Stormwatch!

Batman: Gotham Noir- Brubaker and Phillips on a Noir Batman story. Can't be bad right? Well...it ain't very good. Seems very rote to me.

Saga of the original Human Torch #1-4-This was relatively early in the existence of the miniseries. You know, back when they didn't think it would be a bad thing to do a Golden Age character's entire history in a clinical encyclopedic manner over four issues. I suppose it was good research.

West Coast Avengers #40, 76-79-Chris, this is the Night Shift arc I was telling you about with the hobo villain. It doesn't really hold up but it's fun as hell.

Incognito: Bad Influences-nowhere near as good as the first one, but still better than most of what Marvel sees fit to print these days.

Incorruptible vol. 4-This series has legs. Excellent stuff. Max Damage is one of my favorite characters right now.

Gotham Central Book Two: Jokers and Madmen-Again, why in the blue fuck am I only reading this now? Amazing book! Getting better even!

Comics: 931

Trades: 27

Graphic Novels: 1

Omnibuses: 5

[Koete]

Action Comics #1 - I thought it was a great first issue. The status quos for both Superman and Clark were established, with a hefty dose of action. And even though he only appeared for a couple pages, I love whenever Morrison writes Lex Luthor. Dynamic art by Rags Morales too.

Animal Man #1 - Storywise, Animal Man is my favorite of the DC 52 books so far. Jeff Lemire understands what makes Buddy Baker who he is and perfectly captures him and his family. A dream sequence and the ending take Animal Man in a horror direction, which is intriguing. The reason it isn't my favorite relaunch overall is because of Travel Foreman's art. I liked it when Animal Man accesses his powers and in the dream sequence, but I wasn't impressed by the real world sequences. Hopefully it will grow on me.

Batman and Robin #26 - Wonderfully weird story from beginning to end; the first artist's fluid artwork complemented it well.

Batman, Inc. #7-8 - Issue 7 was on of the best issues of the series, focusing on Man-of-Bats and Raven Red. Issue 8 on the other hand was...not very good. Still can't wait for the finale to Morrison's Batman epic.

Black Dynamite One Shot - There were parts that echoed the movie, but overall it fell flat. Jun LoFima's art was fantastic though.

Captain America & Bucky #620 - Brubaker's compelling orgin story for Bucky + Chris Samnee providing his best art to date = a Marvel comic you should be buying.

Criminal: The Last of the Innocent #1 - I haven't read a bad issue of Criminal, and this one is no exception. The Archie angle adds another layer to the story, rather than being an easy joke. Sean Philips and Val Staples are one of the best art teams in comics.

G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes #1 - Bland. I really have nothing to say about it.

The Goon #34 - What looks to be a jab at Twilight turns out to be an exaggerated one at fangirls. Business as usual for The Goon.

Green Hornet: Year One #1-8 - A solid comic of the radio era Green Hornet and Kato that weaves together their origins and first battle against crime is given an added layer of sophistication by Francesco Francavilla's Expressionist colors.

Green Wake #2-3 - My favorite comic right now. Loving the mystery and mood of the story. Riley Rossmo is providing some of the best art in comics today, his ink work and coloring giving Green Wake a perfect blend of otherworldliness and dread.

Incredible Hulk & The Human Torch: From the Marvel Vault - If you like Bronze Age Marvel and seeing a lost Steve Ditko story see the light of day (but mostly the Ditko), pick this up.

Journey Into Mystery #624 - Loki's machinations continue, looks like there's going to be a showdown in the underworld. Dougie Braithwaite's art continues to perfectly convey the mythological world of the book.

Red Spike #1 - An awful action movie with Patrick Stewart as a supporting actor.

Stormwatch #1 - This was a title I was really looking forward too and I'm sad to say I was disappointed. I think the main problem was that it tried to cover the entire cast in twenty pages, resulting in not much depth in characters or story. It really should have taken the route Justice League took, introducing several characters each issue to explore them naturally. Since the comic is written by Paul Cornell, I'm sticking with it, but I really wanted to love it from the start.

That Hellbound Train #1 - Great start to this "deal with the devil" story. Dave Wachter's art suitably evokes a horror story, especially the train itself.

Who is Jake Ellis? #4 - The story keeps going, the art is still great, not much else to say.

Total

Comic Books: 92

TPBs: 1

HCs: 1

Graphic Novels:

Manga:

Digital Comics: 2

Action Comics #1, Animal Man #1, Annihilators #1, Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories HC, Batman: The Return, Batman and Robin #26, Batman, Inc. #1-8, Batwoman #0, Black Dynamite, Blue Estate #1, Captain America: Fighting Avenger #1, Captain America & Bucky #620, Criminal: The Last of the Innocent #1, Doctor Strange: From The Marvel Vault #1, Fried Rice #1, G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes #1, The Goon #34, Green Hornet: Year One #1-8, Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1, Green Wake #1-3, Image Firsts: Hack/Slash #1, Incredible Hulk & The Human Torch: From the Marvel Vault, Hack/Slash (2011) #1-2, The Infinite Vacation #1-2, Iron Man: Enter The Mandarin TPB, Jimmy Olsen #1, Journey Into Mystery #622-624, Mage: The Hero Discovered #1, Marvel Must Have: Uncanny X-Force, Moon Knight #1, Nonplayer #1, Officer Downe, Orc Stain #5, The Punisher #1-9 and Annual #1, Red Spike #1, Ruse #1, Sea Bear and Grizzly Shark, Sea Ghost #1, The Sixth Gun #1-4, Stormwatch #1, That Hellbound Train #1, Transformers #1, Uncanny X-Force #4-9 and 5.1, The Untold Legend of The Batman #1-3, Venom #1, Who is Jake Ellis? #1-4, X-Statix #6-7 and 21-24, Xombi #1

[Dread]

Secret Weapons #1-21: This is an odd duck. It isn't the first Valiant series to spin out of another, but it is certainly the oddest book they ever published out of the Valiant U. It starts as a team consisting of two kids who fled the Harbinger Foundation and Geoff the Geomancer. They also team up with Eternal Warrior, Bloodshot Solar and others. But by issue 8, the two leads leave to rejoin Harbinger. The series plods for two issues as an EW Bloodshot team-up. Then a Bloodshot Ninjak teamup. Then finally, a group of armored heroes. The series ends with a five issue crossover with, you guessed it, Bloodshot. The final issue, though, is part four of that four part crossover. The series so bad, they didn't even have an ending in their last issue, it was saved for a far more popular book. Fucking weird. Bloodhsot was fucking popular though. Bloodshot #1 come out the day Superman #75 did and almost sold as many copies.

Comics: 952

Trades: 27

Graphic Novels: 1

Omnibuses: 5

[Missy]

Impulse #3

Bart fights his entire high school... at the same time! It's a hilarious look at how Bart handles using his powers in secret while being an "ordinary 20th century boy" and a superhero. Mark Waid clearly loves this character, and he's having a blast writing him. This is Waid at his silliest.

Humberto Ramos isn't drawing the over-exaggerated Bart just yet -- he looks more like a normal kid at this point -- but you can see hints of it coming on the horizon. Very solid early work from him.

Comic books: 152

Trade paperbacks: 17

Graphic novels: 0

[Missy]

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

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #1

This is the biggest piece of shit I've read in a long time. If these were real people, real adults, and they all talked in this cutesy way, someone would smack them in the mouth. Often. Beyond that, the art is fine for what it is, but I din't know the blond girl in the colorful shirt was Buffy until more than halfway through the book. And that was only because someone finally addressed her by name. (I might have picked it up sooner had it been clear that one story is a flashback of the other. But as it stands, I thought they were running concurrently.)

Comic books: 166

Trade paperbacks: 17

Graphic novels: 0

[Venneh]

Hahaha. There's a reason I've been avoiding the continuation comics like the plague. Though as I said over in IIWY, Angel and Faith isn't half bad.

[Missy]

I am seriously pissed at that book.

[Venneh]

Okay, PM me and tell me how bad. Inquiring minds must know.

[Missy]

It's the cutesy dialog, that's all. It's beyond grating. Here are some examples:

A hungover Buffy says to Willow, "Did we make a naughty?"

Upon Buffy letting Xander and Dawn into her home, Dawn blurts, "Snoop. Desire to snoop."

While playing chicken in the pool, a drunk Buffy says, "Kill! Kill! This is fun and responsible!"

Later, Willow and Buffy have a conversation where they end every sentence with -y: "Well, it feels pretty blame-y."

And though this isn't cutesy, it was dumb. A rookie detective sees a corpse and says, "She's beautiful." What?!

[Venneh]

Goddamn am I glad I'm not following that.

And I would prefer not to think about Xander and Dawn fucking, kthnxbye.

[Dread]

The Second Life of Dr. Mirage #1-18-This one starts off really great. Bernard Chang's art is great and the characters are delightful. What throws it off track is that there is so much good stuff between Mirage and Carmen coming to terms with his ghostliness that they move so far away from paranormal investigation and into romantic dramedy. Nothing wrong with that, because that's fantastic. But when it becomes more about the battle later in the series, you really see why it didn't last through its second year.

Team Zero-I've made no qualms about my dislike of Chuck Dixon the man and the writer, but I couldn't resist Doug Mahnke drawing WW2 black ops for 4 bucks in the last TFAW nick and dent sale. I was impressed heavily by the art. Heavily. The story? Not great but who cares? The idea in this one is really to kick ass and not bother taking names cuz they're either Reds or Krauts, amirite? Also, historical Wildstorm at times can be better than modern (ie: Team One and Team Seven). This is the worst of the three but it's still not bad.

Dead She Said-Steve Niles writes a horror/noir detective story for Bernie Wrightson to draw. Kay. I"m in. The story feels like it was adapted from a short story which I liked because it offered a lot of breathing room for the art and Niles is nothing if he isn't smart. And if you're writing for Wrightson, give him shit to do. Niles does. In spades. Sam Spades even.

Justice League INternational volume 6-Interesting, JLI taking on rage virus vampires in Eastern Europe, Ted and Booster starting a hotel and casino on a living island and the debut of Adam Hughes on art. Lots of Hughes and Sears. Not enough Maguire for my liking. For as much as he is thought of in this era, I think that Sears and Ty Templeton probably drew more issues of JLI than Maguire did. He's still the best though.

Comics: 970

Trades: 30

Graphic Novels: 1

Omnibuses: 5

[Missy]

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.

Comic books: 166

Trade paperbacks: 24

Graphic novels: 0

[Missy]

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 (2011)

As I just tweeted, this book was amazing! The characters are very strong, especially Miles' uncle who is... well, I won't spoil that, but it was an awesome surprise. There's a pre-established world here, and I don't mean Bendis' Ultimate New York. I mean the family, their relationships, their pasts together and apart. It's also a different look at New York. This is the fresh spark that Ultimate Spider-Man had been missing for a while.

As for his powers, Miles gets his in a similar fashion as Peter got his, but it's different enough that it's not a repeat of what Bendis was already written. And speaking of Miles' powers, if you reread the issue you can see the spider demonstrating hints of them early on. It was a nice, subtle touch by Bendis.

Comic books: 167

Trade paperbacks: 24

Graphic novels: 0

[Missy]

Secret Avengers #16

People who complain that comic book writers have forgotten how to tell excellent, exciting, and meaningful one-issue stories don't read Warren Ellis.

Comic books: 168

Trade paperbacks: 24

Graphic novels: 0

[Missy]

New Avengers #16

Daredevil taking down one mech is hard enough to believe, but platoons of them? No, I'm sorry. I get that Bendis was trying to put him over, make him seem like Avengers material, but DD is not Superman.

Comic books: 169

Trade paperbacks: 24

Graphic novels: 0

[Venneh]

IIWY:

Flashpoint: The Outsider #3

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #3

Angel and Faith #1

Buffy Season Nine #1: Not going to count this as an actual read, cause I skimmed through it in the shot, but holy fuckstockings, was Mike right. What. Just, what? I thought it was impossible for this to get worse after last "season". I was clearly wrong. If you absolutely have to pick a comic to follow of the continuations do Angel and Faith, even though it's not the greatest. But don't touch this one with a ten foot pole. Urgh.

Alpha Flight #4: Huh. So, basically everyone's going fucknuts, and also aliens? Some interesting developments here, and I can't wait to see where they go. Glad this has become an oncoming.

Criminal: The Last of the Innocent #4: Wow. I thought I knew where this was going to go after last issue, and I didn't, and OW. Incredibly well done finale, and the point of the Archie motif becomes clear in the last few pages. Pick this up if you can, quickly.

Fear Itself #6: Ladies and gentlemen, FUCK YEAH. They've been setting up this whole oh woe we are doomed dynamic for the last few issues, but the way that Steve took charge in this issue is just made of Fuck Yeah, especially the way the issue is capped off coming into next issue. Can't wait.

Journey Into Mystery #627: The lesson of this issue is: always be sure to give the devil pretzels. Interesting diversion issue, especially seeing more of Mephisto and what his stake is in all of this. Glad to be back to Loki next issue, though.

Comics: 42

Trades: 2

[Missy]

The Avengers #1-16 and 12.1 (2010)

Not once, but twice Bendis tells his readers someone had their "Avengers moment." That big moment when everyone accepts them as an Avenger. In the case of Spider-Woman, he literally spells it out. For the Red Hulk, it's more a case of "he redeemed himself," but we're still told that's the day he became an Avenger. And that's terrible. You don't tell your readers someone's over; you let them decide when someone's over. Just because you have a love for a character (RE: Spider-Woman) or the company has an agenda for them (RE: Red Hulk) doesn't mean you get to dictate their popularity or status as an icon.

Beyond that, I'm not feeling this team as The Avengers. This book has always been about letting the B-list heroes shine next to the stars. Here, it's all about Captain America and Iron Man, with the other people taking up space. The exception being when he tries too hard to sell us on the aforementioned characters.

I'm not getting an Avengers vibe from his stories, either. Going into the future to stop Kang from ruining time is an Avengers type of story, but because this team doesn't feel like The Avengers and because Bendis' poorly handles the time travel elements, it flops. Not hard, but flops nonetheless. The second story, which ties into Fear Itself, is being told after the fact as the team is being interviewed for a book. (Presumably written by Bendis, considering the "Oral History of the Avengers" back matter.) Because we see that everyone made it out relatively okay, it lacks any lasting impact. I'm not saying someone has to die or lose a limb to make a story important, but when a story as big as Fear Itself is transpiring, this kind of storytelling hurts its momentum. Also, when you show clips of Hawkeye and Spider-Woman discussing their budding relationship in the days leading up to Fear Itself, and then they're like, "Oh, yeah. The Fear God," it makes me wonder what they truly care about: sex or saving lives.

Also, when a member of the team can invent two time machine in a few short hours (no joke) and the rules of said device aren't established, there is never a threat that can harm them. "Oh no! The Intelligencia unleashed Ultron!" So? Go back in time to stop them.

Artistically, despite a few flaws, John Romita, Jr. and Chris Bachalo make the pages feel big. Hell, there's a shot of Thor flying full-speed into Galactus' head. Which is all kinds of awesome! I just wish Bendis was matching JRJR's level of quality.

Comic books: 186

Trade paperbacks: 24

Graphic novels: 0

[dc20willsave]

It's a shame. I read the first episode and it seemed to have such good potential as a book. Oh well.

[Molly]

Wait, they bring back Mockingbird and a year later Clint is throwing it in Spider-Woman?

[Missy]

Yeah, they're pulling the whole "we're not married anymore... sorta... kinda... maybe" thing.

[Missy]

Fear Itself #6

Steve Rogers is the fucking man!

Comic books: 187

Trade paperbacks: 24

Graphic novels: 0

[Missy]

Dark Wolverine #89

I have absolutely no problem with comics being low on narrative and high on action, especially when they're part of a multi-issue crossover. That said, this doesn't feel like a complete issue, not one worth $2.99 at least. It's Franken-Castle fighting Wolverine because Wolverine is trying to protect Daken from the vengeful Franken-Castle. We've seen Wolverine and Daken fight The Punisher before, so if you're going to repeat that fight, it needs to be fresh. And let me tell you, seeing The Punisher as Franken-Castle and having Logan protect Daken is not enough to make it fresh.

There's some poor storytelling with the art. In one panel Wolverine and Franken-Castle are squaring off, and in the next Wolverine is on the ground, face first in a pool of blood. Okay, I get that Frank knocked him out, but how? Besides that, it's an okay looking book.

Comic books: 188

Trade paperbacks: 24

Graphic novels: 0

[Dread]

Captain Atom: Armageddon-This was kind of fun and interesting. Although, instead of nine issues, it probably should have been 7 or even 6. There's a lot of repetition. The art is good. It kind of vacillates between trying too hard to be Dustin Nguyen and something original. Pfeiffer "gets" both Captain Atom and the Wildstorm U for the most part. He did go a little overboard with the assholish nature of the WU but it is seen through Atom's eyes. For nine issues to tour the WU, it was void of characters like Backlash, Deathblow and Gen 13. Seemed a little off to me.

Comics: 970

Trades: 31

Graphic Novels: 1

Omnibuses: 5

[Missy]

X-Men: Schism #3

I really like where this is headed. While Scott is taking a very hard stance as a general -- putting children into danger against people who can take down the toughest X-Men -- Logan is seeing things from the other side. Even though he's dragged Kitty and Jubilee into tons of fights against ninjas, rogue mutants, and other dangerous foes, he always had their back. In this issue though, Scott had a young, virtually untrained mutant do whatever she had to to stop a threat. Alone. In the end, she killed a dozen men, and Cyclops didn't seem to care. Whereas Logan, who hates what he is and doesn't want to see anyone, especially a teenager, walk down that road, flipped out at the leader of the X-Men. So by the time this is over, Jason Aaron will have flipped the two men on their heads, leading to Logan running the school (I think) and Scott overseeing the X-Men in a more Magneto-like role. And that excites me.

Comic books: 189

Trade paperbacks: 24

Graphic novels: 0

[Dread]

Tales of the New Gods-A collection of the Tales of the New Gods stories that ran as backups in John Byrne's "Jack Kirby's Fourth World" series and Walt Simonson's "Orion" series and a few other treats. For the most part, this is a brilliant homage to the King. Beside a weird reworking of a Jimmy Olsen/Forever People moment by Byrne, there's nary a mis-step. Byrne and Simonson are amazing writing within the Fourth World! Steve Rude on Mister Miracle is genius. John Paul Leon steals the book with a tiny little 8 pager that is badass and sad at the same time. Loved it!

Comics: 970

Trades: 32

Graphic Novels: 1

Omnibuses: 5