Every comic you've read in 2013

[Dread]

Thor: The Mighty Avenger Complete Collection - I had originally thought this was billed as an all ages Thor tale to appeal to kids and adults. But I can't see kids reading past the first issue. When you have a Thor book marketed to kids and he barely appears in the first two issues, and instead we follow the snooze-tastic life of Jane Foster, you've got yourself a book that just plain doesn't appeal to kids. Or me for that matter. It's an interesting soft reboot that does away with the Donald Blake part of the character which I don't have the biggest problem with. Samnee's art is fantastic and, while I find Langridge's story to be boring and unimpressive, it's a book of moments. There are some good moments, but not enough for me to wholly recommend this. Disappointing.

Doc Macabre - There's a lot going for this book, namely that it's drawn by Bernie Wrightson. Niles is a good vehicle for Wrightson stories because he knows what people want to see Wrightson draw. Though, this one feels like a great idea unrealized. Too bad. Looks beautiful though.

Robert Bloch's That Hellbound Train: Another adaptation of Bloch by the generational Lansdale boys with art this time by Dave Wachter. Unlike "Yours Truly..." this grabbed me right off the bat. The story is like an extended Twilight Zone episode, but the character is so rich and the depth of the emotion is actually kind of astounding. It entirely makes up for the thin plot. Wachter's art is amazing. This is one of my favorite modern horror comics for its art.

American Freakshow: The Terrible Tale of Sloth Boy - This is Steve Niles' first graphic novel. It's drawn by Chee, whose style I adore. And it's great here. The story is really compelling. It is more of a true crime story than it is a horror one, so it has that going for it. Recommended for fans of Tod Browning's Freaks.

Comics: 180

Trades: 15

Omnibus: 2

Graphic Novels: 2

[elnino14]

I'm done. I'm just done. I looked ahead. I would get six issues to introduce me to the new status quo before the next event. SIX! At this point, I think I am done with all X-Books for a long, long while. I gave Spider-Man a chance with the Brand New Day stuff. And what made me like it was the fact it set up a new status quo and it stuck with it for 150 issues. I can't find an X-Book that lasts more than 15.

Some Reccomendations:

Madrox, X-Factor - I really like this series, it sits on the fringes of the X-universe, and deals with the events from a mostly character centric point of view. There is one major status quo change after 4 trades when this book gets hit with the Messiah Complex. Book 6 sucks as it deals with Secret Invasion, but I remember liking book 7 and 8, which is where I stopped last time and I'm not sure if there's any other status changes but I know it's at like trade 17 or 18 with the same writer.

Uncanny X-force - Admittedly I haven't read it yet but I think it had a 6 trade run (30 issues or so) without any status quo changes and it's pretty highly acclaimed.

[SuaveStar]

Batman: War Drums: An ok filler series, basically covers Stephanie Brown's run as Robin. The art was nice, but the stories were all pretty flat, so this was missable, and leads into the crap War Games event.

Avengers Volume 2: Red Hulk joins the team against the Hood. I didn't care for John Romita Jr's art here, it seemed pretty childish, it felt incomplete. Average, but still better than the Fear Itself tie-in issues.

Gotham Central: Volume 3: This may have been the best Batman book I've read in a long time, and it barely features Batman. I've always wondered what the GCPD do, and now I know, they deal with the crimes Batman has no time for, and when they can, they try and keep their families together. Just awesome.

Superior: Mark Millars take on Captain Marvel. If it wasn't for his need to have at least one swear word on each page, this would be a lot better. I've never enjoyed Mark Millars creator owned content, and this was no different, there's still something very bitter in his writing, like he thinks every comic character has an ulterior motive, or they all need to have a dark side.

Trades: 49

Comics: 6

[SuaveStar]

Simpsons: Get some fancy book learnin': This was a compilation of classic tales, such as Zeus and Hercules, among others. I've never really enjoyed the three part episodes, and felt they diluted the halloween specials with it. Not bad, but just ok, at best.

Wolverine: Goodbye Chinatown: I have yet to read a bad Jason Aaron comic, the man really gets the medium and tells great stories, with great humour. Really fun.

Judge Dredd: The Chief Judge's Man: A three part story about a mercenary hired by a judge to take down those who oppose the judge's regime. Apart from the part three reveal, with Dredd putting everything together this was the fun story of a two men who think they are doing the greater good, by keeping order in Mega City.

Trades: 52

Comics: 6

[Professor]

Amazing Spider-Man: The Complete Ben Reilly Epic (Book 6) - After 4-5 months, I finally get to finish this off. And it sucked. After everything, they hit reset with five issues. The rest of this (the Unlimited issues is something to behold) is garbage filler. As for the ending? Bringing Norman back works, but feels anti-climatic. Years and years of build to lose in ten minutes. And while Ben should have been given a better death, it had to end with him turning to dust for the Spider-Man character to 100% move on.

In the end, this entire thing was created as a sales gimmick and was never given a chance to work creatively. Ben Reilly as a character was never given a chance to survive. Marvel held off on going all in. Saving that last chip. It is a shame.

Comics - 95

Graphic Novels - 6

Trades - 20 (115)

[Dread]

Supreme #68-having read all of Erik Larsen's follow-up run to Alan Moore's stint on the book, I can honestly say that, even as the most staunch supporter of Larsen and his work, I have not a fucking clue what happened over the last five issues. Disappointing.

Edgar Allan Poe's The Conqueror Worm-Richard Corben's oneshot. It's always an interesting thing to see someone adapt a vague poem of Poe or Lovecraft and Corben does a ridiculously amazing job. He could very well have just submitted this as an original work, but he gave the inspiration to Poe anyway. This guy is a modern master.

Savage Dragon #184-5: NOBODY does comics like Savage Dragon. Unbelievably good. Basically an issue every six weeks for 20 years and it is at its best point right now. It is ALWAYS at its best point right now.

Batman Inc. #8: This series can't end soon enough. Terribly sub-par art and rote storytelling. Zero grandeur to a character that we've been led to believe is something special for the past several years.

Dial H #10: honestly, a bit of a difficult read. It evens out by the end into something really sweet but it is a bit of a rough road getting there. But even the worst issue of Dial H is far better than anything DC is doing elsewhere.

Michael Avon Oeming's Wild Rover and The Sacrifice: two separate stories previously published in DHP. The first is a story written and drawn by Oeming tying Lovecraftian terror and alcoholism. Shockingly beautiful. I was astounded. The second story, written by Oeming and drawn by Victor Santos, is a fantasy story, which is rough with me, but it is tied to Norse mythology which always helps. It's damn good too and Santos' art is beautiful. I bought this on a whim and I'm super-glad I did.

Walking Dead #105-108: Negan...you one bad motherfucker.

Hack/Slash Omnibus Volume 3: Finally reread this and it is now past the point I had already read. I have the fourth omnibus and have pre-ordered the fifth and final. One of the finest horror comics of the past decade. This is Buffy with balls. And a better sense of humour. I don't like the Living Corpse crossover but the Halloween Man one is great. Some of the art in the arcs is questionable, but some of it is great. It's the characters of Cassie and Vlad (and Pooch! I love Pooch!) that keep you reading though.

Comics: 191

Trades: 15

Omnibus: 3

Graphic Novels: 2

[Professor]

Spider-Island - Really not a much fun as I was expecting. It somehow feels rushed and extremely padded at the same time. The big villain reveal was lost on me as I have no clue who this is. Still don't really. Some good moments, but overall kinda lame. Also, the cover of the friggin' trade shows the Avengers in Spider-Man costumes. Yet in the story superheroes are the only ones NOT to become spider-people. That is not cool at all.

Spider-Island Tie-Ins - I liked the Cloak & Dagger series, but it had nothing to do with SI and felt more like a zero issue for an ongoing. Herc/Avengers/Black Panther/Heroes for Hire/I Love NYC/Spider-Woman are all useless and not very good. Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu was the best of these and I would love to see this artist get the chance on a Shang-Chi limited series that is not tied to an event.

Comics - 108
Graphic Novels - 6
Trades - 21 (129)

[Professor]

Amazing Spider-Man: Flying Blind

Amazing Spider-Man: Trouble On The Horizon

Filler. Nothing great, nothing horrible. Just there.

Comics - 108
Graphic Novels - 6
Trades - 23 (139)

[Dread]

Edison Rex #1-With the trade up for pre-order and me wearing I heard good things, I read the first issue of this on Comixology. It has a pretty rote plot by this time and feels like a very standard origin story, but the story is just so poorly told that I can't continue at even the discounted DCBS price. It feels very much like a comic for very young children and even then...nope.

Daredevil by Mark Waid vol 3-Normally, when I buy a DD trade, I prefer it to be filled with DD comics. This trade, however, is only partly a DD trade. It contains an issue of Avenging Spider-Man and one of Punisher by Greg Rucka. The crossover is actually pretty damned good with some amazing art. So I'm okay with it. The DD issue is by far the best, and Waid consistently proves that he gets DD more than anybody. This has one of the definitive DD moments in it for me that make it so Waid can fairly be called a definitive writer of the character. Moreso than Brubaker or Bendis. There's a bit of a deus ex machina in the end, but I'm still very intrigued as to what is going to happen.

Saga vol 1-I was staring at the shelves of my buddy's comic shop after grabbing the bunch of books (Savage Dragon and Walking Dead) in my pull box. I felt like I needed to try something but I wasn't sure. Adam, my friend who owns the shop says "I hate space shit, and I know you don't like it either, but try this." So I did. And fuck! This lives up to the hype. I've dropped by ban on Brian K. Vaughan at least in terms of this book. I've ordered the second volume. The art is gorgeous and the story is adult (funny to note that the image of graphic sex floating around as an example of what got issue 12 "banned" from Comixology is actually from issue 3). It reminds me of the best of eighties Heavy metal Magazine. Beautiful stuff. The colors, the lettering. Everything. Read this book if you're like me and the last person on earth who isn't.

Ravine volume 1-Similarly to science fiction, I am very particular about my fantasy. Moreso than SciFi, actually. I detest Lord of the Rings, but I adore Conan the Barbarian. But seeing that this is about a hypnotist thathelps stadiums filled with people quit smoking for a living...wait, no. That's a joke far too specific for probably anybody here to get. This fantasy book mixes the sentiment of LOTR with Game of Thrones to great effect. It gets a little wordy, but Stjepan Sejic's art is a fucking revelation. Every page. There is literally not a mis-step in the whole tome. It's gorgeous, and it's the best stuff out there. Get it. A second graphic novel will be out in the summer.

Comics: 192
Trades: 17
Omnibus: 3
Graphic Novels: 3

[dc20willsave]

Saga was already on my list of books I'm looking for at C2E2. Now it's going to the list of things I'll actually drop money on the first day.

[SuaveStar]

Walking Dead Volumes 13-15: For volumes 13 and 14, I was kind of bored, I get that we're past the point where the zombies matter, but most of the story was set around going to this new town, and as usual with WD, the shit hits the fan. I'm starting to think the books almost got into a complacent position with set pieces. Introduce new characters, introduce a new "Safe house" reveal characters hidden crimes, zombie attack, safe house isn't so safe, some new characters die, and the ones with the dark past join under Rick's regime, it's now just a case of lather, rinse and repeat, I feel.

The character stuff that happens is good, well, for Rick and Carl, everyone else is just on auto-pilot for the three volumes, by just being background characters. Another issue I have was the outright in your face nature of the theme "Zombies aren't the problem. It's the people who're left!" We have Rick explaining this to us for like 3 pages, and it's just banged over your head, like the previous dozen or so volumes didn't already get that point across.

The ending to volume 14 is good, but yeah, this is a real downturn in the book for me, it's not as good as it once was, and it seems like Kirkman is on auto-pilot for the most part, and like I say, just using the "Same old shit, different house" scenario.

Trades: 55
Comics: 6

[elnino14]

Last I was in here I just finished Annihilation Conquest. Now I'm almost up to starting Thanos Initiative.

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 1-4: I really enjoyed every volume of this thus far. It's been the most enjoyable part of the cosmic saga for me, I enjoy all the characters and it always keeps a fairly balanced melodramatic sci-fi to humorous sci-fi ratio. It never gets too bogged down and stays fun continuously. The worst part of the series thus far has been the 2 issue saga where Drax and Phyla go and save Moondragon, mostly because it swung too far in the way of melodrama. Another thing is the gang gets a little bloated at one point having about 12 members or so at it's peak. Overall though it never stops being fun space adventures, I have 2 more issues in the series left but I really enjoyed it.

War of Kings: Overall I didn't like how this even was planned, I really liked the tie-in build up to the event method that they used so clearly in the first two Annihilation sagas. Here it's more of a traditional cross-over method, where the main story is in one mini, and if you want to find out more about certain characters adventures you read their tie-ins. It always becomes a problem because you read one series and spoil the ending of the cross over before reading the tie ins. Oh well. Also, I never understood how two complete races that almost had nothing to do with the previous sagas now come to the forefront, the Shiar and Inhumans. Overall, I thought it was okay, I didn't like the Darkhawk characters, I didn't like how heavy the X-men became involved, it's very much a you have to have read a whole bunch of other titles to get what's going on here. To understand who Vulcan is and how he's involved with the X-men. Overall, I thought it was a great showcase for Gladiator mostly, but I felt cold by the rest of it.

Nova vol. 5-6: I have one more issue left in this series, and overall it's enjoyable space adventures but not nearly as enjoyable as Guardians was, it gets bogged down in it's melodrama at times, but it still remains fun. The character is fine but not nearly as emotionally connectable as I hoped.

Realm of Kings: I much preferred how this was organized, you have a one shot to set off the event and then a couple of tie ins with each group dealing with the situation at hand in their own ways. Both the Inhumans tie in and the Shiar Imperium tie in left me a little cold, but they were readable and built well off of what had occured in the previous event. Gladiator continues to be one of the stars of the second half of the cosmic saga by DnA.

It's very clear that the cosmic saga is distinctly split in two big parts thus far, with the Annihilation/Annihilation Conquest making up Part 1 focusing on characters that, while seen in Part 2, only play minor roles in the Of Kings Part 2, which tends to focus on Inhumans, Starjammers, and the Shiar. The one constant throughout both parts is Ronan the Accuser. Overall, I've enjoyed it but I'm getting a little fatigued by these stories, the diminishing returns every time out is hurting it, as well as what I find is a lack of deep character development, great stories, great characters, but not a ton of development with these characters.

Next up: Finish off Guardians and Nova, leading directly to Thanos Imperative.

[Dread]

G.I. Joe #1-155 + Yearbook #1-4: The first one hundred issues are a beautiful thing to behold. The last fifty or so is one of the steepest and craziest slides into shit comics has ever seen.

Comics: 351
Trades: 17
Omnibus: 3
Graphic Novels: 3

[prez]

Good analysis, but I still think the final issue is a work of art.

[SuaveStar]

Judge Dredd: Satans Island: An island where you can do anything you want, almost like a new world Las Vegas. This was fun, but it sort of dragged at the end for me. Fun, but not one of the best Dredd stories I've ever read, though the things people were into was inventive, and different.

Big Bouncy Book of Bart Simpson: Bart is clearly a one note character, and unlike Homer, you can't stick him into any situation, and it would kind of work. Apart from the final issue, the stories were all dull and forgettable, the art whoever, was solid and looked like the TV show in its prime.

[Dread]

Good analysis, but I still think the final issue is a work of art.

I'll try to give that issue another read after some space from the previous issues, but they did so much damage to Snake Eyes in the prior thirty or so issues, that he isn't even a character worth reading after that.

[Kenny Evil]

Judge Dredd: Satans Island: An island where you can do anything you want, almost like a new world Las Vegas. This was fun, but it sort of dragged at the end for me. Fun, but not one of the best Dredd stories I've ever read, though the things people were into was inventive, and different.

Originally it was called Sin City, but you can guess why they had to change that. It's sort of an odd one because it brings a load of plot lines from previous stories together and it's sort of an odd end for Orlok who was a character with about 20 years of history behind him. I think this was the debut of Kev Walker's Mignolaesque style as he'd previously been using a very detail heavy inked style and, before that, a fully painted style. I much prefer this as it flows like a proper comic should rather than just a collection of very pretty pictures.

[prez]

Good analysis, but I still think the final issue is a work of art.

I'll try to give that issue another read after some space from the previous issues, but they did so much damage to Snake Eyes in the prior thirty or so issues, that he isn't even a character worth reading after that.

You're totally right about the damage they did. I hadn't read the comic in a few years when I read the last one.

[SuaveStar]

Originally it was called Sin City, but you can guess why they had to change that. It's sort of an odd one because it brings a load of plot lines from previous stories together and it's sort of an odd end for Orlok who was a character with about 20 years of history behind him. I think this was the debut of Kev Walker's Mignolaesque style as he'd previously been using a very detail heavy inked style and, before that, a fully painted style. I much prefer this as it flows like a proper comic should rather than just a collection of very pretty pictures.

Yeah, I thought the art style really stood out as the best thing. I was lucky that you recommended The Case Files Volume 5, as the entire block war, that was discussed in this trade, but I don't think at any point there was an editor box saying "To find about the block war.."

[SuaveStar]

Death: the high cost of living. Was alright, enjoyable, I sort of expected some sort of "Twist" that never actually came, which felt odd, but overall, was an enjoyable read. Even if Gaiman spent 5 pages at the end, with Death talking about proper condom use.

Secret Avengers: Run the mission, save the world, don't get caught: This was pretty, other than that, I have no clue what the hell was going on most of the time. It felt you were dropped into the middle of the story, then just shown the ending and told to move right along. I was really looking forward to reading this, and I just felt the need to rush through to the very end.

Simpsons: Confidential: Fun pointless stories, in the vein of the show in it's prime, but for some reason, the comics feel the need to end each story by returning to the status quo, which the show never really did in its prime, and the return to keeping things as you left them just comes in, in the last page, like an editor is constantly telling the writers "Now put the toys back in the box, playtimes over."

Trades: 58
Comics: 6

[SuaveStar]

Superman: Ruin Revealed: After reading this, I've come to the conclusion that Greg Rucka is the blandest superhero comic writer I've ever read. His work on Gotham Central was great, but here, this was mediocre. Art was fine, but the story was just awful.

Bart Simpsons: Prankster Prince: This was fun, it didn't feature to much Bart, and the other characters in small doses worked. It's just a shame that for the Bart stories they had to rush into returning to the status quo. I get the feeling this was the edict from editors "Make it look like the show, do what you want, but return the toys back to the box when you're done" as some of the conclusions, such as Bart becoming the best selling writer of Radioactive Man just suck.

Trades: 60
Comics: 6

[Dread]

Grendel Omnibus Volume 2: Legacy-About as uneven as the first volume, but I far prefer Hunter Rose to Christine Spar. The art is better in volume 1 too. This is still, oddly, one single 550 page story about one character with a beginning middle and end. How often do you see that in comics?

Defenders #20-41 + Annual #1-I reread this every so often to try and come to terms with Steve Gerber's run on this team. I love Gerber, but I've never liked this run. There are enjoyable moments, and it is notable for the creation of the Headmen, but I still don't enjoy it. It makes me want to go back and read DeMatteis' run though. I'll probably do that next.

Comics: 373
Trades: 17
Omnibus: 4
Graphic Novels: 3

[Professor]

Venom (Vol. 1) - I think I like this more in theory than execution. I don't know, I just have this feeling that I read the same issue five times. The Betty/Flash relationship is the only thing that would make me pick up a vol. 2.

Comics - 108
Graphic Novels - 6
Trades - 24 (144)

[Professor]

Wolverine/Nick Fury: Scorpio - Loved 2/3 of this. Some great storytelling and artwork. Wolverine is not WOLVERINE!!~! and everything is simple. And then 1998 happens. Horrible story, worse storytelling, horrendous art and an overall bad comic. I wish this could have been just the first two stories printed in their original Marvel Graphic Novel size.

Comics - 108
Graphic Novels - 6
Trades - 25 (147)

[Professor]

Batman Beyond: Hush Beyond - This is complete ass. The concept could work. However, the execution failed in every way. This is clearly intended to be in continuity with the cartoon, but they got everyone's personalities wrong to a staggering degree. Add in the bad art (not bad per say, but bad for this book. Also, Bruce & Terry look like Cable and Shang-Chi for some reason.) and it is a really bad comic.

Comics - 108
Graphic Novels - 6
Trades - 26 (153)