Every comic you've read in 2013

[Professor]

Blood Song - I don't get it. Another no words book, and I don't get it. 20ish pages in I thought I got it. But it didn't. I thought 'maybe I missed something' and 'read' it again. Didn't help. Reading the cover blurbs, I seem to be a very stupid person for not getting the meaning. I'm okay with that because this book is a waste of my time.

Comics - 108
Graphic Novels - 22
Trades - 34 (189)

[Dread]

Dial H #13-Again, another candidate for issue of the year. A crime it's being cancelled. This issue doesn't even have the two main characters of the series in it, and yet it manages to capture superheroics in a 20 page story, much of it containing stick figures, better than 99% of comics out there.

Batman Inc. #11-Sure, let Chris Burnham write one. Why not? Ironically, it's a better issue than Morrison's past six or seven issues. Could have something to do with the fact that Burnham didn't draw this one.

Avengers: The Complete Collection by Geoff Johns vol 1-I wasn't sure what to think. I'd never read any Johns Avengers or even any after the Busiek run was over before Bendis took over. There are some lulls, for sure. Overall though, this is shaping up to be one of the most solid Avengers runs I've read. Great stuff. It helps when you have the art team of Dwyer and Remender on a lot of the issues. Also contains the Vision miniseries he did with Ivan Resi which is also a beautiful book both in writing and art. not sure continuity-wise, but who cares? The three part Standoff storyline that ends this collection crossing over with Iron man and Thor is up there in my top 10 Avengers stories. Good stuff.

Mystery Society-The trade by Niles and Staples about the world traveling couple who recruits an occult investigative team. It has all the right elements for this kind of pulpy fun story. Unfortunately, it is truly hindered by the fact that it has to be an origin story. I want to see these characters in action. The origin element (which takes up this whole trade) is boring. Fiona Staples is an artistic genius, no doubt, but Niles sometimes just doesn't grab me. This is one of those times.

Mysery Society Special 2013-Now this is more like it! A great short adventure for the team. This single issue contains more interest for me than the entire trade. Unfortunately there's no Fiona Staples, but Ritchie's art, though different, fit the kind of story they were telling here.

The Victories: Touched-This trade written and drawn by Michael Avon Oeming didn't quite have me until the last two issues of the trade. Not a great monthly book, but I will buy the second trade based on the strength of this one. I'm not his biggest fan art-wise but I thought his take on "grim and gritty" heroes was interesting.

Saga volume 2-Gorgeous and brilliant. Sexy, violent, funny, innovative. Probably the best indie book on the market right now.

Hack/Slash Omnibus vol 4-Since volume 5 just came, I thought I needed to read four first. Good stuff. There's a bunch of issues that Seeley doesn't write for some reason and those are a little iffy. The Zombies vs Cheerleaders crossover is awful, but the Hatchet crossover more than makes up for it with stellar art and a great premise. The actual monthly issues are the star here. What started as a cheesecakey fun and violent book is beginning to culminate into one fo the biggest mythologies an indie book has ever come up with. I'll be sad to finish the series, but five Omnibi worth of shit is pretty impressive.

More What If?s:

#8 Iron Man lost the Armor Wars-fun and tense.

#9 The X-Men died on their first mission-the second team, that is. Beast has to put together a team of substiutes (Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, James Proudstar, Namorita, Siryn an a pre-pubescent Wolfsbane) to stop Count Nefaria and his Ani-Men. Just an amazingly fun issue with a lot of obscure characters. Always loved this one. Great cover too.

#10 Punisher's Family hadn't been killed-but then they do get killed so it doesn't really matter. Still a pretty good story.

#11 Fantastic Four all had the same power-an anthology of four stories (obviously) that all kind of suck. For some reason, when they all become the Thing, Sue becomes Man-Thing? I don't fucking get it. Yes, before you ask, it is played straight.

#12 X-Men had Stayed in Asgard-more like, the X-Men took a vote and half of them stayed while half went home. Pretty great story though. Super fucked up nihilistic Twilight Zone ending.

#13 Professor X became the Juggernaut-and so he emerged years later to see Magneto already ruling the mutant race. He stops it and takes earth over, making it a police state. Sounds improbable, but it is a really great story with some amazing new costume designs.

#14 Captain Marvel Had Not Died-has a special place in my heart as the first issue of the one comic subscription I had to a comic through the mail. They always showed up late and in terrible condition, but I loved this book then, and it still sort of holds up.

#15 The FF had lost the Trial Of Galactus-and so the remaining three FF members take revenge on the Shi'ar Homeworld. Pretty interesting meditation on revenge actually.

#16 Wolverine battled Conan-amazing. That is all.

#17 Kraven the Hunter had killed Spider-Man-as a What If of one of my favorite Marvel stories, this falls flat. How is it that Captain America, Daredevil and Human Torch have to see Spider-Man doing bad things to decide he isn't the same guy anymore when HE IS SPEAKING WITH A RUSSIAN ACCENT?!!!!

#18 FF battled Dr. Doom before they got their powers-some great art, but the story doesn't hold up as well as I remember it.

#19 Vision Conquered the World-nowhere near as good as I remember. Though, the single panel of Wolverine and the New Mutants planting a flag on Mars without even a space suit or a respirator between them made me laugh out loud. Two different stories in this one taking a positive (Utopia) and a negative (Dystopia, duh!) outlook on the same occurrence. First real appearance of the Cosmic Avengers!

#20 Spider-Man had not Married Mary Jane-Kind of a heartwrencher. A nice story which directly leads to...

#21 Spider-Man had married the Black Cat-the first direct follow-up in a What If? They did it before in volume one a few times, but never in consecutive issues. Great stuff.

#22 Silver Surfer Had Not Escaped Earth-One of the greats. I may do a Dying in the Gutter segment on the show for this. Super creepy.

#23 The All-New All-Different X-Men had Never existed-again, pretty great. Basically, the original team (with Lorna Dane and Havok on the island of Krakoa which most people forget) end up solving the problem on their own and returning to civilization an even better team.

Comics: 520
Trades: 29
Omnibus: 7
Graphic Novels: 9

[SuaveStar]

Simpsons Comics: Extravaganza: The first four issues of the ongoing Simpsons comics. Apart from the bland back ups, these were enjoyable, I do wish they would stop making fun of comic fans. It worked on the show sometimes when they made fun of the Fox Network, but here, it just comes across as insulting the reader.

Batman and Robin: White Knight/Dark Knight: A collection of three, three issue stories. The first one by Paul Cornell is not bad, but somehow it feels like this could have been cut down to one issue, or two at the most, three is just stretching this story to thin, especially with that ending. The second story is by Pat Gleason and Peter Tomasi, this was better, but got confusing, and they never properly explained the villains powers, which sort of ruined the story for me. The third was the return of the Red Hood and Scarlet by Judd Winick and several artists. There are three artists in this, at least one per issue, and there stills are so different, and the story itself, is just there. Why does this other villain want Jason Todd alive? Never explained. All in all, a very miss-able trade.

Trades: 88
Comics: 17

Omnibus: 2

[Professor]

Amazing Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth - Been a while since I left this series. Not really all that hard to pick it back up, which I always appreciate. That said, this felt needlessly long and was mostly boring. I really enjoyed the Caselli art, but if you need a fill-in for him, Ramos is just not the right guy. I'm not a Ramos fan, but the two art styles do not work together at all.

Spider-Man: The Next Chapter (Vol. 1) - Collects the 99 relaunch. And it really sucked. It never really feels like a relaunch. A main plot point is from the last story-arch of the old series. In addition, this feels more like a Marvel Team-Up than Amazing Spider-Man. Way too many team-ups right off the bat. And setting up a spin-off in issue #1 is just peachy.

And I did not like the way the two titles are handled. If they wanted the one writer, then just call it Amazing Spider-Man and ship twice a month. By connecting the titles with non-stop two part stories just makes me think of the endless Clone Saga crossovers. The first box of comics I got had a late 80s/ early 90s Spectacular Spider-Man run. I was able to read those start to finish (many, many times) without every feeling I was missing anything happening in Amazing or Web of. Yeah, a bit of 'back in my day', but just comes off as marketing ploys and it annoys.

Comics - 108
Graphic Novels - 22
Trades - 36 (211)

[Professor]

Spider-Man: The Next Chapter (Vol. 2) - Better than Vol. 1, but still not good. Mackie is trying to do too much at once and it is not working. Setting up future stories is great and all, but when you have twelve pots on the stove everything is going to be cooked wrong. And that is all I can really say about this. Nothing has room to breathe and I am left indifferent to it all.

Comics - 108
Graphic Novels - 22
Trades - 37 (224)

[Dread]

Dark Entries-another Vertigo Crime OGN. This one is a Hellblazer story that is pretty mediocre. Written by novelist Ian Rankin, it kind of reeks of a novelist coming into the comic medium and thinking he's clever, but really it's kind of tired, The Art is too Manga for my liking. Stay away.

A shitload more What If?...'s volume 2:

#24-Wolverine was lord of the vampires:Good stuff. Right in my wheelhouse of my favorite era of the series. A shitload of death with a solid story. It holds up.

#25-the Marvel Super Heroes had lost Atlantis Attacks: tons more carnage. It dips and falters several times in the double-sized issue, but I really do kind of enjoy it.

#26-Punisher had killed the Daredevil: Fucking classic. Volume 2 is very Punisher heavy (he's even the Sorcerer Supreme in issue #24) but it doesn't get any better than this. True dark crime comics.

#27-Namor had joined the FF: I actually remember very little of this one. It's kind of run of the mill from what I do remember.

#28-Captain America had led an army of supersoldiers in World War II: Very solid. A wild diversion for the Marvel U. I like these ones when done right. This is very done right.

#29-Captain America had formed the Avengers: it's a continuation of the prior issue. It's not what you think. It's better.

#30-The Fantastic Four's second child had lived: This is another issue with 2 stories in it, but it's extra-sized (not double-sized I don't think). Thi is one of the very few examples where it works not only once, but both times. Nice Eaglesham art too.

#31-Spider-Man had kept his cosmic powers: even though it's one of my favorite eras of Spidey (I only have two eras) and Scott McDaniel does a decent Erik Larsen impression, it ain't very good.

#32-Phoenix had not died: Super great. Love this issue.

#33-Phoenix rose again: takes the nice story from the previous issue and continues it by blowing it up...bigtime. I feel like every What If? story that features Phoenix ends exactly the same way.

#34-no on was watching the Watcher: another comedy issue. But this one contains the opening story of Thanos turning Galactus into a human being with amnesia during the Infinity Gauntlet. Galactus ends up looking and having the exact same talent as Elvis. It's amazing.

#35-#39-The Timequake storyline. Move on. Nothing to see here.

#40-Storm had remained a thief:another one I liked. Some great art and visual storytelling too.

#41-The Avengers had fought Galactus: in his non-Elvis form of course. Kind of classic, with Valentino doing a great Kirby impression on art.

#42-Spider-Man had kept his six arms: snooze.

#43-Wolverine had married Mariko:a great ninja/samurai story.

#44-Venom had posessed The Punisher: turns out he uses the symbiote to kill people.

#45-Barbara Ketch had become Ghost Rider: another snooze.

#46-Cable had destroyed the X-Men: pretty good. Right around the X-Cutioner's song era (before it though). I like to see the X-Men thrown into disarray, especially when Phoenix doesn't destroy the universe at the end.

#47-Magneto took over the USA: part two from the previous issue, so you sort of know what happens when Cable destroys the X-Men.

#48-Daredevil had saved Nuke: during Born Again. Great shit. I enjoyed this a lot. One of a handful written by Ron Marz.

#49-Silver Surfer possessed the Infinity Gauntlet: from the famous moment where Surfer missed grabbing it off Thanos' hand. This time he didn't miss. And he became a total asshole.

#50-Hulk had killed Wolverine: I remember this (at $3.75 Canadian) being the most expensive cover priced comic I ever paid for at the time. It didn't help that I bought it in New Brunswick which had twice the sales tax of where I come from. It isn't as good as I remember.

#51-Punisher became Captain America: Hell yes. Fun comics.

#52-Doom became Sorcerer Supreme: not anywhere near as good as it sounds.

#53-three bone-chilling tales of alternate realities:and not one of them is given anywhere near a decent page count to explore it.

#54-Death's Head II had lived: pretty good. I don't remember this one from the original run. Never realized WI? dipped into Marvel UK.

#55-Avengers lost Galactic Storm: part one of a story that doesn't even get to the point.

#56-ditto.

#57-Punisher became an agent of SHIELD: Chuck Dixon may understand Frank Castle, but he doesn't have a fucking clue about Nick Fury.

#58-Punisher had killed Spider-Man: remember when I said Dixon knew the Punisher? Forget that, he doesn't.

#59-Wolverine led Alpha Flight: I feel like I read this back when I reread through my Alpha Flights. Bryan Hitch doing his best Alan Davis is a great impression. A really good issue. Probably the best of the later era.

#60-X-men wedding album:three tales of Jean Grey getting married, first to Scott earlier, then to Angel, then Wolverine. Guess what happens at the end? Phoenix destroys the universe.

#61-Spider-man's parents destroyed his family. I'm sorry, was I supposed to care?

Comics: 558
Trades: 29
Omnibus: 7
Graphic Novels: 10

[Professor]

Spider-Man: The Next Chapter (Vol. 3) - Forgettable. I read this last night and today and just flipped thru it to remember anything that happened. Beyond MJ 'dying', nothing happens. The art sucks and way too much Venom.

Comics - 108
Graphic Novels - 22
Trades - 38 (239)

[Stavros]

Between Des' reviews and Mike's endorsement of What if? Vol 2 on FBOW I'm definitely going to check these out asap.

[Dread]

#62-Wolverine battled Weapon X: Logan escapes being kidnapped and then is the only person powerful enough to stop the replacement Weapon X. One of my all-time favourites.

#63-War Machine had not destroyed the LIving Laser: the good thing, this is a choose your own adventure-style book with three endings. The bad thing, who gives a shit? This is the least consequential What If I could think of up to this point. Snooze.

#64-Iron Man sold out: You mean, as opposed to the time he made a bunch of weapons and started a global conglomerate worth hundreds of billions of dollars? Another Iron Man one that kind of sucks. It has its moments, but not enough to pull it out of the muck.

#65-Archangel fell from grace: Good shit. From one of my favorite eras of X-Men. Death stays Death, basically. And carnage ensues.

#66-Rogue possessed the power of Thor: Really good moments. Some excellent moments. All strung together by some sloppy storytelling. Kind of the thing with this book. This one is a good example of a middle of the road issue.

#67-Captain America were revived today part 1: YES! This is what I'm talking about. A "remake" of a volume 1 issue where instead of being revived in the late 70s, this time it's the mid-90s. WW2 was won by the states, but Cap wasn't around to stop the Sleeper robots Red Skull unleashed in the 70s and now he's in charge of the world. Most of it. Cap has to lead a group of Avengers (featuring Vulture, Abomination, Juggernaut, Titanium Man, Attuma, Grey Gargoyle and Klaw) assmebled by a villain in one of the greatest page fifteen reveals in What If history. Fantastic.

#68-part 2:I won't spoil anything, but it's pretty fucking bold.

#69-Stryfe killed the X-Men:during X-Ecutioner's Song, a great crossover. A really intense and fun issue that does more for Stryfe than the real Marvel U ever did. And not the way you think. A great villain.

#70-Silver Surfer had not betrayed Galactus:I remember nothing.

#71-The Gamma Bomb spawned a thousand Hulks: Another great one. Super fantastic. It doesn't even begin where you think it does. Think Hiroshima. Superb.

#72-Spider-Man became a murderer: Pretty powerful story marred by a terrible ending.

#73-Kingpin Owned Daredevil: I also remember nothing about this one.

#74-Mr. Sinister formed the X-Men: Another great one. Something that diverts the timestream in a way where they honestly could (with a little tweaking) make this canon for an upcoming event.

#75-Blink had not died: it ain't good.

#76-Peter Parker had to destroy Spider-Man: Good shit. This is the last appearance of The Watcher. There are probably more Spidey issues of this series that I like over storylines in the actual Spider-Man book that I tolerate. This is one of those. Great art and superb storytelling.

#77-Legion had killed Magneto: weirdly, the X-men turn out to be a bunch of assholes.

#78-The new Fantastic Four had remained a team: Pretty damned fun. The character moments are grand and the action is cool.

#79-Storm had the power of Phoenix: Meh.

#80-The Hulk had evolved into Maestro: an extremely misleading title, but a really great issue nonetheless.

#81-Age of Apocalypse had not ended: this is a total mess.

#82-JJ Jameson adopted Spider-Man: another great Spider-Man issue.

#83-Daredevil was the disciple of Dr. Strange: it sounds fucked up and it is, but it's still pretty entertaining. Dr. Strange versus ninjas. C'mon!

#84-Shard had lived instead of Bishop: she kills everybody. Kind of a copout issue.

#85-Magneto ruled all mutants: this is basically a 12 page scene extended over the length of a comic and it never gets to the point.

#86-Scarlet Spider killed Spider-Man: Everybody take a drink: another great Spider-man issue.

#87-Sabretooth: this is where they stopped asking questions and then just told stories about a character diverting. This is basically a nightmare sequence. Not good though.

#88-Spider-man: don't worry, this one's bad. It's weird, because What If is slowly evolving into Elseworlds here, but they aren't going the full distance.

#89-FF: for example this is the Red Son of the FF world. The stolen rocket lands in Latveria and then Reed is charged with treason when he returns seven years later. It's alright actually.

#90-Cyclops and Havok: basically, their parents survived too. It's an interesting story, not a fan of the art, but it's pretty good regardless. It COULD be in the AoA continuity. I might be wrong about that.

#91-Hulk: Bruce Banner is an abusive husband, but the gamma bomb turns him into a being of great power and childlike beauty and wonder. Pretty great actually.

#92-Cannonball's little brother Josh: I'm convinced that this was a fill-in issue of X-Men or Generation X that they never needed, because there is literally nothing here that leaves regular continuity.

#93-Wolverine: he turned rabid sometime before Cyclops and Jean's wedding? His bone claws extend out from between his fingers? I'm confused. And unimpressed. Most importantly unimpressed.

#94-Juggernaut: Last Man on Earth with Cain Marko basically. Not very good.

#95-Ghost Rider: Mephisto had his claws in a young danny Ketch long before he becomes Ghost Rider to make him a murderer. It doesn't feel genuine.

Comics: 593
Trades: 29
Omnibus: 7
Graphic Novels: 10

[dc20willsave]

#74 was the first issue of What If I had ever read. It was at the Drug Store magazine rack so I still feel sentimental about it. #84 is the first one I ever owned and it kinda established to me, "Ah, this is a series where everyone dies constantly. Cool." Now, I'm glad that I've read more What If to know that sometimes you have a much better life than your current one or you end up in somehow a shittier situation than you're already in.

[Dread]

What If? #96-114, and Minus 1: I'm tired talking about these. These ones are universally pretty weak, with a few bright spots. I burned out on them, I think.

We Will Bury You #1-4: Reread these before the interview with Brea Grant a while back and forgot to add them.

Star Slammers: Walt Simonson's beautiful, but long-winded sci fi graphic novel. Looks great. Too long.

Killraven: Hard to imagine a better creative team on this than Don McGregor and P. Craig Russell. A beautiful book that creates a horrific world.

The Futurians: I respect Dave Cockrum a lot for what he's done as a costume designer, but I've never enjoyed his work. I still haven't enjoyed his work.

Heartburst: Rick Veitch's OGN would look fine inside an issue of Heavy Metal. It's beautiful and it stands as, I think, the best original material in a Marvel Graphic Novel.

Batman Inc. #12: This is easily the best art Burnham has done in this series. The storytelling is much improved here. The writing is still pretty bad. Even your favorite writer can't bat 1000,

Dial H #14: Superb. Bizarre. Like every issue of this series. I will buy a complete hardcover if they release one.

Catalyst Comix #1: Weird. I love these characters, but I'm not sold on this re-imagining. I will probably buy the tpb(s).

Dark Avengers: Masters of Evil: Goddamn. So good.

FF: Fantastic Faux- Amazing. I love this series. It's really the first time Fraction's writing has grabbed me on an emotional level, but he gets She-Hulk/Wyatt Wingfoot which is more than most people who've written either of those characters can say. Allred's art. No more needs to be said. This trade contains a moment with one of the Moloid kids in the Future Foundation that is literally my favorite moment in comics of the year. So sweet. A little pandering, perhaps, but totally sweet.

Fatale Book Three West of Hell: Before reading Fatale, I'd heard an interview with Brubaker explaining that Fatale started off as a Highlander homage. Now I see it. This veers away from the Chandler meets Lovecraft LA Noir and tells Josephine's story from 13th century France through World War 2. I only wish that it wasn't so protracted. I could do a trade of each of the eras within.

The Shadow Volume Two: Revolution- Garth Ennis' take on the character could almost be bought except that it reaches so hard to act like he's respecting the legacy of the character, but the guy, who loathes superheroes, can't pull it off. Victor Gischler's work here establishes that I will be buying these trades for as long as he's writing them. The Shadow meets George Orwell in the Spanish Civil War? Yes please!

Kill All Monsters! Volume One: Ruins of Paris: I'm not a webcomic guy, so I'm not sure how much of this is from the webcomic or not, but I don't care. It's really quite cool. It's kind of like What If the people making Pacific Rim gave a shit about the script?

Comics: 624
Trades: 34
Omnibus: 7
Graphic Novels: 14

[Dread]

And now I'm caught up on my haul from my LCS...

The Walking Dead #109-112: TWD vacillates between going through the motions and blowing my mind. I feel like a mindblowing is a'comin'.

Savage Dragon #186-189: I LOVE how Larsen teases at the end of 189 that 193 will be a "major change for a radical new direction" for the series. That's kind of what he's done ever few years since the book debuted. 20-odd years running and the book's never been better. Larsen is one of the greatest cartoonists of our time.

Comics: 632
Trades: 34
Omnibus: 7
Graphic Novels: 14

[Dan]

I respect Dave Cockrum a lot for what he's done as a costume designer

"More epaulets!"

[Dread]

Guardians of the Galaxy #1-30 + Annuals 1 and 2: I loved this as a kid and this holds up pretty well. It was creative and fun and nicely tied into a future Marvel continuity. After 29, Jim Valentino left for Marvel and the book went down the shitter...well, Valentino's last three issues were an Infinity War crossover. Ugh. Not good. I decided to quit before I got depressed.

Comics: 664
Trades: 34
Omnibus: 7
Graphic Novels: 14

[SuaveStar]

A lot to go through, as this is about a months worth of trades, so apologies, these will likely just be one sentence comments.

Simpsons Comics: Unchained: A fun, mixed bag of Simpsons stories.

Simpsons Comics: Madness: Another fun collection of Simpsons stories.

Haunted Gotham: What if Bruce's parents died after training him to be Batman for about ten years. Pretty terrible, the first two issues are fine, but then it devolves into a by the numbers revenge story.

Golden Dawn: David Finch is an ok artist, but a terrible writer. This story is about someone from Bruce's past, but doesn't really make much sense.

Knight Terrors: Better art from Finch, and with the help of an extra writer, this books just about average. The book really exists just for Finch to draw at least one Batman villain per issue.

Dark Knight Dynasty: Batmen from different eras, all pretty bland.

Batman VS Robin: Grant Morrison's story of Thomas Wayne and the black glove makes a lot more sense if you read it out of order, which is strange. Overall, an enjoyable read.

Ultimate Avengers; Crime and Punishment: Fun, but only took about fifteen minutes to read.

Big Noise: Batman/Superman story, which is just sort of there.

Avengers: Breakout: The Avengers come together again to thwart a super villain prison riot. Fun, but was better executed in the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon.

Batman: Through the looking Glass: Ok art, terrible story. it just seemed to go on forever, about nothing, and again, another story about a girl from Bruce's past. How many kids was Bruce best friends with? Seriously, this has got to be like the fifth life long best friend of his.

Batman/Superman: Torment: I can't remember anything about this. So, like most Superman/Batman stories, ok, but not great.

X-Men: Cruelest Cut: Fun but forgettable.

Captain America: Prisoner of War: Pretty good, Bucky is in a Russian prisoner, where they try and break him down. Good, but disappointing that the story ends in Fear Itself and not in the Captain America series.

Uncanny X-Men: breaking point: Kieron Gillens X-Men run seems to be really fun, with the exception of his Fear Itself tie-in.

Uncanny X-Men by Kieron Gillen: Volume 1: Cyclops is a real prick.

Logan: Background of Wolverine from World War 2. Fun, but really short.

Fear Itself: Spider-Man: Crap. Nice art, crap story.

Fear Itself: X-Men: I really didn't like Fear Itself, and these tie-ins were pretty terrible too.

Captain America By Brubaker Volume 1: Interesting read, but kind of just ends.

Chaos War: I haven't read much Hercules before, but after reading this, I want to look out more. The best comic I've read in a while, with several laugh out loud moments.

Enemy Within: Three, three issue mini-series for Venom that were back to back, featuring a popular character in a team up with the character. All, ok, but not great.

X-Men: Lovelorn. Boring, not bad, but just, boring.

Batman: The last Arkham: So Batman is put into Arkham Asylum to find out about how someone is escaping to murder people in Gotham. Fun, but just sort of ends on a nothing note.

Planet Hulk: Awesome. i really enjoyed it. I never really cared for the Hulk before, and now I want to read some more of his stories.

World War Hulk: Hulk comes back to Earth to get revenge on the heroes of Earth, specifically the Illuminati. Interesting read, the heroes come across as incredibly arrogant here. Mostly good art by JRJR but some pages just feel incomplete.

Trades: 111
Comics: 17

Omnibus: 4

[Dread]

Wolverine by Larry Hama & Marc Silvestri vol 1- If ever there was an artist-writer team built for Wolverine, these two are it. This is MY Wolverine. On top of that, this collection also includes the "The Jungle Adventure" and "Bloodlust" graphic novels drawn by Mignola and Alan Davis respectively, so this is awesome. I've long thought that Silvestri is likely the best artist out of the original Image guys and this proves it. Wolvie versus the Yakuza in Madripoor and Wolvie & Puck vs Lady Deathstrike during the Spanish Civil War. Oh yeah, Hemingway guest stars! Come on!

7 Against Chaos-A Seven Samurai/Seven Against Thebes mashup in a sci fi setting written by Harlan Ellison and drawn by Paul Chadwick. I wasn't sure about this hardcover but I couldn't pass up ordering it based on pedigree alone. The only Ellison comics work I'd read was the Dream Corridor volumes Dark Horse did and those are great. The quality of this matches those. Chadwick's art is a mixture of Mike Allred and Moebius in a way and that can't be anything but good.

Giant Size Supervillains Team Up #1 and 2- This first issue has Roy Thomas and John Buscema with Sub-Mariner and Dr Doom teaming up. Glorious. The second has the same team up with a shitty art team. These are some of the first two comics I ever read. Love them.

Promethea #1-5: Anybody, even big Gaiman fans, will have to admit that the bulk of Sandman's run is concerned with pretentious meta-narrative (the kind of thing that Grant Morrison gets shit for but Gaiman gets praised for, but I digress). I read the first five issues of 32 written by Alan Moore and, even though it is drawn gorgeously by JH Williams III, this takes the pretension of Sandman, dials it to 11 and keeps it that way constantly. Fuck off weird witch dude! Alan Moore has to be the most overrated writer in comics just above Gaiman. I'm done.

Comics: 671
Trades: 35
Omnibus: 7
Graphic Novels: 15

[elnino14]

I haven't been in here in a while. Busy with work and all. One sentence answers mostly.

Black Hole: fantastic but disturbing

Ultimate comics: Spider-Man - continuing Bendis run after ultimatum, still solid but something feels like its missing, or that its so overstuffed with supporting characters that it removes so much focus from Parker.

Lex Luthor: man of steel - I remember liking this quite a bit, gets into the villain's psyche excellently.

New Ultimates vs ultimate avengers: pretty bad actually, mo re craziness just for the sake of it.

Death of Spider-Man: if this wasn't tied into the crappy ultimates book, it would have been better, still very good, and the last pages are pretty excellent. Very strong ending to the hero, and Parker goes out just like he should.

Arkham unhinged: really unnecessary read and tie in to Arkham city game. Was interested in the universe but the book holds back a lot because its meant to be a prequel and its meant to be for a wider audience.

Extermination: started off really fun, payoff wasn't good though unfortunately.

Doctor Strange the oath: never read dr. Strange as the star before always in a supporting role, but this was a very solid book, I really enjoyed it, hits all the right notes for a strange story, but I didn't do enough for me personally, as I harly remember much of it now.

Kingdom come: didn't live up the hype, never been a DC kid, and I've tried, but this didn't work for me, it's solid and I followed the story, but I don't think it warrants all the hype it gets.

Secret avengers by Warren Ellis: love this book, quick fun done in one stories, light on continuity, large on ideas and action pieces.

Uncanny X-force: one last trade left, but so far up there with one of the best runs of Modern Xmen history. Excellent. One hiccup with the otherworld arc being slightly off kilter, and outside of the need for some understanding of the universe, its an absolutely astounding book that uses continuity, looks at the consequences of the actions, and balances all the right aspects of drama and humor. A keeper.

[Dread]

Super-Villain Team-up #1-17: What a weird series. It is essentially a Namor and Doom ongoing that features The Shroud as a secondary lead. Sometimes Namor and Doom were at odds and that's when it works best for me. The art was quite inconsistent.

Secret Society of Super-Villains #1-15: Seemed like a pretty good place to start after SV Team-up. INSANITY! This trumps Marvel's series because it has the Kirby-created Stan Lee-like character as the leader of the Society. Hilarious. Then there's the issue where Felix Faust, The Wizard (from Earth 2 as the comic constantly tells you) and Trickster (might be wrong there) attack the filming of the Superman movie so they can kill Superman on camera even though they know it isn't him...and THE ACTOR KICKS ALL THREE OF THEIR ASSES! Good shit.

Secret Society of Super-Villains Special #1: Captain Comet gets a huge boost in the series proper and this is really just an extension of it. But really? Angle Man? Ugh...

Super-Team Family #14: Atom and Wonder Woman sort of against the Society. Peripheral at best. It leads into another issue in the run.

Comics: 705
Trades: 35
Omnibus: 7
Graphic Novels: 15

[Dread]

Meltdown #1-4: The story is pretty weak, unfortunately. The art is beautiful. I feel like Havok was supremely underused. He's my favorite X-Man and even in this book which bears his name on the cover he is barely in it.

Comics: 709
Trades: 35
Omnibus: 7
Graphic Novels: 15

[Professor]

And I just found the two issues I was missing. Makes me less enthused to read.

[Dread]

Sorry...it shoor is purty though.

[SuaveStar]

Thor: Gods, Gladiators and The Guardians of the Galaxy: The issues were Thor faces Hercules and the Olympians is the best. Reading this reminded me how much I hated omniscient narrators in comics, as they just tell you what you can see on the page, and take three panels just say "It's raining."

Punisher: Year 1: The origins of the Punisher: Doesn't really give anything new to the Punisher story. Basically retreads most of the things any fan of the character already knows.

Superman: Ending Battle: Superman battles his major villains, and minor ones, because someone else is controlling them. Pretty mediocre overall. The only interesting part was when MrMxyzptlk shows up to challenge Superman, only to see Superman's annoyed and says "I'll erm...I'll come back later." and sends himself back to the fifth dimension.

Trades: 114
Comics: 17

Omnibus: 4

[Dread]

Killraven #1-6: This is the Alan Davis series from the early 2000s. It isn't great, but it's fucking beautiful.

Grendel Omnibus Volume 3- Orion's Reign: Beginning with "The Incubation Years," it is a 110 page experiment in visual storytelling that doesn't work. Thankfully, the next 400 pages of the book are filled with the story of Orion, who began as a low level politician battling the religious rule of the futuristic Catholic Church and turned into the ruler of one of the nation-states in an Orwellian 1984-style world. Beautiful and compelling. A longer read than most omnibuses because much of the final story is a mixture of prose and comics. Crazy.

More Marvel Graphic Novels-

Void Indigo: Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik without limitiations. If that doesn't make you want to read it, then you probably don't like things that are good.

Dazzler-The Movie: Kind of a jumping off point for mutant hysteria in the real Marvel U, this is a surprisingly well-written and beautifully drawn book. It beings with a five page aerobics sequence so you know it's good.

Starstruck: A prologue to an Elaine Lee play written by Lee and drawn by Kaluta! It's a sci fi sex-comedy and it's told in vignettes. Some are astounding, and some are not very good. Interesting read though.

Swords of the Swashbucklers: All over the place.

The Raven Banner: a decidely story-less tale of Asgardian mythology. Pretty though.

Comics: 715
Trades: 35
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 20

[Dread]

Tons of GNs in this one:

Druuna 6: Aphrodisia- I've said it before and it still applies: it's basically porn, but it's great porn.

Aladdin Effect: This Marvel GN is weird. Think the Under the Dome novel/show, but She-Hulk, Storm, Tigra and Wasp wake up from amnesiac states weeks later and are recruited by a little girl with a mysterious power. Who did this and why? That's the thrust. It's pretty good. Ridiculous, but good. Early Greg Larocque art.

The Sensational She-Hulk GN: Say what you like about Byrne, and I often do, but he never did a damned thing wrong with She-Hulk. This is a great example of that. I always appreciated his respect for Wyatt Wingfoot too. One of my favorite Marvel characters.

Conan The Witch Queen of Acheron-This is terrible.

Greenberg the Vampire: JM DeMatteis's story of a vampire novelist with astounding art by Mark Badger. A dense and difficult read, but very worth it.

Marada the She-Wolf: A great female barbarian story by Claremon with art by John Bolton. Fun.

Amazing Spider-Man: Hooky - Bernie Wrightson drawing Spider-Man. You need more?

Dr. Strange: Into Shamballa - This explains why an ongoing Strange book doesn't really work. It's a difficult read, man.

Daredevil Love and War - It should probably be titled Kingpin, and not DD, but I imagine fewer units would have sold. Fits right in with Miller's Daredevil run with some greta art by Bill Sienkiewicz. I think I spelled that right, without looking.

Alien Legion: A Grey Day to Die-I never dug their comics and this is no different.

Dracula: A Symphony in Moonlight and Nightmares - Jon J. Muth's adaptation of Stoker's novel is, at the same time, one of the most beautiful looking books and most boring to read of all time. I would cut off a pinky finger for a chance at a random page of original art from this book, but I can do just fine with never reading it again.

Avengers: Emperor Doom - Good. I don't see why it couldn't have been a three issue storyline though.

Conan The Reaver-The great John Severin draws and inks and the amazing Marie Severin does colors in this, a great Conan GN from the same writer of the one that sucked. Weird.

Hulk/Thing: Big Change- Bernie Wrightson's back, and this time he's doing big hulking beasts. Fantastic. Hulk and Thing have to team up on an alien planet, but Hulk has been drugged with something that takes away his anger. The scene where he talks to a bunch of powerful thugs about his meaning of life for an hour until they fall asleep (Thing included) is inspired. Preston would probably make this his bible.

A Sailor's Story-Sam Glanzman's autobiography of serving in the navy through WW2 is interesting as it is wandering and off point. A good read, but never again.

Wolfpack: I can't remember if I have ever read a MGN that I enjoy more than this gang of kung fu street kids. They would later go on to be minor characters in some DD and Spidey stories, but they rarely got a spotlight like they did here. From the amazing team of Larry Hama and Ron Wilson.

Night Raven: The Collected Stories-This is a trade paperback actually of a bunch of serialized stories of Night Raven from the early days of Marvel Uk's magazines. Think The Shadow meets 90s Ghost Rider. Really great.

Night Raven: House of Cards - A Gn with the same character. Not quite as good as the above, but still a lot of fun.

Comics: 715
Trades: 36
Omnibus: 8
Graphic Novels: 37

[Molly]

I probably would. Wrightson is a favorite, I'll surely check that out.