"...when your SHIP came in, and when your train was leaving - the sweetest thing I ever saw was you asleep and dreaming..." 7/26/06

For me:
52 WEEK 12: hey, it's Isis time!
BATMAN #655: first Morrison issue, I've read it already, and it does not disappoint. Alfred has a prominent role.
BIRDS OF PREY #96: oh man do I like this series
CASANOVA #2: giving it one more issue's worth of chance, since everyone else liked the first one so much more than me
SAVAGE DRAGON #0: have never paid this series any mind, but I got handed copies of the last couple of issues and enjoyed them despite my mystification; maybe this will demystify me
CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE #4: this issue: Willie Lumpkin unmasked! Oh wait I already made that joke. WELL SO DID THIS SERIES.
DAREDEVIL #87: Brubaker is so in his element here.
NEW AVENGERS #22: doesn't seem like it's been a month since the last one, and that was a week after the one before...
CASTLE WAITING VOL. II #1: read the collection last week; as I'd been warned, nothing happens in the whole damn thing, but I am charmed anyway

What the Comic Fairy will bring me from this week (perhaps with CASTLE WAITING piggybacking this schwag):

52 Week #12: last 2 issues more than made up for the Steel / niece slapfight, so I look forward to the backslide in this week's installment
Action Comics #841: NO JOHNNER; MORE BUSIEK PLZ THX
Amazing Spider-Man #534: this is the most I've enjoyed JMS' run since probably ever; DON'T KILL MJ PLZ THX
Annihilation Ronan #4: DON'T KILL THE SENTRY PLZ THX (unless it's the Jenkins one)
Astro City Samaritan Special
Batman #655 Reg Cover: sweeeeeeet
Battle Pope Color #9
Birds Of Prey #96
Blue Beetle #5: this is fun! seriously! I know ILE when it comes to C, but this is fun!
Captain America Vol 5 #20
Casanova #2
Civil War Young Avengers & Runaways #1
Crisis Aftermath The Spectre #3
Daredevil Vol 2 #87
Fear Agent #6: WTF is with the po-faced horseshit! MORE DRINKING AND SCI-FI CAROUSING PLZ THX
Godland #12: wheeeeeeeee; best nu-Kirby book to be offered this year, by far
Hawkgirl #54: I'm the only sucker still reading this, aren't I?; TURN HER INTO A MARMOT ALREADY WALT THX
JLA Classified #25: um, yeah, I'm not gonna buy the CONTINUED story in JSA:C, but fangs for the 8 Mile memoirs, Steve-o
New Avengers #22
Powers Vol 2 #19
Previews Vol XVI #8: it's like when I would browse the Spiegel catalog around X-Mas time, looking @ all the kewl Nintendo games, yeah, you betcha
Rocketo #10: DEAR FEAR AGENT MORE LIKE THIS BUT WITH CHEAP LIQUOR AND GOO AND FRAZETTA BOOBIES K THX
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #8: PLZ DON'T KILL GWEN SEAN K THX
X-Men #189

52 Week #12
Action Comics #841: I read a ton of DC as a tween, but never Supes or Batman. Now they're pretty much the only DC I read.
Batman #655: maybe the first Batman I've ever bought?
Rocketo #10: Espinosa's supposedly doing a signing at NEC in the fall. Can he write his name without making a typo?
Amazing Spider-Man #534
Annihilation Ronan #4: ain't enough accusin' for my tastes
Captain America #20
Civil War Front Line #4: was anybody else's copy of #3 missing almost every single one of Wilfred Owen's words? Now I can't wait to see "Drummer Hodge" done in the Mighty Marvel Manner.
Daredevil #87
New Avengers #22: neck-and-neck w/ Rocketo in the "wait, wasn't there an issue just two weeks ago?" derby
X-Men #189: Carey's first thing was okay. I've liked Bachalo since Shade. Worth a second shot, for sure.

www.octopuspress.com for more info!

(Mostly lurking right now... moving to London in September!)

Jack of Fables

Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaway (I don't know, I've avoided Civil War stuff this far aside from She-Hulk...anyone know if BKV is writing this?)

And I'll read Maddie's copy of X-Men.

OKAY, I DON'T HAVE TO BUY IT.

PICKS FOR WEEK (cont.):

BATMAN 655: vs. Man-bats!
SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE 8: vs. Gwen Staceys!

52
action comics
batman
blue beetle
the spectre
jack of fables
supergirl
daredevil
powers
spidey loves mj

Plus maybe Astro City, Blue Beetle, Godland and X-Men if I can find issue 188 as well.

TCJ #277
- I think it's great that they chose to go for a STATE OF THE INDUSTRY mega-examination, rather than a navel-gazing self-congratulation; but the 30th Anniversary blurb and self-referencing cover gives no indication that this is the content. Boo!

SLOTH
- cos I thought, aargh, Beto's DC shit never ever gets collected and they refuse to give up the rights so Fanta can reprint it, I guess I'd better get the hardcover because it'll never make it to softcover. And then I get home and take the shrinkwrap off, and the indicia inside has a softcover ISBN as well as the hardcover one, and the book is obviously softcover guts just glued into a stiff cover, so in fact they've presumably ALREADY printed the softcover and will just do a new cover with more review blurbs in a few months. FUCK YOU DC. Also, stop making Beto have computer lettering on his books for you, non-Fanta publishers!

52 #12: Treading water still, and again a frustrating read. If Pete Woods is drawing, like, 34, comics a month right now, can't he fill in here? Based on the scripts alone, it's still fun, but the art is just terrible. Giffen's snooze-y six-panel-sets don't help much, either.

Batman #655: Hooray! Best opening three pages in a comic, like, y'know -- ever. The Batman you never knew you really wanted. And I like the Breyfolge-y art, too. Alfred's pensive look underneath the "?" is pricless. Campy as fuck -- good! -- but there's a weight here that I felt a bit lacking in Seven Soldiers.

DAREDEVIL #87: Hooray again! Nice to see a twist in a comic that wasn't totally telegraphed three months before on the internet. Possibly the only way Foggy could have been brought back without it seeming like a cheat.

ACTION COMICS #841: Meh but fun.

52 #12: Adam Hughes Wonder Hut-Cha-Cha > Dan Jurgens Space Butt. EVERY WOMAN IN GOTHAM IS A LESBIAN! (except Vicki Vale, Josie Mac--though who knows? a likely candidate--, and, um, all the women who've died loving Bat-Folk) Ralph's whiskers must still carry Gingold residue, since it seems to expand and contract panel by panel. B
ACTION COMICS #841: I SO thought it was gonna be Manga Khan, esp. considering the RETURN OF CARAPAX (a one-note 80s Blue Beetle villain whose highest profile appearance was in Who's Who Update '87). Fun to see the skepticism re: Superman Returns. Great last page reveal (even if it's not Manga Khan). A
BATMAN #655: STARRING ALFRED THE MAN-SERVANT WONDER!!! A
BLUE BEETLE #5: I LIKE THIS BOOK AND AM UNASHAMED. Reminds me a lot of the '87 Flash revamp. Duncan Rouleah guest pencils (only five issues in and already 2 issues have guest pencils!) to really nice effect. B+
INFINITE CRISIS AFTERMATH THE SPECTRE #3: Holy fuck, what a twist! I get the feeling, howev, that the last few pages were fucked over by some editorial edict to kiss fanboy ass by explaining how the Spectron could have been on page 15 of Infinite Crisis #5 when page 3 of ICATS #1 clearly establishes yadda yadda fuckoff, etc. Harder-boiled than Gotham Central ever was, and in a way, truly horrific. Also, kinda liked the way that what had been a MAJOR ONGOING BIG DEAL in GC was really just sorta humped over, because, y'know, FROM THE P-O-V of G-O-D, big whoop. A
Still to read:
Captain American
Daredevil
Rocketo
FORGOT TO BUY SHARK-MAN

*at least, my list was (MARY JANE: PORTRAIT OF A MOPER, FAKE DAREDEVIL, CASEY BOOK THAT WILL LAST MORE THAN 12 ISSUES, MICK JAGGER - AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D., AWESOME ALFRED - BUTLER EXTREME!)

Wasn't that thrilled by Daredevil, but it was still solid. I don't like the stuff at the end much.

I think Mike Carey's x-men might be too much for me to handle. i'll have to read the two in succession, i think. i'm a little muddled. (obviously i haven't been following the title before now.)

batman was great.
action comics was good.

CAPTAIN AMERICAN #20: I can't believe I wasn't that big on Epting's art early in this series (possibly because there was Lark art in those early issues too). There's something of A.Ross in him, but it's, y'know, NOTQUITE AR. PUNCHING NAZIS IS FUN! BUCKY STILL CARES! HOLY CRAP THAT'S A LOT OF AWESOME VILLAINS IN ONE COMIC! A
DAREDEVIL #87: Was a little bummed out that I didn't get to see Punisher PUNISHING more folks. Maybe I should Punisher comics? That seems SO DORKY (sez the guy who just bought Flash #2). Twist, twist, twist, twist. A-
SHE-HULK #10: (forgot to read it last week) Paul Smith doesn't do much for me, he's okay, but he's no Juan Bobillo. But who cares, he's gone already! Next month, She-Hulk artist #432: Rick Burchett! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. B+

Fightin' words!

Fightin' words!

Indeed! I'd dropped She-Hulk, but decided to start picking it up again last week on the theory that "well, at least it's got Paul Smith on art."

Man, the latest issue was a marvel. Nothing from last week stuck with me more than those sixteen pages, which revolves in my head like a like a 45 as I type this. Fucking dense, and with a NEW PORNOGRAPHERS reference. PERFECT.