What Comic Books Have You Read Today?

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

Report what comic books you have read today--and tell us a little something about it while you're here!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

That's kind of you to say, but my LCS usually gets at least one of every title (from major publishers, such as Image) for the shelf beyond P&H customers, and I'm at the store when it opens every Wednesday so it's not likely they were sold out already. No, more likely I just "forgot" I bought the first issue of that title.

Last week I was talking about how Section Zero flew in under my radar (another "unintentional tradewait") then, while looking through one of my "Miscellaneous 2K" shortboxs for backissues of The Escapist, I came across the actual first issue of Section Zero along with some of the other Gorilla Comics (mentioned by Luke Blanchard, above). 

[doc photo]

Picked this one up while browsing at the LCS. Adam Strange and Atomic Knights reprints - love 'em.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

X-CELLENT #1 (LGY #6): Cap said: "I really enjoyed the original series, but that was a satire. It's probably supposed to still be a satire, but now it feels like just another superhero book, only with shallow and unlikable characters. I guess if you stretch a satire out long enough, it becomes what it's making fun of." Then Travis said: "I'm right there with ya, Cap. I thought that last series was so bad, plus it stopped mid-story to go on hiatus for a year?" Both of those things are true. But I like to read a mutant book every once in a while, and I find X-Men completely unreadable now, and expect to for the foreseeable future.

AVENGERS: WAR ACROSS TIME #3: Sindri, the Dwarf King, forged Mjolnir. Did you really think he wouldn't be able to lift it? And what's going to happen now that he has fled with it to the underground realm of the Lava Men? Meanwhile, Kang is monitoring from the furture to determine the Avengers' weakest moment in order to stage an attack. Could this be it?

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #3: The factoid concerning Sgt. Rock's death is brought into continuity. "Yolanda Montez and Dr. Chapel rose from their graves in the jungles of Parador, South America during precursor quake to what would be the Lazarus eruption"; Beth Chapel looks more like her TV counterpart than she did the last time I saw her. This series' Huntress is the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, but she's from the future of the main DC Earth (whatever it's called now). Villain: Per Degaton. 

DANGER STREET #4: This story is unfolding in unexpected ways.

BILLIONAIRE ISLAND: CULT OF DOGS #5: Editorial rant about the proper use of the word "penultimate." 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Catching up on some things today...

THE ESCAPIST #2: I still plan to read the rest of this 2004 series.

HULK! #21: I stalled after whizzing through #10-20. #21 is set in a fantasy realm (not my jam), but ends up being a hypnosis session. (The "princess" in the story ended up being the therapist.) 

ALLEY OOP - "WAR WITH LEM" (1934): King Guzzle and Queen Umpateedle of Moo conspire to force Alley Oop to marry Princess Wootietoot. Ooola convinces Dootsy Bobo the best revenge on Alley Oop would be to kidnap Wootie. Guz thinks King Tunk is responsible and declares war on neighboring Lem. 

LOVE EVERLASTING (TPB): This is probably the best romance comic I have ever read. That may sound as if I'm damning with faint praise, but I've read quite a few, especially in the last 10 or 20 years. A woman named Joan Peterson bounces through multiple realities... different times, different countries... with only vague recollections of her previous lives and no clue at all as to what is happening to her. In every reality she falls in love. Whenever the love affair is over (either by breaking it off or marrying the guy), she is shunted into another setting. Whenever she accepts a proposal, a cowboy (in the employ of her mother), shows up and shoots her. 

In one reality, the librarian (whom she is named for) is her father's former lover, but I don't think her mother in this reality is the same one (she's had so many) who is apparently orchestrating things. The real magic of this series is that Tom King puts these characters in a variety of settings, and not only manages to tell a good story within a given genre, but actually makes the reader care about each and every one. This was an "inadvertent tradewait" but I would have been frustrated reading the series on a month-to-month basis; just when I'm getting caught up in the characters' lives, King hits the reset button and it begins anew. Artist Elsa Charretier illustrations are also eminently suited to the story. Although the story does progress, the only frustrating thing is that it doesn't come to a conclusion (but I guess that's a good thing, too).

Highly recommended (for those with romance in their hearts).

[Jeff of Earth-J]

HULK! #22-27: #22 was the last written by Doug Moench. #23 was the last printed using the "MarvelColor" method. #23 was also featured the controversial homosexual attempted rape scene, which led to #25's lettercol expanding to four pages, more than half of which was devoted to fallout from that story. Jim Shooter, the writer of the story, defended it himself, but he insulted John Byrne in the process, which in turn led to a half page editorial apology in #26. Popular backup feature Moon Knight had been replaced by Domenic Fortune in #21, and even after #23, the backup continued to be printed in color. Gene Colan provided the art for #24-27, and it looked great in b&w. The magazine continued to be printed on Baxter paper, presumably for the backup feature, because as soon as the serial came to an end (in #25), the magazine reverted to newsprint with #26. #27 was the last issue. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

DOCTOR STRANGE #1: In this issue, Dr. Strange tells She-Hulk that brimstone smells like rotten eggs. It doesn't. It's sulfur and couldn't smell less like rotten eggs. It like a recent issue of Fantastic Four in which Reed Richards bragged that the FF uniforms were inflammable.

WASP #3: Multiple storylines across multiple points in time. Al Ewing is writing the Wasp as she sould have been written all along, but it would be easier to follow in a single sitting. 

JOE FIXIT #3: A straightforward story incorporating many ideas which existed at the time, but were not revealed until readers until later.

SHE-HULK #11: Still enjoying this but nothing much to say.

SPIDER-MAN #22: I think I would be more accepting of Norman Osborn as a hero is Marvel hadn't've resurrected him all those years ago (late '90s, wasn't it?) and done all those implausible things with him since. I'm trying to pretend that everything since "One More Day" occurs in an alternate universe. 

Also... I'm reading Superman Sundays from 1954 and Prince Valiant from 1956.

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

Killadelphia #26 - This issue we have the death of a pretty bug character, and quite frankly I was surprised by it. I knew this series would inevitably have werewolves. Now the creative team has brought in other mythological entities. Anansi was introduced before, but makes his return. We also get a brief appearance of the Norse Gods.

Master of Kung-Fu #1-4 - This is one of those Battleworld mini-series after the last Secret Wars. This is pretty much an Elseworlds. Zheng Zu is the Emperor of K'un Lun, every 13 years there is tournament amongst the master of each martial arts house to determine the new Emperor. Shang-chi is on the run from his father Zheng Zu since he will no longer follow his father's commands after killing the master of the Iron Fist. The new master, Daniel, is on the hunt for him as well.

Shang-chi lives the life of a bum now, and is rousted by his father's troops who don't immediately recognize him. He soon meets the lower caste (The Morlocks). Eventually they convince him to teach them martial arts. With a new tournament on the horizon, and now a master with students. Shang-chi enters the tournament . Not that he wants to rule, but he doesn't want his father too. Any guesses who wins?

I really liked this. It was fast-paced with a well told story. The art for the most part was good, but uneven at times.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

CLOBBERIN' TIME #1: The first issue of this Hluk/Thing limited series by Steve Skroce is kind of irreverent. It plays fast-and-loose with continuity (Thing points out to Bruce Banner: "Ya been through a lot--you had that thing happen, then that other thing."), and drops phrases such as "Infinity Vortex" and mentions "the Wasteland Tribes" in the coming "decamillennium." It's a light-hearted romp, not to be taken too seriously, with some great art.

UNSTOPPABLE DOOM PATROL #1: (I'm not wild about that adjective.) I have ignored the past few (I don't even know how many it's been) incarnations of the DP, so I can't really complain about not knowing what's going on (which I don't, really). The team is Robotman, Negative Man, Elasti-Woman, the Chief and (introducing) Beast Girl. By the end of the story, a new metahuman (I don't think was named) joins. The Chief is female and is alternately referred to as "Caulder" and "Jane" (I think). the story takes place in Gotham City, so Batman and Robin appear. The behind-the-scenes villains are  the brain, Monsieur Mallah and General Immortus. Waiting on deck, the Peacemaker is foreshadowed. The art, by Chris Burnham, reminds me of early Steve Pugh or Flint Henry and suits the story. I intended to buy just this one issue, but as long as writer Dennis Culver keeps throwing quirky ideas at me, I might stick around for a while.

STARGIRL: THE LOST CHILDRE #5: I don't really have anything to say about #5 I haven't already said about #1-4. Not much was done with the character (re-)introduced on the last page of #4, so this issue basically builds to the same ending. Next issue concludes and I am curious to learn the fate of the forgotten sidekicks.

ROCKETMAN & ROCKETGIRL #1: I bought Catman & Catgirl (also part of Dynamite's Project: Superpowers) so I figured I might as well get this one-shot, too. It's pleasant enough but also anachronistic in that the dialogue never convinces that it actually takes place in the '40s.

MY BAD V2 #5: You know (or should by now, assuming anyone reads what I post) how much I like AHOY! Comics in general and Mark Russell's work in particular. The conclusion to the second My Bad series did not disappoint. 

PARKER GIRLS #6: I commented on this one elsewhere. 

HULK NEWS: As you may or may not know, the current Hulk series will come to and end next month to be replaced by a new Incredible Hulk #1. Marvel seems to vacillate between titling alternate series Hulk and Incredible Hulk, occasionally  (as with all their titles these days) throwing in a not-quite-appropriate adjective from time-to-time (say, "The Inefficient Hulk" for example). I know it's not the way things work anymore, but my personal favorite Incredible Hulk series lasted 474 issues. When they manage to produce a series which lasts longer than that, somebody let me know when they get to #475. 

My second favorite Hulk series (I guess) lasted #112 issues, and I have often wondered why Marvel never collected those early Byrne/Garney issues in HC. Now the Incredible Hulk by Byrne & Casey omnibus has been solicited for November release. It collects Hulk (1999) #1-11 (Byrne/Garney), but it also collects Incredible Hulk #468-474 (Joe Casey) as well as Hulk & Sub-Mariner Annual '98, X-Man & Hulk Annual '98, Hulk Annual '99 and Rampaging Hulk (the 1998 mini-series, not the 1970s b&w magazine) #1-6. I can see including the seven post-PAD issues of the original series, but those other nine issue make the collection less desirable (to me), not more. If they'd've stuck with just the Byrne/Garney material (or the Byrne/Garney/Casey material), I would have bought it, but there's no way I'm shelling out a C-note (less pre-order discount) for that other crap. 

[The Baron]

I believe that the new guy is called the Degenerate.  The Chief/Jane is the same character that we have known in the past as "Crazy Jane".

Jeff of Earth-J said:

UNSTOPPABLE DOOM PATROL #1: (I'm not wild about that adjective.) I have ignored the past few (I don't even know how many it's been) incarnations of the DP, so I can't really complain about not knowing what's going on (which I don't, really). The team is Robotman, Negative Man, Elasti-Woman, the Chief and (introducing) Beast Girl. By the end of the story, a new metahuman (I don't think was named) joins. The Chief is female and is alternately referred to as "Caulder" and "Jane" (I think). the story takes place in Gotham City, so Batman and Robin appear. The behind-the-scenes villains are  the brain, Monsieur Mallah and General Immortus. Waiting on deck, the Peacemaker is foreshadowed. The art, by Chris Burnham, reminds me of early Steve Pugh or Flint Henry and suits the story. I intended to buy just this one issue, but as long as writer Dennis Culver keeps throwing quirky ideas at me, I might stick around for a while.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Thanks. Like I said, I can't really complain because I've ignored (the majority of) the last several incarnations of the Doom Patrol, including most of the Morrison run. If I ever lead a long-form discussion again, Doom Patrol is a likely contender. 

[The Baron]

I'm mosrtly familiar with the Arcudi run, myself.

Jeff of Earth-J said:

Thanks. Like I said, I can't really complain because I've ignored (the majority of) the last several incarnations of the Doom Patrol, including most of the Morrison run. If I ever lead a long-form discussion again, Doom Patrol is a likely contender. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

DICK TRACY: Inspired in general by our recently-completed "cover-a-day" theme (detectives) and specifically by an exchange between CK_DC and myself, I reread The Collins Casefiles yesterday. Max Collins (and former Gould assistant Rick Fletcher) got off to a strong start by introducing the daughter of Flattop and the son of the Brow (out for revenge), the return of Haf-and-Haf (Chester Gould's version of Batman's Two-Face) and Big Boy's $1M open contract on Dick Tracy, which also introduced "Little" Littel and his wife Lily, and the hitman Iceman. Tracy steps down as Chief of Detectives and takes over the Organized Crime Unit.

MAD: Inspired by by current reading of Sherlock Holmes stories and Prince Valiant Sundays, I read "Shermlock Sholmes (#7, 16) and "Prince Violent" (#13).