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!

[Mark Stanislawski]

I wonder if she was a Blue Beetle fan?

[Kirk G]

I wouldn't rule it out.  Or at least Roy Thomas was, considering that he was coming aboard about then...in Avengers #28... but a quick check of the GCD indicates he doesn't start getting plot/script credit until about #35, at the end of 1966... so I'm probably wrong. Stan Lee is credited with the scripts til then.

Mark Stanislawski said:

I wonder if she was a Blue Beetle fan?

[Luke Blanchard]

I've been reading the Blue Bolt story in Blue Bolt v.7 #12. This is from his non-powered period, and from a point at which he was no longer in the military. He was cover-featured.this issue. The cover and the story are both signed "Jack Harmon". According to the GCD this was Wayne Boring. The interesting thing is he used a style that was quite different to the style he used on his Superman work, although one can see that it's Boring sometimes (e.g. as with the posing of Blue Bolt panel 3 page 5.) To be fair, he often didn't ink his Superman work, and he may have inked this one. (The GCD credits him as having inked it, but I don't know if that's assured or a guess.) I wish I could write that the story was memorable, but it isn't.

 

This post displaced the thread Review: 'The Dark Knight Archives Volume 8' from the home page.

[Luke Blanchard]

"Sub-Zero", another Blue Bolt character, was one of a couple of Golden Age heroes with ice powers. I've just been reading his instalment in v.1 #11, in which he journeys into a South American jungle to find a scientist who was "investigating reports of a species of rats that, like legendary vampires... pounce on the throats of human beings, and suck their blood until they die!" We get to see a couple of these, and subsequently learn that they've been infected with a germ that looks like a microscopic green crocodile and attacks blood cells. (""Behold the victim... a life-giving red corpuscle! And approaching it is the green vampire germ--" /"--A fighting white corpuscle rushes to the rescue, but---" /"--disposing of the fighter, the vampire pounces on its prey--Pedro's blood fairly teemed with these killers!"") This account probably makes the story sound more interesting than it actually is.

[Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod)]

Started Fairest Vol. 1: Wide Awake, the first collection of the latest Fables spin-off. It's off to a strong start with Bill Willingham doing the writing and Phil Jimenez on pencils (with Andy Lanning inking). It's great to see Jimenez doing something non-superhero again: it's gorgeous. The motormouth little blue bottle imp is so much like Babe the Blue Ox from Jack of Fables that it's eerie. Does Willingham have some kind of thing about diminutive blue characters?

And Baker Street: Honour Among Punks, the old Caliber trade collection of the first five issues of Guy Davis and Gary Reed's series. This is some of Guy Davis's earliest work, but his style is clearly recognizable. It's pretty dialog-heavy, with London accents that can be hard to follow, but the characters are sharply drawn. The first two issues just barely get into the mystery, so I'm looking forward to seeing that develop.

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

A Treasury of Victorian Murder: Compendium by Rick Geary. I've never heard anything bad about these stories, but I never see them anywhere. I've read one maybe 2 of them.This reprints 5 of his stories, and they were all real good. I had no idea he has been doing this since 1987. My favorite was probably Fatal Bullet which goes into the assassination of James Garfield by Charles Guiteau.

[Mark Stanislawski]

Captain America & Bucky: Old Wounds TPB:  This story features the 2nd Bucky, Fred Davis, in flashbacks and in the present, as an old man. It also features the return of Adam II and his upgrade to Adam III. It's a good story by Brad Asmus with help by Ed Brubaker albeit predictable. You know what's going to happen so there's really no suspense but it's entertaining and Francavilla's art fits the story well, although I wasn't crazy about some of his layouts.

Winter Soldier Vol. 2: Broken Arrow TPB:  I read this immediately after Old Wounds and I'm going to issue a spoiler alert here.

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The weird thing was that Old Wounds featured Fred Davis, the 2nd Bucky. Broken Arrow has Brubaker killing off Fred Davis, so that was kind of weird to be reading these two stories in succession. It was a great story and Mike Lark's art has this realistic feel to it. Can't wait for the next Winter Soldier trade!

[Kirk G]

With a whimper, not a bang.

Travis Herrick (Modular Mod) said:

I remember reading the middle issues a couple of years ago or so in a Marvel Visionairies on Steranko they put out, and being disappointed because I didn't get to see how it ended.

[Benn Allen]

Mister Miracle #2 and 8, the Jack Kirby issues, that is and Elfquest #6 and 7. So far. I've still got up to #20 of Elfquest to get through. I've forgotten how good the Pinis' work on this series was.

[Mark Stanislawski]

So I just finished the New 52 Captain Atom TPB and about 4 issues in I realized that Writer J. T. Krul was writing Captain Atom as if Cap were a rookie Dr. Manhattan. There are many similarities. Freddie Williams II art was beautiful.

The problem with a book like this is that you have to constantly have earth-shattering or Universe-shattering events or the book just gets dull. The last page of the 6th issue should have been the last page of the 1st issue, maybe the 2nd but no later. That would have been a great hook to keep people coming back. The first issue was decent sales-wise but by the 6th issue you could tell it was done, great last page or no.

If they finish the series and come out with a 2nd trade I'll definitely buy it because I like Cap Atom and I'm hoping that Krul's really going to put it in high gear. Plus it's nice to look at.

[Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod)]

iZOMBIE Vol.4: Repossession collects the last ten issues of the series. If the series had continued this probably would have been two trade paperbacks, but I guess this was a more cost-efficient way to do it. Nice that Vertigo finished collecting the series, anyway, especially considering how acrimonious the split with Chris Roberson became. As the collection opens the town is still recovering from the zombie apocalypse. The National Guard is still on the street, and the Dead Presidents and the Fossers are there in force as well. The first half comes right up to the point of the arrival of the world-eating demon Xitalu. One of the issues was illustrated by guest artist J. Bone. His cartoony style would have made an interesting one-shot, but it's jarring to have a regular issue look so different from the rest.

[Benn Allen]

Issues #9-20 of Elfquest. The Original EQ, that is. Pretty good. Better than I remember.