It's Been A While

But now you're getting two comics posts in a row. Sorry. I was waiting for Candace to photograph my AIGA type lecture invites before I posted again, but I will wait no more. So, I've been at the comics store for two weeks in a row now which is an unusual occurrence. I usually wait until I have at least $10 of product waiting for me because you get these stamps when you spend $10. And I want me some stamps.

Anyway, I had a couple of week where everything hit, so it's been a busy couple of weeks. Here's what I got:

The Authority #1: Grant Morrison and Gene Ha revamping the faded 90's glory title as part of Wildstorm's Worldstorm line-wide relaunch. I was a fan of the Ellis/Hitch and Millar/Quitely iterations of the title - which birthed the whole decompressed, widescreen style of comics - and am interested in what Morrison will bring. Right now it looks like this is a Ultramarines in Qweq setup with the Authority showing up in the "real world." But it's hard to know because nothing really happens in this issue. I'll give it a couple more issues.

Batman #657: Morrison and one of the Kubert boys. Dude, Batman's son is a nutjob. Good stuff.

Daredevil 89 &90: If you know my comic book tastes, you'll know that I consider Ed Brubaker's Catwoman one of my favorites of all time, so I was interested in how Bru'd fare taking over 'Ol Hornhead after the grand exit of Brian Michael Bendis, whose run on the book is already being spoken of in hushed tones as being up there with Miller's take on the character. I missed the first arc, telling myself I'd follow the book in trades, but I'm on the floppies now because I just gotta know what's what. This is Brubaker and Michael Lark, who I loved on Gotham Central. Two issues into the new arc and I'm hooked. Daredevil's gone to Europe to find out who ordered the kill on Foggy and gets all wrapped up in intrigue and whatnot. Plus, Tombstone's in here, who I took a shine to back in my younger days. We had an old issue of Spider-Man when he'd put Robbie Robertson in the hospital and I thought he looked cool. Anyway. I'm glad I jumped on.

Gødland #13: Back from a few month hiatus, Joe Casey and Tom Scioli's cosmic superhero epic brings the Kirby. Don't get me wron, this is a decent issue, but it was not my favorite. It's supercompressed to the point of unbelievability and the dialogue tics for the other Dimension Z inmates were a little much. Still, it offers up the neon-colored superhero goodness, so I'm down with it for the foreseeable future.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #s 22 & 23: I really have a hard time remembering what happened in previous issues with this book and It's mainly my fault. I read some issues out of order and it sorta screwed eeverything up. Still, it's a fun, popcorn comic. Props to Mark Waid and Barry Kitson for making me like a comic I had in interest in whatsoever.

Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #9: Im pretty sure I had a huge grin on my face the entire time I read this issue and I know I was blown away at least once (the bit about the "flying terrorist city" had me at "flying"). Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen have created the perfect joycore popcorn book that never ceases to amuse me, but then again I'm a simple man. So jokes about super-soldier urine for the Fuhrer make me chuckle, sue me.
Now that I've had some time to let it scab over, the whole miniseries idea is ideal for this book. I really don't know how much longer this book can maintain its freshness on a mmonthlybasis. I will conclude by saying that this was my favorite issue of Nextwave so far.

Planetary #26: The resolution to Ellis and John Cassady's archaeologists of the strange series is also a little too supercompressed for its own good. As is par for the course with this book, it'll probably read amazingly in trades, but on its own, not as powerful. Still it's a beautiful, often amazing book. There's still an epilogue in the works next year, so we'll see how it really wraps up. Until then.

Seven Soldiers Of Victory #1: Wow. Now that's some supercompression. I have very little idea what actually happened here, but I'm pretty sure it was good. An insane ending to an insane megaseries, complete with Morrison via Zatanna trying to awaken the DCU into sentience. We shall see how successful he is, I guess. If nothing else, 7S has awakened a strong desire in me for a Morrison-penned Mr. Miracle/New Gods series. "I come with God-sight now," indeed. I'm obviously a Morrison fan, so I'm more than a little biased, but I thought it was one heckuva ride. Not perfect, as is par for the course with Morrison - he's far too rock and roll to nail every note perfectly - but still, buy the end of the album, you don't feel cheated.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #35: Man, am I loving Mike Carey on this book. This is the FF: huge cosmic adventures and good characterization, all wrapped up in a pretty bow courtesy of Pasqual Ferry's capable art. I'm still not sold on his much ballyhooed amazingness, but he does a decent enough job, so I'm satisfied. One of my new favorites.

X-Factor #12: The initial Singularity Investigations arc gets wrapped up in this issue and I must say, you can go home again. I was a huge fan of David's early 90's X-Factor and am now a huge fan of his early 00's X-Factor. Really good stuff. Upcoming issues include the much-hyped psychiatric session with Doc Samson and then its Jamie Madrox: Agent of H.Y.D.R.A. Whee!

Whew. That's a lot of stuff. I was also supposed to have an issue of Morrison and Jim Lee's Wildcats revamp in there somewhere but the counter jockey at my local comic shop is a flake, so... nothing. From what I've read online, it's largely unsatisfying, but I'm a slave for the Morrison, so what can I do?

Until next time, make mine Big Red Robot!