So, What comics did you buy this week?

[Diabolical]

Batman: DC Retroactive 1970s - Mediocre new story and mediocre old story, but it was nice to read an entire story in one issue. If this story had been done now it would have taken up at least 3 issues. Can't wait for the 90s issue.

Butcher: Baker, Candlestickmaker #1 - Mini-series that finally delves into the history of The Boys leader. Like Hughie's story, it seems to be a very tight character piece (meaning less sick and twisted sex shit).

Daredevil #1 - Big time change of pace for DD. After reading for the last few years it was a bit jarring for everything to be so much lighter (in terms of story and art) but I'm going to give it a chance. I like the way Pablo Rivera does DD's radar sense especially with The Spot and the heart rates.

Marvel Universe Vs Wolverine #2 - It is indeed a prequel to MU Vs Punisher, as the story of how the outbreak happened is the same as it was there.

Rocketeer Adventures #3 - More short stories by various writers/artists, including an 8-page text story with drawing by Bruce Timm, which is really cool to see the Rocketeer drawn in a Batman:TAS style.

[Rollo Tomassi]

12 books this week, four of them FI tie-ins.

Avengers 15. A FI tie-in. Spider-Woman, Hawkeye, Ms. marvel, and the (ugh) Protector (gawd wotta dumb name) go fight a super-possessed Hulk in Brazil. Then Hawkeye and Spider-Woman make out.

Avengers Academy 16. FI tie-in. Didn't read it yet. I'm supporting my Academy though, lest it get cancelled due to low sales. That trumps my Event avoidance.

Batman 712. Euuch, what a horrible book. Cancelling this tripe is almost a mercy at this point.

Batman:Gates of Gotham 2, 3. Been hearing good things about this book, and its written by the guy on Devective right now. Didn't read either one because I'm still looking for the first issue.

Daredevil 1. A fun reboot, and I immediately wanted to read issue 2, so thats a good sign.

Snake-Eyes 3. Snake-Eyes fights Kublai khan or whatever the hell his name is, while his teammates try to avoid capture while slogging the injured Alpine out of the mountains. Had two beautiful covers and it hurt to choose between them. The RI cover was even better.

GIJoe: ARAH 168. Blizzard helps his teammates escape in the Arctic cirlce. Firefly and Crystal Ball invade the Chrysler Building intent on destroying Joe's hidden laser weapon. And SneakPeek is back from the dead?!? Yeah, its the original who "died". Dusty has words with him.

War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath 1(of 2). I like how they all resign to not making any rash decisions like quitting or killing Sinestro right after they kick Hal Jordan out of the Corps for SAVING THE UNIVERSE.

Iron Man 506. Tony falls off the wagon. He gets ass faced drunk and then teams up with a bunch of dwarves in Asgard who swear in runes to make weapons. Then he gets even more shitfaced with them. Tony having an alcoholism relapse in light of the FI Event is brilliant. I know on the surface it seems like they've run out of ideas, but this book has been solid for over 40 issues. Can;t wait to see what Fraction does with this.

Transformers 22. Another excellent issue. Optimus sits down with the captive Megatron, and they reminisce about the battles they've fought over the last 4 million years. Also recounts their first meeting. this issue did more for characterization of these two leaders then the last 50 issues of IDW Transformers books have over the last five years.

X-Factor 222. Werewolf by Night Jack Russell guest stars as all the evil demons chasing Shatterstar and Rahne last issue make it back to the X-Factor HQ.

Uncanny X-Men 541. FI tie-in. Juggernaut beats the X-Men senseless in their first skirmish. Emma finds out the hard way that he's no longer susceptible to psychic attacks.

[anarky]

GIJoe: ARAH 168. Blizzard helps his teammates escape in the Arctic cirlce. Firefly and Crystal Ball invade the Chrysler Building intent on destroying Joe's hidden laser weapon. And SneakPeek is back from the dead?!? Yeah, its the original who "died". Dusty has words with him.

What. The. FUCK?!?!? I don't know whether to be excited or disgusted. I'll have to look up spoilers--I don't like spoilers on this book, but I have to know what the deal is with Mr. King. Wonder if this was the original plan, or a retcon.

[edit: So, uh, Dusty isn't in on this secret, but Stretcher is? WTF?]

I've got a shit-ton already at Comic-Con. A Jr took off early today, so I hit up some half-price places. Okay, one half-price place. They had a lot of recent stuff and knocked off an additional $30 from my purchase. Then I was smart, and went to the Red Five Comics booth early instead of waiting until Sunday, and they had the full run of Atomic Robo paperbacks. And, since I got all five (at a discounted price, and the fifth, they said, hasn't been released to stores yet), they threw in an extra paperback of my choice.

Here's the haul. I know they're not consecutive, but they put a hurting on a few series I've been wanting to complete:

Atomic Robo 1: Atomic Robo and the Fightin' Scientists of Tesladyne
Atomic Robo 2: Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War
Atomic Robo 3: Atomic Robo and the Shadow from Beyond Time
Atomic Robo 4: Atomic Robo and Other Strangeness
Atomic Robo 5: Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science
Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam 2: Mr. Mind Over Matter (which I didn't realize was Volume 2)
DMZ 7: War Powers
Ex Machina 9: Ring Out the Old
Fables 12: The Dark Ages
(Marvel Knights) Punisher 2: Army of One
(Marvel Knights) Punisher 5: Streets of Laredo
Sandman 5: A Game of You
Scalped 6: The Gnawing
Transmetropolitan 4: The New Scum
Transmetropolitan 7: Spider's Thrash
Transmetropolitan 8: Dirge
Transmetropolitan 9: The Cure
Unknown Soldier 1: Haunted House
Unknown Soldier 4: Beautiful World (holy shit! this is like a month old!)
ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction (the Red Five freebie--the other ones they had, I have. it's autographed. eh. that doesn't excite me anymore.)

Tomorrow, I might get the Nextwave ultimate collection from the CBLDF. It's higher than normal, but it appears to be out of print, and this is signed, again, for what that's worth, but the money goes to a charity.

[jjreason]

Congrats! Sounds like a lot to carry around!!!

[Rollo Tomassi]

Heh. Whenever I find Nextwave in the bargain bins, I'm as excited to find it as I was the first time I found it. Even though I already have all the issues. I've even bought second and third copies of issues just because I was excited to find them. I probably have 3 or 4 copies of the 'Crayon' variant of issue 5 just because I'm all 'Woohoo!' when I see it.

[anarky]

And yesterday I got Nextwave (only $5 more than retail--that book had a high price tag for 12 issues) and a few comics for Anarky Jr. She also insisted on a stuffed Bone. How can I resist that?

[Rollo Tomassi]

'stuffed Bone'.

Heh.

[jjreason]

Yeah, hearing Rico say he can't resist stuffed bone might be the highlight of my week, and it's been a pretty good week.

[anarky]

Good 'un.

I was done with graphic novels and paperbacks, but saw another vendor with Walking Dead volumes 2-3, and couldn't resist.

[jjreason]

I have never touched an "intentionally zombie" comic. Walking dead has been highly touted though, so I'm sure you got your money's worth. I almost bought Alias volumes 2&3 for $10 each, but held off. I think I'll track down the floppies.

NEW THIS WEEK (red books are Fear Itself Tie-Ins since we're keeping track):

(Free) Daily Bugle Spider Island
ASM 664,665
Uncanny 539,540,541
New Avngrs 14
DD1
Cap 1
FF 5,6
Black Panther 521
Avngrs 15

Some Pint-Sized Hulks thing for Thomas as he likes those mini-Marvels stories in the vein of Franklin Richards, Boy Genius - and really, who doesn't?

[Rollo Tomassi]

If that Mini-Hulk one shot is the collected back pages from the Hulk book written by Audrey Loeb, then you have my pity. Being a shitty writer is hereditary. And Audrey has inherited her father's gift for shitty writing. You will not laugh ONCE at any of the crap in that book.

[jjreason]

Well Tom just finished it & he said it was ok. I didn't hear him bust a gut though, so you might be onto something. I'll read it later.

[Diabolical]

Batman: The Dark Knight #4 - The Dawn Golden story begins to intersect with the Etrigan story.

Gotham City Sirens #25 - Ivy and Harley break out of Arkham to kill Catwoman. Next month is the last issue before reboot.

Criminal: The Last Of The Innocent #2 - After finding out his best friend is fucking his wife last issue, a man plans to murder his wife. One of the better Criminal stories (even though all of them are great).

[Rollo Tomassi]

A big week with 16 books. And no Event books. yay!

Amazing Spidey 666. Prelude to Spider-Island. Slott lines up all the major players for the big autumn Spider Event. Firestar's "Amazing Friends" quip was gleefully cheesy. And a few mysterious teases at the end of the issue to whet our appetites. Was that Ben Reilly in the tube? And who is the mystery woman?

Detective Comics 880. An awesome issue by Snyder and Jock. I'm so glad this series is not phoning it in for its final issues like it seems so much of the rest of DC is doing. An excellent storyline to finish off the 72+ year series.

Captain America & Bucky 620. Bucky's origin gets another tweaking.

FF 7. Blackbolt and the Inhumans take center stage for yet another issue. What happened to the FF?

Cobra 3. Tomax is incarcerated for the entire issue, until he breaks out because it turns out he owns the company that owns the company that owns the company that both runs the prison AND built the prison. Knowledge is Power. Also, tow of the shell companies' names were Sunbow and DiC, so that was a fun little homage.

Gotham City Sirens 25. The team breaks up and tries to kill each other. Inevitable when you think about it.

Green Lantern Corps 62. Kyle and Soranik break up. boohoo.

Green Lantern Emerald Warriors 12. Guy and some noname Lanterns fighht some evil big bad monster thing.

Incredible Hulks 633. Didn't read it yet. Waiting until the series ends. Only two issues yet.

New Mutants 28. The team gets psychoanalyzed by some friend of Dani's. I think this is my final issue. for real this time.

Secret Warriors 28. The final issue. This was an amazing series from beginning to end. This issue was more of a denouement than a rock'em sock'em finale, but it left all the major players in a new place. Daisy Johnson is the new head of SHIELD now that Steve is back in the Cap uniform. And Fury is Agent of Nothing, again.

Teen Titans 98. SuperBoy Prime is back with an evil team. gawd, DCs books are just awful. his is why I'm not excited for DCNu. Swapping crappy writers onto different titles doesn't make them better writers.

Mighty Thor 4. Odin vs Galactus! Thor vs Silver Surfer! The Epic battles continue. Although, Odin and Thor's stance seems a tad tenuous to me. A bauble that could keep Galactus perpetually fed for the rest of eternity and you don't want to give it up? That seems selfish.

Wonder Woman 613. Wonder Woman fights herself. Now that the "mystery" is over, some of WW's guest appearances in other DC books (like Superman and Justice League Gen Lost) don't make any sense. I think the blame should get spread around for that one. Nobody at DC knows what the fuck is going on.

X-Men Legacy 252. the Legion team try to rescue Xavier from Legion's evil personality. Good stuff.

X-Men Schism 2. The fractures in the Wolverine/Cyclops schism begin to show. Sadly, this is going to be like Civil War where both sides have "legitimate" point of view, except the one side's reason are completely insipid and easily deconstructed by anyone with a third grade education. in Civil War it was Iron Man/Reed/Pym's moronic Registration Act. In this one, Aaron is letting Logan come across as the rational guy, and Cyclops being the douche. Sadly, historically, they should be on opposite sides of their own reasoning.

[Rollo Tomassi]

12 books this week, with only one Event book. The DC Universe is coming to an end starting this week.

Avengers Academy 17. FI tie-in. Didn't read it.

Batman:Gates of Gotham 4. Didn't read it. Still trying to find the first issue.

GIJoe 4. The Joes are scrambling after the decimation of the Pit last tissue. We find out one of the Cobras in contention for the cowl of Cobra Commander, Oda Satori IS Zartan.

Iron Man 2.0 7.1 My lord, that's an annoying title. Two numbers with decimals in the title? Thats just begging to get kicked in the nuts. Anyway, its a Point One issue which means its sort of a recap issue bringing new readers up to speed. Even though the series is only on issue 7. How fucking far behind can a new reader have fallen?

Jonah Hex 70. The FINAL ISSUE. *sniffle* Jonah has a fever dream vision where he sees his own demise. A fine ending to a wonderful series. it will be missed.

Punisher 1. This is an issue that can be read and reread and enjoyed. And in fact, it needs to be reread to understand it. You have to work at it and EARN the story its telling. An excellent start to the new series.

Red Skull 2. Johann Schmidt's descent into nihilism continues.

Secret Six 36. The FINAL ISSUE. [lips tremble. tear rolls down cheek.] The Six go out in a blaze a glory against every hero on the planet. As more and more heroes show up outside the warehouse the Six are cornered in, until finally Superman and all the Superpeople show up, and the Six say fuck it and head out to be slaughtered..well...its such a magnificent and fitting end to this series. I say bravo.

Superman 714. The FINAL ISSUE. This on the other hand, was a fucking insipid and disgraceful end to 72 years of history. The "Grounded" storyline comes to its ill thought out and cornball conclusion. I'm sorry this is how the Dc Universe goes out. Its too bad warner Bros decided to cancel all the DC books and not restart them in September. Yup. Nothing happening next month. DC is finished for good.

Ultimate Fallout 4. Okay okay. Miles Morales. Thats why I bought this one.

Wolverine 13. We are intorduced to another of the victims of Wolverine's killing sprees. this one is the daughter of a Hand Ninja who was disgraced by being defeated by Logan and killed himself.

X-Factor 223. The X-Factor team tracks down Rahne who is about to give birth to her little werewolf baby.