So, What comics did you buy this week?

[jjreason]

2 weeks worth:

Iron Man 8
Uncanny 6
C3PO 1 (regular & action figure variant - but wait, didn't I already purchase a different AF variant of 3PO? yes, I did)
Vader 19
Surfer 3
Waidvengers 8
Guardians 7
OM Logan 4
Spider-Man 3
Moon Knight 1

He placed an order for Black Widow 2, Vision 6 & Cap 7 which I had missed, so I'll add those eventually. Hopefully soon when I still want to read them.

I added Vision, OM Logan, Waidvengers & Hulk to my pull list, deleted Astro City (for the first time ever, this volume is 33 issues old and isn't going anywhere) and Saga - going back to reading it on a trade by trade basis. I like the longer visits to that universe they offer. My pull list now consists ONLY of Marvel books, other than DKIII which is half over.

EDITED: Missed All-New Inhumans, which I'm not super sad about because both books were bad last issue. If those had been #1's, I don't think I'd have stuck around.

[Tom Foolery]

I got two magazine sized freebs this week.

One was a DC Preview guide of all their Rebirth issues and all the new #1s that follow. Trying to get excited, but I hardly recognize DC anymore and since the same asshats that ruined DC 5 five years ago are still in charge I can't get my hopes up.

The other was a Captain America 75th Anniversary retrospective with lots of cool articles about Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Mark Gruenwald, etc. I think this is like the 5th or 6th freeb magazine they've put out. They're pretty sweet.

[jjreason]

I got the DC one but not the Cap one.

[Diabolical]

Looks like I haven't posted in a couple of months.

Last week:
Black Panther #1 - Boring. One and done.
Black Widow #2 - Another fairly quick read, but still good.
Deadpool #9 - DP vs Sabretooth.
Detective Comics #51 - Something about Gordon's old Marine buddies.
Poe Dameron #1 - Weak start, but I'll give it a few.

This week:
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #4 - The team fights the New Avengers (something to do with Standoff) and Coulson is undercover as Logan, but gets his ass kicked.
C-3PO #1 - Meh.
Darth Vader #19 - Vader vs the apprentice twins and the end of Vader helping to stop a planetary rebellion.
Guardians of the Galaxy #7 - Rocket and Thing save a prison planet.
Gwenpool #1 - I know nothing about her and it feels like they are trying too hard to make her a Deadpool/Harley Quinn mashup.

[jjreason]

I second your "meh" for the C3PO book. Some things are better left unexplained - especially shit involving C3PO. His amount of involvement in TFA was almost perfect - ie less than 5 min total out of the 2hrs.

[Diabolical]

I still don't understand the thought process behind "Let's give Threepio a red arm!" only for it to mysteriously disappear at the end of the film. That, and the Rathtar scene should have been rethought/rewritten.

I actually wanted more Threepio and Artoo (especially Artoo) in TFA. Maybe its because I've always had an affinity for Artoo (especially) and Threepio, as they were the first characters I latched onto as a kid.
The lack of the duo was always one of my biggest complaints with the EU. They were THE stars of the first 20 minutes of ANH, and had good sized roles throughout the rest of the original trilogy. The EU always forgot how essential they are to the core group.

Hell, I'd kill for them to star in one of the one-shot movies someday.

[Tom Foolery]

I think James Robinson is one of the most overrated writers working in comics today. I never read his Starman which everybody blows him for. But everything else I've read of his is somewhere between mediocre and godawful.

But the writing on C-3PO was nothing compared to the shit art. And I liked Harris' work on Ex Machina. But seriously, that two page spread of the "spiders" or whatever attacking looked like a three year old had been handed a crayon. And I'm still not sure how a couple of the droids bought it, the panel layout was so poor. I only knew they were gone because Threepio said "we're the only ones left" and I went back and reread the previous pages and I STILL wasn't sure how or who died. Atrocious.

I can't tell if it's just my attention waning or what, but the Marvel SW stuff has gone downhill after the initial books. Rebel Jail has been weak. Vader's books been okay, but the Annual was the best part of the planet uprising story. Leia's mini was weak. Lando's mini was decent but forgettable. I didn't even finish Chewie's mini. The Shattered Empire and Ani/Obi books are both meh.
I'm only excited for the Han Solo Series because Mark Brooks is on art.
But I'm seriously about to dump the whole shebang and save myself $20-30 every month.

[jjreason]

We'll get more R2 next time, with any luck. I only want Threepio as seasoning - the odd bit of comic relief here & there, not the main course. He works best with R2, which is why I was thankful for the reduced screen time in TFA. I don't hate the character - but less is certainly way more.

I'm only buying the 2 OT era titles, so it doesn't really save me much to drop them..... I usually enjoy Vader - ironically enough - because of Evil Threepio. I hated the evil droids to begin with, but his comments have grown on me - they are usually pretty dark & funny. I can see how they would irritate some folks however. Forgettable is a pretty good word for the stories though, unfortunately.

[anarky]

Off-topic, but I wonder what the story (post-EU) of C-3PO's silver leg is.

Seems odd that the royal house of Alderaan couldn't get a gold replacement part.

[jjreason]

It's actually platinum. The more correct translation of R2's opening boops & beeps was something akin to "bling bling", however it was so ahead of its time they had to water down 3PO's response so the audience wouldn't be lost right off the bat.

[Diabolical]

All-New Hawkeye #6 - The end of All-New Hawkeye...for now? Sounds like they have another series planned for after Civil War II.

Deadpool #10 - Wade vs. Creed Round 2.

Captain America: Road to War - I thought it was a Civil War prelude, which it is, just the cinematic version, not the comic. Cap has his doubts about his new Avengers team from the end of Age of Ultron until they go on their first real mission - to fight a giant robot that looks like Ultron. Meanwhile, Stark makes that watch gauntlet thing from the trailer. Includes a reprint of Tales of Suspense #58, where Cap fights Iron Man.

Howard the Duck #6 - The second half of the crossover with Squirrel Girl.

Lazarus Sourcebook Vol 1: Carlyle - Wordy world building collection of material. Rucka and Lark sure put a shitload of thought behind this series.

Obi-Wan & Anakin #4 - Obi-Wan searches for the kidnapped Anakin, while Palpatine plants his seed in Anakin in flashbacks. Yes, I made that sound intentionally dirty, because that "friendship" screams pedophilia.

Power Man & Iron Fist #3 - Danny and Luke consult the Senor Spielbergo version of Dr. Strange to find the magic stone they were duped into stealing.

[Tom Foolery]

I've probably already mentioned this once or twice before, but one of my current biggest pet peeves is/are "distressed" art on covers. Y'know, covers,that are deliberately made to look used or vintage or whatever so they have artificial scuffs and dings and splotches of discoloration on the cover.
Because I look at a cover and I don't know if I'm buying a brand new book off the rack that got fucked up between Diamond's distribution center and the LCS, or if it's intentional on the part of the publisher. Now, if it's intentional, I can usually look thru all the issues and if the scruffiness is consistently on every cover, I can deduce the distress is an intentional choice. But if there's only one fucking issue, I don't know if I'm getting a shitty copy or what.
Comic covers used to be pretty straightforward and you'd know if the cover was mint or NM or whatever. Now it's just a load of guesswork.

[jjreason]

I hate that too. Fuck off with that shit, Marvel.

[anarky]

It worked when TMNT did it ages ago, though.

[jjreason]

Oh, and should have mentioned - go by feel. Most of those stress/wear lines they put on those books would be noticeable even through the bag if you run your finger over them, if it's smooth you're good.