New Comic Book Day Megathread

[The Adventurer]

Oh hey comics...

My Digital Pulls for 09/10/14

2000 AD 1898 - Everything is hurtling toward its conclusion for the big 1900 jumping on issue. Which is going to be EPIC. Last issue something interesting happened in BLACK SHUCK for the first time. Eight weeks too late.
ANNIHILATOR 1 - Grant Morrison? Fraser Irving? YES PLEASE! I literally had no idea this comic existed until today.
ASTRO CITY 15 - This story arc is... odd. Odd and sad. And interesting. It sure is Astro City.
COPPERHEAD 1 - Oh, hello Jay Faerber. Making a new Science Fiction comic I see. Take my money...
EAST OF WEST 15 - This comic continues to be weird.
PROPHET: STRIKEFILES 1 - But this one is weirder.
INVINCIBLE 114 - If what I think is about to happen, happens. That's going to NUTS.
WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP 41 - The first week of the new Jump Start initiative. Where English Jump will be running at minimum 3 chapters of EVERY new Japanese Jump manga regardless of what is it. The first of the new series is JUDOS. Which is an over the top sports manga about... you guessed it. Judo. Its a bit silly (and sexist), and I don't suspect it will last past chapter 3 in English Jump. In other news, NARUTO may finally be ending ending in a few weeks. And THANK GOD FOR THAT.

[BPP]

Abe Sapien 16
Annihilator 01 (rotten, nice art)
Caliban 06 (hehehe, Good ole Garth Ennis)
Dark Ages 02 (even better than 01)
East of West 15
Spread 03 (tailing off, art less impressive, story wandered off to Mad Max)
Wild's End - BRILLIANT. Abnett & INJ in a story that reminds me of a mix of Kingdom of the Wicked and War of the Worlds. Comic of the Week by a mile.

[Fungus]

Annihilator 01 (rotten, nice art)

Thanks for the tip! Will avoid!

[BPP]

Annihilator 01 (rotten, nice art)

Thanks for the tip! Will avoid!

Well, ya know, read a few pages in the shop and decide for yourself. My problems are that the stories two characters aren't interesting (a moping drug fuelled nihilist stylee writer suffering writers block and a arch mastermind supervillian type (who may be the writers alter-ego?)) written in a dull pompous style with a copy of New Scientist in one hand and Hollywood Babylon in the other. Irvings art is fabulous if you like his style - the layouts are constantly switching up, his colours remain unique but the main character is just such a twat its hard to look at his panels.   

[Fungus]

Now it sounds great!

[Colin YNWA]

Hubba hubba, check the haul on that... that is some damned fine sequential art. Yes sir I'd fun those comics.

Anderson Psi -Division 2 is a pretty fine book as was Hinterkind 11, Sex 15 and C.O.W.L. 4 but compared to the rest of this lot they were steady issues of great series and nowt more. THEY WERE GREAT I should emphasize.

So what else was so much better. Well Lazarus 11 was fantastic and set up and developed so much in so much deconstructed work that it was exceptional. The Massive 26 is a series hurtling to a conclusion I'm not sure I'm happy with, quite brilliantly. Brass Sun 4 reminds me why so many people are so whiny about the current series, so its good but this is stunning, is it Tharg's fault he's spoiled us before that we lose sight of how much fun the current series is? Anyway I'm off track.

Flash Gordon 5 starts a new arc with two neatly separated segments both stunningly good. Cyclops 4 sees the series live up to its truly massive potential at last. Doctor Who (11th) 2 is bloody good telly from when the telly wasn't so bloody good! Well even if it did go for the emotional vampire type thing which is a little cliche if you ask me.

All of which were magnificent BUT paled before a start and two finishes. Copperhead 1 is hardly original and very much a 2000ad tale. Given the extra pages they allowed themselves to draw people in it does a stunning job of setting up so much and fitting so much in. One of those great debuts that makes you nervous it wouldn't hold up in issues to come. Time will tell but they've set their bar high.

The Victories 15 wraps up this exceptional series really, REALLY well. Shame its been so over looked, can't wait to read the whole lot in one go one day soon(ish). For all that and however good these are to stand out in a haul of such staggering brilliance even they barely compare to the book of the haul.

Jonah Hex 34 ends what has been one of my all time favourite comics series, 105 issues, all be it over two titles due to some DC shenanigans a few years back and still this issue finds a new way to be quite quite... oh sod it I've run out of superlatives and anyway none of them would have done. This is an ending done just about as well as I remember. Never has riding sailing off into the sunset been quite so glorious.

[Hawkmumbler]

17/09/14

Dark Horse Presents 2014 #2: An Alien one-shot in this one. Hopefully not a tie in to this bloody crossover event DH are doing with Alien....

The Maxx #11: I will not stop loving this series. Now we have the big reveal out of the way it's time for more head screwey stuff!

Weekly Shonen Jump #42: Hi-Fi Clusters is an odd one, Judos might actualy be growing on me, and Toriko pull's another horrific scene out of thin air.

[The Adventurer]

Hi-Fi Cluster feels like Stealth Symphony lite. Its got to do some work to do to get me to like it. Its premise feels like they took that one aspect of the Matrix. And turned it into Pokemon.

That... probably doesn't make any sense.

[Hawkmumbler]

Hi-Fi Cluster feels like Stealth Symphony lite.

Sums it up pretty much.

Also, has anyone seen the additions to the Jump+ project by Araki, Asano, Oda and Toriyama? Hopefully we'll get this at some point...

[Professor Bear]

I gave up reading the character-free Avengers books ages ago, but checked back in for Avengers 34.1, as I was told it was more or less a cruel jab by Al Ewing at DC Comics' inability to publish a Superman story that doesn't eat shit - you seriously need to hire a superstar writing and art team just to come up with Supes fighting his evil duplicate?  Holy 2014, Bat-hacks!

A34.1 is rather good and helpfully highlights that Superman-type characters, rather than being "too powerful" to write stories about, are simply waiting for writers to make an effort and make such characters relevant or interesting, and Al does so by using an analogue to make points about how the superhero power fantasy can be taken too far into elitism in a way that couldn't be done with regular Marvel characters, as no writer would be allowed to point out in a Marvel comic that Spidey is little more than a schoolyard bully who never grew up, but a Superman analogue who'll be killed off in a crossover event probably?  That guy can get away with saying anything, and in this case he says that being the biggest kid in the yard doesn't mean you stop being in the yard.  A great done-in one story.

[Link Prime]

A persuasive endorsement of Avengers 34.1 there Prof, I'm sold.
(".1"....is this still a thing? Oh Marvel, Marvel, Marvel)

This week for me it's;

Unwritten: Apocalypse 9 (Auto-added to The Pile. It's too far along now to start, before it ends. Y'know?)
Superior Spider-Man 33 (Wait LP- WAIT! This isn't actually a continuation of that series you liked 6 months ago- it's a tie-in to some 'Spider-Verse' crossover nonsense you're not actually ever going to ever, ever read!!! You've already bought it, haven't you? Sigh)

Also this week- dropped like a hot (well, lukewarm) snot; Dark Horse Presents. Yeah, 1st one was alright. No 2000AD though, is it? You didn't make the cut Richardson, sorry kid.

[SmallBlueThing]

Superior Spider-Man 33 (Wait LP- WAIT! This isn't actually a continuation of that series you liked 6 months ago- it's a tie-in to some 'Spider-Verse' crossover nonsense you're not actually ever going to ever, ever read!!! You've already bought it, haven't you? Sigh)

Spiderverse, being a crossover, is something I'm hard-wired to detest. However, having now read all the 'Edge' issues so far published, I'm prepared to eat my words. It's magnificent! Edge of Spiderverse #1 and #2 especially. And double-especially #2, with Gwen Stacy: Spider-Woman; which is one of my favourite comics so far this year. Want to see much, much more of this reality.

SBT

[Hawkmumbler]

24/09/14

Godzilla Rulers of Earth #16: Seems to be beading to it's conclusion with the introduction of an original monster, always an act of desperation on a writers behalf.

Groo vs. Conan #3: Very much enjoying this little romp but I get the feeling it was written as a Groo one-shot and then expanded into a mini.

Saga #23: Yuma is a horrible horrible person and after what she did last issue I hope she get's killed off. And when I say things like that I realise how much of a soap Saga is.

Weekly Shonen Jump #43: Oooh. Sporting Salts might actualy be a fun sports manga, but it need sot dial the self awareness down a notch. And in other news, Yu-Gi-Oh Zexel is ending soon thank god. So we have an opening for a monly title.

[Link Prime]

As I'm gonna be spending a fort-u-ine at DICE this weekend, I was delighted to see nothing on next weeks listings, so celebrated like Doc Brown after sending Marty back to 1985, only to stop short. There is one.

This week;
Miracleman 11- in a nutshell; vintage Moore superhero shenanigans combined with 50% 'making of' material & crap 1950s reprint. Why don't I just torrent it? Good question.

[Link Prime]

next weeks listings

Uhh, forgot this weeks...! (Sorry Adventurer)
It's Saga 23 & Bodies 3. Both solid. As a rock.