New Comic Book Day Megathread

[Bad City Blue]

Just read issue one of Secret Wars...

Jonathan Hickman once again confuses the fuck out of me.

[Greg M.]

This is what happens when a story that's actually the conclusion to a lengthy and interminable run gets marketed as the start of a standalone event.

[Fungus]

See below, in that very post below (or above I have my account set up so new posts appear on top of the old, I'm funny like that) I mention The Colin Cancellation Curse - well guess what's bloody well struck again... yes of course that very bloody curse. Now C.O.W.L. has been cancelled apparently. Bloody hell, how annoying.

Poor Fungus, he even has (had?) his avatar here as a support for the book. Its been bloody great but alas after issue 11 will be no more.

No. 11, eh? Bugger. C.O.W.L. has/had a great feel to it and blended the (mild) superheroics with the 'real world' in a very cool way. Great characterisation, great style, a depth to it borne out of its long history prior to publication. I don't get along with 'real world superheroes' in movies, but in comics they can sing. It's a better fit. I think the issue v. trade debate appeared in the back pages of C.O.W.L., and I can't help feeling the lack of issue sales hurt books. As in kill them. I know some people dispute that, perhaps publishers too, but that doubt remains.

I'd like to chip in on this thread - Adventurer/Hawk/Colin keep it intriguing - but my 'new comics' go unread and frankly, pile up. Multiversity is being well-received? Yeah, yet to start on that pile...

Avatar Curse Lad

[Hawkmumbler]

Well I would talk about my haul this week...if I had had time to read anything from it let alone remember what I'm due. Too busy diving all day!

I will say though, C.O.W.L.S is being added to my to buy pile. Such strong praise can not go unnoticed.

[Hawkmumbler]

Well last week was an eccentric mix and no mistake....

Con Job gets dropped i'm afraid. The first two issues didn't grab me that much, but I mig consider a collected edition ine day...

Rat God #4 continues to be superbly creepy, eerie and all round unsettling horror fair with some truely fantastic and suitable art from Richard Corben. Horror is my favourite genre in comics, and this has the potential to sit up as one of the greats.

Descender #3 is still a resoundingly meh sci-fi series. But....the cliffhangers are always so good! They convince me to read the next issue of promises that have yet to be fullfiled, and maybe i'll give it another month before considering a drop....

Rocket Girl #6 is baaaack! I nabbed the collected edition recently and it changed my persoective on the series. It reads much better as a collected run than in individual issues, indeed it's superb sci-fi comicery! I might skip this, but continue to buy it monthly until a fair few have stacked up and then binge on it. Sad that I dropped it in the first place, TBH!

Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan was on Golden week, so no weekly chapters (plus World Trigger will be off for a second week) but we got Blue Exorcist and Seraph of the End, so that good! Seraph has really taken my liking recently, but the twist at the end of this chapter was so out of left field....i'm just....WHAT?!

Jojos Bizarre Adventure Phantom Blood vol. 2 and 3 both got delivered this week, clearing the decks for Battle Tendency in August. Two volumes, over a thousand pages, colour art and in hard back. £15 of Old school manga. Glorious!

[Colin YNWA]

Rocket Girl #6 is baaaack! I nabbed the collected edition recently and it changed my persoective on the series. It reads much better as a collected run than in individual issues, indeed it's superb sci-fi comicery! I might skip this, but continue to buy it monthly until a fair few have stacked up and then binge on it. Sad that I dropped it in the first place, TBH!

Yeah funnily enough I have very similar feelings about this. At the Issue 3 cut off point I try to give all new series I add to my pull list this hung onto by the barest margins. Something was nagging at me, I did really want to know what was going to happen, so I went back and re-read the first three issues before culling and by heck it sang then. It really does benefit from reading multiple issues. Which isn't really a good thing, the singles need to hold up, BUT its very very good when read as one. Maybe I should have started to get this in trade but for whatever reason I'm sticking with the floppies and if needs be I'll do re-reads at the end of arcs.

Very good story indeed, if not always a great comic, if that makes sense.

[The Monarch]

Brilliant judge dredd reference in secret wars 2 this week

[Colin YNWA]

Brilliant judge dredd reference in secret wars 2 this week

Do tell?

I went to the comic shop on what I believe is called comic book day. Used to be called Wednesday but celebrating Norse father figures is so 20th century. My haul though was small, soming I fear will become more frequent as my looses are not getting back filled with new titles. My pull is dwindling man, and I don't like it.

Anyway whining aside what did I get.Well most exciting book would have been Rocket Girl 6, I've really looked forward to the return to this book but the old complaint remains as discussed down thread. This was surely a jump on point and yet it didn't really do much as a comic in its own right. Shame missed opportunity I'd say and one I hope doesn't cost the book dear.

Copperhead 7 was bloody blinding okay so Ishmael has become the cliche I feared he would but frankly who cares when this comic is a 2000ad story in US form. FBP 20 saw this great title back on top form, though I fear heading towards its conclusion. C.O.W.L. 10, the penultimate issue of this excellent series is absolutely superb. Damn its a shame its ending.

Book of the haul though, possibly sentimentally goes to Hinterkind 18 which end very, very well. In fact too well. See Ian Edgington said when I had a quick chat with him about the series, that as it was creator owned he could continue it elsewhere should it finish as he had a lot of story to get through. Alas he managers to very skillfully box so much off here that there seems little space for it to come back. Shame as it is its be a fun series. Given the chance to be the epic you feel it wanted to be it would  have been exceptional.

[The Monarch]

You need to read it to make sense of it but battleworld has a retirement package thats similar to justice departments....

[Hawkmumbler]

Two updates? In one week? Jolly good, what!

Reanimator #2 follows on from a very strong first issue. Striking art, coherent (if not all together original) story telling, BUCKETS of gore. What more can I ask for in a horror comic?

The Maxx Maxximized #19...ANOTHER ONE?! Colin was right, the release schedule for this (reprint) series is utterly illogical and broken. I'm not complaining when we get two issues a month though!

Copperhead #7 is once again, superb sci-fi. really can't add anymore to the praise I and others have piled upon this title before now. It's just cracking.

Saga #28 is an all together different but equally class slice of sci-fi. Honestly though, I find Gwen's story arc to be the most engrossing right now, even above the others. Strange, seeing as it's the least original of the lot.

Weekly Shonen Jump #23/24...it's been awhile since I did an overview of every story so, here goes...

-Naruto continues to be more intriguing than it has any right to be. I'm going into this as if I was blind, ignoring all the bullshit that came before and treating it as a stand alone story. And it's miles better because of it.

-Bleach brings back four old characters. Yawn. Thanks Kubo, gotta get that merchandise in somehow. Just let it end already.

-One Piece kicks arse! Oda channels the desperation of a country facing genocide and turns it around in the blink of an eye. Also, Gear Four is just plain silly cool.

-Toriko brings the monkey king arc to a close, with some very interesting plot development indicating were heading towards endgame.

-My Hero Academia has a slower than usual chapter but leaves me on a cliffhanger that left a scary knot in my stomach. Just got to keep telling myself this is a kids comic....

-Straigten UP! is a new series focusing on competitive dancing. Hard to say if it will be any good in the long term, but the first chapter shows enough promise to satisfy me for now.

-Food Wars! is the other non-action series in the anthology. As a cooking series, I really shouldn't enjoy it....but for some reason I always end up enjoying it anyway. It's actually quite engrossing.

-Black Clover just does it's thing. Dungeons, over powered sidekicks, red shirts, Golden Dawn is evil blahblahblah. Yeah, still wished we'd got Kagamigami instead.

-And School Judgement finishes.....FOR NOW! Gutted that a great (but flawed) series from an established creative success got shit canned, but at least it's being given a second leash of life and a chance to be continued via Jump's online comic collections.

.....But where the feck is One-Punch Man???!!!

[Link Prime]

It's another quiet week for me.
As above, Saga is still there (though I'm not enjoying it as much as I used to) and I've also made room for one more; Injection 1 by Ellis & Shalvey.

This creative team caught lightning in a bottle with their very short stint on Moon Knight last year (I picked up the trade, and have since re-read it three times- it's outstanding comics. Highest recommendation possible).
My LCS (Big Bang Comics) have an exclusive cover for Injection too (maybe because Declan Shalvey & Jordie Bellaire are regular customers there? I dunno), so I'll be snagging that.
Could be I've finally found an addition to that emaciated pull list.

[Colin YNWA]

Brilliant judge dredd reference in secret wars 2 this week

Bleeding Cool have provided a spoiler or two which shows this wonderfully.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/05/13/secret-wars-2-is-really-like-judge-dredd-isnt-it-spoilers/

[Link Prime]

This is what happens when a story that's actually the conclusion to a lengthy and interminable run gets marketed as the start of a standalone event.

One detects an air of negativity.

Are you reading Secret Wars Greg (or any Marvel titles for that matter)?
The more I read about this event, the more I think "OMFG what are they doing?"

[Greg M.]

Are you reading Secret Wars Greg (or any Marvel titles for that matter)?

I still read my fair share of Marvel, Link - Daredevil, Uncanny Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, Guardians 3000, Spider-Man 2099, Storm, and probably several others I can't remember. I have also read Secret Wars #1, which has beautiful artwork and deserves to win a prize for 'most inaccessible story ever used as the start of a major crossover'. Not badly written (I'm not a fan of Hickman's work at all, but he clearly has his fans and is obviously a competent and intelligent writer) but massively misjudged and utterly impenetrable - unless you've been reading 77 issues worth of his Avengers and New Avengers, in which case I expect it's great.

[Link Prime]

Surprised there are still so many Marvel titles on your pull list!

I've heard pretty much the same summary of Secret Wars from the three other Marvel readers I know (including my LCS guy).

For me, there's something about this whole Battleworld / Incursion concept that is just utterly, utterly stupid (even in the context of a fictional comic book universe).
I can't get over it.