1000 books in 2020 1 1

[Talapas1]

1090-1108

Catching up on my subscriptions.   The highlights:

Ronin:   A story I used to act out with my toys when I was in middle school.   I used a different turtle than was revealed but the idea was the same.   Reading this book brought all that back to me.   It was a fun read and worth the hype.

Stranger Things Science Camp:  I got this for my kids but now I look forward to each issue.  Love the filling in of the blanks between seasons.  
 

DCeased Dead Planet:  I’ve enjoyed all of these books and Dead Planet is so good.  There is a sense of hope in this so who knows what will happen next.  
 

Strange Academy:   I’ve finally broken down and added it to my pull list.   A very good start to the series so far.   I hope they maintain their momentum.  
 

Fearless Dawn and Hellboy:  fun art and a neat little pulp story.  I enjoyed this one.  
 

and a lowlight.  Lol

Snake Eyes Deadgame.   Story is pretty run of the mill and I spend all my time trying to figure out Liefeld.   I really liked his art up until just after Youngblood, but everything since had felt like a Liefeld impersonation.   I don’t know if it’s the inks or what, but I was excited for this series, now I’m snagging it more to just complete it.  

[DavidTheDavid]

[Raze]

@Talapas1 man you are killing it this year!!!

[Talapas1]

18 minutes ago, Raze said:

@Talapas1 man you are killing it this year!!!

Thanks.   I just love reading and have been buying so many, that I feel bad putting them away unread.

[Raze]

3 minutes ago, Talapas1 said:

Thanks.   I just love reading and have been buying so many, that I feel bad putting them away unread.

I have a short box of moderns that need reading but Ive been reading GA this week...Ill be posting them tomorrow after I read 1 more.

[Talapas1]

12 hours ago, Raze said:

I have a short box of moderns that need reading but Ive been reading GA this week...Ill be posting them tomorrow after I read 1 more.

I have 2 long boxes and five short short boxes that I’m hoping I can finish before the year is out.   Thanksgiving break may see some 30+ issue days  

[Raze]

406-412

TFTC 22

Blood type V was the stand out for me, But a very solid book.

Crime Suspenstories 8

Solid issue

Crime Suspenstories 20

Fire trap was the stand out for me

Two Fisted Tales 18 (#1)

hong kong intrigue was good and so was mutiny.

Crime Suspenstories 25

All the stories were great! this is a stand out issue! Dog Food is the stand out.

Journey into Unknown Worlds 13

Fun book and overall a good read. 

Out of the Shadows 10

Destroy my enemy was a nice twist ending.

 

[Talapas1]

1119-1148

Even more subscriptions that I’m trying to keep up with.   And a few odd issues theat I’ve snagged here and there.   Not adding Wynd into the count at this time as I’ll do a review on it later as I finished the series.   

-Giga:   Great new series.  Basic premise is civilizations live inside of Mecha.   Art and writing were both fun.  I highly recommend checking it out if you like this type of setting.  
 

-Mars Attacks Red Sonja:   This doesn’t have a right to be as fun as it is.   Ridiculous but still feels like a sword and sorcery book.   Art isn’t a stand out, but doesn’t detract.  If you are a Sonja or Mars Attacks fan, check it out.

-Marneus Calgar:   I was always a Warhammer Fantasy Player, but I enjoyed 40k lore more.  This story is definitely a Marvelization of the grimdark universe.   Unless I’m mistaken, this story really changed some lore and I’m all in for it.  

- Crossover:   I’ve been seeing a lot of hype for this one and it seems deserved.  Haven’t really read any of Cates’s work before so I can see why people are falling over his stuff.  Definitely getting added to the pull list. 

-Champions Outlawed.  I read the first champions series, but missed the one after so I’m not 100% in the know about what’s been going on recently.   I was a huge New Warriors fan back in the 90’s and this series fills that young people finding their way in the world niche.   Seeing Justice as a member of their opposition is a great touch as well.  

-Stange Adventures.    People either love Tom King or hate him.  I’ve liked some of his work and not others.   I will say this.  I’ve never really been interested in Adam Strange before this series.   Now?  I’m all in. King has managed to blend Political Intrigue, super heroes, and pulp sci-fi adventure into an interesting story.    I’m excited to see how it all plays out in the end.

-stack of random JLA:  I’m always down for an Earth 3 story and these were good. I enjoyed Forever Evil more, but these were fun.  The Santa Claus story was  a neat little one shot and the other issues were pieces to Crisis storylines.   Other than the Santa story, mother stood out, but they were fun to read.

-The rest:  mostly stuff I’ve discussed before, but if you see something I haven’t mentioned, and would like to hear my opinion on it, feel free to let me now.   That’s it for now.

[Talapas1]

1149-1154

Wynd 1-5

Boom! Studios has been killing it recently.  This is the third title from them that I’ve picked up in the past couple months and it was pretty awesome.  It’s a fantastical story dealing with humans and their fear of the magical.  Anyone who may be touched has to stay hidden.  I won’t dice deeper into it so as not to spoil it.  The art was very good and really matched the tone of the story.  My only complaint is that it was a five issue arc and issue six won’t be out till late spring 2021.  Definitely worth checking out if fantasy tales are your jam.  

[Talapas1]

1155-1183

Read a bunch more this week, with some new trades I’ve recently acquired and some runs I grabbed from the dollar bins.  
 

Ice Cream Man-   Had to check this out due to all the hype.   Glad I did.  It hit all the right buttons with me.  I enjoy anthologies and this has a nice narrative tying the stories together. The art is great and the bright colors almost make it even more creepy.  
 

Venom vs Carnage:   My first experience with art by Crain, and while it is interesting, it wasn’t something I really enjoyed.   It was fine.  The story was decent but overall, not a book I’ll be adding to the reread pile any time soon.

Revival:  I picked up issue 1 a few years back but never really followed up with it.   I found issues 2-8 in a bargain bin and decided to snag them.  I remember some hype around the title back when I picked up that first issue and after reading so far I can see why.  It’s an interesting mix of a crime/religious/horror genre which is pretty well written.   I’m on a quest to find the rest of the series now.

Faithless:  definitely not for kids. Lol.  Interesting story about an artist who is slowly selling her soul to be admired and successful.  
 

Death or Glory:  this story was both great and horrifying.   There is a lot of ridiculous characters and situations overlying a story that is terrifying because it isn’t too far outside the realm of possibility.   Time to scour the bins to complete this series too.

Jenny Sparks:  I thought I was pretty much done with the authority but I realized I had never read this mini.   A couple issues were stronger than others but it was like running into old friends again.  It was weird though seeing Midnighter and Apollo in this as they seemed slightly less adept as they do in the main series.    Fun read and I’m glad I rescued it from the bins.

Strange Adventures:  this is the issue that got a bunch of people riled up.  Honestly though, I enjoyed it and look forward to seeing where this story goes.  
 

Good Grief Savage Dragon!   This was goofy and fun.  I haven’t read Savage dragon regularly for almost a decade so some of the references and characters were unfamiliar, but the energy Erik Larson puts into his creation is admirable.

[Talapas1]

On 11/13/2020 at 8:06 PM, DavidTheDavid said:

How was the American Vampire 1976?  I thought about grabbing it

[F For Fake]

6 hours ago, Talapas1 said:

1155-1183

Read a bunch more this week, with some new trades I’ve recently acquired and some runs I grabbed from the dollar bins.  
 

Ice Cream Man-   Had to check this out due to all the hype.   Glad I did.  It hit all the right buttons with me.  I enjoy anthologies and this has a nice narrative tying the stories together. The art is great and the bright colors almost make it even more creepy.  
 

Venom vs Carnage:   My first experience with art by Crain, and while it is interesting, it wasn’t something I really enjoyed.   It was fine.  The story was decent but overall, not a book I’ll be adding to the reread pile any time soon.

Revival:  I picked up issue 1 a few years back but never really followed up with it.   I found issues 2-8 in a bargain bin and decided to snag them.  I remember some hype around the title back when I picked up that first issue and after reading so far I can see why.  It’s an interesting mix of a crime/religious/horror genre which is pretty well written.   I’m on a quest to find the rest of the series now.

Faithless:  definitely not for kids. Lol.  Interesting story about an artist who is slowly selling her soul to be admired and successful.  
 

Death or Glory:  this story was both great and horrifying.   There is a lot of ridiculous characters and situations overlying a story that is terrifying because it isn’t too far outside the realm of possibility.   Time to scour the bins to complete this series too.

Jenny Sparks:  I thought I was pretty much done with the authority but I realized I had never read this mini.   A couple issues were stronger than others but it was like running into old friends again.  It was weird though seeing Midnighter and Apollo in this as they seemed slightly less adept as they do in the main series.    Fun read and I’m glad I rescued it from the bins.

Strange Adventures:  this is the issue that got a bunch of people riled up.  Honestly though, I enjoyed it and look forward to seeing where this story goes.  
 

Good Grief Savage Dragon!   This was goofy and fun.  I haven’t read Savage dragon regularly for almost a decade so some of the references and characters were unfamiliar, but the energy Erik Larson puts into his creation is admirable.

Revival is great! Had a lot of speculation heat early on, once that died out, folks seemed to forget about it. But I really loved it!

[Talapas1]

Oops, I made a clerical error and counted the Thunderbolts series twice.  But with the new ones done, my current total is:   1199

Young Justice 1-20

This is the Bendis writing I was waiting for.  I’ve always been a fan of his work, and thought his two strengths were crime noir, and youth superheroes.   I never read previous iterations of Young Justice but did read their stories when they became the Teen Titans.   This team was a favorite of mine for a while but I lost track of them after all the reboots, crisis, and whatnot.    Bendis brought them back and brought some other interesting characters onto the team as well.  Jinny Hex, Amethyst, Teen Lantern, and Naomi all brought some cool dynamics into the story.  I’m bummed that issue 20 marked the current end of Bendis writing them, but here’s hoping he return at some point or that someone else can take the reins and continue what he started.  

 

Squadron Supreme

I got lucky and scored this trade for five bucks and decided to move it up to the top of my pile.   I’ve always wanted to read this as I heard it was a good read.   Finally the opportunity arrived and I have to say that it lived up to expectations.   Barring all the parts that were definitely relics of the time of the writing, this story really struck me with how I sympathized with both Superion’s and Nighthawk’s goals.  Superion was actually making strides to creating a great society and in doing so, did strip some freedoms from the people who lived there, but at the same time, Nighthawk was willing to allow chaos to reign in order to allow the people the choice of creating a better world.   It posed some interesting questions to me and I’m still wrestling with how I feel about the ending.    One other thing that this story really engaged in was some of the dangers of these superpowers.  The deaths and injuries of main players were surprising as I was so used to Marvel stories of this time period where main characters may be injured or killed, but it never seemed permanent.  Indeed, there was an expectation that Tom Thumb or any of the others would return somehow, but it never happened.    Overall, I loved Marvel’s take on the Justice League world and want to explore more of their world. 

[srezvan]

I'm up to 252 comics this year. Not a bad number for me. I need to take a break to read the new Thrawn book, then I'll pick up the comics again.

Finished the Witcher Omnibus. I can't say enough about the Netflix series and these comics. I've never played the games or read the books, but I've always heard good things. Just finished the show and loved it, so I picked up this omni. Great stories. Not always directly connected to the show, but I'm a big fan of the characters, monsters, and the world. I just picked up another TPB that's not included in this omni, and I'll keep my eye out for the next TPB that comes out in March.

 

[Raze]

413-416

House of Mystery 4

Two-Sites Tales 29, 34, 41

[Ken Aldred]

469 to 484

Secret Wars mini-series,  Part 3

(16 issues in total)

Age of Ultron / Marvel Zombies (4 issues)

Okay read, but let down by a poorly-executed, rushed ending.  Nice art from Steve Pugh.  Putting an Old West Hank Pym in a super-science environment seems a bit of a stretch.

 

Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows (5 issues)

Peter and MJ back together again.  

Good story from Dan Slott and Adam Kubert.

 

Captain Britain and the Mighty Defenders (2 issues)

Excellent short story from Al Ewing with nice Alan Davis art.  I liked the Dredd-influenced Battleworld region.

 

Hank Johnson, Agent of Hydra (1 issue)

Silly one-shot about the life of a Hydra henchman, both at work and family life at home.  Always good to have a change of pace.

 

Hail Hydra (4 issues)

Nomad, Ian Rogers, having survived the death of the multiverse, ends up in a Battleworld region controlled by Hydra, and, using a common trope, meets an evil alternate version of himself.  Okay.

Edited November 24, 2020 by Ken Aldred

[Ken Aldred]

485 to 504

The Eternals by Jack Kirby : Eternals 1 to 19, Annual 1

(20 issues)

Always fantastic to revisit this series, which reminds me of when I first started collecting in 1977, and it was the first run I bought entirely by mail order.

Great characters; Ikaris and Sersi, and I’ve always thought The Celestials look absolutely brilliant; effortlessly intimidating despite doing little to us other than observing, unless provoked.

It has classic moments such as the arrival of the space gods themselves and one of Kirby’s darkest stories, set in the Deviant city of Lemuria.  Powerful stuff.

Certainly, it’s patchy overall: the Deviant invasion of New York doesn’t really make much sense, the Uni-Mind doesn’t do much, and the Cosmic Hulk story is very, very weak.

Despite that, there’s still Kirby’s energy, excitement and imagination keeping me going through to the end.

Classic, significant Bronze Age.

Edited November 24, 2020 by Ken Aldred

[paperheart]

411-470

Redneck #1-12

Renato Jones #1-5

Damned #1-5

Cain

Boy Vampire Book 4

Wytches #1-6

Hawkeye vs Deadpool #1-4

Books of Doom #1-6

Mythos #1 (x5)

Hex Wives #1-6

Secret Skull #1-4

Lazarus 5 #1-5

[Talapas1]

1200-1365

I finally got the last issue I needed to finish my TMNT IDW run and since I had this week off, have been diving into that universe.   I read the whole main series, most of Universe, and a bunch of the minis and one shots.   I'm missing a bunch of issues for some of the mini-series so I still have a bit to complete, but I figure 166 issues of green goodness is enough for the present.   

I really dug this series.  It was just fun and the callbacks to many of the other iterations of the turtles were great.   My 12 year old son actually started reading the series as I finished it and we have been having fun discussing our favorite parts and talking about turtles history.   Honestly, it makes me want to dust off the old RPG and roll up some new characters.   The series is great and while the minis aren't necessary to enjoy the story, they do add a lot of background.   Definitely worth checking this saga out if you were ever a turtles fan.   It makes me wish that any live action movie would actually use this source material rather than whatever Michael Bay decided to run with.

Oh yeah, one thing that I found funny was anytime Baxter Stockman had dialogue, my mind heard it all in Giancarlo Esposito's voice.   Don't know why it was happening, but it worked. 

[Talapas1]

1366-1390

Turtles haven’t been the only thing I’ve been reading this week.  I hit some bargain bins over the previous weekend and dug into a few of those as well.   
 

Defenders-  standard effort from Bendis.  Nothing groundbreaking but it was an enjoyable read.  
 

Empire Uprising-  I remember reading the original run a few years ago and it was pretty good.  This one was fine.  Unfortunately I need to find the last issue to finish the story.  
 

Heroic Age-  I missed out on a lot of this stuff so I’m slowly trying to figure out where marvel went while I was gone.  These were fun little anthology style reads.  Not every story was a home run, but most of them were getting on base.   Not bad for a couple bucks anyway.  
 

Hellboy:  I liked this story of Hellboy’s first field mission.   Going to need to see if I have the other parts of this series of if I have to hunt them down.  
 

Random DC stuff.  Much like Marvel circa 2014-2020, my DC knowledge from that era has been lacking as well.  The Shazam story was pretty good, but was a bit lost on some of the parts.  Luckily I wasn’t completely in the dark due to having read Death Metal.  Superman Rebirth was probably my favorite of the batch as it showed some growing pains for Superboy and the consequences of not being careful with his powers.   
 

that’s it for now.   Got another small stack waiting for my attention tomorrow.