1000 books in 2021 5 5

[paperheart]

#232-284

Plunge #1-6

Lost Soldiers #1-5

A.D. After Death #1-3

Black Hammer #1-13 + Annual

Ether #1-5

The Few #1-6

Black Road #1-10

Deadpool Masacre

[Scrooge]

46 minutes ago, paperheart said:

Lost Soldiers #1-5

I read that last week. I was unimpressed by it. What did you think?

[paperheart]

1 hour ago, Scrooge said:

I read that last week. I was unimpressed by it. What did you think?

Was no The Other Side

[ttfitz]

Previous total - 334

Joe the Barbarian 1-8

You never know what you are going to get with Grant Morrison, and this was no exception. Overall I enjoyed it, but I will admit there are many points along the way that I had no idea of what was going on. But that might have been the point. Incredibly detailed art, too, which made this stand out.

Batgirl: Year One 1-9

You can usually count on Chuck Dixon to give you a good read, and that's what this was, a good read. Occasionally it got a little too cutesy in it's references (a number of "I'm no oracle" statements, for example), but still, a nice update to the Silver Age Batgirl's origin story.

So that gets us to ... 351.

[srezvan]

367 comics so far this year.

Age of Conan: Belit. Very blah. Not great/good, not bad. The artwork was poor at times.

 

Secret Wars: Warzones: Future Imperfect. I saw a lot of stuff about Secret Wars at LCSs a few years ago, but never really paid attention to them. I picked this up because I like the Maestro and recently read both the original Future Imperfect and recent Maestro mini (there's another one coming out soon!). I really enjoyed this one. I'm not inspired to read everything Secret Wars, but I do have Age of Apocalypse and Age of Ultron vs. Zombies, because I like those story arcs in general. If I like those, I may pick up a couple more.

 

Bucky O'Hare. I was a big fan as a kid when this came out. I was telling my kids about it, so I just pulled it of the shelf. Now I need to find the Toad Menace manga to read the whole story.

[srezvan]

377 so far this year.

 

Juggernaut TPB (collects the recent 5 issue mini-series). I was a little nervous to read this because I've only read the initial House of X/Powers of X hardcover and not the rest of the series yet, so I didn't want any spoilers. This was a great series that gave some depth of character to Juggernaut, who is usually just portrayed as an insufficiently_thoughtful_person who breaks things. Even without being up to date on the recent X titles, this is easy to follow and was very enjoyable. I'm not aware of another series yet, but I hope they do one.

 

This is the 10 year anniversary issue that leads in to the next AoA series. I read the full AoA run last year, but I've never read these. This was a quick read with some interesting stories. Some were better than others. I'll likely read more AoA and Exiles later, both started in prior years.

 

Continuing with my AoA reading, Blink mini-series. It started off really strong, with Blink arguing with Magneto and making a comment comparing his teaching/leadership to the Nazis. You can imagine that didn't go well. After issue 1, it goes downhill with Blink in the Negative Zone and it's just a waste of a story. I would have preferred the story stay with the main AoA storyline.

 

Next up: Marvel: Vengeance mini-series.

[ttfitz]

Previously on ... 351

1602: Fantastik Four #1-5

It's been a while since I read the original series by Neil Gaiman, which I recall as being very good. Peter David is also very good. But neither one played out for me with this series. It was rather "ehhh" to me.

Lab Rats #1-8

Another entry from John Byrne. I rather enjoyed it, for what there was. Don't know if they ever went anywhere with it after this.

Only a few days left until the start of my LCS's 100 Back Issues a Week Challenge. Getting stuff lined up for the big push over the next five weeks!

Current total ... 364.

[srezvan]

391 comics this year.

For both of these, I sold the floppies and bought the collected editions instead, which has been a focus of mine over the last year. After reading the Old Man Logan TPB, I learned that Marvel 1985 and Vengeance take place before Old Man Logan. I still haven't read 1985, but Vengeance was 2.5/5 for me. Some interesting ideas, but I think sometimes writers just try to add in too much to a story. Not every story needs multiple dimensions. I don't know if I really understood the purpose of the new In-Betweener. I'll still give 1985 a try. If anyone has read any Old Man Logan stories that happen after the original story arc, please let me know if they are any good.

Next up was House of M TPB. I don't keep up with all the Universe-wide story arcs like I tried to do in the 90s, so I didn't know too much about this other than the "no more mutants" line. I really enjoyed this story and thought the ending was great. I have Avengers West Coast #60, What If House of M, and Son of M, so I added those to the reading list. I may pick up the House of M: Civil War TPB, which talks about how Magento ends up in the position he's in when House of M starts.

[paperheart]

#285-347

Super Zero #1-6

Black Monday Murders #1-4 (best thing I've read this year)

Batman: Gotham County Line #1-3

Department of Truth #1-5 (2nd best thing I've read this year)

Rumble #1-15

Nailbiter #1-30

[Scrooge]

On 8/2/2021 at 1:59 PM, paperheart said:

Black Monday Murders #1-4 (best thing I've read this year)

There's a pattern here ... I also read that last week

 I 100% agree. I don't always go for Hickman but this is superb with art to match and certainly in a class apart.

[srezvan]

404 comics read this year.

I'm a George Perez fan. I love his artwork. At shows, he's one of the friendliest guys you would ever want to meet. But I just couldn't get into the New Teen Titans. Artwork was fine, but the writing really turned me off. I got 10 issues into the 1st Omni and I needed to take a break. I would read maybe an issue every two or three days. In the 3 days since I stopped reading this, I think I read 9 more comics. I never read this as a kid, so I have no nostalgic attachment to the series. I read the intro and was super excited. But the storylines were just so poor. I have the 3 omnis, so if anyone wants to recommend some standout issues, send them my way so I can maybe skip to those.

Finishing up some House of M-related issues. Nothing super great here, but I liked House of M: the Day After. It makes me want to read some of the other X-Men stuff that I skipped for so long. The sketchbook didn't really add anything to the series. The Avengers West Coast was ok, nothing spectacular.

[Raze]

229-233

Primer- This was a great read with great art. Very kid friendly (since its geared towards them) I bought it for my kids but they haven’t read it yet.

Mystic 5

Vault of Horror 25 I really liked this one all the stories were good!

Tales of Voodooo Vol 3 #1 great cover great interiors!

Punisher Return to Big  Nothing - I havent read a lot of Punisher but this was good.

 

[srezvan]

419 comics this year.

Marvel 1985 #1-6. Lead in to Marvel Vengeance, which is a lead in to Old Man Logan, is what I'm told. I read this in reverse order for no particular reason. Decent story. I don't want to ruin the ending, but I thought it was a big abrupt.

 

X-Men Deadly Genesis #1-6. Take place after House of M. This was my first time reading the story, although I generally knew the idea (retcon of GSX1). I was expecting it to be pretty bad, but as far as retcons go, I thought it was a decent read.

 

What If House of M - ok story, but poor artwork.

Marvel Fumetti Book - early 80s, but was the production quality poor on every copy? I couldn't really tell what was going on in about 40% of the panels. Maybe a laugh or two...maybe.

Marvel No Prize Book - Several really funny panels. The early Spider-Man ones were great, the Hawkeye one was good. A few other good ones.

[ttfitz]

Previous total - 364

Well it's that time - every year the local comic shop manager has something he does in the month of August (plus 4 days) which he calls the 100 Back Issues A Week Challenge. The idea is that every week for 5 weeks, you read 100 back issues (anything older than a year). The past few years when I've done this, I've tried to have a theme for my reading, and this year I chose Baltimore Comic Con Guests. The first week is in the bag, and here's what I read:

Cover 1-6
United States of Murder Inc 1-6
United States vs Murder Inc 1-6

Started out the week with some Bendis. A lot of his recent stuff has been mainstream Marvel and DC, and since I am way behind on all of that, I didn't know where I might start. So I figured on a few of his non-Universe work that I had waiting in my boxes. Cover I thought was excellent - engaging stories, great characters, just the right amount of humor, highly recommended. The two United States books were good, but didn't grab me in the same way. 

Paper Girls 1-15

Last year during the "lockdown" time, my daughter texted me and said, "Hey, somebody recommended this comic to me, it's calle Saga and it's really good, you should read it." So we did. And it was great. The only bad thing about Brian K. Vaughan being a guest this year at Baltimore is that my daughter is attending a wedding in Hawaii and won't be able to meet him. On the recommendation of the previously mentioned LCS manager, we've put Paper Girls on the reading list, and so far it's been a real kick. Don't know where it is going, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

Rachel Rising 1-42

I've "known" Terry Moore since before Strangers in Paradise came out (via the late great Compuserve Comic Forum), so before he was a star. He's always good for a great story, and this was no exception. Wish it hadn't ended as it did - felt a little abrupt, actually - but I believe some of the characters were featured in a later book (Five Years), which I'm looking forward to reading.

The Boys 1-10

Garth Ennis is appearing this year in Baltimore, and since my son had been talking about trying this series (he's a fan of the show), we decided to give it a read. Very interesting take on things, and very Ennisie, if you know what I mean.

Thor 337-351

Never been a big Thor fan, but I am a big Simonson fan (also known from my Compuserve days), and this has been in my boxes for years, so I'm reading it now. I guess it's a classic run for a reason....

Anyway, that's 100, so now we have reached .... 464.

[srezvan]

430 so far this year.

What If Deadly Genesis - finished Deadly Genesis last week. This was a great addition to the series and one of my favorite one-shots in quite some time. Reminds me of Black Mirror.

 

Son of M #1-6 - one of the (many) stories following the House of M mini-series, which I finished recently. Overall, a good read. Art was uneven at times. I enjoyed the story, with the exception of the time travel. Maybe it's just me, but it rarely makes sense and there tends to be a lot of holes. But story-wise, quite enjoyable to see Quicksilver's struggles and failures.

 

Death of Wolverine TPB - Another comic with lots of hype when it came out. I mostly read it because I'm a fan of Charles Soule, especially Letter 44 and Darth Vader. I don't have any intention of reading any of the thousand follow-up stories, but this was a fun, quick read. I'm so out of the loop on changes to some of the characters leading into this story, so I had to look a few things up online. 

[JWKyle]

Count: 75

G.I Joe : A real American hero (marvel) 1-75

Some Spoilers

I know I'm getting a late start but with just under 4 months left to go i'm going to give it a try. I've read alot of new releases this year from Marvel but I'm not going to count any of that. I have had a refocusing on my collecting and reading addiction. With that being said I have started with a new focus in reading :

1-10 are ok I don't think Larry Hama was quite hitting his stride yet, alot a characters were introduced and the foundation was put in place.

Somewhere in the mid teen issues they start hitting on all cyclinders. In the 20's you get issue 21 the classic you get some Snake eyes and Storm shadow origins Zartan becomes a Major player. I'm not going to touch on too much spoilers but DR. Vemon is killed and replaced with a better version DR. Mindbender. Serpentor is "made" and is pretty great. Cobra makes a Nation and tons of other crazy stuff is happening. Cobra commander is replaced by "Fred". The comics are so much better then the original cartoons. 

 

[srezvan]

442 comics so far this year

Kings Watch TPB - decent read. I'm a fan of the characters and came along this story somewhere. It's a reboot that acknowledges there's a history of Phantom, Mandrake, and Lothar, but is a new-ish origin of Flash Gordon. Some interesting parts, some silly things. There's a bunch of sequel material on my reading list (stand-alone stories, then they come back together as a team). I really liked the "Defenders of the Earth" reference.

 

Street Fighter vs. GI Joe TPB - such wasted potential. The story was nonsensical. You may be thinking, "Who cares about the story? It's just some silly pretext to get the characters together." I'd give you that, if the fights were great. But they were not. Short fights with some poor character choices from Street Fighter. This could have been so much better. (I would love to read the original GI Joe comics from Marvel, but the reprinted TPBs are getting expensive.)

 

Marvels: Epilogue - I commented earlier this year that I thought the original series from the 90s ended somewhat abruptly. This was a short comic (16 pages of story, then some commentary) that I thought closed the story out nicely. But it turns out that there is a sequel from a few years ago, Marvels: Eye of the Camera. I don't have it, so I'll get a copy and give it a read. Anyone read Astro City? Not sure if it's worth reading or not.

[Ken Aldred]

On 8/16/2021 at 1:20 AM, srezvan said:

Anyone read Astro City? Not sure if it's worth reading or not

Definitely worth a read.

[ttfitz]

On 8/15/2021 at 8:20 PM, srezvan said:

Anyone read Astro City? Not sure if it's worth reading or not.

Shut yo mouf!

Absolutely worth reading, particularly for fans of the Silver Age Marvel and DC books.

[Scrooge]

On 8/15/2021 at 8:20 PM, srezvan said:

Anyone read Astro City? Not sure if it's worth reading or not.

+3. Absolutely a delight. At least try the first two trades and go from there for more.