Happy November! I can hardly believe the year is coming to an end already. Needless to say, it's been a weird and wild one.
This week's comics are absolutely stellar, with only three DC, nine Marvel, and four independent publisher releases. Of those, two are from X of Swords, three are by Kelly Thompson, and two are from Black Label. I've done another trio of spotlights this week, showing off comic book representation! For the spotlight on people of color in comics, I'm discussing Grag Pak's Agents of Atlas, the first all-Asian superhero team! Then, after the reveal of Kate Pryde's bisexuality a few issues of Marauders ago, I'm discussing the sexuality of the X-Men, and how that changes through the years. Finally, with her three upstanding comic releases this week, I talk about writer Kelly Thompson, and how she chooses to be fresh with her characters without tearing them down or tormenting them first--something very common (and usually masculinity driven) in cape comics. Without further ado, Continue Reading for more comics talk!
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This is a longer week for comics by just a bit, with a total of eighteen pulls! Amazingly, in my opinion, exactly half are independent publishers, including Image, BOOM!, Dynamite, Titan, Aftershock, and Dark Horse Comics. I think that covers most the major indie publishers, missing maybe just IDW and one or two big players in the game.
I have all three spotlights ready to go this week! For the spotlight on people of color in comics, I'm discussing award-winning writer and educator Eve L. Ewing and her Champions book, starring a few highly representative teenage heroes. For queer topics in comics, I'm back with Far Sector, this time talking about main character Jo's omnisexuality! And last, for the spotlight on women in comics, I go over Adventureman's Claire Temple and her impressive sisters! Girl power, always and forever. This week also features what I'm going to call my Big Week of Big Books (suggestions welcome), after the continual plethora side-by-side favorites and mostly indie releases--Inkblot, Spy Island, Lonely Receiver, We Only Find Them When They're Dead, Black Widow, and Horizon Zero Dawn have been coming out on the same days, and it makes for an exciting week of reads! Continue Reading for all this and more discussion on this week's comic releases!
I refuse to hide in shame when I admit that three of my top-five picks this week are technically Dawn of X books. What can I say? Johnathon Hickman knows how to put together a universe.
X-Force, Marauders, and Empyre: X-Men are mt three mutant-based picks, leaving the other slots to this week's Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel. It also doesn't escape me how four fifths of this list are Marvel properties, but that is also easy to explain. Marvel's theory of "the more, the merrier" that they've had in recent years has excellent payoff, as far as I can see. There's something for everyone, no doubt about that. But let's not get too caught up in which publisher may or may not be better than others. When it comes down to it, Marvel and DC are both massive conglomerates that care only about their bottom dollar and give very little effort in terms of creator benefits. Dark sides of the industry aside, this was a pretty good week for comics! I'll admit that many of the other issues faltered for me, and many felt unimportant or like filler. These five, however, were the obvious choices that stood out for me in story, art, and overall quality, Continue Reading to find out more about my top picks from the week! WARNING: SPOILERS!
It's another banger of a comics week, with books of all kinds! At Marvel, the EMPYRE event wages on, leaving both excellence and stupidity in it's wake; plus X-books, some spiders, and a few unjustly digital-first released books finally getting their print release. DC has two doomed books, Mariko Tamaki's second issue of WONDER WOMAN, and more METAL! The indie stack is fairly well represented, with a new #1, Matt Fraction and the Dodsons' ADVENTUREMAN, and more Image books from Christopher Priest!
You may note I didn't do a "pick list" for last week. Usually I try to do them on Thursday, after binging the weekly comics by that afternoon. This week, however, I went on a road-trip Thursday instead! We went to the Bay Area for toy and comic book hunting, and I am pleased to report we found some INCREDIBLE collection pieces! I'll be writing somewhat about those eventually, but for now, onto the coming week's pulls! Continue Reading to see all the comics goodies I have picked out this week! Ok, this is getting embarrassing. There's only so many weeks I can get away with having a mostly-Marvel pull list before it starts to look like I'm a massive Marvel stan (a term I hate and immediately regret using). Don't get me wrong, I obviously really like Marvel, but my Marvel-heavy pull lists are more of a comment on the current state of the comics industry than my personal taste. Go to any twitter page/message board/Reddit sub, you'll see a surprising amount of comic book fans reporting confusing and lazy editing, writing, and events at DC Comics in the past year or so. I'm sad to say it's a pattern I noticed as well, and the reason I only have a handful of DC books on my subscription list at all. And, of those, they're almost entirely Black Label books--the publishing house under DC where they put all their out-of-canon hero stories and non-cape comics. For these reasons, I've been working on adding more independent publisher content to by subscription list. There's a lot of new indie books starting in 2020, so now is the perfect tie to spread my comic-reading wings. And, if you've been keeping up, none of this is news. These are trends I've been writing about for months now, and it's only getting more obvious. Publishing giant disappointments aside, there's always amazing comics still coming out. INCLUDING some great DC books ;). Continue reading to see what I have this week! NEW Comic Books for JANUARY 1ST, 2020!12/29/2019 Happy New Year! I've been AWOL for a week or two, as last week didn't have much by way of comics, and I was still pretty swamped with work and hobbies through the holidays. Plus, what an INSANE week we had just before Christmas, with average pull lists of dedicated readers reaching over twenty books that Wednesday. Thea year is starting off a little easier on our wallets than that, but that's not to say the books being released are any less interesting. In fact, the year starts off strong this week with three new series' that I'll be reading, among the other pulls. Last year, one of my goals was the broaden my comic book reading list--add variety. I feel like this year I've done a great job of that, and because of it, I've been reading some really excellent books. This year, I'll grow off that sentiment, and say my comic book reading goal is to not waste my time (and money) on series' that aren't what I wished for. In short, I'll be continuing to read just as much and more, but I'll get a little picky. If I'm not feeling a series, that's fine, there are plenty more to replace it with. Adding on to that as well, I already have a few creator-owned titles on my list for their debut in March, so I expect my comic pull list t be very rounded out by the end of 2020. With all that out of the way, continue reading to find out what's good for the first week of comics in 2020! New Comic Book Pulls DECEMBER 4th, 201911/30/2019 If there's anything that's true about my life today, it's that I'm thoroughly enjoying my weekly comics. It feels like around every corner, there's another excellent new series sitting there, waiting to be explored. These past few weeks have been BUSTING at the seams with new comics, so this week's nine is a nice quieter week. Three more X-Books, as it looks like Hickman has his team on 2-week intervals, Tom King's second-to-last every issue of Batman, and the well-regarded creative team of Thor is back with what promises to be a legendary one-shot with some of the best characters. It's officially December now, which means the countdown to 2020 is fully on! What should I do for the end of the year, a favorites summary? Top-5 comics of the year? Top-10? In any case, Continue Reading for this week's pulls! NEW COMICS MEGA-WEEK! November 20th, 201911/17/2019 Holy pull-list Batman! The year is finishing off STRONG for comics, as I have a massive NINETEEN issues I'm reading! Thank goodness Thanksgiving "break" is coming up, and I'll have a few extra days off from work to catch up on my reading. All of these issues coming out this week are set to be totally stellar, too. Of the 19, three are one-shots, a Deadpool #1, the final issue of Absolute Carnage, a landmark Captain Marvel issue, and one of Tom King's last ever on Batman. Amazing stuff, as we've been seeing a LOT of recently. It makes me look forward to what the future of comics has to bring, and makes me want to share the brilliant stories and art I see in them with anyone who'll listen. Comics are a world I love, and I'm thrilled to share it with others. Continue Reading for the whole lot of this week's comics! At this point, you should get the picture: it's always a good week for comics. Since earlier this year, I've been challenging myself to round out my personal pull list to include more variety, as well as just more in general. Compared to a year ago, my pull list has doubled in size on a weekly basis, so I'm reading a lot more as well as recommending a lot more. The more knowledge about comics I have, the more I can talk about it to you people! It's great. As I always say, it's a good time to be a nerd. There's all kinds of amazing comics coming out week after week, so I know you're missing out if you aren't hitting up your Local Comic Shop! Talk to your own local shops about getting in issues you're interested in, and what recommendations they might have based on your interests. If I can read twelve issues a week with a full-time job, you can read a few, too! In the meantime, I'll be continuing my weekly run-downs of comics I read and recommend, as well as other reviews, un-boxings, discussions, and recipes mixed in. Continue Reading to see what I've got this week!
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