Weekly Recap - July 17th, 2010

Intro/Random:
Good news from the exterminator... just ants, not termites. And not many ants, at that. Whew!

This week I had mini-churros from Jack in the Box and a Son of a Peach donut from Gordough's. Both were quite delicious in very different ways.

Video is running kinda slow on my computer of late... thinking I need a new system. Also thinking I can't afford said system. I also want an HDTV, an iPhone 4, one of the new XBoxes, a new computer desk and any number of other gadget-y type things I can't afford.

Berkeley Breathed is going to be signing at the IDW booth in San Diego. There's my first slight twinge of sadness I'm not going. On the other hand, knowing I'd probably have to wait in line for hours to get my book signed takes the edge off considerably.

Comics I Read This Week:
Avengers Academy #2 - Not bad. I'm still not really invested in the kids, but Gage is doing interesting stuff with their powers and personalities.

Chew #12 - I continue to love this book. Love the "mistaken page" bit of storytelling this issue, love the Chu/Amelia relationship, love the last page cliffhanger, love Poyo, love the art throughout... just one of my favorite books.

Hack/Slash: My First Maniac #1-2 - A great take on the "year one" story for Cassie Hack. I've long been a fan of this series, and I'm glad to see it getting a new spotlight and a chance for new readers at Image.

Sixth Gun #2 - It was a long wait for the second issue, but totally worth it. Much as I loved Damned, Sixth Gun is even better. Great western/supernatural adventure, love the characters and Hurtt's artwork is fantastic.

Sweets #1 - The book looks fantastic, which is no surprise... the story is expansive and scattered, and it's either going to come together beautifully or wind up being an over-ambitious mess by the end. But there's enough potential in this New Orleans-based crime story that I want to follow up and see which way it goes.

Thanos Imperative #2 - If this is the swan song for the Abnett/Lanning cosmic stuff, they're going out big. So far, it's as good as Annihilation and Conquest. I sure hope these guys are doing the new Cosmic Avengers book, because they've got this stuff down to a science.

Unwritten #15 - Wow, things are happening fast in this book. The literary geography, conspiracy elements and just generally great character interaction make this easily my favorite Mike Carey book, and easily my favorite new Vertigo book since Y and Fables.

Graphic Novels I Read This Week:
Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites
BPRD Vol 13 1947

Reread Absolute Planetary Volume 1 and it was actually even better than I remembered it, Was very pleased with Absolute Planetary Volume 2 as well.

Brody's Ghost Vol 1 - Mark Crilley is *criminally* underrated in the comics industry. He's beloved by those that know him, but too few know him. Akiko, his earlier work, is a masterpiece that can most easily be described as Star Wars meets Wizard of Oz filtered through the sensibilities of Miyazaki. After that, the four part Miki Falls is a wonderful piece of supernatural romance.

And now we have Brody's Ghost, drawing on Crilley's asian influences to create a story of ghosts and psychic power wrapped up in a empowering oneself theme with fantastic characters, beautiful art and a very promising story.

Fans of Jeff Smith or Kazu Kibuishi's work should *definitely* check this out. It's a great opener, I can't wait for more, and I hope more people discover Crilley's work

Retailer Thought of the Week:
Almost as annoying as Marvel/DC's "three Wolverine/three Batman" in one week? The *flood* of long-delayed indie books that inevitably crowds my shelves the week before San Diego. At which point they're all competing much harder for the few indie fans' dollars, just like the Wolverine books compete for Wolverine fans' money.

On the upside, however, the flood of IDW material includes Scott Morse's new Strange Science Fantasy *and* Darwyn Cooke's Man With The Getaway Face teaser.

TV/Movies:
Missed Karate Kid at the Drafthouse, so we went to see it at Tinseltown. I actually saw three movies in the theater this week, which is a bit of a rarity. Saw Karate Kid (better than expected, Katy really liked it), Sorcerer's Apprentice (surprisingly solid little urban fantasy action movie. Would have liked more wacky Nic Cage (TM), but... fun!) and Inception (which I'm actually seeing after I write this recap, but I'm excited for).

Covert Affairs: Interesting opener, love some of the supporting cast, and it does have sort of a low-rent Alias feel to it. Of course, I loved the first couple seasons of Alias, and this is merely OK, but... I'll keep up with it for a few episodes, at least.

Accidentally watched about five minutes of a Castle rerun, including the fun opening sequence. Damn it, I'm gonna have to watch this show now, aren't I?

Does it make me a bad fan that I don't care at all whether Edward Norton is the Hulk or not? I like Edward Norton, but I didn't think he embodied Banner the way Downey Jr. just nailed Tony Stark, and I doubt Banner will be very prominent in the Avengers movie.

Along similar lines, if you think we should cast a wrestler for Thor or Captain America because "they're big enough" we can't have a serious discussion about superhero casting.

Walking Dead on AMC is looking pretty promising. The new cast shot is great, and this interview with Michelle MacLaren is pretty good as well.

Other Links:
My sister writes about their son's autism... and I thought she did an amazing job.

Weekly Comics for May 12-19, 2010

American Vampire #3 (Fantastic stuff, I'm very much enjoying both stories, although Snyder's lead story is head and shoulders above King's back story)

Girl Comics #2 (Amazing artwork on this one from Colleen Coover, Jill Thompson, etc. Really dug the Shamrock and Inhumans stories, too)

Origins Of Marvel Comics #1 (One- or two-page origin stories with unbelievable artists. The choices for who gets origins seem a bit random, but there's a lot of good stuff here. A pleasant surprise)

Enter The Heroic Age #1 (Wasn't crazy about the Black Widow story, but every other one in here I really liked, and I *loved* the Hawkeye/Mockingbird and Thunderbolts stories)

Daytripper #6 (Depressing, but still gorgeous)

Unwritten #13 (Another promising new story starts, and this is by far my favorite new Vertigo series, even over Sweet Tooth and American Vampire)

Weekly Comics for May 5, 2010

Or, as we call it around these parts, "the weekly comics that nearly killed Randy." Seriously, flooding in Tennessee and incompetence on the parts of some members of Diamond and UPS led to me driving to San Antonio unexpectedly on Thursday so I could get my comics a day and a half late. After two competitors in town had gotten theirs practically on time.

Not my best week ever. But a good week for comics, as it turns out.

Captain America #602-604 (Lost interest during Reborn, but finally decided to give this one another look, and I like the updated Watchdogs. Still unconvinced bringing Steve Rogers back was a good idea, but the Bucky/Falcon stories continue to be pretty strong)

Demo Vol. 2 #4 (Another great one-off from Wood and Cloonan. This is actually a stronger series than the first one, and I loved the first one)

Hellboy in Mexico (Hellboy and Mexican wrestlers battle vampires, witches and the Devil in '50s Mexico. Written by Mignola, art by Corben. And it's actually *more* awesome than that sounds)

I, Zombie #1 (Fantastic artwork by Allred, and an intriguing, funny premise from Chris Roberson. Fans of Dead Like Me or True Blood should give this a look... as should anyone else, really - it's a great Vertigo launch for $1)

The Killer Modus Vivendi #1 (Reminiscent of the excellent first issue of the original series, as the Killer comes out of retirement and gets involved in something political, big and dangerous)

Orc Stain #3 (Stunning artwork on this one, and Stokoe is really creating an interesting world with his grungy orcs)

Sweet Tooth #9 (The origin of Jefferd continues, and it's as heart-breaking as his betrayal was at the end of the first arc)

Weekly Comics for April 28, 2010

Usagi Yojimbo #128 (Another great one-off story with Usagi as he travels around the country and meets a family... the Usagi/kid thing has been getting more focus since the introduction of Johtaro, and I find that really interesting)

The Terminator #2 (Really enjoying this so far... great art, compelling characters)

Marvel Zombies 5 #2 (The series is increasingly less about zombies and more about weird C-list characters working for A.R.M.O.R. - and I am totally OK with that)

The Guild #2 (Fun, great art by Rugg, interesting look at the early days of these characters)

GI Joe Cobra II #4 (Not as strong as the opener, but still really good)

A-Team War Stories Murdock (In a similar vein, not as entertaining as the Hannibal one-shot, but kinda fun)

Weekly Comics for April 21, 2010

American Vampire #2 (Really good second issue. Snyder's main story is the best of the bunch, with King's flashback a little weaker, but the art is good throughout. At this point, I definitely see myself picking up the trade.)

Nova #36 & Guardians of the Galaxy #25 (I think Marvel just stealth-canceled two of my favorite books. Still, three years and two years respectively is a good run for cosmic superheroes, and it's all culminating in a big universe vs. Thanos story, so I can't complain too much. The Realm of Kings stuff was too disjointed and unfocused, as compared to War of Kings and Annihilation, but the conclusion makes me more likely to pick everything up, if in fact it all gets collected)

Also bought: Bloom County Vol 2 HC, RASL Vol 2 TP, Sandman Mystery Theatre Vol 8 TP

Weekly Comics for April 7-14, 2010

Sweet Tooth #8 (Still loving this series, and I love that it's still in the setup phase, so there's plenty of mystery but also enough solid material to keep me interested)

Demo Vol 2 #3 (Strangely upbeat for a Demo story, a great visual bit that could only really work in comics the same way... Wood/Cloonan are an amazing team)

Marvel Zombies 5 #1 (Caught up on Van Lente's Marvel Zombies, and it's solid, entertaining stuff. This new inter-dimensional exploring anti-zombie task force has potential to be the most fun yet)

BPRD King of Fear #4 (Fantastic post-apocalyptic and pre-apocalyptic stuff, and Davis's work continues to be breath-taking. That fallen BPRD helicarrier is amazing)

Daytripper #5 (Loved the story, will definitely pick up the trade at this point, but... some of these are getting really depressing)

Daredevil #506 (Not sure I'm buying the big twist, but I continue to like seeing Murdock deal with the politics of the Hand)

Chew #10 (Wraps up the second story arc, and like Sweet Tooth, I love how much we've got but also love that it feels like there's a lot more story left to tell)

Unwritten #12 (Reminiscent of #5, my favorite issue of the series, this is a standalone in a Winnie the Pooh/Wind in the Willows style story)

A-Team War Stories Face (None of these one-shots have lived up to the fun of the first one, Hannibal, but this was kind of fun, and I'm itching to see Bradley Cooper play this role in the film)

Iron Man Legacy #1 (Given the success of Invincible, I'm not sure folks were clamoring for a second Iron Man title, but this is a pretty good first issue. I particularly liked Tony's war suit)

Iron Man Noir #1 (Seemed a weird call at first, but I loved this adventurer take on Tony, which is part Rocketeer, part Indiana Jones and all written by one of my new favorite writers, American Vampire's Scott Snyder)

Super Heroes Marvel Adventures #1 (Must be an Iron Man movie coming, huh? Given that this story focuses much more on Invisible Woman, and Iron Man's on the cover. This is a weird mix, a little like The Authority or The Ultimates in dealing with the dangers of super-powered beings, and a little Stan Lee in its team dynamics and personal stories. It's a strange team, a strange foe and a strange tone, but... I like it)

Weekly Comics for March 31, 2010

Terminator #1 (A pleasant surprise, this was a really good story about the early days of the human vs. Terminator war by Zack Whedon, with very nice art by Andy MacDonald.)

GI Joe Cobra II #3 (Starting to lose track of the characters and plot, think I might switch to trades on this... still really enjoy it, just think I'll enjoy it more in bigger chunks)

Usagi Yojimbo #127 (Usagi runs across a new character who is at a similar crossroads to the one he had when he first became a ronin. Another interesting story showing that Sakai will probably never run out of Usagi tales to tell)

Also bought: Pluto Vol 8, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3

Weekly Comics for March 17-24, 2010

American Vampire #1 (Great opening issue, with really good artwork in two different styles from Rafael Albuquerque and Scott Snyder actually steals the show from Stephen King, but both segments of the story are strong. Another solid launch from Vertigo, which is on a bit of a streak lately.)

The Guild #1 (They had me at Jim Rugg, and his art doesn't disappoint. But the story is fun, too, no surprise that it fits seamlessly into the style and continuity of the Guild webseries given that it's written by Felicia Day, who acquits herself fairly well in the transition from writing for screen and writing for comics.)

Orc Stain #2 (I love this book. Spectacularly beautiful, and the fantasy world by way of orcs is a lot of fun.)

Guardians of the Galaxy #24 (Still think Craig's art is out of place on this book, but it's growing on me, and really enjoying the build-up to the next big cosmic epic. Abnett & Lanning haven't let me down yet.)

A-Team War Stories: Hannibal #1 (Mildly cheesy, but a fun standalone action story set during the Iraq War and starring Colonel "Hannibal" John Smith. Dixon was the perfect choice to write this one.)

Robocop #3 (OK, I think this is where they lost me. I might need to read the whole arc again to see if it sticks with me, but I've lost a lot of the story/character threads and so this issue didn't connect.)

Also bought: Robotika Vol 2, The Killer Vol 2, Wondermark Vol 3, Mysterius the Unfathomable

Weekly Comics for March 10, 2010

The Unwritten #11 (Fascinating story about a bit of literature & film I was unfamiliar with, this book reminds me a lot of all the things I liked about Sandman)

Batman & Robin #10 (The writing on this is Morrison at his most scattershot, wild ideas sometimes landing and sometimes going off wild, but while it may not be his most coherent book, it remains exceptionally readable. Far below All-Star Superman and his New X-Men run as far as his superhero work, at least for me, but I must admit I love the freshness he's bringing to it. And Andy Clarke, stepping in on art, does an able job of filling the big shoes Cameron Stewart left for him.)

Criminal The Sinners #5 (Actually upbeat, as far as Criminal endings go, which means its still dark and gritty and riveting)

BPRD King of Fear #3 (Man, these poor guys can't catch a break. No matter what they do, somebody is destined to end the world.)

Daytripper #4 (Slice-of-life tales, beautifully illustrated, with a touch of tragedy and a surprisingly familiar ending motif... great read.)

Also bought: Modern Masters Guy Davis, Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade

Weekly Comics for March 3, 2010

Milestone Forever #2 (Damn, that was great. A terrific cap to a universe that has been waiting for its ending for far too long, and a new beginning, if DC is smart enough to give McDuffie the hands-off approach and marketing support to do it. Even though they probably won't, though, this was a great reminder of how much I loved Static & Hardware in particular and Milestone in general.)

Chew #9 (Continue to love this book as it builds its cast, expands on its story and makes me laugh, month after month.)

Demo Vol 2 #2 (Wow. Creepy. And effective. Loving Demo Vol 2 as much as, maybe even a little more, than the original.)

Sweet Tooth #7 (As bleak in its way as Walking Dead, and just as gripping, but with a smaller, more manageable cast. Loving this book.)

Girl Comics #1 (Bit of a mixed bag, writing-wise, but has some gems, and some great art throughout, and is worth it for the "posies" panel in Valerie D'Orazio's story and the Colleen Coover intro pages alone.)

Weekly Comics for February 24, 2010

Usagi Yojimbo #126 (Funny story, with another great monster from Japanese mythology used in an unconventional way. Also, unrelated to story, wish I had $400 to buy those Roku statues on the back. Droool.)

Robocop #2 (Still a nice blend of the satirical style of the '80s movie with updated issues for the '00s, plenty of action and ultra-violence as well. A good sequel to the first movie.)

GI Joe Cobra II #2 (More of a great dark crime take on G.I. Joe undercover and Cobra's inner workings from Gage, Costa and Fuso... they even managed to make Dr. Mindbender work in this grittier context.)

Joe the Barbarian #2 (Reminding me of Seaguy. Which is to say, beautiful to look at, intriguing, but I have no freakin' idea what's going on most of the time. But I enjoy it despite that.)

Batman & Robin #9 (Damn, this book is odd. Having fun with it, though.)

Tales of the Dragon Guard #1 (Spectacular artwork, really interesting take on dragons, plus violence and boobs.)

Irredeemable #11 (Waid is deliberately drawing out the suspense on Bette Noir's secret, and it is *killing* me. In a good way. Also, it becomes increasingly clear that Plutonian has been a monster from a very early age.)

Incorruptible #3 (Max Damage reminds me of a more sociopathic Holden Carver from Sleeper, Jailbait is a great, hilarious sidekick and the whole flipside to Irredeemable has proven to be just as good as Irredeemable itself.)

Atomic Robo Revenge o/t Vampire Dimension #1 (As strange, and as good, as all of the Atomic Robo series have been thus far.)

Also bought: Classic GI Joe Vol 7, Incredible Hercules: Sacred Invasion HC

Weekly Comics for February 17, 2010

Finally got around to reading comics for this week, and I'm still behind, need to read Incorruptible #3, Joe the Barbarian #2 and the new Atomic Robo, plus 28 Days Later and some other Boom! stuff I've gotten behind on.

Incredible Hercules #141 (The whole "Assault on New Olympus" thing has been hit and miss for me, and I miss the more confident, assured Amadeus Cho - this whole story has been a touch dark and full of "look! It's a twist and a crazy status quo change!" for me. I'd rather have Hercules dressed as Thor sleeping with blue elf girls, honestly. Still good, but falling short of the great where it was.)

Guardians of the Galaxy #23 (Love the story, especially like the Guardians playing secret service to Blastaar and Crystal. The art... Wes Craig is a very good, stylish artist, but his style is a bad fit for this particular book. I hope to see more of him, but I don't think he works here.)

Daredevil #505 (Continuing to love this. Very Kill Bill O-Ren Ishii styled with Daredevil in Japan, and I like exploring the structure of the Hand. I dig Marco Checchetto's art, too)
Also bought: Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys Vol 7, Starman Omnibus Vol 4

Weekly Comics for February 10, 2010

Choker #1 (Well, that was damned odd. Beautiful to look at and certainly intriguing, but odd. Recommended for the Fell crowd, definitely.)

Tails of the Pet Avengers (A fun one-shot throughout, but the Colleen Coover penned and drawn Ms. Lion short is the best thing I read this week. So much fun.)

BPRD King of Fear #2 (Damn, Liz is getting scary. And I'm loving Bruno, and hope Kate comes around to his charms. Also, ghosts and monsters.)

Batman & Robin #8 (I'm starting to think I'll like this a lot better in a collected format, the bite-size story chunks just aren't satisfying enough to me.)

S.W.O.R.D. #4 (I'll be sad to see this one go. This issue was a bit down from the rest, but it's key to moving everything into place for the end of the story.)

Daytripper #3 (Gorgeous, great reading as always)

Unwritten #10 (Love to see Tommy Taylor taking a bit more control, love some more hints of what's going on with the meta-fiction, love the ghost of Nazi Germany and... wow. That ending. What is going to happen next? One of my absolute favorite books at the moment.)

Weekly Comics for February 3, 2010

Criminal The Sinners #4 (Another dark, twisted, gorgeous looking issue of the best crime book this decade... and maybe the previous one, unless you measure it against other Brubaker/Phillips stuff)

Demo Vol 2 #1 (Wow. Every bit as good as I remembered it being, and that's based not on distant fond memories but a recent re-reading of the Demo trade. Sure to be one of my favorite series of 2010)

GI Joe Origins #12 (A darker-than-usual take on the origin of the Baroness, courtesy of Andreyko and Templesmith. How long have they been doing this series as one-shots focusing on different characters with different creative teams? Because that interests me quite a bit)

Sweet Tooth #6 (Second story arc starts off well, as we get a little more background on the mysterious Mr. Jepperd and see that he's had his own share of tragedy)

Milestone Forever #1 (Damn, this made me want to drag all my old Milestone books out and re-read them. I'd clearly forgotten where the status quo left off, but minor details aside, it was good to see all these characters again)

Also bought: Wizard's Tale HC, Crogan's March

Weekly Comics for January 20-27, 2010

Joe the Barbarian #1 (Slow paced opener, but fantastic art, and I'm certainly interested in seeing where it goes)

Irredeemable #10 (I'm completely hooked on this now, can't wait to find out more of the secrets that lead up to this point)

Incredible Hercules #140 (The Assault on New Olympus story has been fantastic thus far, maybe not quite as good as the Thorcules story, but pretty close)

RASL #6 (Jeff Smith writes and draws a primer on the life and history of Nikola Tesla? Yes, please.)

GI Joe Cobra II #1 (Dark as hell, but also the best of the new IDW GI Joe comics. It's not the regular tone I'd like for GI Joe, but I love it as a Cobra book. Only problem is, a lot of the folks who'd enjoy it for it's gritty undercover vibe will never read it because it says GI Joe on the cover)

Robocop #1 (I always lose interest in these licensed comics, but Rob Williams, Fabiano Neves and Dynamite offer up a slick Robocop sequel here that dodges the suckiness of the other two movies, adds the economic meltdown of the '00s to the '80s political parody of the original movie and has plenty of cool action to boot. Surprisingly, one of my favorite reads in a really good week of comics)

Detective Comics #861 (Goddamn but Jock is a fantastic artist)

Guardians of the Galaxy #22 (I've lost interest in Nova until the Sphinx story is over, and I'm kind of bored with the other Realm of Kings tie-ins, but this one, with it's space megachurch of evil zealots and great superteam banter/action, continues to be one of my favorite Marvel comics)

Batman & Robin #7 (After the long wait, this was a little disappointing. Morrison's storytelling is choppy (where the hell did Batwoman come from?), not helped by the balloon placement fuck-up, leading to sort of a good-but-not-great vibe from me. Beautiful Cameron Stewart artwork, though)

Daredevil #504 (I love that Diggle has maintained the dark, Murdock is up against horrible odds and has to make terrible choices vibe while making Daredevil more of an active protagonist than a victim. And I'm digging the art by De La Torre/Hollingsworth. Daredevil continues to be one of Marvel's best books)

Chew #8 (Wondering how much of this story was a result of Layman wanting to put "King of Cocks" on the cover, because that cracked me up. Anyway, fantastic as usual, best new book of 2009 and in the running for best series of 2010 already)

Also bought in the last two weeks: Pluto Vol 7, Afrodisiac HC, Return of King Doug HC

Weekly Comics for January 13, 2009

Daytripper #2 (Slice-of-life tales with a touch of magic from Brazil by Gabriel Ba & Fabio Moon. Beautiful to look at, mesmerizing to read, as good as their work on De:Tales and other projects they've done together)

Orc Stain #1 (Spectacularly beautiful to look at, and fun take on fantasy with orcs as protagonists)

S.W.O.R.D. #3 (This is a fantastic book about aliens in the Marvel Universe that far too few people are reading. Love the artwork, love the characters, love the dialogue. Kieron Gillen is going to be a name people are tossing around with Warren Ellis in a year or two, and this may wind up a forgotten gem. Read it now so you'll look smart then.)

The Unwritten #9 (Wow. After last issue, I thought they might, but I'm still surprised they went there. Dark issue, but really interesting and compelling as well)

Weekly Comics for January 6, 2010

BPRD King of Fear #1 (Spectacular artwork as always, fun to see Bruno again and I love the bureaucratic/political interference from the government.)

Mass Effect: Redemption #1 (Interesting enough, but a little hard to follow. Then again, I haven't finished the first game, or indeed played it in a long while, so maybe I'm just not remembering enough about the world. Not real friendly to those who don't already know the world and its characters, though.)

Stumptown #2 (Really liked it, but the outside factors of a two month wait for the issue (with no explanation) and seeing it turned from an ongoing to a four-issue mini have me disappointed more than anything. I thought this was going to be a favorite new series in 2010, something to stand with Criminal, but that's clearly not going to be the case.)

Sweet Tooth #5 (Wow. Brutal ending to the first arc, and Lemire's artwork continues to impress, especially the unconventional staging of the big climactic fight scene with Jefferd and the militia.)

Also bought today: Young Avengers HC, Thor Ages of Thunder HC, Missile Mouse Volume 1, Kazu Kibuishi's Copper, The Unwritten Vol 1 TP

Weekly Comics for November 25, 2009

Didn't get a chance to read everything I wanted to, notably Beasts of Burden, but here's what I did read this week:

Chew #6 (Fantastic start to the new story, surprising and pleasing return of a character I really liked in the first issue, fantastic artwork and great comedic timing as usual - Best new book of the year? Yep.)

Criminal Sinners #2 (Loving the return of Tracy Lawless, and the murder mystery he's investigating is an interesting one)

Incredible Hercules #138 (I need to read the rest of Assault on New Olympus, but I got enough to enjoy this, which was a lot of fun. References to Ocean's 11, Ghostbusters and Harryhausen along with the Avengers battling a corporation made up of Greek gods and titans makes for good times)

Guardians of the Galaxy #20 (I miss some of the characters, but I admire Abnett & Lanning for being unafraid to mess with the status quo, and I love what they're doing with the rift, Knowhere and the Church of Universal Truth. I've always wanted a superhero sci-fi book like this, I just didn't know it.)

Weekly Comics for November 11 & November 18, 2009

I have been really neglecting this blog of late. Modern Warfare 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 absorbed a lot of my free time for November so far.

Daredevil #502 (Damn. Diggle's run so far is fantastic)

Hellboy The Wild Hunt #8 (Great finale, and I'm really enjoying what Mignola and Fegredo are doing with the characters)

Unwritten #7 (Hasn't hit the heights of #5 again, but is a really good read, reminiscent in quality and world-building of what this team did on Lucifer)

Batman and Robin #6 (Not a fan of Tan's artwork, but in general, still really into this book)

S.W.O.R.D. #1 (The art is gonna turn some folks off, but I love it, a perfect fit for Gillen's quirky take on sci-fi in the Marvel Universe. I hope this book sticks around, because I thought the first issue was a blast)

Realm of Kings Imperial Guard #1 (Not a huge fan of these characters, and without the rest of the Realm of Kings cast involved, I find I don't care much about who is running the Shi'ar)

Marvel Adventures Superheroes #17 (A fun relaunch of sorts for the all-ages Avengers)

X-Men Legacy #229 (Emplate = bleh. Acuna's art not my favorite. But I'm still liking this book, mostly due to Carey's take on Rogue. I wish it weren't getting dragged into the orbit of the other X-books, I liked it better when it was out there on its own)

Realm of Kings (Wow, did not expect that. Cthulhu-tinged Avengers vs. Quasar? Surprisingly fun)

Weekly Comics for November 4, 2009

I missed reading comics last week, so this is sort of a catch-up post with this week's comics as well.

Sweet Tooth #3 (We see the extent of the post-apocalyptic world for the first time. I'm really loving this new Vertigo book)

Nova #31 (The Darkhawk revamp didn't work as well as the Nova one, but I did like seeing him guest-starring, and I love the new status quo for the Worldmind, Nova Corps and it's new drill sergeant)

X-Men vs Agents of Atlas #2 (Fun, although between this and Assault on New Olympus, it felt like there was a lot of reading other comics I wasn't interested in to keep up with Agents of Atlas and Incredible Hercules, which I am)

Superman World of New Krypton #9 (In the immortal words of Willow from Buffy: Bored now.)

Guardians of the Galaxy #19 (Not digging the art, and... did they just kill off a bunch of great characters, or is there a restoration coming?)

Nova #30 (The old Nova's new role is something I like, and I also like the resolution of the Ego story)

Batman Brave and the Bold #10 (Fun little story with the Atom and Batman battling it out, kaiju monster style)

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #55 (I'm an issue behind, but this was another great one, with a fun take on Captain America... Tobin is *killing it* on this book)

Detective Comics #858 (The origin of Batwoman... dark as hell, but well-written. And I loved the more conventional art style used by JH Williams III here, as much as I love his usual style)

Stumptown #1 (This one has been getting a lot of well-deserved praise on the Internet. It might be Rucka's best book since Whiteout or Queen & Country, it's got a lot of influence from Criminal, and I loved it. One of my favorite first issues of the year)