Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 3.5/5
Art: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
Filed under: cxPulp.com, MARVEL, Marvel Universe, Uncanny X-Force | Tagged: Comic Reviews, Cory Petit, Dean White, Greg Tocchini, Jared K. Fletcher, Jason Keith, Jody Leheup, Leinil Francis Yu, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Rick Remender, Sebastian Girner, Uncanny X-Force, x-force | Leave a comment »
Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 2.5/5
Art: 3.5/5
Overall: 2/5
Filed under: cxPulp.com, DC, New 52, The, Superman | Tagged: Brett Smith, Brian Buccellato, Comic Reviews, Dan Jurgens, DC, DC Comics, George Perez, Jesus Merino, Keith Giffen, Matt Idelson, Measure of a Superman, New 52, Nicola Scott, Richard Horie, Rob Leigh, Superman, Tanya Horie, Trevor Scott, Wil Moss | Leave a comment »
Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 3/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5
Filed under: cxPulp.com, INDEPENDENT/SMALL-PRESS PUBLISHERS, Infestation 2 (IDW) [event], Infestation 2: Dungeons & Dragons | Tagged: Chris Mowry, Comic Reviews, Denton J. Tipton, Dragons, Dungeons, IDW, IDW Publishing, Infestation, Infestation 2, John Barber, menton3, Paul Crilley, ScarletGothica, Valerio Schiti | Leave a comment »
Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 2.5/5
Art: 3.5/5
Overall: 2.5/5
Filed under: Batman: The Dark Knight, cxPulp.com, DC, New 52, The | Tagged: Bane, Batman, Comic Reviews, Dark Knight, David Finch, DC, DC Comics, Jeromy Cox, Joe Harris, Mike Marts, Paul Jenkins, richard friend, Rickey Purdin, Rise of Bane, Run Rabbit Run, Sal Cipriano | 1 Comment »
Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 4/5
Art: 3.5/5
Overall: 4/5
Filed under: cxPulp.com, INDEPENDENT/SMALL-PRESS PUBLISHERS, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: Bobby Curnow, Comic Reviews, Dan Duncan, IDW, IDW Publishing, Kevin Eastman, Ninja Turtles, Ronda Pattison, Shawn Lee, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TMNT, Tom Waltz | 1 Comment »
As I’ve not been blogging regularly lately, there are a number of things I’ve been thinking about, had thoughts about, and generally considered blogging about/retreading, but haven’t. I sat down Saturday morning for awhile and typed a lot more than I intended. So I’ve broken that into several posts (this is one of those posts).
DC NATION AND COMIC-BASED ANIMATED SERIES’ SCHEDULING
I watched the premiere of Young Justice when it started, and the next couple episodes. I enjoyed it for the most part. But it was so darned INCONSISTENT with new episodes.
I have encountered this issue with the Avengers series and Wolverine & the X-Men. I don’t like “mid-season breaks,” but I’m not gonna chase a series, and when they’re a “half-hour” per episode (about 22-24 minutes of actual content), I’m not gonna “keep up” when there’s a couple new episodes then reruns; several more new episodes then reruns, etc.
Most recently, I watched the premiere of the new Green Lantern animated series…NEARLY THREE MONTHS AGO. I figured I’d missed the rest of the series…only to find out that that one episode was the only one out so far, apparently. So probably not gonna bother.
Then there’s the way these things get “collected” on DVD. Putting out 4-5+ releases for a single season SUCKS, and I’ll wait for the single-set releases, if at all (by waiting instead of paying $50+ for the individual Wolverine and the X-Men releases, I got the full season for $25.
DISTRACTIONS FROM ACTUAL COMICS
Last year, I picked up the first of the Walking Dead novels, The Rise of the Governor. I went pretty much from that into Grisham’s newest, The Litigators. From there I went to Stephen King’s newest, 11/22/63. I went from that right into the “Millennium Trilogy”–The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest. From that I gave Game of Thrones a try (George R. R. Martin’s first book in the Song of Ice and Fire series). After a slow start, Game of Thrones had my full attention. Even planning to give some time between books, I ended up buying the ebook of Clash of Kings the same day I finished GoT.
A few months ago, I swore that my iPhone’s screen was too tiny to support me “going digital.” However, I’m now into my third book AS an ebook, and first that I do not own a physical copy of the book.
I’m also looking forward to the release of the first season of the live-action tv adaptation of Game of Thrones…and half-considering subscribing to HBO for the new season if I can do so short-term and discontinue as soon as the finale airs.
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: animated series, comic cartoons, comics, distractions | Leave a comment »
As I’ve not been blogging regularly lately, there are a number of things I’ve been thinking about, had thoughts about, and generally considered blogging about/retreading, but haven’t. I sat down Saturday morning for awhile and typed a lot more than I intended. So I’ve broken that into several posts (this is one of those posts).
DIGITAL COMICS & PRICING
I’ve bought a few issues of Batwing digitally a month “late” for the discounted price DC offers. However, I think I’ve only actually READ through issue 2, so I may look for some other series to try this way. Where DC’s got it right is that these are rather new issues, BUT I’m not paying the full identical price as the PRINT EDITION. Marvel doesn’t seem to do this discount only a month later. They have the Netflix-style subscription to “stream” comics (not actually buying/downloading them) or full price matching the print edition (or paying $3.99 for the print and getting a code to ALSO get a digital edition, but that’s a different thing). 
Marvels are more expensive ANYway, which has put me off more of their books than I could probably list.
I cannot justify paying the same exact price for an electronic file as I’d pay for a physical comic. I’ve caved and see it moreso with ebooks, for convenience: but the primary reason for me for buying a digital comic WOULD be that it’s cheaper than the print, so I’m sacrificing convenience (of size/etc) in favor of a savings from DC. If the digital price is the same, I’m simply sacrificing convenience for the digital experience.
MARVEL $3.99 STANDARD PRICING
A couple years ago, I was all set to jump in on all the new Avengers books for the Heroic Age “relaunch.” BUT…I refused then and continue to refuse to pay $3.99 as a standard price. 4 Avengers titles at $3.99 each was NOT an investment I was willing to make. $2.99 each ($12/month) was within my tolerance…$3.99 each ($16/month) was beyond my tolerance.
More recently, I picked up X-Men: Regenesis and Uncanny X-Men #1 and Wolverine & the X-Men #1, just to try ’em (and because I’d spent a half hour in a comic shop that didn’t have whatever I’d walked in looking for, and I wanted to justify to myself the time/effort of going). But while I probably would’ve given both series (and some of the other X-books) more of a chance, I refuse to pay $3.99/issue (especially as I believe Uncanny was $2.99 before the renumbering). I enjoyed Gischler’s X-Men series, 
but even that I finally gave up on because it just didn’t seem worth $3.99/issue.
I dropped Iron Man for the same reason: at $2.99, it was a solid enough title (down from my loving it after reading the 19-issue hardcover). But $3.99 is more than I’m willing to pay.
I’m somewhat “grudgingly” continuing with Uncanny X-Force, because it hooked me with the Age of Apocalypse stuff, and scratching the X-itch as well as Deadpool. But I’m looking for an excuse to drop it, and may just as soon drop it spur-of-the-moment sometime as not.
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: Age of Apocalypse, comic pricing, comics, digital comics, Regenesis, x-force | Leave a comment »
As I’ve not been blogging regularly lately, there are a number of things I’ve been thinking about, had thoughts about, and generally considered blogging about/retreading, but haven’t. I sat down Saturday morning for awhile and typed a lot more than I intended. So I’ve broken that into several posts (this is one of those posts).
NEW 52 IN GENERAL
I gave the “New 52” a much bigger chance than I’d intended to–I think I’d ultimately picked up 28-30 of the books. Dropped sharply for the #2s going down to only about a dozen, then I cut to Superman, Batman, Animal Man, and Swamp Thing; now I’ll be down to Animal Man and Swamp Thing…and even those are honestly on shaky ground with me. I don’t know if this “environment” of all these titles is anything like early post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DCU, but right now I’m not “sold” long-term for DC. I suppose I’m looking at the reboots of the entire Wildstorm line and wondering (still) if there’ll be another reboot, or a regression back to the “old” DCU (despite DC’s current protestations to the contrary). With the addition of the Earth-2 stuff, at the least there seems to be enough of a breakup of things that I don’t really “get” a feel of a “unified whole” for the current DCU…more a vehicle for various creators to tie in or not to stuff.
And frankly, rather than grudgingly purchase monthly titles and grouse that this isn’t “MY” DCU…since I’m so entrenched in the 1980s/90s/00s DCU, I may as well put my efforts toward tracking down runs of the Bat-books, and reading those instead.
I’m not actively opposed to the New 52/etc…but it seems to me DC should have gone “all the way” and fully relaunched even the Batman and Green Lantern books, such that the New 52 would be a truly full start. Because of the mixed bag of stuff, it creates a sense of half-assedness for me. I’m not actively opposed to giving parts of the New 52 a chance; the problem is that I am not all that actively INTERESTED in much of the New 52.
COMIC BOOK MEN
I watched Kevin Smith’s Comic Book Men last Sunday, and will probably watch again this week. I’m not all that enamored with it…but it’s tv involving an actual comic store with actual comics and such. As so many others have said…it’s like Pawn Stars meets Comic Shop. I’m not sure what I expected, but this wasn’t really it. Still, it’s on immediately following The Walking Dead which I’m going to be watching anyway…so CBM has a prime timeslot to retain me as part of its audience.
UNINTERESTING SPIDEY
Two years after a friend loaned me a stack of comics (which I’ve been remiss in taking so long, but that’s another issue) I still can’t get myself truly interested in Spider-Man. It’s taken several spurts of self-forced reading to make any real headway into the “Brand New Day era” and even any positives I’m finding are pretty incidental. Initially I stayed away specifically because of Marvel doing away with the Peter/MJ marriage. But however solid the writing for the BND stuff may be, I’m just finding myself having a problem connecting with any of the characters; even if I don’t miss the marriage itself amidst the stories so far, this take on Spidey is just NOT INTERESTING to me.
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: Brand New Day, Comic Book Men, comics, DC Comics, New 52, Spider-Man | Leave a comment »
I decided to participate in a Facebook meme going around lately. I’m sure I could make this better, but I’ve been at the computer too long already for not doing any actual (paid) work.
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: comics collector, facebook, meme | Leave a comment »
As I’ve not been blogging regularly lately, there are a number of things I’ve been thinking about, had thoughts about, and generally considered blogging about/retreading, but haven’t. I sat down Saturday morning for awhile and typed a lot more than I intended. So I’ve broken that into several posts (this is one of those posts).
BATMAN: FROM CRISIS TO CRISIS
Though I’ve had it on my mind for a couple years now, I think this year may be my “Year of the Bat” in terms of back-issue focus. A few weeks back, I acquired a near-complete (missing 1 issue) run of Batman: Shadow of the Bat. This week I acquired near-complete runs of Batman: Gotham Knights and the ongoing (original) Birds of Prey. I already have (scattered through dozens of longboxes over the years) a complete run of Robin. With the acquisitions this year, that already puts me a long way toward the goal of having the complete ongoing series of Bat-books for the “From Crisis to Crisis” era, and I may just add a few years and aim for the “From Crisis to Flashpoint” era in general.
1990s DC COMPLETE SERIES
I’ve also acquired several other runs this year: 3 complete JSA minis from the 1990s, Blue Beetle (Post-Infinite Crisis) 1-20, a complete run of The Power of Shazam!, and a complete run of Hawkworld. Which means I have LOADS to read even before I’d even be in position to dig in on a lengthy Batman reading project.
PULL-LIST MAINTENANCE
I’ve been pruning my pull-list, and about to prune even further. I’m dropping Batman as of #6, though I’m interested enough I plan to pick up the Mr. Freeze Annual (Batman Annual #1). I’m just not buying into the hype over the Court of Owls. Had it been a single arc, it would’ve been good. But the fact that Batman #6 (spoiler alert! I’m about to spoil the end of #6!) ends with a kick-off into an “event” just REALLY turns me off. I imagine I’ll eventually read the story–whether grabbing issues later in the year from bargain bins or such, or a year from now whenever DC actually puts out a collected volume. I just don’t feel inclined to pay $2.99 (soon $3.99!) an issue for monthly installments, 
nor do I feel like buying multiple other series to get a COMPLETE story. (I’m not buying into the hype, and I’m not buying into reading only one title when this thing’s being pushed as an event rather than just characters showing up in other tiles).
I’m also dropping Superman after #6. I’ve given it an arc; but the whole new creative team makes for essentially a new title, and again, I’m just not interested in paying $2.99 for monthly installments of bigger stories right now. I loved the first issue, but I never read 3 & 4 until a couple weeks ago after #5 had come out, and that was a conscious decision to “force” myself to “catch up.” So, I’ll wait to catch up on even buying the issues when there are a few out I can get in one go, ideally from a bargain bin, or perhaps a collected volume next year.
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: Batman, comics, pull list, Superman, year of the bat | Leave a comment »
Comic Reviews by Walt 