Amph New Comic Books for July 11th, 2007

As per usual, no laundry lists. Laundry list posters will be attached to a wrecking ball and swung against Michael Jackson.

DC
100 Bullets #84 $2.99
Batman Confidential #7 $2.99
Batman Strikes #35 $2.25
Clubbing GN $9.99
Countdown #42 $2.99
DMZ #21 $2.99
Elric Making Of A Sorcerer TP $19.99
Fables #63 $2.99
Friday The 13th Pamelas Tale #1 $2.99
Gen 13 Vol 4 #10 $2.99
Green Arrow Year One #1 $2.99
Green Lantern Vol 4 #21 $2.99
Grifter Midnighter #5 $2.99
Hellblazer The Red Right Hand TP $14.99
I Hate You More Than Anyone Vol 1 TP $9.99
JLA Classified #40 $2.99
Justice Society Of America Vol 3 #7 $2.99
Samurai Commando Mission 1549 Vol 1 TP $9.99
Shadowpact #15 $2.99
Showcase Presents Batgirl Vol 1 TP $16.99
Silverfish HC $24.99
Stormwatch PHD #9 $2.99
Superman Confidential #5 $2.99
Superman Vol 3 #664 $2.99
Uncle Sam And The Freedom Fighters TP $14.99

IDW Publishing
30 Days Of Night Eben & Stella #3 $3.99
Ashley Woods 48 Nude Girls SC $11.99
Fallen Angel Premiere Collection HC $75.00
Fallen Angel Vol 2 #15 Incentive JK Woodard Variant Cover $7.00
Metal Gear Solid Sons Of Liberty #10 $3.99
Star Trek The Next Generation The Space Between #6 $3.99

Image
Alien Pig Farm #4 $2.99
Amory Wars #2 $2.99
Consumed #1 $2.99
Freshmen Vol 2 #6 $3.99
Jack Kirbys Silver Star HC $34.99
Madman Atomic Comics #3 $2.99
Nightfall GN $12.99
Spawn #169 $2.95
True Story Swear To God Vol 1 TP Image Edition $14.99
Witchblade #108 $2.99

Marvel
Amazing Spider-Girl #10 $2.99
Anita Blake Vampire Hunter First Death #1 $3.99
Annihilation Conquest Wraith #1 $2.99
Blade Vol 3 #11 $2.99
Civil War Chronicles #1 $4.99
Deadpool GLI Summer Fun Spectacular $3.99
Devil Dinosaur By Jack Kirby Omnibus HC $29.99
Exiles Vol 3 #96 $2.99
Fantastic Five Vol 2 #1 $2.99
Hedge Knight 2 Sworn Sword #2 $2.99
Hulk Visionaries Peter David Vol 4 TP $19.99
Marvel Illustrated Man In The Iron Mask #1 $2.99
Marvel Vault Museum-In-A-Book Spiral HC $49.95
New Avengers #32 $2.99
New Excalibur #21 $2.99
Nova Vol 4 #4 $2.99
Omega Flight #4 $2.99
Punisher War Journal Vol 2 #9 $2.99
Red Prophet Tales Of Alvin Maker #9 $2.99
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #20 $2.99
Squadron Supreme Hyperion vs Nighthawk TP $10.99
Sub-Mariner Vol 2 #2 $2.99
Ultimate X-Men #84 $2.99
Wonder Man My Fair Super Hero TP $13.99
World War Hulk Gamma Corps #1 $2.99
X-Factor Vol 3 #21 $2.99
X-Men Phoenix Warsong HC $19.99

Dark Horse
Aliens Cauldron Novel $6.99
Blade Of The Immortal #127 $2.99
BPRD Garden Of Souls #5 $2.99
Martha Washington Dies One Shot $3.50
Star Wars Legacy #14 $2.99
Star Wars Rebellion #8 $2.99

 

New Legacy, new Green Lantern, new Annihilation, new World War Hulk. Good stuff.

 

Fans of Stephen Colbert should be aware that Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen Adventures #1 is also being released today.

 

There's a comic book?!?

This is The Best News.

 

WWH was delayed.

 

QFT. Colbert writing a comic? Any idea what it's about?

 

I picked up the new Anita Blake and Legacy.

I was disappointed in the Anita Blake comic. They're marketing this one as 'never before seen material' and that's a lie. The lines the characters say are word for word out of one of the books, only they're being said at a different crime scene.

If you're going to market it as new material, then give us new material. If LKH won't allow new material, then just keep doing what you started with Guilty pleasures.

 

How are the Anita Blake comics?

 

Countdown #42: The Mary Marvel part was good, if too short, and not nearly as good as it could have been. The rest was pretty bad. I think that if DC is going to continue the weekly comic project, they're really going to have to A) add focus, B) cut down on the suck.

DMZ #21: The most honest version of the story of Day 204 yet, and the one I find myself most sympathic too.

Fables #63: This continues to be the best series going. It's tough to juggle an ensemble cast, and this one makes it look easy. Bigby, Prince Charming, Beast and Beauty, Frau Totenkinder, Ambrose (I think that that's definitely what to call him now), the Adversary, Bluebeard (!), Gretel (!!), and more beyond all have moments in the 22 pages of story, and nothing felt too rushed or too compressed. Everyone's place in the plot feels natural, nothing seems forced, and the plot continues to roll forward.

Green Arrow Year One #1: The art is a little too stylized for my taste, but the story was good. Ollie as a shifty drunken playboy is good fun. I think that my problems with the art are mostly due to the coloring; it's not that the pencils are so bad, but the washed out look doesn't work for me as well as it could have. I like the story so far, but we'll have to see how it goes.

Green Lantern Vol 4 #21: Good stuff. I wish it were Kyle in Hal's role, but it's still a good story. The Sinestro Corps are working out to be a good cast of villains, though I still think that it's overkill to have the Anti-Monitor and Superboy-Prime as mere members. To put it another way, it'd be like stacking the good guy side by giving Batman and Superman Green Lantern rings. Mind you, I've got to say: if the conclusion really is in New York, then Batman with a Green Lantern ring could happen. Heh. I'd love him to have a ring and teach a few Sinestro corps members to be afraid, be very afraid. Heh.

Superman Vol 3 #664: Eh. The part with the Prankster was good. Other than that, meh. Seriously, seriously meh. Dropping this title.

Ultimate X-Men #84: I'm not sure why I'm bothering to pick this up. The art feels amature, the writing the same. This isn't Ultimate X-Men. This is Seriously Mediocre X-Men. I'd say that like Superman, I'll be dropping this title.

 

If you thought the art in this issue was bad you must have missed the last two. The Morlocks arc had seriously some of the worst art I've ever seen in a comic. I'm digging Kirkman on this title though. I think the two teams could lead to some interesting stories in the future. But this book really needs a consistent artist before I'd recommend it to non hardcore fans.

 

I hate you so much.

Kirkman's run has been complete ****. Even by UXM standards.

And the Anti-Monitor isn't a member of the corps. He's their avatar or something. They serve him.

 

The Morlocks art was bad to the point where I wanted to stick needles dipped with poison into my eyes.

 

Kirkman has a very long drawn out style that is very dialog heavy. But this allows him to balance such a large cast with ease. IMO that's been UXMs biggest hurdle for a while, juggling such a large roster. His biggest problem is that he introduces so many stories at once that they all take forever to play out. What I really like is that all of his Ultimizations are very different from their 616 counterparts (the Morlocks being the exception to this, although Calisto's tentacle eye was interesting). Pyro, Lilandra, Cable, Bishop. They're all different takes that aren't the same thing you get in other books. The Cable/Wolverine situation was a bit much but at least it was something new. That's what the Ultimate U is about.

 

IMO, look to Fables or the Ultimates as an example of how to juggle a large cast well. UXM hasn't been a good example of a well juggled cast since the mid-fifties.

 

True, Fables has a massive cast and you're never missing someone for too long. I'm actually glad the Flycatcher/Ambrose is taking a more prominent role after being in the background for so long. But I do miss Bigby and Snow being the center of the story more often.

 

I ended up dropping Anita Blake from my pull list because I just couldn't take that dribble anymore. I've read all the way up to Narcissus in Chains and hate how the character of Anita turned out. LKH also likes to bash her fans. So screw her and her comic. She lost my money.

 

IMO: if you're not already reading Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, give it a try. I strongly recommend it to anyone who was a fan of early Blake books.