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Ragnarok #10 - Thor, poisoned and dying (again), struggles to reach Hel and his only shot at reversing the curse upon him. Along the way he makes the surprising discovery that there are still those who keep the faith, even after the fall of the Gods. Pretty fantastic Art, and the story keeps chugging along (when issues come out, that is).

Grant Morrison's 18 Days (without Grant Morrison) #16 - By my count we're at Day 5 or 6 right now. The Pandarva army is suffering huge losses due to Bheeshma's dominance on the battlefield. Krishna councils that their righteousness is all they need to carry the day, but there are also super-weapons available from past generations that can harm Bheeshma. Arjuna's son, eager to prove himself, takes the bait and heads for the weapons, but finds a little more than he bargained for.

I'm glad we're getting back to the war again, as the innumerable flashback issues were getting to be a bit of a drag. I recognise there's a lot of mythology to cover, and this was probably the best way to do it, but it stalled out the narrative quite a bit.

Death of Hawkman #1 (Originally solicited as "Hawkman & Adma Strange") - I wanted to like this issue more, but it mostly seems like Andreyko going though acrobatics to put new 52 genies back in bottles. The issue starts with Adam and Katar wounded and on the run, then flashes back to Adam waiting for the Zeta Beam to get him back to Rann, when the Thangarians attack and mess things up. Adam spends the issue gathering scattered Zeta energy from prominent DCU locations before teleporting to a seemingly devastated Rann. It tries really hard to give Adam his old status quo back after his New52 origins in JLU changed him quite a bit, while simultaneously acknowledging the New 52 stuff. It's mostly successful, which is good for future uses of the character, but doesn't make THIS story very compelling. I suspect the same machinations are in store for Hawkman.

Resident Alien continues to be just one of my favorite series (of miniseries) in modern comic books. With incredible art by Steve Parkhouse, it has a really slow, comfortable pace that wonderfully combines a "small town" atmosphere of an old TV show with some cool murder mysteries and science fiction bits.

Picked up Matt Kindt's "Ether" #1 from Dark Horse. It wasn't great. Seems like a pastiche of Adam Strange & Sherlock Holmes, with a fantasy world thrown in. That description makes it sound much cooler than it came off as. It just seemed to mechanically tick off tropes as it went (Grumpy Sidekick, Hapless government official, untouchable villain, etc). Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it, but I'm not inclined to follow the story further.

Kindt doesn't do anything for me; I saw this solicited on DCBS as one of their 50% off books and gave it a pass.

Cheers, Pov. I thought I was the only one who felt that way.

<raises hand> I really, REALLY tried with Mind MGMT, but we just didn't click. I know Cobie loved it, though.

^^And then there were three. YAY!

Cheers, Lardy.

You guys need to check out his OGN's to really see the brilliance of Kindt. Revolver and SuperSpy are two of the most brilliant works of art to come out of comics in the last 10 years.

Mind MGMT started to really drag on for me though at the end. I think Kindt just works better in TPB form.

So to all of you.

For the record, Cobie, I will probably try Revolver at some point, at least.

Naturally! If you didn't, we would become eternal enemies bent on mutual destruction!

Got Vision Vol 2. over the holidays, and it was pretty groovy. I'll admit I was a little disappointed that it didn't hit the explosive conclusion I anticipated (though in hindsight how would marvel allow it to?), with Viginia placing the genie back in the bottle rather neatly through her actions. On the other hand, it makes the story that much more creepy to know that the remaining Visions are still working side-by-side with their heroic teams while their "programming" underneath remains essentially the same.

Thanks for the reminder, I really enjoyed the first volume. Added to this month's comic order.

I just realized I never got around to reviewing the first arc of Jason Aaron's Star Wars comic, the one drawn by John Cassaday, even though I borrowed the trade and read it last year and I *loved* it!

So...Lardy and other Star Wars fans, stay tuned.

I read the first few issues of Aaron's Star Wars, and I have to admit AI was a bit disappointed, probably because of excessive expectations. It was very well written and the art was of course gorgeous. But I'm a huge Jason Aaron fan, and that series just didn't feel very... Aaronic? Even on books like Thor and Dr. Strange his Southern Gothic roots show through, but there's not much room for that in a book starring the Original Trilogy Trio. I would love to see Aaron set loose in a smaller corner of the Star Wars universe where there's more room for him to set his style free.

Again, I didn't think it was bad. It's especially good if it brings Aaron bank and lets him keep doing the stuff of his that I love. But it was ultimately just a well done Star Wars comic, and I tend to expect more from Aaron.

So for the first half of this month, I concentrated on reading about five months worth of my backlog of floppies. I started out with comics that were released in May of 2016 and left off with comics released in late October.

One huge takeaway I left with is that I feel very pleased with these books I chose to keep getting as floppies, rather than as trades. I felt each one justified my choice and read really well as serialized comics. That said, I may still convert one of them to trades because of its lateness.

So here are some snapshot reviews of each series I read that was published during this time frame:

Afterlife with Archie 9-10

Even though it's published so irregularly, I can't see myself ever passing up an individual issue whenever it's released. Each issue is so dense and worth the money that it's well worth the wait. These 2 were particularly excellent with 9 giving us a closer look at Reggie and 10 giving us an awesome Afterlife-style origin for Josie and the Pussycats. (The latter should have gotten some recognition as best single issue of 2016 for the Eisner Awards, etc.) Francesco Francavilla just nails the art, as always. Again, the spotty publishing is irksome, but at least you know each issue will always be top-notch.


Astro City 35-40

I have three books that I've resolved will always be bought as floppies, no matter what. They are Walking Dead, Saga and...Astro City! These issues comprised a trio of 2-parters, two of which reunite us with characters originally showcased in the original AC 6-issue mini. Astro City is always, at the very least, very good and is often really great. How many series can you say that about?


Autumnlands 11-13

By Kurt Busiek, same author as Astro City, Autumnlands has really benefited from the 'quest' direction that it's been in recently. I like the vibe of meeting new people and seeing new places, and it's given the book more of a focus than it had at the beginning. I mean, it was always entertaining but was also kind of a massive info-dump. The art by Ben Dewey has always been really terrific, and his take on the anthropomorphic cast of animal characters is amazing.


Chew 56-58

Part of the reason I stopped where I did was so that I would have the final 2 issues of Chew to look forward to. Chew has been one of the most unique books I've ever read from the originality of its core concept to its manic comic vibe punctuated by moments of real tragedy. Though it has wandered in its focus from time to time, I've always appreciated its originality. It's strange to think that it ended a few months ago, but I can stall off the end for a while longer.


Invincible 128-130

Robert Kirkman's lesser-known creation is actually one of the better superhero books out there. One really unusual aspect of it is that Kirkman lets his characters age, change permanently and die. Plus, in one book, you get a pretty vast universe of characters whom you don't have to buy dozens of spin-offs to see what happens to them. (Kirkman did try a few spin-offs but wisely folded them back into the main book.) With the book's upcoming end announced recently, we'll truly have a superhero book that had a beginning, middle and end spread over a long run. And I'd say, that it's still as good as it ever was.


Kill or Be Killed 1-3

I was a little worried about this one because the buzz on this latest Brubaker/Phillips/Breitweiser production was a little underwhelming. But those concerns went away quickly as I actually read the issues. It's about as awesome as anything else this A-List creative team has ever done, I'd say. As exciting as the premise of "kill bad people or the devil will do me in!" is, I find myself looking more forward to what's happening with the title character's love triangle! But I do like looking for clues or evidence that the protagonist may be imagining his devil, though.


Manifest Destiny 19-24

This has been a steadily rising star for me in the Image stable since it debuted and it has gotten better and better! This "Sasquatch" arc may very well be the best yet. This arc moves back and forth between our titular fictionalized version of the Lewis & Clark expedition and an expedition that preceded it that was ill-fated. MD has lush art and a story filled with monsters. But there is also an element of humor inter-weaved that helps make the total package one of the better-written books around. The only drawback is that the large cast is difficult to keep track of, other than a handful of leads.


Morning Glories 50

I don't know if and when MG will return, but I sure hope it does because issue 50 wraps up "season 2" with a lot of cliffhangers. MG is a very deep, complex series that really challenges its readers, so much so that each issue features pages in the back to help you understand what you just read. But even if it loses you sometimes, the characters and suspense keep me coming back. Please return, MG!


Paper Girls 6-10

Going into this reading binge, Paper Girls was on the chopping block. The first arc failed to grab me, so I fully expected to stop reading the book after the issues I'd already bought. But Brian K. Vaughn justified my faith in him by delivering a really cool second arc. Doesn't hurt that I'm a sucker for a good time travel yarn, and the arc features a heavy dose of it, including a character meeting an older version of herself.
(There's more than one great interaction that comes from this.) It's not quite Saga, but it's turning into a fascinating sci-fi adventure. Terrible lettercolumn gimmick, though...


Red Team: Double Tap, Center Mass 1-3

This is a sequel to Red Team featuring the return of Garth Ennis and Craig Cermak, original series creators. Red Team featured a group of cops who decided to take the law into their own hands. This one features the survivors trying to get past those events and back to the 'normalcy' of being cops. They encounter a college student with two bodies in the trunk and heroin in the dashboard who is set up by a gangster who is the son of one of the gangsters Red Team took down. So far, we are following the case with them, and it's a fascinating dive into police work. At this point, we don't know if a return to vigilantism is in store for the characters, but the case and characters are engrossing. The original series was hurt by atrocious delays, but this one has been coming out like clockwork.


Sabrina (Chilling Adventures of..,) 5-6

The other Archie Horror book is nearly as good as Afterlife but is likewise plagued by delays. Issue 5 features a macabre situation with callbacks to "The Monkey's Paw", and issue 6 spotlights Sabrina's cat familiar Salem and her cousins cobra familiars. The latter is another Eisner-worthy issue, imo, like Afterlife 10.


Saga 37-38

I mentioned above that Saga is one of three I'll never ditch the floppies of for trades, even if it broke my heart again with another apparent beloved character death.


Secret Six 14

If it hadn't already been cancelled, I would definitely have taken S6 off my pull. Sorry, Gail Simone, but this is a pale shadow of your previous work on Secret Six. And she leaves with scores of unresolved or truncated plots. Can't really say I care, though. It had some moments, but not enough.


Silver Surfer 4-6

The only Marvel book I get as a floppy now, and it is so totally worth the money! Never has Norrin Radd been more humanized and without ignoring any prior portrayal. there's just a beauty and wonder to Norrin and his lady love Dawn Greenwood that makes you feel good about loving comics. I'm such a fan of this book even as my heart broke for Dawn when a family reunion goes sour. Dan Slott and Michael Allred are killing it!


Stray Bullets: Sunshine and Roses 15-18

Man, I love this series! It's dark, it's humorous, it's exciting, it has involving characters--I'm not sure when this Stray Bullets series is gonna end, but I'm in no hurry for it to do so! Excellent book for anyone who likes crime fiction!


Suicide Squad: War Crimes Special

I was really looking forward to this as it featured classic Suicide Squad writer John Ostrander returning to the property. But even with the larger page count, it really never felt like an Ostrander story with the New 52/Rebirth version of the characters. I wish DC'd let him write something out of continuity with his version of the team instead of having to write Harley Quinn and the like. Not a horrible story, but not what I wanted.


Walking Dead 155-159

TWD is the one book I read right when I buy it, due to the book seemingly being spoiled online every time a new issue comes out. But then, I put it back into the pile by its publication order and eventually read it again. A lot of good stuff here, much of which confirms my preference for comic book-Negan over TV series-Negan. The former is probably (surprisingly!) my favorite character in the book, right now!


War Stories 19

This is the one, ongoing floppie I'm listing here that I'm probably going to convert to trades soon. The reason is that all are 3 or more issue arcs, and the series has suddenly fallen behind in publishing. All the arcs are good to great, but each individual issue is not in itself a great read without the other parts. Garth Ennis has a knack for telling thrilling stories in the war genre, but under these circumstances, I'm probably going to start trade-waiting as soon as I can.

I liked the Archie horror comics, but assuming you are up to date, there hasn't been an issue published by either since I last checked them out!

I tried Autumnlands mainly on the strength of the art, but it didn't grab me. If it's improving, maybe I will give it another shot.

I liked Secret Six more than you did, but I admit it's not nearly as good as the pre-New 52 version, and I can't say I was heartbroken by it's cancellation. I would love to know if the Black Alice reveals were always planned, or just baked into the New 52 version of the character.

I generally like Dan Slott's work, although the massive expansion of the Spider franchise has scared me away. And I love Mike Allred, so I should definitely give Silver Surfer a shot!

I used to read the self-published Stray Bullets, and I kept meaning to get into the revival, but haven't quite done it yet. Every time I think about doing so, I always wind up feeling like I'm not really in the mood to be that depressed.

I can't thank you enough for that Silver Surfer review! I binged the first 6 issues last night, and it was fantastic! It had a very "New Doctor Who" feel, and a quick google showed that I was right to see that as a strong influence. I've got a friend who has never really gotten into comics who is a huge Who fan, and this may be his gateway drug.

Now I just have to hope I can make it through the Secret Wars crossover issues relatively unscathed.

Wow, lots of reviews! Lardy, I love when you do your patented catch-up on floppies!

A few comments:

BFOB, I'm an avid Silver Surfer fan too, and I highly recommend you go back and read all the Slott / Allred issues, which I think you'll enjoy immensely. The Dawn Greenwood / Surfer romance has been one of the best relationships in comics over the last few years and I can't get enough of it.

Lardy, I echo your thoughts on a lot of series: Saga, TWD, Stray Bullets, Morning Glories, Manifest Destiny and Astro City. All top of my pile series that I love. The death in Saga you reference hit like a punch right in the gut.

I do admit I dropped Paper Girls after 5, and now I wonder if I jumped the gun. It just didn't click with me and I really only did it to shrink my list a bit. Maybe I can continue with trades.

Speaking of which, I've decided to do what you've done with War Stories and follow with trades, and I think for the same reasons. The delays hurt but even without them, its sometimes easy to forget where the story was from issue to issue. That wasn't so much a problem when it was a series of 3 arcs like at Dynamite, but this ongoing format with one arc after another has become hard to keep track of. And that is a shame, as most of the arcs are really very good, with as you mention, the occasional spectacular one. So that is my new plan.

With Chew, I also have let them build-up as I just was not enjoying the series as much as I should. Around #51 or 52 I stopped reading to read the final run off issues all at once, which I haven't done yet.

The one place I disagree with you, and am more in line with the reviews you've read, is Kill or Be Killed. For whatever reason, this story is not clicking with me at all. I find myself disliking the lead character immensely (not to mention disliking the other two characters in the love triangle). So much so that I can't help but feel the demon really is "in his mind" and kind of hoping he just gets blown away already. It's hard to describe what my issue is, but the story just feels like a lot of complaining. Meanwhile, the back-matter is fantastic, and I'm actually enjoying that much more so than the story itself. The review of the Death Wish films was great--a series of films before my time and therefore something that feels so dated and ridiculous (despite having a strong liking towards Charles Bronson).

I never bothered to check out Gail's revamp of Secret Six because I just expected it to be bad. Gail was (and could again be) one of my favorite writers, but she showed me she can't really go home again with BOP, and I just felt there is some kind of divide between her and DC proper that is preventing the best Simone work. Either that, or she's just been in a slump, as I haven't really loved anything from her in awhile.

You are most welcome! And don't worry about the Secret Wars "Last days" tie-in--Slott and Allred make it totally theirs, and it's another awesome arc for the book!

Certainly, the book is often compared to Doctor Who and its companion/Doctor dynamic, and it's a fair comparison and a fairly obvious inspiration. But I feel the book transcends that basis quite a bit. I think what makes the book so unique is just the love that's in it. I don't mean just the love that Slott and Allred put into it with their effort. I don't mean just the love between Dawn and the Surfer. It's the feeling of optimism, family, brotherhood and the overall lust for life among the characters. I love, for example, when Dawn and Norrin reminisce about earlier adventures and how wonderful the sentients they crossed paths with were and how they've got to go visit them next time. It's like no story is throwaway, just like they aren't in our real lives. Every story matters and is as loved by Norrin and Dawn as it by us, their readers. Such a beautiful, transcendent convergence of story and art!

I know, right? Even more so because you feel this character should theoretically be the safest of the lot!



I think the best way to put it is I feel PG has definitely earned another arc or two from me. The character and plot development finally clicked for me in that second arc. I love that the girls meet one of their grown up selves. there's this beautiful page that almost singlehandedly won me over: a full-page splash showing the older version hugging her younger self when after dumping on herself and expressing what a disappointment she must be to the younger one, the younger girl instead thinks she turned out okay. Beautiful moment that any of us can relate to, I think.



Yeah, I think I'll complete the Vampire Squadron, since I already have 1 or 2 issues of it and then trade-wait. I'll save money and have a better reading experience that way.

BTW, since you made no mention of Red Team, am I to assume you didn't get this mini or the first one? (Or possibly gave up on the first due to its lateness?) In any case the Red Team stories are more Ennis goodness, and I think you'll enjoy them. Of course, maybe I should harass you about The Boys again instead....



I'm with you in that the second half of Chew often felt more like filler to get to the pre-set 60 issue number, but that final arc is shaping up to meet and exceed expectations. One thing I will (sort of) spoil, at least the existence of all those food powers seems to really be paying off how the story ends.



I think one thing that may rub people the wrong way here is that Brubaker and Phillips excel so much telling period pieces that it's kind of jarring to see them telling a story featuring millennials and all the modern trappings of texting, wi-fi, Facebook, etc. it's hard to tell a story about millennials without including the sense of entitlement and self-absorption that, rightly or wrongly, are associated with that generation.

This seems to be the very thing that irks you. And it's pretty funny because you ARE a millennial, even though I dare say you seem more like a fellow Gen-X-er!



I had high hopes, and this is embodied by S6 having been the only DC floppy I had bought at all since the cancellation of Legion and Dial H. It was really lackluster.

The new 52 secret six had its moments, and I'm not sorry I read it. I really enjoyed porcelain, Strix, and, um, "Big Shot." But the characters from her previous run just fell flat in this incarnation. I might have been kinder to it if it wasn't following in such big footsteps. But yeah, I wouldn't try to sell anyone on it who wasn't already interested.

Two items:

I did get the first Red Team mini, which was pretty good though I can’t say that I loved it. Not sure what it was, or if it was just me at the time, growing increasingly hard to please with comics. I do know that the Boys should be my top priority right now when it comes to our boy Ennis. One day!

You’re analysis of my feelings about Kill or Be Killed…actually appears pretty sound. As you say, I guess I’m technically a millennial, but I’ve never once considered myself as such and always thought of myself as a Gen-Xer or at least a Gen-Yer, whatever those things are. In the 90’s, I related to people 10 years older to me and I still do to this day. (Hell, you know me well enough to know I relate to people 30 years older than me better than someone 5 years younger). A lot of things people find annoying about millennials are things I do too, though I don’t go around bashing them as a group all the time. Unfortunately that oft-heard criticism of sense of entitlement is true for a lot of millennials (though, I stress, certainly not all). A few years ago I was supposed to hire some staff and after the ensuing mind-numbing frustrating experience of interviewing 20 of them, I decided I’d rather not hire anyone. I bet you face that in your job more than most since I don’t typically have to manage any one at work. But I digress.

The whininess is what drives me crazy, regardless of where its coming from. Probably because its inescapable in this era of social media & a 24 hour news media. It’s hard not to immediately get annoyed at someone who is complaining, even if they have just reason…simply because it feels like everyone complains, always. The lead character feels so whiny here, that I’m rooting for the cop to shoot him or the junky to bash his head in, or hell, the stripper to bite him and give Hep C. And then grouchily say “now you’ve got something to really cry about, crybaby!”

I, too, was not overly-enamored with the first Red Team, but I really think it was more a matter of it having terrible delays. It's hard to connect with something like that when you can't remember what happened the previous issue because it came out 3 or 4 months ago. This one has been very reliably published every month. It's either that or the second Red Team is just that much better. Either way, I'm liking it.



It certainly looks like I hit the nail on the head for you here! I know you too well

"Generation Y" = "Millennials", by the way. I think the first name was kind of the place-holder name until the latter name gained traction. Oddly enough, I get along with Millennials really, really well despite being annoyed by some of their traits. I often have found myself fitting in with those co-workers as either a dad- or older brother-type. Often, they are surprised by how much I get and know about their particular humor.