Posts Tagged ‘Adventure Comics’

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August 1st, 2011  Posted at   The Stack
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July was an exceptional month for reading. For the first time since January, I am completely caught up on new material and the Reading Project. (It also tied January as the most productive month of the year, for what it’s worth.) I am hesitant to say that it won’t be a problem keeping up from here on out, but with my books getting cut drastically come September, obstacles are seemingly fewer.

Here’s July:

Action Comics #901-902
Adventure Comics #527
All New Batman: Brave and the Bold #8
Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search For Swamp Thing #1
Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #66
Green Lantern Corps (Vol. 2) #60
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #10-11
Hulk-Sized Mini-Hulks #1
Steel #38-44
Superboy (Vol. 3) #39-45
Superboy and the Ravers #9-15
Superboy Annual (Vol. 2) #4
Superboy Plus #2
Supergirl (Vol. 4) #9-15
Supergirl (Vol. 5) #64-65
Supergirl Annual #2
Superman #712
Superman/Batman #84-85
Tiny Titans #40-41
Young Justice (Vol. 2) #4-5
Showcase Presents: Superman Family Vol. 3

Total: 50 comics, 1 trade (Year total: 248 comics, 8 trades)

I started the Showcase volume back in May, but just finished it up. It was an excellent volume, though. It is, maybe, my favorite Showcase Presents volume so far. It is certainly my favorite of the non-pure Superman volumes. There are many classic and iconic stories in it.

The Reading Project is coming along nicely. I’m more than one-third of the way through now. STEEL and SUPERBOY AND THE RAVERS will be dropping off soon, and YOUNG JUSTICE will be added. None of those are likely to happen in August, but we will see. While we are on the subject, SUPERBOY AND THE RAVERS is a fun title. It’s unfortunate people pass on it because the dated (and kind of silly) title. Coincidentally, this era of Kon-El also gets passed on because of a dated costume and haircut. If you haven’t read it, you’re missing some fun stuff, folks.

HULK-SIZE MINI HULKS was… interesting. I don’t normally read Marvel titles outside of trades, but this looked cute. And it was, but also rather repetetive. It was also odd that the creators names were on every page.

My award for Best Book of the Month (which isn’t a real award, but I’m deeming it such for this post) goes to SUPERMAN #712, written by Kurt Busiek. It has taken its place as my favorite story of Kurt Busike’s run, topping out “The Best Day” from SUPERMAN ANNUAL #13. Not only was it an excellent done-in-one, it was extremely touching story. If you are a dog owner and don’t feel at least a twinge of emotion reading this, I might be lead to question your humanity. I might be sharing my thoughts on it more in an upcoming episode of “The Thrilling Adventures of Superman,” so keep an ear there.

And speaking of done-in-ones, GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD WARRIORS #11 was a nice one, with Guy Gardner in the lead role. Though I like him more these days than ever before, I never cared just a whole lot for Guy. That’s not to say he’s a bad character… just not my flavor. However, I enjoyed this story… even more because it was a self-contained, one-issue story. Comics need more of those these days.

July 1st, 2011  Posted at   The Stack
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Major comeback in June as I read more books than any month since January. I’ve discovered the key is forcing myself to sit down and read. Not that reading is a chore… but sometimes other things seem more appealing in-the-moment, but aren’t as fulfilling long term, you know? Anyway, here’s June:

Action Comics #900
Adventure Comics #525
All New Batman: Brave and the Bold #6-7
Brightest Day #24
Fallen Angel: Return of the Son #4
FCBD 2011 Green Lantern Flashpoint Special Edition
FCBD 2011 Young Justice Batman BB Super Sampler
Flash (Vol. 3) #10-12
Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #65
Green Lantern Corps (Vol. 2) #59
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #9
R.E.B.E.L.S. #27-28
Steel #33-37
Superboy (Vol. 3) #34-38
Superboy and the Ravers #3-8
Superboy Plus #1
Superboy/Robin: World’s Finest 3 #1-2
Supergirl (Vol. 4) #4-8
Supergirl (Vol. 5) #63
Supergirl Plus # 1
Superman #710-711
Superman/Batman #83
Tiny Titans #39
Young Justice (Vol. 2) #3
Total: 45 comics (Year total: 198 comics, 7 trades)

I also continued reading through SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUPERMAN FAMILY, Vol. 3. I should finish that in the month ahead.

The Reading Project continues nicely. I’m about one-third of the way through it. While I am enjoying following the “lives” of these characters and as they evolve and grow in this era in tandom (and it will leave me in great shape when Michael Bailey and Jeffrey Taylor get to this era on From Crisis to Crisis: A Superman Podcast, I’m slightly regretting taking on such a large project all at once. The project encompasses more than 300 comics published over 8 years, which is… a lot. I think for future Reading Projects, I will aim for a more narrow scope.

If you’re interested in my thoughts on “The Incident” from ACTION COMICS #900, give a listen to episode 22 of “The Thrilling Adventures of Superman.” The topic that had folks all up in arms turned out to be a moot point for me, but the story still bugged me for reasons I go into in that episode.

So, the other big elephant in the corner: DCnU. I’ll spare you my personal feelings on the entire matter and cut to the quick: None of the titles sound interesting to me. I’m going to keep on with the three, soon to be four, Green Lantern titles and I will read ACTION COMICS (Vol. *sigh* 2) and SUPERMAN (Vol. 3). But reading those is based solely on past history. The Green Lantern titles, title shuffling aside, are making it through unchanged. I have enjoyed Morrison on Superman before, so I’m willing to give his year on ACTION COMICS a shot. And George Pérez is, well, George Pérez.

So, yeah. While it makes me sad that none of the books even sound interesting, I do recognize that it will give me more opportunity to read back issues and explore titles I have wanted to dive into for a while. So, to that, I’m looking forward.

May 1st, 2011  Posted at   The Stack
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This was simply not a good month for reading comics. Just when you start to make a little progress…

Here’s April:

Adventure Comics #524
All New Batman: Brave and the Bold #5
Brightest Day #20-21
Giant-Size Atom #1
Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #63
Justice League of America/The 99 #5
R.E.B.E.L.S. #26
Superboy (Vol. 3) #26-29
Superman #709
Steel #26-28
Supergirl Annual #1
Tiny Titans #37
Young Justice (Vol. 2) #2
Diana Prince: Wonder Woman Vol. 3-4 trade paperbacks

Total: 19 comics, 2 trades (Year total: 125 comics, 6 trades)

On the bright side, I finished out the DIANA PRINCE: WONDER WOMAN volumes. That was kind of an anti-climactic ending to a “new” Wonder Woman, wasn’t it? I did enjoy the four volumes, though, even though each successive volume got worse.

Now that those volumes are out of the way, I’ve moved on to the next book in the stack, which is BATMAN CHRONICLES volume four. After I get through with it, I’ll probably pull all the BATMAN CHRONICLES volumes out of the reading stack. Since Michael Kaiser and I are now doing the Batman podcast, we’ll be getting to the stories reprinted in the Chronicles series really soon, so I’d rather look at them from a fresher perspective.

On the reading project front, you’ll notice I read the SUPERGIRL ANNUAL from 1996! So even though I didn’t quite get to the SUPERGIRL series proper… or SUPERBOY AND THE RAVERS… or the ERADICATOR… they’re inching towards the top. And, even though I’ve said this three times in a row now, I should start on them this coming month. Hopefully. Heh.

I’ve also decided I’m dropping ADVENTURE COMICS at the next jumping-off point. The Legion of Super-Heroes, while I like the concept, doesn’t seem to hold my attention unless Superboy (or another character from The Family) is involved. And this “training squad” of the Legion holds it even less. I’ve only stuck with it this long because it was said the title would tie into “Flashpoint.” That doesn’t seem to be the case now and since I’m not reading “Flashpoint” anyway, why stick around?

Dropping that (along with BRIGHTEST DAY ending and the cancellation of R.E.B.E.L.S.) will bring my list down to 10 titles. I’m waiting to see where what direction the Green Lantern titles take after “War of the Green Lanterns.” If those books don’t pick up, that will mean three more titles trimmed.

April 1st, 2011  Posted at   The Stack
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Well, March was a little better than February, but I’m still not back up to reading what I was. Too many other things taking up my time lately, it seems.

Here’s March:

Action Comics #897-898
Adventure Comics #523
All New Batman: Brave and the Bold #4
Brightest Day #19-20
Fallen Angel: Return of the Son #2
Flash (Vol. 3) #9
Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #62
Green Lantern Corps (Vol. 2) #57
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #7
Justice League of America/The 99 #4
R.E.B.E.L.S. #25
Steel #21-25
Superboy (Vol. 3) #21-25
Supergirl (Vol. 5) #61
Superman #708
Superman 80-Page Giant 2011
Superman/Batman #81
Time Masters: Vanishing Point #6
Tiny Titans #37
Young Justice (Vol. 2) #1
Batman Chronicles Vol. 3 trade paperback
Diana Prince: Wonder Woman Vol. 1-2 trade paperbacks

Total: 30 comics, 3 trades (Year total: 106 comics, 4 trades)

In March, I also started on the third DIANA PRINCE: WONDER WOMAN volume, so I’ll very likely finish it and the fourth volume in the coming month. These are interesting reads — very much products of their times. I’m enjoying them, but they’re a bit of a nag because they have the same “problem” I find with a lot of Bronze Age DC Comics. And that “problem” is that they’re doing a lot of revving the engine, but not quite willing, yet, to put the pedal to the floor. They’re trying to be more socially relevant and turn things on their ear, but still hesitating slightly. Still, I’m enjoying them and am glad I picked them up. (And who thought I’d say that about a Wonder Woman comic?!)

On the reading project front, I’m still working though the re-read of the Superman Family titles from the ’90s. I didn’t quite keep pace like I thought I would, so I didn’t start on either SUPERBOY AND THE RAVERS or SUPERGIRL (Vol. 4). Both books were a little farther down the pike than I thought. I might get to them in April. I’ve also decided to toss in the four-issue ERADICATOR mini-series, just for good measure, so I’ll get to that in the next month or so, as well.

March 1st, 2011  Posted at   The Stack
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So, this idea of keeping track of what I read may end up being pretty pointless if there are many more months like this one. I’m not sure what happened, but my reading time got cut way back in February, so this month’s list is considerably shorter than normal.

Here’s February:

Action Comics #896
Adventure Comics #522
All New Batman: Brave and the Bold #3
Brightest Day #17-18
Fallen Angel: Return of the Son #1
Flash (Vol. 3) #8
Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #61
Green Lantern Corps (Vol. 2) #56
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #6
Justice League of America/The 99 #3
R.E.B.E.L.S. #24
Steel Annual #2
Steel #18-20
Superboy (Vol. 3) #18-20
Superboy Annual (Vol. 2) #2
Supergirl (Vol. 5) #60
Superman #707
Superman/Batman #80
Tiny Titans #35-36
Young Justice (Vol. 2) #0

Total: 26 comics (Year total: 76 comics, 1 trade)

In February, I also continued reading through the BATMAN CHRONICLES Vol. 3 trade paperback. I’m nearly done with it, so, barring any calamities, it should be on next month’s list.

On the reading project front, I’m still working though the re-read of the Superman Family titles from the 90s. Assuming I keep pace in March, I’ll be starting on the earliest issues of SUPERBOY AND THE RAVERS and SUPERGIRL (Vol. 4) in March. I’m looking forward to starting on those SUPERGIRL issues again, and seeing if I enjoy them as much this time around.

The new books I read regularly will be shrinking it number soon. I’ve decided to drop FLASH, rather than invest in the whole “Flashpoint” event. That’s not commentary on the story… it sounds interesting. But it’s hard for me to justify spending the money on all the tie-ins and such, when I firmly believe shorter, stronger stories are what the industry needs. So, I’m walking away from it.

But moreover, it seems R.E.B.E.L.S. will come to an end with issue #28 in May. It should be no surprise to those who keep an eye on sales numbers. But, still, I was disappointed because it has been a consistently fun read for me month-in-and-out. And that says something coming from a guy who’s very picky about the comics he reads that don’t involve characters with ‘S’s on their chests. Unless something steps up to take its place, it will also mark the end of the DC’s loose “space epic,” which started all the way back in 2004 with ADAM STRANGE by Andy Diggle and Pascual Ferry.

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