I started posting on the infamous Facebook (yes I’m old) last week the comics I picked up on Wednesday. When I decided to do it again, I figured I would do it here… might as well as I try to figure out how to get this site updated so my friend Bill stops complaining about how it doesn’t seem be up to date- it works fine for me so I don’t get why it is important, but every time I share I post I get a comment about updating the site… ugh.
I realized the thing that many people don’t understand about comic books or other serialized forms of storytelling is the need to be able to remember the story in between issues. People read books, watch movies or now binge TV series they no longer are required to hold that story for any length of time. With TV the longest you need to remover back is a week. In comics it ranges from usually a month to it could be a year or more mattering the writer or the artist. So as I try to not give away spoilers for these various titles I may end up bringing overly general in my description- more talking about the character and the general arc, and not the details. Sometimes it’s because I just don’t remember everything. Pick up the trade paperback (if they publish one) if you have a bad memory- I do that for Saga. Teachers dismiss comics without understanding how much a reader has to process and remember between each issue. We really don’t have that kind of thing anymore.
Captain America #4 – Cap is fighting a demon while the story bounces between pre-supersoldier 1940’s and today… yup! It all connects. Well written, just not used to Cap fighting demons, even if they are connected to Nazis. I have just returned to reading Cap so we shall see where this goes.
Action Comics #1060 – after the War World saga Superman needs to rescue his “adopted daughter” by dealing with magic and the multiverse all while the lead villain (related to Batman from another dimension) tries to convince the world that Superman (and Kryptonians in general) are more trouble than they are worth.
World’s Finest: Teen Titans #6 – taking the original Teen Titans and updating them to modern times. So how would teenagers deal with Social Media and fandom? The Terror Titan’s vs. the Teen Titans- who will be victorious? Frankly, I like this take on the first superhero group I seriously collected.
Speed Force #2 – bringing in Mr. Terrific into a story about an app. Dripping with modern slang… it reminds me a lot of my first few issues of Teen Titans when the characters would say “groovy” and “hip” a lot so they sounded like they were really teens. Yes, there are Speedsters in the story, but the focus is Mr. Terrific.
Wesley Dodds The Sandman #3 – the Sandman, considered one of the first heroes in the DC Universe (not in the comics, but in the DCU) has been one of my favorites as he was portrayed in “Sandman Mystery Theatre” and popped into “Starman” I’m enjoying this jump back into the golden age of superheroes with a hit of a modern twist to the storytelling.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #13 – Gang War! Nuff said. Just filling in the massive crossover in the more down to earth Marvel titles taking place in New York.
The Enfield Gang Massacre #5 – That Texas Blood has been an interesting series dealing with weird crime in a small Texas County. This story takes it back to the “Wild West”
Phantom Road #7 – ummm… Twilight Zone, X-Files, Department of Truth… hard to put this one in a box without giving too much away. Still, I like it.
Rogue Sun #17 – Soap Opera family drama with super hero and villains mixed in. Sibling rivalry, evil spirits, daddy issues.
Radiant Black #27 & 27.5 – Umm… This series has created a number of rather bright and shiny (dare I say “Radiant” spin offs) but this is the original. Alien Armor gives you super powers, how you use it can be up to you… but with great power there must also be… It’s been a good series with good character development. Currently the world is at war with religious zealot aliens who are testing our hero. So what’s with the half (0.5 for those who don’t know how to convert fractions to decimals) issue? At one point in the comic the cosmic armor chose one person, then (let’s just say something happened) it chose another- the guys were friends so what we have now is two different stories going through the same events one issue with one guy being Radiant Black and the other with the other guy being Radiant Black. Kinda “What If” but due to the space time continuum, and the existence of multiverses, and it being a comic…
Batman-Santa Claus Silent Knight #2 – the Dark Knight teams with St. Nick to fight Krampus. Frankly, a nice Holiday story, that while it is not lighthearted it kinda is.
Batman #428 – Robin Lives! – along time ago DC comics brought in a new Robin since the old one was too old. As a gimmick (this was the late 80’s), at some point they decided to let the public determine his fate. The public being cold and cruel chose to kill him. This is the comic that would have been published if the vote had gone the other way. I think they may have switched out one or two pages, but that would make sense knowing that they were about to have two entirely different comics ready for print once the votes were tallied. No sidekicks were eventually killed in this storyline because in comics 99% of all characters come back. It may take years, but…
Detective Comics #1079 – getting close to the end of this arc… mixing either ancient history, prophecy, revenge, magic, whatever, and who will finally rule Gotham. because ruling Gotham was part of an ancient prophecy… I kinda miss weird smiling fish and giant typewriters.
So that’s the run down. find a character you like, and start reading. there are a bunch of great stories out there and while I may not have gone into too many details or been too serious about my thoughts- the hardest part is coming into a story at the end and then having to figure it out. These aren’t your movie characters, while movies have influenced the characters that tends to vanish once the movie is no longer big. While it is hard to figure out, one of the craziest things is just hunting down the issues you need to tell that story. Fortunately with the Internet and Trade Paperbacks that isn’t has hard. I remember visiting comic shops all along the coast of California looking to fill in the missing spots in my collection. It was a great hunt and fun to see all the different shops, now with a mouse click I could have everything shipped to me. Where’s the fun in that?