20?! And @scoop001 read 18 today? Impressive!
I’m hoping to average seven a day and so far my high is 13 in one day.
5 Likes
Batman: Gotham Knights: 12 issues from 2005 in total, but only 4 this year
Writers: Robbie Morrison (1 issue), A.J. Lieberman (11 issues)
Meh. Again, there are parts of it that are interesting, but, well, Hush himself is just not that interesting here. I mean, I like how Paul Dini writes him, and I even like the original story, but this focuses so much on him, and there’s just nothing to be all that excited about. And he’s been hovering around for so long, too. He came in at the start of this run like halfway through 2004, and has been the main focus this entire year, and his arc is still not done.
4.
Captain America: Sam Wilson: 25 issues from 2015-2017 in total, but only 3 this year
Writer: Nick Spencer, Joss Whedon (75th Anniversary backup story), Tim Sale (75th Anniversary backup story), Greg Rucka (75th Anniversary backup story)
Review
So I want to get some things out of the way up front.
Positives: I actually like the sense of humor here. Sometimes, anyway. There are some legitimately, honestly good laughs. I mean, half the jokes flop, but there are a lot of them which means a lot of the actually-not-bad ones.
Of the Cap runs I’ve read to date (original Simon/Kirby, Englehart, Stern/Byrne, Gruenwald, Waid Take One, Liefeld/Loeb, Robinson, Waid Take Two, Jurgens, the rotating-writers Marvel Knights series, Brubaker, and Remender), my favorite was Mark Gruenwald’s (a bit of a guilty pleasure in a lot of places, but also frequently genuinely good), and there are a lot of references and callbacks to that here that I enjoy. Which are probably completely meaningless if you haven’t read it. And this is going to bite this series in the butt down in the part where I rip it apart.
Things which you can’t not bring up but which are not negatives for my present purposes: OK, so I have a rule. I don’t begrudge writers their politics. Their opinions are their business and I don’t hold that against them. Expressing their opinions in their writing is a waste of time that near-universally results in a poor story and has no real persuasive value, but I really try not to treat the fact that a story contains overt political themes as a flaw in itself. I find such stories very grating, but I’m willing to write that off as personal taste combined with the fact that it’s usually paired with other flaws.
I’m rambling about this because it’s very difficult to review Nick Spencer’s writing without reviewing Nick Spencer’s politics, since there’s not much to his writing other than politics, but I’m going to give it a shot.
All that said, this run kinda sucks.
So the pacing bounces all over the place like a cat on catnip, doing flashbacks and flashforwards and flashsidewayses and flashpastfutureperfectconditionals or whatever pretty much at random.
The actual plot is a flimsy chain of very loosely connected bad guys and is honestly rather hard to get excited about. And every single one of those bad guys is a shallow political strawman that goes on for pages at a time. It’s boring. And oddly, it’s barely political. What I mean is that it doesn’t really have the guts to make its own point, so it just has the other side say stupid things so you can think they’re stupid. I mean, congratulations, you can successfully imitate what morons screaming on Twitter sound like. You must be proud.
But honestly, the biggest thing that ticked me off was the handling of Diamondback. Seriously? A poledancer? She was actually really interesting in the Gruenwald run and she deserves to be used more somewhere (Domino, for example; thank you, Gail Simone), just… not like this. Like, there are several “I like this in theory, but not like this” moments, but the rest are pretty minor compared to this… frustratingly disrespectful handling.
You know what else sucks about this series? It’s repetitive. You see the exact same points from the exact same talking heads, issue after issue. Like, I was looking for other specific points to complain about, but the series just stops having new things happen after the Serpent Society arc.
Anyway, the final issue has a character named Barf who vomits up a MacGuffin for the protagonists because he’s just able to summon things like that, so I think that more than anything should tell you the level of storytelling quality we’re looking at here.
Captain America: Steve Rogers: 19 issues from 2016-2017 in total, but only 2 this year
Writer: Nick Spencer
Review
This one’s been talked to death. Honestly, the Cap-is-Hydra-mole thing is just Cosmic Cube BS dragged out over longer than such BS is normally dragged out, and not really anything more special than that. I do hate Cosmic Cube BS, but I’ve gotten about as worked up over it as I care to be already. So, here, have this:
But it just has all the same problems as CA:SW, but Steve this time. Oh, and more Red Skull. Worst. Villain. Ever.
Honestly, this is actually the better of the two series. Evil Steve is at least kind of an interesting villain, and it spends more time on having a plot and less time on being obnoxious. I mean, the entire overall arc is… regrettable, but switching over to this book after an issue of Sam Wilson is generally kind of a relief.
The attempt at a twist that the Hydra timeline is actually the original is questionable, but the whole thing is so muddled that I can’t tell whether I’m supposed to think that’s actually the case or the characters are all just delusional.
Actually reading Secret Empire would probably answer some of my questions, but that would also involve actually reading Secret Empire, so you see my dilemma. And by “dilemma,” I mean screw that, I’m not doing it.
6 Likes
The first one of the year! Woo!
7 Likes
Okay call me crazy, I will attempt, without a subscription
My Reads
Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133
Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #134
Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #135
Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #136
Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #137
Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #138
Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #139
The Forever People #1
The Forever People #2
The Forever People #3
The New Gods #1
The New Gods #2
The New Gods #3
Mister Miracle #1
Mister Miracle #2
Mister Miracle #3
Crisis on Infinite Earths #1
Crisis on Infinite Earths #2
Crisis on Infinite Earths #3
Crisis on Infinite Earths #4
Crisis on Infinite Earths #5
Crisis on Infinite Earths #6
Crisis on Infinite Earths #7
Crisis on Infinite Earths #8
Crisis on Infinite Earths #9
Crisis on Infinite Earths #10
Crisis on Infinite Earths #11
Crisis on Infinite Earths #12
All-Star Squadron #50
All-Star Squadron #51
All-Star Squadron #52
All-Star Squadron #53
All-Star Squadron #54
All-Star Squadron #55
All-Star Squadron #56
Amethyst (Volume 2) #13
Blue Devil #17
Blue Devil #18
DC Comics Presents #86
DC Comics Presents #87
DC Comics Presents #88
Firestorm (Volume 2) #41
Firestorm (Volume 2) #42
Green Lantern (Volume 2) #194
Green Lantern (Volume 2) #195
Green Lantern (Volume 2) #198
Infinity Inc. #18
Infinity Inc. #19
Infinity Inc. #20
Infinity Inc. #21
Infinity Inc. #22
Infinity Inc. #23
Infinity Inc. #24
Infinity Inc. Annual #1
Justice League of America #244
Justice League of America #245
Justice League of America Annual #3
Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 3) #18
Losers Special #1
New Teen Titans (Volume 2) #13
New Teen Titans (Volume 2) #14
Omega Men #31
Superman #414
Superman #415
Swamp Thing (Volume 2) #46
Wonder Woman #327
Wonder Woman #328
Wonder Woman #329
Batman #229
Batman #230
Batman #231
Batman #232
Batman #233
Batman #234
Batman #235
Batman #236
Batman #237
Batman #238
Batman #239
Batman #240
Batman #241
Batman #242
Batman #243
Batman #244
Detective Comics #408
Detective Comics #409
Detective Comics #410
Detective Comics #411
Detective Comics #412
Detective Comics #413
Detective Comics #414
Detective Comics #415
Detective Comics #416
Detective Comics #417
Detective Comics #418
Detective Comics #419
Detective Comics #420
Detective Comics #421
Detective Comics #422
Detective Comics #423
Detective Comics #424
Detective Comics #425
Detective Comics #426
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #1
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #2
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #3
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #4
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #5
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #6
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #7
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #8
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #9
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #10
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #11
Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #12
Sensation Comics #1
Sensation Comics #2
Sensation Comics #3
Sensation Comics #4
Sensation Comics #5
Sensation Comics #6
Sensation Comics #7
Sensation Comics #8
Sensation Comics #9
Sensation Comics #10
Sensation Comics #11
Sensation Comics #12
Sensation Comics #13
Sensation Comics #14
Sensation Comics #15
Sensation Comics #16
Sensation Comics #17
Sensation Comics #18
Sensation Comics #19
Sensation Comics #20
Sensation Comics #21
Sensation Comics #22
Sensation Comics #23
Sensation Comics #24
Sensation Comics #25
Sensation Comics #26
Sensation Comics #27
Sensation Comics #28
Sensation Comics #29
Sensation Comics #30
Sensation Comics #31
Sensation Comics #32
Sensation Comics #33
Sensation Comics #34
Sensation Comics #35
Sensation Comics #36
Sensation Comics #37
Sensation Comics #38
Wonder Woman #1
Wonder Woman #2
Wonder Woman #3
Wonder Woman #4
Wonder Woman #5
Wonder Woman #6
Wonder Woman #7
Wonder Woman #8
Wonder Woman #9
Wonder Woman #10
Wonder Woman #11
Wonder Woman #12
Wonder Woman #13
Wonder Woman #14
Wonder Woman #15
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #206
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #207
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #208
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #209
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #210
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #211
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #212
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #213
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #1
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #2
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #3
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #4
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #5
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #6
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #7
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #8
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #9
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #10
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #11
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #12
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #13
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #14
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #15
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #16
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #17
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #18
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #19
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #20
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #21
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #22
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #23
Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #24
Total: 199
7 Likes
This always looked fun.
- Batman Gotham nights (2020) # 2
- Raven: Daughter of darkness #1 1/22
- Superboy 1(2011)
- Superboy 2 (2011)
- Superboy 3 (2011)
- Teen titans 7 (2011)
- Amethyst 1(2019)
- Batgirl (2009) 18 1/29
- Klarion 1(2014-15)
- Teen titans ann 1(2011)
1/30 - Young justice Outsiders #1 2/3
- Let them live #1
- Let them live #2 2/19
- Mystic U #1
- Mystic U #2
- Mystic U #3 4/20
11:43am 1/4/2021
6 Likes
Whats cool, is, like last year someone posts up what theyve been readin, and that’ll throw the whole “plan” of what ya wanna read out the window because it sounds way more fun.
3 Likes
Ooh, my new new years resolution was for more prose books. Ill post some pics later. Got some cool old-school 70s books from MARVEL. Stories qritten by Wolfman, Wein, Big Jim Shooter and the like…
5 Likes
It just hit me today, that after 55+ issues of Spencer’s SPIDERMAN run, all of, maybe, 5 things have happened. Might be less, doubt if its any more than. And I can honestly only remember, and explain, half of those. Sigh.
6 Likes
well just finished the first six books of future state, (the wonder woman book is quite interesting ) Generations shattered, injustice year zero 14, and the final issue of death metal.
6 Likes
Went on a total binge and finished off Brightest Day. I am also up to 25 issues of Excalibur. I have now read 90 comics in 5 days.
8 Likes
You’re doing way better than me, for sure. I’ve been slacking. Been busy and feeling burnt out.
5 Likes
I read the Wonder Woman and Swamp Thing books from Future State - I’ll wait on the rest until July when they show up on here. I really liked the Wonder Woman story and character. The writing was great and it’s fun story with some intrigue for what will happen in the second issue.
For Swamp Thing - am I missing something on who the character at the end is? I couldn’t place him but feel like I’m missing a big “oooohhhhhh!” moment by not knowing who it is. The idea of the story is interesting and I see what they’re doing with the different worlds and different results for where earth goes from the end of Death Metal.
5 Likes
I think it’s Floronic Man but I thought the story was really really good.
7 Likes
Im with Nat on the big bad. And SOOOOO happy to have a new Swampy book. Anywhat, before driftin on to some geeky podcast, here’s week one
4 Likes
Now there were way better books this week, but my faves go to the GHOST RIDERs. Not for the story or art, but because of all those glorious footnotes that kept me hopping from title to title. And,maybe just a little, because at one point GR and Spidey were chasin a villian disguised as another villian in a bull outfit on motorcycles. And it was all Satan’s fault. At least, I think thats what was happening…
4 Likes
At the end of week one, I have read 35 issues of Excalibur, 65 issues from Brightest Day, 16 issues of the new 52 Supergirl, and 6 issues of the new 52 Justice League. Grand total 122 comics.
7 Likes
Pace thyself, 51 more weeks to go, and one big dump of new books here in a couple weeks…
5 Likes
Just finished the children’s Secret Hero Society graphic novels they were cute and funny. Well, not a comic I also finished the latest DC Icon series (Audio Book) Black Canary: Breaking silence which was great.
7 Likes
My total is a gonna be a bit padded this week. While tryin not to watch the horrorshow that was the Pittsburgh/Cleveland game, I blazed thru INJUSTICE yr 3. Luckily, the landscape format was easy to read, while the tears ran down my face. Now if the O.S.U. game tonite goes south…itll be more depressin digital first funnybooks for me.
4 Likes
Gotham Central: 12 issues from 2005
Writers: Greg Rucka (6 issues, co-writer on 4), Ed Brubaker (2 issues, co-writer on 4)
The Major Crimes Unit sure is great at having solutions to cases get dumped in their laps by deus ex machinas. That or the case doesn’t get solved and a bunch of people die and everyone is sad. It’s just hard to care enough for the sad parts to hit all that hard, which is a very standard Rucka problem.
Actually, hang on, something occurs to me about the “Dead Robin” arc. Well, first of all, come on, guys. The Birds of Prey arc you’re ripping off wasn’t even one year old at the time. At least give it a little distance so you’re not so obvious. Second, they never explain how the killer got access to this random talent agency, which was supposed to be the big thing connecting all the victims. And this was the big four-issue, both-writers-on-deck arc for the year.
43.
4 Likes