So, What comics did you buy this week?

[Rollo Tomassi]

Hulk (which is the Red Hulk book) continues on as usual.
Incredible Hulk restarts (yet again) with Jason Aaron and Marc Silvestri on the first arc.


I dropped Moon Knight after I guessed the new 'West Coast Kingpin' is just one of Spector's other split predicaments.

[jjreason]

Got a couple of other books from a different store I don't usually attend:

Fear Itself 4,5,6 after my normal dinkus failed to pull not one, not two, but all three of these for me. ><
Moon Knight 4,5
Cap & Bucky 622 (yep, another forgotten pull from my usual guy - anyone seeing the pattern here?)

[jjreason]

X-Men Regenesis 1
ASM 671 (ummm nice cover :O )
New Avengers 17
FF10
Punisher 4
Black Panther 523 (really my last issue for sure this time, needed to finish off the Fear Itself arc)
Avengers 1959 #1 (took a bit of a flyer on this one, but i found the flashbacks in the FI Avengers books interesting)

[Rollo Tomassi]

12 books this week, with only one FI tie-in. And I initially only had 9 books so I had to pad it out to 12.

Amazing Spidey 671. Agreed on the cover, JJ. If I had a GF I'd dress her up like that and bang the hell out of her. So, Spider-island gets to its penulitmate issue as Spidey finally gets his SpiderSense back and the Queen vaporizes the Jackal. Damn.

New Avengers 17. Norman Osborn now runs HAMMER, the Hand, Hydra, AIM and god knows what other evil organizations. I bet ULTIMATUM and the Maggia are in there too. Anyway, he has an Ultimo robot attack Iron Man and then steals a sample of Wolverine's blood.

FF 10. Ronan is fed up with the Inhumans running the Kree Empire and decides to start some shit.

Generation Hope 11 and 12. Bought to pad out the 12. Haven't read 'em yet.

Ghost Rider 4. Johnny Blaze helps Alejandra defeat her mentor Adam. then he offers to take the GR back and she says nope. So I guess we've got a Ghost Rider with bewbs for the forseeable future. Also, this was an FI tie-in but it little to nothing to do with the Event.

Legion of Monsters 1. Needed to pad to 12 books so I took a chance on this. It spins out of the FrankenCastle bullshit. Morbius and his underground Monster City people have to team up with avowed monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone to figure out who's black magicing monters into eating children. Not bad.

PunisherMAX 18. MAX Elektra is AC/DC as she fucks Wilson Fisk, then goes back and fucks his wife who is plotting to kill him. Which is disturbing to have to watch Steve Dillon wooden art people boning. Frank is also in the book.

Punisher 4. The awesome Rucka run continues.

The Stand: Night Has Come 3. Almost to the end. Stu breaks his leg. Nadine tricks Randall Flagg into throwing her off the roof with his child still inside her.

X-Men Legacy 257. Just as the X-Men are about to turn on the giant world machine that stops the planet sized satellite with billions of inhabitants aboard from falling into the sun, Sovel Redhand double crosses everyone and steals the machine. because its worth trillions on the galactic black market.

X-Men: Regenesis oneshot. Sort of a Schism issue 6. This story breaks down who chooses which side and why. A very effective story that uses a metaphoric "caveman" fight between Scott and Logan and each person's prehistoric metaphor chossing which side of the fire to stand on. At the end of the book, they conveniently list the two new teams in their entirety. Beast specifically calling Scott and gloating that he's joining Logan was especially hilarious. He has even been with the Avengers for months and had nothing to do with the X-Men and STILL needed to twist the knife. Also had a great confrontation between two factions of the "students" (who this entire split is supposed to be about.)

Also, I got the Avenging Spider-Man preview freebie. Ohmygod. Zeb Wells writes the most hilarious Spider-Man. Everybody yelling not it was beyond funny. Except Red Hulk who didn't know what the !@#$ "Not it" was. The 'abusive boyfriend' line also had me rolling. If this series is as funny as the first five pages suggest, I'm buying every issue. And the Joe Mad art was fantastic.

[anarky]

G.I. Joe: Cobra Civil War Vol. 1. This is going to get really fucking confusing with putting these in order, especially since the paperbacks seem to be coming out slightly out of order as compared with how they shipped.

I also ordered the KISS Kompendium. Barnes & Noble has it remaindered for $22.48. There's a 10% AAA discount, and, with free shipping on $25, you can slap pretty much whatever on the order to qualify for it. I couldn't give half a shit about the Dark Horse series, and am only partly interested in the old Marvel comic(s?). But Psycho Circus was way the fuck cooler than any comic based on KISS deserves to be, and I didn't get the whole series back in the day--this hardcover comes out to less than $1 per Psycho Circus isse. I would seriously recommend at least seeing if any nearby B&N has it and thumbing through the Psycho Circus issues. It's a fucking awesome "Vertigo-lite" title even if you don't get the shit-ton of song references, but even cooler if you do.

Speaking of B&N, I saw Holy Terror in the store today. Jesus fuck. Someone shoot Frank Miller already. He's really embarrassing himself. The first ten pages or so are all splashes, and have maybe four words. And it's his abstract style at its worst. (Yeah, it's been good before. But take it too far, and it looks more "five-year-old" than "comic book god working in heavy chiaroscuro.")

Also speaking of B&N, the store got rid of most of its bargain books section. (Which is why I had to order the Kompendium instead of getting it in-store as I'd hoped.) They also cut the actual book part of the store back by maybe about 25%, and had gutted the music and movies section. Why? A "Nook lounge," because it's apparently vital for them to have more display space for a shitty e-reader no one wants because the Kindle and iPad both beat the shit out of it, and for a toys and games section. Because, really, when I think, "Man, I want to buy some games, and maybe check out the latest action figures," the first place to come to mind is B&N, and I always find myself thinking, "As indispensable as B&N is to my toy collecting habits, I wish they had more!" I asked if this was seasonal, and, apparently, it's not. They will carry a "minimal" amount of movies and all CDs will be special-order. I find this sad; with Circuit City and Borders gone, B&N was the last nationwide chain to carry anything but the most obvious titles in books, movies, or music... and they drove the smaller stores out of business ages ago. Take the instant gratification out of the equation, and people will order from Amazon instead of their website (unless something's remaindered there and not at Amazon).

It almost makes me sick--instead of focusing on what they're good at, these stores make boneheaded managerial decisions and lose their customers. If B&N goes under, and, judging from the news and this dumbass restructuring, will be within 24 months, the only outlets for books that aren't the typical shit you find at Wal-Mart and Target will be Amazon. E-books will at least be available from Apple, too, but, no matter how much I don't hate either Amazon or Apple, having only two national outlets for any media is a bit frightening.

[jjreason]

Scary that they're choosing to "get more in line" with what the other big retailers are doing than choosing to make themselves more individual. I think you're right, it will backfire.

Oh, and since I can't remember where we started the thing about Planetary, but I'm in the midst of a re-read and it is spectacular. Do not hesitate - I saw the 4 trades on Amazon last night for well under $10 each (the whole run is only 27 issues long and you don't need the specials or crossovers at all).

[Rollo Tomassi]

The only issue of Planetary I have is 27. Which came out like 5 years after the rest of the series.

[anarky]

I'll scope it out as soon as I'm able. I do have a bit of a backlog worked up (which, I guess, is okay since I won't be buying a shit-ton at Comic-Con next year, and Borders can only close once).

It's really quite sad that the places to get CDs are all either gone, going away, or reducing or eliminating CDs altogether. The sound quality on a CD is much higher than an MP3, and you get the liner notes. Plus, CDs now cost pretty much what Amazon and iTunes charge for a full album, or, in many cases, several dollars less, so I prefer CDs whenever I want an entire album--and, given the music I listen to, I usually want the entire album. I've bought a few albums in MP3 format, either stuff that was out of print or was never released in America or, in a very few cases, was much cheaper. (One album by a Russian rock/metal band called Pushking, which had a shit-ton of western guest stars, was $4.99 in MP3 and $17.99 for CD... no brainer there.)

I guess, in a way, it's cool that the MP3 has opened the way for a true successor to the vinyl 45 single without forcing people to get an entire album for one song. They did an amazing job of convincing everyone it was actually superior for full albums, though, which it's definitely not.

[jjreason]

I agree with this. I find the sound quality on "real" cds far superior to what I've gotten from burned at home cds - even if the material is the same. I have no idea how or why this is the way it is (digital should be digital, right) but it is.

Is it the compression or something? Someone try an explain please.

[anarky]

The main culprit is compression. vyn or jdr3 can probably explain it better than I can, but try ripping a CD in a completely lossless format and take a gander at the filesize. You might be able to fit all the Nirvana studio albums on a single iPod.

[jjreason]

Helplessly off topic by now, so fuck it. Last plug for Planetary and I'm done. Read this review or don't - preferably don't - but if you actually need any more impetus to bump the tpbs to the top of your list (or lists, EP I'm looking at you) - get your read on. This guy obviously loves the book way more than anyone should, but his description of the quality of work is just about right.

http://comics.ign.com/articles/111/1110713p1.html

[Rollo Tomassi]

It's on my 'floppy list'.

And since it's Wednesday, I'll tell you what I got this week. 12 books, with 2 FI tie-ins. Probably the last two, since FI 7 came out and Thor died. Oops, did I spoil it? Well, fuck off. I haven't read any of the damn series and I knew that. Blame yer goddamn Internet. Not me.

Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X 2. Robo falls 400 miles to Earth and almost dies. And his trusty gun he's had since WWII doesn't make it. Very sad.

Avengers 18. In the aftermath of FI we get 'Shattered Heroes'. Cap moves his Avengers into the mansion since the tower got destroyed. And it's time for that time honored tradition of choosing a new roster.

GIJoe ARAH 171. Sneak Peek finishes his story as Flint and his team go into Darklonia to extract Darklon.

Snake Eyes 6. Snakes and Duke race against time to find Duke a cure to his bio warfare induced disease. Here's to hoping they don't make it in time.

Iron Man 509. IM finished his nifty new Asgardian Battle armor and heads off to the big finale over in FI 7. Where Thor dies.

Marvel Index 3. We continue to learn about Ghost Rider, Punisher, and Wolverine. I have EVERY ISSUE in this Index. Woot.

Journey into Mystery 629. An FI tie-in. Loki rewrites the serpent's history with a magic pen, so that he has a weakness and Thor can defeat him over in FI 7. Right before Thor dies.

Transformers 28. See, I missed issue 26 and a lot of shit went down, but apparently Megatron escaped and Cybertrom is about to go kablooie.

Vengeance 4. Haven't read it yet.

Wolverine 17. Before moving across the country to get a bunch of students killed, Logan has to tie up loose ends in San Fran's Chinatown where he is the official crime Kingpin. And GorillaMan is along to help.

X-Factor 226. I'm going to skip commentary on the issue and just comment on the disturbing cover of the entire team lynched in silhouette. Oh, and Rictor, Shatterstar, and Layla make plans to have a threesome.

Uncanny X-Men 544. FINAL ISSUE. Focuses on Scott, Bobby, and Hank and how much they've changed since issue 1. Very understated finale. Not bad, but quiet.

[jjreason]

Uncanny, Avengers, FI7, FI Fearless 1, Avengers 1959 2. No reading done yet, I'm trying to get caught up on ASM before anything else & that Planetary sidebar set me back a (glorious) day or 2. Ok, I said I was done plugging it - I lied.

EDITED: read FI7 & Uncanny 544. FI7 was basically me doing the "whoop de doo" motion whilst spinning my "whoo hoo" finger facetiously around in a circle beside my head. Seen it all before.

Uncanny 544 however I REALLY enjoyed, particularly the splash page and Scott's final line. A very nicely executed faux-finale.

[jjreason]

Wolvie & the X-Men 1
Game of Thrones 1,2
Secret Avengers 18
FF 11
DD 5
ASM 672
Cap & Bucky 623

[Rollo Tomassi]

I got a whopping 18 books this week. 2 of them were Flashpoint issues from te dollar bin. And 3 more FI tie-ins even after the series is over.
Amazing Spidey 672. Spidey Island concludes! Spider-Man saves everybody with the help of his wife! A rip roaring fun storyline. Walloping' Web Snappers!

SpiderIsland: SpiderGirl 3. Spider Girl, the Kingpin, and the Wasp Queen team up to save Manhattan. Anya earns Fisks respect and he vows to leave her alone.

SpiderIsland:Cloak and Dagger 3. Cloak and Dagger end up switching powers by the end of the issue.

Annihilators: Earthfall 2. the Avengers fight the Annihilators until the aliens posing as humans reveal themselves and make the Avengers look like chumps. Also, the Magus is reborn. Yet again. Get a new villain Marvel Cosmic books.

Avengers Academy 20. In the fallout of FI, one student and two faculty members leave. Pym moves the entire Academy out west into the old WCA compound and recruits some new students. It's both the end and beginning of an era.

Cap and Bucky 623. Bucky's WWII adventures continue as he and Toro infiltrate a concentration camp and discover the horrors the Nazis are perpetrating first hand.

Daredevil 5. Matt protects some blind guy from a hit squad. And fights some big new dumb bad guy.

FF 11. Ronan uses the two captured alt reality Reeds to re-jump start te Supreme Intelligence so he can attack the Inhumans. Earth will be collateral damage in the ensuing fight, so all of Earth's heroes muster.

Game of Thrones 2. If they're going to continue at this pace, they've GOT to get a better artist. Even ample boobie shots couldn't keep me from being bored.

Cobra 6. We find out why Steeler is a douche double agent for Cobra. And he kills another nameless Joe.

Incredible Hulk 1. The new first issue finds a bearded Hulk living with the Moloids down underground, being 'left alone'. Natch, he gets attacked by a govt agent named Amanda VonDoom. Who is, no shit they actually say this, "no relation". Pretty Silvestri art though.

Red Skull Incarnate 4. Johann's journey towards Skulldom continues.

Journey into Mystery 630. Volstagg embellishes a tale for his children about how he singlehandedly won FI all by his lonesome.

Thor 7. A flashback/prequel telling how the Odin/Cul rivalry began when they were boys.

Astonishing X-Men 43. Only flipped through it. Danger falls in love with Machinesmith. I bought it because it has Art Adams cover of Emma Frost.

Wolverine and the X-Men1. First issue. Wolverine opens the new school and the NY Education board sends some bureaucrats to sign off on it. Humorous first issue. Henceforth, I shall refer to this as WaXMen.

Flashpoint 4 and 5. from the dollar bin. Just to see how the old DCU ended.