the vynsane asylum

Looking online at Borders I can get both Watchmen and the Killing Joke for $26.58 with free shipping.
I'm this fucking close to buying...I'll mull it over until tomorrow (and after I see if the local mall Borders will match the online price - which I doubt).

The deluxe hardcover edition of the Killing Joke is a cool book - but I think the original is only a one-shot. Have a look at how much just buying the book itself costs - I'm guessing in and around that $10 mark for a cool piece of Batman history.

I don't care that much for the new coloring job, though. The older one had more garish colors for the Joker panels, and it fit the character and the schizo nature of the book more. Of course, they're not that different, just a bit toned down.

I bought them both yesterday anyway.
Eagerly looking forward to getting them.

vynsane wrote:dind't have anything to buy this week, only two books on my list and they're both coming in the mail. however, they STILL HAVEN'T FUCKING ARRIVED!!!!! i'm kinda pissed about that.

somehow i got my issue of ASM #566 but still have yet to receive mighty avengers #16. fuck, man. my P.O. sucks.

i also ordered some hellboy/bprd books that i somehow missed on the initial release from an online comic store i hadn't heard about previously: http://www.demolitioncomics.com - just fyi, minimum order of $10 if you check it out and they've got stuff you want.

however, these have ALSO arrived already. THAT was fucking FAST!

A shitload (too many, probably) of graphic novels and trade paperbacks at Comic-Con, mostly based on recommendations from you guys or stuff I was already looking for:

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born HC (more for Mrs A than for me, though I'll definitely read it)
X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga (years since I read it... nice to have my own copy of the whole story finally)
Dreadnoks: Declassified (I read this one Saturday--really, really disappointing)
Rose (I shat myself when I saw this... I'm guessing no one knew it was the prequel to Bone)
Invincible Vol. 6: A Different World
Invincible Vol. 8: My Favorite Martian
Superman & Batman: Generations 2 (loved the first... Byrne may be a nut, but he can do some awesome work)
Cerebus Vol. 4: Church & State II
Cerebus Vol. 8: Women
Cerebus Vol. 9: Reads
Cerebus Vol. 10: Minds (fuck! I actually picked up two copies of this on two different days! remind me to keep track in the future!)
The Sandman Vol. 4: Seasons of Mist
Preacher Vol. 3: Proud Americans
Preacher Vol. 4: Ancient History
The Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank (finally! one in a series that won't require me getting a previous volume at full price to "get")

I also bought:
Spooks: Omega Team #0 (new series from Larry Hama and RA Salvatore... fuck, I don't need to know no more)
Cerebus #0 (reprints the one or two issues that aren't in any of the paperbacks)

And got free from various sources at the Con:
some book with a really poor logo design that I can't be 100% sure of, but think it's "The Baritonios" #1
Dog Eaters #0 (or, as Rollo said "A comic about the Vietnamese!")
True Blood: The Great Revelation (freebie prequel to this new show HBO was hyping the living hell out of at the Con... and which looks like it will make John from Cincinnati look like the fucking Sopranos, it seems so mediocre)

Nice choices, Chux. I hope the Preacher books read okay without all the backstory - that's a really great series. Cerebus is some good stuff as well, but I've only had a very limited exposure. I never knew (as per your suggestion) that there had ever been a Rose series to precede Bone - but then I haven't been into Bone for very long at all.

Anyhoo - my seemingly long layoff from buying comics ended today. Here's the damage:

X-Men Legacy 213,214
ASM 565,566, Extra one-shot
Secret Invasion 4
Secret Invasion: FF 2,3
Cap 40
Mighty Avengers 16
Thor 10
DD 109
New Avengers 43
Uncanny 500
Punisher 59
Wolverine Origins 27

16 books, $52 bucks. Too much to be spending all at once, I need to get my ass in there at least 2x per month.

ended up taking a personal day from work today because the missus wasn't feeling well, so i hit a local shop i'd never been to before. i was expecting a light week of only three books, but as UPS/diamond shorted the dude, i only walked out of there with project: superpowers #5. here's what the list will look like when i go into midtown comics tomorrow:

project: superpowers #5
spider-man: brand new day - extra!!
spider-man: with great power... #5

August 13th:

FF 559
ASM 567
Secret Invasion 5
Hulk 5
Punisher 60
Secret Invasion: Inhumans 1 of 4

I have a shitload to read right now. I'm only caught up on Secret Invasion & Cap these days.

I finally bit the bullet and dropped a title, but it wasn't War Journal or Wolvergins. It was Astonishing X-Men.

Speaking of War Journal and Wolvergins...

Last Week I grabbed:
Punisher War Journal #22 - This crappy-ass Ultimate (as in epic, not Marvel Ultimate Universe) Jigsaw story plods along. Now with word that Fraction is leaving (or as I'm reading between the lines: kicked off) I wonder if I should stick with it a little longer.

Wolvergins #27 - I wish I could tell you what happened but I can't remember. Last month and this month Steve Dillon hasn't done the art - is he working on the Welcome Back Frank sequel?

NYX: No Way Home #1 - I loved the first mini (despite the massive delays), so I was pretty excited to see it return. Although there is a new creative team, it still has the same look and feel as the first mini. And no X23.

The Boys #21 - The terrible secret of the Superheros and their fuck up in the attacks of 9/11 (but it isn't our 9/11 though - long story).

Criminal Vol. 2 #4 - This is the first multi-part story of the new Criminal series after 3 longer interconnected one-shots. Fantastic series. Every month there is an article or essay on crime movies, books, ect. and this month there is a spotlight on the Hard Case Crime Publisher. After reading it I went out and picked up two of the novels (Stephen King's The Colorado Kid - I played it safe, and Shepard Rifkin's The Murderer Vine). Breezed through King and half way through Murderer. Both are really good reads.

Now onto this week's comics:

Daredevil Saga - A freebie that recaps the story since Brubaker took over.

Secret Invasion #5 - More stuff happens and people get slightly less confused.

The Punisher #60 - Fantastic finish to Garth's run on Punisher Max. The last 8 pages are wicked awesome. I skipped the preview of #61 for now. There is no way I'd be able to read that right after that almost poetic ending.

The Punisher Kills The Marvel Universe - The only real hole in my Garth Ennis Punisher run. Originally published back in '95 (I think). I'm assuming this reprint was re-released to coincide with The Punisher #60. A cool "What If?" kind of story where Frank's family was killed in a massive superhero battle. When Frank arrives, he snaps and shoots a couple of supers in the head (don't read it 'nark, hint hint) and is carted off to prison. A group of people hurt by supers spring Frank and convince him to kill all the heroes, which he goes about doing. It feels a bit too condensed for today's style of comics, but it's still a good one.

Grimlock reads Archie.

Looks like Marvel is wasting no time with continuing The Punisher Max - Issue #61 arrives on Wednesday.

Huh. I'll pass, I can catch up once I finish up my Ennis run & read it. I went back and bought Astonishing X-Men 26 once I realized I hadn't brought it home the other day.

jjreason wrote:Huh. I'll pass, I can catch up once I finish up my Ennis run & read it. I went back and bought Astonishing X-Men 26 once I realized I hadn't brought it home the other day.

You pass on The Punisher but still read the ASStonishing X-Men?

You know, I'm honestly wondering about continuing with that book. I haven't read 26 yet, but I have all the time in the world for Warren Ellis. I'm a little disappointed that they've "dragged" this title back into the X-Continuity, Astonishing was a very nice book when it was all by itself out in space and you didn't have to read 3 other titles to keep up. We'll see how the next couple of months go.

Without spoiling too much, how was the Punisher issue?

jjreason wrote:I'm a little disappointed that they've "dragged" this title back into the X-Continuity, Astonishing was a very nice book when it was all by itself out in space and you didn't have to read 3 other titles to keep up. We'll see how the next couple of months go.

That was exactly why I dropped it. Issue #25 looked and felt like every other X-Men title. It lost exactly what made it special (and I don't totally mean the creative team).

jjreason wrote:Without spoiling too much, how was the Punisher issue?

#60? As I said back on Thursday I thought it was fantastic finish to Garth's run on Punisher. The last 8 pages are almost poetic, in that dark Punisher way. I'm pretty sad to see him leave the title, but I can't think of a better way to end his run. Plus, it ain't all tears since we get another mini-series on the horizon.
I would love to know if Ennis had this entire run planned out in some form from the very beginning. From the Born mini-series to the one-shots to all sixty issues, the way the various stories weaved in and out of each other and culminate in this last arc were so great.