New Comics that I bought

     Lately I've been trying to make good decisions on what comics to buy. I tend to buy Marvel comics and some independents. I had started to buy DC comics, but then they did their "New 52" and I bailed. I've always been an X-Men fan because it's how I got into comics, but after the recent "Schism" I've had to muddle through a slew of first issues as they restart all the X-Titles. Ughh... I've finally decided which titles to drop and which to keep up with just in time for a new crossover event to (maybe) pull me back.
     Anyway, This week didn't offer me much in terms of worthy titles for reading. Uncanny X-Force #20, New Mutants #36, and Generation Hope #15. After the decent first 19 issues of UXF I've found my interest in the title waining. It's truly solidified itself as essentially a Fantomex solo book. That's all this title has been from the start with lots of recurring guests. This week Fantomex finds himself on trial by the Captain Britain Corps. Ugh... I've never been interested in Captain Britain and any of the characters that showed up in Excalibur back in the day. The only thing that is remotely interesting is the fact that we are trying to deal with the repercussions of Fantomex's decision to kill the En Sabah Nur child 17 issues ago. However, that's what the entire book has been about this whole time. So, we aren't exactly breaking new ground here. Meanwhile Captain Britain's Magic Land is at war with itself and X-Force fall head first into the battle. Yawn...
     Generation Hope #15 found the team back on Utopia with a Mindwiped Sebastian Shaw in tow only to find out that Cyclops (and others) are less than happy to see him again. This title has been very interesting to me from the beginning. I especially enjoyed the title when it steers clear of the rest of the X-Men and does it's own thing. However, since the title has introduced Shaw into the mix and moved more into continuity I'm finding myself cringe. This issue Hope challenges Scott (again) and shows off a bit more power than she's ever shown before. Of course, this is only to tease the Phoenix force storyline coming up entitled Avengers vs. X-Men. Ugh...  The thing I don't understand is why the Phoenix force would even be interested in Hope in the first place. So far, all we've ever seen the Phoenix want out of a mutant is for it to be telepathic. Hope isn't telepathic or even all that powerful. The only reason I can see them doing this is because she has red hair and looks like Jean Grey. Ugh...
     New Mutants #36 finishes up the search for Blink storyline(thank god). This title has been limping along since the beginning. There hasn't been much to make this title stand out and I think it's been coasting on the nostalgia of people who grew up with these characters in the late 80s, but I think recently with the titles new direction that it's really settling into something that could be good. The characters are solidifying and it's tangential role to the other X-Titles is a good thing. I hope it can steer clear of too much continuity and do it's own thing for a while.
     I also picked up Ultimate Comics All-New Spider-Man #6. What a terrible title. Ultimate Spider-Man was such a better title for the book. So, six issues into Miles Morales taking over the title from Peter Parker and we finally have an issue where he actually fights some bad guys! In costume! Hooray! Bendis Ultimate Spider-Man(under any title) has been very consistently good. I've enjoyed every issue of this book. Every single one (i'm counting the almost a hundred and fifty issues preceding this restart), but it's been lagging recently for me. The Miles Morales storyline seems to be taking it's  time getting anywhere. I think it's because we don't know enough about the character yet (not nearly as much as we knew about Peter) and we don't yet see the point of the title. It doesn't have a direction yet. No main antagonist(like green goblin was for Peter) or even a sub-antagonist(like Doctor Octopus was for Peter). I'm sure we'll be introduced to these elements soon, but it needs to hurry if it has any hope of keeping new readers.
     Rounding out my week is Planet of the Apes #10(BOOM! Studios). This title has been so good from the start. The art is great the story is interesting and each issue keeps me wanting to read more. It's weird. This title should have been terrible. It's supposed to fit into the old Planet of the Apes movies continuity. As hokey as those films became this title manages to keep all the good elements of those films while setting itself apart. We don't have the Star Wars Prequel problems of having to show the origin of every main character from the films. Instead we are given a whole new set of characters that we get to know and like. We get invested in these characters even though they aren't familiar at all. This issue gives us flashbacks from three of our main characters: Sully, Alaya, and Nix. We see how their paths first cross at a definitive moment in history. Our other main character, Bako, is absent until the end. A battle is fought between the White Troop and the Ghost Battalion that is very well presented. Just a great title overall. I highly recommend picking it up even if you don't know much about the movie continuity. If you can't find the issues, get the volume 1 TPB.
     I suppose I might start doing this weekly now that I have a little more time to devote to it, but I can't guarantee that will last. So, until next time!

First Rant about comics

Hello and welcome to my blog. I’ve been told numerous times by friends that I needed to start one of these, so now I’m finally doing it. I want to say, up front, that I don’t always have perfect grammar and I know my wife will loathe me posting anything that isn’t perfect, but it’s going to happen. I’m going to screw up.  Expect run-on sentences, comma-splices, poorly worded sentences, and all of it written in a conversational style. I hope this won’t detract from what I’m saying or drive anyone away. So, without further ado…

Lately I’ve been reading a number of back-issues of Marvel Comics Presents. I noticed a lot of talented creators getting their start in those pages as well as some established creators doing some nice work. People like Joe Madureira, Jae Lee, Sam Keith, Peter David, Tim Truman, etc… I started thinking about how there isn’t a good anthology book on the newsstand today. Scratch that…Dark Horse has revived Dark Horse Presents which is attracting a lot of great talent. However, it stands alone and I have no idea how well it’s doing in terms of sales. I picked up a recent issue because it had a Ricardo Delgado story; A new Age of Reptiles tale. It was great.

            I started thinking about the state of comics today. They don’t sell as well as they used to, but they also seem to be more in the public consciousness. We’ve seen a number of comic book based movies do very well at the box-office lately. So, how is Marvel welcoming new readers that might want to check out an Avengers comic once they see the upcoming movie? They can go to their local comic shop and find…Avengers, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Avengers Academy…wait…what the hell? How the hell is that a good thing for a new reader to find? X-men comics are known for having many different titles since the late 1980s. X-Men: First Class fans can go to their local comic shop and soon find 8 different X-titles to choose from. Not to mention one-shots or mini-series that may be out there.

            What if they could have one book called Avengers and one book called X-Men? They could have a back-up feature that would showcase stories of the other teams. Make the issues have a higher page count. Hell, make it a double sized book containing two complete issues. My other idea is that you could have an anthology book outside of the main title. You could have an Avengers ‘family’ anthology. It could contain stories of the Secret Avengers, the Avengers Academy, and the New Avengers. Deadlines could easily be met by the authors and the artists because they are only doing eight pages or so every month! You could do a special issue every now and then that might focus more on one of the particular titles. Do the same thing with the X-family of books. Fans of the movies can go to the store and find the Avengers comic or the X-Men comic and not feel daunted by the thought of 8 different titles from which to choose.

            It just seems strange, to me, that with comic books selling less and less that the big companies are putting out more and more titles. Where is the promotion? Where are the commercials on Saturday mornings? Where are the banners and ads on the internet? The only places I see comic books promoted are on comic book websites. Do you know where I see promotions for pills, anti-aging creams, cat litter, mops and brooms, etc…? They are EVERYWHERE online. I see them when I look at the weather, video game news, world news or just silly videos. I see ads for all the things previously listed and more. Where are the comic book ads? Comic books try and sell more books by bagging them or having variant covers, but the only people who are buying those gimmicks are the people buying comics in the first place and that pool is quickly drying.

            I bought my first comic book at the E-Z Mart gas station by my house. It was the last chapter in a story arc. I loved it. I bought more. I was a little confused by things, but I made my way through it and bought more. I still buy comics today because of that issue. I wish companies would put comics back in front of children. Distribute them to places people go; the grocery store and the convenience store. I also wish comic book companies would quit rebooting things and putting out new number one issues to try and get new readers. It didn’t matter to me that my first issue wasn’t a number one. Trust your creators to be able to make an interesting story that will entice readers whether it’s the first chapter or the last chapter of a story. If people know about it, they will buy it. If it’s good, people will continue to buy it.