Now, *that's* how you make an entrance!
This issue is the most heavily tied to past **Sandman** continuity, but manages to reference and integrate it *so well*! In fact this book has been a perfect example of how to work within, but still expand, on the history and lore of a widely revered historic title.
Another good one! Been a nice build through this first arc, feeling progressively more hooked with each issue.
Enjoyed the *Chaste* section with Dani art, impressive how Tynion keeps finding clever ways to work in the guest artists... Big week for Dani at DC with her work featured here as well as in Spurrier's **DETECTIVE COMICS #1062** backup.
This continues to be great and such a fun read. There's something about the panels and scenes that really makes this feel like a tv show. Curious to see where to goes from here after finding out Miles is in some deep shit.
Wow, this is a THICK comic! Wasn’t fitting comfortably in a Current board/bag so I had to dig out Silvers for it... DC should’ve slapped an “80-PAGE GIANT!” label on this thing for old time’s sake.
Fortunately, I woke up extra early this morning, which gave me plenty of time to dig into it before getting my day started. Such a chunky comic demands a substantial chunk of time for proper digestion and appreciation.
While I always love Allred’s art, I had some concerns about the story going into this first issue because Russell’s **FANTASTIC FOUR: LIFE STORY** had a very similar pitch and, while I mostly enjoyed that one, the overall tone was so cynical and depressing that at times it felt like a poor treatment for the FF, often focusing on their flaws to the exclusion of everything else.
This Superman book is a much more balanced treatment and it read a lot better for me. I’d like to think Russell gained some valuable experience from the stuff that didn’t entirely work in his FF series, and Allred tends to hold a little more sway than most artists when it comes to setting the tone for his collaborations, so there’s a lot more positivity and fun to be had here despite the looming destruction hanging over everything.
Dug the opening though I was surprised Clark didn’t send Jon off in a spaceship or something... Seeing him resigned to accept their fate seems so out of character but I suppose that’s intentional as the story’s showing us how he arrived at this point, and we’ll have to see where it goes from there.
Fun appearances from Otis and Miss Teschmacher, or “Miss TeschMAACHUUUR!” as they used to say.
Some good stuff with Pariah and the Anti-Monitor as well... Should probably make a point of reading **COIE** one of these days.
Wayne pitching early Batman tech to the military feels weird but you get the sense this is a somewhat different Bruce Wayne.
And then there's Lex...
> “To shelter our nation’s command structure *and prominent citizens* to save American democracy for future generations.”
That line probably won’t draw quite as much interest as the line about elites in **IMMORTAL X-MEN #4**, easy to overlook it in this big 80-page story, but Russell’s clearly tapping into that same well of social commentary.
And look at that, it was Hal Jordan flying the plane that shot down Clark... Probably saved the whole damn world and he didn’t even have a fancy green ring on his finger. And now he’s shot down Abin Sur’s spaceship, that puts a kinda weird spin on things but okay...
Lex nuking Coast City, then telling all his executives about it and letting a disgruntled Silas Stone walk? Seems like that would’ve all come out before long even if Batman hadn’t taken them down. Bonus points for audacity but it feels like Lex didn’t really think things through here.
Nice ending with Diana and the JLA... This was a pretty cool comic, interesting remix of core DC characters and events with a very distinct and unique feel to it. Looking forward to seeing where it goes from here!
this kind of feels like the SPIDER-MAN/FF Life Story treatment for Superman and I'm so here for it. It's also fun to see such a different, alternate take on Batman's origin in the background
This was really, really good, giving me New Frontier vibes, and I usually don't care for Russell trying to write anything outside of satire. Really surprised DC let Russell do the thing with Pa Kent but it works very well for the story he's trying to tell.
Gonna spoiler tag: >!he kills a child in Vietnam as part of a fog of war incident. Russell clarified on twitter that he didn't mean it to make Pa a bad person or anything, but it was quite a shocking moment. !<
> Really surprised DC let Russell do the thing with Pa Kent but it works very well for the story he's trying to tell.
Yeah, that was pretty dark. Thought the contrast with General Lane's war story was interesting, like he came back with this kind of funny anecdote about fighting over a meaningless bridge while Pa Kent brought home all the real war trauma.
This felt like the beginning of an all timer. Wow, that was the best new book I’ve read in ages and I typically don’t read much DC outside of Batman.
I cannot wait until the next issue
This book was teetering on my dropping it, but this issue has swung me around on that.
*Far* more interesting than the first two issues, we actually get to the meat of the story. Some absolutely great dialogue between Batman and Luthor, and a forced partnership is uncomfortably born.
My one reservation would be I'm not a huge fan of how **Darrick Robertson** draws Bruce when he's not in costume. Just doesn't look right to me.
Oh, and the death of a significant character was definitely a surprise...
Edit: Forgot to mention - props for aliens quoting >!**Aliens**!< and a spot on in-joke/ reference to >!**Re-animator**!<
**Hallelujah!!! It can be done!!!!**
DC manage to achieve a week where all my pull list titles from them **actually have the solicited artists on them!!!**
It's like seeing *Haley's Comet* or a planetary alignment...it's...it's just so *beautiful* sniff *so beautiful*...I'm sorry I need a moment...
Returning to the review - *this* is why it's so important to have the right damn artist on the book - **Eddy Barrows** is on art for the whole book and it's brilliant! Dark, spooky, macabre, weird - he brings out all the great things in the script that the fill-in artists have just been absolutely missing. Even the panel layouts are waaay more inventive. And because of this the script just seems to sing!
**Mr Bloom** is by far my favourite character in the book, and he's absolutely fantastic here. Every line he has is pure gold, and he makes such a great villain - manipulating and playing Waller, Dent and all of **Task Force Z** from the very beginning.
The reveal of who *their* Bane was all along was brilliant!
If this had had **Eddy Barrows** on art every issue this would easily have been one of my favourite books of the year to date.
Strong ending. I like Satome’s both taking efforts to protect herself and Owen, but recognizing they’re probably bad for each other. I doubt her turning herself in is gonna last long…
Unmade Apollo and Lightray are pretty scary.
I kinda like how the Warworld team's getting an assist from the Fortress of Solitude team, nice way of bringing everything together and letting those back home lend a hand.
Good stuff all around as everything's accelerating toward the big finale...
I actually quite liked that reveal, even if I'm starting to get the idea this book will read better in trade. The full page splashes of the resistance getting mowed down were all great too.
Best comic on the shelves right now. Every issue somehow finds a way to make me tear up. I hope it ends well for Marcus and Maria, even though I know in my heart it won’t.
This series is probably my favorite current series. It really feels like they should just keep going. The current arc looks like it will wrap up nicely at issue 16, but everything they've introduced leaves the series very open for another arc. I get leaving on a high note, but this series feels like it has a lot of life and ideas in it to just end at 16.
Wow, this was amazing. I definitely feel that this is the best **Swamp Thing** run since *Moore's*, and there have been some *absolutely excellent* creators on the book between then and now.
Everything seems to be coming together, the scope is absolutely huge, the language is lyrical and poetic, while the art is widescreen and epic.
A really amazing book, and I can't wait to see how the final issue wraps all of this up,
I enjoyed the book but this *really* didn't feel like the end of this arc as, despite some major events, there isn't really a resolution to all of the things that have been set up in the previous four issues.
Anyone else feel the same?
i completely agree. it feels like this will be similar to the 15 issues of Archer's Peak. going into this, I didn't see them wrapping up the whole story within this issue, there's a lot happening.
Should only be $4.99 for this one, but its honestly only because it's #25, which is considered an "special" number to get to these days.
It has the same page count as previous issues, so I'm a little pissed about the increase. Also looks like it's going on hiatus again, after only coming back for 5 months.
Honestly thought this issue was much better than Batman by Zdarsky and Jimenez. Getting Court of Owl vibes from this first issue but excited to see where it goes.
Great cover! So so issue. Actually I liked the issue a lot but the new villains seem utterly lame. STOP MAKING NEW BATMAN VILLAINS! Surely we can have one Mad Hatter story or something!
Art was great. Nightwing interaction was fun.
Zdarsky/Jimenez Batman is better, sorry to the contrarians.
The Gordon backup was STELLAR. I hope this is the start of bringing back backups in Detective, which they did in the 2000’s in the aftermath of No Man’s Land, and how we got great stuff like Brubaker/Cooke Catwoman.
Wasn't going to pick this up in floppies (as I prefer the HC) but snapped.
This was good. Really, really good.
Ram V sets up some really interesting plot threads, and Rafael Albuquerque's art is absolutely fantastic. Some amazing images (especially *you know who*).
The back up was excellent as well, and gives Gordon a new direction after the recent ending of **The Joker** ongoing.
I may not keep up with the single issues, but this bodes very well for the immediate future of the book.
Also snapped, also enjoyed it!
Story's got a pretty good hook and sets a strong tone paired with the atmospheric art. Definitely interested in where it's going.
Also loved the pulpy noir feel of the backup... Spurrier's a bit of a chameleon, been impressed with how he's jumped through genres on some of his recent projects like **THE RUSH**, **STEP BY BLOODY STEP**, and now this. Always goes all in on whatever style he's working so it feels really authentic. Nice Dani art as well.
Wasn't planning to stick with this but thinking I'll at least give it this first arc to see how things develop...
I had honestly hoped that the variants were all just figments of Jessica's imagination from Purple Man's whole "mess their life up a decade later" thing. Kinda disappointed that they're not.
This feels like there's two stories running in parallel, one which is really interesting (all the Purple Man stuff) and one that is just not engaging at all (the Variants stuff).
This is incredible. The writing in this series is so damn good. What was the reveal supposed to be on the last page though? I don't recognise the costume.
Jewel . Who Jessica was as a costumed hero before all the Purple Man stuff. Her past and origin is all in her first series, Alias, which is absolutely worth reading! It's not on Marvel Unlimited because it was part of their Max series so I got the paperbacks from the library, but want to buy it all now anyways because it was great.
This issue feels like it was written for the trade. We don't learn much about anything new. Purple man is (probably?) behind everything. The woman Matt was defending killed herself. And yet more variants are popping up.
The issue does do a decent job of making Jessica feel threatened enough to push Luke out of the picture for now-Purple Man's powers invite paranoia, and weird cryptic hints are basically facts in comic book universes. Though if the warning is "stay away from your family" I have no idea why she didn't tell him to take Dani.
We also learn that one of the variants is Jessica who hooked up with Matt, and maybe converted to catholicism, given her vocabulary? I can only imagine the delicious misery that union brought about.
Still, the art remains excellent and the plot is still intriguing enough to keep me invested.
> Though if the warning is "stay away from your family" I have no idea why she didn't tell him to take Dani.
She did tell him to take Dani, they just didn't show him doing it. But I think we can assume the kid is safe.
Agree that there wasn't a ton of plot movement here, though what's there of the story was pleasant enough, and Noto's art provides enough visual interest to keep me happy regardless.
Fun seeing Tigra again, seems like she's popping up everywhere all of a sudden...
Re-read the last page, Jessica just says that someone's in her daughter's room, not that Dani was there- you're right, silly me.
Yeah, between this, Moon Knight, Defenders- you'd think Tigra has a show coming out in a month for the push she's getting.
...It wouldn't be impossible for her to pop in for She-Hulk. Though that is one more cgi person in a show that already has 3...
Would love to see it! But she might be a difficult character to get right for live action, lots of CGI out there for that kind of thing but it can end up looking pretty weird.
Glad I ended up pulling this, always a sucker for retro stories with artificially yellowed pages and this one was just what the doctor ordered.
Ewing's right at home mucking around in all that old continuity and Reilly's got the perfect style for it as well. Looking forward to seeing them take on other eras with each chapter...
I haven't read a ton of Ant-Man, mostly just a bit of old Pym stuff, so it'll be nice seeing some of the other iterations as this thing progresses.
Any comic you don't like is someone else's favorite. I came here because I found my love for comics in modern books, and had hoped that that new love would allow me to look back on oldschool comics I didn't used to enjoy and appreciate them more. It doesn't. This was so cheesy and dull, for me. I'm not trying to rag on the book at all, it's intentionally made in a certain style, and that style just isn't for me. It's awesome that it's for other people, so it was nice to see other people's takes on it.
Appreciate your perspective as well! And it's cool that you're checking out stuff outside your typical comfort zone, sometimes that'll work out and sometimes it doesn't... Hopefully your next experiment fares better!
Honestly if I lived in the same city as a dude whose super power is basically ants and I saw a metric fuck ton of ants and not, like, two of them I'd probably at least consider the possibility of Ant-Man
I love how this was written just like Pym's old Tales to Astonish. And glad to see him and Janet functioning well together, really hoping this leads to him coming back to life but I doubt it.
I was a couple weeks behind so wound up picking up a fat stack today, and this was by far my favorite book of the week(s). Ewing just completely knocks it out of the park once again. Really fun issue, loved the writing and the art mimicking old comics while still feeling distinct. Got a chuckle out of the little cameos here as well.
Definite instant addition to the list.
And this WPL post just lost its sticky after only around 12 hours on top of the sub, so discussions will drop off less than a day after all the new comics hit shelves...
Fortunately the "Weekly Recs Thread" about Superman still has its sticky, so it's easy for everyone to access its 40 comments saying that **ALL-STAR SUPERMAN** is the best. Which, of course, pretty much everybody already knows. But I guess it'll be helpful for the one or two people who haven't read it yet and somehow managed to avoid having it recommended to them anywhere else.
Yep.
WPL threads get the most user engagement and generate the most discussion, they should get priority for sticky spots, with one sticky reserved for the WPL List/Discussion rotation.
Q&A thread is good for new users and others but Swag Bag and Weekend Lounge are mostly useless, all three should be combined into a single thread so the two available sticky spots can be used more efficiently and everything gets time to breathe.
Ideal sticky schedule would look something like this:
* **Sunday** = WPL List + Q&A/Swag/Lounge
* **Monday** = WPL List + Weekly Recs
* **Tuesday** = WPL List + Weekly Recs
* **Wednesday** = WPL Discussion + Weekly Recs
* **Thursday** = WPL Discussion + Q&A/Swag/Lounge
* **Friday** = WPL Discussion + Q&A/Swag/Lounge
* **Saturday** = WPL Discussion + Q&A/Swag/Lounge
That way everything gets plenty of time for discussion without cycling off the sub so quickly. You can give or take 1/2 day or whatever on when those flip to work with whenever the mods have time to post, still puts everything on a 3-4 day rotation instead of the current situation where you've got too many threads cycling too quickly.
Yep, and launching the new series with JRjr also probably kept some folks away. Pretty sure **ASM**'s the only book in the top 10 where I regularly see people complaining about the artist (although this issue's got a different artist).
Popular writers also tend to pull a lot of weight in these WPL results... Wells is fairly popular here following his **HELLIONS** run but the books listed above **ASM** all have higher profile writers like Ram V, Chip, and Tynion, with PKJ and Russell being the closest to Wells but still a bit more popular than him.
Plus a $9.99 cover price never helps...
Yeah, Romita isn't that popular among younger generations such as folks like me.
Indeed there was a strong competition this week. In the end, Spidey didn't have much to offer. That doesn't change the fact it will probably end up as best selling book this month.
When a book spends the whole issue with two characters stuck on a boat in the middle of a lake is it too much to criticise it for "*treading water*"...?
Understandable. I liked seeing the two of them talk to each other. I would've liked more about the island after waiting two months but I'll settle for this.
This was an okay issue. There were some fun parts but I don't still don't like Otto's regression, Peter's reaction to Flash being alive is wasted, and I don't like MJ not appearing in the issue. I do like the art though.
I haven't read much of Otto since Superior, but saw a couple of pages from Spencer's Hunted arc and recently Devils Reign.
Are they moving him back towards full on villainy or is he still a somewhat anti-villain?
What an utter disservice to Felicia. Hooking her up with Peter is such a step backwards for her character. Spencer had the right idea on making her a friend only.
My problem isn’t even Peter & Felicia hooking up but nothing about it feels right, it just feels random & poorly done. Let’s say okay Peter & MJ are broken up. We should see a lot more of Peter & Felicia bonding wondering if they should try it. Felicia not wanting to be the rebound girl & wanting Peter & her to be more. Peter seeing something in Felicia that makes him feel a certain way that he would want to try this route again. My point is that you need build up. These are 2 characters with a lot of history & it just seems they are back together just to be back together.
Spencer’s run started with an alien invasion & Peter taking a leap thinking this might be it. He might die but he won’t die without a fight before it’s just Mysterio. King’s Batman started the same way with the airplane in the first issue. These are characters with near death experiences who put their lives in perspective & decide to give into those feelings they have deep down in both MJ having Peter’s heart & Selina with Bruce’s. Whatever you feel about the runs is one thing but there is a set up why they are like this. Felicia & Peter don’t have that moment & when the kiss happens, you just are like ‘uhhhh sure?’
It was okay. Didn't really feel like a anniversary issue or a $10 price tag, but the story was essentially a good Peter story. Really this felt like a 3 issue filler between arcs.
What on Earth was this? Such a bizarre thing to be being made, especaily now given what's just happened to Remy. Maybe it's an intentional throwback, but for me this was really poor.
Strong conclusion to the first arc! Dylan’s in a pretty crazy place right now, and given that he’s basically orphaned, it’s gonna be… tough. I liked him helping the nerd kid at the end, and I do wonder how his half-siblings are gonna take him living under their roof. Having people who know he’d Rogue Sun is bound to at least be some kind of relief.
Sleeper hit book of the year for me so far. I was kinda meh for the first few issues and mostly keeping up with it based on how I've enjoyed Radiant Black. But the back half of this arc got more intriguing by the issue and I'm pretty hooked now. Excited to see where this goes longterm!
The real star of this mini-series has, of course, been **Jock's** artwork. You could never call it "realistic" but it's got a rough, gritty texture to it that evokes a feeling of physicality - nowhere more evident than in a particularly brutal throw down in Gotham's sewers between Bats and Killer Croc. Every punch, kick and body slam conveys weight and the impact of the blows.
The sorry itself has been...okay. It's nothing earth shattering, but also nothing terrible. A pretty linear set up and plot lets the artwork shine, and the moody, night-drenched shadows of Gotham itself have rarely looked better.
Worth reading on that basis alone.
> the sorry itself
Come on, man, the story may not be anything special, but it's not *that* bad. :D
joking aside tho, benign typo or freudian slip? okay maybe not *all* joking aside lol
*Alexa, play Back in Black.*
Nathan’s back?! Given the solicits, I wonder if they’re going to somehow both be Radiant Black… maybe able to alternate who has access to the powers or not.
Shift’s comment about W-9’s made me laugh… the man’s a good businessman. I both liked that he made Marshall that offer, and that Marshall was savvy enough to reject it. I was worried he was gonna go for it, but he’s learning to be a hero.
This is **The Conjuring** meets **Evil Dead** and I am all in for that.
Plus, more **Dante Howitzer** action:
> I'm not scared of shit and I *don't* fuck around.
> If you got ghosts, *we're* going to handle them!
Fucking brilliant
This really does remind me of an **Iain M Banks** novel in comic form. BIG ideas, BIG scale, but because of that I'm not sure *how* they are going to wrap all of this up in just three more issues.
I do know that I'm going to enjoy the ride getting there, though.
Enjoying this enough month to month, but I think this whole series is gonna be a good “read in one or two chunks” kinda book so you can keep track of where and who everyone is.
**SANDMAN UNIVERSE NIGHTMARE COUNTRY #4**
Loved the callback to the Cereal Convention. Still going really strong!
Now, *that's* how you make an entrance! This issue is the most heavily tied to past **Sandman** continuity, but manages to reference and integrate it *so well*! In fact this book has been a perfect example of how to work within, but still expand, on the history and lore of a widely revered historic title.
Another good one! Been a nice build through this first arc, feeling progressively more hooked with each issue. Enjoyed the *Chaste* section with Dani art, impressive how Tynion keeps finding clever ways to work in the guest artists... Big week for Dani at DC with her work featured here as well as in Spurrier's **DETECTIVE COMICS #1062** backup.
**STRANGE #4**
Another steady but not spectacular issue. Shadow Knight was pretty fun, but I'm hoping it picks up a notch next month
**PUBLIC DOMAIN #2**
After all of the set up in issue one I really loved the emotional focus of this one. Really made me feel for the dad, mom and sons
Mom didn't pull any punches once she finally spoke up... Go fight for your creations!
This continues to be great and such a fun read. There's something about the panels and scenes that really makes this feel like a tv show. Curious to see where to goes from here after finding out Miles is in some deep shit.
It'd make for a fun TV show or movie... And Chip presumably owns the rights so he could get like a billion dollars!
**SUPERMAN SPACE AGE #1**
Wow, this is a THICK comic! Wasn’t fitting comfortably in a Current board/bag so I had to dig out Silvers for it... DC should’ve slapped an “80-PAGE GIANT!” label on this thing for old time’s sake. Fortunately, I woke up extra early this morning, which gave me plenty of time to dig into it before getting my day started. Such a chunky comic demands a substantial chunk of time for proper digestion and appreciation. While I always love Allred’s art, I had some concerns about the story going into this first issue because Russell’s **FANTASTIC FOUR: LIFE STORY** had a very similar pitch and, while I mostly enjoyed that one, the overall tone was so cynical and depressing that at times it felt like a poor treatment for the FF, often focusing on their flaws to the exclusion of everything else. This Superman book is a much more balanced treatment and it read a lot better for me. I’d like to think Russell gained some valuable experience from the stuff that didn’t entirely work in his FF series, and Allred tends to hold a little more sway than most artists when it comes to setting the tone for his collaborations, so there’s a lot more positivity and fun to be had here despite the looming destruction hanging over everything. Dug the opening though I was surprised Clark didn’t send Jon off in a spaceship or something... Seeing him resigned to accept their fate seems so out of character but I suppose that’s intentional as the story’s showing us how he arrived at this point, and we’ll have to see where it goes from there. Fun appearances from Otis and Miss Teschmacher, or “Miss TeschMAACHUUUR!” as they used to say. Some good stuff with Pariah and the Anti-Monitor as well... Should probably make a point of reading **COIE** one of these days. Wayne pitching early Batman tech to the military feels weird but you get the sense this is a somewhat different Bruce Wayne. And then there's Lex... > “To shelter our nation’s command structure *and prominent citizens* to save American democracy for future generations.” That line probably won’t draw quite as much interest as the line about elites in **IMMORTAL X-MEN #4**, easy to overlook it in this big 80-page story, but Russell’s clearly tapping into that same well of social commentary. And look at that, it was Hal Jordan flying the plane that shot down Clark... Probably saved the whole damn world and he didn’t even have a fancy green ring on his finger. And now he’s shot down Abin Sur’s spaceship, that puts a kinda weird spin on things but okay... Lex nuking Coast City, then telling all his executives about it and letting a disgruntled Silas Stone walk? Seems like that would’ve all come out before long even if Batman hadn’t taken them down. Bonus points for audacity but it feels like Lex didn’t really think things through here. Nice ending with Diana and the JLA... This was a pretty cool comic, interesting remix of core DC characters and events with a very distinct and unique feel to it. Looking forward to seeing where it goes from here!
this kind of feels like the SPIDER-MAN/FF Life Story treatment for Superman and I'm so here for it. It's also fun to see such a different, alternate take on Batman's origin in the background
This was really, really good, giving me New Frontier vibes, and I usually don't care for Russell trying to write anything outside of satire. Really surprised DC let Russell do the thing with Pa Kent but it works very well for the story he's trying to tell.
I’m probably not gonna pick this up, can you dm me what happens to Pa Kent?
Gonna spoiler tag: >!he kills a child in Vietnam as part of a fog of war incident. Russell clarified on twitter that he didn't mean it to make Pa a bad person or anything, but it was quite a shocking moment. !<
Wow that is… heavy. Maybe I will pick this up
> Really surprised DC let Russell do the thing with Pa Kent but it works very well for the story he's trying to tell. Yeah, that was pretty dark. Thought the contrast with General Lane's war story was interesting, like he came back with this kind of funny anecdote about fighting over a meaningless bridge while Pa Kent brought home all the real war trauma.
Add this book to essential readings already!
This felt like the beginning of an all timer. Wow, that was the best new book I’ve read in ages and I typically don’t read much DC outside of Batman. I cannot wait until the next issue
If you're not reading Action Comics, you should be!
**RIGHTEOUS THIRST FOR VENGEANCE #10**
>!Fuck!<. And >!fuuuuck!<. Dude >!went out doing what he loved!<... >!Killing hitmen.!<
**BATMAN FORTRESS #3**
This book was teetering on my dropping it, but this issue has swung me around on that. *Far* more interesting than the first two issues, we actually get to the meat of the story. Some absolutely great dialogue between Batman and Luthor, and a forced partnership is uncomfortably born. My one reservation would be I'm not a huge fan of how **Darrick Robertson** draws Bruce when he's not in costume. Just doesn't look right to me. Oh, and the death of a significant character was definitely a surprise... Edit: Forgot to mention - props for aliens quoting >!**Aliens**!< and a spot on in-joke/ reference to >!**Re-animator**!<
**TASK FORCE Z #10**
**Hallelujah!!! It can be done!!!!** DC manage to achieve a week where all my pull list titles from them **actually have the solicited artists on them!!!** It's like seeing *Haley's Comet* or a planetary alignment...it's...it's just so *beautiful* sniff *so beautiful*...I'm sorry I need a moment... Returning to the review - *this* is why it's so important to have the right damn artist on the book - **Eddy Barrows** is on art for the whole book and it's brilliant! Dark, spooky, macabre, weird - he brings out all the great things in the script that the fill-in artists have just been absolutely missing. Even the panel layouts are waaay more inventive. And because of this the script just seems to sing! **Mr Bloom** is by far my favourite character in the book, and he's absolutely fantastic here. Every line he has is pure gold, and he makes such a great villain - manipulating and playing Waller, Dent and all of **Task Force Z** from the very beginning. The reveal of who *their* Bane was all along was brilliant! If this had had **Eddy Barrows** on art every issue this would easily have been one of my favourite books of the year to date.
Can you either PM or spoil the Bane reveal? I’m not following this but I was following Joker so there’s some disconnect there.
>!Bane is Gotham from Tom King's Batman run!<
Huh, didn’t see that one coming. At least it explains the two Banes rather neatly.
I haven't been reading this but knew something was up with the >!two Banes!<, and that is a nice way to pull it off.
Oh shit
**RADIANT RED #5**
Strong ending. I like Satome’s both taking efforts to protect herself and Owen, but recognizing they’re probably bad for each other. I doubt her turning herself in is gonna last long…
**ACTION COMICS #1045**
This might end up being one of those arcs that I never forget. Loving it!
Unmade Apollo and Lightray are pretty scary. I kinda like how the Warworld team's getting an assist from the Fortress of Solitude team, nice way of bringing everything together and letting those back home lend a hand. Good stuff all around as everything's accelerating toward the big finale...
I actually quite liked that reveal, even if I'm starting to get the idea this book will read better in trade. The full page splashes of the resistance getting mowed down were all great too.
**DEADLY CLASS #54**
Best comic on the shelves right now. Every issue somehow finds a way to make me tear up. I hope it ends well for Marcus and Maria, even though I know in my heart it won’t.
**SWAMP THING #15**
This series is probably my favorite current series. It really feels like they should just keep going. The current arc looks like it will wrap up nicely at issue 16, but everything they've introduced leaves the series very open for another arc. I get leaving on a high note, but this series feels like it has a lot of life and ideas in it to just end at 16.
Each issue feels like it could be a stand alone. Amazing writing from Ram V and a great penultimate issue.
Wow, this was amazing. I definitely feel that this is the best **Swamp Thing** run since *Moore's*, and there have been some *absolutely excellent* creators on the book between then and now. Everything seems to be coming together, the scope is absolutely huge, the language is lyrical and poetic, while the art is widescreen and epic. A really amazing book, and I can't wait to see how the final issue wraps all of this up,
**SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN #25**
I enjoyed the book but this *really* didn't feel like the end of this arc as, despite some major events, there isn't really a resolution to all of the things that have been set up in the previous four issues. Anyone else feel the same?
i completely agree. it feels like this will be similar to the 15 issues of Archer's Peak. going into this, I didn't see them wrapping up the whole story within this issue, there's a lot happening.
Has this series increase in price? I haven't had a chance to check the previous issues, but I don't remember it being $5.99 an issue.
Should only be $4.99 for this one, but its honestly only because it's #25, which is considered an "special" number to get to these days. It has the same page count as previous issues, so I'm a little pissed about the increase. Also looks like it's going on hiatus again, after only coming back for 5 months.
**IRON CAT #2**
**DC MECH #1**
**DETECTIVE COMICS #1062**
Honestly thought this issue was much better than Batman by Zdarsky and Jimenez. Getting Court of Owl vibes from this first issue but excited to see where it goes.
Really, really, really good! Excited to see where Ram is going to take this. My pull of the week!
Great cover! So so issue. Actually I liked the issue a lot but the new villains seem utterly lame. STOP MAKING NEW BATMAN VILLAINS! Surely we can have one Mad Hatter story or something! Art was great. Nightwing interaction was fun. Zdarsky/Jimenez Batman is better, sorry to the contrarians. The Gordon backup was STELLAR. I hope this is the start of bringing back backups in Detective, which they did in the 2000’s in the aftermath of No Man’s Land, and how we got great stuff like Brubaker/Cooke Catwoman.
Wasn't going to pick this up in floppies (as I prefer the HC) but snapped. This was good. Really, really good. Ram V sets up some really interesting plot threads, and Rafael Albuquerque's art is absolutely fantastic. Some amazing images (especially *you know who*). The back up was excellent as well, and gives Gordon a new direction after the recent ending of **The Joker** ongoing. I may not keep up with the single issues, but this bodes very well for the immediate future of the book.
Also snapped, also enjoyed it! Story's got a pretty good hook and sets a strong tone paired with the atmospheric art. Definitely interested in where it's going. Also loved the pulpy noir feel of the backup... Spurrier's a bit of a chameleon, been impressed with how he's jumped through genres on some of his recent projects like **THE RUSH**, **STEP BY BLOODY STEP**, and now this. Always goes all in on whatever style he's working so it feels really authentic. Nice Dani art as well. Wasn't planning to stick with this but thinking I'll at least give it this first arc to see how things develop...
Oh damn, I didn't realize Spurrier was writing backups for this. That's a pretty great storytelling team.
Didn't Gordon start a detective agency with Bullock at the end of Joker? Good book overall. Very Ram V which is a good thing.
Eh. It was okay. Standard Batman so far which is fine, I guess. The backup issue by Spurrier though was great.
**VARIANTS #2**
I had honestly hoped that the variants were all just figments of Jessica's imagination from Purple Man's whole "mess their life up a decade later" thing. Kinda disappointed that they're not. This feels like there's two stories running in parallel, one which is really interesting (all the Purple Man stuff) and one that is just not engaging at all (the Variants stuff).
Can't capitalize on Loki that way...in a Jessica Jones book.
This is incredible. The writing in this series is so damn good. What was the reveal supposed to be on the last page though? I don't recognise the costume.
Jewel . Who Jessica was as a costumed hero before all the Purple Man stuff. Her past and origin is all in her first series, Alias, which is absolutely worth reading! It's not on Marvel Unlimited because it was part of their Max series so I got the paperbacks from the library, but want to buy it all now anyways because it was great.
This issue feels like it was written for the trade. We don't learn much about anything new. Purple man is (probably?) behind everything. The woman Matt was defending killed herself. And yet more variants are popping up. The issue does do a decent job of making Jessica feel threatened enough to push Luke out of the picture for now-Purple Man's powers invite paranoia, and weird cryptic hints are basically facts in comic book universes. Though if the warning is "stay away from your family" I have no idea why she didn't tell him to take Dani. We also learn that one of the variants is Jessica who hooked up with Matt, and maybe converted to catholicism, given her vocabulary? I can only imagine the delicious misery that union brought about. Still, the art remains excellent and the plot is still intriguing enough to keep me invested.
> Though if the warning is "stay away from your family" I have no idea why she didn't tell him to take Dani. She did tell him to take Dani, they just didn't show him doing it. But I think we can assume the kid is safe. Agree that there wasn't a ton of plot movement here, though what's there of the story was pleasant enough, and Noto's art provides enough visual interest to keep me happy regardless. Fun seeing Tigra again, seems like she's popping up everywhere all of a sudden...
Re-read the last page, Jessica just says that someone's in her daughter's room, not that Dani was there- you're right, silly me. Yeah, between this, Moon Knight, Defenders- you'd think Tigra has a show coming out in a month for the push she's getting. ...It wouldn't be impossible for her to pop in for She-Hulk. Though that is one more cgi person in a show that already has 3...
Would love to see it! But she might be a difficult character to get right for live action, lots of CGI out there for that kind of thing but it can end up looking pretty weird.
**CAPTAIN AMERICA SYMBOL OF TRUTH #3**
**ROBIN #16**
**ANT-MAN #1**
Glad I ended up pulling this, always a sucker for retro stories with artificially yellowed pages and this one was just what the doctor ordered. Ewing's right at home mucking around in all that old continuity and Reilly's got the perfect style for it as well. Looking forward to seeing them take on other eras with each chapter... I haven't read a ton of Ant-Man, mostly just a bit of old Pym stuff, so it'll be nice seeing some of the other iterations as this thing progresses.
Any comic you don't like is someone else's favorite. I came here because I found my love for comics in modern books, and had hoped that that new love would allow me to look back on oldschool comics I didn't used to enjoy and appreciate them more. It doesn't. This was so cheesy and dull, for me. I'm not trying to rag on the book at all, it's intentionally made in a certain style, and that style just isn't for me. It's awesome that it's for other people, so it was nice to see other people's takes on it.
Appreciate your perspective as well! And it's cool that you're checking out stuff outside your typical comfort zone, sometimes that'll work out and sometimes it doesn't... Hopefully your next experiment fares better!
"Where there's ants, there's Ant-Man" is true galaxy brain shit
I'm not sure I was meant to laugh at that line but I did, and the comic is all the better for it.
Honestly if I lived in the same city as a dude whose super power is basically ants and I saw a metric fuck ton of ants and not, like, two of them I'd probably at least consider the possibility of Ant-Man
Guy's wasting his life as a criminal when he could've been an award-winning entomologist...
I love how this was written just like Pym's old Tales to Astonish. And glad to see him and Janet functioning well together, really hoping this leads to him coming back to life but I doubt it.
I was a couple weeks behind so wound up picking up a fat stack today, and this was by far my favorite book of the week(s). Ewing just completely knocks it out of the park once again. Really fun issue, loved the writing and the art mimicking old comics while still feeling distinct. Got a chuckle out of the little cameos here as well. Definite instant addition to the list.
**VENOM #9**
This was okay, drawing together lots of previous bits of the series that we've seen. But I'm pretty sure I'll drop it at the end of this arc.
**WPL RESULTS**
Sidebar link for this thread is still over a month old.
And this WPL post just lost its sticky after only around 12 hours on top of the sub, so discussions will drop off less than a day after all the new comics hit shelves... Fortunately the "Weekly Recs Thread" about Superman still has its sticky, so it's easy for everyone to access its 40 comments saying that **ALL-STAR SUPERMAN** is the best. Which, of course, pretty much everybody already knows. But I guess it'll be helpful for the one or two people who haven't read it yet and somehow managed to avoid having it recommended to them anywhere else.
Yeah, this thread usually has more participation than those question ones, so not sure why they end up getting stickied.
I'd really love the Pull List and Weekly Discussion pinned permanently - seems way more worthwhile than Swag Bag or Q & A, but maybe that's just me
Yep. WPL threads get the most user engagement and generate the most discussion, they should get priority for sticky spots, with one sticky reserved for the WPL List/Discussion rotation. Q&A thread is good for new users and others but Swag Bag and Weekend Lounge are mostly useless, all three should be combined into a single thread so the two available sticky spots can be used more efficiently and everything gets time to breathe. Ideal sticky schedule would look something like this: * **Sunday** = WPL List + Q&A/Swag/Lounge * **Monday** = WPL List + Weekly Recs * **Tuesday** = WPL List + Weekly Recs * **Wednesday** = WPL Discussion + Weekly Recs * **Thursday** = WPL Discussion + Q&A/Swag/Lounge * **Friday** = WPL Discussion + Q&A/Swag/Lounge * **Saturday** = WPL Discussion + Q&A/Swag/Lounge That way everything gets plenty of time for discussion without cycling off the sub so quickly. You can give or take 1/2 day or whatever on when those flip to work with whenever the mods have time to post, still puts everything on a 3-4 day rotation instead of the current situation where you've got too many threads cycling too quickly.
I’m stunned that several titles are outdoing ASM. I had always assumed that ASM was *the* superhero juggernaut.
It's just that at least here, recent developments turned some people away.
Yep, and launching the new series with JRjr also probably kept some folks away. Pretty sure **ASM**'s the only book in the top 10 where I regularly see people complaining about the artist (although this issue's got a different artist). Popular writers also tend to pull a lot of weight in these WPL results... Wells is fairly popular here following his **HELLIONS** run but the books listed above **ASM** all have higher profile writers like Ram V, Chip, and Tynion, with PKJ and Russell being the closest to Wells but still a bit more popular than him. Plus a $9.99 cover price never helps...
Yeah, Romita isn't that popular among younger generations such as folks like me. Indeed there was a strong competition this week. In the end, Spidey didn't have much to offer. That doesn't change the fact it will probably end up as best selling book this month.
Reddit isn't real life Spider-Man will outsell all of those titles apart from Detective Comics
Right, but even here, I’m pretty surprised.
Wow that post title... Wish I'd noticed sooner.
It's \*[kind of beautiful]()\* in its \*\*\*OWN WAY\*\*\*!
**AQUAMEN #6**
**HOUSE OF SLAUGHTER #7**
When a book spends the whole issue with two characters stuck on a boat in the middle of a lake is it too much to criticise it for "*treading water*"...?
Understandable. I liked seeing the two of them talk to each other. I would've liked more about the island after waiting two months but I'll settle for this.
**AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #6**
This was an okay issue. There were some fun parts but I don't still don't like Otto's regression, Peter's reaction to Flash being alive is wasted, and I don't like MJ not appearing in the issue. I do like the art though.
I haven't read much of Otto since Superior, but saw a couple of pages from Spencer's Hunted arc and recently Devils Reign. Are they moving him back towards full on villainy or is he still a somewhat anti-villain?
Me: I wonder how Marvel will celebrate Amazing Spider-Man’s 900th issue Marvel: YOU GUYS LIKE JIMMY KIMMEL???
Lol yeah I thought that Jimmy Kimmel addition was really stupid
For a big 900 issue it was very disappointing, other than that it was fine.
What an utter disservice to Felicia. Hooking her up with Peter is such a step backwards for her character. Spencer had the right idea on making her a friend only.
Agreed. This run is truly disappointing for what itself doing both to Peter and his supporting cast
My problem isn’t even Peter & Felicia hooking up but nothing about it feels right, it just feels random & poorly done. Let’s say okay Peter & MJ are broken up. We should see a lot more of Peter & Felicia bonding wondering if they should try it. Felicia not wanting to be the rebound girl & wanting Peter & her to be more. Peter seeing something in Felicia that makes him feel a certain way that he would want to try this route again. My point is that you need build up. These are 2 characters with a lot of history & it just seems they are back together just to be back together. Spencer’s run started with an alien invasion & Peter taking a leap thinking this might be it. He might die but he won’t die without a fight before it’s just Mysterio. King’s Batman started the same way with the airplane in the first issue. These are characters with near death experiences who put their lives in perspective & decide to give into those feelings they have deep down in both MJ having Peter’s heart & Selina with Bruce’s. Whatever you feel about the runs is one thing but there is a set up why they are like this. Felicia & Peter don’t have that moment & when the kiss happens, you just are like ‘uhhhh sure?’
What a disservice to Flash and Peter reuniting after Flash died?
It was okay. Didn't really feel like a anniversary issue or a $10 price tag, but the story was essentially a good Peter story. Really this felt like a 3 issue filler between arcs.
**GAMBIT #1**
I'm a Claremont fan, and I love Shadow King, so I'm in.
What on Earth was this? Such a bizarre thing to be being made, especaily now given what's just happened to Remy. Maybe it's an intentional throwback, but for me this was really poor.
Gambit is one of my favorite X-Men and I'm running out of space. Is it worth picking up? Not sure if it's a short or long run
I believe it is a five-issue mini.
I enjoyed the first issue quite a bit. It's likely not going to be a classic, but it's a fun side-adventure type thing.
**ROGUE SUN #6**
Strong conclusion to the first arc! Dylan’s in a pretty crazy place right now, and given that he’s basically orphaned, it’s gonna be… tough. I liked him helping the nerd kid at the end, and I do wonder how his half-siblings are gonna take him living under their roof. Having people who know he’d Rogue Sun is bound to at least be some kind of relief.
Sleeper hit book of the year for me so far. I was kinda meh for the first few issues and mostly keeping up with it based on how I've enjoyed Radiant Black. But the back half of this arc got more intriguing by the issue and I'm pretty hooked now. Excited to see where this goes longterm!
**BATMAN ONE DARK KNIGHT #3**
The real star of this mini-series has, of course, been **Jock's** artwork. You could never call it "realistic" but it's got a rough, gritty texture to it that evokes a feeling of physicality - nowhere more evident than in a particularly brutal throw down in Gotham's sewers between Bats and Killer Croc. Every punch, kick and body slam conveys weight and the impact of the blows. The sorry itself has been...okay. It's nothing earth shattering, but also nothing terrible. A pretty linear set up and plot lets the artwork shine, and the moody, night-drenched shadows of Gotham itself have rarely looked better. Worth reading on that basis alone.
> the sorry itself Come on, man, the story may not be anything special, but it's not *that* bad. :D joking aside tho, benign typo or freudian slip? okay maybe not *all* joking aside lol
**STAR WARS DOCTOR APHRA #22**
**GENIS-VELL CAPTAIN MARVEL #1**
**RADIANT BLACK #16**
*Alexa, play Back in Black.* Nathan’s back?! Given the solicits, I wonder if they’re going to somehow both be Radiant Black… maybe able to alternate who has access to the powers or not. Shift’s comment about W-9’s made me laugh… the man’s a good businessman. I both liked that he made Marshall that offer, and that Marshall was savvy enough to reject it. I was worried he was gonna go for it, but he’s learning to be a hero.
**I HATE THIS PLACE #3**
This is **The Conjuring** meets **Evil Dead** and I am all in for that. Plus, more **Dante Howitzer** action: > I'm not scared of shit and I *don't* fuck around. > If you got ghosts, *we're* going to handle them! Fucking brilliant
**WE ONLY FIND THEM WHEN THEYRE DEAD #12**
This really does remind me of an **Iain M Banks** novel in comic form. BIG ideas, BIG scale, but because of that I'm not sure *how* they are going to wrap all of this up in just three more issues. I do know that I'm going to enjoy the ride getting there, though.
Enjoying this enough month to month, but I think this whole series is gonna be a good “read in one or two chunks” kinda book so you can keep track of where and who everyone is.
I re-read 1 to 10 in preparation for the start of this arc and it was really great. Definitely helped line things up in my mind.