2018.049 Superman: The Many Worlds Of Krypton

2018.048 The Crew 1-7

The Crew 1-7
Written by: Christopher Priest
Illustrated by: Joe Bennett, Crimelab! Studios
Marvel Comics

2018.047 Jack Kirby 100th Celebration Collection

Jack Kirby 100th Celebration Collection
Written by: Howard Chaykin, Shane Davis, Dan Didio, Mark Evanier, Keith Giffin, Reginald Hudlin, Sam Humphries, Dan Jurgens, Paul Levitz, Steve Orlando, Walter Simonson
Illustrated by: Ryan Benjamin, Jon Bogdanove, Mark Buchingham, Howard Chaykin, Denys Cowan, Shane Davis, Michelle Delecki, Richard Friend, Keith Giffen, Dan Green, Phil Hester, Scott Kolins, Rick Leonardi, Ande Parks, Steve Rude, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walter Simonson
DC Comics

2018.046 Batman And Harley Quinn

Batman And Harley Quinn
Written by: Ty Templeton, Jeff Parker, Amanda Deibert, Matthew Dow Smith
Illustrated by: Rick Burchett, Luciano Vecchio, Craig Rousseau, Sandy Jarrell, David Hahn, Dario Brizuela
DC Comics

2018.045 Astonishing X-Men Vol 1: Life Of X

Astonishing X-Men Vol 1: Life Of X
Written by: Charles Soule
Illustrated by: Jim Cheung, Mark Morales, Guillermo Ortego, Walden Wong, Mike Deodato Jr, Ed McGuinness, Carlos Pacheo, Rafael Fonteriz, Ramon Rosanas, Mike Del Mundo
Marvel Comics

2018.044 Avengers & Champions: Worlds Collide

Avengers & Champions: Worlds Collide
Written by: Mark Waid
Illustrated by: Jesus Saiz, Javier Pina, Paco Diaz, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba
Marvel Comics

2018.043 Wonder Woman: Forgotten Legends

Wonder Woman: Forgotten Legends
Written by: Kurt Busiek, Lee Marrs, George Perez
Illustrated by: Trina Robbins, Irv Novick, Rick Magyar, Ramona Fradon
DC Comics

2018.042 Justice League Vol 5: Legacy

Justice League Vol 5: Legacy
Written by: Bryan Hitch
Illustrated by: Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Andy Owens, Batt, Mick Gray, Scott Hanna
DC Comics

2018.041 Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye Vol 2: Every Me, Every You

Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye Vol 2: Every Me, Every You
Written By: Jon Rivera, Gerard Way
Illustrated by: Michael Avon Oeming
Young Animal

2018.040 The DC Universe By Neil Gaiman

The DC Universe By Neil Gaiman
Written by: Neil Gaiman, Alan Grant, Mark Verheiden
Illustrated by: Arthur Adams, Michael Allred, Jim Aparo, Terry Austin, Simon Bisley, Pat Broderick, Mark Buckingham, Eddie Campbell, Dick Giordano, Mike Hoffman, Sam Kieth, Teddy Kristiansen, Jason Little, Bernie Mireault, Kevin Nowlan, Eric Shanower, John Totleben, Matt Wagner, Scott Williams
DC Comics

2018.039 Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Vol 1

Batman: The Dark Knight Detective Vol 1
Written by: Mike W. Barr, Joey Cavalieri, Jo Duffy
Illustrated by: Alan Davis, Paul Neary, Jim Baikie, Terry Beatty, Norm Breyfogle, E.R. Cruz, Carmine Infantino, Klaus Janson, Dick Giordano, Pablo Marcos, Al Vey
DC Comics

2018.038 Justice League Task Force Vol 1: The Purification Plague

Justice League Task Force Vol 1: The Purification Plague
Written By: David Michelinie, Chuck Dixon, Dennis O'Neal, Peter David, Jeph Loeb, Michael Jan Friedman
Illustrated by: Sal Velluto, Gabriel Morrissette, Greg LaRocque, Jeff Albrecht, Dick Giordano, Aaron McClellan, Kevin Conrad, Robert Jones
DC Comics

2018.037 Die Kitty Die: Hollywood Or Bust

Die Kitty Die: Hollywood Or Bust
Written by: Dan Parent
Illustrated by: Fernando Ruiz, Rich Koslowski
Chapterhouse

2018.036 Nightwing Vol 4: Blockbuster

Nightwing Vol 4: Blockbuster
Written by: Tim Seeley
Illustrated by: Javier Fernandez, Miguel Mendonca, Minkyu Jung, Vicente Cifuentes, Diana Egea
DC Comics

2018.035 Batman: The Dark Prince Charming Vol 1

Batman: The Dark Prince Charming Vol 1
Written by: Enrico Marini
Illustrated by: Enrico Marini
DC Comics/Dargaud

2018.034 Batgirl: Stephanie Brown Vol 1

Batgirl: Stephanie Brown Vol 1
Written by: Bryan Q Miller
Illustrated by: Lee Garbett, Trevor Scott, Sandra Hope, Pere Perez, Jonathan Glapion, Tim Levins, Dan Davis, Aaron Sowd, Oliver Nome, Talent Caldwell, Richard Friend, Rodney Ramos, Walden Wong, Yvel Guichet, John Stanisci
DC Comics

2018.033 Aquaman: The Legend Of Aquaman

Aquaman: The Legend of Aquaman
Written by: Keith Giffen, Robert Loren Fleming
Illustrated by: Curt Swan, Eric Shanower, Al Vey
DC Comics

2018.032 Green Lantern: Earth One Vol 1

Green Lantern: Earth One Vol 1
Written by: Corinna Bechko, Gabriel Hardman
Illustrated by: Gabriel Hardman
DC Comics

2018.031 Justice League Of America Vol 1: The Tornado's Path

Justice League Of America Vol 1: The Tornado's Path
Written by: Brad Meltzer
Illustrated by: Ed Benes, Sandra Hope
DC Comics

2018.030 DC Meets Looney Tunes

DC Meets Looney Tunes
Written by: Frank J Barbiere, Tony Bedard, Sam Humphries, Tom King, Steve Orlando, Jimmy Palmiotti, Bill Morrison, Jim Fanning, Bill Matheny, Juan Manuel Ortiz
Illustrated by: John Floyd, Tom Grummett, Scott Hanna, Kelley Jones, Barry Kitson, Aaron Lopresti, Jerome Moore, Mark Texeira, Lee Weeks, Dave Alvarez, Ben Caldwell, John Loter, Bill Morrison, Juan Manuel Ortiz, Byron Vaughns
DC Comics

2018.029 Batman: Tales Of The Man-Bat

Batman: Tales Of The Man-Bat
Written by: Chuck Dixon, Bruce Jones
Illustrated by: Flint Henry, Mike Huddleston, Eduardo Barreto
DC Comics

2018.028 Challengers Of The Unknown By Jeph Loeb And Tim Sale

Challengers Of The Unknown By Jeph Loeb And Tim Sale
Written by: Jeph Loeb
Illustrated by: Tim Sale
DC Comics

2018.027 Batgirl: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol 1

Batgirl: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol 1
Written by: Frank Robbins, Elliot S Maggin, Bob Rozakis, Gardner Fox, Mike Friedrich, Denny O'Neil
Illustrated by: Don Heck, Mike Grell, Carmine Infantino, Frank Springer, Gil Kane, Bob Brown, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Pablo Marcos, Curt Swan, Jose Delbo, Irv Novick, Dick Giordano, Vince Colletta, Sid Greene, Murphy Anderson, Frank Giacoia
DC Comics

2018.026 Titans Vol 3: A Judas Among Us

Titans Vol 3: A Judas Among Us
Written By: Dan Abnett
Illustrated By: Brett Booth, Kenneth Rocafort, V Ken Marion, Minkyu Jung, Norm Rapmund, Mick Gray
DC Comics

2018.025 America Vol 1: The Life And Times Of America Chavez

This fits into the mold of the Marvel books I love the best.  Female driven.  Lighter in tone.  Funny.  Not too continuity laden.  Everything I love about recent Marvel books like Kate Bishop, Mockingbird, Patsy Walker, Spider-Woman, etc etc.  

However, I found this book to be insufferable.  I found that the more I read, the more annoyed I got.  I don't know what it was.  The story just annoyed the fuck out of me.  I thought maybe it was the first story.  This book contains a 4 part and a 2 part.  The second story guest stars Kate Bishop.  That story, I thought, was even worse.  I haven't read anything that I've disliked this much in a really long time.  I really wish I could figure out why I hated it.  This books seems right up my alley.  Joe Quinones' art was beautiful, though Ramon Villalobos' wasn't exactly my taste.  It's too bad.  I thought this was going to be another book for me to love.

America Vol 1: The Life And Times Of America Chavez

Written by: Gabby Rivera

Illustrated by: Joe Quinones, Ming Doyle, Stacey Lee, Joe Rivera, Paolo Rivera, Ramon Villalobos, Waldo Wong

Marvel Comics

2018.024 Aquaman Vol 4: Underworld

Aquaman is dead.  Mera is crushed.  Atlantis has a new King.  Things don't look good.  At all.  There's a new vigilante in Atlantis who is pretending to be "the Aquaman" and is helping the citizens one by one.  Is he pretending?  Or is he the genuine article?  Aquaman was left for dead in the last storyline, but he didn't die.  He's keeping a very low cover, doing what he can on a very small scale.  Eventually he's found out and he's forced to confront all the shit that's been going on under the terrible new King of Atlantis.  

With this story, I feel like Dan Abnett has FINALLY hit his stride.  He's been telling fine stories since taking over pre-Rebirth, but there's something about this that made it impossible for me to put down.  It's like he's been trying this and that, figuring out what's been working and what hasn't and now that he knows, he's crafting the best Aquaman stuff since Geoff Johns left the book.  I'm so excited to see where this book is going for this point out.  I'm so excited to see Stjepan Sejic draw more Aquaman.  This book is better looking that it has been in a while.  Not to saw that the last few art teams weren't any good, but Sejic brings something else to the book I can't quite figure out.

Aquaman Vol 4: Underworld

Written by: Dan Abnett

Illustrated by: Stjepan Sejic

DC Comics

2018.023 X-Men Gold Vol 3: Mojo Worldwide

I guess that technically, this is actually both X-Men Gold AND X-Men Blue vol 3.  It's the first official crossover between the two books.  I thought it might be too soon for that to happen, but after reading it, I was wrong.  I didn't feel shoehorned in.  It felt right.  And that's the way to do a crossover.

I love that the book starts out with the X-Men teams doing what the X-Men teams love best.  Playing baseball.  And like any X-Men baseball game, it never ends well.  This time it ends with an attack on NYC by Mojo.  He's back, he's looking to make a lot of trouble for the X-Men.  And why?  For big ratings, of course.  It's scary how the concept of Mojo and our current administration have more than enough in common to be comfortable.  

What I love about this particular story is it gets to be nostalgic without actually being nostalgic.  Mojo puts the various teams of X-Men through a series of their "greatest hits."  And it's fun.  Plus, we get the return of long time X-Men ally and member, Longshot.  You can't ask for much more.  Honestly.

X-Men Gold Vol 3: Mojo Worldwide

Written by: Marc Guggenheim, Cullen Bunn

Illustrated by: Mike Mayhew, Marc Laming, Diego Bernard, Jorge Molina

Marvel Comics

2018.022 The Immortal Iron Fists

What I look for when I pick a Marvel book these days is (a) characters I adore and (b) something a little lighter and happier.  This book fits both of these items.  I love Iron Fist.  I really don't know when that happened?  Maybe with the Ed Brubaker run?  Maybe when he was in the Avengers?  I really can't remember.  But I've really grown to love the character and have been eating up everything that's come out in the last few years.  

This book was a mini-series that followed up Kaare Andrews run on the book.  This is more the story of Pei, the newest and youngest Iron Fist.  Danny Rand brings her to Earth to both train her and raise her.  He enrolls her in public school to teach her what normal life is like.  It's a real joy to watch Pei not fit in, then totally fit in.  It's great to watch her try to act like a normal kid when she is anything but.  It's great to watch Danny fuck up parenting.  There is nothing to hate about this book other than the fact that it's over.  But that, too, is probably for the best.  There's nothing worse than keeping a book going until it's devoid of something special.  This book ends leaving you wanting more.  I can't recommend this enough.

The Immortal Iron Fists

Written by: Kaare Andrews

Illustrated by: Afu Chan

Marvel Comics

2018.021 Batman And The Outsiders Vol 2

This continues to be a fun read for me.  Sure, Mike Barr isn't my favorite writer.  He can be very hokey at times (a lot of the time), but he does tell a fun story.  This era of BATO was probably my favorite.  The characters were still new, Barr was trying to figure out what works with them and what doesn't.  We delve further into the new characters backstories.  It's all good stuff.  And if that's not enough, Jim Aparo hits home run after home run with his art.  I remember reading years ago that the thing he detested most was drawing team books.  You'd never know it looking at his art here.  It's just perfect.  And we get a look of the future of BATO with Alan Davis jumping in to draw some stuff.  

If you enjoy some of the cheesier aspects of the 80s, you'll love the pants off this book.

Batman And The Outsiders Vol. 2

Written by: Mike W. Barr

Illustrated by: Jim Aparo, Alan Davis, Jermoe K. Moore, Alex Saviuk, Jan Duursema, Rick Hoberg, Bill Willingham, Bill Anderson, Trevor Von Eeden, Ron Randall

DC Comics

2018.020 Two-Face: A Celebration Of 75 Years

What should have probably been a volume of Batman Arkham turned into a deluxe hardcover collection of Two-Face stories.  And what a collection it is.  Harvey Dent has had a long career battling Batman.  We get a little bit of every variation of Two-Face in this book.  The monster he was in the 40s, the cliche he was in the 60s, the darker psychological mess in modern times.  What I absolutely love about reading through this book is how consistent the character has been overall.  His back story barely changed at all.  However, after the last story in this book is a reinvention of Harvey's entire backstory over in Scott Snyder's new Bat book.  I'm still not sure how I feel about that, but this.... This book I love.

Two-Face: A Celebration Of 75 Years

Written by: Bill Finger, Don Cameron, David Vern Reed, Dennis O'Neil, Bob Haney, Max Allan Collins, Mark Verheiden, Andrew Helfer, Bruce Timm, Greg Rucka, David Hine, Peter J Tomasi

Illustrated by: Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, George Roussas, Dick Sprang, Charles Paris, Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Jim Aparo, Irv Novick, Dave Cockram, Mark DeCarlo, Don Heck, Pat Broderick, Chris Sprouse, Steve Mitchell, Bruce Timm, Damion Scott, John Floyd, Michael Lark, Andy Clarke, Guillem March

2018.019 Justice League United Vol 2: The Infinitus Saga

I was excited for this book when it first came out because Jeff Lemire was writing a JLA book.  Unfortunately, it didn't click with me like I wanted it to.  It was way too New 52-ey.  That's the biggest problem.  I didn't like what he did to one of my all time favorite characters, Adam Strange.  The team he picked was fine, but not these incarnations of the characters.  But...

I loved this story.  The Legion had been given a back seat at DC by this point and Jeff was free to play with them.  For the most part, we got the Legion as they were before their book was cancelled, but he tweaked the characters a bit, included some of the Legionnaires from the various "Legion of 3 Worlds" book.  But it's okay.  It was still the Legion of Super-Heroes and I'm good with that.

It's a cliched story.  It's a twist on the "going back in time to kill Hitler before he turns into Hitler and destroys everything" story.  But he gives it fresh life and makes it a lot of fun to read.  I enjoyed it much more in this hardcover than I did when I read it monthly when it was first published.  I picked this book up at my local Ollie's Discount Outlet.  Part of their massive DC liquidation sale.  I keep popping in and grabbing some books, so look for write ups of those when I get time to read them.

Justice League United Vol 2: The Infinitus Saga

Written by: Jeff Lemire

Illustrated by: Neil Edwards, Jay Leisten, Keith Champagne, Jed Dougherty

DC Comics

2018.018 Black Lightning Vol 2

In his introduction to this volume, Tony Isabella says that this series was only supposed to reprint Tony's work on Black Lightning, not everyone's work.  But he insisted that this be a chronological reprinting, skipping nothing.  I agree with him.  While I think it's cool that DC was going to do just Tony's stuff, I think it's important to give us all the stuff.  

The first volume was Tony, plus a couple stories by others.  This volume is Tony free.  We get BL back up stories from World's Finest and Detective Comics as well as the two part Justice League of America story where BL turns down membership.

I loved this book.  Is it great?  No.  But it's really good, at least to me.  It's reprinting stories from an era of DC that means a lot to me.  Most of these stories I'm reading for the first time, or at least that's what my memory is telling me.  Minor details are very fluid in this book.  Writer to writer things change, like what kind of teacher Jefferson Pierce is.  But who cares.  It's a great time to be a Black Lightning fan right now.  Embrace him and enjoy.

Black Lightning Vol 2

Written by: Dennis O'Neil, Gerry Conway, J.M. Dematteis, Martin Pasko, Paul Kupperberg

Illustrated by: Dick Dillin, George Tuska, Rich Buckler, Marshall Rogers, Mike Nasser, Romeo Tanghal, Joe Staton, Pat Broderick, Dick Giordano, Gerald Forton, Frank Chiaramonte, Bob Smith, Vince Colletta, Frank McLaughlin

DC Comics

2018.017 Superman And The Legion Of Super-Heroes

I'm an idiot.  I already own this, yet I bought it again.  I saw it at my local Ollie's Bargain Outlet in their big display of DC books.  I forgot I bought it twice already (once in floppies, once in trade paperback) so I bought it again, this time in hardcover.  It was only four bucks, so it was well worth it.

I love this book.  I love seeing the real Legion of Super-Heroes back in action.  I love seeing Gary Frank draw them.  I only like the Geoff Johns world of Superman, though.  He was trying to re-write the modern day Superman to mirror the Christopher Reeves movies better.  Or at least give it that feeling.  Which meant re-writing DC history again.  But as Geoff often does, he did it well.  

Brainiac 5 sends for Superman in the past to come help the 31st Century.  It's become a very anti-alien landscape on future Earth and it kind of scares me because I see a lot of parallels with what's going on in this country right now under Trump.  Such a great read, though, and it puts the Legion in place to regain their own title again.  I could read this a hundred more times.

Superman And The Legion Of Super-Heroes

Written by: Geoff Johns

Illustrated by: Gary Frank, Jon Sibal

DC Comics

2018.016 Batman Arkham: Clayface

I forget sometimes exactly how many people have used the name Clayface.  But DC hasn't.  And this collection covers them all.  I love books like this.  It really does give a nice overview of the entire Clayface family with stories from the 40s all the way through the New 52.  One of the nice things about the various and sundry Clayfaces is that the stories tend not to contradict each other.  Reading other books, the elements and plot points of the stories change like the wind depending on the weather.  But having so many different Clayfaces means there isn't too much history on any one character to change.

I love this whole Batman Arkham series.  Different villains getting the spotlight.  I look forward to more.

Batman Arkham: Clayface

Written by: Bill Finger, Len Wein, Mike W Barr, Dough Moench, Ed Brubaker, Steve Purcell, A.J. Lieberman, John Layman, Dan Raspler

Illustrated by: Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, Sheldon Moldoff, Charles Paris, Marshall Rogers, Dick Giordano, Jim Aparo, Keith Giffen, Bernie Mireault, Tom Grummett, Al Gordon, Denis Rodier, Gary Martin, J.H. Williams III, John Beatty, Mick Gray, Darwyn Cooke, Mike Allred, Mike Mignola, Al Barrionueva, Bit, Cliff Richards

DC Comics

2018.015 Green Arrow Vol 9: Old Tricks

Green Arrow must have been still selling well enough by the time these issues came out that DC gave him a mini-series at the same time.  This volume collects Green Arrow 73-80 along with the mini-series Green Arrow: The Wonder Year, a sort of Year One story.

The story that's been Oliver Queen's life keeps on chugging through this volume.  Dinah finally dumps his ass after she catches him sucking face with someone else, he gets suckered into another job with Eddie Fyres, more political intrigue.  Nothing out of place in this series.  We must be getting closer to the end of Grell's run and Ollie's life.  I really can't remember when that happened as I'd been out of the series by then, but it feels like it's gotta be soon. 

The biggest thing about this book that I didn't like is the fill-in art by Shea Anton Pensa.  I don't know the name and I'm guessing he didn't get too far in comics.  It was awful to look at, at least for me.

Green Arrow Vol 9: Old Tricks
Written by: Mike Grell
Illustrated by: Rick Hoberg, Mike Grell, Bill Marimon, Shea Anton Pensa, John Nyberg, Gray Morrow
DC Comics

2018.014 Robin: Year One - The Deluxe Edition

As I opened the cover to this book, my initial thought was that I remember liking this when it was first published, but I remember liking Batgirl: Year One better.  That may still hold true, but I really, really enjoyed every page of this book.  Say what you will about Chuck Dixon, but his Batman work has left an indelible imprint on my brain.  He makes writing the BatFamily seem so easy.

This book gives us a nice overview of Robin's first year as Batman's partner.  It's chock full of Bat Villains, too, but mostly focusing on Two-Face.  We get to learn about the time Robin quit and ran away, too.

Overall, this book is just a lot of fun and such an easy read that you're finishing before you even realize it.

Robin: Year One - The Deluxe Edition

Written by: Chuck Dixon, Scott Beatty

Illustrated by: Javier Pulido, Marcos Martin, Robert Campanella

DC Comics

2018.013 Batman: Super Powers

I like Marc Guggenheim's comics work an awful lot.  Well, most of it.  His X-Men book has been falling slightly short for me, but it's still enjoyable.  I was excited to read this book.  It collects an arc he did in Batman Confidential a while back.  It's two parallel stories running at the same time.  One in present day and one back in the training days of Bruce Wayne.  While I didn't love it, I didn't hate it either.  I don't know if I could be more neutral on it if I tried.  It's a fine story, but it's left no lasting impression on me.  I want to leave a story feeling something, anything.  This didn't leave me feeling anything, which is too bad.

Batman: Super Powers

Written by: Marc Guggenheim

Illustrated by: Jerry Bingham, Mark Farmer

DC Comics

2018.012 The Shadow: The Death of Margo Lane

Give me the Shadow written or drawn by anyone.  I'll eat that up.  Give me Matt Wagner, writing or drawing anything.  I'll eat that up.  Give me The Shadow: The Death of Margo Lane and I'll eat it up and realize I was slightly let down by it.  I was trying to figure out what about it bothered me.  What let me down.  I think it's calling the book The Death Of Margo Lane.  Sure, she dies in the book in the second chapter (or does she?), but it felt like that was just a thing that happened rather than what the story itself was about.  It also felt lopsided.  Like the best parts of a larger story were cut out and presented to us as the whole story.  I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I would have liked to have seen this story fleshed out over a larger run than the five parts it was presented in.  I think the lopsidedness of it would have disappeared.

The Shadow: The Death of Margo Lane

Written by: Matt Wagner

Illustrated by: Matt Wagner

Dynamite Comics

2018.011 Batman Vol 4: The War Of Jokes And Riddles

Tom King has been doing solid stuff on Batman, but for some reason, I just don't think it's been as good as everyone has been saying.  I've liked it a lot, but his run IS coming off of Scott Snyder's, and that's probably what my issue is.  As good as Tom King's Batman is, it's not Scott Snyder's.  Well, after reading this book, I'm taking that argument and throwing it away.  I was captivated by this story.  It's been a long time since I've read anything that I could not put down.  There was something about the way he wrote this book that clicked with me.  I love that it was a flashback story.  I think that worked wonderfully.  It only strengthened it for me.  It was beautiful to look at.  He did things in this book that made me go "WTF?" but they worked.  I fucking loved Bruce Wayne hosting a dinner for Riddler and Joker.  That was my biggest WTF moment, but the moment I loved the best.

Tom King has set his own personal bar pretty high with this story.  I can't wait to see where he goes next.

Batman Vol 4: The War Of Jokes And Riddles

Written by: Tom King

Illustrated by: Mikel Janin, Clay Mann, Danny Miki, Seth Mann, John Livesay, Hugo Petrus

DC Comics

2018.010 Astro City: Reflections

I love that the volumes of Astro City seem to alternate between a big story or smaller, individual character pieces.  This volume has three stories to it.  I love reading Astro City because it always feels like a history lesson.  Sometimes we're seeing characters for the first time, but Kurt Busiek makes us feel like we've been reading about them for years.  Sometimes he uses a classic Astro City character and we're just getting yet another chapter in their history.  Sometimes he uses the perspective of a peripheral character to tell the story of a hero we already know.  This series is so smartly produced, I just don't know how he can continue to turn out story after story like this.  I really loved the Samaritan story and especially the Steeljack story in this volume.  The Furst Family story was kind of meh to me.

Astro City: Reflections

Written by: Kurt Busiek

Illustrated by: Brent Anderson, Alex Ross

Vertigo 

2018.009 Batman - Detective Comics Vol 4: Deus Ex Machina

I like that James Tynion is rotating the focus of his arcs on this book to different members of the Batman Family.  Last time it was Cassandra Cain, this time it's Azrael.  I've never liked Azrael in the past, and this book does nothing to make me like him much more, but it was still an enjoyable read.  I

The biggest part of this book for me was seeing Zatanna again, back to her regular self.  It looks like the Justice League Dark nonsense was stripped away from her and she's the Zatanna we used to know again.  This book gives us a look at the secret history of Zatanna and Bruce Wayne.  They've known each other since they were teens when Bruce was studying and learning the things he needed to know to be Batman.  It's kind of cool seeing this connection they have from way back.

Detective continues to be a top notch Batman book and I look forward to more.

Batman - Detective Comics Vol 4: Deus Ex Machina

Written by: James Tynion IV, Christopher Sebela

Illustrated by: Alvaro Martinex, Carmen Carnero, Raul Fernandez, Karl Story, Richard Friend

DC Comics

2018.008 Vigilante: Southland

Can you like and hate a book at the same time?  Because I liked this and I hated this.  I think it was a solid story, but it was poorly told.  I don't know who Gary Phillips is, whether he's a comics writer or if this is his first experience in the medium, but his storytelling was very clumsy and in places, very cliched.  I think in someone else's hands, this story may have been executed better.  It reads kind of choppy the way he jumps from scene to scene.  It's unsettling sometimes.  But the story itself, like I said, is solid.  It's a fresh take on a classic DC anti-hero and I could definitely read more, but the stories would need a lot of work first.

Vigilante: Southland

Written by: Gary Phillips

Illustrated by:Elena Casagrande, Moritat

DC Comics

2018:007 Green Arrow Vol 4: The Rise Of Star City

I mentioned a few posts back in my 2018 post that I've been introduced to some new comic nerds that I've been chatting with a lot lately.  Most of them agree that they're dropping this title.  I can't wrap my head around that.  This is one of DC's top Rebirth successes in my opinion.  This book is so fucking good.  I'm sure I've said it before, but I'll say it again.  The New 52 was a shit show.  I don't know what DC was thinking, but none of it was good.  They learned with Rebirth.  If they wanted to reinvent the entire DCU, this is how they should have done it.  This book is the (near) perfect meld of the old DCU Green Arrow, the New 52 Green Arrow and the tv Green Arrow.  All the best parts mixed together to give a contemporary look at the character.  Ben Percy is my hero for what he's doing with this book.  Best part of this for me is seeing how Roy Harper's history fits into the GA mythos in this new DC Universe.  And it does fit in again.  Team Arrow For Life!!

Green Arrow Vol 4: The Rise Of Star City

Written by: Benjamin Percy

Illustrated by: Juan Ferreyra, Eleonora Carlini, Mirka Andolfo, Otto Schmidt

DC Comics

2018.006 Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol 2: Masks

This book proves you can have a book that's smart, funny, serious and well executed without invalidating any of those things.  I loved this.  Kate Bishop is quickly becoming my favorite Marvel hero.  Kelly Thompson is doing magic with her.  Kate looks and sounds and acts just like the Kate from the previous Hawkeye series she shared with Clint Barton.  She didn't get reinvented when she got her own series.  Just given a new setting.  I don't know why more creators can't do this.

We get to deal with a lot of Kate's past in this book.  Her relationship with her father and mother take the spotlight for a good deal of the book.  I want more of this.  MORE!!

Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol 2: Masks

Written by: Kelly Thompson

Illustrated by: Leonardo Romero, Michael Walsh

Marvel Comics

2018.005 Shirtless Bear-Fighter!

Hands down, this has been my favorite read of 2018.  It's stupid as fuck, but it's stupid fun as fuck.  I do not laugh out loud at stuff I'm reading.  I may chuckle on rare occasion, but I don't laugh out loud.  Reading this book, in three or four places, I laughed out loud.  This book is that funny and fun and goofy and stupid.  It's fucking amazing.  If you want something stupid fun, read this.  You won't regret it!!

Shirtless Bear-Fighter!

Written by: Jody Leheup, Sebastian Cirner

Illustrated by: Nil Vendrell

Image Comics

2018.004 Champions Vol 2: The Freelancer Lifestyle

I enjoy this book very much.  Very very much.  It's kind of like Marvel's Teen Titans, a book that's always been very close to my heart.  Mark Waid seems to get these characters, even though he's (probably) older than I am.  LOL.  What I don't like about this book is what my biggest gripe about Marvel books has been for a good long time.  Any and all momentum a creative team has gets crushed by whatever the giant Marvel event is at the time.  This book is going along nicely and then Secret Empire hits.  Rather that completely stop what's happening, Mark Waid manages to incorporate being part of a crossover with the regular book, so the interruption isn't too jarring.  But it still is.  And I don't know some of these new Marvel characters the crossover is featuring.  And I kind of don't care.  

Hopefully there isn't a giant event during the run of the next six issues or so.

Champions Vol 2: The Freelancer Lifestyle

Written by: Mark Waid

Illustrated by: Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba

Marvel Comics

2018.003 Batgirl And The Birds Of Prey Vol 2: Source Code

I'm continuing to enjoy this book very much, but I've come upon a couple of realizations.  I don't know if the Bensons have ever written comics before.  This is my first experience with them.  I think they're going a decent job with the book, but I think the way they write, this book would be enjoyed more monthly.  I say that only because I feel like when they're telling a story that gets published over six months, reading it over six months makes it feel like it's going at the right speed.  Reading it in one fell swoop makes me feel like the story is rushed.  Six months may have passed in the real world, but in the story, maybe six days have passed.  Does that make sense?  I'd like to have seen this story as maybe the third arc of the book.  It feels like too much has happened too soon to me.

My only other gripe about this story is Huntress.  It feels like they don't know who she is.  She felt very empty.  Lacking personality.  Like, they could have had any character in that role and no one would have noticed a difference.  Again, I wonder if this is part of the issue I mentioned above.  They're trying to turn her from who she was in Grayson to who they want her to be here and it's too much, too quickly?  I don't know.

But don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the fuck out of this book.  I look forward to more.

Also, I'd be remiss not to mention the amazing variant covers collected at the back of the book by Yanick Paquette.  Amazing, amazing stuff.

Batgirl And The Birds Of Prey Vol 2: Source Code

Written by: Julie Benson, Shawna Benson

Illustrated by: Roge Antonio, Claire Roe, Breno Tamura, Yanick Paquette

DC Comics

2018.002 Adam Strange: The Silver Age Omnibus

Adam Strange is one of my all-time favorite characters.  I can't tell you why, though.  Not because it's a secret, but I really don't know what draws me to him.  He's cool, he's got a simple yet effective design, but otherwise, I don't know.

And I should NOT have enjoyed this book as much as I did.  The reason being every Adam Strange story is basically the same.  He pinpoints when the next Zeta Beam will hit Earth to take him back to Rann.  He arrives to be greeted by his true love Alanna, a crisis ensues that only Adam can save Rann from, the Zeta Beam wears off and he's drawn back to Earth.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  But there is such a charm to these stories that I can't stop reading them.

The bulk of them are drawn by Carmine Infantino, not a favorite artist of mine.  But Carmine's work on Adam Strange is some of his finest work.  There's some STUNNING Murphy Anderson art in here that fills me with such joy.

There are some stories in this book I've never read before.  I had no idea there was an Adam Strange descendant in the future who took on his mantle.  Only two or three stories, but still.  Brand new to me.

One of the things I discovered in this book, also, is Lee Elias' run on Adam Strange.  In his stories, he drew Adam without his familiar cowl, which just looked odd to me at first, but by the time I finished that run, I kind of dug seeing this version.

The New 52 ruined Adam Strange for me.  I hope DC gets it's act together to Rebirth him back to his old self.

Adam Strange: The Silver Age Omnibus

Written by: Gardner Fox, Dave Wood, Jerry Siegel, Denny O'Neil

Illustrated by: Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Mike Sekowsky, Murphy Anderson, Lee Elias, Phil Kelsey, Joe Giella, Bernard Sachs, John Giunta, Sid Greene

DC Comics

2018.001 Aquaman: The Waterbearer

One of the great things about an Aquaman movie coming is that DC is putting all sorts of Aqua-related material back in print.

I read this monthly when it first was published, but to be honest, I really don't remember any of what was printed in this volume.  When I think back to Rick Veitch's run, I recall his Black Manta storyline, but barely any of this.  I remember the Lady of the Lake giving Arthur his water hand, but little else.  

I found this book to be a little slow in places, but I recognize that Rick is setting all his pieces in place to start telling the story he wants.  This is a welcome change from Peter David's Aquaman.  While I can't really stand Peter David, I did enjoy many aspects of his run.  But I like this more.  Rick Veitch is putting Aquaman back where he should be, stripping away all of the bullshit laid on him by Peter David.  

I look forward to the next volume of this book to refresh my memory of this run.

Aquaman: The Waterbearer

Written by: Rick Veitch, Steve Conley

Illustrated by: Yvel Guichet, Darryl Banks, Norm Breyfogle, Rob Haynes, Joshua Hood, Deitrich Smith, Sal Velluto, Mark Propst, Bob Almond, Dennis Janke, Rob Leigh, Sean Parsons, Bob Petrecca

DC Comics

2018 Here We Go

I will confess that I actually enjoyed logging and mini-reviewing everything I read last year.  Sure, sometimes it felt like a chore when I would let the books build up before finding time to log them here, but overall, it was a lot of fun.  I learned that I read way more than I thought I did.  I read 184 books last year.  If you asked me last January what my total would be, I may have guessed it would be 80.  Let's see how far I can get this year.

One of the things that made me happiest about this little experiment is that it's influenced others to track what they're reading this year.  My ex-sister-in-law posted on Facebook that I have inspired her to both track what she's reading this year, but to also read more.  I find that awesome.  Also, my friend George introduced me to some of his comic nerd friends and invited me to a little chat group with them.  I told them about this blog and what I actually read last year, which inspired George to create a spreadsheet for us to log what we're reading this year.  It's eye opening when you realize exactly what you've read over the course of a year.

I doubt I will update this more often this year than I did last year, but I will still post about all the stuff I read.  Feel free to comment on any of the posts.  Tell me if you read what I did and if you liked it or not.