The 2016 "yep, I'm still here lurking, waiting for a good book" Bought/Thought

[CaptainWagner]

Finally got to the store and All New Inhumans an Martian Manhunter were sold out. So while they're on order, I picked up:

Green Lantern Corps: EoO #2 Pretty strong sophomore issue. Good action, but a confusing story. Hopefully the details will get worked out soon enough. There's some great character work for Guy and Kilawog, but John is mostly out of the mix.Outstanding art. And as a last word, killing off B'dg and Arisia better not stick. Awful way for them to go. 7/10

Ant-Man #5 This continues to be my favorite book Marvel is putting out. If you haven't checked it out yet, do it! The new Giant-man is a great addition to the Marvel universe, and this book does a lot to elevate him. Aptly juggling Scott's awkward training montage and the escalating Power Broker/Cross rivalry forms one highly entertaining story backed with stellar art. As always, Spencer has turned out another brilliantly innovative story which highlights why he is rapidly becoming one of Marvel's top writers. 10/10

Power Man and Iron Fist #1 I really want to love this one. On premise alone, I adore the characters and the concept. And the final script is everything I could have asked for. But the art, while not BAD, per say, is just very.... UNIQUE. Don't get me wrong, I intend to try the next few issues. Hopefully the art will grow on me, because I'd hate to budget it out. 6/10

Anvengers:Standoff Alpha Here's Nick Spencer, again! I SO wish this was just an ongoing series instead of a piecemeal crossover, because I love the work Spencer has done here. Brilliant art and ideas. I have not the budget to piece this together, but I'll be sure to grab the trade. This has me excited for Thunderbolts, now! 9/10

 

[YJ1]

Such lean times to be an old school Marvel fan. I can't stomach to read so many of these "new" titles.

What I have found to be a breath of fresh air and good reads are...

Invincible Iron Man
Hercules
Uncanny X-Men
Old Man Logan

Avengers: Standoff (providing this is how they bring back the real Cap) and Black Widow look promising. DD and Ant-Man have been average.

Everything else has been painfully BAD.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Yeah, I'm finding that I have zero anticipation for any Marvel books that I'm reading. Extraordinary X-Men is probably my favorite Marvel book right now, but even that's not exactly high on my list of comics. Old Man Logan is just okay (though the art is amazing). Uncanny and All-New X-Men are habit reads. Uncanny's art and All-New's cast are just complete turn offs for me. All-New Wolverine is boring and about to be dropped. Then there's Power Man & Iron Fist which I WANT to like because I love Iron Fist, but it's just not really my kind of book. Daredevil and Ultimates are decent, but again, not really toward the top of my read list.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Books I like more than anything from Marvel right now.

Walking Dead
Sinestro
X-O Manowar (recently started and am loving!)
Justice League
Batman
Son of Batman
Detective Comics
Green Arrow
Batman & Robin Eternal
Aquaman
Earth 2: Society
We Are Robin

So that puts Extraordinary X-Men... my top Marvel book... at #13 on my favorite reads. And that might drop even more as I get caught up with other Valiant titles. I'm currently loving Bloodshot, Unity, and Ninjak... so as I get caught up with those, they'll likely jump in that top 12 somewhere.

X-O Manowar is just excellent issue after issue. Highly recommended. Can't believe this is the same guy who currently writes Flash and Green Lantern. Apparently DC doesn't suit him because his Valiant work has just been top notch.

 

[SwiftFox]

WeirdWorld #4 - I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more, I cried a lot more, and then I went OH CRAP! What a great comic.

Mockingbird #1 - This one really surprised me. Great great writing by Chelsea Cain and tons of great art (a lot of the laughs in the book come form the artwork) that said, the end of this book left me unsettled in a very creepy way. Creepy is not hte tone I was expecting for a Bobbi Morse book but wow does it work.

Black Widow #1 - Chris Samnee is an artistic genius. This is how you draw a chase scene! Really intrigued to see what he, Waid and Wilson are up to!

All-New Inhumans #4 - WOW. Crystal did not resolve that conflict like I thought she would and I have feeling her decision is going to come back and bite her in the ass. That said, it was great watching her stick it to Medusa and Daisy Johnson. Caselli and Mossa hit it out of hte park with the artwork. Great ending to this arc, imo.

 

[CaptainWagner]

All-New Inhumans #5: New artist this month and I'm not liking it. So already this installment got off on the wrong foot. The story didn't help much, it was pretty disjointed and the Spider-man crossover seems pretty useless so far. There's a lot going on, and it doesn't mesh together very well. I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in this installment. 6/10


Astonishing Ant-Man #6: You know you're doing something right when your main character doesn't even show up in an issue and it's still on top of its game. The Power Broker storyline is coming to a head and Cassie is caught in the crossfire. As usual, Ant-man continues to be my favorite book. 9/10


Mockingbird #1 Well this was unexpected. None of the spy action from the cover actually shows up inside the book. Instead you get a fascinating and eerie medical drama. I wasn't expecting to pick this up, but heard great things. Now I can't wait for the next installment. 7/10


Martian Manhunter #10 The only downside to this issue is the knowledge that the series is coming to a close, but it seems J'Onn will be getting a proper conclusion. The story hits all the right beats, with a fascinating rebelling of J'Onn's origins. The art, as always, is on point. Hopefully Rebirth will hold good things for the Martian Manhunter coming off of this amazing series 9/10

 

[SwiftFox]

All New Inhumans #5 - I kind of agree with CapWagner on the art. I like Araujo, just not on Inhumans. However I think Asmus writes a GREAT Spider-Man. I actually thought the plot was pretty interesting - and I am looking forward to next months. For the record, Caselli is back on the book with Issue #7. 8/10

Spider-Woman #5 - If you're not reading this comic you are seriously, seriously missing out. I know some people are turned off by the pregnant arc but holy cow, this is some of the best writing and artwork in comics right now and one of Marvel's best rated books. 10/10 SERIOUSLY

Uncanny Inhumans #5 - Lots of Chaos in the quiet room and a lot of threads that Soule is spreading out with. Really enjoyed this one - little bit too hard to follow in some parts though. Also Frank McGee. 7/10

Captain Marvel #3 - I think this book is really starting to hit its stride and I'm a bit worried about Carol 7.5/10

Silk #5 - Silk starts to sympathize with Black Cat and that probably won't go well for her later. 8/10

 

[CaptainWagner]

The Ultimates #5 This book continues to impress. Well there's not much action, there's plenty of thought, and the art is as beautiful as ever. It will be quite interesting to see how they plan to bring this arc to a close. 8/10

Hyperion #1 Not quite as amazing as I had hoped for. The art is good, and there's certainly traces of a very good story here. This is the author's first comic book, however, and it shows. I plan to stick around a little longer with this one, as there's a lot of potential, but so far it's failed to impress. 6/10

Black Panther #1 Certainly deserves the hype. Art is amazing and, unlike Wendig on Hyperion, Coates makes the transition to writing comics with ease. Not being very up to date on the Black Panther mythos, certain parts confused me, but I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment! 8/10

 

[Mad Ones]

I caught up on some titles. There are more comics that I want to read but I'm limited by time and money. These brief reviews are more overviews than about single issues.

All New X-men: Man, this title got good. It's definitely the best character book out of the X-titles and Hopeless' writing really impresses me. I particularly like what he's doing with X23 and Angel, a relationship I did not think I would care about but has actually become the heart of the book for me. When I read "this is what death looks like" my heart kinda broke a little. The title has a ton of insightful and clever little lines. The cast is great and most of the characters are actually getting development.

Extraordinary X-men: I actually like the limbo status quo, the team, and the mission. The title just needs to flesh everything out more. I want to know what day-to-day life is like at the mansion these days. I liked this lead in to the Apocalypse stuff, particularly what's happening with the students. Martha is my favourite obscure X-character so I'm pretty happy they are doing something with her.

Ramos needs to be replaced. His art keeps getting uglier and I've decided that I hate his character designs. His art doesn't tell a story. Why would Storm where what she's wearing? She's a headmistress, you'd think she'd wear something that evokes authority. She looks like she's going to the club. Why would Jean wear something that gestures back to her Marvel Girl days. Her arc since day 1 has been to shed her old image that ultimate leads to death. Nightcrawler's costume is probably the worst (not like he's doing anything in the book right now). I like Colossus's redesign so there's one at least.

Uncanny X-men:Pretty great, though I hate "survival of the fittest" stories because I don't even know what that means. How is rounding up the healers and killing them survival of the fittest? I don't get the villain's motivation and the team dynamics haven't gone anywhere yet. I do like seeing Psylocke use Archangel as a drone - that's really interesting. But I still don't understand why Sabretooth is on this time. He's been inverted, yet everyone (including himself) is worried he might go feral and kill everyone? Xorn was pretty cool, even if I cannot reconcile his existence post-Morrison. This is Land's best work since Endsong (though still not as good as it was there).

Black Panther: Good start that fleshed out the world and established a supporting cast. I liked the art, though T'challa was a bit of blank character in the book. I will keep reading.

 

[CaptainWagner]

Mockingbird #2: Very good sophomore entry. This is an interesting approach to the story, filling in the gaps from the first issue. The story this week was a lot of fun, bringing in Lance Hunter and delivering the sort of super-spy action you'd expect from Bobbi. This is definitely one to pay attention to! 8/10

All New Inhumans #6: All I can say is, I'm happy Araujo is gone after this. Caseload is desperately needed back on board. Art aside the China story ended as sloppily as it began. The story with Gorgon and the armory was much more interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing where the next arc goes, because I've got to be making budget cuts, and this one is on the bubble 6/10

Moon Knight #1: Man, this was a great book! The art rivals The Ultimates for sheer beauty, and the story makes perfect use of its extended length. It's worth every bit of the extra cost. This is a great premise for Moon Knight, and Lemire's is spinning a fascinating tale. I can't wait for the next issue, more so than any other at this point. I'm not exaggerating when I give it a 10/10

 

[SwiftFox]

Karnak #3- Holy Crap. That was awesome.

 

[Spider-Jay420]

Spider-Man/Deadpool #4 was so much fun! Fantastic issue!

 

[JewishHobbit]

I've been down on Marvel for quite some time now, but I have to give it props on one thing. Ultimates is a fantastic book. Great cast, great stories, major threats. I'm even going to pick up the arc of Contest of Champions that they're guest staring in just to see how they do in that environment.

Highly recommended.

 

[SwiftFox]

All New Inhumans #7 - Stefano Caselli is back on line work and he and Mossa hit it out of the park with this issue. This issue focuses on Flint and Gorgon searching for Flint's family with the help of Ana Kravinoff (remember back in Inhuman by Charles Soule Medusa promised Flint she would help him. Crystal is making good on that promise). After some adventures, they find the family and - yeah I don't trust these people. Looking forward to seeing where this goes. 8/10

Black Widow #3 - Another great issue from Samnee, Wilson, Waid and Caramanga. It's a bit light on the dialogue again, but we got a good glimpse into Nat's past and the artwork more than makes up for lack of dialogue. Samnee and Wilson are ON FIRE with this book. 9/10

 

[chamber-music]

The Astonishing Ant-Man #8 - This is probably my favorite Ant-Man issue so far. The issue is a really good showcase for Ant-Man's blue collar supervillain rogues which reminded me of The Flash Rogues.

The villains schooling newbie villain The Magician on the do's and don'ts of being a villain in the Marvel universe is fantastically hilarious. Don't work for Nazis villains like the Red Skull or Baron Zemo as they kill their henchmen.

If you go to New York then stick to midtown because Spider-Man will probably web you up and make an unfunny quip. Avoid hell's kitchen because Daredevil has rage issues and will violently beat you. If you see The Punisher run, hide or pray

Uncanny Avengers #9 - The return of Hank Pym. Hank's merger with Ultron has somehow left him a cyborg now for some reason. Gerry Duggan went in on the politics in this issue. Cap and Deadpool taking on a version of the Bundy's Y'all Qaeda at a renamed Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and Rogue making a joke about the presidential election candidate race.

 

[squeekness]

^^Not to mention a quickie appearance by Gambit NOT joining the Uncanny Avengers, yet another reason to drop this book.

 

[CaptainWagner]

Astonishing Ant-Man #8: Like Chamber-Music already said, this is possibly the best Ant-Man issue yet. Spencer made his name chronicling the escapades of blue collar supervillains, and he's at it again now. Ant-Man doesn't even show up for most of the book, but his Z-List rogues more than capably fill the space. And speaking of space, the art team managed to cram a lot of story and gags onto each page, making it seem longer than it really is, which is great! 10/10

The Ultimates #7: As usual, the art and writing are excellent, and there's a great bit of conflict building between T'Challa and Blue Marvel, which will surely lead into Civil War. However, I have to admit, Ewing really needs to start picking up the pace. It's fine to have deep, introspective issues, but since the debut arc, the book has been lacking in action. Thanos' grand & violent return in the very end was suitably epic, so hopefully he'll manage to shake things up a bit going forward. 8/10

Black Panther #2: A solid sophomore issue in the number one book in the world from last month. This time around, Coates' experience in prose starts to show through a little too much. While the writing and art is very good, there's a TON of world-building going on, and not all of it melds together as well as it should 8/10

Martian Manhunter #12: And so Rob Williams' series reaches it's conclusion. And I must say, I'm pretty darn disappointed. Everything gets wrapped up in a rapid, somewhat clumsy fashion, leaving no changes to the status quo and doing a major disservice to J'Onn J'onnz. With the Last Son of Mars noticeably absent from Rebirth, I was hoping he'd get a suiting finale here. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. That said, the art is as good as ever, and Williams does hit a lot of the right emotional points. I think this was just a tragic victim of Rebirth...6/10

 

[CaptainWagner]

Moon Knight #3: I'm making big cuts to the books I'm following as I tighten down my budget in preparation for college this fall. But once again, Lemire & Co. show why this is one book certain to stay on my list. Excellent writing, ever-awe-inspiring art, and a story that keeps you coming back for more, Moon Knight is starting to rival Ant-Man for my favorite Marvel title. 9/10

Green Arrow Rebirth: I was a bit worried about this after hearing mediocre things about Percy's previous work on Green Arrow, but for now my fears are lifted. The art is unique and jives well with the characters, it really does feel like a throwback to the Grell era. And of course, it's great to see Ollie and Dinah together again. 8/10

Green Lanterns Rebirth: I went into this pretty blind, knowing nothing about Simon Baz and very little about Jessica Cruz. But this certainly sold me on them. I'm a little disappointed Jessica apparently is an actual Lantern now, and ditched the Power Ring from Forever Evil, but she still makes a cool character regardless. My only complaint is that the book seems really short, and ends right when it's getting started. But I'll definitely be picking up the #1 in two weeks. 7/10

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Civil War II #2 - Really enjoying this story so far. Can't wait to see what they do with Bruce. At best, Carol just detains him, but something tells me Bendis has worse ideas. I'm tempted to rewatch Minority Report tonight.

 

[chamber-music]

The Mighty Thor 8
I like the 1% of the 1% evil Marvel universe business tycoon cabal

 

[SwiftFox]

All-New Inhumans #8 - Everything an excellent Inhumans book should be. Bit of a slow burn but so worth it.

Ultimates #8 - Great issue. Loved seeing how the team was formed and how Al Ewing filled in the blanks in the aftermath of Rhodey's death.

 

[chamber-music]

John Constantine: Hellblazer Rebirth 1
Return of the pre-52 continuity Constantine!

Back in London with his old supporting cast, backstory, personality, relationships and skill set. The previous attempts with the character in the new continuity didn't really set the world on fire. He lacked the Constantine swagger and got a bland backstory.

 

[CaptainWagner]

Suicide Squad Rebirth: I talked myself out of picking this up and then grabbed it on impulse after seeing the movie. And I certainly don't regret it, because it's great! I'm not a huge fan of the team lineup outside of Cpt. Boomerang & Deadshot, but it's great to have Flagg back and Harley is growing on me. Definitely picking up the proper #1. 9/10

Deathstroke Rebirth: I'll admit this one disappointed me a bit. Technically, it's great, very good art, very good writing (Which, of course, is no surprise coming from Priest), so I have trouble placing just why it hasn't gotten me excited for more. Hopefully the next issue will be better at drawing me in. 7/10

Hal Jordan & the GLC #2: This series might actually force me to finally become a fan of Hal Jordan. While I wish there was more of the Corps involvement, what they did show was good, and they nailed Guy's character as "the one Lantern too think-headed to die". Plus the ongoing plot with Sinestro & his daughter is great as well. 8/10

Detective Comics #938: My favorite Rebirth title continues to be terrific. I really only have two complaints: 1) The young heroes have yet to recieve much development or focus into what makes them unique. For example, the subplot with Tim';s scholarship has been completely forgotten. 2) [BLACKOUT]Col. Kaine is dipping a bit too far into "evil mastermind" territory with this issue. Hopefully he comes out on top in the end. Also, I REALLY want the League of Shadows to be real, just because I love it when Batman is wrong.[/BLACKOUT] 8/10

Moon Knight #5: The conclusion to "Welcome to New Egypt" is here, and it was well worth the wild ride. The combination of multiple artists to highlight the fragments of Marc's brain work brilliantly. However, the twist ending was marred by Marvel stupidly spoiling it in their September solicitations. As a movie buff, though, I'm pumped for Marc's new status quo as a producer! 8/10

 

[Spider-Jay420]

Guess we don't really Bought/Thought anymore? Oh well. Just wanted to chime in and say I really enjoyed Avengers 15 this week. Story was cool, but I really liked the layout. I loved how you had to turn the book sideways for the flashback story. Very simple but very cool! Didn't they try this few years ago? Like when Millar was doing Ultimates? Wide Screen comics? Maybe I'm making it up. It was cool and I really enjoyed it!

 

[SwiftFox]

Spider-Woman #13 - the Hobgoblin shows up and Jessica Drews life goes to hell in a handbasket.

This is was so good.

Seriously you need to check it out.