What I got and Why 15/8/2010

Valhallahan
The Weird World of Jack Staff #3 - I've always been curious about Jack Staff. I really dug Paul Grist's Kane, but only with the recent relaunch have I entered the Weird World of Jack Staff. I’m awfully glad I did!

The Walking Dead #76 - Consistently brilliant, it'd take a lot to make me drop this title. In fact nothing short of the (joke) ending to #75.

Scarlet #1 - I thought I’d try this out, because although I'm sick to death of Bendis' Marvel Universe work now, I used to be a big fan. Here’s hoping he's still got some of the old magic in this creator-owned series.

Daytripper #9 - The penultimate chapter of this excellent Mini, and it looks like they're starting to bring it all together. I heartily recommend this series.

Shadowland: Blood on the Streets #1 - I got this because we were going to do it for Swap Shop until Ash hit me with a surprise turkey instead (stay tuned!). It's not bad, but it’s not great either, I was left thinking "The Shroud is actually kinda cool" and "Dear god, why do they still write Silver Sable stories".

CBGB OMFUG #1 - Part one of Boom! Studios anthology series about the legendary New York Punk venue. I like comics I like Punk, it’s not rocket science.

Origins of the Marvel Universe - I went on about the one page origins in that siege freebie a little while back, and this is a whole comic of them. 1 page of 'who they is and what they does' for most of Marvel's major characters. Well worth the price of admission. The Ghost Rider page by Mark Texiera is particularly cool looking, I'd like it on my wall. An excellent buy for a Marvel Newbie.

Jonah Hex #58 - Because it’s Jonah Hex.

DareDevil Black and White - Basically this is the same format as Marvel's Magazines they put out over the last year or so; short black and white stories by interesting creators and a prose story at the end. Looked good to me.

Invincible Volume 12: Still Standing - I really Love Invincible; it's one of the few current series I pick up solely in Trades, it sucks to wait so long between instalments, but like a trip to your mum's house, I'm guaranteed a good long ride for my money each time. This is what superhero comics should be.

Love and Rockets - I really dig L+R, and these trades are a great way to experience it, comprehensive, inexpensive and nice to look at on the shelf. This volume reprints couple of Minis by Jaime, including Women's wrestling drama "Woah Nellie!" and Penny Century.

Vertigo: Winters Edge #1 - A late '90s vertigo anthology; basically a short from each of the main books they were printing at the time, with a House of Secrets framing strip. Highlight at first glance is the Paul Pope Hellblazer story. The book does seem to contain a bunch of nonsense about fauns too though, so be warned.

What I Got and Why 15/07/10

Valhallahan

After a lacklustre week a couple of weeks ago and an I-spent-all-my-money-at-Gypsy-Hotel-so-couldn’t-buy-comics week the week after that, I'm here once again with a what I got and Why, which strangely has no overlap with Action Ash's. Okeydokey, here we...

Sweet Tooth #11 - Continuing to be intriguing and exciting and charmingly disturbing.

Scalped #39 - ‘Nuff Said.

X-Women - Novelty Value. See Review.

iZombie #3 - I’m really just getting this for the art. The story has enough to keep me interested, but some of the cutesy stuff like the were-terrier would normally be a big turn off for me.

Gorilla Man #1 - I was explaining this one in the pub: "It’s a man who's been turned into a gorilla, who's also a secret agent fighting a man with talking tumours of his ancestors for the head of Lucretia Borgia". That shit just sells itself.

The Walking Dead #74 - I heartily recommend this series to everyone. Start at book one and see if you can stop yourself from reading the lot. 74 issues and still going strong.

Jonah Hex #57 - I actually managed to get a copy this week which is nice, and it’s a Jordi Bernett issue so win/win! Thank you Orbital, now I've got my mean disfigured sonofabitch quota for the week without having to set foot in my local.

Daytripper #8 - This has been a great series. Interesting premise, lovely art, it's kind of pretentious, but really worth your time. This is a great alternative to superheroes and crime fiction.

I would be getting Shadowland, but a combination of Billy Tan art and not having finished Brubaker's DD run mean I’m just going to borrow it of Ash. Nice Cassaday covers though. I meant to get Scarlet, but I clearly wasn't that bothered as I forgot to look for it in either of the shops I went to.

Valhallahan's Comic Book Fortnight!

Valhallahan

I haven't done the 'What I Got & Why' the last two weeks, partially because it's been real slim pickin's on the new books front for me, and partially because I've been as busy as a nightclub urinal. I thought by way of recompense, I'd give you lovely people my week (or two) of comics -

*Insert Theme Tune*

Well... the week before last (remember that?) I had mini Marvel week. Just four books, all from The House of Ideas. Just one company, but quite a selection; I picked up Gay Cowboys (Rawhide Kid #1), trippy insects in the astral plane (Spider-Man Fever #3), the adventures of a teenage CEO (Prince of Power #2) and the comparatively pedestrian-sounding superhero vs Nazis (Captain America #606). As I've mentioned before, I was loving Fever and it finished as it started, Cap's still going strong (remarkably, after this long a run), as is PoP. Rawhide Kid was, well... a bit shit to be honest.

Unlike the rest of the comic book reading world, I rather enjoyed the first Rawhide Kid mini that Zimmerman did a few years ago (which ridiculously earned a "Mature Readers" rating due to a bit of mild innuendo and a homosexual lead) I picked up all the issues in a bargain bin a couple of years ago and was pleasantly surprised. Here, however, Chaykin continues his descent into CG hackerey and the stunted scripting does it no favours, never feeling like flowing conversation. Even the innuendos are poorly conceived and executed, which is half the fun for something that's clearly aiming to be a mixture of A Fistful of Dollars and Carry On Camping. I'd give it two (rusty) sheriff's badges of five; one of which is solely for the Ghost Rider scene - not awful, but disappointing.

I couldn't find a copy of Jonah Hex #55, but the giant wheel of comic book karma saw fit to guide me to Oxfam in Hertford where I picked up a bunch of 70s and 80s issues for a steal. So far I've read the one about Carnies and I'm saving the rest to do some kind of Hex then and now with Action Ash in the coming weeks.

Then to Edinburgh, where I braved many bars and several portions of haggis to pick up DV8: Gods and Monsters #3, which focuses on Mr Hector Morales; the mopey Deviant; and Daytripper #7 which sees the darkest story so far (which is saying something for a book whose protagonist is an obituary writer whose death concludes each episode). Both good issues, DV8 dragging a little bit, but I'm still interested to see where the story's headed. I also learned that Forbidden Planet Edinburgh is nice but a little on the small side. Weirdly, it didn’t Have Hellblazer #267 or The Walking Dead # 73, so I picked them up elsewhere. I shouldn’t need to tell you why I got those, or that they were good at this point.

On my (long-arse) up and down journey I read Luna Park which I bought for the gorgeous fucking art of Danijel Zezelj (and wasn't disappointed) and Johnny Dynamite: Underworld which was a rip-roaring pulp adventure purchased from the bargain bin at a comic convention a month or two ago. I'll post up bits on them later. I also finished The Maltese Falcon and ate some sandwiches from M&S, but this isn't really the arena for that, 'cause there weren't no pictures.

What I got and Why 14/05/10

Valhallahan

Wolverine #900 - I'm a fan of Wolverine, and enjoy anthologies in general; this book was proper shit though. More on it later.

New Avengers: Finale - I got this for closure, then I realised it wasn't being cancelled, so now I'm just confused.

Daytripper #6 - Loving this series. Hopefully we'll be doing something on it here in the near future.

Siege #4 - Though my interest is dwindling through Crossover Fatigue, I am still a fan of the Marvel Universe as a whole, so I feel I have to keep up with current events. I’ve enjoyed the series so far?

The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 - I'm not a fan of Grant Morrison's recent work on the character, but I do like Batman, so I got this to see what the current direction is and if it’s worth my time - Jury's still out.

Heroic Age Preview - To see how much money Marvel are attempting to leech out of me in the coming months.

What I didn’t Got:

Prince of Power #1 - The shop I was in didn’t have this in stock. They had it in Action Ash’s shop though. Bastards.