The Hot List - Week of December 6th

Damn that's a lot of comics.
A lot of good comics too.
DC
52 Week #31
All-New Atom #6
Batman Confidential #1
Detective Comics #826
Exterminators #12
Jonah Hex #14
Justice Society Of America #1
Manhunter #26
Mystery In Space #4
Nightwing #127
Outsiders #43
Superman Confidential #2
Tranquility #1

Image
Invincible #37
Nightly News #2
Walking Dead #33

Marvel
Agents Of Atlas #5
Doctor Strange: The Oath #3
Incredible Hulk #101
Irredeemable Ant-Man #3
Marvel Holiday Special 2006
newuniversal #1
Uncanny X-Men #481

I'm burnt out on Batman: Year One stories, but I'm still going to give Batman: Confidential a look, but it's on a short leash/

No exaggeration, Justice Society of America may be my most anticipated title this year. It feels like I've been waiting for it for years.

Manhunter returns with a lot of DC's marketing muscle behind it and about as much support from the creative community as any major label book ever. Will it be enough? I hope so.

By popular acclimation I'm picking up Nightly News. I'm still not sure what it's about.

newuniversal is the kind of major label work Warren Ellis was made for. A blank slate, realistic world with lots of super science. The 'no capital letters in the title' thing is still stupid, though.

The Hot List - Week of November 29th

DC
52 Week #30
Aquaman Sword Of Atlantis #46
Batman #659
Batman The Spirit
Green Lantern #15
Guy Gardner Collateral Damage #1
Ion #8
Superman Batman #30
Teen Titans #41

Marvel
Captain America #24
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #14
Immortal Iron Fist #1
Nextwave Agents Of HATE #10
Ultimate Power #2
X-Men #193

DC is releasing three Green Lantern books (four if you count the GLs in Batman/Superman), four chronically late books on time and a Batman - Spirit crossover that I swear was announced during the Clinton administration.

Nextwave is up to 10 already? Time really does fly.

I'm not a huge Iron Fist fan, but with Brubaker and Fraction writing it I have to at least give it a shot.

The Hot List - Week of November 15th

Oh my God! I'm going to need a loan this week. Either that or I'm gonna have to start jackin' fools.
DC.
52 Week #28
Aquaman Sword Of Atlantis #45
Astro City The Dark Age Book 2 #1
Birds Of Prey #100
Checkmate #8
Green Lantern Corps #6
Omega Men #2
Robin #156
Shadowpact #7
Supergirl #11

Image
Bomb Queen Vol 2 #2
Invincible #36
PvP #29

Marvel
Astonishing X-Men #18
Cable Deadpool #34
Civil War #5
Iron Man #13
Moon Knight #6
Ms Marvel #9
New Avengers #25
Squadron Supreme #7
Thunderbolts #108
Ultimate Fantastic Four #36

I had the chance to read most of the Astro City trades recently and I cannot tell you how great they are.

I <3 Birds of Prey. Even if Black Canary is leaving (for now).

They told me that Astonishing X-Men would come out monthly. Astonishing X-Men is not coming out on time. Astonishing X-Men needs to come out on time.

Is Civil War woth the wait? We'll know soon enough.

The Hot List - Week of November 8th

DC
52 Week #27
Batman #658
Fables #55
Firestorm The Nuclear Man #31
Gen 13 #2
Green Arrow #68
Green Lantern #14
JLA Classified #29
Stormwatch PHD #1
Superman #657
Tales Of The Unexpected #2
Teen Titans #40
Y The Last Man #51

Marvel
Annihilation #4
Civil War Young Avengers & Runaways #4
Doctor Strange Oath #2
Eternals #5
New X-Men #32
Ultimate X-Men #76

Dark Horse
Star Wars Dark Times #1

Note to DC: Make Ivan Reis and Ethan Van Sciver co-pencillers on Green Lantern. Have them each pencil 6-8 issues a year of the book, this way you not only get back on schedule you potentially have enough extra issues to go bi-weekly during the summer.

I've been pretty underwhelmed by the Worldstorm so far, but Stormwatch looks promising, especially with Doug Mahnke providing the pencils.

How good is Brian K. Vaughn? He made a Doctor Strange story that not only was good, it was great. An act of magic if there ever was one.

The Star Wars comics have been worlds better than I expected, so I'm going to give Dark Times a shot. I can only hope it's as good as Knights of the Old Republic.

The Hot List - Week of November 1st

DC
52 Week #26
All-New Atom #5
Blue Beetle #8
Detective Comics #825
Ex Machina #24
Exterminators #11
Jonah Hex #13
Justice League Of America #3
Manifest Eternity #6
Midnighter #1
Mystery In Space #3
Nightwing #126
Outsiders #42

Marvel
Agents Of Atlas #4
Criminal #2
Incredible Hulk #100
Irredeemable Ant-Man #2
She-Hulk 2 #13
Uncanny X-Men #480
X-Men: Phoenix Warsong #3

Fallen Angel Vol 2 #10

It feels like an age since Ex Machina's last issue hit the stands. The wait is worth it.

Justice League has been fun so far, but this issue needs to up the action quotient a little.

I've been riding a wave of good will towards Garth Ennis lately so I'm going give The Midnighter a try.

Planet Hulk started off great, but has been treading water for the last few issues. Pak needs to move things along a little bit.

The Hot List - Week of October 25th

Sorry for the lack of posts but its been an...odd week.
DC
52 Week #25
Action Comics #844
Boys #4
Jack Of Fables #4
Justice #8
Secret Six #5
Seven Soldiers #1
Supergirl And The Legion Of Super-Heroes #23
Superman Batman Annual #1
Trials Of SHAZAM #3
Uncle Sam And The Freedom Fighters #4

Marvel
Captain America #23
Civil War Choosing Sides
Daredevil #90
Exiles #87
Heroes For Hire #3
New Avengers #24
Nextwave Agents Of HATE #9
Ultimate Spider-Man #101
X-Men #192

Is Justice the best Justice League story ever told?

Is the Seven Soldiers finale actually coming out? For reals?

Is The Sentry actually going to do something in New Avengers?

The Hot List - Week of October 18th

DC
52 Week #24
Authority #1
Birds Of Prey #99
Checkmate #7
Exterminators #10
Fables 1001 Nights Of Snowfall HC
Omega Men #1
Robin #155
Sandman Vol 2 #1 $0.50
Shadowpact #6
WildCATS #1

Marvel
Cable Deadpool #33
Civil War X-Men #4
Runaways Vol 2 #21
Ultimate Fantastic Four #35
X-Factor #12

The Worldstorm continues with the Grant Morrison penned relaunches of both The Authority and Wild C.A.T.S. hitting stands this week. I'll give both a shot but to be perfectly honest I never really liked The Authority.

It feels like I've been waiting for the Fables 1001 Nights of Snowfall Hardcover for 1001 days. I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

A $.50 comic? Oh hells yeah. Its a Sandman Mystery Theater relaunch? Double hells yeah.

If Civil War: X-Men was a six issue mini then I would have already dropped it, but since there is only one issue left I'll bite the bullet and pick it up.

The Hot List - Week of October 11th

DC
52 Week #23
Fables #54
Firestorm The Nuclear Man #30
Gen 13 #1
Green Arrow #67
Green Lantern Corps #5
JLA Classified #28
Martian Manhunter #3
Tales Of The Unexpected #1
Worldstorm #1

Marvel
Annihilation #3
Civil War Front Line #7
New X-Men #31
Thunderbolts #107
Ultimate Power #1
Ultimate X-Men #75
Uncanny X-Men #479

Another light week. My wallet says 'Yay', my sense of wonder and anticipation says 'Yawn'

Worldstorm is the semi-relaunch/revamp of the Wildstorm Universe. I don't know all that much about the WSU other than The Authority and Captain Atom - Armageddon but with the talent DC is putting into this relaunch I have to at least give it a shot.

I'm done with Civil War: Frontline. The whole series to date has bugged me, but the last one pissed me off to no end.

New X-Men has been a very pleasant surprise. When Yost & Kyle took over I thought it was going to turn into Little Miss Wolverine and her Amazing Friends, but they've managed to keep the entire team in the spotlight. I still think the student massacre a while back was excessive, but the rest of the run has been a lot of fun.

Ultimate Power lust looks like a lot of fun. This may be heresy to the ol' comics blogosphere but I like Greg Land's art. Its cheesecake-y and Land does make his characters look a lot like real celebrities, but its still beautifully drawn. Is he an all time great penciller? Probably not, but I still enjoy his work.

The Hot List - Week of October 4th

DC
52 Week #22
All-New Atom #4
Boys #3
Detective Comics #824
Jonah Hex #12
Manifest Eternity #5
Mystery In Space #2
Nightwing #125
Outsiders #41
Y The Last Man #50

Image
Fear Agent #8
PvP #28
Marvel
Fantastic Four #540
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #13
Incredible Hulk #99
Irredeemable Ant-Man #1
MAX Sampler
X-Men Phoenix Warsong #2

Fallen Angel Vol 2 #9 IDW

Finally a return to normalcy after three consecutive insane weeks at the ol' comic shoppe.

I'm not the biggest Garth Ennis fan but The Boys has been a lot of fun. Although at this point the 'ultraviolent, oversexualized deconstruction of the superhero paradigm' section at my LCS is beginning to get a little crowded.

Marv Wolfman returns to Nightwing and it feels so good.

Phoenix: Warsong. I want to like this book. I really do. But at this point I think I'll wait for the trade.

The Hot List - Week of September 27th

I apologize for the lack of updates but apparently my phone line was attacked by a family of Gremlins hopped up on PCP.

DC
52 Week #21
Action Comics #843
American Way #8
Batman #657
Blue Beetle #7
Jack Of Fables #3
Justice League Of America #2
Ninja Scroll #1
Secret Six #4
Supergirl And The Legion Of Super-Heroes #22
Teen Titans #39
Trials Of SHAZAM #2
Uncle Sam And The Freedom Fighters #3

Image
Invincible #35

Marvel
Amazing Spider-Man #535
Cable Deadpool #32
Captain America #22
Civil War Front Line #6
Civil War Young Avengers & Runaways #3
Daredevil #89
Heroes For Hire #2
She-Hulk 2 #12
Ultimate Spider-Man #100
Ultimates 2 #12
X-Men #191

Holy crap thats a lot of books. The last few weeks have been absolutely insane comics-wise.

Blue Beetle has officially gone to 'wait for the trade' status, and its dangerously close to 'I'll read the reviews online' status.

Ninja Scrolls is one of my favorite animated movies of all time, but I'm just not sure how good it will be as a comic.

Civil War - Young Avengers/Runaways hasn't really added anything to the overall CW story yet, but its still been a fun read. Stefano Casseli's art has been a very pleasant surprise.

Be still my beating heart. Ultimates #12 is actually coming out this week?

The Hot List - Week of September 20th

DC
52 Week #20
Birds Of Prey #98
Checkmate #6
Flash The Fastest Man Alive #4
Robin #154
Shadowpact #5
Superman #656

Image
Walking Dead #31

Marvel
Astonishing X-Men #17
Civil War #4
Civil War X-Men #3
Exiles #86
Iron Man #12
Moon Knight #5
Nextwave Agents Of HATE #8
Runaways #20
Ultimate Fantastic Four #34
X-Factor #11

Hot damn but that's a mighty mountain of a pull list. I going to have to get cracking on that pyramid scheme to pay for all of this crap.

Bilson and DeMeo get one more issue of Flash to hook me before I bail. For a book subtitled "The Fastest Man Alive" it's pacing has been sloth-like

Astonishing X-Men moves to a monthly schedule and Angels begin to sing.

The long national tragedy is finally over as Civil War #4 finally sees the light of day.

The Hot List

DC COMICS
52 WEEK #19
AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS #44
EX MACHINA #23
FABLES #53
FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #29
GREEN ARROW #66
GREEN LANTERN #13
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #4
JLA CLASSIFIED #27
MARTIAN MANHUNTER #2 (OF 8)

IMAGE COMICS
TRUTH JUSTIN & AMERICAN WAY #4

MARVEL COMICS
ANNIHILATION #2 (OF 6)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #21
INCREDIBLE HULK #98
MS MARVEL #7
NEW X-MEN #30
THUNDERBOLTS #106
ULTIMATE X-MEN #74

After a few sketchy issues 52 is really starting to live up to it's promise. The cast is pretty large but I like, and root for, all of them. The art has also gotten better and more consistent as the weeks have progressed.

It's good to see DC is bringing back Green Lantern Quarterly...What? You mean it's not supposed to be quarterly? Oh.

None of the Annihilation minis grabbed me, but I was really into the first issue of the main series. I'm dying to see how they get around the last page of #1.

The Hot List

DC
52 Week #18
All-New Atom #3
Detective Comics #823
Exterminators #9
Jonah Hex #11
Manifest Eternity #4
Mystery In Space #1
Outsiders #40
Y The Last Man #49

Marvel
Agents Of Atlas #2
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #12
Uncanny X-Men #478
X-Men Phoenix Warsong #1

DC has done an admirable job revitalizing their oft neglected space-centric characters in the last year and Mystery in Space looks to continue the trend. It also continues the rebirth of the backup feature, which is a very good thing.

I loved Phoenix: Endsong so I'm very excited about the follow up, Phoenix: Warsong. Unfortunately since the events are occuring in a poorly promoted mini and not a main book it, in the end, won't amount to much of anything.

The Hot List

DC
52 Week #17
Action Comics #842
All Star Superman #5
American Way #7
JLA Classified #26
Justice #7
Superman Batman #29
Teen Titans #38
Trials Of SHAZAM #1
Uncle Sam And The Freedom Fighters #2

Marvel
Cable Deadpool #31
Civil War Young Avengers & Runaways #2
She-Hulk 2 #11
Ultimate Fantastic Four #33
Ultimate X-Men Annual #2
X-Factor #10
X-Men #190

Battlestar Galactica #1
Fallen Angel Vol 2 #8 IDW

All Star Superman may be Grant Morrison at his best. The metatext and whacked out ideas are still there, but, unlike some of his other work, they take a back seat to the story. It's bright, primary-colored fun; silver-agey without feeling dated.

As far as I'm concerned Justice is All Star Justice League. It meets all of the criteria for an All Star book: A legendary character (or group) in it's most iconic form, done by a big name creator, that comes out sporadically.

Why, oh why can't Teen Titans come out on time? I gave Johns a pass when the book was late during Infinite Crisis, but this book is now a full 6 weeks behind schedule since the OYL jump. Combine this with Green Lantern being almost 10 weeks off since then and I may have to place Johns in the 'unable to keep a schedule' pile.

While not as off-putting as the constant delays other books suffer from, the constantly changing art teams on X-Factor prevents it from being great.

I loves me some Battlestar Galactica!

The Hot List

I'm may need to sell a kidney to afford this week's haul. At a minimum I'm probably going to spend more than I ever have in a single week.

DC COMICS
52 WEEK #16
BATMAN #656
BIRDS OF PREY #97
BLUE BEETLE #6
FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #3
JACK OF FABLES #2
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1
SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #21
WONDER WOMAN #2

IMAGE COMICS
FEAR AGENT #7

MARVEL COMICS
ASTONISHING X-MEN #16
DAREDEVIL #88
ETERNALS #3 (OF 6)
EXILES #85
HEROES FOR HIRE #1
NEW AVENGERS #23
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #99
ULTIMATES ANNUAL #2
WOLVERINE #45

While the roster of the new Justice League may have been spoiled, I'm still waiting with bated breath for the first (real) issue.

I can's decide which is the best comic not published by the Big Two: Walking Dead or Fear Agent. Either way they're both at the top of my read pile.

Astonishing X-Men. Droooollll.

Daughters of the Dragon was one of my favorite stories of the year, and I think Heroes for Hire will be just as good.

The Hot List

DC COMICS

52 WEEK #15
CHECKMATE #5
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #3
ION #5 (OF 12)
MANHUNTER #25
ROBIN #153
SHADOWPACT #4
TESTAMENT #9

MARVEL COMICS

CIVIL WAR X-MEN #2 (OF 4)
IRON MAN #11
NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE #7
RUNAWAYS #19
THUNDERBOLTS #105 CW
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #32
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #2

This week's list may be more interesting for what isn't on it. As of Saturday Justice League of America #1, Wonder Woman #2 and Flash #3 were all scheduled to come out this week, yet none are on Diamond's final list. All three issues of Flash have been delayed, albeit slightly. Wonder Woman #1 came out, what 7-8 weeks ago? We may not see #4 before the end of the year at this rate. And Justice League #1? A first issue that's been in the works for almost a full year is late? Ridiculous.

I've loved the first few issues of Rucka's Checkmate. I know a lot of people are turned off by a comic that centers around espionage and realpolitik but it's a great read. A worthy sucessor to Ostrander's Suicide Squad series from the 80's.

Manhunter. Good. Save book.

Thunderbolts seems like a team book from the 80's, but in a good way. The whole team doesn't really get along with one another, and it's not trying so hard to be 'realistic' that it forgets to be fun. And it almost always ships on-time, which fewer and fewer good books do now.

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The Hot List

DC
52 Week #14
Fables #52
Firestorm The Nuclear Man #28
Green Arrow #65
JSA Classified #15
Martian Manhunter #1
Secret Six #3
Superman #655

Marvel
Annihilation #1
Civil War Front Line #5
Incredible Hulk #97
Ms Marvel #6
New X-Men #29
She-Hulk 2 #10
Squadron Supreme #6
Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2
Ultimate X-Men #73

#13 may have been the best issue of 52 to date. The pattern of the book has visibly changed in the last month, and the new focus, both in terms of characters and timeframe, has improved the pacing dramatically. Replacing the 'History of the DCU' backup with new character origins has helped as well.

JSA Classified has been pretty good up till now, but Englehart's Detroit era story in JLA: C stunk from issue 1, and the modern continuance hasn't helped one bit.

Martian Manhunter. I like the character (and Monitor Duty has one of the best profiles on J'Onn ever) but I'm not sure he can carry a solo series, even a limited series. The BNW short did ignite my interest however, so I'm giving it a twirl.

I read the first issue of all 4 Annihilation minis, but the Nova mini was the only that stuck with me. I tend to like Sci-Fi superhero stories, so I'll give this one another try.

When I first heard about Civil War i feared it would be really preachy, like Millar's Authority run. Overall I've been pleasantly surprised by how even-handed it's been, but Frontline has been an exception. It hasn't been bad, just slanted. Sally Floyd, the anti-reg reporter, is taking a moral stand for freedom. Ben Urich, the pro-reg reporter, is actually anti-reg, but his publisher, J. Jonah Jameson, is forcing him to write pro-reg articles. The Speedball feature has been okay, but suffers from the same slant as the main story. The less said about the 'war correspendence' segment the better.

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