• comics
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• recap

As I said in the previous post, I’ve also started reading comic books again. I stopped around 2020 when I moved, but hadn’t really stopped buying the floopies so I have a massive 4 year backlog of books. Some of them I’m going to just jump to something more current (Batman, Detective Comics, Wonder Woman) while some I have a lot of catching up to do (Nightwing, Miles Morales). I had a brief spurt during the early part of the year (May and June ish) where I was reading a couple and had sorted my floopies by book and into boxes of what I wanted to read. But then summer came and work got busy so I stopped reading. Picked back up again around October and have been getting thru at least a couple issues a week (which isn’t enough to eat away at the backlog).

Reviews-ish

Energon Universe

Throughout the year, the Energon Universe books were what I looked forward to week to week, even though I wasn’t keeping up with the reading. I’ve enjoyed Robert Kirkman’s writing previously on Invincible and Fire Power, so it was an easy decision to pick up Void Rivals. Of the limited series I liked Scarlett the best, Kelly Thompson is another writer that I’ve enjoyed what I read of hers. I also liked Marco Ferrari’s art on it. Void Rivals and Transformers have also been very fun to read. Though I’m not 100% sold on the art in Transformers, it gets a bit too busy for my liking. Jury’s still out on G.I. Joe, have only read the first issue and I’m enjoying it enough to continue. I have no real prior history with Transformers and G.I. Joe so I don’t get any fan-service-y things the books may do, I’m just enjoying the ride.

Other Non DC / Marvel Books

When I saw that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was doing a soft reboot, I figured it was as good a time as any to jump on, I’d read Vols 1 and 2 of the previous run and really enjoyed them, but I had them as trades and so just fell behind on them. I had read the two Jennika volumes they collected and loved those and wanted more. 5 issues into this run and I’m really enjoying it. The art being different for each turtle is really neat. I’m curious to see where the stroy goes with the second arc.

I follow Kieron Gillen on Bluesky and had seen him talk about The Power Fantasy for a couple months. It wasn’t until issue 4 that I semi-impulsively grabbed the the books all at once from my local shop. Luckily they still had copies of the first 4 or I don’t think I would’ve picked it up. And thankfully I did! I don’t know if I’ve fallen in love with a book faster. Caspar Wijngaard’s art is phenomenonal, I’m going to have to find more work by him.

I picked Undiscovered Country up when it started it’s run, one of those weirdly poorly timed books about a global pandemic releasing a few months before a real global pandemic. But I mostly enjoyed the story, it’s been a little hard following it issue to issue and in spurts the way I’ve read it. Sounds like there’s currently 36 issues, so we’re 6 issues from the end, but haven’t seen anything since issue 30 in July. It may sound like faint praise but I think it’s a decent enough book to pick up and read. Not rush it to the top of the stack, but enough to add it at least.

Fire Power is a book I really enjoyed and was sad it ended. Chris Samnee’s art was what brought me to the book in the first place and Kirkman’s writing was nice icing on the cake. I felt the ending was rushed a little bit and wasn’t 100% satisfied with the epilogue but overall the story is good enough to make up for that.

Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters was a really fun quick series. I really appreciate books that are around 12 issues. I think it may be close to the ideal length of a series. Another book drawn by Chris Samnee, another book with gorgeous art. The writing for it was really fun, I thoroughly enjoyed the relationship between the sisters.

Marvel Books

I always think of myself as someone who reads like half Marvel half DC books, but whenever I look at my lists it’s like 80% DC. Nothing makes this more evident than me only having finished / caught up on 2 Marvel books and am working on catching up on a 3rd.

Hawkeye: Kate Bishop was a fun miniseries. Kate Bishop is a fun character and I wish she’d get more books, but alas, other people don’t agree with my correct opinions. Confining the story to a chateau was really cool and felt like a good way to keep the story confined. I read Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit early in the year (along with Hakeye) and just really don’t remember much from it. But I do remember that I enjoyed it and it made me want more Ms. Marvel (as always). I’m glad I have 2 more miniseries of hers and then NYX to read.

The last Marvel book I’ve been reading (so far this year) is New Mutants. I usually gravitate towards the teen / young adult team up books because they generally lean towards non world ending threats. I enjoyed the book a bit better in the earlier issues of the run. The latest arc I read was Illyana giving Madelyne the throne of Limbo and enjoyed it but the cast really just being Magik, Mirage, and Wolfsbane was a bit smaller than what I want from the book. I’m still looking forward to wrapping up the book and seeing where the characters end up (if they are able to do it cleanly). I always want to read more X-Men books but end up just not latching onto any. I had dropped the main X-Men book earlier so once this is done, NYX will be the only I have and I’m reading that because of Ms. Marvel.

DC Books

First the books I didn’t really care for the Shadow War and Lazarus Planet crossovers. I am just very very tired of crossovers at this point, there are too many of them. I skimmed thru Batman vs Robin for a similar reason, I was just tired from the Lazarus Island stuff. I felt the ending to Robin was good and didn’t need to continue.

A pseudo-crossover I did enjoy was Robins and that’s mostly because it left the other books alone. It didn’t require me to read a couple of random issues for other books and you just needed to read issues 1 to 6 to get the whole story. I’m curious to see if Jenny Wren gets pulled into the wider Batman mythos or if she just remains confined to this story. I really like when all of the Robins get together and interact. Batman: Wayne Family Adventures on Webtoons is another story where the Batfam acts like an actual family and I really love when those dynamics are explored.

I’ve only read the first 2 issues of Batman The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween and am just kind of confused mostly because I haven’t read the Batman: The Long Halloween Special and barely remember what happened in The Long Halloween. I may but the book on hold until I get around to reading Batman: The Long Halloween Special just to help things make more sense. Batman / Catwoman was a really good book. I like the couple of Black Label books I’ve read that get to explore some part of a character. I really liked the 3 timeline aspect of the book.

Dark Knights of Steel is one of my favorite books in a long while. I really love these wild alternate takes on characters, plopping them down in a different setting. Marvel 1602 is another one book with a similar pitch that I’ve been wanting to check out for a while. Yasmine Putri’s art was beautiful thru the whole series and really enhanced Tom Taylor’s writing. I thought they did the twists and reveals pretty well. I’m not always great at picking up on them, but was impressed and enjoyed where they went with it. I’m really excited to read Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter and the Tales from the Three Kingdoms.

Zatanna: Bring Down the House was another of the Black Label books that I’ve enjoyed. I haven’t read much of her character but am always excited when she appears in movies and shows, so I made sure to pick this book up when I saw it. I really loved the art in this one, thought it played with the comics medium in a fun way.

Jenny Sparks was a book I picked up on a whim and was pretty impressed by. I’m not familiar with the character’s Wildstorm backstory. It’s a neat “punching won’t solve the problem” story and think her annoyed-at-everyone attitude is enjoyable so far.

My Adventures with Superman is one of my favorite tv shows of recent and the book has become one of my favorite tie-ins for the show. I enjoyed the Young Justice books they’ve put out were good as well so thought this would also be a good bet to pick up. The characters feel true to their show portrayals and I’m hoping there will be more than just the single arc.

Absolute Batman and Absolute Wonder Woman have been a cool new take on the characters so far. I think Bruce being friends with the rogues and just a working class dude who has done all the jobs while Alfred is working for some weird shady government organization is fun and doesn’t stray far from the characters core. Same can be said of Wonder Woman growing up with Circe and learning magic from her. Plus riding Pegasus that is all bones and having a massive sword is really dope. Kelly Thompson’s writing is always a joy for me so I’m looking forward to more Absolute Wonder Woman.

Books I’m Looking Forward To

I was reading these prior and am excited to finish them:

• Batgirls
• Strange Academy / Strange Academy Finals

Mini series / Books that have concluded:

• Fables: The Black Forest
• Spider-Gwen / Ghost-Spider (almost all of her 5 issue miniseries from the past 5 years or so)
• Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace / Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant
• Primer: Clashing Colors
• Tim Drake: Robin
• Boy Wonder

Ongoing Books / Mini series that haven’t ended yet that I need to start:

• Birds of Prey
• Batgirl
• Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter
• Laura Kinney: Wolverine
• Miles Morales: Spider-Man
• Nightwing
• NYX
• The Fade
• Titans

Reading List of Completed / Ongoing Books

New books from this year

• Energon Universe
  • Cobra Commander
  • Scarlett
  • Destro
  • GI Joe
• Zatanna: Bring Down the House
• Absolute Batman
• Absolute Wonder Woman
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• The Power Fantasy
• Jenny Sparks
• My Adventures with Superman
• Batman - The Long Halloween - The Last Halloween

Books from previous years

• Energon Universe
  • Duke
  • Void Rivals
  • Transformers
• Dark Knights of Steel
• Undiscovered Country
• Robins
• Robin
• Shadow War (crossover)
• Batman vs Robin
• Batman / Catwoman
• New Mutants
• Fire Power
• Hawkeye: Kate Bishop
• Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters
• Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit