Lo, There Shall Come a Purchasing…! (9/7/06)

Lo, There Shall Come a Purchasing…! (9/7/06)

Sep 05

Wherein I reveal the comic book periodicals I will purchase, either this week or when next I arrive at my olde comic book shoppe, and RIFF on them. I will riff my fucking ASS off. This will make me seem both snarky and derivative.

I’ll do this weekly, or sometimes, or whenever I feel like it, and exactly no one will care.

52 WEEK #18
The last three or four issues have me intrigued again, and I hope they can keep this up; the concept of a 52-part weekly story is so sprawling to me that it’s impossible to get my head around it, in terms of pacing and interest. Right now, they have me. (And yes, 52 or Shatner will be back soon. Stop e-mailing me about it, Mr. President!)

AGENTS OF ATLAS #2 (OF 6)
Issue 1 was a bit of a tease, for sure, but a tease with momentum. And a talking ape. So, good shit.

ALL NEW ATOM #3
I think I’m in the camp that is finding it harder to instantly love this title than it was for me to instantly love any other Gail Simone book. I don’t exactly know why–all I can suggest is that it feels, just to ME, like Simone is trying a bit too hard. The jokes are a bit too on-the-nose, if that makes any sense. Also it just smacks a bit too much at this stage of something from Grant Morrison’s brain, which at least parts of it are, since he developed the concept or some such, and it seems a bit disjointed for one writer with a very distinct voice to be writing the concepts of another writer with a very distinct voice. The supporting cast, however, is golden. I think this book will soar after the first arc is complete, and the ephemera that is either Morrison or faux-Morrison is cleared out of the story.

BEYOND #3 (OF 6)
This miniseries is perplexing, in a really fun way–out of nowhere, the Beyonder is back, and Spider-Man is dead, and Deathlok returns. In the span of two issues. A light touch with the dialogue keeps the action percolating along, and I’m quite fascinated to see where this ends up, not from a freakish continuity standpoint, but more from a “man, this should be GOOD” standpoint.

DETECTIVE COMICS #823
Dini Detective. Near-classic so far.

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #12
In my brief period “away from comics,” I had forgotten how much I used to love Peter David. His Star Trek: The Next Generation novels were big favorites of mine from the South Holland Public Library, especially one that I think involved Troi’s mom marrying Q.

Why no, I didn’t have sex till I was 23 years old! Whyever do you ask?!

Anyway, Peter David is still my kind of writer. Everything’s got a little funny, a little edge, and a lot of action. That’s what we get here. I have to think that the “OHEMGEE Spidey is too DARK and not FUN enough anymore” contingent would have to enjoy this book and David’s latest arc–it’s the Peter Parker and Spidey of right now, but with plenty of the life pratfalls and rampant wit that made teenage Spidey a classic.

LOCAL #6 (OF 12)
I’ve been trying to read a few indie things that aren’t men and women in tights. This is one of them. Intricate little done-in-ones about people doing things.

UNCANNY X-MEN #478
Dunno if this is a nostalgia buy, or a legitimate “me likey” buy–all I know is that I am scared to open the long boxes in my parents’ basement someday, because I think I own enough duplicate copies of first-issue X-books to stun a charging bull.

Soooo…what are YOU buying?!